Category: Daily Links

  • Sunday “The Morning After” Links

    After much drama, rending of clothes, high fiving, screaming, crying, cheering, and all around idiocy, we have a new Supreme Court justice, after successfully avoiding any actual rational discussion by our elected chimps of his statist jurisprudence and why he might not be a good choice on substantive grounds. Well done, Team Blue, you’ve managed once again to drown out useful debate with social signaling and culture wars. And while you’re at it, the two-three mailers a day like the above one that I’ve been getting from you for our local election have been effective in swaying me from, “Meh, don’t care, I’ll likely abstain,” to, “Fuck you guys, I’m voting for Idstein, whoever the hell he is, but he’s not filling my mailbox with mendacious garbage.”

    Not that I’m annoyed. But I’m annoyed. The only thing that will make me feel slightly better will be watching Baker Mayfield being welcomed to the NFL today by that kind and gentle soul, Terrell Suggs. And a recitation of key birthdays: Niels Bohr, whose Copenhagen interpretation muddied the quantum waters for decades,  Del Lord, who directed the greatest comic trio of all time (do not argue with me), slimeball Catharine MacKinnon, and scam artist and all-around Jew-hater Elijah Muhammed and his spirit animal Heinrich Himmler.

    On to the actual news.


    To demonstrate that there’s at least one agency in DC that has yet to be cleaned up, the FDA took action to ban seven food additives in response to money-grubbing litigation-focused “public interest” groups armed with the pernicious Delaney Amendment.

    The decision comes in response to a petition brought by environmental and consumer groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Food Safety, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We think this is a win for consumers,” says Erik Olson of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

    The FDA had concluded that these flavoring compounds do not pose a health risk to consumers. “The synthetic flavoring substances that are the subject of this petition are typically used in foods available in the U.S. marketplace in very small amounts and their use results in very low levels of exposures and low risk,” concludes an FDA statement on the petition. “While the FDA’s recent exposure assessment of these substances does not indicate that they pose a risk to public health under the conditions of their intended use, the petitioners provided evidence that these substances caused cancer in animals who were exposed to much higher doses,” the FDA statement says.

    The three named groups are the food and environmental lawyer equivalent of the SPLC. After interacting with them professionally in the past, I came away with an even more cynical attitude, something I thought impossible. When “public interest” related to “science” is driven by lawyers, it’s safe to default to a Bullshit! mode.


    Pie will be terribly disappointed to learn that his countrymen are insufficiently woke.

    Romania is one of several Eastern European nations that already ban both same-sex marriage and same-sex unions in civil law. Now it’s trying to ban it in the constitution. The government is spending millions holding a two-day referendum this weekend so voters can approve the change. “Do you know what a traditional family is? It’s a man and a woman who are able to bear children,” declared Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the ruling Social Democrats, after he cast his vote on Saturday. “I have voted for what millions of Romanians have been demanding, for what I think defines us as a society and as a nation.”

    I love that it’s “social democrats” leading this charge. Sigh. Maybe one day, someone rational will successfully convince people that marriage should not be subject to the whims of the State. One day. Maybe.


    Will Vinton died this week. As a fan of great animation, I am saddened by this; Vinton’s work was not only great in its own right, but it inspired the next generation of claymation art. For those of you who only know him through dancing raining commercials, here’s an example of the greatness of his serious work. And another. And another


    If there’s anything more inevitable than cops being murderous jackboots, it’s their sleazy unions defending them, no matter how egregious their behavior.

    “This sham trial and shameful verdict is a message to every law enforcement officer in America that it’s not the perpetrator in front of you that you need to worry about, it’s the political operatives stabbing you in the back,” the FOP said. “What cop would still want to be proactive fighting crime after this disgusting charade, and are law abiding citizens ready to pay the price?”

    If “the price” means “cops being accountable and going to jail when they commit crimes,” yep. And as several commenters have pointed out, the cop who murdered Tamir Rice is back at work, looking for the next kid to gun down. Police abuse is, of course, another issue that Team Blue has completely fucked up, making sure that we’re distracted by racial social signaling instead of the real issues of immunity, union protections, and far too many goddamn laws.


    OK, not all cops are bad. Here’s one who provided a public service, fulfilling consumer demand. So of course, THAT had to be stopped.

