29 October 2017

Link round-up for 29 October 2017

Animals are weird.

Overzealous regulation fells an imaginative entrepreneur (found via Mendip).

Here's a well-thought-out fantasy world.

I don't think you quite mean that.

Puppies!

Give this candy corn to your trick-or-treaters.

Crazy Eddie has more Broken Peach.

It's just a phase.

Indeed, be cautious.

They're still dinosaurs.

Angel Boraliev shows us how real pumpkin carving is done (found via Politics Plus).

Here's some creepy art by Jakub Różalski.

It's the meat.

Check out these elaborate domino tricks.

Biggest animal ever (as far as we know).

Pwned!

Well, that's one way of "notifying" him.

Spare me this warped travesty of "love".

"Antis" embody a key flaw in the pro-censorship mentalityAmerican censorship weirdly targets sexual content more than violent content.

Listen to one of the real victims of the opioid hysteria (found via ElectoralVote.com).

What if white people really were oppressed?

Which is the better goal?

Some professions shouldn't look for romance at work.

The Catholic Church uses funerals as one more weapon to attack gays.  Not everyone is happy.

Forget Whitefish Energy -- Tesla's solar panels are bringing back power in Puerto Rico.

Trump now has his own national monument.

Women used to be more respected (found via Yellowdog Granny).  Maybe it was back in those days.

A former fundie describes her journey to atheism -- note that the catalyst was exposure to another religion (in this case, that of the ancient Maya), as I discussed here.

Megyn Kelly turns on Bill O'Reilly and his ilk.  More, please.

"Just take our word for it."

Let education be real education.

This is how religious bigotry works.  Be warned.

I wonder if this person would use the same argument about a culture with a tradition of slavery or human sacrifice.

Trump's administration defends us against a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy.

Sometimes evil is neutered by godawful writing skills.

Slimebucket conspiratards are harassing survivors of the Las Vegas massacre.

If you build a tolerant Christianity, they won't come (don't bother commenting there -- comments sit for days in moderation before being posted).

The Christian Right is as hypocritical as ever, as its politics is revealing.  Hackwhackers has a bunch more links on the topic.

Beware of thoughtstoppers.

"Gimme that old-time religion....."

Looks like the Earth's gravity is a bit much for him.

Japanese honeybees have an unusual defense against hornets.

A peculiar fruit bears witness to animals long vanished.

Solar power grew faster than any other form of energy in 2016 (found via Ahab), but China, not the US, is leading the charge.

This book looks interesting.

Gays are viciously persecuted around the world (found via Crooks and Liars).

Ireland is turning away from Catholicism.  But maybe if believers mumble to themselves enough, they can keep forcing women to have babies they don't want.

What's next for Catalonia?  It isn't Spain's only potential secessionist region.  The moribund EU faces problems all over.

Southern Europe is on fire.

Russian chauvinists freak out over a movie about Tsar Nicholas II.

Yes, it's NRO, but this is a good assessment of US mistakes in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince is a reformist, but don't get too hopeful.

Kazakhstan will switch from the Cyrillic to the Roman alphabet, a subtle but visible sign of the retreat of Russian cultural influence.

Trump can win by intimidation, but his choice of fights marks him as stupid.   For example, this fight.

What do Mueller's first indictments tell us? Earlier thoughts here.  Maybe Trump should reconsider this advice.

Republicans and Democrats have different fundraising problems, and the difference matters.  The DNC could be doing better.

Two counties epitomize the conflict within wingnuttia.  RedState is still bitching at Trump over the ACA repeal failure.

Somebody is destroying evidence of election irregularities in Georgia.  Now, who might have a reason for doing that?

Don't let the enemy define the narrative of the future.

Russia still has a huge capability for interfering in our elections (found via ElectoralVote.com).

P M Carpenter thinks Republicans will succeed on tax "reform", but most Americans don't want it.

Booman looks at Utah's next Senator.

Democrats are trying to prevent Trump from starting a war, but Republicans aren't ready to go along yet.

