Link round-up for 20 September 2020

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

o o o o o

".....you may be a cat person."

Do housekeeping right.

Lady M finds some spooky "upcycled" decorations.

Interesting mural here.

"The opposite of straight A's....."

Now this is how you sit on a bar stool (found via Mock Paper Scissors).

Photos show a man playing both sides, plus physics art and the colors of the sky.

Giant rats are eating the internet in France, where people also ride bikes naked.

It's been a crappy week -- have a little magic.

"The Moon looked down and saw a new daughter....." (found via Wordifull).

Must be the season of the witch.

No matter how much tear gas they used, he wouldn't leave.

Wear some bug jewelry.

Brazilians build snowmen, sort of.

This mousetrap is too cruel.

This is an attractive dark-horse candidate for "man's best friend".

Bloggers writhe in the torments of Hell trying to deal with the new Blogger interface.  A long-time user mourns.  Here's a method for restoring the old interface (from commenter Mary here) -- I have not tested this yet myself.

Here's one reason why people end up reading wingnut "news" sites.

Contemplate the mystery of the purple squirrel.

See the new Trump portrait.

Don't be this kind of empath.

Sorry, wrong troops.

High train, meet low bridge.

Don't forget the history of print.

Some people want to be slaves.

The Oscars have jumped the shark.

Please don't ride on elephants.

"We lost RBG, we'd better not lose America."  Her legacy will prevail.  Today we mourn, tomorrow we fight.

Here's how the country's southern and western disasters look from the relative safety of Michigan.

Lurching toward the Dark Ages -- a powerful Trump toady accuses scientists of sedition for not twisting their conclusions to fit official dogma.  But science isn't political.  No wonder that for the first time in 175 years, Scientific American has endorsed a candidate.

Tengrain lays out the coming battle over Ginsburg's seat.  Some Republican senators may not want a vote on a nominee.

Here's a frequently-updated map of fire evacuation zones in Oregon.  At least six people across the state have been arrested for starting fires (none with political motives, though).

Hillary didn't lose.....

Don't be a slave to tradition.

"That's a cult."

These people exist -- be very afraid.

Apparently it's fairly easy to fool God.

Biden has an ambitious agenda.

This is capitalism (found via Yellowdog Granny).

"And who is my neighbor?"

The liberal view of rights is widely accepted.

Kushner's tenants are in revolt.

This is not love.

Karma's a bitch, even to a Republican.

"That is the dumbest shit I have ever heard."

The appeal of cultism can be explained by abdication syndrome.  Or maybe it's humiliation (see my comment too, though).

Harris offers federal decriminalization of marijuana.

Evangelicalism has become a toxic brand.  And a turd by any other name would stink as bad.

Wildfire smoke is killing birds en masse.

Trump mumbles and rambles while his followers spread germs.  He told all these lies at just one meeting.

This advice for pastors could be useful in many situations.

Wingnuts are as wingnutty as ever.  They're getting paranoid too.

It's the family values party.

He ignored the virus, but it didn't ignore him.

Darwinfish 2 looks at the Woodward revelations.

DeJoy appears to be putting our hard-working postal employees at risk of covid-19 in order to further slow the mail -- a monstrous crime, if true.

The mainstream media don't want you to know about this book. They probably won't be too keen about this one either.

"Thank your sorry flabby ass, Trump, for fucking over the Forest Service."

A belief is not proven true just because a large number of people hold it.

Here are some reforms to restore democracy which the Democrats should enact after the election.

Oregon evacuees take what precautions they can against looting.

This week's internet wingnuttia includes a heavy dose of projection.

"The Bible has the unique ability to be whatever a person wants it to be."

American generals raise the alarm about Trump (found via Progressive Eruptions).

Men intruding on women's shelters is a serious problem.

"The administration made every single mistake you could possibly make" on handling the pandemic.  Trump couldn't even manage basic competence.  The private sector tried to help, but Kushner fucked it up.

For the sake of the future, Trump and his gang must be held accountable.

Here's why this year's west coast fires are unprecedented.

A prominent archbishop says that God will make sure Trump is re-elected.  Since God isn't American, wouldn't this be just another case of a foreign dictator meddling in our elections?

Holding crackpot ideas can lead to much worse things.

After the fall of Trump, the big job will be deprogramming the Trumpanzees.

Altar calls illustrate the shallowness and manipulativeness of Christianity.

"Don’t ever ask me to justify my position on this again."

Universities can't safely re-open when people won't follow the damn rules.

Here are some of the women's rights which are under de facto threat from transgender ideology.

An MIT planetary-science professor looks at the recent discovery hinting at life on Venus.

Ancient Romans commonly lived almost as long as we do -- the shorter average lifespan was due to high infant and child mortality.

Evolution may explain why smart people are less social.

Learn Carl Sagan's rules for detecting bullshit.

Thirty non-Americans assess what's going on in the US (found via Miss Cellania).  In general our reputation as a country is plummeting.

In Canada, restaurants haven't played a major role in the pandemic.

Pwned, I think.

This is what happens without ironclad guarantees of free speech -- like the First Amendment.

Burger King and McDonald's wouldn't do this in the US.

A Japanese city introduces women-only tram cars to minimize sexual harassment (I've heard of this in Brazil as well).

India's religio-nationalism is a fountain of covidiocy.

This seems like a good way to deal with anti-maskers.

The impact of covid-19 in Africa has been milder than expected (but I can remember when they were saying that about India).

A study from Rwanda shows that handing out money works.

Republicans threaten to destroy Social Security if we don't get them out of power.

The election isn't a referendum on Trump -- it's a referendum on us.

Democrats are nervous -- which is better than the overconfidence of 2016.

We've all heard this conversation.

Early voters in Virginia came prepared for long lines.

Nothing will fundamentally change?

Don't dance to the Russians' tune.

Yes, we can and will have a free and fair election.

Running scared?  Some Senate Republicans express a willingness to work with president Biden.  Some are debunking Trump's lies about voting by mail.

More links here.

[1,340 days down, 122 to go until the inauguration of a real president.]