    A Florida police officer was arrested late Friday after state officials say he used his patrol car to sell drugs near an assisted living facility. “At the time of purchase, White was selling the drugs out of his marked patrol vehicle, while in uniform and was using his personal cellphone to facilitate the drug deals,” FDLE said in a statement.

    I’m trying to imagine the brass balls of someone who would buy dope from a uniformed cop.


    In Old Guy Music, I was listening to Swiss talk sadly about the dwindling numbers in his local VFW post. On the other hand, maybe that’s a good sign that we’ve been going in the right direction- foreign wars haven’t gone away (thanks Bush and Obama!), but they’re a lot smaller now. We can only hope they converge on zero. And that reminded me strongly of this wonderful song from a wonderful songwriter.

  • STEVE SMITH’S SATURDAY EVENING LINKS

    STEVE SMITH NO DEAD!
    IT ALMOST SEEM LIKE THIS.

     

    STEVE SMITH GLAD WEEK OVER. WHY RAPE GET SUCH BAD PRESS LAST WEEK? SILLY HOOMAN JUDGE DO NOTHING AND GET YELLED AT. STEVE SMITH DO MORE IN WEEK THAN SILLY HOOMANS CAN DO IN LIFETIME. BY DO, MEAN RAPE.

    BUT THAT NO MATTER TO FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE…THEM WANT LINKS. THEM WANT LINKS NOW! SO HERE GO LINKS – ENJOY!

    • YOU NO MAKE FUN OF CLEVELAND FOOTBALL! THEM GET BETTER. SEE.
    • WONDER WHY STEVE SMITH SNEER AT AMATEURS? READ THIS. SEE?
    • STEVE SMITH LAUGH…YOU STOP MS13, BUT YOU NO STOP STEVE SMITH!
    • WAIT, WAIT! STEVE SMITH LIKE GAME…”YOU KNOW WHO ELSE WANT INDEPENDENCE FROM UK?”

    STEVE SMITH HOPE YOU LIKE LINKS. FREE CASCADIA!

  • Saturday Morning Links It Is

    Moving slowly this morning after breaking my hip last night, stumbling around in an alcoholic daze. This will clearly disqualify me from being on the Supreme Court. However, my fingertips still work, so here’s links and snark for breakfast. Since I’m using the hair of the dog recovery method (because we have prodigious amounts of hair from the Wonder Dog all over the house), this post may get progressively more incoherent.

    The best birthdays today are Ernest Walton, the physicist who not only split the nucleus, but was the co-inventor of the Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier (a circuit I have used in many of my electronics projects), and Bruno Sammartino, the greatest wrestler ever. Don’t argue with me, you’re wrong.


    The transformation of Whole Foods from progressive touchstone to Evil Empire has been a continuous source of amusement. Jeff Bezos is apparently less amused.

    “DxE members have repeatedly entered our stores and property to conduct demonstrations that disrupt customers and team members by blocking access to our aisles, departments and cash registers, interfering with our business and putting the safety of both customers and team members at risk,” a Whole Foods representative said in a statement.

    “We have been kicked out, we have had the police called on us, we have been ignored, and now there is [the Whole Foods] lawsuit,” said King, who was among those arrested on Saturday. “But Whole Foods just continues to escalate this rather than give us the answers to really simple questions.”

    I always wonder where people who spend their time with this shit in ultra-expensive elite areas (in this case, Berkeley, where $3000 a month will get you a studio apartment in a crumbling building) get the money to support themselves. And since this protest is all about chicken rights, I am obligated to link this.


    Oh, please please please please please!!!!! This will guarantee that SugarFree never runs out of material.

    “Don’t let anyone fool you: If he decides to run, you will see a national infrastructure come together,” said the hotel magnate George Tsunis, an Obama megadonor. “In the past when he’s run, there has been a formidable primary opponent … If he chooses to run in 2020, he would be the Obama-Clinton-like candidate. I think people would feel his time is now, and I think a lot of the country would feel that we need a Joe Biden as president.”

    Hat and Hair would be replaced by Tooth Caps and Hair Plugs.


    In Chicago, protesters were all set for a “Not Guilty” verdict in the Jason Van Dyke trial. Imagine their disappointment when the murdering cop was found guilty, guilty, guilty. Well, no use letting that spoil the party, eh?