James Wolcott looks at the post-Trump future.  Also read this commentary.

[283 days down, 1,179 days to go until the inauguration of a real President!]

10 Comments:

Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

I just wanted to bring up to you while going through these, that I already been through a few links that just said "ERROR" on a blue type screen. So the links so far for "Which is batter goal" thing, "Antis embody key flaw" & "American censorship" didnt come up, at least for me they didnt.

That whale photo was cool, or as Bernie Sanders would say "uuuugee" {:-)

So was the domino tricks thing.

Good deal on Tesla's solar panels read

I havent been through a major fraction of this stuff yet, lots of stuff. But just wanted to mention the link thing.

29 October, 2017 11:00  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Ranch: Thanks for letting me know. I just checked those three and they came up OK for me. They're all to Tumblr and two of them are to the same blog, so maybe there was just a local outage for a while.

29 October, 2017 12:13  
Blogger Pinku-Sensei said...

Once again, thanks for linking to my post that you and Ranch Chimp inspired. Speaking of which, it probably helped Ranch Chimp comment on my blog for the first time. It made me happy (waves at Ranch Chimp).

That post on thoughtstoppers is a very good guide to techniques of cutting off lines of inquiry and argument. However, it is by someone that I also read and consider your opposite in many ways. You argue on behalf of rationalism and scientific progress. John Michael Greer is an occultist (his religious title is The Archdruid) and a sceptic of technological advancement. When you two blog about the same subject, you come to very different conclusions. How both of you treated the subject of Hypatia comes to mind. You took Hypatia's side in Agora -- death of a woman, and a world. Greer sympathized with the mob that killed her in Dark Age America: The Sharp Edge of the Shell. I could go on with example after issue after topic, but I consider that one to be the most striking. I've been refraining from mentioning him on your blog for the past couple of years because doing so would be catering to my propensity for making trouble, which I don't want to inflict on you intentionally. Now that you yourself brought him up, I think I have a reason to do so.

29 October, 2017 13:07  
Blogger W. Hackwhacker said...

Somehow, going through these one by one is mildly therapeutic for me. It's like getting out of your zone and seeing some things that you wouldn't normally be exposed to or be inclined to check out. It's hard to express exactly, but wanted you to know, again, that I appreciate the time that goes into pulling this interesting collection of links together!

29 October, 2017 14:54  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Pinku: Thanks. I could see that the Archdruid had some views that are contrary to mine, but I thought the Thoughtstoppers post was worth linking to. I doubt I'll be back there, though.

Hackwhacker: Thanks -- that's part of why I post these. I always hope they'll help someone find something outside their normal "zone".

29 October, 2017 15:23  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I clicked on the "let education be real education" link, and I don't like it because the argument attacks a strawman.

Consider "In the real world, there are no trigger warnings and no safe spaces." Uh, not quite. Even movie reviews include ratings and the reason for them (violence, sex, and so on).

Here's an example of a real-life trigger warning:
WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF BEARS EATING HUMANS.

I'm glad it was there so I could prepare myself for reading the graphic descriptions.

This article, by the same author, is a pretty good explanation of what safe spaces and trigger warnings are.

As an aside, most universities have safe spaces for rich white males - they are called frats.

29 October, 2017 16:12  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Anon: Cluth is guilty of, at most, slightly overstating the case. Yes, the real world does have some forms of "trigger warnings", but they pale in comparison to the way many (not all) university environments not only warn of, but actually try to suppress, viewpoints that make favored groups uncomfortable. Also, things like movie ratings and the link warning you used mostly warn people about things they're likely to find gruesome or repulsive, not about differences in political or social opinions.

Even as it is, I think society caters too much to people's discomfiture with encountering something different. This is why, for example, I don't follow the common practice of refusing to link to right-wing websites when I refer to them. I've linked to Dâ'ish (ISIL) at least once, so it's kind of silly to be squeamish about NRO.

