Link round-up for 29 September 2019

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

o o o o o

The pumpkin spice fad is completely out of control.

See some electronic-communication cartoons.

Spelling is important.

The spiders are bewildered.

A few jokes for your day here and here.

This thief messed with the wrong woman.

I didn't realize this, but Halloween trees are a thing (found via Old Fashion Halloween).

There's a benefit to going to church.

Some more mostly-cheery Halloween decorations here.

"Can I have a plastic bag, please?"

I'm just as baffled as the cat by this effect of electro-magnetism.

These people exist.

Will you get bored in retirement?  (I get more bored working.)

Bill Maher holds forth on impeachment and Giuliani's meltdown.

Graham is hopelessly devoted to Trump.

Americans have "traded community for economy", but there are little ways of getting it back.

Which is the deadliest killer?

Visitors to Times Square face a new kind of harassment.

Stupid Evil Bastard pwns a rather pitiful creationist.

Sixpence Notthewiser explains why he's not interested in going back to Tumblr (NSFW image).

"No, that's socialism."

Here are some oddities about life in the US.

It's spamming for Jesus!

While being so critical of Trump, it's only fair to remember Obama's malfeasance in office.

LifeSite News is in a snit about Cokie Roberts being allowed a Catholic funeral.  Because Christianity is all about shunning and excluding people.

"One's body is inviolable, subject to one's will alone."

Boeing's MACS disaster is the latest result of a shift from an engineering-centered corporate culture to "a culture of financial bullshit".

Remember this when interacting with retail workers over the holidays.

We need to accept that people can change over time.

Spend wisely.

The madness the Republican party created has now engulfed it.

Some of the urge to censor comes from kids who were never allowed to grow up.

Facebook has served the purposes of employment discrimination.

This sounds like one hell of a nasty school. Update:  The latest allegation is false; the rest of the stuff in the post is presumably true.

"Women should have absolutely no say whatsoever in the issue of abortion."

Here's what the wingnutosphere has been up to over the last week or so.

Darwinfish 2 looks at phony patriotism.

Even the MSM is now calling out some of Trump's bullshit.

Why should atheists respect Jesus when Christians don't?

The history of the Pilgrims in early America includes some very ugly stuff.

Evangelical nutballs sound off on impeachment and Greta Thunberg.

Speaking of which, a lot of wingnuts are absolutely spitting venom about Thunberg.  I've seen equally vicious stuff on some right-wing blogs.

A popular feminist internet forum is under attack.

Know the opposition, folks!  See right-wing blogger reactions to the impeachment inquiry here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.  RedState insists it's a big fuss about nothing, LifeSite regurgitates talking points, and Breitbart claims Democrats are panicking -- while Jim Geraghty at NRO takes a more balanced view.

Does Trump really care about religious freedom?

The class war that has wrecked US prosperity was the capitalist parasite class's way of dealing with increased competition as other countries recovered from World War II.

A disgusting religious practice spreads disease to newborn babies.

If we win next year, making DC a state can help make the Senate more democratic.

A simple change could massively cut greenhouse-gas emissions (there might be an issue with another type of gas emissions, though).

Current research corroborates that exercise is good for your brain.

This video makes a good case for what I think is the true solution to the Fermi paradox -- that intelligent life (and probably life of any kind) is very rare in the universe and we may even be completely alone.

Here's what a black hole really looks like, at least the parts you can see.

A publisher rejected a book on free speech because it said controversial things.

In New Zealand, self-identified Christians are down to 37% of the population, strongly outnumbered by "nones".

US prison officials are studying the Norwegian prison system as a basis for reforms here.

Ecuador's parliament has rejected a bill to decriminalize abortion for rape victims.

Trump's phone call to Zelensky was meant to pressure Ukraine into providing dirt on Biden.  So why didn't Ukraine do that?

This is just weird.  India and China are already doing more to fight global warming than the US is.  And Kerry thinks making new commitments at some meeting is more important than actual action?

The dreariness of life in business-dominated China is fueling a drop-out culture.

Engulfed in a national tidal wave of rape and murder, South Africa decides to crack down on spanking.

The results of the LGBTQ presidential forum were a bit of a mixed bag.

Martin Longman thinks Biden and Warren are our strongest general-election candidates.

Republicans feel confident that impeachment would help their side.  Democrats, not so much. One poll shows a rise in voter support for impeachment, but the overall picture isn't clear yet.

Is Sanders supportive of gays?  Let's look at the record.

Warren is making the right enemies.

Wyoming's Senate primary will test whether libertarianism has any future in the Republican party.

The media need to stop trying to create a Biden/Ukraine scandal where none exists (some good discussion in the comments too).

Defeat next year won't bring the Republican party back to sanity.  It may even make it more extreme, as it's the least wingnutty ones who will be gone.

More links here.

[983 days down, 479 to go until the inauguration of a real President.]