    Demonstrators began peacefully protesting in downtown Chicago’s Loop area shortly after the verdict, chanting “Justice for Laquan, justice for all” and “The whole damn system is guilty as hell.” The crowds marched in the streets holding signs in support of Black Lives Matter and Laquan McDonald.

    Scroll down for the photo of the protesters shutting down the street. Notice something interesting? Yeah, I did too.


    And the next story also tickled me. Much as I virulently hate this guy’s politics, there’s no denying that Banksy is the real thing, a truly great artist. And here’s another example of why.

    The ‘Girl with Balloon’ painting slid out of its frame, simultaneously shredding the canvas just as the final hammer signaled an end to the evening, according to international auction house Sotheby’s. It had sold for $1.4 million, matching a record for the artist first set in 2008.

    The artist posted an image of the scene from the auction house on his Instagram account with the caption “Going, going, gone…”

    Fuck, that’s wonderful.


    Who was the presidential candidate who said, “Constitutional rights are subject to reasonable regulation” during the 2016 debates? Oh yeah, the Team Blue lady. Texas seems to agree and has invoked the FYTW exception to the First Amendment.

    A campaign sign in Central Texas this week drew the scorn of an elected state official — and then it was confiscated by police. “I’m glad that I called out this offensive campaign sign and am pleased that hundreds of others did so as well,” [Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller] said. “It’s vulgar and just plain wrong and it had no place in someone’s yard visible from the street.”

    A nice reminder that Team Red is just as happy to fuck with citizens’ rights as Team Blue.


    In more sign news, there is a threat to the lives and safety of Minnesoda minorities. A teenager has vandalized an Arby’s sign!

    The sign, posted overnight at the restaurant on Brooklyn Boulevard, featured the N-word and a derogatory term for a prostitute. Officers saw the sign at about 7 a.m. and took it down. The department says the sign is low enough to the ground that just about anyone can reach it.

    Nazis preparing to storm the town, no doubt. It always starts with Arby’s.


    Inevitably, Old Guy Music. And what better than having a Jew play Irish music? If you had been out with SP and me last night, you would have ended up at a cocktail emporium where this amazingly versatile (((guy))) held forth on pennywhistle, flute, guitar, mandolin, and violin, all with equal (and impressive) facility and skill. Irish music interspersed with Jethro Tull covers. I love America.

     

  • Friday Afternoon Links

    Hey guys? How’s it going? I’m on beeru number three. The first two were Kirin Ichiban while having lunch with my beautiful wife. Then I took a power nap. Now i’m drinking a Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest. I’ll probably go buy some more, different Marzen style later. Don’t let that fool you into think I haven’t been working. It is hard goddamn work herding bits across a the internet from a server to the cloud. Especially when you are putting them a db that enforces all security and front-end rules. You want to move 1M records? Check back in 12 hours. And oh look at that. The teams I love most are playing the teams I hate most. The Red River Shootout and FSU-UM (Its the 30th anniversary of this disaster). You know what, I’m gonna go buy some booze and just wake up drinking and stay drunk. Its not gonna be a good day for me.

    In a Friday Afternoon Nut Caress — Chicago cop found guilty of murder

    Hardest hitting piece on DJT today. That never happened to the previous guy, because someone from the press corp would have removed it with their teeth.

    Oh, Florida couple.

    CBS reporters find out that thieves view college campuses as easy targets. First hand

    I think we’ll throw down a classic Texas-centric ballad.

  • CriSP Autumn Morning Links for Friday

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    Good morning, my dear Glibs. How are you all today? You know me and mornings, so while I pour more coffee, I’ll just say it is a delightfully criSP morning here, down in the low 50s to start the day. The mosquitoes are finally leaving me alone. What a relief!

    Sloopy is off actually working (yes, it’s true Rufus!), so you get my typical links today. But they will be better than no links.

    Probably.

    (You can always ask for a refund of your subscription price. See our refund policy here.)

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    On this day in history

    1829: Chester A. Arthur was thrust upon the world. I was torn between history and birthdays for this listing. Looks like history won.

    1947: Harry Truman ushered in the dark age of presidential media usage by making the first live televised speech from the White House. And this set a very bad precedent, which has led to Trump tweeting incessantly and all presidents being constantly seen on TV, even after they are out of office. (GO AWAY, OBAMA.)

