Link round-up for 16 August 2025

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

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Cats battle for supremacy.

This is the wisdom of books.

A low bridge creates an open-air bus.

Mama cat looks, kitten looks.

Here's an eloquent tribute to firefighters.

Behold the works of dumbth.

Ride along with a bowling ball.

This street seems a bit too wet to drive on safely.

His friendliness thwarted a robbery.

Giraffe time!

Call your cat.

The modern habit of filming everything is creating opportunities for natural selection.

And, speaking of natural selection.....

This retiree is so obsessed with fitness that he's still helping others lose weight.

This is a weird security system.

The interceptor flawlessly knocked down the incoming missile.

Don't ride me.

Are these cops doing what I think they're doing?  (NSFW)

Interesting house.  Just imagine trying to sell it, though.

This is art beyond the frame.

Here's a Halloween decoration I hadn't heard of before -- cloches.

Please remove any unwanted objects before proceeding.

Help your gecko shed its skin.

At last, a home renovation which is actually an improvement.

This is Antarctica.

You should have just left that thing in the water.

In fact, stay away from the water completely.

Doesn't anybody look where they're going?

If you're going to be this much of an idiot, at least wear a seatbelt.

It's a trap!

This abomination is called a telescope fish.

Huge, cold, sunless worlds drift through the universe.

The health effects of hyper-processed foods and whole foods are hugely different, even when both diets consist of foods we think of as healthy.

No, people in pre-modern times were not healthier than we are -- far from it.  And don't forget that on average they lived only about half as long as we do.  (They probably ate more whole foods, but the benefits of that were far outweighed by lack of modern medical technology and inferior hygiene.)

People need to stop misreading the distant past for the sake of modern fads.

Fossil-fuel use in India is falling rapidly as renewable energy expands.

People learn to lie when the environment requires them to.  If everyone around you seems crazy, a lot of them are probably faking it.

Clinical trials need to take into account that different groups of people may respond differently to treatment.

This doctor knows how to explain vaccines.

Various chatbots try drawing maps of the US.  Here's another effort.

Here's an add-on to get rid of those irrelevant "people also watched" videos in YouTube search results.

This singing duo is sure to be a big hit.

A blogger visits the elite enclave of Nantucket.

Blogger Johnny Profane is doing a live reading from his new book tomorrow (Sunday) at noon eastern time.

Here's an insomnia-themed meme round-up.

Esme on the Cloud has an Etsy store selling her work.  Here's a recent example of what she does (I don't think that particular item is for sale).

Nice collection of varied images here.

Don't bother changing what you do for the sake of people who will never support you anyway.

When you see photos or video allegedly of atrocities in Gaza, remember this (scroll down) and this.  I have read of quite a few such cases.  The jihadists must laugh at how easy Westerners are to manipulate.

Amazon's new version of Alexa is an ad-spewing pain in the ass.

Tucson AZ citizens celebrate after successfully blocking a new Amazon data center in the area.

The people of Alaska welcome Putin.

This company uses "AI" to monitor your driving patterns -- and tells the police if it finds them "suspicious".

Be an asshole, suffer the consequences.

People's grasp of language has gone to hell -- but maybe it's not their fault.

Here are some tips on avoiding scams.

Oh, great, now we have pedo "AI".

YouTube users are furious at its intrusive new age-verification system.  Some are already devising work-arounds.

Here's how the left got suckered into supporting totalitarianism.

The degree of economic inequality in the US today is nothing short of an emergency.

A lot of the damage to healthcare from the "Big Beautiful Bill" actually will happen before the 2026 election.  Democrats have introduced a bill to reverse the damage; Republican senators who claim they don't agree with the cuts thus now face a test.

Layoffs work differently in the US vs France.

Use of "smart" devices means your home can be hacked, disastrously.

Yum!

Rank-and-file Republicans are becoming much more supportive of Ukraine, and hate Putin almost as much as Democrats do.

Alcohol use is declining as evidence mounts that even small amounts are unhealthy.

The TSA is using facial recognition technology at airports.  A bipartisan Senate bill aims to guarantee our right to opt out.

The crap "AI" we have now is as good as it's ever going to get.  Despite hundreds of billions of dollars invested, the error-plagued systems are not improving.

The system failed this baby.

CEOs are openly determined to make workplaces even shittier.  I'm so glad I'm finally retired.

Tariffs are devastating US farmers.  In a world where food-production capacity far exceeds demand, countries that previously imported food from the US can easily find alternate suppliers which are less of a pain in the ass to deal with than Trump is.

This high school protects its students.

Lawyers have been caught submitting documents full of "AI" garbage in a murder case.

Understand what the Jewish experience has become.

Thomas Massie is winning growing support on the right for his intense focus on exposing Epstein's clients.

A partly-disabled blogger has learned just how bad the US health-care system can be.

Ed Zitron reviews the financial status of the "AI" industry, company by company.  It's a long post but full of very important information.  The investment in, and overvalued stock prices of, this fake industry have ballooned to a substantial fraction of the size of the whole US economy, even while the industry produces almost no revenue or products of real value and never will, and when the whole mess collapses it's going to take the entire economy down with it.  It's as big of a concern for the medium-term future as anything political is.

The real (non-"AI"-related) economy is in terrible shape.

For all the damage it did, DOGE saved very little money -- likely none at all.

A Fox editorial calls out Trump for breaking a core campaign promise by accelerating inflation instead of curbing it.  What's significant about this is the fact that it's on Fox, where it may reach some right-wingers who don't normally leave their echo chamber.

The Israel-bashers are lying about Auschwitz now.

US alcohol producers are suffering badly as exports to Canada collapse due to Trump's stupid fight-picking.

ICE is having trouble with recruiting, despite having plenty of money to do so.

Another Republican congresscritter who dared hold a town hall got an earful from angry voters about the "Big Beautiful Bill", Epstein, and other issues.

Tesla is shutting down a major computer project because too many critical people have left.  Evidently "AI" couldn't replace them.

Trumpazoid Mehmet Oz is plotting to bugger up Medicare by creating a new obstacle to getting treatment.

Sometimes it's not the cruelty -- they really just are that stupid.

The Women's March is all about men now.

British police use a new strategy to catch harassers.

Women's rights in the UK have always had a class angle.

Ireland is a cesspit these days.

Europe has overtaken the US in quantity of military aid to Ukraine.

Drone warfare is effective against infantry as well as against vehicles.

Russia is going big on internet censorship, always a sign of a regime which is frightened of its people.

Brazil will suffer very little damage from Trump's tariffs.

Narendra Modi's religio-authoritarian administration has not been good for women in India.

Fake jobs are the hot new trend among Chinese young people.

See the Chinese navy in action.

This is the penalty for being gay in Aceh, the most religious province of Indonesia.

More links at WAHF, Red State Blues, Comedy Plus, and Chop Wood Carry Water.

My posts this week:  science fiction as art, an image round-up, and the gerrymandering crisis.

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Dumbest fictional aliens ever:


Imagine if you behaved like God:


As of this year, California is finally getting serious about shoplifting: