Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, September 11, 2022
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47 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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What, no one else out partying tonight? Trying to end the summer off right?
Before I head off to bed, I want to ask, semi-seriously, how do men ever get laid?
They are sooo bad at this. One guy hit on me by coming over and saying “I’ve come a long way to meet you. From all the way over there.” It was a fairly small club.
Another guy had some sort of vibrating glove and put his hand on my shoulder from behind and then whisper-shouted “hi! Don’t be afraid, I’m not creepy.”
Those two are no where near as bad as the guy, a different time, started spinning me around and then asked me if I was “Latina”. Friends, I doubt I could look more English big I tried.
How are men soooo bad at this. I am primed for male attention and it’s laughable.
@Beth:
Kind of explains why women have been treated as objects to be dominated throughout much of human history, doesn’t it?
Odds and ends for the weekend.
I’ve wondered whether King Not Arthur, who’s not as popular as his late mother (and likely never will be), and whose charisma resided entirely in his late first wife, might prove the avenue through which the British monarchy might finally come to an end. It seems some Britons who favor a republic are thinking along such lines.
Me, I think what bugs me abut European royalty, and in particular English royalty, is the medieval pageantry it comes loaded with. In England, at least, it even comes with costumes and trumpets.
On other news, Rolls Royce ended its association with Boom.
This leaves the much vaunted Overture supersonic commercial jet without engines.
Last, numbers are kind of odd. Consider this one: The US has reached the milestone of 1 million organ transplants, counting from 1954 when the first successful ones took place.
In a way this seems low for a big country over 68 years. On the other, there are roughly 24,837 days in 68 years, which means an average of 40.25 transplants each day.
That’s a lot of daily transplants.
But, naturally, most have occurred in the last 34 years than in the first 34 years. So the average number of daily organ transplants now must be much higher.
Wow.
Today is the first anniversary of the death of Teve (Steve Story).
I miss him still.
@Beth: As a single man, that’s a question near and dear to my heart. But I’ve never tried approaching women with a “line,” which just isn’t me. Success in my late 40s has only come through dating apps. But in person, wouldn’t you prefer a more direct inquiry? “Hi, I find you attractive and would like to learn more about you. Would you like to dance?” Or some inquiry about the cool shoes you’re wearing, or something relevant to the event you’re at.
@Beth:
I show up with an American Express Platinum card attached to my forehead for all the ladies to see.
Then it’s just a matter of picking which one.
“how do men ever get laid?”
Why do you think God invented alcohol?
Steve
@EddieInCA: what the ….?
@steve: LOL. My great uncle had a saying that went: Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker. Being a dumb and naive young man, it took me well into adulthood to understand what that meant.
It’s Biden’s call, but should he or should he not invite Trump to accompany him to QEII’s funeral? Jake Tapper says it would be a clever move if he did, because Trump wouldn’t want to be subordinate on Air Force One and would probably refuse the offer.
When the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe happened the US nuclear industry was quick to say it couldn’t happen here, but that was disingenuous. Yes, it’s true that no US plants are in danger of both earthquakes and tidal waves simultaneously, but the more relevant point is that some reactors do not fail safe when power is lost. They will melt down unless massive intervention takes place within minutes or hours. If the circumstances are such that you can’t get the people and systems into place, well, Fukushima. Over 20 US nuclear plants fall into this category. It looks like the Ukrainian reactor is also susceptible. For whatever reason, the small crew there cannot perform a safe shutdown and if they lose power the reactor will go critical.
@Beth:
Why do Nigerian scammers say they are from Nigeria?
@Mimai: This quote from that paper basically explains everything you need to know about Fox News:
@MarkedMan:
Indeed, it explains a lot. About Fox News and so many other things.
Relatedly (?), I’m surprised that so many Libertarians attend the same parties as Beth. zing!
@Beth: The guys that I knew when I was younger who “got laid/tried to” claimed it was a numbers game–hit on enough women, one will tumble. (It’s a corollary to every woman is better looking at closing time than she was when she walked in.)
Perhaps your problem is being too discriminating. You either have to select from among the offerings–however pathetic they may be–or go home alone.
As for me, I always went home alone, but it was easier for me. I was neither looking nor a dancer, going to bars only to drink and listen to the band/combo.