    1974: David Kunst finished a little stroll.

    2011: Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Inc died.

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    Oh, Elon.

    No shit. H/T OMWC

    Good.

    Check your doorstops.

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    Born on October 5

    Louis Lumière (1864); Giorgio Abetti & Robert H. Goddard (1882); Larry Fine & Ray Kroc (1902); Bill Willis (1921); Bil Keane (1922); Steve Miller (1943); Brian Johnson (1947); “Fast” Eddie Clarke (1950); Bob Geldof (1951); Michael Andretti (1962); Mario Lemieux & Patrick Roy (1965); Kate Winslet (1975); Kevin Mirallas (1987)

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    Kids. What can you do?

    Florida Boy: “Don’t tell the teacher.

    One of those awkward conversations with teenagers. “Dad, what have you done?”

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    Royal Mail begs customers not to post criSP packets back to Walkers after campaigners urge people to return the bags in protest. Idiots. Social media could actually be used for good. I swear, it could.

    Most of North Carolina usually doesn’t have the same criSP mornings we do in Chicagoland in early October.

    We’ll have to ask our ex-pats in Japan if this is even remotely true: More Japanese workers are ditching criSP business suits?

    Some manufacturers in Iceland are producing a new “festive” criSP for the holidays. I think I’ll pass.

    And just because it fits my theme and I had forgotten how droll the man was: Quentin CriSP. Oh, and, his HAIR!

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    No, I have never used the secret ingredient in my fruit criSP topping. Yes, I am going to do so immediately.

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    (Or mornings, either.)

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    I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I’m going to have a great day. Right after I take a nap.

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  • Thursday Afternoon Grumpy Links

    I am in a wonderful mood today. Just wonderful, and fuck you very much. Its a good thing I don’t have a cat to kick, and my kids don’t know how to call CPS on me yet. I’m tired of being either at work or in my house or running an errand for my damn family. Its days like these I want to steal someone else’s credit card and go to the titty-bar where I can pay for overpriced drinks and fake company. Wait, no. I just want to sneak off with a flask and a fishing rod and not have anyone talk to me or want anything from me for a whole day. Unless a boatload of bikini models want to cruise by and flash me. I’d be okay with. Also, I want a million dollars and a bigger gun collection. Okay. Poor me rant… over!

    Its not exactly Excaliber, but a young lady dragged a very old sword from a lake the other day. h/t Grand Moff Serious Man

    Do you think our permanent interment camps will be this nice when the Socialists take over? Also, if you’re commenting from there, give a shout out in the comments!

    John McCain’s will must have given Lindsay Graham his balls back. ROWR. Still waiting for a full-on flamin’ “Bitch, please.”

    I think we all know Step 2 of this plan is: Re-enact the sinking of the Lusitania.

    Oh yeah, I’m sure that’s what every girl told her clan: “Interbreeding with Neanderthals Protected Homo Saps against viruses”

    Sometimes you just gotta throw on the old stuff, and crank it up.

  • Thursday Morning Links

    The Yankees brought out the bats yesterday in their wild card win over the Athletics. And now we get a five-game series between them and the Red Sox to decide who moves on to face the winner of Cleveland and Houston.  But before those kick off, we get both NL Divisional Series starting today, with the Rockies-Brewers facing off and then the Dodgers-Braves.  Enjoy it.

    Re-peat! Re-peat!

    In the big Champions League matches yesterday, Liverpool fell to Naples, PSG rolled, Athletics did as well. Barcelona doubled up Spurs and BVB got back on track. Now everybody’s focus on soccer can move to Sunday’s match between Man City and Liverpool.

    Nobody other sports are playing meaningful games yet, so they get no mention. Sorry, house rules.

    If you were born on this day, you get to celebrate it with: Ohioan Rutherford B Hayes, comedic genius Buster Keaton, gun rights champion and emotive actor Charlton Heston, author Anne Rice, twitchy manager Tony LaRussa, idiot (but good actress) Susan Sarandon, wrestling matriarch Linda McMahon, actor Christoph Waltz, rap mogul Russell Simmons, keyboardist Chris Lowe, Stuttering John, actor Leiv Schreiber, and the skinny-fat-skinny Alicia Silverstone.

