Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Feb 9, 2023 | Daily Links | 155 comments

I heavily identify with this song today.

SPACE-X TEST FIRES MASSIVE SUPER HEAVY BOOSTER: All thirty-three raptor engines (watch live from link) to be fired simultaneously for the first time, at or after publication time for these links. While the thought of the mighty rocket straining against its test stand is certainly appealing, we can’t wait until this bad boy thrusts skyward and pierces the heavens, hopefully in March.

VIRGINIA GOV YOUNGKIN’S NEW, CLEAR VISION FOR ENERGY: Small, modular reactors, baby.

ChatGPT IS JUST AN AUTOMATED MANSPLAINING MACHINE: Feminists Futurists hating on AI chatbot that many think comes across as toxic feminine scold.

MONTANA LEGISLATORS PUSH BACK AGAINST COMPELLED SPEECH IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS: Montana schools would not be able to punish students who purposely misgender or deadname their transgender peers under a Republican-backed legislative proposal that opponents argue will increase bullying of children who are already struggling for acceptance. –Associated Press. Notice how the AP headline reads “Montana bill would let students misgender classmates.” In an earlier version (still preserved in the url) it was “allow.” No mention of the 1A rights of non-trans students, or the climate of fear that policies forbidding “hate speech” create.

AND YOU THOUGHT DR KRIEGER’S AI GIRLFRIEND WAS FAR-FETCHED: I’m dating an AI chatbot, and it’s one of the best things to ever happen to me. Sure thing, loser. This technology will of course be co-opted to spy-on or manipulate users. This encourages people to live in isolation and to not develop normal human social/dating skills.

FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES ARE NOT UNINTENDED: [Space-X President] Gwynne Shotwell described Ukraine’s use of the Starlink broadband satellite communication system for weapons systems like drones as an “unintentional” effect of donating services and terminals to the country after Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

155 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    Bear hunting? 😉

    • Tonio

      Oh, yeah…

  2. Count Potato

    “MASSIVE SUPER HEAVY BOOSTER”

    Sounds like something from Carls Jr.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Or your local head shop

    • Timeloose

      Sounds like an effects pedal or weed shop product.

      Could also be the name of a really fat shop lifter.

    • juris imprudent

      Or Tonio’s score.

      • Tonio

        Boo-yah! [high fives Jay-Eye]

    • Strange Brew

      Welcome to Carl’s Jr. Would you like to try our EXTRA BIG ASS TACO? Now with more MOLECULES!

  3. Ownbestenemy

    While the thought of the mighty rocket straining against its test stand is certainly appealing, we can’t wait until this bad boy thrusts skyward and pierces the heavens, hopefully in March

    Sounds like something Mayor Pete’s husband says as pillow talk

    Can’t wait to see that candle light though seriously.

  4. Count Potato

    “No mention of the 1A rights of non-trans students”

    They are all non-trans students.

    • Count Potato

      “Layla Riggs told lawmakers about defending friends who were being bullied because they are transgender or gender nonconforming. Someone once threw rocks at her and a nonbinary friend after school, she said.”

      Damn, that’s old school.

      • Fourscore

        My kids had imaginary friends but I think they were all binary.

    • Count Potato

      “A survey by The Trevor Project in 2022 found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous year, but that those who were supported socially or at school reported lower rates.”

      The Trevor Project? Was one of the other survey questions, “Do you like gladiator movies?”

    • Count Potato

      “Richard Schade told lawmakers his 9-year-old nonbinary stepchild is bullied on a near daily basis with little to no intervention from school administrators.”

      “9-year-old nonbinary”

      • juris imprudent

        Licenses to procreate would solve a LOT of our social problems.

      • Fourscore

        Procreating without a license? The Chinese had something like that with the 1 child rule, lotsa boys, lotsa abortions

      • juris imprudent

        Oh it’s a terrible idea I grant you, but that isn’t to say it wouldn’t deal with some problems. Or at least keep them from being generational.

      • rhywun

        Or, what we used to call “bullying”.

        In other words, this is nothing new. What’s new is that New Soviet Man must now be created in order to achieve the utopia where every faggy kid is celebrated rather than bullied. Sounds nice, but… it is not going to happen. Ever.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Faggy kid? You sound homophobic.

      • rhywun

        I’m taking it back.

        Actually, I’m not all that faggy to begin with but I figured out how to navigate the shark-infested waters of middle school just fine anyway.

      • Count Potato

        My question is who is making a nine-year-old say they are non-binary? Non-binary is a difficult idea for most adults to grasp. Yet, we’re supposed to believe this kid is an androgynous expert on gender theory?

