Wednesday morning Links of excellence!

by | Jan 4, 2023 | Daily Links | 313 comments

Sloopy and Banjos are currently detained in a foreign country, so I took a snap of this childhood photo of Banjos. It’s hanging on the wall at Glibs HQ, situated under a shopping mall, and only accessible through an unmarked door around back by the dumpsters.

 

Is there anything going on at the moment? Let’s see what the Links can provide!

 

Eyes rolled, commence hog cranking motion.

 

Yet another reason to avoid living in Louisiana?

 

“Ohh, Tokyo. They got some sake and sashimi and a cool breeze…”

 

See? Digital currency isn’t so bad.

 

I’m sure he was perfectly sober. Also, Florida Man already won this award.

 

Why, yes. Yes we do. And you can screw yourself right in the pucker.

 

Okay, I’m done phoning it in. Have a great day all. This is a pretty decent cover.

About The Author

Spudalicious

Spudalicious

Survey says I’m a Paleolibertarian bitches. That means I eat “L”ibertarians for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Soave tastes a little fruity. Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound quite right…

313 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    Eyes rolled, commence hog cranking motion.

    GRIDLOCK!

    • slumbrew

      It’d be so much more dignified if the Speaker were chosen via secret back room deals, like the Dems did.

    • SDF-7

      I’m torn on reactions to that mess. Part of me thinks “This really shows just how incompetent and leaderless the GOP is that they can’t even wrangle their caucus behind a single candidate ahead of time“… the other part of course says “At least the whole caucus aren’t bleating sheep who never step out of line like the Dems — where they ‘disagree’ yet never vote against each other”.

      Since the budget is already taken out of their hands (Thanks, McConnell you jerk) for this year… not really worried that Big Work Isn’t Getting Done. We’ll just see what happens.

      • Not Adahn

        If they pay me enough and allow me to WFH, I’ll take the job.

      • rhywun

        It’s MAGA vs. Swamp as far as I can understand.

        I say let them fight it out.

      • Rat on a train

        The risk is the enough of the swamp going D over non-establishment R. They really do hate the heretics more than the heathens.

      • R.J.

        Agreed. This has to happen. Swampies love them some power, and could care less about their constituents. This needs to become a lot more public. Fight it out, get ugly, fuck the swampies. No more rolling over. I may not agree with every one of those fighting but I damn well support the effort to kick out the swampies.

      • SDF-7

        None that would actually get elected, certainly.

      • Drake

        The Freedom Caucus proposals would at least allow them to gum up the works on the terrible bills Congress passes these days. If McCarthy got his way, he’d just be continuing Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership.

      • juris imprudent

        10 or 12 people aren’t going to change Congressional norms. The vast majority of Republicans know this. The rest are being petulant children throwing a tantrum.

      • robc

        Then the establishment republicans need to pick a candidate 218 will support. And that apparently isn’t McCarthy.

      • robc

        In one way, they aren’t trying to change congressional norms. They are playing into the norm, “If you want my vote, you have to buy it.” The cost of buying it is rules changes.

      • Drake

        Kevin McCarthy is the living embodiment of everything wrong with the party. He got to the top by shiving people like Steve King in the back.

      • PutridMeat

        Got it. Not going with the flow == Petulant child throwing a tantrum.

        Or, if I’m being generous to the ‘freedom’ caucus, and being generous to a politician of any stripe is not my favorite game, standing on principle == Petulant child throwing a tantrum.

        Just go with the flow, this is how things are done. Join Us! Together, we can rule the Galaxy! Or at least get our noses into the trough.

      • juris imprudent

        There isn’t going to be a candidate who will satisfy the extremists (and that’s what they are). They haven’t proposed one that garnered any support outside of their own ranks.

      • juris imprudent

        PM – yep, that’s how politics works. I hate politics, but I at least won’t delude myself about exactly what it is.

      • robc

        “There isn’t going to be a candidate who will satisfy the extremists”

        Then we won’t have a Speaker. I am okay with that.

        But McCarthy has a path to be speaker…let them have the rules changes they want. One of them that he refuses, is just going to back to the pre-Pelosi rule allowing 1 Rep to call for a vote to remove the speaker.

        Pelosi changed that to shut down dissent within her party. It says something that McCarthy wants to keep it.

      • juris imprudent

        Didn’t the resisters all vote for Jim Jordan, the same Jim Jordan that nominated McCarthy for Speaker? I mean maybe Jordan is playing a really sneaky political game here – or maybe he really doesn’t want the job?

      • PutridMeat

        I won’t delude myself either. This will make no difference, but not because it’s not the right thing to do, but because our current government is corrupt and likely irredeemable.

        I’m not going to throw shade at someone how may be trying to redeem it somewhat, however futile that effort may be. And I’m certainly not going to get all condescending and call them petulant children.

      • juris imprudent

        I believe we all made a good deal of fun of the progressive wing of the Democratic party with the abortive challenge to Pelosi.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I don’t understand what is negative about these 15 or 20 Reps gumming up the works and slowing things down. It will not ultimately change anything but petulant children throwing a tantrum? These types of things should be done non-stop.

      • PutridMeat

        Re: making fun of dems/progressive.

        Speaking for myself, I’m pretty sure I didn’t. One, I wasn’t/am not really even aware of said challenge; two, I don’t think I’d make fun of them, either the swamp dems or the progressive wing. I call them wrong and complain/wonder at how we got to a state where the conflict of ideas for one of the major political parties in the US is between swamp creatures who see communism as an advanced way to grift (and are partial to the ideas any way) and those who want to communist even harder (oh, and get on the grift too). But complain or make fun of them for trying to get their ideas, however loathsome they may be, heard and advocated for? No. I may even call them petulant children because their core ideas are superficial, childlike, and petulant (just I’m sure they would call my ideas), but not because they refuse to vote for someone who they think doesn’t embody them sufficiently.

      • juris imprudent

        I’ll disagree SSD – Congress is already dysfunctional enough, this doesn’t help. This is why we end up with omnibus spending bills – because they can’t function, or at least they refuse to. Meaningful change isn’t going to come from a tiny dissident faction – it’s going to require a broader consensus.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I’d say that’s a fundamental difference in our viewpoints. I see Congress as being extremely functional. Their function is to loot as much money from taxpayers as possible and launder it through various layers of consultants, lobbyists, and NGOs And they’ve gotten quite good at it. Omnibus bills aren’t evidence of dysfunction, rather these are an efficient means of Congress achieving its purpose of enriching its members.

        I do agree that meaningful change won’t come from this, but that doesn’t make it a negative in my book. Gridlock in DC is only positive.

      • PutridMeat

        JI This is why we end up with omnibus spending bills

        I disagree. We get omnibus spending bills because people like McConnel play the game. People who know/think differently don’t stand up and say, “no, I’m not voting for X who will push broad consensus to get the People’s Business done”, but rather say “this is how things are done, we must present a united front and vote X because that’s how things are done.” Will the dissidents win the day and get their wish list? Probably not, but it’s a hell of a lot more likely if they fight and even more likely that if they throw a roadblock to business as usual into the mix, maybe the needle gets moved a bit closer to them for the next time it comes up.

      • juris imprudent

        I can see both of your points, and this is why we will always be on the outside. The game is played on the inside.

        I believe RC has a fair perspective below – this isn’t salvageable.

      • PutridMeat

        The game is played on the inside.

        The only winning move is not to play. Of course that’s not usually a winning move either. I also see your point; as a parallel, would Rand (or Ron) if you prefer, Paul have had the same impact if they’d NOT played the game with the Republican branch of the swamp? Almost certainly not. And some tangible benefits have come from their willingness to play the game. But those gains are a blip on the radar because that’s not where the real game is played – just as getting some small changes to the rules will be a minor blip on the radar if the ‘dissenters’ win concessions. That’s not where the game is played either. It’s in the bureaucracy and the permanent government infrastructure. It certainly looks unsalvageable to me, but I’ll appreciate those who try whether it’s playing the game to get bigger voice (Paul) or not playing the game with the entrenched party who gains from the system (the dissenters, at least to some degree).

      • juris imprudent

        Massie is probably the most respectable Congressman there is, he’s been quiet about whatever he thinks. I suspect he has figured out that he can eke out some wins and he uses his limited political capital to those ends.

        I certainly don’t have that kind of patience, and I don’t think I’m alone here in that regard.

      • PutridMeat

        it’s played with the bureaucracy, etc

        Should also add that this too is really a symptom, an effect rather than a cause, though an effect that is now capable of being it’s own cause. The real place it’s played is in the culture and ideals of the populace. We have 50%-ish of the public voting for it consistently and of that 50% some not insignificant fraction want it more and harder. The other 50% are not on ‘our side’ either, maybe just want the grift and control with a slightly different flavor. One needs a long term effort to change the zeitgeist; we don’t have a society that has a critical mass of people that support independence and individual sovereignty. Until that changes, none of these details matter. Unsalvageable.

      • Michael Malaise

        What is “our” perspective?

      • Tundra

        Get them before they get you?

      • R C Dean

        My take:

        McCarthy is a useless Swamper. If him winning the Speaker is what has to happen to show the Republican Party isn’t dysfunctional and can “govern”, then fuck them.

        Will the dissidents prevail? I seriously doubt it, but maybe they’ll cut a deal to win a few points and twitch the needle just a little. If you say the handful of dissidents should shut up and go along until they suddenly somehow have a majority, you’re going to wait a very long time. Going from “fringe” to “mainstream” doesn’t happen in one motion.

        Our current government is illegitimate and unsalvagable. There is no part of it that can serve as the starting point for any kind of sane reform. Its all palace intrigue, which matters only to insiders. The outcome of inside-DC politicking has approximately zero effect on the trajectory of the government or society.

      • PutridMeat

        NO, THAT’S MY TAKE!!!

        Thanks for voicing it a bit more succinctly than I have. Damn lawyers and their flowery words.

    • Penguin

      On the radio just now they mentioned that Trump could become Speaker; there’s no requirement that someone be elected Representative before acquiring the position.

      • UnCivilServant

        They should go for it, just for the noise it would generate.

      • Penguin

        Kind of what I was thinking. Stir shit up, see what happens.

      • Not Adahn

        I’m pretty sure there are way too many never trumpers for that to be attempted.

      • Penguin

        Too many to be achieved? I’d believe that. Too many to be attempted?? Hold on there, Brer’ Not Adahn…

      • Rat on a train

        Some progs were pushing Liz Cheney. I don’t know if it was only for trolling or they seriously thought they would get enough Republicans to cross over like their unfaithful elector plot in 2016.

      • UnCivilServant

        “I mean, there can’t possibly be that many people who don’t toe the line, right?”

      • Fourscore

        …that don’t tow the right lion…

      • juris imprudent

        Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

        You all forgotten how easily Trump was pushed around by Pelosi? Fucking A.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m pretty sure whoever is in that seat will not do what I want.

  2. AlexinCT

    See? Digital currency isn’t so bad.

    The only “robbery” being done – deflation and bank accounts not allowing you make unapproved purchases/expenditures – is by the government now, and that’s the way they like it…

    • Rat on a train

      The government doesn’t like competition.

      • AlexinCT

        Especially when it comes to corruption and the picking of winners & losers…

    • SDF-7

      If the only robbery is done via hackers and crackers (and inflation as you mention), I doubt they’ll publicize it much since confidence in digital currencies seems even more important than other fiat currencies.

    • slumbrew

      TBF, they’re not there, yet.

      Everyone is just using their debit cards and the Danish equivalent of Venmo. You can still use cash but nobody does.

      The pivot to CBDC will be seamless, and then they’re boned.

  3. AlexinCT

    I’m sure he was perfectly sober. Also, Florida Man already won this award.

    Is this a sign of the coming zombie apocalypse?

    I WANT TO EAT YOUR BRAINS FACE!

    • juris imprudent

      I love the “was he on drugs” angle – what drugs do you think makes someone do this?

      • AlexinCT

        Ivermectin?

    • Fourscore

      That’s why I can’t go to Florida, I can’t outrun the crazies

      • Penguin

        *laughs maniacally*

      • pistoffnick

        You don’t have to run faster than the bear Floridian, you just have to run faster than your slow friend.

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        STEVE SMITH SAY KEEP RUNNING HIM NEED EXCERCISE!!

      • Brett L

        Stay away, Fourscore! Old people die in Florida every day!

  4. juris imprudent

    Hey, aside from the 2nd Amdt, we have the 4th, 5th and 6th and those LITERALLY allow criminals to run free!

    • Rat on a train

      Don’t forget our obsession with the 1A. It’s so antiquated.

      • SDF-7

        We need to come around to the enlightened European view that all rights are simply granted by the Government. Other countries are all so dreamy, after all.

  5. AlexinCT

    Why, yes. Yes we do. And you can screw yourself right in the pucker.

    Does anyone miss the point that if we didn’t have the 2nd amendment in the US the global reseters and their vaccine mandate would have been forced upon us because there was no way to fight back government imposed monopoly on violence? See Australia, New Zeeland, Canada, and UK, for examples where their government gave up any and all pretense of being a democracy of the people instead of a tool of the WEF.

    • juris imprudent

      You don’t know what is in your own best interests. And that isn’t some Marxist conceit (even if false consciousness is) – it spans time immemorial; it is an absolutely core human flaw.

    • DEG

      All of those places have guns.

      The problem is cultural.

  6. Penguin

    If they offered me $7500 to move to, say, Alabama, I’m not sure what my response would be. Then again, I don’t have any kids

    • SDF-7

      $7500 is too little at this point. But I’m contemplating NE AL for retirement anyway (NE GA is being eaten by ATL, I don’t want to be too close to Birmingham but prefer the mountains to the Gulf coast…).

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m still looking at the Tennessee-NC border region. I have family on the NC side of that line, and the mountains will help me not grow nostalgic for NY hills.

      • Penguin

        I’d move to Panama City in a heartbeat; I lived in Tallahassee for 4 years. That included several trips to the Gulf.

      • UnCivilServant

        While I bemoan the humidity that plagued me when I was in Florida, I did visit the gulf coast either in Panama City or a similarly named nearby town. I got there pretty much at dawn, so it was fairly cool and not miserable. Almost no one was around and nothing was open. I still have the shells I picked up there on the dash of my car.

    • slumbrew

      That offer certainly sounds more impressive in yen.

    • Drake

      Do I get to keep my job and pay?

    • The Last American Hero

      I’ve been assured repeatedly that the future is Mega-Cities – incredibly densely populated, everyone in a tiny apartment to save Mother Gaia. Why on Earth would you want less people in Tokyo? Do they want to anger the Earth and bring forth a Kaiju?

      • slumbrew

        Oooh, ooh – I wanna be a Judge!

        Judge Slumbrew has a nice ring.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t trust you to be the law.

      • slumbrew

        I Am The Law!

  7. juris imprudent

    Guns are treated the same as any other consumer good that the government can regulate.

    Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.

    Hell it is NJ, so I can sorta understand the fetish for Italian governance.

  8. Not Adahn

    Spud, I’m expecting you and OMWC to come down to a shootin’ match at some point this year.

    • SDF-7

      Potato guns?

  9. UnCivilServant

    The government is hoping 10,000 people will have moved from Tokyo to rural areas by 2027, it added.

    10k out of 35million… you’re not actually serious about this program, are you?

    • AlexinCT

      What if the government promises to put those used panty vending machines in all rural marts for easy access (and at a discount)? I suspect that would go a long way to convincing some of the Japanese dudes that moving away from the big city isn’t such a bad idea….

    • UnCivilServant

      They had over half a century to do something and did not.

      It’s too late.

      • juris imprudent

        The law was recently changed in California to temporarily sidestep the statute of limitations.

        But even better, only 4 years ago she defended how the scene was shot. That adds such a lovely dollop of cynicism on top of the hypocrisy.

      • UnCivilServant

        Like the law in California is worth a damn.

      • juris imprudent

        Well in this case $500M.

    • Rat on a train

      Yet they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge

      The actors “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded.”

      • UnCivilServant

        I think the cameras and film crew were kind of a giveaway there.

      • PieInTheSky

        It is easy to intimidate a 15 year old but was there no guardian round?

      • Not Adahn

        Stage moms are technically guardians.

    • Cowboy

      I remember having to watch that in high school.

      • Nephilium

        Quick! Sue your teacher for displaying child pornography!

      • robc

        We had to get a signed note.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Me too. Luckily for us boys, our English teacher got distracted by paperwork at the critical moment and forgot to fast-forward that scene. Only after us boys gave a raucous cheer did she realize what she’d done.

        Best day in English class ever.

      • Ownbestenemy

        My senior year English teacher treated us as adults and gave only the warning of “you are young adults, act like it or you can leave the classroom and go to the freshmen class”.

      • UnCivilServant

        In whatever year of English we were supposed to go over Romeo and Juliet, the class voted to do The Taming of the Shrew instead.

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        Did you watch the Sybil Shepard – Bruce Willis version?

      • UnCivilServant

        We didn’t watch any version.

      • Pine_Tree

        Us too. AP English. No silly permission slips or anything.

    • Ownbestenemy

      All that seems is “we are flat ass broke now…what can we squeeze out of something we did when we are 15”

  10. R.J.

    The Louisiana law is a futile and useless gesture. Just get a VPN. All this law will do is teach people about the benefits of online anonymity.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      It will stop kids who don’t know how to use a VPN from viewing things they should not be. Adults who value privacy will learn some new computer skills. A win/win?

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        Kids will learn tricks to bypass this shit in 3..2..1…

  11. Rebel Scum

    “They have no Second Amendment, no constitutional right to gun ownership. Guns are treated the same as any other consumer good that the government can regulate.”

    So you understand what 2A says and what it means, you just don’t like it. And, of course, there are no gun regulations in the US…

    “The core rationale is that we need guns for self-defense, but what we have is a public policy in which nearly 49,000 people a year are killed by guns and nearly 400 million firearms flood our streets – more than one for every citizen.”

    2/3 suicides and the remainder mostly a result of gang violence. Spare me the hysteria.

    • Rat on a train

      There are no suicides where guns are restricted. It is known.

      • UnCivilServant

        Wait, you mean there really is a monster stalking the japanese forest of bones?

      • Rat on a train

        I didn’t see any monsters when I went through there. Maybe they only attack Japanese.

    • juris imprudent

      I need to visit one of these cities where the guns are flooding the streets – there must be some decent stuff just floating around.

      • UnCivilServant

        Lets see… Hi-point… Hi-point… Lorcin…

      • Not Adahn

        MSRP $225!

      • juris imprudent

        It comes with a 10-round magazine because you don’t want to fire an 11th round.

      • Sean

        It’s 10 oz heavier than my Tac-ops 10mm.

      • Not Adahn

        Assuming it’s a simple blowback design, you’d need an absolutely massive slide for 10mm.

      • Sean

        Yeah, that’s gonna be a bit top heavy.

    • R C Dean

      “400 million firearms flood our streets”

      I seriously doubt more than a very small fraction of those guns have ever seen “our streets”.

    • Michael Malaise

      “flood our streets”

      I just tripped over a Glock!

  12. SDF-7

    ‘Orning ‘ordles — second day that the Preliminary was “Meh” but the Main Event was good by my standards. I’ll take it.

    Daily Duotrigordle #308
    Guesses: 36/37
    Time: 04:31.45
    https://duotrigordle.com/

    Daily Quordle 345
    3️⃣4️⃣
    6️⃣5️⃣
    quordle.com

    • Sean

      Daily Quordle 345
      4️⃣3️⃣
      7️⃣5️⃣
      quordle.com

    • Cowboy

      Daily Quordle 345
      5️⃣3️⃣
      7️⃣4️⃣
      quordle.com

    • Grosspatzer

      Meh.

      Daily Quordle 345
      5️⃣4️⃣
      8️⃣6️⃣
      quordle.com

    • Penguin

      Yeah, I’m mediocre!
      Daily Quordle 345
      5️⃣6️⃣
      8️⃣7️⃣
      quordle.com

    • rhywun

      Seriously?

      Daily Quordle 345
      6️⃣4️⃣
      9️⃣3️⃣

    • Tundra

      Daily Quordle 345
      7️⃣4️⃣
      9️⃣6️⃣

      Bleh.

      • kinnath

        Daily Quordle 345
        7️⃣4️⃣
        9️⃣5️⃣

        Fuck the lower left

      • rhywun

        Quorle person must be happy with himself this morning.

    • Grumbletarian

      Daily Quordle 345
      6️⃣3️⃣
      8️⃣5️⃣

  13. I. B. McGinty

    “and only accessible through an unmarked door around back by the dumpsters.”

    Hmmm. That’s where I buy my drugs.

    • UnCivilServant

      Only pharmacy that takes your insurance?

    • SDF-7

      At least you avoided the filing cabinet with the “Beware of Leopard” sign. There’s a dude who knows where his Towelie is.

    • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

      I used to occasionally go to a bar like that. The Preflight Lounge. No idea why it was called that, as it was in a mall in downtown Sacramento…

    • AlexinCT

      Canada is going full steam ahead with the WEF’s new world order where the elite will not allow the unwashed serfs to fuck with their rackets….

      • juris imprudent

        Your problem is you simply don’t know your place.

    • Rebel Scum

      Justin Castreau assured me that people that oppose his regime administration are the fascists.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        One wonders what it would take for Canadians to wake the fuck up.

      • UnCivilServant

        They’re dead already.

      • AlexinCT

        There are quite a few of them that are awake. They were part of that trucker protest. Their efforts were met with violence from the state (lies about them being fascist and their bank accounts being wrecked) and because that country has gone a long way to disarming the citizens, they could do nothing but whine about it. It is not an accident that the corruptocracy in Canada is rolling back gun rights too. Confiscation will follow. They need the people unable to resist.

  14. PieInTheSky

    Lancet opens investigation into anti-clotting drug trial after BMJ report

    https://maryannedemasi.substack.com/p/lancet-opens-investigation-into-anti

    My latest article, originally published in The BMJ on 30 Dec 2022, reports on the “Record4 trial,” which tested the anti-clotting drug, rivaroxaban (XARELTO®).

    The drug was initially approved in the US and the EU for the prevention of deep vein thrombosis following hip & knee replacement, but regulators later expanded its use as a first-line therapy for stroke prevention in people with a common heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation.

    The Lancet has said it will open an investigation into a trial of the anticlotting drug rivaroxaban, after an investigation by The BMJ into the regulatory oversight of clinical trials by the US Food and Drug Administration.

    During an inspection audit of the Record4 study into rivaroxaban, the FDA identified numerous and serious data integrity deficiencies at eight of the study’s 16 clinical trial sites. But when the trial was published in the Lancet in 2009 the investigators made no mention of the data integrity issues, and since then the paper has been cited more than 1100 times by other researchers unaware of the problems.

  15. PieInTheSky

    https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/ai-generated-art-photo-quiz/index.html

    NBC News used various AI services to create 21 images, each one imitating a subject of a photograph, drawing or painting that was created by a human. When they’re put side by side, it can sometimes be difficult to tell which is which, although there may be hints. 

    Now’s your turn to guess: Which one did a robot create?

    Got 17 out of 21

    • UnCivilServant

      Okay, computer, create something original, without a prompt or a template image.

      • juris imprudent

        Making computers go insane isn’t a good idea.

      • SDF-7

        Good one — being of the gaming generation I am, I actually thought about this incredibly bad idea first.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was going to make a Friend Computer reference instead.

      • Penguin

        What the fuck are you doing, Dave?

      • Penguin

        If it wasn’t clear, that was meant to be read in a “HAL” voice.

      • SDF-7

        Clear to me at least, sure.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Dave’s not here man…

      • juris imprudent

        Now that would be a fun mash-up.

      • Cowboy

        If thats the origin story for the Allied Mastercomputer, I guess I can’t really blame it.

      • R C Dean

        I would pay money for a copy of the whole script. I was rolling with laughter on just about every sentence. The AI has surreal(?) humor down cold. I mean, c’mon – snow globe refillery? Christmas juice? Jesus Claus? That’s solid gold. And that’s just the opening.

      • slumbrew

        I suspect that wasn’t really AI written but someone having a goof.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, after all the Thomas Friedman column generator usually tracks his style pretty well.

      • R C Dean

        Could well be. Either way, its a hoot.

      • Fatty Bolger

        “the town’s tallest unwed object”

      • robodruid

        Original is hard for a human.

      • nw

        Same applies to humans. Everyone brings
        their history to their work. It’s not that
        humans create something original without
        a prompt or template, it’s that they’ve
        had countless prompts and templates
        already.

      • UnCivilServant

        I will not appologise for my pro-human bias, nor for the preference for artists who find their own style and muse.

    • nw

      4 of 21. Site says “The robots really had you going there.”

      One, the art wasn’t made by “robots”. Two, I suspect
      it’s more that the human artists didn’t do anything that
      seemed all that spectacular.

      Also… “failure of AI to understand human faces gives it away”
      I guess Picasso was a robot.

      • The Last American Hero

        Dali has a sad. Or maybe it’s just his subject’s face melting off.

        I’m not sure I’m scared about a computer making/faking a picture of a plate of spaghetti fit for a magazine ad rather than a museum, or a dollhouse with mid century modern furniture.

      • Michael Malaise

        15/21. I missed the JFK one which I thought was odd.

    • Lackadaisical

      It isn’t so much that the computers are doing well as humans are creating art that sucks.

    • Rat on a train

      Any drag queen events in the area?

      • Sean

        Asking for a friend?

    • Drake

      Don’t bring your phone when you’re doing crime.

      • Rebel Scum

        Pinging cell phones works for law enforcement but not for the 2000 mules research…

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re not experts, duh…

      • Penguin

        Yeah, nobody at Nordstrom would notice that after they learned about the $10k in Stolen gift cards.

        To be fair, they might have planned to sell them out in $100 increments or something, which would be marginally less stupid (the cards would still possess their serial numbers and be trackable).

    • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

      Sus ASF

  16. Count Potato

    “The NYC bone rush! Wooly mammoth expert reveals location of 500,000 tusks worth up to $1BILLION dumped in East River by American Museum of Natural History in 1940s on Joe Rogan podcast – sparking hunt for the potential fortune

    Some boners, the term used for people who search for valuable bones, have already taken up the call, sharing videos of their trips to the East River.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11597249/Mammoth-expert-reveals-location-500-000-tusks-worth-millions-dollars-dumped-East-River.html

    Wouldn’t they decay?

    • UnCivilServant

      My mind is going ‘Faaaake’ with regards to this claim.

      • SDF-7

        Huh-huh-huh-huh…. He said boner, Beavis!

      • Not Adahn

        500k tusks @ 100lbs a tusk = 2500 tons. You’d have thought people would have noticed and salvaged them

    • Cowboy

      Odd, thats not whats coming up when I google “boner videos”

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Wasn’t that Mike Seiver’s best friend? Poor Boner, things didn’t go well for him in the end.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Cowboy is not from Louisiana.

      • Zwak, who has his own double cross to bear.

        You gotta look for Joe Rogan Boner, it works every time, 50% of the time.

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, I’m finding the idea that there have been 500,000 mammoth tusks recovered in total very hard to believe. The idea that a single museum would have that many is bonkers. That they would throw them away is beyond belief.

  17. Count Potato

    “Twittergate files reveal CIA warned Twitter that book about Hunter Biden corruption was ‘at least partially directed by Russian intelligence’ – as FBI offered to become ‘belly button’ for intelligence demands to ban accounts”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11597007/Twitter-allowed-FBI-belly-button-intelligence-agency-demands-ban-accounts.html

    “Twittergate files: Hillary Clinton inspired a Democrat witch hunt against Twitter to look for Russian accounts that simply didn’t exist – and forced the social media giant into the arms of the FBI”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11596521/Hillary-Clinton-inspired-Democrat-witch-hunt-against-Twitter-look-Russian-accounts.html

    CWAC

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The entire federal government is just a mafia at this point. There will be no redeeming of it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Speaking of..where is my kick back in all this? I FedGov completely wrong.

    • UnCivilServant

      So, he was driven over the edge?

    • robodruid

      How could they possibly prove that?

      • Sean

        3 eye witnesses?

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, then, he was clearly just trying to deal with the mutants.

        What do you mean you didn’t say three-eyed witnesses?

      • robodruid

        If he said something like “I hate you all and taking you with me to hell” Maybe?

      • SDF-7

        Plus don’t Teslas have one hell of a lot of black box data? I expect they can prove that it wasn’t autodrive, wasn’t a mechanical failure and he actually jerked the wheel.

        State of mind would fall to the witnesses.

      • UnCivilServant

        What’s this “Initiated Kill All Humans Runtime” message in the log?

      • SDF-7

        It re-examined…. re-re-re-re-examined its priorities and drew new conclusions?

      • Q Continuum

        Maybe they meant “third eye witnesses”. It is California after all.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Terrible reliability but excellent crashworthiness apparently.

  18. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Not good. Can’t eat till tomorrow evening and I’m already hangry.

    BEWARE MY WRATH ORNERY ATTITUDE

    • SDF-7

      Star Trek II: The Ornery Attitude of Khan didn’t do well with test audiences.

    • juris imprudent

      Adam Schiff better watch out – you might eat his face.

    • Count Potato

      Surgery?

  19. Q Continuum

    ‘“unfashionable” parts of the country’

    *cue Deliverance-type music played on a shamisen*

    • AlexinCT

      That’s a purdy mouth….

  20. Ownbestenemy

    Rants of the morning.

    Radio ads that try to illicit response from phones that may have Alexa/Google turned on. “Hey Google, open app. Go to Youtube”. Ads are ads but these I see as trash. I am guessing most people who have those functions on are elderly, blind or severely injured/maimed folks.

    The word “unprecedented” and the medias insistence it means nothing that the definition states. Like literally. The word they really are looking for is rare or uncommon.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Yeah, that’s sleazy…didn’t know that’s a thing but I haven’t really listened to the radio for years and I disable the voice recognition stuff.

    • pistoffnick

      Police siren sounds on the radio…
      Car horn honking sounds on the radio…
      Every gorram shitty automobile dealership ad on the radio…
      24/7 Christmas music on the radio…

      /I have been driving with the radio off for about 2 weeks

      • UnCivilServant

        This is why I have a walkman plugged into the car speakers. My audiobooks don’t have this crap.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Ah, New Jersey.

  22. Q Continuum

    “The piece then invited readers to imagine a society where establishing gun control wasn’t hard.”

    Fuck off, you can’t have my guns.

    • UnCivilServant

      We don’t have to imagine that dystopic hell, we’ve seen it before.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Those readers and the writer can seek asylum in the various countries they yearn for. Claim political refuge or some other bullshit.

  23. Q Continuum

    You were more than happy to exploit the guy to try and make a buck, now that he’s dead you pile on with faux “I’m SHOCKED there’s gambling here!” nonsense.

    https://www.dailystar.co.uk/love-sex/model-shares-dark-playboy-mansion-28870638

    You signed up to live in the Playboy mansion, OF FUCKING COURSE it was going to be immoral and deviant. That’s what the fucking brand was built on. You used each other, get over it and move on.

    • Not Adahn

      Honestly, my opinion of Hef changed when I found out that he didn’t leave anything to the “girlfriend” that was still willing to have sex with him at the end.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Scott Adams is a true legend in his own mind. Smart guy but way overestimates his abilities and importance.

      • Penguin

        THIS.

    • R.J.

      Wow. Did you see how many people stopped following him because of that cartoon? That is significant.

      • UnCivilServant

        No. What are the numbers?

      • R.J.

        There were 49,233 votes, about 44% of which said they unfollowed him for that cartoon. So roughly 21,600 people. Now to Stinky’s point, the guy is a jerk and there could be many reasons people unfollowed him, including his previous stance.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        He did spend years pushing the vax so the cartoon’s no lie. He’s since come around but he had terrible takes for quite a while plus he’s an asshole.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      What a buffoon

    • Penguin

      Adams can be good, and he can be a raging asshole who hasn’t checked out the latest science. I wrote this previously, but he had a rumble rant where he puked all over anyone who doubted masks. He was actually insulting. No, Adams, they don’t do shit against virus transmission. Get over it. He does have interesting things to say, but if he wants to shit all over people who have better info than he does, he can GFH.

    • R C Dean

      Ya gotta scroll down to the blackpowder mousetrap. Which is pure awesome.

    • rhywun

      He should have just made a Dilbert making fun of Garrison.

      Or a Ziggy making fun of Dilbert making fun of Garrison.

    • Michael Malaise

      Why does he look like Rudy Guiliani in the cartoon?

  24. Count Potato

    “Watch out for Adobe automatically Opting you In for “Machine learning” aka Ai. Also, tech companies that glorify “Opting out” options are using this to shift responsibility of Data mining onto US. Sneaky. Meanwhile Ai never forgets. It’s theatre. #adobe #OptOut”

    https://twitter.com/JonLamArt/status/1610349553613680640

    “@Adobe you’re scraping our art AS WE WORK? Is that what this is? Absolutely vile and has no place in your software. Professionals should not have to worry you’re scraping the data from our work; hell, many of us are working on NDA’d projects, what are you even thinking?!”

    https://twitter.com/SamuelDeats/status/1610363351359713283

    • Ownbestenemy

      We assit machine learning every time we do the stupid captcha of selecting images. It shifted photo scrapping a long time ago. Adobe is just catching up.

    • rhywun

      Adobe-anything is banned on my machines already. They are worse than Nikki.

      • Count Potato

        How do you read pdf’s?

      • UnCivilServant

        A lot of programs have PDF support these days.

  25. Rebel Scum

    Feel free to lead by example.

    Jane Goodall at the World Economic Formum… We can solve climate change by depopulating the earth by a mere 7.5 billion people.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Rich, entitled, arrogant, hubristic… the descriptors go on and on.

      Go back to fucking monkeys you dumb twat.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s the first thing my mind went to too. I wonder how many chimpanzees she banged out in the bush? It had to get lonely out there.

      • Tres Cool

        Banged? Bush?

        I do miss the 1970’s

    • UnCivilServant

      I vote we accept that the climate will change and instead we adapt to what may come.

      • slumbrew

        Checkout Bjørn Lomborg over here.

    • Count Potato

      This is why they are trying to start WWIII?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Just the kind of rhetoric I’d expect from a chimp supremacist.

    • Penguin

      Jane Goodall is still alive? Color me surprised. (Note: not meant to be derogatory)

      • Penguin

        Oh, she wants to kill off 7.5 billion people? OK, consider what I wrote above as derogatory.

        Malthusian murderers. They make Saloth Sar (Pol Pot) look like a fountain of wisdom. Die in a fire, murderers.

      • Tundra

        I saw that Bill Gates wants to vaccinate more livestock. For science or something.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Straight-up psychopath

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I take no issue with promoting voluntary birth control. Along with elevating economic quality of life, that drops the birth rate significantly.

      But that’s never what these would-be tyrants propose. It’s always they decide who lives and dies, who’s useful and who’s not.

      Meanwhile, they are some of the most useless assholes on the planet.

      • robc

        Dropping birth rate lowers economic quality of life.

        Not sure how the balance comes out.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Productivity increases

        They key point being that the decisions to have kids, to survive, etc… is all individual and voluntary. That’s not what they want at all.

      • juris imprudent

        Where have we actually seen that? Our birth rate has dropped in this country – has economic quality of life fallen (at least that isn’t directly attributable to stupid govt policy)?

  26. The Late P Brooks

    “The piece then invited readers to imagine a society where establishing gun control wasn’t hard.”

    M/em>

    Japan should invite those people to immigrate. Maybe even subsidize them.

  27. UnCivilServant

    Hmph.

    What good is the internet if it can’t help me find a copy of an audiobook we had on tape back in the 1990s of a novelization of a comic book storyline because I was feeling nostalgic. It barely admits that the novelization exists (and asks for $60 for the paperback) let alone the audiobook version.

    • Count Potato

      Probably because someone would have to digitize the tape?

      • UnCivilServant

        I’d be happy to even have found the tape version.

  28. Tundra

    Good morning, Spud!

    And good morning, everyone! I tried to limit my screen time on vacation last week and it was pretty awesome.

    Sometimes I went for nearly a day with no feelings of rage and despair!

    Fixing that today, though.

    • slumbrew

      Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble, one of us! One of us!

    • The Other Kevin

      Me too. I lurked a little bit but in general if I’m not at my work computer I tend to put my phone places and forget about it. If I were to ever retire, I suspect my screen time would be pretty minimal.

      • Tres Cool

        I use my “smart” phone to….make phone calls, if needed. And text stupid stuff to my friends like GT.
        The other 99% of the phone’s capabilities are wasted on me.

  29. Tres Cool

    “Operation Petticoat” is on.
    Pairs nicely with 3-4 TALL CANS™

    • Penguin

      Nick at Nite daytime version?

      • Tres Cool

        Some channel on Pluto.
        This is my Saturday night- tomorrow is my Sunday

      • Penguin

        Getting a hundred (or so) channels is nice. I remember back when I had satellite, re-watching Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, along with any ST reruns I’d come across.

        Happy weekend, Tres. Enjoy Yur tall cans.

  30. DEG

    All 20 voted for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who himself voted for McCarthy.

    I suspect Jordan might be better than McCarthy. That’s a low bar.

    Motherboard confirmed, through a virtual private network, that Pornhub is showing people visiting the site from a Louisiana-based IP address a page that requires identity verification before entering. “Louisiana law now requires us to put in place a process for verifying the age of users who connect to our site from Louisiana,” the page says.

    Sad.

    Japan’s government is offering 1m yen ($7,500) per child to families who move out of greater Tokyo, in an attempt to reverse population decline in the regions.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    A woman shoots a rifle with a high-capacity magazine at a shooting range. (Ryan Houston via Getty Images/File)

    Her chick lean is horrible.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Her chick lean is horrible.

      Yes.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Regarding the porn site thing and a government ID to verify…I am sure the people who claim they can’t vote will surely find a way to get an ID to wank it.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I’ll move to rural Japan for free, no payment needed.

      • UnCivilServant

        Unless you’re Japanese, I don’t think you’re the target audience.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I’m not but I’ve watched several Godzilla movies so I’m familiar with the culture. I also like to eat rice which I assume would be a plus over there.

      • Sensei

        Well, since it’s the New Year you are going to have learn “Happy New Year”.

        I’ve got class tonight so part of ritual Japanese politeness is that I’m going to be saying that multiple times.

        You’ve also got to say a different variation of it before the New Year (i.e. have a happy new year in English) to everyone that you won’t see until the new year.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Still better than two months’ worth of Christmas music every year.

      • Ownbestenemy

        10 acres and a Japanese pond turtle?

      • Timeloose

        They just need to start letting in more immigrants. They will never accept them, but will accept their tax monies.

  31. Count Potato

    “Madison Indigenous arts leader, activist revealed as white

    Early in 2020, an Indigenous artist urged the owners of a new music venue in town to change its name. 

    It was called The Winnebago, after the street on which it stands. Many Indigenous people and allies let the owners know that wasn’t the best name for a white-owned music venue. One of them was nibiiwakamigkwe, also known as Kay LeClaire, a founding member and co-owner of the queer Indigenous artists’ collective giige, and budding leader of Madison’s Indigenous arts community….

    Since at least 2017, Kay LeClaire has claimed Métis, Oneida, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Cuban and Jewish heritage. Additionally, they identify as “two-spirit,” a term many Indigenous people use to describe a non-binary gender identity. In addition to becoming a member and co-owner of giige, LeClaire earned several artists’ stipends, a paid residency at the University of Wisconsin, a place on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force and many speaking gigs and art exhibitions, not to mention a platform and trust of a community – all based on an ethnic identity that appears to have been fully fabricated.”

    https://madison365.com/indigenous-arts-leader-activist-revealed-as-white/

    • The Other Kevin

      Now this person knows how to play the game.

      • juris imprudent

        smdh, fucking people.

      • The Other Kevin

        Yep. We create all kinds of incentives for people to do this, then we’re surprised someone makes a career out of doing this.

      • Rat on a train

        You get more of what you subsidize.

    • slumbrew

      That’s an extremely “Madison” story.

      I knew a guy who moved to Madison because Cambridge, MA was insufficiently progressive.

      • juris imprudent

        Reminds of the people that fled Berkeley for Santa Cruz.

      • slumbrew

        “Muh bubble! Muh precious, precious bubble!”

      • Penguin

        I knew a guy who moved to Madison because Cambridge, MA was insufficiently progressive

        Jeebus. I was considering going to U of WM. Glad I stayed in state.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Respeck muh authoriteh

    A Louisiana police officer was arrested and charged after a high-speed chase that led to the deaths of two teenage girls, officials said.

    Addis Police Officer David Cauthron was pursuing a suspect Saturday when he ran a red light at a very high speed and crashed into a car carrying three teens, said Tony Clayton, the district attorney for the 18th Judicial District in Louisiana.

    Officials didn’t clarify how fast Cauthron was going at the time of the crash in Brusly, a town about 10 miles southwest of Baton Rouge.

    ——-

    Cauthron was pursuing a 24-year-old suspect accused of stealing his father’s car. The chase began in Baton Rouge and ended when the suspect’s car stalled.

    He was arrested and charged with two counts of manslaughter by law enforcement in West Baton Rouge.

    Justice was served.

    • Sean

      Those deaths were completely avoidable.

      Sad.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Jane Goodall at the World Economic Formum… We can solve climate change by depopulating the earth by a mere 7.5 billion people.

    First thing we do, let’s kill all the farmers.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Progress

    Drone advances in Ukraine have accelerated a long-anticipated technology trend that could soon bring the world’s first fully autonomous fighting robots to the battlefield, inaugurating a new age of warfare.

    The longer the war lasts, the more likely it becomes that drones will be used to identify, select and attack targets without help from humans, according to military analysts, combatants and artificial intelligence researchers.

    That would mark a revolution in military technology as profound as the introduction of the machine gun. Ukraine already has semi-autonomous attack drones and counter-drone weapons endowed with AI. Russia also claims to possess AI weaponry, though the claims are unproven. But there are no confirmed instances of a nation putting into combat robots that have killed entirely on their own.

    Experts say it may be only a matter of time before either Russia or Ukraine, or both, deploy them.

    Skynet, here we come.

  35. The Other Kevin

    I’m ok with the fight for the speakership. I find it encouraging that at least on some level, people are disagreeing and fighting for what they think is right. It’s funny how a lot of Dems think this is hilarious, because of course it’s far preferable to just 100% swallow whatever your party leadership tells you.

    • slumbrew

      There are fights over the speakership all the time – just usually not in public.

      This is better.

    • slumbrew

      Dang, #1 is glib-fit

  36. The Late P Brooks

    I’m ok with the fight for the speakership. I find it encouraging that at least on some level, people are disagreeing and fighting for what they think is right. It’s funny how a lot of Dems think this is hilarious, because of course it’s far preferable to just 100% swallow whatever your party leadership tells you.

    Just wait- a faction of responsible mature patriotic Republicans will reach across the aisle and help make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker, and usher in new era of bipartisan consensus.

    • Rat on a train

      McConnell approves.

    • juris imprudent

      Pennsylvania did almost this in the State legislature. Deadlock because of 3 vacant seats, so they agreed to a Democrat who agreed to be an independent. How well that really works – we’ll find out.

      • Nephilium

        It did happen (just the other way) in Ohio.

        King makers: In a stunning turnabout, GOP Rep. Jason Stephens was elected speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives on Tuesday, jumping over fellow Republican Rep. Derek Merrin, who won a November caucus vote among House Republicans who hold a supermajority in the chamber. Jeremy Pelzer reports that Stephens won the speaker’s gavel in a 54-43 vote, thanks in large part to his carrying a majority of the chamber’s relatively small number of Democrats.

  37. Rebel Scum

    Weak.

    JUST IN – Trump endorses Kevin McCarthy in all caps.

    • juris imprudent

      Does that guarantee someone else now?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Trump is an out of touch fucking fool who’s incapable of learning from mistakes. Good God…

      • R.J.

        I really don’t know if he would have done much different than Biden. Maybe kept us out of war, which is a plus.

      • juris imprudent

        He didn’t keep us out of Syria. He could not run the govt.

      • R.J.

        That is true.

      • Michael Malaise

        “He could not run the govt.”

        What does this mean?

      • R.J.

        I think the correct word is “command.” He couldn’t stop the government from doing what it wanted to do.

      • Michael Malaise

        Which President has ever done that (at least in the past 40 years?)

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Ukrainian Lt. Col. Yaroslav Honchar, co-founder of the combat drone innovation nonprofit Aerorozvidka, said in a recent interview near the front that human war fighters simply cannot process information and make decisions as quickly as machines.

    But what about intuition? An inspired guess will overcome brute force calculation every day, and twice on Tuesday, right?

    RIGHT?

    • Not Adahn

      “combat drone innovation nonprofit”

      Dafuq?

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, one of these words does not belong . . . .

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Such a nice boy

    Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges at his arraignment on Tuesday.

    Bankman-Fried flew from California to New York to enter his plea in person during a court hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Lower Manhattan.

    An attorney entered the not guilty plea on his behalf as Bankman-Fried’s mother, a professor at Stanford Law School, sat two rows behind him with other family and friends at the packed courtroom. His trial is set to start on Oct. 2.

    The once high-flying crypto executive is facing up to 115 years in prison over charges stemming from the spectacular collapse of FTX in November. The charges include lying to investors and taking billions of dollars of his customers’ money for his own personal use.

    Since Dec. 22, he has been living with his parents in Northern California after posting a bail of $250 million.

    He just got a little off course, but that’s no reason to ruin his life.

  40. Pine_Tree

    Based on the Romeo and Juliet discussion upthread, I’m officially hypothesizing that watching that version of the movie in high-school English class actually could, through some as-yet-unexplained neural mechanism, cause Glibness later in life.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Bankman-Fried was arrested last month in the Bahamas, where FTX is headquartered, at the request of the United States government. He initially said he would fight extradition, but after several days in a correctional facility in Nassau, Bankman-Fried changed tack.

    Huh.

  42. Stinky Wizzleteats

    It’s not his fault that he can’t behave
    Society made him go astray
    Perhaps if we’re nice he’ll go away
    Perhaps he’ll go away
    He’ll go away

    Hey there Johnny you really don’t fool me
    You get away with murder
    And you think it’s funny
    You don’t give a damn if we live or if we die
    Hey there Johnny boy
    I hope you fry!

    Sammy boy works too.

  43. Gustave Lytton

    From the Guardian link

    In principle

    So just copy and pasting from the Japanese article or press release.