    Nice Uggs, freak!

    Its also the day on which the following took place: Mexico became a republic, The Orient Express made its maiden trip, Dick Tracy debuted, Hitler and Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass (and somebody should have bombed it), “Leave It To Beaver” hit the small screen, Jim Brown carried the ball 37 times(!) in a football game, “Thundarr the Barbarian” was introduced to American youth, “Beverly Hills, 90210” hit the small screen, the Oilers traded Messier to the Rangers, and Wikileaks was launched.

    OK, to…the links!

    The White House says they found no evidence to support claims against Brett Kavanaugh in the FBI follow up report.  The Senate is set to look at it today, so expect several “anonymous sources” to contradict those findings with cherry-picked data.  Also expect the entire report to never be released to normal people like us.

    Is there no statute of limitations for taxes in New York? Can people be forced to pay for the sins (if you want to call using the tax code to your advantage or getting past the auditors for decades a sin) of their father?  Well, apparently we’re about to find out.

    At the federal level, tax law experts expressed skepticism that the IRS would mount any civil investigation. The main reason, they said, is that the Times account says IRS officials have already conducted extensive audits of the estate left by Trump’s parents.

    Earlier on Wednesday, de Blasio, a Democrat, warned Trump that the city will squeeze him for back taxes he might owe on money and other assets he got from his father.

    ‘The city of New York is looking to recoup any money that Donald Trump owes the people of New York City, period,’ he said during a press conference.

    De Blasio claimed a ‘good-old-boy network’ decades ago had allowed Fred Trump to minimize his tax bill and enabled his son to take advantage of the sleight-of-hand without being held accountable.

    ‘If a lot of people had done their jobs, he would never have been president of the United States,’ said de Blasio, a liberal Democrat.

    Oh, so this is about politics. Gee, what a shock.

    That’s right. Get $15 an hour and then hand $2 to the union. Suckers.

    Congratulations for getting Amazon to cave in to the “fight for $15” nonsense, Dems. Of course, it never really works out the way they expect it to, does it? Actually, in this case it probably does. Those dipshits want to eliminate incentive and performance-based pay to effectively socialize companies. Because removing the incentives to do better always work.  What a bunch of dumbasses mendacious pricks.

    Well it looks like a Democrat congressional staffer was the one who doxxed the Republican Senators after all. Oh well, at least nobody was killed, right?

    Most debates delve into policies and political philosophy.  When you’re in Illinois, they are all about pointing out whose scandals were worse. Never change, Illinois. You’re a constant reminded that our elected “leaders’ could always be bigger shitbags.

    I’ve seen some really cool marriage proposals. I’ve seen some silly ones. But I think I may have found the one made by the dumbest motherfucker on the face of the earth. This is as dumb an idea as Hillary 2020.

    Miss, you have the right to remain sexy!

    Damn, yo. Try being a little more discrete next time. Also, Houston is racist against robosexuals. I’m now ashamed to call this place home.

    Slim pickings for music, unless you are interested in one of the best electronic songs from the 80’s. Because that’s what you get today.

    Now go have a great day, friends! I won’t be around until Tuesday. I’ve got an auction this weekend in Fort Worth (if you want to buy a real grizzly bear or a legit Bengal fucking tiger, you’re in luck!) and also have to catalog another sale of an auto shop while up there.

  • Wednesday Afternoon Links

    Hi guys, how’s it going? My contribution to GlibFit is that I way overdid it Monday after 2 sedentary weeks, and could barely make it up and down the stairs yesterday and today. I went to the gym anyhow today and did as close to my planned workout as possible, but my quads basically told me that squats were off the menu today. After I did a warmup set, they were just one giant cramp. This has happened before, so I know what did it. Power cleans are the culprit, and if I do a bunch right (ie, not pulling them with my arms) my legs are killing me. I guess maybe I should clean more, to paraphrase Warty.

    EDIT: Glibfit was due to publish between H&H and this article, but apparently, H&H caused some sort of time-warp and it did not publish. We will reschedule — for 5:00pm Central today. Our apologies for the mistake. 

    Even farmers aren’t safe from robots. I’ve had my eye on the open source farmbot for over a year now, but it just doesn’t make financial sense. We didn’t eat all the produce we grew by traditional methods this year.