Finally, people who are shielded too effectively from dealing with viewpoints contrary to their own won't develop the skills they need to deal with them. I'm constantly reminded of this reading Tumblr, which seems to be dominated by people in their early 20s who seem to think that aggressively asserting an opinion is the same thing as making an argument for it.

30 October, 2017 04:00  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

First up, THANX to Pinku ... I been to this blog before, just didnt comment. I been online blogging since 2008, I got a little burned out over the years I guess, as far as doing alot of commenting. I read and view much that I dont comment on, my comments are too long, such as postings on my blog are way too long, because I have a handicap in trying to write short and get too the point, with no previous writing experience (many people just like short tweets and stuff and cant get into long reads anywayz).

That was a good read, or book review about Yuval Noah Harari's books ... at least this makes sense to me, and sounds like good reads.

I'm with the Democrats move (and been keeping up with it) to get Congressional approval before a war/ attack, especially these dayz, where so much focus is on wayz to make a buck. But, I would extend that to all wars/ attack/ intervention, not just for North Korea. In other words, if some major corporation sayz "intervene" ... I'd tell them to chill and take a seat, till the Congress and experts review it. When you have a great military system like ours, combined with things like "Citizens United" SCOTUS ruling, it's easy to get too loose, and have many interests trying to invade somewhere for their interests only.

I been following alot of this tax giveaway shit myself (concerning posts you linked to) ... or the sugarcoated politically correct term "Tax Reform", from what I seen ... nothin but a f'n snowjob! ... even a rookie hustler on the street could make this shit from a few blocks away. And as far as Trump ... when are people (especially on the right) gonna figure out that this guy is great at sales- pitches ... how the f**k they think he made so much money? ... it wasnt being patriotic, or giving a shit about the working and middle class. You know (I myself blogged alot about this too over the years) what would happen if you halfway followed politics and money, what in Hell was going to happen if these new wave Republicans of today got a majority in the House and Senate ... again ... they dont waste f'n time, and they are desperate to push the bite. They are right, when folks like McConnell or them say "this is a once in a lifetime opportunity", plus they are getting campaign funding pressure, their balls are to the wall. This is like a dream come true for them, to be in this position, and they are going to go for the gusto ... they are so f**ked up, they cant even plan the shit right, or even write adequate legislation (this is what happens when you get intoxicated and desperate), because they're moving so fast. Even they divided their inner party themselves, without the peoples help. I voted Democrat, not because I love Democrats, but simply because of this ... and the f'n religion.

Another thing ... 2018 is going to be here sooner than we think. I think it is SO IMPORTANTE that Democrats create a unique and original platform right now, and spread it ... not wait till the last minute and just focusing on how awful the GOP is ... I mean, the GOP and Trump is doing good enough hanging and f**king themselves with stupid moves and tweets, even Republicans arent going to like them much in time (besides, Bannon types). I'd like the Democrats to get something going on an agenda as soon as possible, so it can have time to sink in. It dont have to be far left, but real substance that folks can grasp.

30 October, 2017 08:00  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

American censorship more on targeting sexual content than violence ... aint that the truth. I cant believe that I have to sometimes actually sign in to view stuff on YouTube, that is so lame as far as sexual content, even for research purposes, such as studies on prostitution or whatever. Now you see why I say we live in a semi- puritanical society. It's downright shameful, you would figure these MF's would have some shame ... and it's a disgrace to democracy.

Dont surprise me about UN findings/ report on LGBT's being violated across the globe still ... there are still alot of folks that are bent out of shape over gayz. It's just gonna take time for that to wear down some. I know of a gay Catholic priest (through my daughter, that I met at a social function) who is the lead priest for a upper middle class congregation and church in an affluent area of North Dallas ... he still keeps his being gay in the closet for the most part.

I'm outta here ... Have a Happy Halloween ....

30 October, 2017 08:01  
Blogger Shaw Kenawe said...


Finally got through all of the great links. I agree with W. Hackwhacker, the weekly ritual of checking out your links is a welcome balm from noisy cable news. Thanks again.

30 October, 2017 12:48  

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