07 October 2018

Link round-up for 7 October 2018

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

o o o o o

I doubt anybody wanted to lick this one.

Every Egyptian who travels outside his country must have a passport.

Most embarrassing sign ever (found via 両刀使い).

Here's a pregnancy announcement with a difference.

You don't owe anything to random weirdos on the internet.

Wolves:  better than American companies.

Check out Ian Hislop's unusual objects from the past (found via MBRU at Crooks and Liars).

Ranch Chimp is getting an early start on Halloween.  More here.  These could be considered Halloween trees.  Debra She Who Seeks celebrates spiders.

Let natural selection take its course.

A lot of us have been "at 59" for a long time.

Demonic possession?  If you seek it, you'll find it.

Christians suffer persecution in the US.

QAnon-addled wingnuts dream of mass arrests of liberals.

The gender gap in pay is especially bad in online freelance work.

Who made these rules? (found via Scottie)

We should not be slaves to the will of those who died long ago.

Kavanaugh is a good Catholic and the Church is sticking up for him.  The Bible is being used to defend him.

Fox News seems baffled by routine technology.

Trumpanzees are driven by cruelty, not ideology (found via Miss Cellania).

Remember the guy who ultimately made this mess possible.

I bet these people still support businesses that turn away gays.

There's evidence that Americans are kinkier than they admit.

If you're not a Christian, even the good things you do are bad.

An Amazon employee speaks about the new $15 pay minimum.

David Schraub looks at anti-Semitism on the left.

This concoction turned out thoroughly nasty.

The Christian fetish of forgiveness is harmful to sexual-abuse victims.

Even in 2018, we need to keep pushing back against censorship.

What would it be like if judges made rulings in accordance with the Bible?

This guy deserved to be fired, and should be prosecuted as well.  Violent assault is not a legitimate response to political differences.

Michigan authorities stage raids on a huge child-molestation network.

Green Eagle has a Wingnut Wrapup focusing on the Kavanaugh circus.  Elizabeth Warren, who knows, says the FBI investigation did not exonerate him.  Deborah Ramirez is not going silent just because he's been confirmed.  Lindsey Graham personifies Republican hypocrisy.  Here's another example of McConnell's hypocrisy.  Ford has become a target of wingnut conspiratardia (found via Shower Cap).

Centuries after Trump and his bullshit are forgotten, this man will be remembered.

Baboons in Ethiopia have formed a symbiosis with wolves which hints at how early humans might have domesticated the ancestors of dogs.

See the landscape of an asteroid, courtesy of Hayabusa-2's landers.

Americans, don't be provincial about Canadian Thanksgiving.

Apparently the Vatican contains this horrible sculpture depicting the Resurrection.

Try to imagine an American President being like this.

Romanians are voting on a referendum to amend their constitution to prevent gay marriage from ever becoming legal there.

Why do people give credence to crude anti-Semitic propaganda?

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Denis Mukwege of the Congo and Nadia Murad of Kurdistan, for their work against the use of rape as a weapon of war.  According to the report, Murad has met the Pope.  Maybe she can have a word with him about the use of rape as a weapon of religion.

If Democrats regain full control in 2020, they must reverse the Republicans' illegitimate seizure of the Supreme Court.

How does Avenatti stack up as a Presidential candidate?

Take nothing for granted -- the enemy is spending big to boost their turnout.

The "both parties are the same" horseshit has been around for a while.

Shower Cap offers some good news and motivation.

[Image at top found via Scottie]

10 Comments:

Blogger Debra She Who Seeks said...

Oh, those Nixon campaign buttons, LOL! Stephen Hawking's memorial stone is very cool.

07 October, 2018 08:16  
Blogger Unknown said...

The Vatican sculpture (The Resurrrection, by Pericle Fazzini) is meant to be horrible; it is intended to depict mankind living under the threat of nuclear war. It depicts Jesus rising from a nuclear crater in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, btw. The photo is so shocking I did some digging.

07 October, 2018 10:40  
Blogger Mary Kirkland said...

Of course Amazon was going to find a way to pay for those raises. Most companies are going to do something similar. it's all about that bottom line and their profit margin. They don't give two shits about the employees.

