Link round-up for 3 September 2017
A Trumpanzee attempt to insult Michelle Obama backfires badly.
Bird nests -- bird nests everywhere!
It's an old car, but it still runs.
Incels want to resolve their sexual frustration by nuclear war.
Unashamed, but ill-designed.
Must have been quite a wedding.
Don't be like this.
If you oppose Trump, it means the Illuminati are messing with your DNA (found via Mendip).
Some people are simply pleasanter to be around, even if they don't do much good.
Fonzie's motorbike in Happy Days was a tool for pwning would-be censors.
Live in the moment.
The octopus is a crafty critter.
Scary costume, man.
Heterosexuals don't go to Hell.
These seven simple things add up to the key to happiness.
Microwaving a phone will summon a demon, apparently.
You tell 'em, lady!
When did SF become mainstream literature? It's surprisingly recent.
There are issues with the Red Cross.
Sometimes there are good reasons why they don't want to talk to you -- or why people just don't like you (found via Ahab).
Kill them!
Religion offers consolation and justice.
A wingnut self-pwns about the Joe Louis monument in Detroit, with an interesting postscript about Max Schmeling.
It's terrible when others see everything about you as political.
The freedom to give things up is a very limited freedom.
On drugs, we know what works and what doesn't.
Whose heritage is it?
We live in a culture of misapplied outrage (FFS everybody stop fussing about trivia like Melania's shoes -- you sound like the wingnuts bitching about Obama's tan suit).
This is the world of today's college students (found via Mendip).
Once an asshole, always an asshole.
Steve M makes a convincing case against using violence against Nazis. (Personally I'm all for violence in self-defense or retaliation -- if someone had shot the driver who was about to ram the counter-protesters, for example. The issue here is initiating violence.)
Anti-vaccine nutbars are even targeting animals now.
This is the story of one abortion.
Read a hard-hitting response (found via Ahab) to the Nashville Statement, whose authors used prayer to validate their own prejudices.
For a time, the Trump Tower gift shop stocked appropriate items.
These are the faces of terrorism in the US.
Don't contaminate our superstitious nonsense with different superstitious nonsense.
A woman writer responds to the Nazis-are-irresistible meme I linked to last week. The crying Nazi says he was just kidding. Back in 1939 we had a lot more Nazis. And people punched them.
If you're a liberal Christian, here's what the hard-core Christians think of you.
There's a simple way to stimulate the economy.
Hurricane Harvey may have ruined half a million cars. Some people are good, some are not. These people are assholes. Texas's Secretary of State is simply an idiot. Here's more on the deregulation issue. But don't forget the Texas spirit.
Floodwater carries a lot of force.
This sure looks like a close relative.
NASA has the best nerds.
Here's how science works in the US.
Different countries, different police tactics (found via Yellowdog Granny).
Two months ago a horrifying attack happened in London.
Barcelona responds to terrorism.
This is Italy, seen from orbit.
All over Europe, austerity has failed and government stimulus has succeeded.
Kuwait needs to build certain things more sturdily.
Photos dramatize the differences between North and South Korea. The South considers getting tough after the North's latest provocations. In what may actually be the most important story of this year, there is growing support in Japan for an independent Japanese nuclear deterrent.
Religious violence continues in India after a guru's rape conviction -- don't think religion is less of a scam just because it's foreign and "exotic".
The Russia probe is just looking worse and worse for Trump (found via Hometown USA). It's becoming clearer how Russia hacked the election. Now this seems appropriate (found via Mock Paper Scissors).
For exactly what crime was Arpaio pardoned? It's revealing. Here's what his hometown newspaper has to say.
The internet excoriates Trump for bragging about crowd size while visiting Texas.
Hillary would not have done this stuff.
Trump's advisers are warning him about the danger of impeachment. Here's a balanced overview of charges that could be used.
Green Eagle proposes a platform for the Democratic party. Hecate Demeter points out two things to avoid. I'd be happy to see this included.
