Link round-up for 8 October 2017
Do not release teh wyrm.
Looks like a perfect day.
A wingnut goes grocery shopping.
Fully charged! Maybe plug in here next time?
This looks like an "alignment chart" for the blogosphere.
Go for a spin.
Heh.
I'm almost afraid to speculate about the function of this object.
Halloween attacks! Impressive decorations here.
This person is way too enthused about Autumn (found via Mendip).
Even the mightiest started small.
This gadget could be pretty handy, if it actually works.
Many artifacts recovered from Pompeii fall into a particular category.
Purity-obsessed antis harass f/f and now m/m shipping into blandness (if you don't understand that, you probably won't understand the linked post).
If Trump were a bird, he'd be this one.
Giant snails in Florida have been involved in a truly disgusting religious cult.
Gallantry can come from unexpected quarters.
Earth-Bound Misfit looks at Hugh Hefner.
Capt. Fogg offers some sanity on the Las Vegas mass murder (found via Fair and Unbalanced). Pat Robertson offers total insanity. Here's a good debate on guns (and I'm not saying that just because one person linked to me), going beyond the usual mere exchange of clichés.
Noah Smith takes a thoughtful look at freedom of expression on campus (the comments are worth a look too).
Brotha Wolf has a message for "patriots" about black people (found via Fair and Unbalanced).
Don't be fooled by this fake photo.
Very often, censorship is about suppressing women's sexuality.
Sometimes, Texas makes sense.
The US public develops more confidence in the media in the face of Trump's constant bashing.
Watch as much as you can stand, and try to imagine the horror of living with this view of reality.
The US may have failed Puerto Rico, but not vice-versa.
When people say feminism is sexist, this is the kind of thing they're talking about.
The creator of Pepe the Frog launches a legal campaign against the Alt-Right for stealing his work -- and in at least one case he's gotten results.
Here's another reminder of what the Civil War was really about.
"It's not murder if they're black."
These people exist.
A Christian and ex-fundie looks at slavery in the Bible.
There's no justice for a victim of false accusation.
Experts assess the chances of a new civil war in the US in the next 15 years (the consensus: it's about one in three).
The "ghost gunner" machine is the latest advance in making your own guns at home.
Here's a collision bigger than you can imagine.
GM plans to phase out the internal combustion engine.
NASA has a plan to save the world from super-volcanoes -- and generate energy too (found via TYWKIWDBI).
This is the Solar eclipse as seen from the International Space Station, with the Milky Way in the background. Notice the shadow on the Earth.
Imagine stained-glass windows that can produce electricity.
No, you twit, Europe is shaking off its earlier colonization by Christianity.
Thanks goodness we still have the Bill of Rights.
A neo-Nazi march in Sweden leads to violence and a mass counter-protest.
Germany was once led by a Trump-like figure, and the results were not good.
Charlie Hebdo will soon have an online edition in English.
Sorry, but Howard Dean is an idiot.
Swing your chicken do-si-do.....
It's been a century -- but remember this genocide.
Iran's foreign minister has a few words for Trump.
Don't get too excited about Saudi Arabia letting women drive -- it's still a barbarous country.
An American in Japan contrasts its health-care system with our own (found via Crooks and Liars).
Putin assesses the possibility of a military strike on North Korea.
A talented Chinese sculptor wins admiration -- and one weirdly-racist response.
China may have found a solution for its serious shortage of women.
India takes conservation seriously.
It's worked before -- humor is being used to fight extremism (found via Mendip).
Caption this photo.
Trump puts his foot in it with the base again. The wingnuts are unhappy with Gorsuch, and right-wing donors are getting frustrated and turning to Steve Bannon. But Booman Tribune warns us not to count on Republicans' divisions to defeat them.
Democrats should focus on the big issues and avoid trivia.
While Pence's dimwit Chief of Staff demands that all Republicans support Trump, the latter's actual approval rating is dragging them all down. No wonder, as he fumbles and stumbles.
[262 days down, 1,200 days to go until the inauguration of a real President!]
posted by Infidel753 at 5:56 AM
3 Comments:
Thanks for all the linky goodness, Infidel, as always.
