Link round-up for 27 October 2024

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

Monday update:  There have been several attacks on ballot drop boxes using incendiary devices, here in Portland as well as in Phoenix AZ and Vancouver WA.  So if you use one, be sure to check with the relevant county authority to make sure your ballot was received in good order.  (I've already confirmed that mine was, and the drop box I use is in the parking lot of a police station -- I doubt anybody's messing with that one.)

o o o o o

Which country's flag is this?

Watch my awesome bike stunt..... oops.

Sorry, I don't want the job.

Don't try this dance move unless you're very strong.

Crazy Eddie blog observes Squirrel Awareness Month with an obstacle course.

The toy plane flies directly back to its owner.

I can imagine this house existing, but not on this planet.

You'll pay a price for being so rude.

Want dark and scary?  Check out this tunnel.

At last, a vegetable slicer in my style.

What does a cat do when you're not looking?

Friendships can extend between species.

Halloween cartoons here.

This decoration will really scare people.

She almost became part of the Halloween display.

Yet more skeletons here from the Manitou Springs skeleton craze, plus a link to vote for a favorite.

See photos from Haunted Overload in New Hampshire.  More displays at Todd's Yard Haunt (Ohio) and Glow at the Gardens (Colorado).

More spooky pics here.

Peruse pumpkin patch poetry (found via Nan).

Heidi Klum goes all out on Halloween costumes.

When the trick-or-treaters don't come to Lady M, she goes to them.

Visit scenic Monsterville NJ -- it's only there in October.

There must be a better way -- but looking at the map, I can't find one.

She met an old-fashioned hero.  More here.

In old countries, the ancient is right there in the midst of the new.

Protons are tiny even compared to atoms, but their internal structure is stunningly complex.

After a century of work, Egypt has finally been declared free of malaria.

Sotwe is a site that enables you to view Twitter accounts normally even if you don't have an account yourself.  Just enter a username into the search box and you'll be able to see that account with posts in proper chronological order.

Tips here on getting rid of some of the spyware and junk that comes with Windows 11 (and may have downloaded to your computer if it's Windows 10).

Most people don't realize how precisely your smartphone tracks your location.

"You tax your billionaires?"

Check out these nine career options for gender-studies majors.

See Adam and Eve's baby pictures.

It's an epic battle -- Godzilla vs Trump.

The exposure of France's absurd exchange-rate manipulation scheme in post-World-War-II Indochina illustrates the importance of freedom of the press.

There's an E coli outbreak linked to McDonalds quarter-pounders, mostly in Colorado and Nebraska but reported in several other states too.

The media are hopelessly biased.

A Boeing-made satellite has mysteriously exploded in space.  I'm not gonna trust their planes until there's a real change in company culture and the engineers take back control from the MBAs.

Police and officials in several forced-birth states are using technology and sniffer dogs to interfere with postal delivery of abortion pills.  The problem will get a lot worse if the Republicans win and the federal government turns hostile to abortion rights.

"Burnout" from overwork is more serious than you think.

The cryptocurrencytardosphere is leaning heavily Republican.

Some political images here, plus links on abortion and cat ladies of earlier centuries.

"Dorm-style" apartments would enable empty office buildings to be converted into affordable housing.  The main obstacle is restrictive laws.

Trump's support among non-white voters is growing, but because of the Electoral College, it probably won't help him.

A UN official calls for women's sports to become women-only again, after a study shows that male interlopers have cost women athletes almost a thousand medals so far (and in reality it's probably more).

If the data don't tell you what you want to hear, hide the data.

Trump's behavior just keeps getting weirder.  The mainstream media have abandoned their objectivity about it.

"And as usual, they have chosen the Jews."

Here are some of the deaths that have already resulted from forced-birth laws.  A new ad highlights one victim who survived, but with a devastated life.

If you're an atheist living in an intolerant area, what have you done to make life easier?

These political threats are getting flat-out psychotic.

Nearly half of swing-state voters say the economy will not affect how they vote.

Arizona forced-birthers enacted a ban on abortion after fifteen weeks as a "compromise", but a strong majority of voters plan to support an initiative to strike it down in favor of broader rights.

We still haven't fixed all the damage Trump did to food safety when he was in office.

