Saturday Morning Culture Gap Links

by | Mar 11, 2023 | Daily Links | 134 comments

So I was playing an Old Guy Music song (Watkins Family Hour) in my office when one of the grad students came in. He’s one of the more worldly and culturally aware of that group, partially because he’s a former artist and about a decade older than the other students.

“Oh wow, that’s Sarah Watkins!”

I replied, “Yes, and look who the other singer is, Fiona Apple!”

“Who?”

Birthdays today include the ultimate science bureaucrat; a guy who could count to two; another guy who was successful at a massively important goal, then squandered himself finding something else to do; a guy who was clever as a fox; a crashing mediocrity-turned-leech who made his fame from being an asshole; a guy who got ONE thing right; Timothy Leary with a curve; a guitarist to whom I have a weird connection; a guy who made some of the defining movies of my youth; a guy who gave me my favorite quote about deadlines; a lady who made some of the defining movies of my youth; a woman who broke my heart by not even being aware of my existence; and a guy who proved that skilled grifting is not genetically inherited.

Linky linky.

 

This time we got him for sure! When your case is based on a convicted sleazebag of the first water, you’re not likely to succeed.

 

I’m sure this is totally not propaganda.

 

This is a shockingly positive article about the best person in Congress.

 

Popcorn. Much popcorn.

 

Next time, just throw batteries.

 

It’s Musk’s fault.

 

I can imagine a woodchipper could come in handy for some of these judges.

 

This one pissed me off. I spent some time a few weeks ago learning this song and working on making it sound good. Then I ran across this. I’m burning my guitar.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

134 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    At least it didn’t make you feel like a criminal.

  2. Dr. Fronkensteen

    I’m awake early on a Saturday. Why am I awake early on a Saturday?

    • Sean

      Practice run for tomorrow

  3. Count Potato

    “The Philadelphia Police Department said three boys – ages 11, 13 and 14 – and three girls – ages 12, 13, and 14 – are charged with a number of crimes, including aggravated assault, robbery, and reckless endangerment (REAP).”

    Is that an actual acronym?

    • Count Potato

      “The department on Thursday shared a surveillance photo of the only remaining unidentified suspect in the brutal assault. He is seen wearing gray sweatpants and dark-colored pants.”

      So dark grey sweatpants, or pants on his head? Any other sort of descriptor there?

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      What’s the P?

      • Count Potato

        Pants?

    • mock-star

      yes, its the actual acronym, at least in PA. Reckless Endangerment of Another Person.

      • Count Potato

        OK, thanks, but be on the look out for someone of unknown race wearing two pairs of pants.

      • mock-star

        Im laughing way too hard at this.

  4. Grosspatzer

    Mornin’, reprobates. You too, OMWC.

    Timothy Leary with a curve

    Throwing a no-no while tripping balls is pretty amazing. Gives a new meaning to the phrase “good stuff”.

  5. DEG

    The update suggests that the shovels in question are entrenching tools that are also being used for hand-to-hand combat and that this type of combat is becoming an increasing offense tactic for the Russian forces, due to ammunition shortages.

    Why do I smell bullshit?

    The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office says it has approved charges against seven of the suspect. Anyone with information on the wanted suspect should call the Philadelphia Police Department immediately.

    Charges? The victim must know someone important.

    Old Guy Music is good.

    This week’s Powerline fun.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      There’s so much hand to hand combat when you’re shelling the enemy from a mile out.

    • Ted S.

      Because it’s about Russia.

      If they were saying that about Ukraine, everyone here would be falling all over themselves to say how this proves Ukraine is getting annihilated and they deserve it.

      • Not Adahn

        “everyone” “here”

      • Trigger Hippie

        Collectivism: Even libertarians can join in!

      • DEG

        Yeah. “everyone”. Yeah.

    • Grosspatzer

      Old Guy Music is good fucking great

    • R C Dean

      Entrenching tools are actually (Ackchually?) dual purpose. I’ve seen them with the digging edge and one side sharpened. Hell, I own one like that. It’s basically a makeshift tomahawk. I’d take one over a knife any day. So, I suspect reports they have been used as melee weapons are true, although I also suspect it’s not because the Russian army is running out of ammo.

  6. Grosspatzer

    Russians are forced to fight with shovels amid ammo shortage

    They have guns that fire shovels?

  7. Count Potato

    “The police said they were conducting a drug-related investigation on a neighbor, and they wanted videos of “suspicious activity” between 5 and 7 p.m. one night in October. Larkin cooperated, and sent clips of a car that drove by his Ring camera more than 12 times in that time frame.”

    Reason #140,765 drugs should be legal.

    • Count Potato

      “They asked for more footage, now from the entire day’s worth of records. And a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge. The notice informed him it was obligated to send footage from more than 20 cameras — whether or not Larkin was willing to share it himself.”

      WTF??

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Be careful where you have your cameras mounted and what they pick up. The security companies, Amazon in particular, will fold to a subpoena without challenge quicker than you can say invasion of privacy.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve solved that problem by not having any.

      • Count Potato

        I would never use them at all.

  8. rhywun

    Popcorn. Much popcorn.

    Tell us again how white and anti-LGBQWERTY+ they are, The Guardian.

  9. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    I honestly didn’t realize Hubble was that low in altitude.

    • Timeloose

      It is now. The orbit has degraded.

      • Brawndo

        Because of the depleted ozone layer right?

      • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

        Global Warming, IN SPACE!!!!

  10. Timeloose

    Morning old man and all.

    Some great links as usual.

    Who was the congressman in the NYT, Massie? It’s paywalled for me.

    • R C Dean

      Yup.

      • rhywun

        I love how they can’t resist inserting a plug for Klimate Krisis krap in the middle of the article.

        Postcards From a World on Fire,” 193 stories from individual countries show how climate change is reshaping reality everywhere

        193. Stories.

      • Count Potato

        Maybe one of them actually happened!

  11. The Late P Brooks

    The team found that 2.7% of Hubble’s images with a typical exposure time of 11 minutes were crossed by satellites. Additionally, the probability of finding satellite trails in Hubble images has increased with time from 3.7% in 2002 to 5.9% in 2021.

    Oh.

    • Gadfly

      I didn’t know that exposure time was that long for Hubble pictures. I would think though that the astronomers could map the satellites and calculate when they won’t be in the shot.

  12. Count Potato

    Old man yells at cloud:

    “Biden admin’s cloud security problem: ‘It could take down the internet like a stack of dominos’

    The Biden administration is embarking on the nation’s first comprehensive plan to regulate the security practices of cloud providers….

    So the White House is planning to use whatever powers it can pull on to make that happen — limited as they are.

    “In the United States, we don’t have a national regulator for cloud. We don’t have a Ministry of Communication. We don’t have anybody who would step up and say, ‘It’s our job to regulate cloud providers,’” said Knake, of the strategy and budget office. The cloud, he said, “needs to have a regulatory structure around it….

    The White House outlined a more aggressive regulatory regime in its new cyber strategy. It proposed holding software makers liable for insecure code and imposing stronger security mandates on critical infrastructure companies, like the cloud providers.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/10/white-house-cloud-overhaul-00086595

    • Sean

      🙄

    • R C Dean

      Of course, the regulatory agency will need access to the data on cloud servers to “verify” “security”.

    • EvilSheldon

      No regulatory structure my ass…

  13. rhywun

    a growing collision between the law and people’s own expectation of privacy for the devices they own — a loophole that concerns privacy advocates and Democratic lawmakers

    OFFS.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      I’m totally sure democratic lawmakers are very upset about this.

      • Brawndo

        Ed Markey is at least pretending to be upset about it.

    • Grummun

      Democratic lawmakers

      Ha ha my speckled pink ass. Only if they’re worried that someone might see the feeds from their own security cameras showing them banging interns or accepting bags of cash.

  14. Brawndo

    Create civil unrest in the US which makes all the bitter clingers buy up all available ammo so the Russians have to fight with hand tools. Oh yea, it’s all coming together.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said the lawsuit was part of the state’s effort to crack down on cities and counties that “that flagrantly violate state housing laws”, and said that a nimby, or “not in my backyard”, attitude towards housing development could not longer be tolerated.

    “My administration will take every measure necessary to hold communities accountable for their failure to build their fair share of housing,” Newsom said in a statement.

    There are people who look at Newsom, see exactly what a tyrannical megalomaniac he is, and say, “He should be our President.”

  16. Fourscore

    “Being around students alternately makes me feel young and old”

    Being around a couple of “kids” a few days back did wonders for two oldtimers. Those youngsters know old people therapy, for sure. Good people, good times.

  17. Brawndo

    Anyone got a good read on the Silicon Valley Bank that just crumbled? I’ve heard that this is the first of many dominos to fall and I’ve also heard that SVB was in a unique position because of the popping tech bubble.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Their losses were on long term Treasuries. They bet heavily against increasing interest rates.

      • Brawndo

        It amuses me that I recently took out a fixed rate loan instead of variable rate HELOC because my Spidey senses were tingling that interest rates were going to go up, but the people who allegedly get paid to pay attention to this stuff got it so wrong.

      • Gadfly

        I can’t see how anyone thought betting against higher interest rates was a good idea. With rates already low and the government printing money like crazy, that was a very risky bet.

  18. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Trying to understand the SVB collapse a little better. Seems Dimon encouraged withdrawals. That indicates something serious is going on.

    They were heavily invested in long term Treasuries which have been used as backing for stablecoins, which Powell hates. FTX was a stablecoin haven.

    Luongo connected the dots for me this morning. Stablecoins are a back door Eurodollar market, a way to increase the number of offshore dollars without Fed involvement. And the Fed is at war with the Eurodollar market.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    “Their goal is to urbanize quiet, private property-owning communities,”

    Dog whistle!

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Their losses were on long term Treasuries. They bet heavily against increasing interest rates.

    Good thinking. Especially when rates are already at zero.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      The interesting bit is Dimon’s role. If he encouraged withdrawals by the big depositors, that indicates they targeted that bank for a takedown.

  21. Walford

    I saw Watkins Family Hour last year. Get to see Nicklecreek this year at Merlefest.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Jelly.

  22. PieInTheSky

    Honestly while I understand the use of purely satisfying human curiosity, I see no practical application of studying distant galaxies.

    • Count Potato

      Astronomy leads to physics, physics leads to engineering, engineering leads to sex robots.

      Therefore, Neil deGrasse Tyson wants to fuck a robot.

      Q.E.D.

      • PieInTheSky

        Astronomy leads to physics – example?

      • Gadfly

        I think it’s more appropriate to say “led”, past tense. The search to understand why the planets move the way they do definitely contributed to the development of physics, but I doubt there’s been much contribution recently.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Fun with numbers

    Billionaires in the US pay a tiny proportion of the wealth they accrue in taxes compared to the cut ordinary Americans pay from their wages.

    Now, President Joe Biden wants that to change: His just-unveiled budget for fiscal year 2024 contains a tapestry of tax hikes with a laser-beam focus on billionaires, multi-millionaires, and large corporations, all aiming to reduce the federal deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade on the dime of the wealthiest Americans.

    The idea of making billionaires pay higher taxes has been gaining momentum — and causing controversy — for years now. Its most well-known champion is Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who proposed a wealth tax in 2019 on households with a net worth north of $50 million, citing an analysis that the richest 0.1 percent of Americans would likely pay just 3.2 percent of their wealth in taxes that year, while others would pay 7.2 percent.

    Despite the protests of some billionaires, this longstanding progressive agenda item is becoming increasingly mainstream. Wealth inequality in the US has risen sharply in the past few decades, and the share of Americans holding an unfavorable view of billionaires has grown in the past few years.

    How much is that in dollars?

    Rich people. We hates ’em.

    • rhywun

      A tapestry of taxes! The warm glowing glow is so satisfying.

    • PieInTheSky

      why is wealth compared to wages? that is not the same thing.

      , all aiming to reduce the federal deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade – lol as if they are not gonna throw it all in the money hole

    • whiz

      Maybe the rich pay a smaller fraction of their wealth in taxes because they actually save and have wealth.

  24. R.J.

    In Jackson, Mississippi. Fun fact, all the gas stations make you go inside and buy pay, then come back and collect the difference like it is 1970 and there are not pumps with card readers. Maybe it’s a state law?

    • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

      They just want the interest on holding the extra money.

      • pistoffnick

        Also, if you go inside, you are more likely to buy snacks and supplies for the next leg of your journey. I’ve read that the profit on the sale of gasoline is miniscule, but the profit on junk food is really good.

      • Fourscore

        That’s the beauty of getting some of your own money back as change. Get this kids in the store.

  25. Tundra

    Good morning, Old Man!

    Sweet Jesus, is that video amazing. 9 minutes of “how the fuck did he do that?!?”

    So thanks!

    Also, California douchebags angry about the shit they have inflicted on the rest of the country. Go get fucked, proggies! Enjoy the addicts and crime!

    Great article on Massie and yes, completely shocked that the scumbags printed it. Here’s a non-paywalled version:

    https://archive.fo/hQVeC

    Sunny and gorgeous in CO this morning. I think a hike is in order.

    What are y’all doing today?

    • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

      I am getting ready for my spring road trip, which starts tomorrow. 10+ days sans wife, visiting friends and family.

    • DEG

      What are y’all doing today?

