Travel broadens the mind.
John Cleese sums up Fox News.
This was a popular song in Britain during World War II -- mockery is always a fun weapon against the pompous.
Jeb Bush is a dunce for the ages.
I must have the strongest muscles in the world.
Yep, sounds like a plausible story idea (found via What Would Jack Do).
Here's a whole blog dedicated to Halloween art (found via -- who else? -- Mendip).
Apparently natural selection still works.
Murr Brewster looks at money, early retirement, and happiness.
I found a mysterious and chilling piece of writing.
Something is missing from the Black Republican Committee.
See dramatic overhead views of one of the modern world's greatest cities.
This was the last thylacine. They're all gone now.
Far away, a vast canyon reaches halfway round a world.
Many ancient Romans had better teeth than we do -- here's why.
A new brain implant could help fight memory loss due to aging (found via Mendip).
Dreher's "Benedict option" has been tried and doesn't work (found via Republic of Gilead). But the fundies don't have much else to do.
Republicans' global-warming denialism puts them out of step with conservatives overseas.
Jerry Coyne presents two great pieces on the need for free expression.
The Bible isn't at all clearly anti-abortion.
Some British club initiations are worse than pigfucking (found via Earth-Bound Misfit).
I'm not personally "terrified" of this, but the commenter invoking teen suicide is right on the money.
It's not just evolution -- here's a round-up of Ben Carson idiocies (found via Politics Plus).
British police, US police.
Hillary promises to expand protections for gays, and reminds us what a Republican President would do.
The wingnuts are trying to destroy the Postal Service again.
Sometimes a bit of cheating is just what you need.
Once again Christianity is the religion of exclusion.
The problem with the Republicans isn't the leaders, it's the rank-and-file, who are determined to enforce their wingnuttery (found via Republic of Gilead). Boehner was the adult in the room; his likely successor is a fountain of gibberish.
Freedom has to include economic security.
Pope Francis's words on molestation vary depending on the audience (found via Republic of Gilead). Don't be shocked by his meeting with Kim Davis (on which the Church is now doing frantic damage control) -- his position doesn't allow him to be a real liberal.
Here's Cecile Richards's testimony before Congress (link from Ahab). Yet another inquiry has cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing (found via Fair and Unbalanced), but that isn't stopping the terrorists.
From the 2000 primaries, a reminder of just how slimy the Bushes can be.
Alabama is hardly even bothering to hide what it's doing.
Michele Bachmann lies about dead Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi.
Here are 25 reasons to be glad you're not a Republican (found via Rational Nation).
No, there was not a huge rally in Peru to support Kim Davis. Even her "lawyer" now admits it.
Green Eagle collects the latest wingnut insanities.
Tax cuts don't create jobs.
Here's a sensible-sounding guide to self-defense for women (sent by Natasha Colvin).
Blogger Max's Dad assesses the Republican front-runners (found via Fair and Unbalanced). Rubio's relative sanity could cost him the nomination, Cruz is going for coded birtherism, Jeb is just floundering like some primordial beast sinking into a tar pit, and as for Trump.....
It's not just that Christians insult and threaten atheists, Christianity itself does so.
One thing that's bothered me about Bernie was a lack of emphasis on foreign policy. His site now has statements on the Iran nuclear deal and on foreign policy in general.
Young Iranians live in the shadow of a war and massacre they never saw.
Saudi Arabia is declining toward collapse (found via Green Eagle).
A top British official sounds the alarm on global warming.
[Image at top: Charon]
Wait. Pope Francis is a reptile?
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Mock Paper Scissors -- Jeb Bush isn't terribly bright, original, or thoughtful. The commentary piece on the GOP's rejection of climate science reminds us that he's surrounded by kindred spirits in the Republican party.
Considering how worn Pennsylvania's roads are, I suspect that we too have offended the Ancient Ones who watch over the highway. The roads must be placated with offerings of meat.
What beautiful photos of London!
Pope Francis is a reptile?
ReplyDeleteApparently. Just don't let David Icke hear about it.
The roads suck everywhere in the country, but I suspect the problem is Republicans failing to offer up sufficient funding sacrifices to the gods of maintenance and repair.
London is a magnificent place. I hope to go there again someday.
Thanks for linking to my entry about the "Grand Canyon of Charon." Mars can't have all the fun this week between the discovery of liquid water on its surface and the premiere of "The Martian."
ReplyDeleteAs for "Republicans failing to offer up sufficient funding sacrifices to the gods of maintenance and repair," that's certainly the issue here in Michigan. The state's Republican governor can't even get his fellow party members to come up with a funding plan, and fixing the roads is one of his priorities!
Another nice round-up of interesting links. The piece on the extinction of the thylacine was quite sad, with the gif of the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity adding a bit of an eerie touch (to think those things were still around at the advent of filmmaking technology!). It also reminded me a bit of something I once read about the extinction of the Caspian tiger, and the year when the last verified sighting of one of those was made (1947, according to the source I read). I found that very sad too; I couldn't help thinking of the tiger in question searching in vain for another of its kind, not knowing it was the last one left. Sniff.
ReplyDeleteThat piece on Iranian youth living in the shadow of the Iran-Iraq War and that massacre of Iranian political prisoners was also very interesting. I recall reading a book which dealt with the latter thing in some depth, and have been searching for material about the first thing too, as the Iran-Iraq War is something I'm very interested in. Unfortunately, for a conflict that had such far-reaching consequences (ultimately leading, as it did, to the current catastrophe in Iraq), there doesn't seem to be much in the Western press about it (it also annoys me how so many people call the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait "the first Gulf War", given that the Iran-Iraq War is that conflict which really deserves that distinction).
Pinku: Thanks for the post. A lot of the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure in the US is in dangerously bad condition compared with other advanced countries, because the Republicans don't want to spend money on keeping us an advanced country.
ReplyDeleteZosimus: Australia must be the number-one continent for strange-looking animals. You're probably aware that it used to be even more impressively diverse until the mass extinction of about 40,000 years ago, when the first humans arrived there.
Unfortunately the US (and Western generally, I think) media under-report anything in the Middle East where Westerners aren't involved on a large scale. They find it too hard to understand. It's why people's knowledge of the area tends to be so spotty.