Link round-up for 30 June 2024

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

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There are those who learn quickly, and those who do not.

Do math with cats.

Helping kids cross the street can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

Beware of the dog pig.

Don't get too close to the construction site.

Some serious dumbth here.

He's keeping watch from his guard tower.

Celebrate hot ghoul summer.

See paintings come to life.

A slippery floor does not make a cat any less destructive.

Vote for her husband for city council.

This person is not a very good driver.

Strange images here (NSFW blog, requires Blogspot log-in).

He does his job with enthusiasm and efficiency.

Are the stores in your area at Code Orange yet?

This kid had a close call.

This is what English would sound like with German grammar.

See some friendly animals and an annoying panda.

What would happen if we drained the oceans?  (I was reminded of this.)

Old pets need love too.

This guy was damn lucky he got such an unflappable cop.

Do you remember suffering from weird rules as a child?

Two former members of Nightwish sing together again -- on Mars.

Here are some websites you can use for drawing.  I haven't tried them -- I can't draw worth anything, with or without technology.

If you've had covid, wait two months before starting to exercise again.

There's some evidence that elephants use names for each other much like how humans do.

Scientists have successfully repaired brain damage in mice using stem cells from rats, even though mice and rats have been separate lineages for thirty million years, far longer than humans and any of the other great-ape species have been separate.

The new Rubin telescope in Chile will greatly enhance our ability to detect asteroids that pose a threat to Earth.

The New York Times is bullshitting its readers about covid.

Colleges are now dumbing down their teaching to accommodate the declining reading ability of students, attributed to the rise of social media and the decline of recreational reading of real books, though I suspect that the period of non-phonics-based "teaching" of reading in primary schools also played a bigger role than the article suggests.

I bet you didn't know about this bizarre Islamic custom concerning breastfeeding.

The world-wide abolition of slavery was mostly accomplished by the relentless efforts of just one country.

Beware of people with these three traits.

The Cybertruck is being recalled for manufacturing defects for the fourth time since it went on sale seven months ago.  It's so dangerous they really should just get all of them off the roads until they can be completely re-engineered to meet normal standards.

This person exists.

Forget Jewish space lasers -- they've now got atomic spy lizards and killer dolphins.

No, it's not true that Taylor Swift refuses to perform in Florida.  Who on Earth believes this stuff?

Learn ten reasons why you should become a Muslim.

Here's a way to make your Cybertruck even more annoying and exhibitionistic.

Half of Dell's US employees still work from home despite company policy denying promotions to those who won't return to the office.

This is utter madness.

A suburban school district near here will require students' phones to be locked away during class time.  Phones have become a big distraction in schools, so hopefully this will improve educational outcomes.

Some things are still allowed to be women-only.

The Inquisition never burned any witches.

There is a huge amount of silly nonsense about Gaza circulating on the internet.  Don't believe it.

Maybe the reason why people these days are so fed up with work is that so much of it is obviously pointless.

Major League Baseball players are getting death threats from gamblers who lose money on them.

Must-read of the week for all politics junkies:  the actual economic environment much of the population lives in is still terrible, and the worst, vote-losingest thing the left can do is what it largely is doing, namely telling people to ignore what they can see in front of their own eyes and believe the wonderful statistics being spouted by the talking heads with letters after their names instead.  I discussed an analogous problem with crime (among other things) in this post in January.  The political-activist left is probably still doing more harm than good to its own causes.

Oklahoma is now requiring teachers to teach the Bible.  Here are some suggestions for specific lessons.

"Queer theory" is mostly just word-games, and sane people are getting better at dismantling it.

Darwinfish 2 has an image round-up, largely on politics and religion.

To this day, most people don't grasp the true horror of October 7.  Many, I suspect, don't want to.  Here's a site which has collected documentation.

Worthwhile assessments of the debate by Annie Asks You, an Arizona independent, and a non-panicking liberal.

Ohio is purging its voter rolls.  If you live there, make sure you're still registered.

This ad is a textbook case of gaslighting.  More discussion here.

Workers use "coffee badging" to evade the bosses' back-to-the-office demands.

