o o o o o
Don't interrupt her dancing.
Happy new year -- right in the face.
Got you! Or maybe not (slightly NSFW).
What a spectacular stunt..... oops.
A woman laments her husband's injury.
Snowmen face a variety of problems.
Birds do not understand the concept of windows.
You should have known better than to use that tree stump.
Oh, just let her do it her own way.
Plumb the depths of the despair of the avocado.
It's surprising what you can do at K-Mart (slightly NSFW).
If dogs herd sheep, who herds dogs?
Just go ahead and jump -- nothing will happen.
Witness an attempted murder.
This house will annoy you.
They found a good nanny for the baby.
Hey, ice is slippery, you idiot.
Inside this thing, they feel safe from being eaten.
Teamwork solves the problem.
The smart one avoids the cold.
Well, they avoided paying for home delivery (found via Hackwhackers).
Avidly she studies the ways of her primitive ancestors.
He dared to take the leap.
And all of them want to shit on your car.
This is a fish, but it seems ambitious.
And I looked, and behold a pale
Camazotz?
Blogger Donna has new words for the new year.
Lady M did New Year's Day Halloween style, after braving numerous dangers in Australia.
Annie Asks You remembers a special New Year's Day.
Christmas is over, evidently a relief to some.
Nice view. I don't know where this is.
See an epic undersea battle.
They can visit you on your balcony.
A new year means a new countdown to Halloween (found via Miss Cellania).
Disney used to have the Midas touch -- so why have all their recent movies flopped?
Looks like Mickey Mouse isn't entering the public domain after all.
What was the Utsuro-bune? Well, not a flying saucer.
Viewed from above, sheep flow like liquid.
It's a special delivery in Ukraine.
I've seen this abomination of the deep before. Still no idea what it is.
Reading books -- especially older works with "challenging" language -- can strongly boost your mental health.
Here are some examples of how the Romans built things.
Corvids can be frighteningly smart.
Several types of viral infection increase the risk of Alzheimer's -- yet another reason to get vaccinated against those infections.
Curious that carmakers didn't keep using this system. I suppose making the mechanism strong enough to support the weight was too expensive.
Being in space is even more damaging to women's musculature than to men's.
Staying fully vaccinated is the best protection against "long covid".
We've now studied thousands of planetary systems, and none of them resemble our own solar system at all. This may reflect limitations in our observation technology, but more likely our system is simply a freak case.
NASA and the ESA have big plans for space research in 2024.
US researchers have developed a vaccine against "bad" cholesterol.
Oh FFS we should not be disrupting the space program because of somebody's stupid religion.
There's only one major web browser that's still ethical to use. It's also the best one available.
Developers of one "AI" "art" generator get caught discussing all the real artists they "scraped" (stole from). Includes a link to the actual list of artists -- it's huge. A lawsuit is under way.
Here's a "scorecard" (scroll down a bit) of several dozen major retailers and whether they use facial recognition technology (found via Earth-Bound Misfit).
You don't need to answer dishonest questions. This is just a form of trolling.
A smart corporation knows a good investment when it sees one.
"AI"-generated "art" is just plagiarism, not creativity.
Is it appropriate to put a Star of David on a Christmas tree?
For WoLF, 2023 was a year of progress in both red and blue states.
Ring in the new year with genocide fireworks.
Darwinfish 2 sniffs around Trumpponggate.
These people exist.
It's capitalism, not communism, that won't let you own things.
Wingnuts have good reason to fear Taylor Swift.
Just refuse to kowtow to their bullshit.
There are certain jobs that assholes should not be allowed to have.
In the early twentieth century, several jurisdictions banned hatpins because women were using them for self-defense against predatory men. Whoever tries to disarm you is your enemy.
We have a belligerent paranoid subculture in our midst, obsessed with violent rhetoric and imagery, reacting to challenges with threats and sometimes actual violence. More examples here and here.
Of the ten states with the worst rates of new covid hospitalizations, eight are deep-red states. Of the counties with the worst rates, all are in red states. Anti-vax idiocy continues to take its toll.
At least in New York City, the surge in anti-Jewish hate crimes seems to be subsiding, though still remaining at a much higher level than before October 7.
John Oliver suggests an idea for getting legislators interested in data privacy.
A change of leadership at Harvard marks a defeat for the witch-hunt mentality.
Hopes that Epstein's client list was about to be released have been dashed. All the judge released was some documents on "associates" of Epstein, information that was already mostly public. We still don't know which of these powerful men were actually clients of his sex-with-kids racket. The fight to get the real information out must continue. Here is some of the testimony of a woman who said that Trump raped her at one of Epstein's parties when she was a minor (graphic and disturbing).
This bill would do a lot to free up housing, but it probably won't pass.
Still need a New Year's resolution? Stop using Newspeak.
The abortion-rights situation in Texas is just getting worse.
Intolerance of Satanism is un-American.
