Rachael Hamlet

@karmamylanta

Retired lawyer. OG Star Trek fan. Socialist at heart, Democrat by necessity. Nationals baseball and Pokémon GO keep me amused.

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Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· 25d

"The Changeling" is one of several episodes in which Captain Kirk is able to use logic to cause a malevolent artificial intelligence to destroy itself.

Captain Kirk (William Shatner) persuading the Nomad probe that it has violated its own creator's directives. It will soon destroy itself.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· 25d

I'm outraged on behalf of the majestic manul, aka Pallas Cat.

The majestic manul, aka Pallas Cat. A small wild cat. It has a grumpy face and a disagreeable character. Although friend-shaped, it is not friendly.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· 26d

She is cursing the NY Times puzzle staff.

A caryatid: a female figure that functions as a pillar in ancient Greek architecture.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· 26d

I am just outraged on behalf of our prosimian cousin, the POTTO.

A golden-furred lemur known as a potto. It is hanging by one arm and one leg from a tree limb.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· 27d

Purple Air map confirms what your burning eyes and lungs are telling you.

Purple Air map showing air quality meters in the DC area with high levels of fine particulate matter. The air is very bad today.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jul 13

Haha! Almost the same for me.

The cover of Simon & Garfunkel's LP "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme." It's a photo of the two musicians when they were in their 20, in the background, with flowers and leaves in the foreground.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jul 4

Map.purpleair.com will be interesting to watch tomorrow night. I'll be miles away in Falls Church. I'll have the windows closed and the air purifiers running high.

Purple Air map centered on the National Mall.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 26

From what I've seen so far, 75% of the people I follow get Mamdani. No surprise, I did too:

Quiz results showing my politics are closest to Zohran Mamdani.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 21

Fortunately for the players and fans, the air in Inglewood looks pretty good.

Purple Air map showing good air quality in Inglewood, CA, where the "Los Angeles" World Cup games are being played.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 15

Shoebills are equal parts ridiculous and menacing. I love them.

A colored pencil drawing of a shoebill. It's a grey bird with an enormous yellowish bill. The drawing shows the bird from the neck up, looking straight at the viewer with a baleful expression.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 13

Star Trek fans know of Michael J. Pollard from the Original Series episode "Miri." He played a young teenager in that episode, despite being almost 30 years old at the time.

Michael J. Pollard as Jahn, the leader of a gang of orphan children in the Star Trek episode "Miri."

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 10

This is a good crashout. I don't know if it's my favorite. Maybe Spock smashing his little video monitor in Amok Time is my favorite.

Spock giving the Vulcan nerve pinch to Dr. Daystrom in The Ultimate Computer.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 7

With alt text, for the visually-impaired and for those who didn't recognize the image:

A close-up of Humphrey Bogart's trunk and hands as Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny." He is wearing his US Navy uniform, seated in the witness chair. His right cand is cupped, holding the steel ball bearings he uses as a fidget toy.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 4

Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia reading the funnies on the radio to kids during a newspaper strike.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 4

With alt text:

"I have no problem taking a job in a place that I am not welcome, okay?" Bilton responded. "I don't believe that will be the case, okay? I believe that I will prove that to everyone. But I am not intimidated by the things that you're saying in any way, shape, or form, okay? I've been a journalist for 25 years, Scott. I've sat across from incredibly powerful people, like you have, and none of it intimidates me, okay?

So you are not going to intimidate me in front of this group of people. I want that to be clear, okay?"

"Does it show good judgment to take this job under these circumstances?" Pelley pressed.

Bilton answered: "The reason it takes good judgment is because I care so deeply about this institution-"

"Oh please," Pelley said. The staff erupted in laughter once more.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 3

With alt text. Duplicate image has the balance of text that wouldn't fit on the first.

Statement of Scott Pelley

I'm saddened to see the transcript of the CBS News morning editorial meeting.

Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true. In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to "find a way back," as Weiss said in the editorial meeting. At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution. Weiss and Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start. "Firing" was raised by Cibrowski in the first 15 seconds. No CBS executive, at any time, suggested "a way back." To say so now is disingenuous. And they know it.