Whenever I see or hear a debate going on, there is always the argument that this particular ban would not have stopped that particular incident. To that, I say, so what? What if passing a background check law would not have stopped the piece of filth shooter in Vegas? Would it save other people elsewhere? What if a 3-day waiting period would not have stopped the sicko who killed babies in Sandy Hook? Would it save other people elsewhere? No law is going to stop everyone and every atrocity. Passing a seatbelt law did not prevent every automobile accident death. We can't force every single person to wear a seatbelt, and there might be a tiny percentage of people who can't wear seatbelts for one physical reason or another. We also couldn't retrofit every car with seatbelts. However, eventually, the old cars without seatbelts were taken off the road, and a shitload of people have been saved, because seatbelt laws went into effect. The arguments against more strict gun laws are just bullshit, and I am sick of hearing them. I'm also sick of hearing that we have to understand the gun culture, just as I am sick of hearing that I have to understand the anger of bigots who blame black people or immigrants, because they can't find jobs, or that I have to understand bible-thumpers and have to respect (and subsidize) their blatant bigotry. Interesting that the bigotry, religious fanatacism and gun culture often intersect.
I am old enough to remember when smoking was allowed everywhere. Then, because of social pressure from folks who didn't like the smell of smoke mixing with their food, restaurants had non-smoking and smoking areas. Eventually, most restaurants prohibited smoking in their establishments. Maybe that's what's needed now with guns. Maybe establishments that serve the public need to become gun-free. If people want to carry guns, let them know that they are not welcome in bars, restaurants, movie theaters, stadiums or any other place where other people don't want to be around them. Smokers (and I was one for many years) have become almost outcasts. Maybe it's time for gun-toters to become the same.
Thanks for this Sunday tradition, Infidel. Always appreciate checking the feast of links every Sunday morning (today was slightly different, since I took a peek while at work--it's a job for the holiday season, so it's temporary, but hey, I'm working and making some coin).
Speaking of China finding a solution to the shortage of women...strange that I read this after seeing Blade Runner 2049--what with the creation and use of Replicants in both BR films, I wonder if someone would go this route instead of using mechanical robots. Just a thought...
(And I also liked BR 2049. It's a sequel that is a worthy follow-up to the original, and the visuals are simply outstanding. I will also admit that the end of the movie did move me to tears. There are call-backs to the first film, and the performances are solid. It isn't for everyone--it is a long film, but it is not interested in ramming things down your throat and takes time to unfold and reveal everything. People used to slam-bang boom-fests will probably be disappointed, but I wasn't.)
Nonnie: I'm all in favor of sensible basic rules like background checks and preventing people with documented mental problems from buying guns. But when a mass shooting prompts calls for new controls, is it really too much to ask that those who are proposing the controls come up with something that would, in fact, have helped stop that particular shooting? In fact, I've never seen any convincing argument that the new rules commonly being advocated would have any substantial effect on the frequency of mass shootings. It's true that other democracies with tighter gun laws have much lower rates of violent crime -- but so do other countries where guns are abundant. The real problem in the US is probably cultural and social. And as long as a lot of the public suspects that gun-control advocates, deep down, really want take away gun-ownership rights from the general population, any new controls are going to get tremendous pushback.
Marc: Thanks. If making "replicants" ever becomes technologically feasible, that is indeed likely to happen -- many new technologies, from printing to photography to video to the internet, have quickly been adapted for sexual purposes. Of course, if replicants (or conventional robots) become advanced enough to develop self-awareness in their own right while we continue to treat them as property, haven't we just re-invented slavery?
I've been curious how Blade Runner 2049 would turn out. When I first heard about the idea, my immediate reaction was negative since I consider the original the best science fiction movie ever made -- why meddle with it? Obviously "franchise" movies vary in quality -- Aliens was a worthy successor to Alien, but look at the horrible mess the "prequels" have made of the concept. Blade Runner 2049 has gotten some good reviews. I don't know whether I'll see it, though -- I don't have an abundance of free time right now.
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