Link round-up for 12 April 2025

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

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You have been warned.

"1/3 fewer cries than the leg!  Low fat yo!"

It is unwise to drive a truck like this.

Here's a low-tech roomba.

You want a flying car?  Here's one.

Frogs use mass transit.

I never expected to see an elephant shagging an anthill, but.....

Nice table -- hope it doesn't leak.

Here's a somewhat surprising optical illusion.

Meet Théophile Steinlen, an early-twentieth-century Paris artist with a fixation on black cats.

This was a kind-hearted rescue at sea.

It was the first time he walked.

From Wales comes further evidence that the shingles vaccine reduces the risk of dementia.

Can we join the space club?

Orcas can kill other animals by flinging them to death.

Canadian researchers have developed a stir stick that can detect a spiked drink.

A clinic in Tanzania is beating tuberculosis with the help of rats.

Seismometers left on the Moon by the astronauts have revealed that moonquakes are more common than expected.  It's still something of a mystery.

Glutamate can help speed up the recovery of a damaged liver (I don't know why this story is illustrated with a picture of a kidney).

Donations are saving this valuable museum.

Best idea ever.  Seriously, if something like this actually existed, I'd get one and wear it everywhere.

Here are some websites which, these bloggers claim, can save you money on medical expenses.  I have not tried or investigated any of them myself.

Take rabies seriously -- stay the hell away from wild animals.  Read this too -- it's long, but well worth it if you have any doubts about the need to absolutely avoid this.

If you own any Apple products, you may want to check out this guy (scroll down for link to his channel).

Meme-ists respond to the stock market crash.

Canada awaits its eleventh province (link from Chief Squirrel; this is a satire site).

Paramount Plus is censoring its streamed Star Trek episodes.  Keep your stuff on DVD so you can be sure you're seeing it as it really was.

Here's a listing of the best one hundred science fiction movies ever (I've seen forty-four of them).  It's better than most such lists are, probably because actual scientists participated in the selection, but still includes a few movies like Ghostbusters and Star Wars that aren't really science fiction (found via Miss Cellania).

After the Snow White disaster, Disney has put its next live-action remake, Tangled, on indefinite hold.

JK Rowling's success and popularity just keep growing.  The haters are a noisy but insignificant fringe.

I'm not sure this is what Jesus had in mind.

Consult a reliable source, not "AI".  Incredible that this guy relied on ChatGPT for something this important.

The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls responds to the John Oliver Show.  SheWon debunks more of his nonsense.  It seems viewers aren't fooled.

Blogger Annie reports a new attack on Social Security, and suggests actions to take.

70% of hiring managers lie to interviewees about the job.

Large collection of political images here.

She wrote a letter to the YMCA.  A similar incident later has sparked a protest.

There's a debate going on at Daily Kos about whether or not to ban "AI" images.  This recent fake ad highlights the ethical and legal issues.

Health experts are speaking out against RFK Jr.

Given enough time, it is definitely possible that a true Nazi movement could emerge in the US.  I stand by my earlier warning on the subject.

They reap what they sow.

This is a serious mental illness and you will never convince any normal person otherwise.

Oregon and Washington are suing to preserve our vote-by-mail system.

April 9 should become a national holiday, celebrating the defeat of the filthiest evil in all of US history.

Georgia authorities have abandoned their medieval harassment of a woman who was arrested after having a miscarriage.

No one should worry about having these guys around.

NPR has pictures from the Hands Off protests all over the country.  Jay Kuo believes they'll discourage Trump and embolden opposition in Congress.  See blogger reports and photos from New York City, Detroit, and other places (I think these are largely Salt Lake City).  Pictures from red states here, from small towns here.  Blogger Rade's rally in Tiverton RI made the local front page.  Some have commented that the protesters were largely older people, but that's not surprising -- retirees have more free time for such activities than those still working do.

50501 has another wave of rallies scheduled for April 19.

Stephanie Turner's courage has not gone unrecognized.  The man she refused to face is no longer a member of his college's fencing team, though it's unclear whether he left voluntarily or was removed.

The FDA is allowing its employees to work from home again after an earlier order dragging them back to the office led to too many people quitting.

Portland OR has established a laundry facility for homeless people.

The Social Security system is now beginning to malfunction as DOGE buggers it up in various ways.  However, the Trumpazoids have backed down on plans to close field offices -- and now claim they were never planning to do so at all.

Trump backs down on congestion pricing in New York.

Funding the government via tariffs can't work.

"This is totalitarian insanity."  And every time such a thing happens, one more family wakes up to the necessity of resistance.

A new law in New Jersey makes it a crime to create or share "AI" fake nudes of minors or non-consenting adults.

The Trump tariffs would probably have led to a massive level of cross-border smuggling.  This was written before Trump backed down on the tariffs, but it still makes some interesting points.

A man with such contempt for ordinary people shouldn't be a senator.

Trump now needs the help of other democracies for his trade war with China.  Too bad he's just spent weeks pissing them all off.

All around the world, the terror continues.  Civilization must never accept this as normal or tolerable.

Two rights groups in Canada are suing the government there over the practice of putting male criminals in women's prisons, where they can prey on the women inmates.

EU regulators are considering a fine of over $1 billion for Twitter.

France is fairly well prepared to take on a leading role in defending Europe against Russia.

Trump couldn't be bothered to honor the four US soldiers who died in Lithuania, but the Lithuanians did.

Germany is paying for Ukraine's access to the French Eutelsat system, to reduce its reliance on Starlink.

Drones have hit Russia's only fiber optic manufacturing plant.

Russian soldiers show off their spiffy new fighting vehicle.

Russian troops claim that their commanders are using drones to attack their own soldiers who retreat, and that they are sending wounded soldiers on suicide missions to clear mines.

Chinese nationals are fighting for the Russian army in Ukraine.

Levi Salem Musa Marhabi is the last Jew in Yemen.

Half of the total US force of B-2 bombers have been deployed to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.  One interpretation is that Trump intends to threaten Iran with an attack on its nuclear program, or perhaps even carry out such an attack if his popularity in the US falls far enough, to manufacture a unifying foreign-policy crisis.

There are divisions among the Taliban over exactly how badly to oppress women.

More links at WAHF and Chop Wood Carry Water.  Update:  Red State Blues now has theirs posted.

My posts this week:  some truths and inspirations, a video on Chinese architecture, and Trump backing down on tariffs.

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Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, deserves a lot of the credit for bringing Trump to heel.