Saturday evening links

by | Mar 30, 2024 | Daily Links | 151 comments

Happy Easter Eve, everybody. I hope this finds all of you well and ready for our mongrel holiday tomorrow, a hot mess of paganism and Christianity. Either way, it’s spring and a good reason to celebrate and reflect.

 

Links?

 

Hey! Here’s a reason!

 

“Who decided this is a religious holiday anyways?” That’s right. No religious themed Easter Eggs at the White House, but feel free to celebrate “Transgender Visibility Day” tomorrow.

 

Taco Bell was a step too far.

 

Le sigh…

 

They had a different name for it on the West coast in the ’70s.

 

What a mess.

 

Indiana’s reach extends far beyond Illinois.

 

But only if you’re driving under the speed limit in the left hand lane.

 

Okay folks, that’s it for me. Time to enjoy a lovely Saturday. I hope you do as well.

A little religiosity.

 

 

 

 

 

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…

151 Comments

  1. dbleagle

    I always enjoyed the cicadas in Arizona. Let the mating songs start!

    • Fourscore

      The cicadas will blot out the sun, rendering global warming moot and in fact will likely cause such a serious drop in temps all crops will be wiped out and mass starvation will ensue.

      We need the government to do something to preclude this event. Maybe a Department of Cicada Control with a Cabinet position to run this operation. Estimates are that 64.29% of the American, to include illegals, will be adversely affected.

      • Gender Traitor

        Make Kah-Mah-Lah the Cicada Czarina?

      • mindyourbusiness

        That should harsh the buzz.

  2. Sensei

    “Who decided this is a religious holiday anyways?” That’s right. No religious themed Easter Eggs at the White House, but feel free to celebrate “Transgender Visibility Day” tomorrow.

    That’s our Roman Catholic president!

    • rhywun

      You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong.

      Puke.

      • R.J.

        May the cicadas eat everyone there.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Him and JFK. So much for the Papists taking over with a hotline from St Peters to the Oval Office.

  3. Ted S.

    Why is the guy shot by a Taco Bell employee being charged in federal court?

    • Ownbestenemy

      My guess the “interference with commerce” because FYTW

      • Gender Traitor

        Because he targeted a purveyor of “Mexican” food, it was a hate crime?

      • Ted S.

        Technically, isn’t Taco Bell committing the hate crime against Mexicans by passing their menu off as Mexican food?

      • R.J.

        Who are you, so wise in the ways of man?

  4. The Late P Brooks

    Be afraid

    Elon Musk may like to imagine that he is the one and only Emperor of Mars, but the reality is that he is just the king of low-Earth orbit. Musk owns more than 50% of all satellites actively orbiting the planet, so there’s no discussion about this fact. This apparent savior of humanity now wields an unchecked power, one that he doesn’t hesitate to use for his benefit and to the detriment of others. But to really see what this actually means to all of us humans, to truly appreciate the reach of his invasion of our space for his own interest, you must look at this real-time Starlink satellite map.

    Created by Will DePue—who works in video generation at OpenAI—the user interface is striking. The main visual is an ominous map of moving red dots that show where Musk’s 5,601 satellites and counting are at any given time.

    ——-

    Musk and his cohort dismiss the risks saying that space is a very big place. Indeed, it is. And yes, the visualization created by DePue shows dots that are not up to scale with the size of the Earth. But it’s also true that there is a constantly increasing risk of a catastrophic event thanks to this ever-expanding network. Experts from the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report clearly stated in 2022 that this staggering expansion necessitates new regulations on the use of space to prevent conflicts and ensure the safety of space operations.

    Consider this question: Do we want this Starlink visualization to become a solid red Death Star for the sole private economical benefit of Musk and others? Especially when it comes at the risk of destroying our future as interplanetary species? If your answer is yes, I would have to refer you to Yoda’s famous words to Luke Skywalker: “TFSU.”

    Elon Musk is blotting out the sky. Doom porn never goes out of style.

    • Sensei

      It’s like you live in flyover country.

      These companies appear oblivious to how thoroughly they are ruining the night sky. And for what? Providing Wi-Fi access in remote locations doesn’t hold much water; we simply do not need 100,000 LEO satellites to connect five farms in Montana to the internet. There are other more reasonable options for that, like aerial laser connections and even high-altitude drones.

      You want internet, move!

      • Evan from Evansville

        “But they don’t like, actually *have* to live there, now do they? They probably moved to GET AWAY from all that mumbo-jumbo! If they wanted it, they’d move to GET IT! EASY! Why would they even wanna pay MORE to get what they left to ESCAPE?!

        *turns out to be a remarkable service*

        We don’t wanna INTERFERE with the beautiful nature! See! They’re PRESERVING it! We can never RUIN their way of life!!!”

