Link round-up for 24 October 2026
One week to Halloween!
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Show-off.
This is kind of awkward.
He didn't have a very good flight.
It's set up too high.
Faces, faces everywhere!
It's probably safer than the real ones.
At least he got some decent hold music.
Neil has made quite a splash in his adopted hometown.
This video starts off like an eighties sitcom and gradually mutates into..... well..... see for yourself.
Dogs experience Halloween terror. Cats are more likely to inflict it.
Denver observes Día de los Muertos.
It's spooky season at New Witch blog.
Here are some tips on visiting Salem MA, from a native. And here are some photos from Haunted Overload, just across the state line in Lee NH.
The Manitou Springs CO Skeleton Craze does rock stars.
Here's a spooky little story of a man who dreamed of opening his own tavern.
She has the perfect pet!
Why are witches depicted wearing those pointy hats? The real answer may surprise you.
Learn the history of jigsaw puzzles.
The 1960s was a colorful time.
Remember the real villain of Hellraiser.
Here's part two of blogger Carol Seidl's arrival in Paris.
Morning Coffee blog has a report and pictures from a road trip from Rhode Island to Florida.
Group travel can be a way to make new friends (expensive, though).
You can't exclude chaos from your life, but you can control how you respond to it.
The ocean is horror.
Here is why the Titanic is rotting away on the ocean floor, while wooden ships that sink to a similar depth stay preserved.
To re-live a nightmarish experience from childhood, even with a therapist, can itself be nightmarish.
Since Google search is so shitted up with "AI" and ads, here are some other search engines you can use (scroll down a ways).
If your landlord tries to discourage work-from-home or charge you extra for it, that's probably illegal, though it may depend on what state you're in.
There is now ad-based malware that can infect your computer just by the ad appearing on your screen -- you don't even need to click on the ad. You need to have an ad blocker on at all times. If a website asks you to turn it off, you're better off just not going to that website.
If you have work posted at AO3 or somewhere similar, here's a tip to prevent "AI" scraper bots from stealing it.
Here are some tips on making your smartphone less easy to track.
Meta's Muse "AI" agent is exposing thousands of conversations to public view, including many containing sensitive information.
Here's a guide to abortion ballot measures in several states.
Your home is allowed to look like someone lives there.
What fate would you wish on bunker billionaires?
During the primaries, an alarming number of ballots weren't counted because Postal Service delays meant they arrived too late. Mail your ballot as early as possible, or use a county drop box if your state has them.
If you advertise on a Meta platform, check to make sure they aren't shittyizing your ads with "AI". It's happened to some advertisers.
73% of all the money donated to politicians gets pissed away on consultants; only 13% is spent on ads that reach voters. There's also evidence that political ads have essentially zero effect on how people vote. So go ahead and spend your money on fun things instead and don't worry about it.
All that money billionaires are spending trying to influence the election doesn't seem to be working.
This Tesla robotaxi got stuck in "fart mode". The fact that Elon Musk's cars even have such a thing is probably a reflection of his level of maturity.
Why does so much modern architecture look like shit? Part of this post is paywalled, but you can read a long section of it. The contrast in that very first photo is damning and well worth the click.
Bosses are turning workplaces into nightmarish hellscapes of intensive monitoring of employees -- and since the monitoring uses "AI", it's going to get everything wrong anyway. This is madness. People are going to snap from the stress and start running amok in offices.
JK Rowling looks back on six years of supporting women's rights, and the backlash she's gotten from the lunatics and woketards.
"For people whose identity depends upon seeing themselves as fearless iconoclasts, breaking taboos is exhilarating."
Always remember that the violent insurrection of January 6 was a failure -- it's patient grassroots organizing that succeeds, and will win today's struggle against the parasitic oligarchy.
Annie Asks You blog examines Trump's backstabbing of Ukraine, and provides some useful links. Much of Congress is furious at Trump about this, and should be encouraged to stand up to him. I would add that for some time now Ukraine has been getting more aid from Europe than from the US -- Trump is not only betraying Ukraine but also deepening the irrelevance of the US on the global stage.
Most of the world is making good progress at reducing or limiting greenhouse gases, with only one major country -- the US -- not doing its share. Trump's idiotic anti-clean-energy policies, and the US's massive development of data centers, probably both play a role.
Must-read of the week: What's really behind the "free Palestine" mania?
