Image round-up for 8 September 2026

More pictures from my collection -- to see any image at full size, right-click and open the link in a new tab.

[For the link round-up, click here.]

Hang in there -- it's coming!

Either the world's smallest skateboard or the world's largest nun (do nuns normally wear wedding rings?)

China (probably)

Brigitte Bardot (right)

Klingon warship on display at a Star Trek convention, 1976

Wrocław (formerly Breslau), Poland -- believe it or not, Wrocław is pronounced VROTS-waf

Monteriggioni Castle, Tuscany, Italy

Phobos, the larger moon of Mars, transiting in front of the planet

Canterbury, England

Ancient Greek coins depicting octopuses

Link round-up for 5 September 2026

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

Eight weeks to Halloween!

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These people need proofreaders.

I don't think this is the correct way to use a skateboard.

He got on the bus.

Apparently cats don't understand mirrors.

Not everyone has fun at the playground.

Clearly this is a dangerous weapon.

This guy is not having a good day.

Enjoy your shopping with all this nonsense.

His aim was perfect!

"One minute of men being men."

Shoo!  Or I will kick dirt on you again.

Artificial intelligence, still stupider than the dumbest human.

Well, maybe except this human.  And this one.

This is a cat -- or is it?

I'd be suspicious of these bedsheets too.

Have fun with chemistry.

This is the Highway to Heaven in Wyoming (it's real, but it's an optical illusion).  A request:  If anyone recognizes the piece of music that plays in this video, please tell me what it is called and/or who performs it.  Update:  Found -- thanks Leanna!

The Skeleton Key blog is back online, signaling the start of the Halloween season.

It's not September, it's "Halloween Eve".

This statue celebrates the ordinary.

Blogger Annie gets a somewhat-unwelcome tiny visitor.

"School is a job."

Friedrich Nietzsche was a brilliant man, but he had a bizarre and unhappy personal life.  (Concerning his malignant sister, see this review of mine.)

Here are thirteen things you probably didn't know about bats.

Over a hundred million stolen driver's license images are being sold on the internet after an ID verification company was hacked.  Do not cooperate with online age verification requirements -- the government and companies that require it can't protect you and don't care.  Use a VPN instead.

Here's some much-needed debunking of fake science.

Don't eat "mad honey".

Self-driving cars are not safe.  They will never be safe.

Cara, an "AI"-free site for artists, is asking for help to take legal action against scraper bots stealing the work posted there.

A new company promises easy and affordable access to abortion pills by mail throughout the US.

You can use this website to verify whether your state has you on record as registered to vote.  Given some of the shenanigans going on lately, it might be worth checking more than once between now and the election.

It's still looking murky just how reliably the Postal Service will handle mail-in ballots this year.  I recommend using an official county drop box, if your state has them, so the Postal Service is not involved.

Blogger Annie has more in-depth resources for voting.

By using "AI", "you are not 'saving time', you're exchanging learning for doing without comprehension.  In the long run this will fail you."

Companies are making surveillance cameras disguised to look like other things to stop people from destroying them.

Will there be justice for Heehaw?

These people exist.

Goatfuckers are now welcome to work for the FBI.

A man in Pakistan tested a self-driving car.

Here's a very unusual prisoner-of-war story.

The imperialists practiced slavery and mass murder.

Oppression of women is not a modern invention.  Hell, behavior that we would call oppression of females is the norm among chimpanzees.  The concept of women as equal humans is pretty much unique to the modern West.

Would you want this guy anywhere near your kids?

Must-read of the week:  Congressman Ritchie Torres reviews Hasan Piker's record.  This guy must be the most disgusting public figure in the country.

Gloria Steinem has died.  She was 92.

Scare and humiliate your child for internet clicks.

MapQuest is seeing a surge in popularity after refusing to bow to Trump's ridiculous "renaming" of Lake Ontario.

Some people didn't like Dolly Parton.

"AI"-generated pedo porn is legal, according to this guy.

Religious taboo crosses an unacceptable line when it escalates to coercion.

Who is being "disrespectful" here?

A self-driving car stopped dead in freeway traffic, causing a crash that killed the driver passenger.

