Personal note (2)

I just received the news that my father has died.  He was just a few weeks short of 94 years old.

He was fairly healthy for his age (as far as I knew -- he was very private about personal things) until a couple of weeks ago, when a condition set in which led to rapid decline, and it soon became obvious that the end was near.  This was the personal situation I mentioned in my note this morning.  Nevertheless, this news comes as a shock.  The doctors expected him to live about two months, and he had seemed to be improving this week.

Unlike with my mother who died five and a half years ago, he and I were not really close.  He lived in a different state and I had not seen him for a long time, though since the onset of this new condition I did have plans to visit him.  Still, this was my father, and he cared about me.  I'm alone in the world now.

Personal note

For some time now I have been dealing with an emotionally-distressing personal situation.  Substantive posts (as opposed to the link round-ups and image collections) may be few and far between for a while.

Link round-up for 10 May 2025

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

o o o o o

That's what you get for being stupid.

Beauty pageants are about skills, not just looks.

Some people really shouldn't be around water.

There's such a thing as fish you can never catch.

This family doesn't like the rain.

These restaurants serve up meals of puns.

I'm ready to start working on this car..... oops.

Here's a collection of strange little animated clips.

You need huge balls to do this.

I don't think they quite meant to say that.

What would a zombie apocalypse actually be like?

Here's how to make a..... whatever this is.

It's as steady as a rock, as the saying goes.

Try to bite his head off, and you'll face the diarrhea of death.

The giant claw works delicately.

See some beautiful British bridges.

Check out the metalwork art of Cal Lane.

Blogger Annie discovers a new literary interest.

France's golden owl treasure hunt ended in acrimony and accusations of fraud.

A few inspirational quotes here.

You're never too young to appreciate music.

Behold the wine-dark sea.

This flock of birds behaves almost like a single organism.

"Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la mort....."

This is what a CT scan machine looks like without its outer casing.

Stay right away from this stuff.

CIDRAP, based at the University of Minnesota, will provide science-based standards for US vaccine use, since the government can no longer be depended on to do it.

Scientists in Singapore have developed a way to generate electricity from rainfall.

For the first time, China's wind and solar power-generating capacity exceeds that of coal.

The measles vaccine also prevents SSPE, a rare but usually fatal syndrome.

US science is being censored for ideological reasons by ignorant politicians (almost all politicians are scientific ignoramuses, but the smarter ones have enough sense to know how much they don't know, and leave science to the scientists).

A lot of American kids can't read very well because many schools still use outdated, non-phonics-based methods for teaching reading.

Here's a deep assessment of the economic potential of "AI" (basically, there isn't any). It's a long article, so here's a short summary, but the whole thing is worth reading.  Yes, this "technology" is going to wind up costing a trillion dollars and there's still no evidence that it will ever produce any substantial return.  More here.  People who understand technology and economics, at least, seem to be coming to their senses about this idiocy.

Formerly eradicated from North America, screwworms are on the march again.

Kseniia Petrova's expertise is critical to an important cancer research project at Harvard.  Unfortunately she's been stuck in an ICE detention facility for the last two months, and may be deported.

If you're in the northeastern US and you see something that looks like a ketchup packet lying on the ground, leave it alone.

This Firefox add-on can hide those annoying "AI" overviews on Google.

Certain people in the US would love to have this gadget.  I don't think it would fool the cops, though.

Assholes are flooding social media with "AI" junk to trick elderly people and make money.

If you have a business, watch out for money-wiring scams.

Here's a current Gmail scam to watch out for.

Apparently some people consider this to be funny (warning: really disgusting).

This looks like it might be staged, but I hope it's real.

Don't date an "AI" user -- you might end up like this.

Use plain, clear language, not wimpy euphemisms.  And the same goes for this stuff about never using Trump's name.  He's a very ordinary, boring, stupid asshole.  Don't build him up into lord Voldemort.

This guy truly dodged a bullet.  Just imagine living with a partner who subjects you to an endless barrage of ideological litmus tests.

Some tips here for spotting "AI"-generated text.

Finally, some ads that I don't mind seeing.

How will JK Rowling be remembered?

If you're using Duolingo to learn a language, get rid of it -- it's no longer reliable.  Another option is Mango.

Thousands of unsellable cybertrucks are piling up on Tesla's hands.