07 October, 2018 11:40  
Anonymous nonnie9999 said...

Hi Infidel,

I think the most embarrassing sign is a Twitler/Pence sign.

If you want to find relics from the past, you need look no further than the GOP side of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Maybe women who work online should just make believe they are men and get paid more. That sounds like the premise of an old comedy, and how sad is that it could still be made today?

I can't bring myself to read anything else having to do with St. Brett the Virgin of Georgetown. It makes me physically ill.

Faux News seems baffled by routine facts.

Twitlerites are in a cult of bullies led by a bully.

Daddy Twitler didn't make the mess possible all by himself. He had the help of dirty politicians and the media who promoted his shithead son, because a story is more exciting than the truth.

Instead of an image of a president sitting on the steps with his people, we have the image of a buffoon climbing the stairs to Air Force One with toilet paper stuck to his shoe.

07 October, 2018 15:53  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

The sculpture that you called "horrible", I actually loved it, quite a piece of art to me. My liking it though, has nothing to do with religion, catholic church, Jesus/ Devil, left/ right, good/ evil, or anything, I just wish I owned it!

Speaking of which though, the trees were really beautiful, I myself seen alot of trees, but never any that unique, I just figure some stuff is that photoshop or whatever. But the trees were killer.

New York Times piece was interesting as far as the Trump familia, but I figured alot of that too, without evidence ... just that Trump nature thing. I was talking to a Trump supporter when Trump was campaigning for President. Anywayz, I just told the dude, that just seeing his home (that one in Manhattan on top of the building), it was kind of tacky, the whole thing to me of sitting on chairs that look like thrones, gold railings, etc, is a bit much for me, even if I had billions. Believe it or not ... this dude sayz that I'm just jealous, because I dont have it. I didnt know whether to laugh, cry, take a shit, or wind my watch (and I usually dont spend much time, talking with folks about that stuff, online or in person, debating and stuff, it's too time consuming and pointless). But I told the guy, that I actually feel relieved and good about it. I told him that I was grateful, that I could never spend a ridiculous amount of money like that, just to have a seat, take a shit or whatever ... the guy said something like "yeah, sure". But I was being honest with the dude, I would never have a place (or palace) like that, even if I could afford it ... no doubt though, I would have a nice place. I am truly baffled on how a guy like him (Trump), out of a place like NYC, that lives that lifestyle, and with all he is, how he can appeal to folks in the south, midwest working classes, and actually think he is "for them" ... and they actually try to cover for him, when he f*cks up. I mean, none of these folks up there, whether Trump or any of that class/ circle, gives 2 shits about people like myself ... it's incredible to me, that people would actually believe them.

Banned book week piece, yeah, this has been news here in Texas, as far as taking out Hillary Clinton, Helen Keller or the likes from history ... it is so silly. Clinton and Keller are importante history (at least to me), this is just more of this left/ right polarization shit, religion, politics, etc ... this is why the billionaire classes look at us as stupid minions, including our politics, and they use us to keep us in this endless cycle of stupidity, good/ evil nonsense or whatever. I'll have whatever books I want myself, including sick twisted stuff, so called evil things, or whatever ... you know like, "f*ck them". Some want to teach about biblical Moses in history, it is so twisted guy. But yeah there is this big push to turn us into christian utopia or whatever, and having this guy like Trump as president, pumps them up, just like that one lady in another post I read, saying to lock up liberals. History shows us CLEARLY what will happen, if we lat these people take charge ... and you can bet your ass ... it wont be heavenly! I have no problem with Trump personally if he is racist, sexist or whatever, they're a dime a dozen in humanity ... what I do have a problem with, is someone like him, being a president of such a diversified country, his job is to represent everyone ... he belongs in the private sector, with the usual low- lifes he associates with ... where they can f*ck each other on business deals, and live happily ever after. Even myself, and I consider myself as fairly liberal, but I'm too biased to be a leader like such even.