In fact, Weiss, Cibrowski and Nick Bilton refused to answer my questions. I asked Weiss a number of questions about why she fired the entire senior staff of 60 Minutes a few days before and without cause.

"I'm not answering that question," she said.

I asked why she did not come to 60 Minutes' offices to explain her actions.

"I'm not answering that question."

Why did she fire 60 Minutes Executive Producer Tanya Simon?

"I'm not answering that question."

Why fire correspondent Cecilia Vega?

"I'm not answering that question."

Why fire correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi?

"I'm not answering that question."

Throughout the meeting, the CBS executives were abrupt, dismissive and uninterested in dialogue. Suddenly, and to my surprise, Cibrowski declared, "This conversation is over!"

"Why?" I asked. "I'm happy to answer your questions."

"This conversation is over!" Cibrowski repeated, raising his voice and standing to show me the door.

"I'm happy to keep talking," I added.

No constructive dialogue was allowed by the CBS executives at any point. I was stonewalled for about 10 minutes and then, for no apparent reason, "This conversation is over."

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Jun 3

Alt text. There's too much text to fit on one image, so it's spread over two images.

Statement of Scott Pelley

There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.

The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS.

"60" has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.

The waste is heartbreaking.

Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.

For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I've been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 27

This how I first encountered Lee Meriwether:

Lee Meriwether as Catwoman in the 1960s TV show Batman. She's wearing a sparkly black cat suit, cat ears headband, and a black cat-eye shaped mask over her eyes.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 24

This picture sent me on a quest to find out how to tell whether a bear with brown fur is actually a brown bear (aka grizzly) or is a brown-furred variant of the much smaller species known as a black bear. I found this on the National Park Service website:

A description of how to visually identify a brown bear (aka grizzly) from the smaller species known as a black bear, which — despite its name — can have brown fur.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 24

The cartoon piece, if anyone is interested:

From the 2/25/1975 New Yorker. Two pages of cartoon drawings by George Booth on the theme of keeping warm. Some examples: a hot water bottle in the shape of a man's tie, a lace catnip comforter that attracts a dozen or so cats to sleep on you, a pair of shoes that have a chicken in each shoe.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 24

I've had curls since the very beginning. No need for perms.

A faded color picture of a 3 year-old girl with curly hair, She is smiling but not looking at the camera. An adult man's hand is next to her face and she is touching his hand.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 22

Star Trek TOS title card reads "McCoy Is Racist to Spock"

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 18

Google Translate out here calling kreplach "crepes" and "pancakes." My Bubbe would plotz!

A Google translate image mistranslating the Yiddish word "kreplach" as "crepe." It's a dumpling.

A Google translate image mistranslating the Yiddish word "kreplach" as "pancake." It's a dumpling.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 18

Something to add to your growing collection:

A black coffee cup with Arthur Anderson Accounting "awards for best business practices" on it, listed for sale on EBay.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 16

I don't know why this tickled me, but those cans mean that Marcel eats the exact same foods aa Marvin (black) and Daphne (tabby) do.

A black cat and a dilute tabby cat sit on a beige couch looking pretty cute.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 9

And Wm. Tecumseh Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman, Union general famous for brutally effective march to the sea through Georgia.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 7

But not the most famous French cat:

Screenshot of 2019 tweet from Patricia Lockwood:

me, lightly touching miette with the side of my foot: miette move out of the way please so I don't trip on you

miette, her eyes enormous: you KICK miette? you kick her body like the football? oh! oh! jail for mother! jail for mother for One Thousand Years!!!!

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· May 6

He'll have to learn how to make his own, or be relegated to the pierogies of sadness.

The front of a a package of Mrs. T's frozen pierogies.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Apr 26

I can feel that. Made me reach for my go-to.

Rachael Hamlet @karmamylanta· Apr 22

Oh shit! I offended Matt Gabriele and got blocked. @lollardfish.bsky.social please let him know that I'm a fan, that I've bought both your jointly-written books, and I'm really not a troll. I think my petulant post about congresspeople dying in office is the offending post.