Why would a man choose to "be" a woman?

It's getting harder and harder to tell satire from actual news (link from Chief Squirrel).

This, on the other hand, is obviously not real -- the Catholic Church would never tolerate such a heresy.

Dildos reveal the true spirit of Texas.

JD Vance is a man who gets results.

A new book analyzes MLM cults.

This is madness.  Any person has an absolute right to turn down any other person as a sex partner, for any reason.

Whenever this happens, you know you are in the presence of undiluted evil, the hatred for the mind (NSFW blog, requires Blogspot login).

Chatbots are sabotaging education.  I doubt this is true of everybody at university today -- when I was there I actually liked reading and writing for their own sake, and I'm sure there are students today who do -- but nevertheless we seem likely to be saddled with an increasing number of people who get degrees but can't actually do anything or think.

"And Jewish history is littered with graves dug by people who thought a lie, told often enough, could bury the truth.  It never does.  We're still here."

John Bolton has some interesting assessments of Trump's second term.

Younger workers are increasingly choosing trades over college.

Always remember that the system has only limited resources for suppressing protests.  Activists in Belarus suggest how to exploit this.

Anonymous has hacked GlobalX Air, the main airline being used for deportations.

No harm in shooting assholes like these.  I'd consider it pest control.

Trump has backed down on renaming Veterans Day, and on a crank US attorney nomination.  His DoJ is also opposing a lawsuit that seeks to restrict abortion pill access.

"Do not trust your brain to someone who didn't bother to use theirs."

Here's why a tariff on foreign-made movies is unworkable.

Men don't get to re-define the word "lesbian".

If you move to a rural area, you'll quickly find out why people all over the world are flocking to cities.

The US economy recovered from the 2008 Bush recession and from the pandemic, but Trump's bungling will probably do irreparable damage.

"The most important cause in the world is making sure men can pretend to be women and force everyone else to agree and act accordingly, no matter what."

New construction in my city is petering out as the economy stagnates and businesses flee.

Schumer promises to kill the SAVE Act, which would make it harder for some women to vote.

Stop trying to make everything about race.  It just makes you look stupid.

This sounds disturbing.  I like Fetterman, but if there are signs that he's developing mental-health issues, the party needs to start thinking about what to do.

75% of Americans now oppose letting men participate in women's sports.

Bill Gates wants to give away most of his money (can I have some, please?) -- he doesn't want to "die rich", so he expects to have a mere one billion dollars left when he goes.

"Yes, this is exactly what you voted for."

Robert Prevost, just elected pope by the conclave this week, has been accused of helping to cover up several sex-abuse cases in both Peru and the US.

DOGE's buggering up of the air traffic control system is starting to have serious consequences.

Massachusetts's millionaire tax doesn't seem to be driving rich people out of the state.

The resistance to Trump is working.

Vile Kafkaesque abuses are being committed in our name.

".....that pretending to believe these things has become an elitist badge of virtue."

The Los Angeles Times lost fifty million dollars last year as its billionaire owner's pro-Trump stance drove away subscribers and advertisers.

Abortions have resumed in Wyoming after a judge suspended the state's new forced-birth laws.

The stock market has recovered somewhat since Trump backed down on most of his tariffs, but imploding traffic levels at US ports tell us where the economy is really going.

Harvard has released its final report on anti-Semitism on campus.  It's horrifying.  There's no more urgent issue facing our universities than tackling this problem.

Trump's mental decline is becoming impossible to ignore.

Thanks to a changed media environment, the racist and misogynistic practice of Karen-calling is losing its power to ruin lives.

Marjoreene could save Jon Ossoff's Senate seat next year.

Here's a reminder from general Mark Milley about the character of the US military.

Fetishizing Palestinians is just a gimmick to make Jew-hatred seem virtuous.

Republican officials don't give a shit that you're suffering from higher prices due to tariffs.

"It sounds like what it is: men flatly refusing to take women's "NO" for an answer."

The EU is offering €500 million in incentives to lure US scientists being defunded by the Trumpazoids.

Trump's threats are driving Greenlanders to cling more closely to Denmark.

This attack on a Russian bunker illustrates the maneuverability of drones under remote control.  They're ideal for precision hits on small targets.

New details about the sinking of the Moskva highlight the Russian military's incompetence and decrepitude.