State governments are cracking down hard on local officials who are threatening to sabotage election certification.

The Boeing strike continues as workers overwhelmingly decide the latest contract offer isn't good enough.

The Biden administration is proposing a rule to make contraception more accessible, and in many cases free.

US Christians have created a monster and now they need to take it down.

After a male player was added to a university girls' volleyball team, university authorities went all-out to bully the girls who objected into silence.

The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times face eruptions of protests and resignations after their billionaire owners vetoed their planned endorsements of Harris.  Cancel, cancel, cancel oligarch-controlled junk journalism.

Doctors and nurses at several facilities in Portland have voted to strike.

Like much of the right-wing disinformation now circulating, sexual-assault claims against Tim Walz appear to be the work of Russian operatives (found via Reaganite Independent).

I've looked for election analyses by right-wing bloggers, but have found only a couple of examples.  This one is based on early-voting data, and this one is based on -- well, see if you can figure it out (also read the comments).  Regarding the former, even though nearly half of all early voters so far are Republicans, this survey of those who already voted shows that 63% of them voted for Harris.  If that's accurate, then a lot of Republicans must be voting for Harris (and there is some anecdotal support for this).  Too bad the survey evidently didn't ask about Senate, House, or state races.

This pre-election post provoked a debate in the comments.

Those who attack democracy are rightly punished.

Some Republicans have principles, some do not.

Harris is "an infernal monster who obeys Satan", according to Catholic ex-archbishop Viganò.

Here's how election integrity is being protected against any possible attempts to sabotage or overturn the result.  This is a long article, but worth reading if you're worried.

73% of California's likely voters support their state's tough-on-crime initiative, Proposition 36.

There are many referenda on various state ballots this year, including several to raise (or, in one case, lower) state minimum wages, and some on drug legalization.

It's better to engage with opponents than to seal yourself off from them and feel pure -- they can't be persuaded by the evidence for your views if they never hear about it.

Twenty-three Nobel-prize-winning economists have declared Harris's economic plans "vastly superior" to Trump's.

Here's why growing numbers of younger male voters find Trump to be appealing.

Even if Trump's support among black men is growing, most of them will still vote for Harris.

Harris supports federal marijuana legalization and a nationwide $15 minimum wage.  California's new higher minimum wage for fast-food workers led to higher pay and did not cost jobs.

Trump's plans would bankrupt Social Security in just six years.

The libertarian movement claims that it values individual freedom.  Its failure to oppose Trump exposes that as hypocrisy.

If Harris loses, it will push the Democratic party to the right, not to the left.

The overthrow of Roe forshadows further right-wing attacks on our fundamental freedoms.

Here's an example of how the right wing can convert leftists.  See also comment #1 for an interesting take on Harris's avoidance of obnoxious "virtue signaling".

Reminder:  in 2016 and 2020, it turned out polls were understating, not overstating, Trump's support, and historically they have slightly understated support for Republicans.  Never yield to overconfidence.

Even if abortion-rights ballot measures pass, red-state governments will continue to obstruct.  The only way to really protect freedom is to get Republicans out of office.

Instead of sneering at undecided voters (or endlessly repeating that tired metaphor about being offered chicken and shit and asking how the chicken is cooked), how about listening to them?  You might learn something, and win them over.

A massive explosion at a fuel station in Russia hurled a full-size tanker truck a thousand feet (do watch the video).  It is not yet established whether this is connected to the Ukraine war, but it seems likely.

This video of an Israeli missile strike reveals a lot.

Israel's retaliation against Iran was limited to military installations which directly threatened Israel.  Israel's main opposition leader says that Netanyahu was too restrained.

Iranians understand that their country's hated theocracy is at fault for the conflict with Israel.

This was Iran before 1979.  A brutal-enough bad government can drag a country a long way backward.

The tanker mafia problem illustrates South Africa's institutional decay.

More links at Red State Blues (Burr Deming's new site) and WAHF.

My posts this week:  an image round-up, and why I anticipate a blue wave.

o o o o o

Only 4 days until Halloween!

Got my covid and flu vaccine shots Friday, the first time I've ever had both at the same time.  I felt decidedly spaced-out for more than an hour afterwards.  Be aware that two vaccines together can affect you more than either one alone.