07 February 2021

Link round-up for 7 February 2021

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

o o o o o

Uh oh, it's a warning from the alien reptile humanoids.

"It wasn't hard."

What service exactly is being offered here?

Discover the pros and cons of old-fashioned clothes.

Worst bird names ever.

Rawknrobyn observes Valentine's Day (NSFW).

Learn everything you ever wanted to know about animal farts, and some things you probably didn't want to know.

Not everything should be bought from Ikea.

Don't eat this.

Should you date the mailman?

One of the annoyances of work is putting up with the boss's idiosyncrasies.

Not sure I want to know exactly how they planned to do this.

There's more than one message here.

They look fierce.  Get a roomba.

Whose bowling ball is this?

The New York Crank experiences nightmarish visions.

There is such a thing as tarot fashion -- and, this being the internet, tarot cats as well.

Art imitates helps explain life.

"When he died, the lock rusted."

Connect with the land.

A poet reflects on birth.

Apparently space Jews can't aim very well.

Elephant behavior is fascinating.

Some great pictures from Italy here, including the tomb of Galileo.

Gustav Doré was a prolific creator of awesomely-detailed engravings.

It's the American dream!

Atheist Revolution is getting off Facebook.  May others follow.

No need to study science (found via Yellowdog Granny).

We need more boring stories.

AO3 revolutionized fandom.

As the eagle flies (use fullscreen).

Failed wingnut prophets remain in denial.

"Empaths" are not the only ones with this amazing power.

More of this, less of that.

Some great Eisenhower quotes here.

"Call this civic barbarism."

The ever-mutating nonsense about bigfoot sheds light on religion.

62% of business owners in downtown Portland say the central city is no longer safe.  A third are planning to move out.

Some wingnuts are still clinging to fantasies of Trump staying in power.

What do you mean by "atheist"?

Not all browsers are alike.

Newsmax is desperately trying to avoid getting sued.

Younger people are abandoning religion in droves, but "coming out" to evangelical parents can still be risky.

Censorship empowers abusers.

There's a solution to homelessness -- money.

Biden's initial actions have broad popular support.  Standard and Poor's analysis concludes that his covid-19 package would hugely benefit the economy.

Lean the reality behind those cheap Costco chickens (found via AutisticAF).

The wingnutized Supreme Court rules in favor of the coronavirus.

Nonsense remains nonsense no matter how many people believe it.

Don't believe the lies about a $15 minimum wage.  Democrats should hold firm.

Snake-handling Pentecostals now increasingly rely on real doctors, not just prayer, when their idiocy results in bites.

Republicans and Democrats take opposite paths on voting rights.  But the former's approach has been backfiring.

Southern Texas is suffering an explosion of covid-19 cases.

Josh Hawley is the wingnuts' rising star.

Fifteen wins.

The campaign to purge non-Trumpy politicians out of the Republican party forges ahead.  The party crawls back to its true master like a groveling dog.  They've fully embraced the crazy -- even CNN can see it.  Shower Cap has more.

You'll never guess who hoovered up $3 billion in government covid-19 aid last year.

These idiots have already come up with a plan to hand back the Senate to the Republicans.

Oregon has decriminalized all street drugs, shifting to a rehabilitation-based approach.

Sometimes the guilty betray themselves.

New York pension funds are divesting from fossil fuels.

The Smartmatic lawsuit against Fox has real teeth to it.

This is the impact of covid-19 (must-read).  This thing is nowhere near over.

Georgia has genuinely become a purple state.

It's back to the Dark Ages, demonizing the Jews.

Religious fundamentalism played a big role in fomenting the Capitol attack (found via Hackwhackers).  Many members of the lynch mob have been caught because ordinary people did the right thing.  The attack has left the Capitol police demoralized and with high rates of covid-19.  Internet sleuths helped catch one of the ringleaders.

Murder and other violent crimes have risen in the US during the pandemic.

Europe's oil companies bet on the future, ours bet on the past.

Rich Canadians resort to trickery to get vaccinated early.

The UK's experience shows how women can preserve the last century's gains in personal safety.  Sadly, some now feel the Green party has no place for them.

Here's some of what's going on in France these days.

