Link round-up for 15 January 2023

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

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This item won't be on many grocery lists.

These people exist, apparently.

Now you can be seasick at home.

How the hell did they all fit in there?

Dogs make their way through life.

Cats are jumpy critters, though not the one with the egg.

He Who Zings Rats deserved an appropriate funeral.

Teamwork wins the prize.

He likes playing with kittens.

Is it a parking lot or vending machine?

You're doing it wrong.

Iran is shaped like a cat.

He's hidden in plain sight.

This truck driver isn't really suited to the job.

Back in 1410, archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden was known for an unusual ability.

It's just thirty seconds on a Russian street.

She'll have no trouble recognizing her name.

You won't be fat in Heaven.  You'll even have better hair.

The Tesla heralds a dystopian but hilarious future.

Make the best use of your time off from work.

Do not listen to this poet.

What if Russia invaded Portland?

Sea lions frolic in the waves off California.

Nice piece of 3D printing here.

A good painter can create the impression of surprising detail.

Jewelry-making is a meticulous process.

It's the perfect license plate.

They're sailing around inside an empty skull.

Some dinosaurs might have been as intelligent as modern monkeys (found via Miss Cellania).  You may recall the pic below from a recent image round-up; perhaps something like it would be the dominant species on Earth today, if the meteor had missed and dinosaur evolution had continued down to the present.

Learn the truth about BioSteel spider goats, with bonus glow-in-the-dark cats.

This fossil exists (play the video, it's worth it).

Stone tools found in Brazil date back fifty thousand years -- long before humans existed in the Americas.

Alien life may be difficult to identify or even define (found via Miss Cellania).

Beware these brands of dark chocolate.

The old Blockbuster stores had far more movies than Netflix does.

Elegiac pics of abandoned buildings here.

Annie Asks You blog posts a poetic lament for California's climate disasters.

This is Riga, the capital of Latvia.

This is Tartu, in Estonia.

There's an online French film festival that will be available for the next month.

Moderns have figured out how the ancient Romans made such strong concrete -- which could actually "heal" when cracked (found via Miss Cellania).

The dream of authorship leads into the drudgery of marketing.

Blogger Ami has quit her job, with good reason.

Not everything is about improvement or skill.  It's OK to do things just for the fun of it.

Be supportive of the good Christians.

This dog must have been a treasured companion, 8,400 years ago.

Many Tumblr bloggers have a weird perception of age (I've seen many examples of this there).

"They were monsters of the rich man's own making."

Eve was right.

I worked in clerical accounting for decades, and yes, a lot of it is like this.

If you can't run a business properly, you shouldn't be running one at all.

It's a computer fit for the Amish (link from commenter NickM).

The Republicans were right!  A serious case of voter fraud has been discovered.

It seems to be a good book, but.....

People should not be wasting the courts' time with this kind of nonsense.

ExxonMobil's own data accurately predicted global warming as far back as the 1970s, but they hid the information.

Everybody knows embryos aren't really babies.

The fight for work-from-home is only beginning, and many bosses are in for a rude awakening.

Blogger Tommykey considers what to do about George Santos (in whose district he resides).

The prayer of Jesus was not answered.

Here is Electoral-Vote's assessment of the Biden classified document story.  It seems to me they're trying to minimize the issue somewhat -- the law is what it is.  But no, it's not the same kind of thing as Trump's mass theft of documents.

Conspiracy thinking spreads most easily among people who feel victimized.  This is bad news in a culture that cultivates a victim mentality in almost everyone.

British blogger Nick explains why he's not a believer in gender ideology.

The Damar Hamlin case is another example of anti-vaxers indulging in confirmation bias.

This Mall-Wart employee finally managed to retire -- at the age of 82, and only because of a fluke windfall.  The average life expectancy in the US is 76 years and dropping.

Religion is full of offensive absurdities.

Darwinfish 2 assesses the mess in the House of Representatives.

A victim of academic cancel culture -- systematic harassment and defamation -- speaks out.

Could the Biden classified documents have been planted by enemies?  Here's why it's unlikely.

Oregon lags behind the country in student literacy because its schools still use antiquated teaching methods.

Is the Bible true?

Hamline University is apparently full of people who don't understand what a university is for.  Anybody who whines about "feeling hurt, excluded, and disrespected" because a painting was shown in an art class, or who censors a letter to the editor because it disagrees with somebody's "lived experience", needs to be told they aren't suited for a university (or for a free society generally) and kicked out.

Winners in the 2022 US election included democracy, abortion rights, and marijuana.

Being unhappy with your situation doesn't mean your "identity" is wrong.

Why would anybody donate money if it just means you'll be nagged endlessly to donate more?

On China, it seems, even our polarized parties can find consensus.

Beware of dishonest arguments in defense of extremism.

Much more needs to be done in response to the Southwest Airlines meltdown.

This was the work of an evil God.

Here's why the Republicans won't get rid of George Santos.

There are ways to guarantee the solvency of Social Security without risking the money on Wall Street.

The total state extends its tentacles -- Alabama's attorney general says women can be prosecuted for using abortion pills.

The "affirm or suicide" mantra is a major weapon in the arsenal of gender ideology, but it's not supported by evidence.

The solution to homelessness is housing.

A Republican effort to paint anti-abortionists as victims runs into an embarrassing problem.

Democrats need to play hardball on the debt ceiling.

Manipulation of language fuels a paranoid, authoritarian movement in American society.

Right-wing rejection of covid vaccines is spreading to other vaccines as well, leading to outbreaks of preventable diseases across the country.

In 1944 George Stinney, a 14-year-old black youth, was executed for murder in South Carolina.  Seventy years later he was exonerated.

In the modern UK, thoughtcrime will not be tolerated.

Germany has now completely freed itself from dependence on Russian natural gas.

In the age of global warming, it makes no sense to destroy a village to expand a coal mine.

Workers in France are planning a wave of strikes to fight back against the government's plan to raise the retirement age.  80% of the public opposes the plan.

Russia has been accused of using special forces to shoot front-line soldiers who desert their posts (Stalin did this during World War II).

Russia will run out of military stuff long before we will.

The Iranian theocracy's relentless executions of protesters are failing to intimidate the rebellion.

In Japan, a man's visit to a women's sauna provokes controversy.

China's birth rate is still falling; its population has almost stopped growing and will soon begin to shrink (link from commenter NickM).  The regime is seriously worried.

More links at Fair and Unbalanced, WAHF, and Miss Cellania.

My own posts this week:  the limits of laws, a video on the danger of covid re-spreading from China, and some truths from here and there.

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Today marks forty-five days since railway workers were robbed of their right to strike for paid sick leave.  Issue the executive order, Biden!