(But yeah, the guys you’re describing are pathetic beyond belief. 🙁 )
@Just nutha ignint cracker: “You either have to select from among the offerings–however pathetic they may be–or go home alone.”
I’m not sure the incel guyz get this. The problem isn’t as much that they’re repulsive (though they are) as it’s they’re hurt and offended that Heidi Klum doesn’t want them.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Do they realize that Klum is six feet tall in heels?
@CSK:
He should definitely invite Rudy, because no major occasion is complete without some old, drunk, crazy uncle who ruins it for everyone.
@Kathy:
Oh, yeah, because nothing, absolutely nothing bespeaks a solemn historical event like having a geriatric drunk stagger down the aisle of Westminster Abbey and puke in one of the pews.
@Mimai: Mimai, I’m a bit surprised it is you that are calling out libertarians as likely to be dishonest schemers with no respect for women and only seek to use them sexually. Even I wouldn’t go that far!
A wise, old Casanova once told me:
“You want to meet women? Get married. They will fall out of the sky!”
My sisters and brother-in-law and 14-year-old nephew are strolling around the Parthenon and the Acropolis today and all I got is this lousy OTB.
INFLATION ALERT!
I have been doing my wash at the Grand Avenue Laundromat for 6 or 7 years now.
The dryers have run 8 minutes for 25¢ all that time. Today I noticed that my quarter is worth 7 minutes of hot air.
I remember the good old days™ when the washers were 25¢ and the dryers ran for 10 minutes on a dime.
@Kathy:
That saying “men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them” has taken on a lot more salience in my life. Means that I generally move when one of these goofy failed attempts happen.
@Franklin:
Seriously, the guy who had the most “success” with me this year basically did that. He just said hi and started talking. He had an iPad with him at a festival. He just had confidence. It was wild.
@EddieInCA:
That would be effective for me. First because I’d be curious just how crazy you are, and second cause I would then try and talk you into buying me a drink. At that point I’d say you’d won cause I wasn’t trying to find an escape.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
The funny thing is I’m not trying. I’ve got a beautiful spouse at home and we’re currently monogamous. It’s actually our 13th anniversary today. I’m mostly going out to party and dance. Getting hit on is a bonus. I crave attention and really enjoy flirting. It’s just that these guys are soo bad at it.
And while I’m 6ft, I’m no Heidi Klum. I’m aggressively cute at best. It’s still wild to me that people would hit on me anyway.
@Beth:
Happy anniversary!
I just thought I’d note that, as a (hetero) guy who is somewhat shorter than average, a woman’s height was never a negative for me. Tall is good, short is good. It’s more about the energy and the interest.
However, I cannot think of a single woman taller than me for whom that wasn’t a deal killer.
@Jay L Gischer: Then perhaps you should try the married ones. 🙂
@Jay L Gischer:
That may be generational. I recall seeing once some old English geezer grumping about Diana, the Princess of Wales’s, looks: “She’s not beautiful. Her nose is too big and she’s too tall.”
My agent had a high school boyfriend (6’5″) who vowed he would never, ever be involved with a tall woman because his mother and sister were tall. My agent was 5’2.”
So it works both ways.
@Jay L Gischer:
Speaking for myself, height in guys is not particularly important to me. Charisma and lack of creepiness is way more important.
@CSK: Not all incels are 5′ 8″ and shorter.-
@Kathy: @CSK: My understanding, though I don’t keep up, is that the Royals have their own drunken, crazy relatives and don’t need outsiders horning in. Rudy can stay home just fine; no one will miss him.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I know, but I’m going with the statistical likelihood. The average height for U.S men is 5’9.”
@Beth: I don’t think charismatic types go to places to “troll for babes” or flirt, either one. I don’t know how “crave attention” works because I’m not wired that way, but yeah, you’ll find way more trolls and frogs than princes.
@CSK:
Like some other physical attributes when it comes to standards of beauty in our culture, the social acceptance of tall women is somewhat paradoxical: On the one hand, there’s the traditional expectation for hetero couples that the man be taller than the woman. On the other hand, there’s the way “tall supermodel” types are promoted by the media as an ideal in female beauty.
The usual way out of this paradox is to assume the ideal couple involves a fairly tall man who is “even taller than” the tall woman he’s with. Of course, this is an ideal few people can measure up to (no pun intended).