Religion is declining in Mexico and among US Latinos.  Mexican immigration no longer threatens to make the US more religious.

Religion is also declining sharply in the Middle East, with (for example) 47% of Iranians saying they've become non-religious.

India's covid-19 infections have plummeted, and it's not clear why.

The Myanmar coup is bad news for the country's already-persecuted minorities.

The "Lion Guardians" conservation effort in Kenya succeeded by aligning local people's self-interest with saving the lions.

No, covid-19 vaccines are not killing people (I've seen a few headlines to this effect on wingnut "news" sites).

More links here and here.

o o o o o

In case you missed it -- this week I posted criteria for judging the Democrats, and Bill Maher on people who get things done.

10 Comments:

Blogger Paul W said...

Thank you for the inclusion, Infidel!

07 February, 2021 06:25  
Blogger Debra She Who Seeks said...

Hahahaha, Karl Marx's big dick!

I enjoyed those photos of Italy -- when we were there in 2008, we went to Vinci and saw that museum of working models. Vinci is a delightful little village and we had a great day there. Also saw the house in which Leonardo was allegedly born. And the baptismal font in the local church where he was allegedly baptized.

And wow, that footage of the eagle flying over the Alps! Magnificent!

07 February, 2021 06:57  
Blogger Lady M said...

Wow - that Van Gogh looks Painting of the Prison exercise yard is a blatent copy of the Gustav Dior etching.

07 February, 2021 09:32  
Blogger Sixpence Notthewiser said...

Hahaha
The IKEA one cracked me up. And of course Xtainists helped promote the Capitol riot. Fundies are rabid.

XOXO

08 February, 2021 04:58  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

(PT.1) So much here that I would like to comment on, but will run with this ....

First up, congrats to Oregon for this step to decriminalize drugs. I been wanting, for years, to have some state or government step up to at least try this out, so we can see other alternatives to the drug issues (I remember a time when I used a little more cocaine than I should have, as well as Opium). Many will complain, mostly from private prison investors, to inmate commissary suppliers, to inmate phone/ video service providers, etc .... my words to them is "adapt and use your entrepreneurial bootstraps to pick yourselves up ... otherwise, whine about it to someone who actually gives a shit ... we don't need to". Besides, they can make a shitload of money investing in rehab joints, and make a substantial profit from that, including billions in Medicaid.

Hackwhacker piece on Eisenhower quotes, good piece. Years back when I started voting, I generally mostly voted Republican ... I just thought they had some good points on what bthey stood for. Today I look at the Republican party year to year and how it seems to have drastically changed on so much ... in the 70s you didn't get pounded with religion like today. Back then, if they went to church, it was simple and peaceful ... not going to church and ranting politics, carrying an arsenal of modified weapons attached to your attire, etc ... and wanting to kill everyone that didn't think like you. I don't even think the Republican Party knows where they are or where they're going, or have any plan, or even have true unity in their party either. Many people today don't understand a blend of having a social responsibility as well as a fiscal responsibility.

$15 minimum wage, I don't think can ever be enough in the type of market driven society that we have (without government intervention and regulation) ... meaning I don't know if it can ever be enough. And when they do make a jump of that size from $7.25 to $15 ... I would bet that they'll do it incrementally. In other words, make it $15 over a period of 5 years or so. And the minute that increases, all those low income workers will get their cost of living jacked up too, because they make a couple more bucks an hour. Even without the minimum wage increase, you can clearly see now, that prices are going up all over ... whether at your grocer (some up more than 30% price increases ... to fast food dollar menus being up to the same increase. Texas has a federal minimum wage for example ... but I never heard of anyone in Dallas making $7.25 an hour (although probably some do), I know several folks that work stores, fast food joints, etc ... they all get about $10 to $14 an hour, and that is the lowest paying jobs ... so $15 wouldn't even be that drastic of an increase, at all, in a town like Dallas.

India COVID case decline (?) ... that is a shock to me! I wouldn't expect that in a country with conditions and population of India.

As far as the COVID infections and the inability to handle it ... this is NOT new ... in fact, in South Texas ... it's been like that for months. And Texas isn't as locked down as many other states, even Dallas and Houston are some of the hardest hit places in the country.