      • Chafed

        Perhaps these geniuses can show us how smart they are by providing a competing service.

    • juris imprudent

      Experts from the World Economic Forum

      [whistle blows] Dead ball foul, egregious bullshit, 10 yd penalty, down remains the same.

    • rhywun

      unchecked power, one that he doesn’t hesitate to use for his benefit and to the detriment of others

      Such as?

      • DrOtto

        All those engineers he has tricked into working for better than NASA wages?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Keep rolling out those bad optics…this is Stupid Party level rheeeee!

    • UnCivilServant

      A: There was no Riot.

      B: The mild tresspassing was not the cause of death.

      C: Did you invite him to the funeral you held?

      • Tres Cool

        I had the part (A) discussion with Tres V 2.0 this morning. He mentioned soccer, and I compared an (any) EU soccer riot to our “insurrection”.

        /I know its been done here before

      • The Hyperbole

        A. Yes there was.

        B. Correct and neither was the actual rioting.

        C. Invited or not, holding a press conference after a funeral is déclassé. And the family of the fallen officer should be ashamed of themselves for allowing any politician to stand on the corpse of their loved one to make a political speech.

      • Tres Cool

        “Insurrection, an organized and usually violent act of revolt or rebellion against an established government or governing authority of a nation-state or other political entity by a group of its citizens or subjects; also, any act of engaging in such a revolt.”

        Nah.

        Now was it an “assertion” by certain people of their dissatisfaction of the government? Certainly. Not an insurrection.

      • The Hyperbole

        You are correct, there was no insurrection, there was a riot however. (which is all I claimed)

        And, yes the left have exaggerated the event, that doesn’t excuse gaslighting in the other direction.

      • Sensei

        I prefer the term undocumented visitation.

      • UnCivilServant

        How was there a riot without violence or destruction?

      • Fourscore

        A laugh riot!

      • Ted S.

        A quiet riot.

      • Evan from Evansville

        4×2 and Ted are on it.

      • The Hyperbole

        Seriously? you haven’t seen the footage of the “protesters” kicking in windows and doors, fighting with the security forces? Is it your contention that none of that happened? I get it that you people feel the need to fight “the Narrative” but good god man shit happened, you can excuse it but you can’t deny it or you are just as bad as the left wing fabulists.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have not seen any such footage.

        Where was it?

        What I’ve seen was all neat and orderly.

      • UnCivilServant

        And this is not me being dishonest or contrarian.

        I honestly have not seen any violence from the capital that day, save for the cops shooting that unarmed woman.

      • rhywun

        Hype’s not kidding – I’ve seen plenty of violent rioty looking footage.

        The question is how prevalent was it?

  5. The Late P Brooks

    According to a flyer for the “Celebrating National Guard Families” event, entries “must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes, or partisan political statements.”

    This is a staged political event. No politics allowed.

    • Ownbestenemy

      must not include any questionable content

      Men with fake tits are okay though

  6. The Late P Brooks

    An Akron man is accused of carrying out a string of armed robberies that ended when a Taco Bell employee shot him.

    “Please don’t rob me, mister,” didn’t work?

    • Fourscore

      Looks like the accused should have called a social worker in advance so the employee would understand that it wasn’t a robbery, merely a transfer of funds

  7. The Late P Brooks

    My guess the “interference with commerce” because FYTW

    Commerce Clause, FTW!

    • Tres Cool

      I had tenants named Filburn once. I doubt they knew the significance of their namesake.

  8. groat scotum

    So, 3BP: apparently actually good, and faithful to the first book.

    Do you think they’ll stick it out? And how do they depict SPOILERS

    two-dimensionalizing the solar system?

    I’m still wrapping my head around that concept.

  9. Ownbestenemy

    House is….surprisingly clean. Kitchen is a hot mess though. Since inlaws are moving to KY, the teens scored a bounty of food. They can live for another 6 months I guess

    • Gender Traitor

      So you didn’t walk into the middle of a party to which only their immediate high school student body was invited?

      • Ownbestenemy

        I guess they don’t have too many people over. Plus we have a noisy neighbor who keeps tabs and let’s us know 😉

      • Gender Traitor

        😁👍

      • Tres Cool

        Noisy? Tell them to keep that shit down- people work ya know.

        (clearly they’ve never met Rufus)

      • Ownbestenemy

        Nosey…I’m hungover and tired

      • Tres Cool

        Its late enough that you can start drinking that hangover into remission so it can be tomorrow’s hangover.

  10. Ownbestenemy

    They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…looking at that car and this, China is really the land of imitation.

    • juris imprudent

      1980s design. We’re worried – why?

  11. Yusef drives a Kia

    Happy Pagan fertility ritual day!

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I’m a Viking, own that shit!