And make no mistake, it is definitely an ideal that Hollywood promotes. Tom Cruise may date a lot of taller women in his own life, but in the movies they’ve often had him stand on boxes or use other tricks to make him appear taller than some of his female costars who in fact were taller than him (including his then-wife Nicole Kidman).
One of the wildest stories along these lines I remember reading about involved Back to the Future. Eric Stoltz was the original actor cast as Marty McFly, then he was fired mid-production and replaced by Michael J. Fox. They felt Stoltz wasn’t playing the role right, and they’d wanted Fox all along but had trouble getting him out of his contract for Family Ties (they had to beg the producers, and Fox ended up working at night and getting little sleep). The problem was that Stoltz is a regular-sized dude, whereas Fox is 5’4″, making him shorter than the original actress cast as his girlfriend, Melora Hardin. So they fired Hardin and replaced her by someone shorter (Claudia Wells in the first film, Elisabeth Shue in the sequels).
@Kylopod:
When Sigourney Weaver played opposite Mel Gibson in The Year of Living Dangerously, Gibson was shot standing on a box in his scenes with Weaver.
@becca:
I can’t take credit for it. That’s actually an old comedy bit from a standup from the 90’s. Maybe Sinbad, or Dennis Leary or Dana Gould.
But it killed every time he did it.
@Beth:
Wouldn’t be hard to do. I’ll buy anyone and everyone a drink. I once rang up a $362 bar tab on St Paddy’s day.
I know what you’re thinking g. $362? That’s not a lot. Hell. That could be 14 drinks in LA or NYC.
Well this was in Lake Tahoe and all beers were $.75 and all shots and mixed drinks were $1.
Yeah. $362 Do the math
@EddieInCA: 75 cent beers? $1 shots? $362 total? Okay… carry the 2… multiply by 7 … Yeah, the math says this was 1937 and you are over 100 years old!
@MarkedMan:
It was 2004. And it was a promotion this bar was doing for St Paddy’s day. . All the beers and shots were green. Green tequila. Green Gin. Green lemonade. Green sprite. Etc. Only drinks that didn’t have some sort of green were the Coca Cola ones.
@MarkedMan: Yes because NIMBY has prevented the building of anything resembling a modern reactor to replace those reactors used today that were built with slide rules….
@Mister Bluster: I recall some studies that showed a man would increase in attractiveness by merely being “taken”.
Personally I WISH I could date a tall woman. For some reason I always end up with woman who are at least a foot shorter than me (I’m over 6 foot tall).
@Beth:
I’m a has-been guy who knows his aging Boomer limitations. I have two adult millennial daughters and my dating days are no longer even in the rear view mirror. That said ….
Nothing is more cringe-y than when I’m at my local tavern and I am occasionally treated to the sad sad sad spectacle of guys in their 50’s or even 60’s who still think they’ve got game, and who are hitting on 25 year old women. After a while the guys get the message and move on or leave. Then the best part is overhearing the young women trash talk those guys. If the guys could only hear some of that ….
@Beth: By acting like I really didn’t care. Which I didn’t. Not that I wasn’t amenable to the idea but I wasn’t going to waste my time trying to pick up women in bars.
A buddy of mine had a sure fire line: “It’s not too long, but it’s not so big around either.” He said it didn’t get him laid all that much but it never failed to get a laugh.
@CSK: No South Side funeral is complete without one.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Remind me never to attend one.
@Matt: And here I am looking for someone on the shorter side. Instead I’ve been casually hanging out with a woman that’s a smidge taller (we can both legit say 5’9″, but I’m rounding up ). It’s rather uncomfortable putting my arm around her shoulders. And I do feel like we draw looks, but that could be for any number of reasons besides not fitting society’s height rules.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Well, yes, that stands to reason.
But a drunken, obnoxious royal-adjacent idiot relative would deliver his embarrassing comments in an educated, Oxford English accent, and many outside Britain might mistake it for an entirely proper, peculiarly royal English thing.
Rudy would leave no doubt.
@MarkedMan: Nonsense! Luddite and I used to buy $1 shots and cocktails at happy hour in 1975 in Seattle. And on St. Paddy’s Day most places ran happy hour open to close.
And I bought dollar shots in Vegas in the late 90s. And Buck-twenty-five 32 oz margaritas from street vendors. (I’ve never gotten how that worked.)