Freedom of speech? Only if you agree with us.
Oregon courts continue to coddle criminals, with serious threats and even violence sometimes getting no jail time at all.
Natural selection in action: hydroxychloroquine increases the risk of death from covid by 11%. An estimated seventeen thousand people died unnecessarily because they believed Trump and random media wingnuts over the FDA.
Detailed accusations have surfaced of flagrant racism at the psychology department of the University of Washington.
Some American Catholics are too Catholic for the Pope.
When the media are this biased, you can't even trust fact-checkers.
These people exist (read the comments). I see a fair bit of this kind of thing in the right-wing blogosphere.
The public is taking a closer look at trans ideology. This could be the year common sense wins out.
Calling women "Karens" is a slur comparable to calling black people "uppity".
More detail here on the Biden administration's plans to fight price-gouging by Big Pharma.
Identity-politics progressives' enthusiastic support for a regime that would eagerly murder them isn't due to stupidity -- it's much worse than that.
Kim Davis, who denied a marriage license to a same-sex couple in 2015 despite same-sex marriage being legal, is finally paying a price for putting religious taboo above doing her job as a public official.
Elon Musk should not have the power to bugger up the Ukrainian war effort.
Whistleblower Jamie Reed discusses choosing science over dogma.
Repealing the ACA would devastate US healthcare.
Feminists debate 2024 presidential candidates.
Ignore the apologists' red herrings -- the Confederacy was created to preserve slavery, period.
Arch-wingnut Nick Fuentes demands the death penalty for all Jews, pagans and occultists. I can't find anything in his own actual words that extends that to all non-Christians, as the headline and quotes from others claim, but this is still a call for genocide.
The (fairly) new Reduxx news site is a success, helping to get the truth out.
Abortion rights will be the Democrats' most powerful weapon for next year's election.
It's free speech -- for Jew-haters only.
Why is the British left losing women voters?
She objected to his objections to anti-Semitism.
During 2023, New Zealand started coming back to its senses. The October election helped.
In the Paris Olympics, men seeking to compete in women's events will face some restrictions (read the comments too).
Verified charities here to help Ukraine.
Anti-missile technology is improving, with Ukraine shooting down most or all missiles in recent attacks.
Here's what happens when some Russian tanks encounter a Ukrainian minefield.
Wives and mothers of Russian draftees are increasingly discontented.
Ukraine can win the war, but it's going to be nasty (found via Reaganite Independent).
Russia must be unambiguously defeated. Anything short of that will just mean more danger later on. It's time to stop pulling punches.
Even by the "normal" ugly standards of wartime, the mass rape and torture committed by Hamas on October 7 were uniquely horrific. It's something that needs an explanation.
Israel has killed one of the architects of October 7 and other terrorist attacks.
Hamas is driven by Islamic supremacism -- it has nothing to do with "liberating" anybody.
What should be done with Gaza after the current war?
The world's two biggest gangster-states are being drawn closer together by their shared goal of fighting the democracies and re-legitimizing war as a tool of territorial expansion.
Taiwan is holding national elections this coming Saturday, and the party currently in power, the pro-independence and US-aligned DPP, looks likely to be re-elected. Such a result would infuriate the failing tinpot dictatorship in Beijing, which yearns to conquer Taiwan, destroy its democracy, and plunder its advanced economy. The foreign regime is interfering in the election, starting with a fake poll.
Despite the regime's campaign of exhortation and scolding to pressure women to have more children, China's birth rate continues to decline, now down to 1.09 children per woman -- barely half of what would be needed to maintain the present population size. Poverty, overwork, and the unappealing nature of Chinese traditional marriage are the main reasons so many don't want to have children. Discussion here.
The Taliban are building a true totalitarian state, dictating everything from beard styles to what color you can paint a taxi. Predictably, the worst repressions target women.
It's becoming clear that Jews have no future in South Africa. (Does anybody?)
More links at Fair and Unbalanced and WAHF.
My own posts this week: some truths and inspirations, and political realities and dangerous delusions.
If any links in this round-up are paywalled or require a log-in to view, please let me know so I can avoid linking to that site in the future.
To suggest an item for inclusion in the next link round-up, you can use the e-mail address on the left in my profile, or if you don't want to use e-mail, leave it in a comment to the previous link round-up.
o o o o o
US immigration policy should be set based on the interests of American workers, not the interests of business or of the immigrants themselves. Moderate labor shortages are a good thing, not a bad thing, because they create upward pressure on wages.
FFS stop trying to make Claudine Gay some kind of victim. She simply behaved unethically and got caught. The motives of the people who exposed her don't change that.
It should be possible to use computers to eliminate gerrymandering. Feed the computer data about population distribution within a state, but not about race, party affiliation, etc, then program it to draw districts of equal population with shapes as compact as possible. It can't bias the districts to disadvantage a race or a party if it doesn't "know" about those things.