08 February, 2021 11:04  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

(PT.2) On the chicken treatment (NY Times) ... this is not anything new either ... this has been going on for decades, it's just now being publicized, and has been increasing drastically. When I was younger, I spent months, locked up, working on a agricultural unit of NY state correctional facility. I worked the chicken farm unit, cows, pigs, corn and potato fields, etc. Our job was to make fat egg producing chickens produce, from collecting their eggs at 5:50 am to the slaughter. When you clean out the barns to put down new hay, believe me, the stench was almost inbearable, especially the ammonia smell, along with the other odors ... so it was inhumane on us too, having to work those, but I guess, that was our rehabiliation or punishment/ debt to society. It was so hot and humid, with no masks, it was hard to breathe and I would sweat bullets! .. all the hay fiber would stick to my skin, because I would work bareback pitching the months old hay down a shoot with my pitchfork, because it was hot, I was still scratching myself from the itch hours after I got done in the showers. But the conditions and slaughter process, of even the pigs, was what many would look at, as awful, and the stench was really heavy. Today it is even moreso, even places like Wingstop chicken restaurants are being hammered for inhumane practices ... today it is heavier than ever, with that increased demand and profit needs.

As far as vaccines causing deaths, illness, etc ... there has also been alot of concern with that, along with a shitload of other seemingly conspiracies, about what this vaccine is about ... but still millions want it bad, some so bad, they are cheating, ripping off, driving hundreds of miles, and everything they can to get their hands on vaccines. I can't even recall how many times people I know have asked me about the vaccine? ... many seeming overly concerned or worried, espcially about the so called "second shot" the illness following, aches or whatever. But if you get something like that, to me it's worth it. I myself heard so much about effects, that I went to the store before my 2nd shot and bought a small bottle of Tylenol, because they recommended taking if you get sick. I had NO sickness, headaches, muscle pains, or frankly anything after the 2nd shot, besides a mild sore upper arm where they administered it, a little tired in the morning for a few hours, and a bottle of Tylenol I didn't need ... which I guess I'll give to a friend or something. Now, I won't say you may have a little effect ... my stepson's two teen boys both got sick the next day with a stomach ache and little fever, which disappeared with a couple Tylenols the next day. Me and 2 of my daughters (one daughter hasn't got hers yet), none of us had any sickness or whatever after the 2nd shot, nothing at all, in fact we done the usual daily activites, and one daughter was in the gym right after.

I'm outta here, guy ... hear we have a kick ass cold front from the arctic moving in by tomorrow ... looks like I'll need to carry a goddamn coat with me!

08 February, 2021 11:04  
Blogger Mary Kirkland said...

The lizzard warning is funny.

He has a big...rooster.

Don't eat Uranium.

08 February, 2021 14:31  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Paul: Thanks for the post!

Debra: Italy is #1 on my list of places to go, if and when I get the chance.

Lady M: They do look very similar.

Sixpence: It's hard to find anything evil that religion isn't involved in.

Ranch: I've been saying for years that the best way to deal with drugs is decriminalization. Same with prostitution. Anything that's illegal is un-regulatable, which generally means it's much more sleazy and dangerous.

The Republicans these days depend on maintaining a state of hysteria and rage among their supporters. In the long run it's not sustainable.

It remains to be seen whether we can get a minimum wage rise through as part of the covid-19 package. I understand Bernie Sanders is still working on it. One way or another it's got to be done.

Conditions in India have improved a lot in the last couple of decades. The fact that the average age of the population is relatively young may help too.

The fact that meat is produced under conditions where the stench and ugliness are almost beyond human endurance (and almost all the animals are desperately sick) ought to give people pause about eating that stuff.

Mary: Well, they're right that if you did eat uranium, you'd probably never need to eat again.

09 February, 2021 01:22  
Blogger Martha said...

Elephant behavior is indeed fascinating! These are such precious animals.

And Italy is at the top of our list right now. My husband and I hope to visit in the next few years.

14 February, 2021 04:37  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Italy's at the top of my list too.

14 February, 2021 11:11  

Post a Comment

<< Home