      Grocery shopping. Chores around the house. I plan to get dinner at a nanobrewery. I think there is no dancing that interests me going on this weekend.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Contemplating going down and seeing some Irish bands at a little festival and then hockey game later on TV

  26. PieInTheSky

    The EU’s “chat control” legislation is the most alarming proposal I’ve ever read. Taken in context, it is essentially a design for the most powerful text and image-based mass surveillance system the free world has ever seen.

    https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/1634252397919739921

    free world? where?

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      “ The idea that we can deploy AI systems to read your private conversations and report crimes is frankly dystopian. Even if such systems existed, no reasonable democracy would vote for this. But this is what the EU is proposing to mandate and *build* in the next couple of years.”

      Somebody doesn’t understand what democracy means.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Since assuming office, however, Biden has professed a desire to change quite a lot for the ultra-rich in an effort to rein in wealth inequality and raise revenue for important government programs such as Social Security. Biden’s budget plan last year contained many similar ideas as this year’s, including a 20 percent tax on households with over $100 million. (That proposal, the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax Act, was introduced in the House but hasn’t been voted on.) In his State of the Union address in February, Biden boasted that he’d passed a 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. “But let’s finish the job. There’s more to do,” he said. “We have to reward work, not just wealth,” he announced, as he called for a new minimum tax on the ultra-rich.

    The specifics of that billionaire tax were revealed in this budget: a 25 percent tax on all wealth over $100 million, estimated to apply to just 0.01 percent of Americans.

    No problem.

    • C. Anacreon

      So you’ll be taxed on “wealth” now…that should be unconstitutional. But if they somehow get away with this, look for future taxing on the value of your home as your “wealth”, so your $800,000 home will cost you an annual 25% wealth tax…$200,000. So you’ll have to sell your house to Black Rock to pay your taxes, and then you can rent it from them. Soon, everyone is a renter, no more income inequality, you’ll own nothing and like it!

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        That would be one way to start a civil war.

      • rhywun

        That does seem to be one of the end goals.

        Praise equity.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    R.J. on March 11, 2023 at 8:39 am
    In Jackson, Mississippi. Fun fact, all the gas stations make you go inside and buy pay, then come back and collect the difference like it is 1970 and there are not pumps with card readers. Maybe it’s a state law?

    It gives the carjackers a head start.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    The interesting bit is Dimon’s role. If he encouraged withdrawals by the big depositors, that indicates they targeted that bank for a takedown.

    I have no idea what happened there. It sounds like the equivalent of a margin call, where they needed to raise cash, but the treasuries were under water based on the interest rate jump.

    Why Dimon would yell fire in a crowded heater start a run on the bank? I have no idea. Maybe he’s trying to distract attention from the Epstein thing.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      I wouldn’t be surprised if more evidence on Epstein/Dimon comes out now. It’s really apparent that there’s a financial war between heavily vested interests. We can only see the actions on the front, but the actual generals and their motivations are kept well protected.

      We’re just ants trying not to get stomped on while the giants duke it out.

  30. Count Potato

    “The Saami Council has demanded Square Enix remove the Far Northern Attire from Final Fantasy 14 due to the use of cultural property and an infringement of rights.

    The Far Northern Attire is an in-game costume consisting of headpiece, tunic, gloves, bottoms and boots, available to purchase in the game’s online store for £11.16.

    However, the Saami Council has claimed the outfit uses the cultural property of the Sámi – a group of indigenous people from parts of northern Scandinavia. ”

    https://www.eurogamer.net/the-saami-council-demands-square-enix-remove-far-northern-attire-from-final-fantasy-14

    Intellectual property is an oxymoron.

    • PieInTheSky

      ah cultural property bullshit. We has the same scandal in Romania when some french fashion brand had some clothes with traditional Romanian models from some museum pieces.

  31. Tres Cool

    Only around $200 later and a lot of car-ride and vet clinic anxiety, Im happy to announce that puppy Großherzin Hildegarde is a svelte 28 lbs @ 3.5 months, worm-free, and on the path to full vaccination. Vaccines that I believe actually work.

    • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

      Animal tested!

      Good to hear she is doing well.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    “Right now, in the game of their money versus your sweat, their money is winning,” said Erica Payne, a progressive strategist and founder of Patriotic Millionaires, an advocacy group calling for higher taxes on the ultra-rich. “Every single working person’s dollar is worth less than every single dollar that a Wall Street investor makes. Mathematically, the country can’t do anything other than become more unequal.”