Sample quote about Nick Fuentes:
ReplyDeleteHe has described himself as the "straightest guy" and attempted to defend himself as an incel by claiming that "the only really straight heterosexual position is to be an asexual incel", as "having sex with women is gay … What's gayer than being like 'I need cuddles. I need kisses … I need to spend time with a woman.'"
-from Wikipedia.
He's a loon!
That dinner with Trump and Kanye must have been... interesting. A black man who wears KKK kit, a white man who thinks a man having a sexual relationship with a woman is the epitome of homosexuality and an orange man who is a malignant narcissist. Wow!
Interesting idea about computers drawing electoral boundaries as an anti-gerrymandering thing. I have a vague suspicion that, from a strictly, mathematical viewpoint that might be very difficult. That and, obviously, whoever feels they lose out is gonna claim the programmers were biased. Anyway, a lot of seemingly simple geometrical questions are actually dastardly. A lot of problems that are very easy to state and understand are still unsolved.
Afaik the nice view is shot from the north side of Gardasee. Italy.
ReplyDeleteI can't stress it enough the thanks to you for what you post on this blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. If I had the money to pay you for your content I would. So sorry I can't.
ReplyDeleteThat K-mart commercial is pure brilliance. Still laughing about it. I had no idea Trump smelled that bad. I am glad I will never be in the same room with him.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list of links, as usual. I gave up long ago trying to pick a favorite, there’s no point to that. “They found a good nanny for the baby” . . . was a real smile-maker though. You always find such a broad range of links to post. Thank you for sharing these today.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you! Wishing you a year ahead that's as bright and hopeful as a sunrise.
Such a vast collection of “interesting stuff,” Infidel. Loved the kitties—especially the intrepid trampoline jumper. The therapeutics of reading good literature was encouraging to know. And I’m glad to learn I’ve been using the “most ethical”Firefox browser!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking to my New Year reminiscence. It’s always fun when my poetic efforts encourage your in-kind responses.
Here’s to a year that somehow brings healing and mending to our country and planet. Do you think our solar system is truly unique?
NickM: I suspect Fuentes is making a virtue of incel necessity there. Either that, or he's a very deeply closeted homosexual whose self-deception takes an unusual form.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting meeting indeed. A black man who thinks he's a white racist, a woman-avoiding man who thinks he's the epitome of straight, and a con man who thinks he's still president. Students of abnormal psychology would have a field day.
Too bad about the computer thing -- I thought it would at least be a workable idea, even if not very popular because it would defeat political parties' efforts to game the system.
Stu: Thanks! I thought it looked like somewhere Alpine.
Lady M: Rumor has it that Trump, due to bowel issues caused by all the weird meds he's on, often does what the people in that commercial only seem to be talking about. If Melania married him for money, she's earning every penny.
Dellgirl: Thanks! Dogs can be very devoted to humans, but it's unusual to see one that knows what to do in such detail.
Leanna: Thanks! Well, if you ever win the lottery, I'll keep that in mind.....:-)
Annie: Cats are always good internet material. That kitten must have discovered the trampoline and what it does -- I get the impression he'd been doing that habitually, even if a little nervous each time.
I definitely feel like reading books has been beneficial to me. Just finished reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde again. I like things with some intellectual heft to them.
The New Year's post was irresistible, clearly an emotionally profound memory.
I doubt our solar system is absolutely unique, but the evidence so far is that it's a freak case, an extremely rare type, since out of thousands of examples we haven't seen even one other one like it. Another factor to consider is that, in the galaxy, our solar system (and of course all the other stars close enough to study) is actually in one of those spaces between the spiral arms, meaning that the stars in our area are relatively thinly scattered. The orbits of the planets in our system are mostly very close to circular, meaning that in its nearly five billion years of existence, our system has never come close enough to another star for the gravitational interaction to disrupt planetary orbits. But of course the vast majority of the stars in our galaxy are within the spiral arms, or the central core. In those places, the stars are packed much closer together. So it may well be that almost all stars sometimes pass close enough to each other to gravitationally disrupt the orbits of each others' planets, yanking them into wildly elliptical orbits or ejecting them from the system to freeze in interstellar space. This would help explain why we've seen no sign of technological civilizations elsewhere, despite the fact that the universe is old enough for civilizations millions of years more advanced than ours to exist. Most likely the conditions under which life could appear, or survive long enough to evolve into complex forms, are freakishly rare.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/fbi-agent-undercover-human-trafficking-stings-nikki-badolato-1234923666/
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting article about child sex trafficking. I know that is something you feel strongly about. It is pretty heartbreaking.
Thank you for the link. It's almost too sickening to read about. Badolato and all those who fight against this are heroes. And, of course, we mustn't forget all of those, notably some in the film industry, who try to excuse or minimize such crimes.
ReplyDeleteThe direct link is unfortunately paywalled, at least for me. This link should work for everyone.
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ReplyDelete