Link round-up for 20 October 2019

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

o o o o o

Greco-Roman mythology has its amusing side.

Consider yourself warned.

Thinking of becoming a witch?  Here's everything you'll need.  But some go modern.

Discourage excessive bathroom breaks with specialty toilet paper.

Read Trump's letter to Santa.

I challenge you to look at this image and not at least snicker.

This is not dinner.

"I know what you are."

What's the difference between a chickpea and a garbanzo bean?

Meet hurricane shark, who really gets around.

It's Chumbawamba with penguins (found via Georgia Girl).

Halloween is on the attack.

Miniaturopolis is back and getting ready for the season.

Linus from Peanuts finally found the right pumpkin patch.

Vampires, vampires everywhere!

See more on the rich skeletal culture of Manitou Springs, CO.  Lots more here too, plus video.

Further decorations here, some with a Dia de los Muertos flavor.

Have some spooky album covers for Halloween.

Check out these creepy production stills from the 1920 horror film Häxan (found via Mendip).

Some Halloween decorations get a little over the top.

Mastodon turds helped shape the biology of modern Georgia.

I understand wanting to leave work early, but this is ridiculous.

".....no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."

Here's a thoughtful listing of the top 100 horror movies of all time -- actually 101, since they count both versions of The Fly as one.

This weather report isn't messing around.

American ship, Russian ship, whatever.

Only 65% of Americans now self-identify as Christian -- less than two-thirds -- down from 78% just twelve years ago.  Non-religious people now outnumber Catholics in the US.

Writing teachers review Trump's letter to Erdoğan.

No, The Joker is not going to inspire real-world violence.

If you still eat meat, read this.

If you use TikTok, read this.

There are grounds to suspect Trump of Sudafed abuse.

Sheila Morris wasn't too impressed with the debate.

Ken Ham's "Ark Encounter" is just a boring, overpriced tour of a building full of signs on walls.

AG Bill Barr takes a stand against the First Amendment.

Don't use TurboTax.

These people exist.

States can still defend net neutrality despite the Trump FCC's betrayal.

Columbus Day is nothing to celebrate.

See how the tax rate paid by the ultra-wealthy has fallen since 1950 in the US, now lower than that of any other income group.

Trump is dumbing down America by allowing religion to invade education.

Darwinfish 2 looks at right-wing hypocrisy of the past, present, and future.

See Trump confront a supporter of the Kurds.

Churches have become a privileged class of business, preaching hate while being exempted from taxes and laws that apply to everyone else.

The Trump Trot is a simple but effective strategy for getting away with countless crimes.

Evangelicals respond venomously to the death of Rep. Cummings.  Here are more conservative reactions.

Here's a non-drug anti-pain device I hadn't heard of before.

"Regenerative farming" is helping bee populations recover.

Gorillas eat things their teeth aren't suited for.  Maybe early humans did, too.

Is napping good for you?  It's a grey area.

Looks like Bedbug Grand Central won't be hosting the G-7 after all.

Anti-gay Chick-fil-A couldn't make it in the UK.  No room there for this scam either.

Get it done:  The British public now supports leaving the EU by an 8-point margin -- twice as large as the margin in the Brexit referendum of 2016.  Johnson has negotiated a new exit deal with the EU, but needs approval from Parliament, some members of which are still trying to drag the process out.

London commuters have had enough of being harassed by assholes.

Chamberlain's 1938 capitulation to Hitler was rooted in conservative values.

Trump's deal with Erdoğan was a surrender.  Will the media recognize it as such?

The role of women in the Kurdish struggle has long been unusual for the Middle East.

Despite being illegal, fetal gender testing for the purpose of selectively aborting girls remains popular in China.

Rape, forced abortion, and other abuses are common treatment for minority women held in China's concentration camps.

Students in this Islamic school got a good education in what religion is all about.

Trump has truly made the Republican party his own.  Anti-Trump Republicans do exist, but not where it counts.  Still, the alienation of younger Evangelicals will be significant longer-term.

Support for a public option is at 73% and rising.  Abolition of private insurance is far less popular.  We'd be smart to run on the former, not the latter.

Surface area doesn't vote, people do.

Trump's bullying of subordinates is coming back to haunt him.

Moscow Mitch will hold an impeachment trial to protect purple-state Republican Senators.  A few may even be "allowed" to vote for removal, as long as they don't reach the magic 20.

Removing Trump via the 25th Amendment would be harder than impeachment.

On the Gabbard issue, Hillary knows what she's talking about.  She was smart to avoid naming names.  And there's supporting evidence, while Gabbard is oddly evasive.

Pelosi shows once again that she's the adult in the room in Washington.

If Trump is removed from office, who gets the Republican nomination for next year's election?

More links here.

[Image at top found via Hackwhackers]