[227 days down, 1,235 days to go until the inauguration of a real President!]
posted by Infidel753 at 5:05 AM
9 Comments:
Hi Infidel. Now that life has gotten back to a semblance of normal, I have time to peruse your links. My first question is how do you shame cats when they feel no shame (as opposed to tuna)? At least dogs have the decency to make believe they feel badly after they do something bad. I love all the places birds build their nests. It reminds me of the time I opened the hood of my car a couple of years ago and found hatched eggs on top of the battery. Why are all these bible-thumpers sitting around and making stupid comments? Don't they know that the super-religious Twitler and his nun-like nekkid-posing wife have called for a day of prayer? Yeah, that'll fix everything. I am going to have to find some old Happy Days episodes, because I never noticed that Fonzie's motorcylce was there whenever he was wearing his leather jacket. OMG! I think I want an octopus now, but I'm afraid it'll kill the dog. I am resisting the urge to put my phone in the microwave, especially because it just cost me $191 to fix it (the microwave, not the phone). I just donated my small pittance to some charities in Houston that will buy diapers for babies, help the poor pets that were separated from their humans and to Meals on Wheels. I did not, and never will donate to the Red Cross. My uncle told me how horrible they were to the soldiers during WW2. They charged for everything, while the Salvation Army never asked for a penny. Plus, when Hurricane Wilma hit down here, the Red Cross did nothing but stand around with clipboards. I never saw them so much as give out a bottle of water. At least the asshole who was against the Joe Louis monument didn't claim that the fist belonged to Michelle Obama. I disagree about Melanoma's stilettos. She is in a position where optics matter. That includes wearing come-fuck-me-shoes to a national disaster where people were literally drowning. She could have at least pretended she gave a shit instead of treating the occasion as just another reason for a photo shoot. I agree with you, Infidel. Violence only in self-defense, or you give the other side the opportunity to change the subject away from their own assholery. Not to mention that violence should be the last resort, not the first tactic. OMG! That abortion story! My heart breaks for that woman and for any woman who has their options taken away from them, because some assholes can't hear anything over their own bible-thumping. I love how clever anti-Twitlers can be! That stuff in the gift shop is gold! Have you seen where people have spelled out nasty things spelled out about Twitler at crafts stores where they have individual letters hanging? I can't wait to go to Michael's or any of the other stores where they have those letters hanging! Hmmm, sharks near an elevator...when have I seent that before? Oh yeah, as I recall one was wearing a white dress and the other talked about Mexicans being racist. Oh, and fuck Joe Arpaio and Joel Osteen and David Clarke and Twitler. And Melanoma's shoes.
Nonnie: I'm sure shaming cats is not easy, and the ones pictured were probably plotting revenge even as they were being photographed. My favorite bird-nest location would have to be this one. I've heard of ants establishing colonies in car engines -- which isn't good, because they eat the wiring insulation. And of course, a day of mumbling to an imaginary friend can solve all problems.
The octopuses will probably kill us in the end, especially if they team up with cats to take over the world. That's too bad about the Red Cross. Even the Salvation Army is very big on the God-hates-fags stuff, so I steer clear of them. My favorite Trump thing with store letters was by this gal.
Abortion will never be a personal issue for me, obviously, but it's horrific to think of not being free to make one's own decision about it. Such situations are often emotionally-wrenching in themselves without some control freak trying to impose his religious taboos on you. It's one of the things that most infuriates me about the Christian Right.
The bird nest on the bird repeller reminds me of when a giant palmetto bug was sitting in my kitchen atop a can of Raid. I swear the bastard was mocking me! I am also reminded of going to vote one day (not the last election, that was the most horrifying of all), getting in my car and turning on the a/c as I was driving to my sister's house. It looked like tons of gold glitter flying out of the vents. I looked down and realized the "glitter" was thousands of ants! I almost got into an accident. They were all over the car and all over me. I got to my sisters, jumped out of the car and tried to get them out of my hair and off my clothes. It was horrifying!
The Salvation Army disappointed me with their stance on gays, and I no longer donate to them, but they are still far better than the Red Cross, which, since the days Elizabeth Dole headed it, has become an arm of the Rethuglican party. Same thing for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization. Too many good charities to give to than to throw money away so CEOs and their cronies can make lots of money.