Tucker Carlson has high praise for Abdul El-Sayed.  Anti-Semites are birds of a feather regardless of the left-vs-right stuff.

Driven by public fury, state legislators are starting to crack down on out-of-control "AI", despite billionaire CEOs -- and Trump.

This girl died because pornography is normalizing disgusting and dangerous abuse as a form of "sex".

"Being exclusive in who you date isn't discrimination, it's basic human autonomy.  You are a person with specific needs and a unique nature, not a public good to which others have rights."

Voters in Independence MO removed a long-serving city council member because he voted to approve a data center.

The Republican candidate for governor of Oklahoma wants to jail women who have abortions.

Panicking "AI" executives want to "rebrand" data centers in the face of public rejection.  You can't "rebrand" away air pollution, intolerable noise, or massive wastage of water and electricity, assholes.  But the billionaire parasite class is preparing to spend big on pro-data-center propaganda.  So be aware, and don't get fooled.

Pay your taxes.

Take your medicine.

Big business has been treating workers like shit for years -- and workers are starting to notice.  Younger people, especially, will never trust business again.

Trump posted two "AI"-faked videos of attacks on Iran that never happened.  I am getting tired of Futurism's ridiculous headlines, though.  I'm sure the videos caused some confusion, but the US military is not remotely "in chaos".

"They're framing giving books to children and instilling a love of reading and helping with literacy as some sort of a crime....."

Tesla just launched a new driverless taxi service and it's already under federal investigation.

Florida has banned surveillance cameras from all of its state highways.  This is a major win for people power.

Thomas Massie, speaking in the House, has read out the names of a dozen or so men he alleges were clients of Epstein.  This is also a reminder that the DoJ still holds over three million documents, videos, etc of the Epstein files, refusing to release them in flagrant violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Ken Paxton is a gift that keeps on giving.

Right-wing anti-Semites are trying to smear and intimidate those who expose them.

The Republican candidate for governor of Colorado is an exorcist.

Americans overwhelmingly reject Trump's stupid trade war with Canada and even stupider "renaming" of Lake Ontario.

Josh Hawley is launching an investigation of Flock.

We'll soon see another surge in food prices, driven by disruptions caused by the Iran and Ukraine wars.

Here's how Republicans are buggering up life for retirees.

"At every opportunity for Palestinian self-determination -- and there have been many -- the Palestinians and their Arab and Muslim "allies" have scuttled the possibility because that has never been the goal."

Democratic candidates are desperately trying to disavow Hasan Piker.  Abdul El-Sayed is flailing as he dodges questions.  Keep up the pressure.

The official unemployment rate is four percent.  The actual meaningful figure, including the "functionally unemployed", is twenty-five percent.  Bragging about economic numbers everybody knows are bullshit didn't work for the Democrats in 2024 and it won't work for the Republicans this year.

In the US, one of the world's richest countries, over a million children go hungry so that billionaires can have more tax cuts.

Trump is throwing his usual tantrum at the media because they noticed that he got his ass kicked in Iran.

JD Vance is trying to appear more pro-Israel, but given his track record, voters would be wise to be wary.

Those who can't defend their position (because it's nonsense) have to lie about what their opponents are saying.

The Trump administration is now being sued for approving a carcinogenic pesticide for use on US food crops.

The CEO of Flock says Americans should stop being so concerned about privacy -- with one exception.

The anti-surveillance-camera rebellion needs to work against all suppliers of the cameras, not just Flock.

Over eleven hundred Jews from the US and Canada emigrated to Israel in August, an all-time record for a single month, reflecting the rising threat of anti-Semitism here.

The British tabloid Metro has apologized for accusing JK Rowling of Holocaust denialism.  They've got more integrity than some mainstream papers these days.

In Europe, too, the people are fighting back against data centers -- and clueless politicians.

It's a total mystery why more and more Europeans are voting for anti-immigration parties.

Two years probation is all she was worth, apparently.

A French gay leader was savagely beaten by a thug screaming homophobic slurs.  No prizes for guessing the religion of the attacker.

France is abandoning the use of US-based tech after realizing it isn't safe.  You would be wise to do the same.

