Link round-up for 22 September 2024

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

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Watch my great motorcycle trick..... oops.

Wait, are they talking to me?

Don't mess with technology beyond your comprehension.

OK, it's a flying saucer that can't fly.  Also, if you want people to think you're a super-advanced alien, maybe get a quieter engine?

Better times are coming after the months of heat and glare.

Wow, what neat handwriting.

It's a see-thru car.

See image round-ups at the blogs Tell Me a Story and I Am Mental.

Awesome ghost pirate ship sculpture here.

He wins the game.

Scientists are studying why obesity leads to weakened sexual function in males.

This lake is getting bigger, and the reason isn't good.

A newly-discovered antibody neutralizes all variants of the covid virus.

Certain types of brain damage can increase susceptibility to religious extremism.

Mozilla is considering adding "AI" to Firefox.  Comments on the user feedback page seem very aware.

Social media are parasites that are slowly killing their hosts.

Does modern Christianity make sense?

Here's another set-to-music version of Trump's "eating the pets" blather.

Feminism is global.

Reminder:  January 6 was a violent mob insurrection, not a "peaceful protest".

They take pride in who they are, affirming their sexual identity.

This is what happens when you don't vet your candidates properly.

Elon Musk has launched a new, predictably-shitty "AI" project.

It's aggressive, bullying, stereotypically male behavior.

Victor Hugo was a life-long activist against the death penalty.

Validate her identity!  Accept her for who she says she is!

It's not enough to bring back manufacturing jobs -- they must be union jobs to be worth having.

Harris gets it about self-defense.

"Wokeness" in the US peaked around 2021 and has been declining since then.  Discussion here.

The political power of the Christian Right is challenged as more secular Republicans realize that forced-birthism is ballot-box poison.

It's a good time to be in the stock market -- unless you're invested in Trump Media.

The for-profit US healthcare system still ranks lowest among developed countries for measurable outcomes, despite being the most expensive.

Trump threatens to blame Jewish Americans if he loses.

"When, in the "community's" mind, am I allowed to stop being miserable?"

I posted a comment on a right-wing blog asking whether they really believe that the Haïtians-eating-pets thing is true.  Here's the resulting thread, which I think is educational (on the claim of "video evidence" for cannibalism in Haïti, see here).  The road back to reality for some of these people will be long and arduous, even after Trump is gone; many may never set out upon it at all.

In this election, the US must choose between science and delusion.

There's a plot against democracy in Georgia.

"Give me one good reason why lesbians cannot meet without males harassing them."

Blogger reactions to the debate at Darwinfish 2 and Atheist Revolution.

The ship that hit the Key bridge in Baltimore in March had defective steering systems and an inadequately-trained crew.  Read the post comments too.

The leftward shift among young US women is as much about culture as about politics.

Here's a list of facilities in Springfield OH which have been closed or otherwise disrupted by threats due to the stupid Trump/Vance lies about Haïtians eating pets.  Trump won't denounce the bomb threats.  Springfield was a legal-immigration success story until he started trashing it for petty political purposes.

Kroger, which owns Fred Meyer, is posting massive profits.

Looks like Medicare Advantage is on the way out.

What happens to the Republicans when Trump is gone?

DeJoy's USPS is blocking commentary from Wyoming citizens on its plans to bugger up rural mail delivery in that state.

Food and gasoline prices have been mostly dropping over the last year or two.

People can change -- a former Trump voter explains why she's now dumping him.  No group of people is homogenous.  There are always some who are reachable.

Here's a deep dive into the gross and repulsive mind of Laura Loomer.

What the hell is going on with Reuters?

Free speech is in serious danger in the UK.

The UK and Italy support letting Ukraine use long-range Western weapons in Russia.

Videos here of the effects of the Ukrainian attack on the huge Russian munitions depot at Toropets (pronounced ta-RO-pets) hundreds of miles from Ukraine.  Satellite images show massive destruction.  More attacks on other depots here (first three minutes of video).

Here's how the Putin regime is systematically trying to undermine Harris.

Immigrating to Russia is a very bad idea.

The masterful exploding-pager attack on Hezbollah has humiliated the jihadists and affirmed Israel's technological superiority.  It's a reminder that jihadism itself is utterly dependent on technology created by the superior civilization which it seeks to destroy.  The usual Jew-haters are predictably throwing a fit.

More links at WAHF.

My posts this week:  an image round-up, and some political humor videos.

In 2018, during the Mueller investigation and plans for impeachment, an anything-goes forum site I was reading at the time had a thread with poetry about Trump.  I could not resist posting several pieces there (I kind of took over the thread), using buggery as a metaphor for Trump's humiliating subservience to Putin.  Be warned, these are extremely vulgar and gross, but some may find them amusing.  See page one and page two -- "Poettard" is me.  You may need to click the "verification" thing a couple of times.

o o o o o

Only 39 days to Halloween!

Fair and Unbalanced blog is apparently likely to return at some point, on a new host.  I'll keep readers informed.

Just realized that since Blogspot weirdified the comment form, the message I used to have above the comment box is no longer visible.  The same info is in point 8 in the comments policy.  Other bloggers, please be aware that whatever message you used to have above your comment box is no longer there.

Conderning the matter I raised a week or so ago, I should also note that given my general state of health, death by natural causes (a stroke of somesuch) is possible at any time.  If I were to "do it myself", I'd post some sort of notification here, but if the blog simply goes without being updated for a week or two, with no explanation, you should assume that I am no longer among the living, but that it was some accident or medical event and not by choice.  I have left instructions that, if I die, e-mail notices should be sent to some of my closest contacts, but I can't guarantee those instructions will be followed.  If the blog ever simply disappears, I would never do that, so in that case you should assume it was hacked or censored and I'm working on setting up a new one on some other platform, probably Substack, since it seems the most censorship-free one available.

I am feeling considerably better now, and have at least the beginnings of a plan for improving my situation.  Your encouraging comments have helped me a lot.

[Image at top:  Toropets]