Link round-up for 5 May 2024

I've had a policy here of not including any links to paywalled sites, or to sites that require a login, on the grounds that most readers wouldn't be able to see them.  However, one misses out on some good stuff that way.  So if a link requires a login, I'll include it but add a note so that people who can't or won't log in there won't waste their time.  I'm still not going to link to anything paywalled.

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He needs to quit this job.

See some signs of the times.

A cat owner attached a mini-cam to his moggy and captured this dramatic chase on video.

When you don't have scissors, use a fish.

The "escape" key doesn't always work (NSFW blog, requires Blogspot login).

The son finds a way to help the father.

This looks difficult and dangerous, but.....

Boldly he taunts those who would slay him.

Even Hell has standards.

His girlfriend has a hot ass.

Witness the power of popsicle sticks.

This trick elevator scares the shit out of people.

A bus going around a corner can be more dramatic than it sounds.

At this Dubai art museum, you can draw an animal and have it join an animated menagerie.  Update:  This is a project of TeamLab (link from Leanna), which has locations in several countries.

On water, she rides the clouds (great imagery).

Some videos here from the Harz mountains of north Germany, where Walpurgisnacht is widely celebrated.

Medieval Chinese printing was rather labor-intensive.

At the Paris Olympics, be sure to show the white paw.

Some good quotes about Hell here.

Could you do what this dog is doing?  More smart and cool animals here.

See video of a tornado just north of Lincoln NE.

There's a sleep disorder that causes people to have sex while asleep.  It's a lot less fun than it sounds.

California researchers have developed a type of vaccine that can defeat any strain of a given virus, eliminating the need to constantly develop new versions as the virus mutates into new strains.  If practical, this is a huge breakthrough.

Even insects may possess consciousness on some rudimentary level.

This wild orangutan apparently understands the use of medicinal plants.

Despite a bad landing, Japan's Lunar lander has kept working longer than expected and is still sending back data.

Drinking raw milk has helped fuel the spread of H5N1 among cats.  It probably won't work out any better for humans.

Why would a book supposedly inspired by the creator of the universe get its descriptions of that universe so ludicrously wrong?

"Vampire facials" are a new fad that sounds about as repulsive as tattooing.  It's hardly surprising that people are getting HIV from it (note:  disgusting photo).

Recent updates to Windows 10 and 11 may damage VPN functionality.

Beware of this e-mail scam which is making the rounds.  Also watch out for these despicable scams mostly targeting the elderly.

This early focus group anticipated the potential of the internet.

For some, ketamine is the answer.

Horror literature shouldn't have any, you know, horror in it.

Words don't create reality.

Wallowing in misery is not activism.

Deliberately-vague language can be an indicator of dishonesty.

When is a billionaire not a billionaire?

Taylor Swift does it again, holding all of the top fourteen spots on the Billboard Hot 100.  And apparently the religious nuts are really pissed off for some reason.

Vagabond Scholar reviews the Oscars.

The FCC has fined T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon almost two hundred million dollars for sharing customers' personal data.  It's a good start.

How did the Cybertruck go into mass production without its design flaws being caught and fixed?

She was an anti-vaxer until reality struck home.  Note that the story is from long before covid.  This rubbish and its consequences have been around for a while.

Against the ridiculous, ridicule is the best tactic.

How practical is it to turn unneeded downtown office buildings into apartments?

This is not food.  I don't know what the hell it is, but it's not food.

SickoRicko blog observes May Day (NSFW blog, requires Blogspot login).

This kind of "AI" fakery can actually kill you.

A feminist group is filing a lawsuit to block the destruction of Title IX.

Late April brought several major wins for American workers.

The "basic income" movement is gaining momentum, but red-state governments are fighting against it.

Narcissists think that they're above the law and will never be held accountable for their self-righteous and destructive tantrums.

This brutal January 6 thug who bragged that he "fed" a police officer to the bloodthirsty mob, and tried to do the same to a second, got off with less than five years in prison.

Even if you hate Biden, you should still vote for him.

Survivors of the October 7 mass murder are suing two American hate groups for allegedly facilitating terrorism.

Credit where due:  Boebert gets one right, launching a bill to remove Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the lower 48 states, which has passed the House.  The issue is a hot one in Colorado, where urban voters who are not at risk have voted to re-introduce wolves into rural areas which don't want them, as I discussed here.  As to the claim that wolves haven't killed anybody in the lower 48 for a hundred years, that's because we had enough sense to eradicate the damn things from populated areas.  Once they're brought back and given special legal protections, it's only a matter of time.  In Colorado they're already killing people's cattle.

The US Catholic Church is becoming more conservative, a change welcomed by many members.  This is a common phenomenon with shrinking religious denominations -- the more liberal members are the ones more likely to leave entirely, so those who remain are the more conservative ones.  The trend will intensify as the Church changes -- as it becomes more anti-gay, anti-contraception, and even anti-Jewish, liberals will feel more uncomfortable and even more will leave.

Another likely reason why the media keep claiming violent crime is decreasing when this is obviously not the case:  they rely on crimes reported to the FBI, while ignoring BJS survey figures which are gathered more proactively and are probably more accurate.  This is a right-wing site and throws in some anti-Democrat rhetoric, but the point is nevertheless valid.

The failure of RFK Jr's lawsuit against the Daily Kos is a good sign for free speech on the internet.