    • Spudalicious

      Just a little brown sugar to dip them in.

    • Gender Traitor

      H&H!

    • Tres Cool

      Balsamic?

      You monster! Heavy cream.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Sour cream to dip in and then brownsuger to coat

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Why do you all hate fresh fruit?

      • Sensei

        I’m of the same opinion.

    • Fourscore

      Local honey, 2023 vintage

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I had some ’22 yesterday, God’s gift,
        Thanks again 4x

    • Aloysious

      Macerate in dark spiced rum. Add a splash of lime. Blend.

      Or make a strawberry and banana malted milkshake.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      So they were early berries so not at peak tenderness and sweetness. So I made a sauce out of sour cream, half & half, a bit of sugar. OMFG it was delicious.

  12. juris imprudent

    Kai Sauer, the Finnish ambassador to Germany, said the sauna had long been a “safe place” to have sensitive discussions on a level playing field – everyone is quite literally stripped bare.

    Ha, he’s never heard of someone having a bug up his ass?

    • Sensei

      Are they mixed bathing?

      Onsen in Japan are both single sex and mixed, but similar to nude beaches here most only go to single sex baths.

      Although I did ask my friend how similar to here with children in the ladies room how they deal with young boys at the bath. She said she is ok with it up to a certain age.

      • Gustave Lytton

        The cleaning lady working in the men’s restroom and no one batting an eye took a little getting used to.

    • Tres Cool

      Its too cold there for golf courses to make the really important deals.

  13. Derpetologist

    presented without comment

    ***
    At a star-studded fundraiser that brought in $26 million for his campaign Thursday evening, Biden was asked what was at stake in the 2024 election. After giving an answer criticizing Trump’s positions broadly, he concluded: “All the things he’s doing are so old … a little old and out of shape.”

    Biden also took a jab at the former president’s physical stamina while telling a story recounting a brief conversation they had about golf at the White House shortly after Trump’s election.

    “I told him this once before when he came into the Oval before he was sworn in. I said, ‘I’ll give you three strokes, but you carry your own bag,’” Biden said to laughs.

    The president came up with those jokes on his own, according to two aides and a senior adviser, who pointed out that Biden is often using similar quips in internal staff meetings.

    “He comes up with these off the cuff,” one of the aides said.
    ***

    link

    • juris imprudent

      Of course it’s off the cuff, he can’t memorize ’em!

      • Tres Cool

        Its the 3 strokes he’s had.

      • Ted S.

        The other nun couldn’t reach that far.

      • Tres Cool

        A classic.

      • DrOtto

        I would have also accepted “The third nun wouldn’t touch it.”

      • Evan from Evansville

        I thought he was offering a sexual favor, with caveats.

    • The Other Kevin

      I believe them. Those jokes are as lame as he is.

    • Evan from Evansville

      People actually *believe* this. It’s clearly religious. My generation is particularly fucked. I’d say I’m surrounded by it, but I hardly ever make an appearance –let alone engage– in society. I’m sure there are plenty of other disenfranchised non-believers out there.

      Like all my adventures, I’m quite sure I’ll find ’em sooner or later.

    • Spudalicious

      Second link from the bottom.

      • Sensei

        I missed that! I did click the others.

        I especially like the vaporware EV. I love auto coverage of prototypes with specs that are written as if fact.

      • Ted S.

        *All* of the links were from a bottom.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Rifles are small arms.

      Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they have pretty much the Haitian police and military have. The gangs have not just ex- but current police and all on their membership rolls.

  14. kinnath

    Man – son of man – buy the flame of ever-life
    (yours to breathe and breath the pain of living): living BE!
    Here am I! Roll the stone away
    from the dark into ever-day.

    • Fourscore

      Inclusion by sub dividing more. We Euro-Americans likewise need more categories, in the name of inclusion.

      /Searches for the Latvian-American box

      • Sensei

        Since I’m of Irish ancestry I’m not sure if I should check “white”.

      • rhywun

        Check a box that’s moving upwards on the pyramid of privilege.

        That means nothing white or Euro. Not even Irish.

      • Ted S.

        I’m racefluid.

      • juris imprudent

        Only if you’re from Dublin.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        U2 are from da nort’ soide (a relatively genteel part?).

    • rhywun

      OFFS!

      Finally, some help for the vulnerable Koreans and Chinese.

      • dbleagle

        Somebody gave LA’s rooftop Koreans a mini-gun?

  15. Evan from Evansville

    Indiana’s reach is far. Through Illinois and currently in Texas. Cubs are up 2-0 in the 2nd. I’m responsible for that.

    And nothing else. (So far.)