The Portland teachers' union endorses flagrant and outrageous anti-Jewish propaganda in classrooms.

Nevada has verified enough signatures to place an abortion-rights initiative on the ballot this November.

Sometimes people who seem like the enemy are actually reachable.  Sometimes they aren't evil, they just haven't been allowed to hear the truth.

In line with most other Western countries, and with the views of the overwhelming majority of Americans, the Biden administration has declared that it no longer supports gender surgery for minors.

Julian Assange is back in the news, so here's your periodic reminder that he's a murderous monster.  And accusations against him of sex crimes were never properly investigated.

The "New Columbia movement" is an authoritarian and Christian-nationalist group more blunt about its intentions than most.  Their manifesto predictably attacks abortion, birth control, and sexual freedom, but also calls democracy a "failed experiment" and disparages NATO and the US alliance with Israel.  They do, at least, explicitly reject racism, and oddly seem to admire the decidedly non-Christian Roman Empire.  Their symbol looks like four letter Ts arranged to form a cross, in a way so strongly suggestive of a swastika that it's hard to believe it could be accidental.  Found via Lo Imprescindible (NSFW blog, Blogspot log-in required).

As Twitter's revenue continues to plummet, Elon Musk begs former advertisers to return.

Here's a corporate executive who used his power for good.

The "progressive left" is a tiny fraction of the US population and far out of step with most of the country.

Biden has pardoned thousands of former members of the US armed services who were convicted for violating the military's ban on gay sex (which was repealed in 2013).  Those covered by the pardon will be able to apply to recover lost pay and benefits.

Abortion rights continue to be the issue this year in politics, with huge majority support and energized voters across the country.

A right-wing blogger calls out another for racism (the comments are also of interest).

"Pride" has lost its original meaning as an ever-growing collection of fads and gobbledygook squeeze actual gay people out.

Here's why the claim that Biden uses drugs to hide his alleged senility is nonsense.

JK Rowling isn't pulling punches any more.

51% of people in Scotland now identify as having no religion, up from 37% in 2011.  Only 39% identify as Christian.

Here's an overview of the election for France's National Assembly, which takes place in two rounds of voting, today and on July 7.

In France, rising crime is a major part of why the anti-immigration nationalists are gaining ground with voters.  This very article is a good example of how the MSM's dishonesty in reporting such issues has destroyed readers' trust in them, trying to discredit voter anger by saying that only 17% of violent-crime suspects are foreigners.  First, non-citizens are less than 8% of France's population, so being 17% of suspects is actually very high.  Second, many people of non-Western origin and culture have French citizenship and are thus not counted as foreigners statistically.  The voters can see with their own eyes where the problem is largely coming from.  Crude media gaslighting only infuriates them further.

In Germany, eleven men raped a fourteen-year-old girl.  Nine were convicted, but only one received a (ridiculously short) prison term.  Then a woman was convicted of insulting one of the rapists -- and got a weekend in jail.  Read the story at the link, consider how many stories like this there are over there these days -- and if you're still surprised that Europeans are voting in droves for the "far right", there's no help for you.

In an effort to combat anti-Semitism, Germany now requires that anyone applying for citizenship recognize Israel's right to exist.

The EU's new foreign-policy chief will be tough on Russia.

Under attack from Putin's explicitly Christianist regime, Ukrainians continue to observe pagan traditions of their culture.

October 7 probably ended access for Palestinian workers to the Israeli labor market, a serious blow to them economically.

Jihadist attacks on Jewish people, holy places, and other sites are common, but often ignored by the Western media.

During the Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage) in Mecca, sexual harassment and abuse are a persistent problem.

The recent rejection of authoritarian religio-nationalism by India's voters holds lessons for other democracies, including ours.

More links at Fair and Unbalanced and WAHF.

My posts this week:  an image round-up, a personal note, and a brief comment on the debate.

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The Democratic party won back a shred of its honor in this Tuesday's primaries, dumping one member of the Israel-bashing "Squad", Jamaal Bowman, in New York.  Republicans missed a chance to do likewise, re-nominating the Ukraine-bashing Lauren Boebert in Colorado.