Link round-up for 27 June 2026

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

Reminder:  If you like a blog post I link to here, leave a supportive comment on that post as well as (or instead of) here.  That way you can be sure the blogger will see it.

o o o o o

If you need a tree cut down, do not hire these people.

And don't hire this guy to do, well, pretty much anything.

Cats have things their own way.

She's the DJ of the kitchen.

This must be that duck that they wanted to keep out.

They caught a big fish.

"I never have any idea what's going on here."

This is a cool house.  A refuge from everything being off-white and rectangular.

In Córdoba, Spain, the Roman engineering is so impressive that even the Devil wants a selfie with it.

Blogger Darrell Michaels has a collection of photos from a lifetime of travel.  Right-click any image and open the link in a new tab for full size.

Here's a Cadillac from 1915.  No electronics, just comfy seats.

The classic 1954 gi-ant movie Them is getting a new upgraded blue-ray version.

Find out why sloths poo on the ground (found via SickoRicko).

Fear the power of the wind.

Here's a photo tour of a nuclear reactor decommissioned in 1994.

Former NOAA scientists fired by DOGE have launched a website to keep on providing the public with actual climate information uncontaminated by ideological crackpottery.

Do gay men have distinctive voices?  If this is true, it is definitely not universal.  I have known gay men who had no unusual voice qualities at all.  He does include links to the studies he's citing so you can see them for yourself.

Calcium supplements may not protect older people against bone fractures as much as we thought.

If you work someplace where you get tips and the company is doing anything like this, talk to a lawyer.

The Postal Service is considering a new and illegal rule which would seriously interfere with voting by mail.  You have until July 2 to take action.

There's now some evidence that marijuana can protect against Alzheimer's.  But it isn't for everybody.  This blogger's experience is a warning of how it can go wrong.

You can farm without farmland.  Some of this stuff must be kind of expensive, though.

Here is something to avoid doing.

Beware this warning sign of a dangerous man.

Yes, your chatbot is spying on you.  Just stop using the damn things.

You may be able to get a religious exemption from using "AI" at work, even if you aren't religious.

Some grocery stores are deploying "AI" shopping carts to nag and pester you while you shop, and of course to show you ads.

Here's a site that tracks LPR cameras and explains the dangers they pose.

We're doing lawns wrong.

Johnny Profane is making his extensive writings on autism easier to share.

No one should be expected to stay stuck in a cultural pigeonhole because of ancestry.

Hunter Biden is making the most of his new sobriety.

Can you believe Debbie Harry is the same age as Trump?  But she sure looks a lot more vigorous.

"Shanna" posts posed photos of what it would be like if Islam worked the other way around.

A24 spent years building up its image as an artist-centered film company (the recent film Backrooms was its biggest hit).  Now it's formed a partnership with Google to develop new ways of putting "AI" slop in movies.  Fans are not happy.

"You want to know what you would have done when the Nazis were coming to power?  You are doing it right now."  Yes, he really did say this.

"AI" companies are flooding both of the billionaire-dominated political parties with donations, to guarantee that they'll have influence regardless of which one wins in November.

56% of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College and electing the president by popular vote.  Only 23% oppose doing so.

Here's how you can distinguish a real rebel hero from a phony.

People are losing patience with getting crappy "AI" customer service on the phone instead of a real person, with many considering abandoning companies that force them to use it.

Here is the true answer to the question "do Jews look Middle Eastern?"

California's union-backed billionaire tax proposal has qualified for the November ballot.  Notice the talk about political leaders (that is, toadies of the billionaire parasite class) trying to make some kind of "deal" to stop voters from having their say on this.  Governor Newsom, and both of the billionaire-controlled parties' candidates for governor, oppose the proposal.  They are desperate to stop this -- which just shows how absolutely vital it is that the voters enact it.  It also shows how right Les Leopold is that we need a union-based political force fully independent of the two billionaire parties, which are both now lost to the people.

Here's a great interview with Cory Doctorow about why "AI" is so appealing to idiots, and what the end of the bubble will be like.

Graham Platner is a litmus test.

These people exist.

The co-founder of Wikipedia has been banned from editing it.