07 October, 2018 16:50  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

**** said I had too many characters (I dont have as many fictional characters as the bible though) Monkeys getting cozy with wolves was a cool piece ... that's right, absolutely ... we can learn much about myself looking at other apes (or monkeys) too. People hate to think of themselves (some) as animals ... so weird, they like feel bad if they think they're an animal ... never made me feel bad, I mean, I think I'm an animal (I told a christian one time that I was an animal, they felt sorry for me and looked sad, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {:-) ... if it did, I wouldnt call myself the chimp on the ranch, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {:-)

Yeah, the piece concerning Amazon and the $15 an hour deal, before I even read any of that, the minute they said they were giving it, my flag went up, and figured there has to be something to it {:-) Just like these bonuses big companies gave out when the tax deal went through, they laid off others. Alwayz be ready for the bite my man! {:-)

I'm outta here, Dallas Cowboys at Houston Texans (NFL) is fixin to start ... I hope not, but I'm expecting Dallas to get another asswhippin ... they're just no doing well this year. Laterz ....

07 October, 2018 16:51  
Blogger Ami said...

As usual, many fascinating links.

Regarding random weirdos on the internet.

I read something yesterday, let me see if I can find it here, don't go away...

From Twitter user Denizcan James...
When someone disagrees with you online and demands you prove your point to their satisfaction by writing a logically sound defense, you can save a lot of time by not doing that.

"Dude, I've known you for ten seconds and enjoyed none of them, I'm not taking homework assignments from you."​

07 October, 2018 19:46  
Anonymous Jerry said...

I posted a story about the rob Peter the employee to pay Paul the employee strategy Amazon used to get employees a pay raise. This is typical corporate strategy.

Yesterday there was another report saying Amazon employees are now split and fighting each other over this move. Of course the older employees who are going to lose stock and other benefits to pay for this raise are not happy and the newer line employees are happy with a healthy raise.

One of the comments made by an Amazon "anonymous" management source was, "Most of our employees are temporary. Putting themselves through school, or making a living until their next step in life," Apparently that's supposed to justify the company's decision to rob their employee Peter to pay their employee Paul. Another typical corporate attitude. Amazon could not only care less about their employees, but they could care less about building a long term, experienced staff. They have a huge personnel department and detailed policies to keep employees moving in and out of their company.

This typical corporate thinking has been going on for centuries. Only unions stepping in to represent employees have protected employees from this kind of corporate pinch a penny and damn the employees attitude. But then, unions are dead now aren't they.

07 October, 2018 23:33  
Blogger Les Carpenter said...

30-40 years ago I worked for a company that actually respected and valued their employees. Most stayed with the company until their retirement. I left that company as plant manager because top leadership (VP's and Sr. VP's) changed. They didn't care about employees and thus employees responded by no longer showing loyalty towards the company.

As I moved through two successive management positions with 2 other companies the same lack of sincere concern for their employees was prevalent. So yes, the trend to temporary employees w/out benefits, a steady revolving door, and a laser focus on the bottom line and shareholder return is how major corporations rock and roll these days.

08 October, 2018 06:55  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Debra: Hawking is buried next to Newton in Westminster Abbey -- the highest possible honor for a scientist.

Richard: Well, that's appropriately trite, I suppose. It looks like a half-assed attempt to imitate Giger by somebody with maybe one-tenth the talent.

Mary: I guess Bezos with his $108 billion feels that he still doesn't have quite enough money.

Nonnie: Pretending to be a man on the internet isn't a bad idea. If they're going to rip you off otherwise, why not?

I get you about Boofy-Boy. I'm pretty sick of him myself.

It's funny how politicians (not just Trump) don't realize that pomposity makes them look ridiculous. In Scandinavia generally, leaders don't make such a big deal of themselves.

Ranch: Trees sometimes develop in pretty weird ways. I guess out of billions of trees in the world, there will be a few really freakish ones.

Trump is just trashy. He'll always be trashy no matter how much money he has.

Some people feel more noble believing they were made out of dirt by a tantrum-throwing cosmic bully than developing from intelligent primates by survival of the fittest. It's strange.

Ami: Good way of putting it from Denizcan James.

Jerry: The ruling class has always tried to keep workers divided against each other. Traditionally, in the US, the main way of doing that was race, but they'll find other ways too.

Most companies will naturally exploit their workers as much as they can get away with. It's up to the people we elect to office to determine how much they can get away with. And, as you say, unions, in the countries where they're still strong.

Rational: Hardly anyone seems to stick with one company for a whole career these days. Why would they? Companies are doing themselves long-term harm for short-term gain.

09 October, 2018 04:02  

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