    Biden’s budget proposes taxing capital gains at about the same rate as income for those who earn over $1 million, meaning the top capital gains tax rate would also be 39.6 percent. It also proposes levying an unrealized capital gains tax for the first time in US history. Much of the power and influence that the ultra-wealthy wield comes from the value of the assets they currently own. Elon Musk, one of the richest people on Earth, was able to buy Twitter for $44 billion not because he had that much cash in a savings account, but because he was worth north of $250 billion and owned so many valuable assets, such as his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX, that he could leverage to finance the deal.

    President Robin Hood.

    • rhywun

      Elon Musk, one of the richest people on Earth, was able to buy Twitter

      And there it is. The real reason for this shit.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        They are really pissed that people are allowed to expose their lies.

    • Count Potato

      “Patriotic Millionaires”

      Communist Assholes didn’t have the same ring to it.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Progressive advocates of tax reform are celebrating the ideas proposed in Biden’s budget. “I’m thrilled with what he’s proposed, relative to the heart of darkness in which we currently live,” said Payne.

    But she underscored that it’s only a start. She said that she believes, for instance, that a 39.6 percent top tax rate is deeply inadequate. “If someone is not talking about 70 percent, 80 percent tax rates on incomes of centi-millionaires, they are missing the point of the exercise.”

    Rich people must be punished. They must be dispossessed. They must be brought low, to grovel in the mud.

    • rhywun

      The point of the exercise is most certainly not to balance the budget, because this won’t do it and they know that.

  34. Count Potato

    “Blood-boiling moment woke Stanford law school students taunt conservative judge invited to speak there – before dean of ‘equity’ ambushes him with pious speech accusing him of ‘harm’

    Woke students clicked their fingers in support – after progressive colleges warned handclapping can cause offense – and cried ‘Yes’ in agreement.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11847117/Stanford-law-equity-dean-piously-accuses-conservative-judge-invited-speak-doing-harm.html

    Some of these assholes will become judges and prosecutors.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Maoism is all the rage.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      If Stanford had any stones whatsoever, they’d can that dean immediately and put the students on notice that further exploits of that nature will be met with expulsion.

      I, for one, don’t look forward to a future where the mob rules in court.

    • EvilSheldon

      Being accused of causing ‘harm’ by a cadre of people who are offended by hand clapping.

    • PieInTheSky

      those are some ugly shoes

      • Penguin

        Note: I don’t disagree, but why are you looking at her shoes?

    • Zwak tastes the soup, but never counts the beans.

      Why would anyone bother with a mask at this point? I just don’t get it.

      • PieInTheSky

        high fashion you rube

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        To avoid identification

  35. Evan from Evansville

    Do I doxx myself and post a paywall-bypassed article that appeared in today’s paper with my byline?

    • Count Potato

      I wouldn’t.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Copy/pasta?

  36. mock-star

    From The NYT Massie article:

    “But Mr. Massie is not just another loony G.O.P. backbencher. Outside the public eye, he has been quietly advancing what for a Republican politician is an unusual set of stances: evincing deep opposition to the national security state, resistance to the influence wielded by corporations and interest groups over our policymaking, and a sense that Americans need a better, more sustainable relationship to the land.”

    Have they not been paying attention for the last 15 or so years? This reads like so much “right-wingers in the mist”. I do like how his positions are “unusual” for his base, yet so many people in his base agree with his positions. Gee, I dont know, maybe they arent unusual and you just have no idea what youre talking about, yet never let your ignorance keep you from having very loud opinions?

    • robodruid

      Sounds like a lot of Eisenhower’s MIC warning.

      • DEG

        Dwight Eisenhower’s brother, Milton, was the president of three universities. Johns Hopkins, Penn State, and Kansas State. I don’t remember the order and the dates, but I remember that some of Milton’s terms as university presidents overlapped with Dwight’s time as US President.

        Dwight made sure Milton’s universities got handouts from the Feds.

  37. Count Potato

    “A teacher in @4Jschools allegedly gave students this assignment to write a detailed paper about a sexual fantasy”

    https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1634182756824432641

    “Eugene School District 4J is a public K–12 school district that serves about 16,000 students in Eugene, Oregon.”

    • Tundra

      I guess this is the fast track to get government schools all shut down

    • EvilSheldon

      My three items are a pair of handcuffs, a dressage whip, and Tickle-Me-Elmo.

  38. Count Potato

    https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1633952781890363394

    This shit is so tiring. I think non-binary is 99% bullshit. If people want to engage in collegiate navel gazing, that’s fine, but don’t expect people to call a feminine woman anything but “she/her”.

    The real problem is people are teaching pushing this stuff on kids.

    • rhywun

      *runs far away from the person*

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Their pronouns appear to be Narcissist/Annoying as Fuck

  39. Penguin

    This is not a love song.