Link round-up for 15 August 2026

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

Eleven weeks to Halloween!

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The master rides in comfort while his servant does the work.

This delivery man is a bit careless.

Stay away from those..... dammit!

Those orange cones were there for a reason.

That fence was there for a reason.

Smile!

Have some great moments in editing and signage.

He travels at ease with his self-driving taxi.

Do you know what this is?

A few back-from-vacation mood memes here.

Find out what Mansfield bars are (NSFW blog, requires Blogspot login).

There's such a thing as hunting in the wrong place.

Some movie special effects here.  I guess the fake horses are safer than real ones.

An Ohio blogger visits the Oregon coast (to see images at full size, right-click and open the link in a new tab).

Check out these awesome ceramics.  It's apparently a traditional Chinese technique.

Wednesday was World Elephant Day -- here are a couple of short videos on the ecological role of these huge, intelligent animals.

Learn what a bioswale is.

July was the hottest month ever recorded in the US.

Physics PhD graduates are leaving the US at the highest rate in decades, doubtless related to the current administration's hostility to science.

None of this stuff involves aliens.

Airy-fairy generic responses to specific problems are worse than useless.

Here are some tips on how to tell when a YouTube video is an "AI" fake -- and why you need to.

Here's how to recognize various types of surveillance cameras.

Learn these seven principles of personal defense.

Literacy is quality of life.

"Tonight I received this charming anonymous death threat."

This person exists.

What an asshole.

Safety issues make travel more expensive for women.  Discussion here.

Some Bay Area landlords are charging an extra fee for renters who work from home.

Republicans are now accusing Democrats of healthy eating.

Amazon is planning a data center so gigantic that it will be the biggest single source of air pollution in the US.  Data centers are driving a massive increase in pollution across the country.

This man should not be anywhere near hospital patients.

This drugstore chain implemented an "AI" "assistant" program in May.  It caused so much error and confusion that they've already dumped it.

Abdul El-Sayed is polling strikingly badly compared to other major Democratic candidates in swing states.  He's evasive about his association with the loathsome Hasan Piker.

Why are the Republicans hounding Dr Fauci?

Hostility to data centers is still rising, now at 76% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans -- and I'd bet a lot of Republicans not in that 60% just haven't yet given the issue any thought beyond Trump's pro-data-center stance.

The DSA is just another insular elite group and cannot win back working-class voters to the Democratic party.

Anti-Semitism has gone mainstream in much of the West.

The effects of "AI" on the environment are horrific, far beyond the extra pollution generated by data centers.

Everything somebody doesn't like gets called genocide now.

The likely next Democratic senator from Minnesota is an enemy of Israel, but not in the same league as El-Sayed, Mamdani, or Platner.

"AI" companies are finding ways to start data center construction without local people knowing, so that by the time they do find out and start to organize resistance, it's too late.  This is done with the collaboration of local officials who betray their own voters.

Republicans keep harping on abortion even though the issue is a vote-loser for them.

The wife of a crew member aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln responds to Trump's shitty comments about reports of terrible conditions aboard the ship.

The Women's March organization is now lost to woketardia.

Mamdani's Judenrein Advisory Committee on the Judiciary has some historical precedent.

About 80% of independent voters say ICE uses excessive force, up substantially from last year.  Other surveys have regularly shown majority support for mass deportation of illegals, but rejection of ICE's brutal tactics.

If ICE is equipped with electroshock gloves, people with heart problems will probably end up dying.  These guys' track record doesn't suggest that they can be trusted to use them only in the approved ways.

"I can't wait until this grotesque social experiment is finally over."

The attorney general of Michigan, a Jewish Democrat, won't be attending the party convention this month because she's getting such serious anti-Semitic threats that she doesn't feel she would be safe there.  The left of today is infested with some profoundly evil people.

Trump's latest executive order would, if followed, badly bugger up the administration of childhood vaccines.  Fortunately, it will probably be ignored.

Les Leopold assesses AOC as a presidential candidate.

Bizarre accusations against Jews have historically led to actual persecution -- which makes the current "Gaza genocide" lie all the more alarming.

Texas experienced record-breaking demand for electricity in July, but was saved from total grid collapse by its massive development of solar power.

The New York Times has published another deranged article, this time equating having the correct sex marker on a driver's license with Naziism.  Discussion here.

Elon Musk is donating to support the repeal of Alaska's ranked-choice voting system and of its campaign-finance transparency laws.

All around the world, Jewish people are now encountering anti-Semitism while on vacation.

"I think people are getting the impression a whole bunch of us are just assholes -- and they're tired of it."

British nativist leader Nigel Farage is rejecting any partnership with Restore Britain, a smaller nativist party, until it gets rid of its anti-Semitic co-founder.

Nationwide pro-free-speech rallies are planned across Australia on August 30.

Life in Germany is enriched by diversity.

Italy is moving back toward nuclear energy to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas.  It's notable that Germany's renunciation of nuclear power forces it to buy electricity from France -- which generates it with nuclear reactors.

A woman from Ceuta speaks out about the migrant influx.

In recent war games held in Germany, Ukrainian drone operators "demolished" a US brigade of tanks and armored vehicles.  War is changing and we need to adapt.

A Ukrainian soldier in Russian captivity found a way of keeping up morale.

Ukraine is still hammering Russia's oil refineries.

I don't know what this was, but it exploded quite impressively.

The prevalence of malnutrition in Gaza is very low for the Middle East and in the normal range for developed countries.  There's no famine.

The Iran ceasefire will end Monday, and Trump's meaningless "talks" with the fragmented regime are getting nowhere.

Iran's economy is in disastrous condition, possibly presenting a greater danger to the regime than the war with the US and Israel does.  Some workers haven't been paid for months.  Monthly apartment rents in Tehran have reached three times the typical monthly income (and when your currency's exchange rate is almost two million to the dollar, you've got problems).

83% of respondents to an online survey in Iran said they want to leave the country, as hopes that a decent life will ever be possible there fade.

Is India a free country?  It increasingly depends on what religion you have.

India's "cockroach" protests have ended after achieving their immediate goals, but they revealed widespread discontent and the strength of people power, which isn't going away.

Japan's efforts to become less dependent on the US for security include increasing cooperation with Israel.

This Chinese farmer trusted "AI" for advice, resulting in the loss of twenty-five acres of crops.

More links at Red State Blues, Abortion Every Day, and Comedy Plus.

My posts this week:  an image round-up, and a video potpourri of popery.

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