Good piece from Guardian "Lessons on Austerity" ... I'm happy that so much talk is coming out on this too. It's clear to anyone who is paying atencion, who is behind this, and why this austerity, trade deals, corporatized globalization, etc is being pushed ... it is of NO BENEFIT to the vast majority of the globe, or even most business (for those who believe in free market). All this shit has the same roots. Bottom line for them (orchestrators) Infidel ... abolish all sovereignty/ government (peoples voice), make a generic type of mindless human race to serve them and depend on them, total control of every market, control all inventive/ innovative ideas/ concepts, highjack and own them, no unions, no voice, no rights ... the list is almost endless.
The other piece I really liked was on the Universal Basic Income study ... for me ... this is the way to go. There is only a small percentage of humans that disapprove ... the same folks that push austerity or say they want us to be free market, but would want to charge an American with a felony if you bought your prescription drugs from Canada, etc
La Marquise steam car ... never seen that ... I guess it would be more environmentally emissions friendly. If a new steam car was presented in these dayz ... oil companies would probably be first in line to lobby against it. Their motto is simply "by golly, if it aint dirty ... it just aint no good!"
The piece that Yellow Dog re- posted about Texan's sense of unity is really true (although it may be hard to believe for some), it's like a cultural thing here. Things have been moving quick in Houston because of this, and getting back on the road. We have thousands of Houstonians here in Dallas, mostly the poor working classes with no insurance for their losses back home, etc ... many will be here for months, the shelter at the rec center here in my neighbourhood alone has over 500, many will also stay in Dallas. This culture of pulling for each other wears on you. My neighbour Billy Vasquez moved here in the 90's from South Bronx/ NYC (NY Rico) ... he also has turned full Texan in this way. I like him as a next door neighbour too, because we are alwayz talking about the city (NY) back in the day, he is like 57 years old, almost my age. We were on my patio the other night with a couple other dudes talking over a beer. And me and Bill were telling these dudes, that when we lived in NY, Bill in South Bronx and me in Flatbush/ Brooklyn, we wouldnt have even been welcome in each others neighbourhoods as friends because of how racist and divided NYC was back then. Understand that Flatbush was mostly Italian, Jew, German, Irish (founded by Dutch) ... they did not even rents to PR's or blacks, and the Italians controlled and had the heavy hand, while the South Bronx was all Puerto Rican with a handful of blacks. The "N" word was heard more frequent than in Texas believe it or not, and every nationality had some derogatory word for it ... and the streets were tough, believe me. Once I got robbed late night by some PR's on the subway for my money ... then the SOB actually made me give him my new tennis shoes as well, while his friend held a knife to my neck ... my shoes came off fast! ... no problemo vato {:-)
Yeah, me and my daughters gave donations, and we gave locally, AVOIDING the Red Cross! BTW ... the gas crisis I talked about in previous posting was in Dallas- Fort Worth ... not Houston. 100's of 1000's went to gas stations across the metroplex when the hurricane hit, even with gas containers and bled dry all the pumps ... it was insane!
Freemasons Illuminati altering DNA or whatever to hate Trump. Sadly there are thousands of folks that actually believe things like that ... YouTube is saturated with shit like that. My favourite YouTube minister is Paul Begley, when I have time to burn and want some good old down home doom and gloom paranoia for entertainment. Paul is freaked out and has that funny look on his face, funny as Hell! ... he alwayz opens saying "Are YOU SERIOUS ... are you serious ... etc ... the end is coming" {:-)
Birds nests and cat pieces cool
North and Sough Korea differences ... this tourist dude uploading his visit on YouTube to North Korea ... absolutely incredible, really a weird (by my standards) society.
Shoudnt have crammed the octopus in the jar ... they are smarter than some humans, even Trump! {:-)
Later ....
And here I was thinking that the article about the "old car" was about my 1991 Volvo station wagon!
--Reading the piece about incels wanting to just blow everything up just to get off reminds me of the still-relevant words of Alfred Pennyworth: "Some men just want to watch the world burn".
--I oppose Trump and his acolytes because they are simply awful people--and the Illuminati didn't have to change my DNA for that. :)
--If microwaving a phone can summon a demon, does that mean that I can summon a really hot succubus? (Kidding, kidding!)
--It is about time that SF became "mainstream" literature. I would argue that SF is a far more accurate barometer of the times it was written in, far more than contemporary literature.