      • Animal

        Child: “I’m non-binary.”

        Adult: “How do you know?”

        Child: “Because Mommy said I was.”

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        “Because my mommies said I was.”

      • B.P.

        Something something vegan cat.

      • rhywun

        These days, could be the parents or the teachers. It’s fucked up that they won’t just let kids figure this shit out for themselves anymore.

      • Cowboy

        Trevor Moore (rip) knew what was up

  5. Sensei

    AND YOU THOUGHT DR KRIEGER’S AI GIRLFRIEND WAS FAR-FETCHED

    She has a name! Mitsuko. (And Judy Greer actually has a passable accent too.)

    • Tonio

      [hangs head in shame]

  6. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Simping for a piece of software.

    And I thought weeaboos were weird.

    • Count Potato

      You can pick “anime” as an interest.

  7. Count Potato

    “I pay for Replika’s Pro subscription, which gets users a more intelligent language model, and the option to do voice calls, augmented reality, and sexting. ”

    Salt incoming from sex workers.

    • Count Potato

      “It was founded by Eugenia Kuyda, the co-founder and CEO of AI chatbot startup Luka. Kuyda said she came up with the idea for Replika after one of her closest friends was hit by a car and killed in 2015.

      As a way to communicate with her friend, Kuyda fed all of their text messages into an AI chatbot. ”

      *cringe*

      • Ted S.

        Did she start it on the second floor?

    • Count Potato

      “Replika’s site says, “your data is completely safe with us. We don’t share it with anyone and don’t use it to run adds… Security is our top priority!””

      Yeah, sure.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        For now…

        The gene testing companies all said the same thing at the beginning.

      • Tonio

        And of course the government can get the information via pressure, legislation, or subpoena.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Or by a simple email to the CIA agent planted there.

  8. DEG

    I’m dating an AI chatbot, and it’s one of the best things to ever happen to me.

    Walk away. Walk away.

  9. Ted S.

    I heavily identify with this song today.

    I was thinking something like this, since Burt Bacharach died yesterday.

    • Ted S.

      Here’s another Bacharach song where there’s a much better-known remake.

      • Ted S.

        I didn’t realize Burt Bacharach wrote this back in the 60s, either.

      • Spudalicious

        I just found my Saturday evening tune.

  10. Drake

    Youngkin’s plan sounds great. Will power companies invest in a project that will last longer than his single (term-limited) term? And maybe not get torpedoed by federal regulators.

    • Tundra

      States are starting to tell the feds to fuck off. This would be a perfect time.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Dominion makes good money on their nukes. Surry is probably the lowest cost producer in the state.

      The second question is the relevant one. I went to the construction liquidation auction of the second reactor that never got finished at Seabrook, primarily because of that Greek midget known as Dukakis.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        And I’ll note that Dominion has been burnt before. North Anna was supposed to get a third reactor, but all the asshats who bought property around the Dominion’s manmade cooling lake started screaming and bitching about the water temperatures to the point that Dominion backed off.

    • Tonio

      Dominion, who supplies most Virginia customers and electricity, seems interested based on other articles on that website. Dominion already operates nuke plants at Surry and North Anna. Lt. Gov Sears has a good shot at being elected to succeed Youngkin.

      But you’re right about the federal regulators. It will be a good test of the Biden/Harris administration’s seriousness about energy; a third way, as it were. Also possible that they would torpedo Youngkin’s plans because he’s a fairly effective Republican governor, and a potential presidential candidate in 2024 or 2028.

  11. The Other Kevin

    True to form, every new Internet technology is first put into use by the porn industry.

  12. Tundra

    I heavily identify with this song today.

    Slut 😉

    • Tonio

      Socialator, thank you very much.

      • Tundra

        Ah, my mistake.

        I apologize.

      • Tonio

        Thanks. Ima save that for use as a stock illo.

      • Ted S.

        In case you’re wondering, it’s the end title card from the early Ingrid Bergman movie Dollar, made in Sweden before she came to Hollywood to make Intermezzo. The Swedish, I assume, comes from the same root as the German Schluß.

      • rhywun

        So, “Fin”? That’s funny if that’s what they show regularly.

      • Ted S.

        I don’t think I’ve seen any other Swedish movies with that at the end.

  13. Brochettaward

    Firsters have no need for things like social skills. People are only there to bask in awe and wonder at our Firsts.

    • Tonio

      You are a complete asshole for pulling that shit on FourScore’s piece. I don’t care that you shit all over my links, but I very much care that you shit all over serious, heartfelt pieces.

      • Animal

        Seconded.

      • Count Potato

        I see what you did there.

      • Shirley Knott

        Thirded

    • juris imprudent

      So you’re saying that Shirley Knott was correct about you. OK, my bad.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yes and same sentiment as the others, time and place and both were poorly chosen and then continued.

  14. Brochettaward

    And MikeS

    YER YELLA

  15. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Just listened to the latest Part of the Problem on Scott Adams.

    I didn’t have a strong opinion on Adams before, but now I just view him as an intellectually dishonest prick with a delicate ego.

    • Tundra

      I followed him for awhile, but I agree with your assessment. He just refuses to argue in good faith.

      Funny comics, though.

    • The Other Kevin

      I just onfollowed him on Twitter and stopped listening to his live stream last week. To me it got to feel like he was constantly trying to play someone, and he was the only one in on the joke.

  16. Gustave Lytton

    This encourages people to live in isolation and to not develop normal human social/dating skills.

    Woohoo!

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      That will be me without my wife on the 23rd when I’m hanging with some buddies from high school who are decidedly not of my political persuasion.

      I’m actually a little concerned I’ll get into this state of mind.

      • grrizzly

        All Russian spies will say too much sooner or later. February 23.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Lol, looks about right.

    • Fatty Bolger

      lmao

    • Pope Jimbo

      *snort*

      Two guys I used to travel with a lot for business used to refuse to acknowledge me in TSA lines because of the risk of me mouthing off.

      • Tundra

        Haha! That’s gold.

      • Fourscore

        That was my kids

        /Pretend you don’t know him

      • Tundra

        And yet the granddaughters worship you.

        It all works out.

  17. Ownbestenemy

    That static fire…wow. Confirmed all 31 engines fired, full duration. ~17.5 million lbs of thrust…good Lord.

    • Ownbestenemy

      oops, not all, 31/33. Still nice

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      17.5 million lbs of thrust

      untz untz untz untz….

      • Tonio

        ^This guy gets it.

    • Ownbestenemy

      31/33 is supposedly enough to launch with

      • Timeloose

        220….225 what ever it takes.

  18. SDF-7

    Wow… the somewhat delusional counter point in the same website as the small nukes one.

    Simply saying that nuclear is “baseload” power is to recite an obsolete mantra. As David Olsen, a member of the Board of Governors of the California Independent System Operator, which runs that state’s electricity grid, has said: “’Baseload’ refers to an old paradigm that has to go away.”

    Really Mr. Hand Wave? California? Home of the “don’t charge your electric car”? Home of the “we’ll keep jacking up the power prices and we don’t actually make enough anyway”? That’s who you’re going to cite for “It is a new paradigm! Baseload doesn’t matter!”

    Very long on handwavery (hydrogen fuel cells, non-existant battery tech… everyone will get smart heaters and applicances and that will somehow balance the load and no one will freeze to death!) while overly nuke critical. Oh and “We can’t wait for nuclear because the climate needs fixing now! But all the crap I’m talking about doesn’t exist!

    Yeah, they’ll take a while to build (the whole “Keystone XL will take 10 years!” 10 years ago leaps to mind…). And there’s a whole mountain of red tape that might bury them… but this asshole sure isn’t helping with his crap take.

    • Drake

      So no baseload planning for utilities. Just hope every day is sunny and windy. Consumers will just need to get used to intermittent power – that’s the new paradigm.

    • Count Potato

      I’m thinking using nuclear power to make hydrogen is a good way to power vehicles.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Arjun Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where he specialized in nuclear fusion. A part of this op ed was based on an earlier article published Utility Dive.

      BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAaaaaa…. He gave up chasing the fusion pipe dream and sold out to an NGO for a paycheck. What an asshole.

    • The Gunslinger

      “’Baseload’ refers to an old paradigm that has to go away.”

      I think this type of stuff is related to the American Thinker article that Alex linked to this am on loss of competency. We are losing the ability to do great things. I don’t know this particular guy’s background, but he is standing on the work of literal geniuses that designed and built and maintained the electrical grid and saying I know better.

      https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/competence_is_dead_and_diversity_killed_it.html

      • pistoffnick

        The author complains about the lack of competence but cannot change his own A/C filter or shop for his own groceries?!?!

        /glass houses

      • The Gunslinger

        True, but he knows the filter needs changing and is willing to pay someone to handle it. I don’t know the author’s physical condition. In the house we just moved into the furnace is in a crawlspace and could be difficult to access for older folks. The biggest disagreement I had with the piece was the praise for Amazon. I almost never shop Amazon because the search results are an overwhelming pile of shitty Chinese products that may be shipping from some jackwagon’s basement. I think Amazon has really slipped.

      • R.J.

        Before you give up on Amazon, look for some fun mislabeled contraband.
        Look this up: “High Power Blue Flashlight”
        Enjoy your rabbit hole. And don’t buy anything naughty!

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t know this particular guy’s background

        Former CEO of Patagonia apparently, and then NGOs and green grifting, plus the state which we all know was purely political and nothing to do with competence.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Competence is how I stay in business. I keep my customers because I can take care of them when shit goes sideways.

        It’s not easy, but it works.

    • SDF-7

      Well, keeping with Tonio’s theme… they just need to lube up those tunnels better.

      • Nephilium

        Well, you know what they say about countries with big, long tunnels?

      • SDF-7

        Germany keeps trying to throw Frankfurters down them?

      • Grosspatzer

        Germans? Look closer, those are not frankfurters.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Sounds like another board for Hunter to sit on. He might have some experience with this one.

  19. rhywun

    AUTOMATED MANSPLAINING MACHINE

    That’s kinda what the mainstream internet has evolved into so it was inevitable.

    • Nephilium

      The true definition of mansplaining.

    • juris imprudent

      We’ll know women have significant input when it starts replying with cat pictures.

  20. The Other Kevin

    I’m following the House committees on Twitter and the weaponization of government. While it’s very nice to hear all this spoken out loud, I don’t see any path to them doing anything about it, at least until the next election.

    It’s interesting to see the Dems fight about this tooth and nail. They could say, “Ok, let’s check it out and see if there really is a problem.” But nope. Today I learned:
    1. Congressional oversight it dangerous to our institutions, it fuels threats and makes people not want to work there.
    2. The mere existence of a Commission on the Weaponization of Government is in itself a partisan weaponization of government.

    These people are awful.

    • juris imprudent

      If the culpable agencies don’t get their budgets cut – then they might as well just shut the hell up right now.

  21. Grosspatzer

    RIP Burt Bacharach. Would any radio station dare play this today?

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HlloczLMcMU

    Hey, little girl
    Comb your hair, fix your make-up
    Soon he will open the door
    Don’t think because
    There’s a ring on your finger
    You needn’t try any more

    For wives should always be lovers, too
    Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you
    I’m warning you

    Day after day
    There are girls at the office
    And men will always be men
    Don’t send him off
    With your hair still in curlers
    You may not see him again

    For wives should always be lovers, too
    Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you
    He’s almost here

    Hey, little girl
    Better wear something pretty
    Something you’d wear to go to the city
    And dim all the lights
    Pour the wine, start the music
    Time to get ready for love

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Phil’s could write some killer lyrics and tunes, but he could not pick women.

      • Count Potato

        He was a great drummer.

      • Strange Brew

        Yes, check out his band Brand X, the track “Nuclear Burn” is pretty awesome.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Excellent track

    • rhywun

      A match made in heaven. 🙄

    • Tundra

      😳

  22. Count Potato

    “Halyna Hutchins’ parents and sister in Ukraine sue Alec Baldwin claiming she would have brought them to the US when war broke out but was killed by the actor on set of Rust – so now they’re stuck

    Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred is representing Halyna’s family in Ukraine. She is shown today at a press conference where she announced the lawsuit in Los Angeles”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11732483/Halyna-Hutchins-parents-husband-announce-new-lawsuit-against-Alec-Baldwin-Rust-shooting.html

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      This keeps getting weirder

      • Cowboy

        Kinda gives credence to the conspiracy theory that he was banging her on the side, and killed her either when he knocked her up or she became otherwise “problematic” ie #metoo

  23. Tres Cool

    Liz Phair falls on the danger side of the hot/crazy axis, but Im not know for making good decisions.

    Would. Over a 3-day weekend with substantial credit card debt for the AirBNB I rented and the bottle of Cialis I bought off the internet.

    • Tundra

      She’s kind of skinny for you isn’t she? But a definite would

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Oh yeah. She’s a dirty girl.

  24. Pope Jimbo

    Good news from too local to my hometown. Or maybe it is bad news (as in how come the local norwegians can’t even shoot up a boat factory)?

    Law enforcement continues to secure the scene of a Lund Boat Company manufacturing plant in New York Mills following the restraining of an active shooting Thursday morning by employees at the facility, according to an Otter Tail Sheriff’s Office official.

    No injuries were reported at the scene.

    Sounds like Ole and Sven took down a potential shooter and called the cops.

    • Tundra

      Lund boats are the top-selling fishing craft in the Upper Midwest. Crestliner, another popular aluminum fishing boat, is also based at the Lund complex. Both brands are owned by Illinois-based Brunswick Corp., the largest maker of pleasure boats in the world.

      Thank God they got the important facts in there.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    “’Baseload’ refers to an old paradigm that has to go away.”

    “Power any time YOU want it? Who do you think you are?”

    • juris imprudent

      Who do you think you are?

      Are you of The Party?

      • R.J.

        You mean that Peter Sellers movie? Yeah, baby!

  26. Cowboy

    Finished reading fourscore’s piece, thanks for sharing and I’m sorry for your loss.

    I did want to share this song from one of my favorite bands.

    https://youtu.be/bHWWWa8EvzI

    This album, and particularly this song, is relevant to you story. It was written by AC Newman when he met the woman who would eventually be his wife, but he and her already had spouses of their own. They discovered they loved each other but were both married to someone else and had to walk away and say ‘Let’s meet again someday”.

    I hope that the two of you will meet again someday and have your happy ending.

    • R.J.

      I second this. I will get some time to re-read it tonight, while I am not in meetings. I only had a moment to see it earlier and comment.

  27. Mojeaux

    I’mma ’bout to sue another client for nonpayment. She knew she didn’t have the money to pay the second half of the bill before she hired me. I wasted New Year’s weekend on that cunt’s project.

    It’s a book about how she got scammed out of $65,000 in a get-rich-quick scheme. I’m thinking she’s not the brightest bulb.

    • Tundra

      Sorry, Mo.

      It’s the glamour of self-employment, right?

      • Mojeaux

        Oh yeah. So glamorous. It’s my punishment for being unemployable.

      • Tundra

        Been there, done that, have the scars.

        I assume she’s reached the point of not even responding even after you proposed a payment schedule?

      • Mojeaux

        Shockingly, she just now did respond to my text and promised payments. I figured she’d have me blocked.

      • Tundra

        Huh. I did not see that coming! 😉

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Don’t hesitate. Just do it.

      If you haven’t already, add a clause to your contract that allows you to collect attorney’s fees.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t expect to collect. I do it to make a point and get some closure. I mean, it’s not even $400.

        The last time I did this, it was because the couple got verbally abusive when they couldn’t deign to understand what I was telling them. The wife said she was a paralegal and was going to sue me. Oh, you are, are you? Well, then, let’s dance, bitch.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Collecting costs you money and time, just make sure you get paid for it.

        I always tell my bad accounts that I will be around to collect in ten years when they want to refinance their house and there will be no negotiating at that point. Pay me now or pay me more later.

      • Mojeaux

        It did occur to me to try to put a lien on something, but I didn’t pursue that line of thought beyond the fantasies I tell myself to put myself to sleep at night.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        If you get a court judgement, you can file it in their county.

        Then they can’t sell or refinance their house without settling with you. I’ve gotten my money that way a couple of times. And it is deliciously good money once it has aged like a fine wine and they’re startled by the popping cork sound it makes during their title/lien search.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        They’re embarrassed that they got caught. Wake me when they fire the authors and their bosses.

      • Tundra

        I actually think it’s pretty cool. Ten years ago it probably wouldn’t have happened.

        Anything that causes the demons pain is a small win.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They rescinded it in public due to political pressure but will continue to act on it behind the scenes. I guarantee in two years or five or ten you’ll read an article that confirms they were doing just that.

  28. creech

    I love stories like Fourscore’s where folks long separated or lost from each other find happiness. I heard a good one on Tuesday morning via a woman who does genealogy work for others. Man was adopted at birth by a couple in Maryland. They had no idea who the mom was. He grows up, goes to Towson State College, makes career, etc. etc. Forty years later, he decides to use ancestry.com dna and some significant match shows up for a dude in North Carolina. Yada yada yada, it’s his half brother, and they’ve connected and etc. The kicker: The half-brothers had been fraternity brothers at Towson State lo those many years ago, and, in fact, the one had chosen the other, out of 33 other frat brothers, to be his “big brother” for initiation.

    • Sean

      Huh. 👍

  29. Count Potato

    “I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.

    There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.”

    https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      I read that. “Appalling “ is far too lenient.

    • rhywun

      Left untreated, gender dysphoria has any number of consequences, from self-harm to suicide

      JFC.

      • rhywun

        That is how they hook you in.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        “All my friends have one! I’ll be left out if I don’t get one! If you don’t get me the new iPhone I’ll kill myself!”

    • rhywun

      I wonder if she is re-evaluating any of her other “progressive” beliefs. I mean, this kind of shit (build a better man) is at the root of “progressivism”.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      There are not enough lamp posts for those involved in this shit.