    Now men are being oppressed by the shoe patriarchy? Thank the dear, fluffy Lord I am happily married, heterosexual, and committed to my dad-bod lifestyle.

    Bees! OMG Bees! Hat-tip to SP

    Florida Man tries to buy 8-year old for $200k at Wal-Mart. I’d want to see the cash first, but I’d think really hard before saying ‘no’.

    I guess we’ll go with the obvious one here.

  • Wednesday Morning Links

    Who doesn’t hate the one game wild card playoff for baseball?  People from Colorado, that’s who. What a game last night. With a pitching masterclass by both teams, I don’t know if that game should have ended, but they all have to and the Cubs came up short again this year.  AL wild card game is tonight in New York.

    It’s party time!

    Elsewhere, Man City won, Juventus won, ManUre drew, as did Bayern and Real Madrid blew ou…holy shit, they lost to CSKA Moscow and its officially time to start pushing the panic button. Preseason basketball and hockey is boring, so it gets no mention.  But I’ll bring up just one more thing about the Ohio-State-Penn State football game from this past Saturday. No, not to gloat. But to illustrate just how bad some decision-making can be when you think you can do no wrong.

    Birthday time!  Today we celebrate or acknowledge: historian George Bancroft, writer Thomas Wolfe, writer Gore Vidal, the father of butterfly goaltending Glenn Hall, rocker Eddie Cochran, singer Chubby Checker, tiger pal Roy Horn, singer Lindsey Buckingham, HOF outfielder Dave Winfield, HOF pitcher Dennis Eckersley, guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, grifter and racist Al Sharpton, “Boom Boom” Freddie Couples, hepatitis carrier Tommy Lee, actor Clive Owen, the lovely Neve Campbell and musician Gwen Stefani.

    Sarah Jessica Parker reenacts her favorite episode

    Its also the day on which the Gauls surrendered to Julius Caesar, the Duke of Montrose issued a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy, Edgar Allen Poe was spotted for the last time alive, the motor-driven vacuum was patented, Trotsky founded “Pravda”, Woodrow Wilson fucked America over (and started the endless advance of the one-way ratchet) by signing a 1% income tax into law, “The Maltese Falcon” premiered, so did “Captain Kangaroo” and “Mickey Mouse Club”, jeez, so did “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, “The Andy Griffith Show”, and “Mr Ed”, Jerry West retired, the Watergate criminal trial began,  the coup against Noriega failed, and the Battle of Mogadishu, which was the loose basis for “Black Hawk Down” took place. Oh yeah, and OJ Simpson walked after being acquitted on murder charges.

    OK, that’s it for that.  Now…the links!

     

    “As a psychologist, I view truth as a fluid concept”

    Christine Blasey Ford might have some explaining to do herself. Somebody get to the Bay Area and ask her these questions. You’ll probably find her in the Delta Sky Miles Diamond Club Lounge at SFO.

    If you’re involved in a feminist journal and you’re bitching about the methodology used here, then you’re not serious about advocating equality or feminism or truth in research. Seriously, this is a bit of a long read, but absolutely stunning and hilarious in the absurdity of what these guys were able to pull off. (Open it in incognito or private mode-or somebody please provide an archive link in the comments)

    The nanny state comes to Texas. Well, it was always here in some respects, but the creep, especially in Austin, is now complete.

    When #believeher goes horribly wrong. But they’re, like, raising awareness to a bigger issue and if we’re gonna make a feminist omelet we’re gonna have to break a few eggs.

    Look the money hit the account!!!

    I feel bad for the lady, but this seems a bit excessive. No mind, they can just raise taxes!

    If you’ve ever wanted to hear a killer explain how he did his thing, you can read it in his own words right here. The testimony is not consistent with many other evidentiary items, namely the video of the event. But who are you gonna believe, members of the jury…the brave, selfless officer or your lying eyes?

    Well, it looks like you may be able to bang a robot in Houston after all. But be warned that Big Brother will be there to shame you. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

    Well, I sure hope you enjoy this. I know I did. I mean…that’s every bit as good as the original.

    Now go enjoy the middle of your week. Even if you’re a Cubs fan.