When it turns out that your ideology paved the road to Hell, claiming you had good intentions isn't much of an excuse.

An exhibit in New York of items from Israel's Nova music festival drives home the horrors of the October 7 mass murder.  Here is the exhibit's home page.  Thanks to SickoRicko for informing me about this.

The Arizona legislature has repealed the state's recently-revived 1864 forced-birth law.  Republicans have a majority in both chambers, but in both cases a few of them (apparently realizing how such laws hurt their party) joined with all the Democrats to accomplish the repeal.

At Portland State University, "pro-Palestinian" thugs invaded the library and caused thousands of dollars worth of damage -- it will be months before the library is usable again.  More here.  Barbarians instinctively hate things like libraries.

Turns out a policy of hiring such thugs isn't good for business.

A recent altercation in vice president Harris's Secret Service detail raises questions about the agency's hiring practices.

The growth in number of people identifying as LGBTQXYZWTF isn't what it seems.

The DEA plans to re-classify marijuana to a "less dangerous" category.  While this is still not full federal decriminalization, it's a huge step forward.

Survivors of the original Nazi Holocaust join the fight against today's new explosion of Jew-hatred.

A feminist explains why she can't vote for Democrats this year.  Some good debate in the comments.

"Pro-Palestinian" thugs in the West ignore oppression of Palestinians by Arab states.  They're only interested in oppression when they can use it as a pretext for blaming and hating Jews.

Too many left-wing men have failed women in a time of need.

Darwinfish 2 laments the corrupted Supreme Court and Kristi Noem's dead (but now immortal) dog.

The House has passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a rebuke to the mobs of violent Jew-haters infesting our universities.  It won strong majorities from both parties; shamefully, though, seventy Democrats voted against it.  Marjoreene and Matt Gaetz also voted no, to defend Bible-based anti-Semitism.

For the thirty-eighth month in a row, Fox News was the most-watched cable news network, easily surpassing CNN, MSNBC, etc.  What's really striking, though, is how low the figures for all these networks are -- 1,300,000 for Fox, 864,000 for MSNBC, etc, in a country with more than two hundred million adults.  This is why polls half a year before the election have little predictive value -- not because the trustworthy non-partisan pollsters don't know what they're doing, but because most people truly aren't paying attention yet when the election is so far away.

Democrats must not remain silent about the ghastly new wave of university anti-Semitism.  This is the reality -- cheers for Hamas, Nazi salutes, violent attacks on Jews (one more example), and hatred for civilization itself.  Freedom of speech doesn't include terrorizing and assaulting people.  Almost half the rioters arrested over the last week weren't even students or faculty.

This new book explains how deregulation and changes in corporate culture since the 1940s have led to mass layoffs and the devastation of workers' rights and communities.

Here's a new website aiming to comprehensively address the issue of men and boys in women and girl's sports.  Its page debunking popular myths is a must-read.

"Jews were not allowed to go into the campus.  Jews were not allowed to go into the library.  Jews were not allowed to go to classes.  It was never peaceful."

On abortion, Trump desperately fudges and evades taking any clear position.  Don't let him get away with it.

American voters support Israel over Hamas by 80% to 20%.  Biden and the Democrats need to stand firmly with our ally and fellow democracy, and ignore the noisy jihadists in a few parts of Michigan and denounce the campus Nazis.

A Muslim explains why, in the information age, he has no choice but to stand with Israel.

The Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans is being investigated for allegations of child sex trafficking, apparently going back decades.

Never agree to serve on a jury for the trial of a member of the wealthy parasite class.  The system can't protect you and won't even try.

A £58,000 damages award in the UK upholds freedom of speech.  More details here.

Authorities in London have had to cover up a Holocaust memorial for fear of vandalism by rampaging anti-Semitic mobs.

A year ago, hospital administrators used lies and word games to deny that a woman had been raped in their facility, with devastating effects on the victim.

This is a death threat by any reasonable standard.

The return of sanity to the UK health system also means the return of clear, honest language.

The head of Scotland's ruling party has resigned in disgrace and failure.

The Irish government is at war with its own people.

Czechia has expanded rights for same-sex couples, though it has not yet introduced same-sex marriage.

The resurgence of democracy in Poland offers a road-map for the US -- listen to the voters, never take them for granted, and don't be reticent about appealing to national pride in a fiercely patriotic country.

Photos here from Russia's flagrant cluster-bomb attack on a civilian park in Odessa, Ukraine.

Georgians demonstrate against their Russian-influenced government's increasingly authoritarian leanings.  Note the display of the Ukrainian flag, which may be becoming a widely-used symbol of the struggle to preserve democracy.

Iraq has passed a law criminalizing homosexual relationships, with prison terms of up to fifteen years.

In India's national election, officials spare no effort to make sure every eligible voter gets a chance to vote.

African delegates to the United Methodist Church general conference vehemently denounce moves by Western members toward greater tolerance of homosexuality.

More links at WAHF and Fair and Unbalanced.

My own posts this week:  an image round-up, and a video on how modern perfectionist editing betrays singers.

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I've often said in the past that I'm glad I got out of academia, but that's more true now than ever.  It's no longer just conformity, groupthink, and intolerance of dissent -- our universities have become cesspits of absolute evil.  I'd be ashamed to admit I had anything to do with them.