Link round-up for 21 July 2019

Various interesting stuff I ran across on the net over the last week.

o o o o o

They should have been more careful with the paint job on this airplane.

Some people are just not very smart.

It's a cat planet.

This is cute.

Best paper airplane ever.

Only in Japan.

If you suffer from thrombozytenaggregationshemmung, you may need to use this medication.

Find the cats.

England could have had a different name.

Hoist the pirate flag!

All cats are playful sometimes.

In its own way this song is actually kind of catchy.

A British country house is haunted by a masturbating ape ghost (found via Mendip).

Least-qualified sex-education teacher ever.

American school years are confusing -- then there's France.

It's borrifying.

This tree photo seems almost otherworldly.

What a beautiful wedding picture.

Here's a look at a couple of early SF films that influenced Alien.

I don't know what the upcoming anime Tenki no Ko is about, but it at least looks visually interesting.

A blogger reacts to the Cats 2019 trailer.

Yastreblyansky explains why The Lion King is bullshit.

This hotel has a few issues.

It's getting too hot.

Interesting church design here.

You're fine the way you are.

Debra She Who Seeks remembers the Apollo 11 mission -- and the first woman in space. Crazy Eddie looks at the astronauts' memories.

Here's a treehouse you can rent.

This is Norway.

If you don't like it, don't read it.

Here's one group that's willing to "go back where they came from".

Electric bills in New York city are weird.

Student loan forgiveness isn't all that radical.

"Keep pushing."

Restoration of old paintings is a complex matter.

The "foundational principles" of the US are cowboy TV shows, apparently.  Professor Chaos takes a closer look.

Be as cruel and racist and thuggish as you want, but don't disrespect my imaginary friend.

If all those Tumblr twits do try to storm Area 51, here's what they'll encounter.

Microsoft is giving away free software to improve election security (found via Crooks and Liars).

They can't plan for the future.

No, war is not Hell.

Are the poor today better off than the rich 100 years ago?

Here's a response to a libertarian on the Nike / flag kerfluffle.

This shows that the meat industry is running scared.

Online losers harass and threaten sex workers.

Martina Navratilova looks back on being gay in the sports world in less-tolerant times.

Yet another (probably) Trumpanzee acts like an asshole and gets fired.

Ken Ham freaks out over honest reporting on the Ark Encounter.

This newspaper column from 1969 is topical again today.

Who gives a shit exactly how rich Epstein is?

The opioid Reefer Madness hysteria is taking an increasingly horrifying toll on chronic-pain patients.

7% of millennials self-identify as gay or bisexual, twice as many as in the general population.  I think that many gay and especially bisexual people in earlier generations didn't self-identify as such due to the stronger taboos of the time, and that the real underlying percentage is likely substantially higher than 7%.

Whatever Trump says, Republicans will fall in line.

Atheist Revolution looks at how Twitter's new rules will affect atheists.

Here are four economic myths which have been disproven by experience.

"The Jeffrey Epstein case is an asteroid poised to strike the elite world in which he moved."  There is far, far more to come.

Some TSA screeners don't know DC is part of the US.

It can happen here.

This is "sophisticated" theology.

McDonald's has issues with machines -- be sure to read the notes about Australia and Germany at the end.

Robert Reich calls out the four main conservative lies about inequality.

The Kentucky economy is no advertisement for Trump and McConnell.

Sonny Hernandez exemplifies the arrogance of the "true Christian".

We have too many prisoners.

The Trump regime is suppressing scientific information farmers need to help cope with climate change.

BDS is explicitly anti-Jewish, not just anti-Israel.  And the Democratic party has a problem it needs to address.

Planned Parenthood will give up federal money rather than comply with Trump's abortion gag order.  The state of Illinois is similarly defiant.

Republicans have turned their base into a weapon of mass destruction which now threatens the whole society.

People are voluntarily installing Amazon spyware on their computers.

Christianity teaches self-loathing.

Liz Crokin struggles to reconcile the Epstein arrest with the QAnon qrackpottery.

Jerry Coyne posts a rejected comment from his blog.  And here's another.

The horror of family separation has been used in this country before.

The judge who ruled leniently for an accused rapist because of his "good family" has agreed to step down.

Here are some responses to Trump's "go back" tweets.  Trump's Evangelical sycophants are disgracefully silent.

Islamists couch their anti-Semitism in a "victimhood narrative" (I cringe at how easy it is to manipulate Westerners this way).

The migrant border camps have their own commemorative coin now (found via Shower Cap).

What does the Apollo 11 landing site look like now?

Alan Turing, who cracked Nazi codes during World War II and pioneered the development of the computer, but was later arrested and hounded to suicide for being gay, will appear on the new British £50 note.  It's a way to preserve the memory of the evils of the past.

They claimed taxes "are against God's will", but it didn't work.

A diplomat worthy of the name does not cheer for an attack on soldiers of a friendly country.

Read this final letter from a woman murdered in Auschwitz.

A record number of women are running for office in Japan this year.  Advanced as Japan is, its political system is still more male-dominated than is typical of Western countries.

Dozens of companies are pulling production out of China, mostly moving it to Southeast Asia.

It's not just South Africa -- "corrective rape" happens in India too, often solicited by parents.

A pastor who evaded security measures has helped the Congo Ebola epidemic spread. It has the potential to become much worse.

Biden and Booker release their healthcare proposals, while Harris has an aggressive plan for prescription-drug prices.

The Democratic debates need to be run differently.  Already we're pretty much down to four serious candidates.

Here's why the House is moving so slowly against the Trump regime.

Warren has a plan for cracking down on parasite capitalism.

Collins looks vulnerable for 2020.

In February Harris called for decriminalization of sex work.  That took some guts; this issue today is roughly where gay marriage and legal marijuana were a decade ago.

House Democrats try to present a united front.  Let's keep it that way. Trolls, probably Russian, are already trying to divide us.

Trump may believe being called a racist will help him win next year.  He may be right; if the whole white blue-collar population feels they're being called racist by proxy, it will be disastrous.  But Republicans are getting nervous about the "send her back!" issue.

Schumer sounds ready to get tough.  More of this, please.

Arizona Republicans are plagued with infighting.

Turnout may not favor Democrats next year, but it may not matter.

Population shifts will have a huge impact on the 2020 House races -- especially in Texas.

Harris is being the adult in the room again.

Here's why Al Green's effort to rush impeachment failed.  Pelosi has her reasons for holding back.

Shower Cap examines Trump's racism and various governmental goings-on.

More links here.