  • Tuesday Afternoon Links Are Like Pulling Teeth

    Brett is out getting some emergency dental work done, and his dentist has an accent and an odd attitude. I’ll be interested to hear how this turns out. And he’ll be interested to hear how the links turned out, since I’m doing them interstitially with my real work, so I might accidentally edit in something about Nyquist representations of electrochemical impedance.


    The Nobel in physics was announced today. And it’s nice to see affirmative action in action.

    The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to a woman for the first time in 55 years. Donna Strickland, from Canada, is only the third woman winner of the award, along with Marie Curie, who won in 1903, and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who was awarded the prize in 1963. Dr Strickland shares this year’s prize with Arthur Ashkin, from the US, and Gerard Mourou, from France.

    Of course, there’s always sexism.

    Reacting to her win, Dr Strickland, who is based at the University of Waterloo in Canada, said: “First of all you have to think it’s crazy, so that was my first thought. And you do always wonder if it’s real. “As far as sharing it with Gerard, of course he was my supervisor and mentor and he has taken CPA to great heights so he definitely deserves this award. And I’m so happy Art Ashkin also won.”

    I hope you’re all asking why HE is HER mentor and not the other way around! And I thought it was important that females have female role models and that was why we had to do preferential hiring in academia?


    Speaking of science, our news media seems fascinated with the pronouncements of some hyperpituitary millionaire. A very contrite hyperpituitary millionaire.

    “At the time, I was, like, innocent in it,” Irving said Monday. “But you realize the effect of the power of voice and even if you believe in that, it’s like, don’t come out and say that. That’s for intimate conversations because perception, how you’re received, it just changes. Like, no. I’m actually a smart-ass individual. So it’s not like I was just coming out and saying that. So at the time, I just didn’t realize the effect.”

    “I’m sorry about all of that,” Irving said. “For all the science teachers, for everybody coming up to me like, ‘I have to re-teach my whole curriculum!’ I’m sorry. I apologize.”

    I hope he really is sorry. After all, the foundations of science depend on the wisdom of basketball players.


    And in yet more science news, global temperatures continue to regress to the mean.

    The Version 6.0 global average lower tropospheric temperature (LT) anomaly for September, 2018 was +0.14 deg. C, down a little from +0.19 deg. C in August. The linear temperature trend of the global average lower tropospheric temperature anomalies from January 1979 through September 2018 remains at +0.13 C/decade.

    Clearly we’re doomed!


    No, I’m serious, we really are fucking DOOMED.

    “Maybe a black hole could form, and then suck in everything around it,” writes Rees. “The second scary possibility is that the quarks would reassemble themselves into compressed objects called strangelets. That in itself would be harmless. However under some hypotheses a strangelet could, by contagion, convert anything else it encounters into a new form of matter, transforming the entire earth in a hyperdense sphere about one hundred meters across.”

    One hundred meters is roughly the size of an American football field. That’s the entire Earth, condensed into that tiny space. Obviously, it would mean the end of life on our planet.

    So how would that affect the point spread? These scientists sure don’t know everything.


    OMG, we’re DOO… well, you know.

    Website Space Weather states: “The sun is entering a deep Solar Minimum, and Earth’s upper atmosphere is responding. “Data from NASA’s TIMED satellite show that the thermosphere (the uppermost layer of air around our planet) is cooling and shrinking, literally decreasing the radius of the atmosphere.”

    The sunspots was [sic] not expected to head into a solar minimum until around 2020, and if it is heading in early, it will mean a prolonged cold snap.  The last time there was a prolonged solar minimum, it led to a ‘mini ice-age’, scientifically known as the Maunder minimum – which lasted for 70 years. The Maunder minimum, which saw seven decades of freezing weather, began in 1645 and lasted through to 1715, and happened when sunspots were exceedingly rare. During this period, temperatures dropped globally by 1.3 degrees Celsius leading to shorter seasons and ultimately food shortages.

    At this point, I don’t know whether to shit or wind my wristwatch.


    I have a better idea- some Old Guy Music. High on my list of “people who should have been more famous than they were” is Don Byas. I would argue that without Byas, there would have been no Trane. His choice to leave the US and spend his most productive years in Europe probably didn’t help. But still, he was a sax player’s sax player. Perfect tone, timing, and phrasing. Perfect. Here he is, wailing on that old Juan Tizol standard, “Perdido.” Because, after all, we’re all doomed.