The president of Finland explains why he doesn't believe Russia will attack NATO.

Russian military officers commit filthy perversions upon their soldiers in the guise of discipline.

Here's why the recent fire at the Perm rocket engine factory is a serious blow to Russia.

Russia's military logistics looks like absolute crap.

Dumbass Russian helicopter crew ran out of gas and crash-landed on a busy road.

Russia is trying to create its own version of Starlink, but the majority of its satellites have failed to reach the correct orbits, while a shortage of rockets means it would take years to launch enough satellites anyway.

The Iranian regime is firmly pro-"Palestinian", but that cause is clearly hugely unpopular with the Iranian people.

The regime is getting ready to slaughter more people if Iran's imploding economy provokes protests.

India's bureaucracy punished an administrator who helped a village of people who are traditionally discriminated against ("Dalits" are the people who used to be called "untouchables" -- the very lowest group in India's caste system).

Japan is developing submarine-launched hypersonic missiles, a capability which would be very useful for a future nuclear deterrent.

South Africa's white population is projected to fall from 7% of the total population today to just 2% by 2066.

More links at Comedy Plus.

My own posts this week: some truths and inspirations, the classic "Hank" video, and looking ahead to the election.

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Blogspot comments have been down since late Thursday.  The issue appears to have just been resolved an hour or two ago.  In case it recurs, blogger Mr Shife reports that commenting worked when using Safari.

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The election in the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt, which could bring the nativist AfD party some actual power for the first time, is being held tomorrow.

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Since we all agree that Trump trying to rename "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America" is stupid, can we also acknowledge that trying to change "Latino" to "Latinx", "mother" to "birthing person", "illegal alien" to "undocumented [whatever]", etc is equally stupid?

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Looking ahead to the election

It's now early September, the time when regular not-very-political citizens start paying real attention to the upcoming election.  I've been watching events for some time, of course, and I already have a good sense of what the most important issues are.  These are the ones I will be watching most closely -- needless to say, my choices reflect my own priorities.

1.  The Nebraska Senate race.  Dan Osborn is an independent running on a strong economic-populist platform against the Republican incumbent -- there is not a Democrat in this race.  Nebraska is a very red state, but the most recent poll (which admittedly is from May) has Osborn ahead 47% to 42%, so this definitely looks winnable.  I put this race at #1 not only for itself but for what a victory would mean -- if an economic-populist independent can defeat a Republican in a state where a Democrat would have no chance, it will show that Les Leopold's plan for an economic-populist, working-class-led third party or movement is viable, and so far from creating a potential spoiler, is actually the only way to break the Republican stranglehold on vast areas of the country.  If the movement grows, it would ultimately break the grip of the two billionaire-controlled parties on the entire system and free our politics from its current stagnation.  This is the race I'll be watching most closely as the election results start coming in.

2.  The California billionaire tax initiative.  After Osborn's race, this is this year's second most important test of the viability of economic populism as an independent political force -- and in a state almost as solidly blue as Nebraska is red.  Proposed by a union, the initiative would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on billionaires to pay for health care and education.  Most of the Democratic party establishment (including governor Newsom) is kowtowing to its billionaire donor masters and opposing the initiative.  This will be a pure test of strength -- the masses and the labor movement vs politicians and billionaire power.

3.  Abortion-rights initiatives.  These are on the ballot in Idaho, Nevada, and Virginia, seeking to uphold and defend one of the most basic personal freedoms at a time when it is under the most vicious attack in half a century.  The Idaho initiative is the most interesting case -- this is a very red state, but the only poll that seems to be available (from November 2025) shows it winning 61% to 28%.  If abortion rights can win in such a solid-red state, especially by such a large margin, it will be a powerful warning to the forced-birthers that their war against the freedom of women and girls is a lost cause -- a warning delivered directly by voters, not politicians.