The voters overwhelmingly want the next Congress to focus on lowering the cost of living and ending the Iran war -- not on supporting Trump, investigating Trump, or cutting aid to Israel. Politicians must listen to mainstream citizens, not to the activist fringes.
Even some of the prog fringe is abandoning the idea of another Trump impeachment -- pointless theatrics since there aren't 67 votes in the Senate to remove him.
People are using "AI" to create fake versions of arrest videos that show police sexually abusing suspects, which did not happen in the actual arrests. Because these are fake versions of real videos, they show real police officers and real suspects -- but doing things they did not actually do.
"7th of October was a choice the Palestinians of Gaza made. They took action. And actions carry consequences."
Russian operatives are circulating an "AI"-faked video accusing Talarico of sexual assault.
A federal judge has reined in some of the Trumpazoid DHS's voter intimidation tactics.
Community resistance and huge costs are really slowing down data center development.
Not only does Gavin Newsom oppose the California billionaire wealth tax initiative, he's endorsed one of the two billionaire scam initiatives designed to nullify it even if it passes.
The Tesla "flying car demonstration" may have been faked with vehicles stripped of essential parts to minimize weight. Tesla is not allowing outsiders to examine the vehicles used in the demo.
Laura Berlin of Texas is exposing companies that help facilitate ICE abuses.
Many younger men are turning away from the podcasters who sold them on Trump -- and those podcasters are themselves turning away from Trump.
Here are some of the problems created since the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe. It's nasty stuff -- it's no wonder Republicans are running away from forced-birthism.
Companies are starting to realize all that money they're spending on "AI" isn't producing anything worthwhile.
Why are these men so afraid of women organizing?
NRO openly admits that forced-birthers in Missouri are trying to trick voters into supporting restrictions on abortion (which are unpopular) by putting them on the same initiative with a ban on "trans" mutilation of minors (which is popular, but such a ban is already in place anyway).
When you vote, consider what kind of army you want the country to have.
Even the IMF is now warning about the consequences when the "AI" house of cards collapses.
This is "a society that has signed its own death warrant".
Here's how the US is different from France (thank goodness).
"When Jews begin wondering whether they should leave, the question is not only, 'What is happening to the Jews?' The deeper question is: What is happening to the country?"
A high proportion of families of active-duty US soldiers need assistance to be able to get enough food.
As often happens, the word "Islamophobic" is being weaponized to discourage the media from properly investigating Abdul El-Sayed's views and associations.
In April the DHS bought seven 737 jets for deportation flights. They've hardly been used at all.
"The lawsuit says the principal blamed her."
The Canadian province of Alberta voted three-to-one to remain part of Canada, rejecting a secession referendum. This is an unambiguous decision; the secessionists are making brave noises, but they need to accept the verdict of the voters and give up.
Google illegally cut down a quarter-million trees in Finland to make way for a data center. The Finns are not happy. Wolves have been encroaching on villages nearby since their regular prey's natural habitat has been destroyed.
Rupert Lowe talks cold hard sense.
This is France now.
"Collateral damage."
Part of the reason nativist parties have been winning in Europe is that they've distanced themselves from Trump.
The EU is responding to Trump's diesel deal by increasing its own sanctions on Russia.
Putin's talk of negotiation has nothing to do with Russia's actual plans -- it's purely meant to bamboozle Trump into making more concessions.
All four of Moscow's airports shut down on Friday under threat of Ukrainian drone attacks.
A military electronics factory in Oryol burns after being hit by missiles.
Ukraine destroyed six Su-34 supersonic bombers on the ground.
See a drone knock down a drone.
"The Strait of Hormuz is starting to look like a floating junkyard."
Divisions within the Iranian regime make negotiation with the US difficult.
Netanyahu is trying to remind Trump that overthrowing the Iranian regime has to be the primary goal. Military action that isn't directed at that goal is pretty much futile.
China is showing signs of falling into the same kind of prolonged economic stagnation that gripped Japan in the 1990s. The most fundamental driver of national decline -- a too-low birth rate -- is actually worse in China now than it was in Japan then.
More links at Red State Blues, Legal Mama Reviews, and Comedy Plus.
My posts this week: an image round-up, and my vote plus a few political odds and ends (please especially note my response to the Anonymous commenter on this one).
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Got my e-mail from the county Friday confirming that my ballot has been accepted and counted. Oregon's election system is as efficient as ever!
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posted by Infidel753 at 12:20 AM
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