As the "AI" plague spreads, we need to revive -- and also properly understand -- the spirit of the Luddites.

Trump, throwing a tantrum because the Senate isn't passing his "SAVE" vote-suppression act, has refused to sign an unrelated bill that would have limited housing speculation.  He may not realize that it will become law anyway unless he vetoes it -- and it passed with such huge bipartisan majorities that Congress would likely override a veto.

The partisan nature of so many recent Supreme Court decisions is historically unprecedented, showing why enlargement or some other Congressional fix is needed.

With the passage of enough time, the truth comes out and the bullshit is forgotten.

This self-driving Tesla ran down and killed a woman.  Inside her own house.

Hegseth has suspended mandatory flu vaccinations within the US military.  There's already been at least one major flu outbreak at a military base.

The drop in SpaceX stock has ended Elon Musk's brief status as a trillionaire.

Zionism just means Jews having the same rights as everybody else.  That's why the bigots hate it.

A bipartisan bill in Congress seeks to protect the rights of artists against "AI" theft of their work, but it's unclear how well it would work if passed, given politicians' usual inability to understand how technology works.

America's first openly-transgender state legislator continues to make history.

"AI" is continuing to damage worker skills and productivity at companies that use it.  Now that companies have to pay prices for "AI" that better reflect what it costs to supply it, they're racing to limit the useless expense.

The idiotic UK bureaucracy is threatening to prosecute a man for cleaning up garbage dumped in a river.

Pattern recognition is not bigotry.  They need to leave.

Norway is imposing strict limits on "AI" use in schools.

Six months.  The system is a joke.

The EU Parliament has approved the creation of "return hubs" to facilitate deportation of migrants.  Maybe the rising support for nativist parties across Europe is finally scaring the mainstream politicians into paying attention to the voters.

This week Trump started yet another pointless and embarrassing squabble, claiming that Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni had begged to be photographed with him to boost her ratings at home (a ludicrous claim, since Trump is hugely unpopular in Italy) but he had refused because Italy didn't assist the US during the Iran war.  Meloni of course denied the claim, leading Trump to pile on with more insults.  Meloni's response sounded like an adult losing patience with a bad-tempered toddler -- which is pretty much what was actually going on.  So Trump has now antagonized the one European leader most inclined to be supportive of him.  The European nativist movement in general is turning against him.

Trump's billionaire ambassador is carrying on with the job of offending Italians.

Albanian protests are escalating against a Kushner-Trump beach resort project on what's supposed to be protected land.

Ukraine launched a massive drone attack all across Russia this week, destroying military, energy, and infrastructure targets.

A Ukrainian attack on oil tanks in Russian-occupied Crimea started a major fire.  Fuel trucks headed there need military escorts because of Ukrainian drone attacks.  Gasoline is now in such short supply in Crimea that sales to civilians have been suspended.

Gas lines in Russia are so bad that one city is planning to install portable toilets for people waiting.

An Iranian singer has been sentenced to seventy-four lashes for performing without a hijab.

Don't be fooled by the regime's propaganda on social media.

Vance claims the Iranian regime will allow outside inspections of its nuclear program.  It's not clear whether these would be as comprehensive as the inspections under Obama's JCPOA, but I doubt it, given the amateurishness of Trump's top people.

More links at Comedy Plus.

My own posts this week:  some truths and inspirations, a video on politics and stress, and some observations on the population crisis.

o o o o o

o o o o o

Any chance we can impose the death penalty for using "compute" as a noun?  God, that's irritating.

o o o o o

I recently acquired a smartphone because I need it for just three purposes -- to get on the internet if my computer goes down, to take occasional pictures, and to call a ride if I get stranded away from home.  I've learned enough about using it to be able to do those three things, but in general I find it a not-very-user-friendly gadget.  I still don't understand why people spend so much time on them.

o o o o o

Pessimism and defeatism are a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If you stand and fight, you may not win.  If you decide you've lost and give up before the fight even starts, you will definitely not win.

o o o o o

Being chaotic and disorganized is not some charming personality quirk.  It's a form of laziness which creates extra hassles for other people who have to deal with the mess it generates.

o o o o o