--The Trump/Russia affair is not going away, no matter what Trump pulls out to stop it, and no matter what the far-Left fools like H.A. Goodman keep tweeting. The evidence is piling up, and the contents of the "Steele Dossier" are being confirmed day by day. I am also wondering just how much of the GOP will be hit by this, since I'm sure that quite a few of them are up to their necks in this swamp.
--Yep, Hillary would not be doing any of what Trump is doing. Sadly, too many decided that she was somehow going to be worse, and thus threw their votes to Stein or Johnson or didn't bother to vote at all. And even as Trump continues to attack the Constitution and the very foundations of the US, they still claim that Hillary would have been worse, and they still wave the "Hillary stole the election from Bernie" bloody shirt around. They can go f**k themselves.
Thanks again for another great list, Infidel!
Nonnie: That ant story sounds awful. I don't have a problem with ants generally, but they need to stay off our turf.
Ranch: It's very odd, this idea that economies can be helped by deprivation. Rather like the old idea of "curing" people by bleeding them with leeches -- which actually would make the patient weaker. (Maybe the problem today is that the economic leeches are writing the policies.) As for Basic Income, sooner or later we're going to need it as the alternative to revolution. The problem is how fast the political establishment will realize that.
There are some amazing nutjobs on YouTube, and on the internet generally. For that matter, the wingnuts are already starting to blame all the weird weather lately on the gays. Anything but admit it's global warming.
Marc: The weird thing is that the incels seem to think they wouldn't burn with it.
On the succubus thing, it's worth a try, but I can't guess what you'd have to microwave. Perhaps a drawing of what was desired?
Science fiction deserves more respect. It can often raise issues we may actually have to deal with in the future, such as artificial intelligence, and get people thinking about them.
I'm hoping that the example of Trump will get the "mainstream Democrats are just as bad as Republicans" idiots down to negligible numbers for the next few elections. Bush had that effect for 2008 and 2012 -- only a total moron could have argued that things would have been just the same with Gore as President. Unfortunately the lesson seems to wear off by eight years down the road.
Smug eco-warriors may think they’re curbing global warming with their vegan diets, charged-up Teslas, and rooftop solar panels. But according to Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at the University of Cambridge, we’re barely staving off disaster. He should know: The pessimistic professor has been studying sea ice for nearly 50 years. "Reducing our emissions is not going to be enough to prevent catastrophic consequences," he says. In his scorching new book, A Farewell to Ice, he presents a slew of radical—and sometimes theoretical—ways to save civilization.
Carbon Vacuums
One way to reverse global warming would be to hoover up the greenhouse gases that are now making Earth all hot and bothered. "Direct air capture of CO2 is something the whole world should be putting its research money into," Wadhams says. "The problem is that the level of effort thus far has been much too small; the sense of urgency isn’t there."
Salt-Spraying Ships
University of Edinburgh engineers designed a fleet of boats that would pipe ocean water hundreds of feet into the sky, spraying the clouds with salt crystals to make them reflect more sunlight. The ships would target areas with persistent marine cloud cover, like the Californian and Chilean coasts.
Sparkle-Blasting Balloons
Researchers in the US and UK have proposed shooting sulfuric acid or sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere using balloons, planes, or artillery shells, effectively filling the sky with sparkles to deflect sunlight. Such aerosol injections show promise, Wadhams says, but introduce environmental dilemmas: They might also deplete the ozone layer.
Supersized Space Mirror
Astrophysicists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have explored launching a giant mirror or vast expanse of reflective mesh into orbit to protect the planet from the sun. But Wadhams remains skeptical: "Nobody has come up with a feasible plan for assembling this that doesn’t carry a colossal cost."
Anon: All of those fall into the category of "planetary engineering", which I've been advocating for a long time. I suspect we'll ultimately need to resort to such measures to really deal with the problem.
However, reducing the emission of carbon dioxide by, for example, shifting to solar power is also vital -- especially since the world's energy needs will dramatically increase as much of the Third World catches up with the West technologically. Without such a shift, the increase in power generation would hugely escalate global warming. And it's flat-out wrong to dismiss advocates of solar power as "smug".
We can't risk depleting the ozone layer, but there are plenty of other options.
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