4.  Abdul El-Sayed.  An obsessive Israel-basher, almost certainly an anti-Semite, a long-term associate of jihadist apologist Hasan Piker -- electing this guy to the Senate would be a frightening escalation of the menacing outbreak of Jew-hatred infesting our politics since the October 7 attack in Israel.  Mamdani is bad enough, but a senator has far more influence on foreign policy than a mayor.  Recent polling in Michigan shows him four points ahead, but remember that polls in the primary had him leading Haley Stevens by double digits, when in fact he ended up winning by a far narrower margin (polling in the Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin likewise had Hong far ahead of Crowley, but in fact she lost narrowly).  Polling seems to overstate support for Israel-bashers.  There's hope El-Sayed can be stopped.

5.  Troy Jackson.  The Democratic Maine Senate candidate is running on an economic-populist platform, though not as radical as Osborn's.  The party deserves kudos for doing the right thing here, dumping the Israel-bashing, "military history buff but didn't know that was a Nazi tattoo", misogynistic Graham Platner for Jackson.  If Jackson wins in November and El-Sayed loses, it will send the best possible message to the party -- nominate economic populists and stay away from anti-Semites.  Plus we'd get rid of the perennially-"concerned" but pragmatically useless Susan Collins.

6.  Texas.  This state offers the best opportunity to punish some gerrymandering politicians.  Districts were redrawn on the assumption that Hispanic support for Republicans would hold steady, but it is not doing so.  The new map may well backfire and actually cause Republicans to lose House seats.  In addition, Hinojosa's campaign for governor has emphasized opposition to data centers (Abbott has supported them, though he recently panicked and changed course), while if Talarico wins for the Senate, it would keep the corrupt, pedo-enabling Paxton out.  Polling suggests both have a real chance.

7.  Men in women's sports.  Arizona, Colorado, and Washington will hold referenda on this issue.  Opposition to men and boys participating in women's and girls' sports has reached 80%, with solid majorities of Republicans, independents, and Democrats in agreement -- an emerging national consensus.  If these initiatives win big, it will express that consensus in a form the media will no longer be able to lie about.

8.  Montana I-194.  This ballot initiative would basically ban corporations from making campaign contributions.  I don't know what risk there is that it would be found unconstitutional, but passing it would represent a rebuke to billionaire power.

9.  The Wisconsin governor race.  Democratic candidate David Crowley is a mainstream Democrat who defeated Israel-bashing nutcase Francesca Hong (who has also supported "defund the police" and even called for abolishing Thanksgiving) in the primary.  The party needs to get the message that this was the right choice.  The Republican candidate, Tom Tiffany, supported Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result, a flagrant attack on democracy.  His party needs to get the message that he was not the right choice.

10.  Control of Congress.  In a midterm election, the party not holding the presidency almost always gains seats in Congress.  In this case, the Republican majority in the House is very small and Trump is massively unpopular, so it's a near-certainty that the Democrats will win control of that body -- perhaps by a large margin.  The real question is the Senate.  Current polling has the Democratic candidate ahead in every swing state with a Senate race, plus Alaska and Texas, but in most cases the margins are small, and polling has an uneven record lately.  A Democratic House will be able to squelch a lot of bad legislation; if Democrats control the Senate too, they may be able to pass acts to help deal with the public's major concerns such as prices, jobs, and data centers.  That would require cooperation with Trump (or Vance), which in turn would require smacking down the "always hate and fight the opposing party even if it means nothing gets done" faction.  If that faction and its mentality get the upper hand, there is the risk of the House passing yet another impeachment, which would be a mistake and a waste of time (Trump has done plenty of things deserving of impeachment, but there's no way that the Senate will have 67 votes to remove him).  If the Democrats keep their focus on the economic issues the voters care about, they'll be well positioned for 2028.

[Please, no comments along the lines of "the Republicans will just steal the election".  It's a distraction, and defeatism tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.]

Video of the day -- Hank

A classic -- and deservedly so.

Truths and inspirations for 31 August 2026

If an image is hard to see or read, right-click and open the link in a new tab for the full-size version.

[For the link round-up, click here.]

I blame the influence of pornography for normalizing cruelty and ugliness as part of sexuality (although I don't think it has been normalized as much as the freaks want to believe).

Meat-eaters, your meat may soon become unsafe (that is, even more unhealthy than eating parts of animal corpses already is).

Just look at that horror.  Use "AI" to create an ad, this is the kind of thing you get.