Israel is setting up a new aid distribution system in Gaza to ensure that aid actually gets to civilians instead of being stolen by Hamas.  So of course the UN and the usual run of Israel-haters are against it.

Muslim men in Bangladesh show their level of respect for women.

The US gives China's gangster-regime a forceful reminder to keep its hands off Taiwan.

More links at Red State Blues and WAHF.

My posts this week:  some truths and inspirations, a musical tribute to evolution, and India strikes back.

o o o o o

I AM SO GODDAMN FUCKING SICK OF EVERY GODDAMN FUCKING THING BEING ABOUT GODDAMN FUCKING TRUMP!!!

o o o o o

When one of those smartphone addicts spoils your road trip:

o o o o o

For the new pope, a tribute in the style of Star Wars:

India strikes back

For years, India has suffered murderous terrorist attacks by Muslim jihadist groups mostly based in Pakistan and, so it's widely believed, clandestinely supported by elements of the regime there.  These have included the bombings in Delhi in 1996 and 2005, the 2001 attack on India's Parliament, the 2008 multiple attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people (following years of jihadist bombings in that city), and many other such mass killings that received less attention in the West.  Last month's Pahalgam massacre in Kashmir was apparently the final straw.

India's response began early this week with blocking the flow of water in the Chenab river, which flows from India into Pakistan.  A small amount of water was released yesterday, but only because heavy rains had raised the water behind India's dams on the river to dangerous levels.

But the main response came on Wednesday, when India launched Operation Sindoor, a series of airstrikes on nine jihadist bases both in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir and in Pakistan itself, all carried out over a period of less than half an hour shortly after midnight.  Video from the scene suggests that the level of force used was substantial:

In contrast to the jihadist attacks in India, which nearly always target defenseless civilians, Sindoor was an extremely limited operation (given the provocation) and carefully designed to minimize civilian casualties.  Nevertheless, given that some of the jihadist bases were apparently within cities, there have likely been some such casualties.

Bolstering the case that the Pakistani military supports terrorism, several Pakistani generals attended the funerals of the jihadists killed in the operation, and the coffins were draped with the Pakistani national flag:

"This is not a scandal, this is a confession."

If Pakistan were a normal responsible state, it would itself have cleaned out the jihadist encampments on the territory it controls, rather than coddling them for decades until India was provoked into doing the job.  Instead, Pakistan has retaliated on the jihadists' behalf, launching a mostly-unsuccessful drone, missile, and shelling attack on Kashmir.  India has shut down a number of airports as a precaution and put its military on alert in case Pakistan tries to escalate the situation further:

Reactions from most governments have comprised the usual mealy-mouthed expressions of "concern" and calls for both countries to "de-escalate", as if years of systematic mass murder of random civilians and efforts to deter any more of the same were roughly equivalent actions.  Israel and the UK, at least, have firmly declared support for India's right of self-defense.

"Both sides" is the lazy response of the ignorant who can't be bothered to learn about the actual background of a conflict.  Those of us who do understand what's happening know that India in this case is as worthy of unstinting support from the West as Ukraine and Israel are.

Video of the day -- Endless forms most beautiful

This song by the Finnish "symphonic metal" band Nightwish is -- most unusually for a modern popular song -- a tribute to Darwin's theory of evolution, inspired by the final paragraph of his immortal 1859 book On the Origin of Species (first edition):

Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.  There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Truths and inspirations for 5 May 2025

If something's hard to see or read, click to enlarge.

For the link round-up, click here.]

If you use a chatbot or any other kind of "AI" for fact-checking or finding information, this is the standard of accuracy you're getting.

A perfect symbol of how Christianity defiles and destroys Western culture.

Read this one.  It's important.  And it's especially true in authoritarian states where there is no free press to work around the system and call attention to facts the rulers don't like.  It's probably part of why, for example, Putin didn't realize how rotted-out and decrepit the Russian military was before he invaded Ukraine.

I keep seeing stories like this about Trump bestowing access or favors in exchange for money -- and then there's this.  The issue deserves more attention because bribery is one of the very few crimes that is specifically mentioned in the Constitution as being an impeachable offense.  An actual impeachment couldn't succeed now -- it takes 67 senators (meaning 20 Republicans) for removal -- but Republicans could be challenged over why they refuse to do it for a crime for which the Constitution explicitly gives impeachment as a remedy.