    • DrOtto

      Ford didn’t fix that glitch until well into the 2000’s, but it wasn’t the transmission, but rather the shift linkage. There are 2 bolts that back out over time. Problem could have easily been solved with a little dab of thread locker, but I have heard that would have been admitting it was a problem, so they refused to do it. The 2004 F-150 Heritage still has the same steering column/problem. I think that’s the last year/model with the issue.

      • DrOtto

        Dark days indeed.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Ford divides each model’s production run into two batches, Job 1 and Job 2. Seriously.

      • Sensei

        Yes the first run down the line. The campaign was supposed to have that meaning internally too.

      • Tres Cool

        I had a late 1993 F150 I bought for $300 because it didnt go in reverse.
        Actually it did, but the shift linkage was out of whack, and reverse was only a c*nt hair south of park.
        I didnt share that with the guy I got it from.

      • DrOtto

        I had a ’69 Lesabre that developed an issue starting. You had to turn the key ever so slowly to hit the one spot that would engage the starter. I got good at it, but no one else could do it. So instead of changing out the ignition switch, I left it as-is as an anti-theft deterrent.

      • Tres Cool

        My 77 Olds Cutlass had a bad spot in the starter. Same thing- turn the key, and nothing. Unless you slid underneath and beat on it with a 32 oz framing hammer.
        I just kept a hammer under the seat.

      • Tres Cool

        I’ve linked it before but it’s relevant.

  16. The Other Kevin

    Did you all catch Biden’s speech?
    “When I was a kid, my pop used to take me to the drag shows in Harlem after the civil rights marches. Joey, he used to say, there’s nothing more sacred than a man in a dress. And I never forgot that.”

    • DrOtto

      They probably took the train over the Francis Scott Key Bridge to get there as well.

    • Ownbestenemy

      The die hards will believe it
      The on the fence will roll their eyes
      The Biden haters will mock him

      Nothing changes

  17. Tres Cool

    Yesterday I learned (YIL?) while getting gas and I was behind this sporty looking thing, KIA made a car called the “Stinger”.
    Evidently the sportier version of that thing has a twin-turbo V6 that makes 365 hp. Now, Im more of a truck guy, but that could be fun.

    • Sensei

      It was their version of a pony car.

  18. Mojeaux

    Fuck Western Digital. Fuck Western Digital with a spiky duck cock.

    That is all.

      • Mojeaux

        Remote bricking of otherwise perfectly good hardware.

        They made an “upgrade” that pretty much renders my cloud drive useless because the mobile apps don’t support it and now you can’t even access it through a web portal. I can see it on my file tree and I can use it in-house, but I can’t change anything on it that I used to have to go through the app or web portal to do. I didn’t get it just to run it in house.

      • Nephilium

        Does it have the option to set up an SFTP server on it? It would require an extra step or two to access remotely, but it could still be done if so.

      • Mojeaux

        A quick google informs me single-bay MyClouds do not support SFTP. Or rather, they MIGHT, but this info is 6 years old and my hardware is thoroughly deprecated.

        I could try regular FTP I suppose. All I really want it for right now is to stream the movies I’ve ripped.

      • Nephilium

        If you go that route, I would highly recommend a secure password and no remote write access (unless you want to host files of a questionable nature). You could also probably get by with a Plex instance pointing at that drive as a data store to stream items.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      My ten year old 1tb backup says hi!

  19. rhywun

    Le sigh…

    France can keep its nasty, moldy, fungusi cheeses to itself.

    • Ted S.

      What do you have against Bleu cheese?

      • rhywun

        It tastes nasty and moldy?

        I tolerate it with wings but only out of cultural appropriation.

      • R.J.

        Brie is delightful with fig paste.

      • Tres Cool

        And youre from Buffalo.

      • rhywun

        Rochester, actually. Thus the cultural appropriation.

      • Gustave Lytton

        You’re Jack Benny’s valet?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        “Ronald Reagan, the actor?! And I suppose Jack Benny is Secretary of the Treasury!”

    • Tres Cool

      Ive seen that video before, and its as real as can be and still chilling.

      My pill is now so black it votes democratic.

      • dbleagle

        That article was something. It was an interesting read and highlighted several important ideas. I am sure our government spies (waves hello to them) must be taking copious notes.

    • Brochettaward

      It’s a more detailed breakdown of what the people here already know. Good read, but shouldn’t shock anyone who has been paying attention.

      Disinformation became the rallying cry of old government and media after 2016. It set the stage for a crackdown and means to reign in the social media giants.

  20. R C Dean

    “Taco Bell was a step too far.”

    Love the lead photo of Justice.

  21. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    It seems to me that if you can see a trans person, they are doing it wrong. A narcissist on the other hand…

  22. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Looks like SpaceX will not gets its third launch of the day off the ground (weather in CA)

  23. Gustave Lytton

    The Easter closures continue. Liquor store is closing tomorrow. This is so bizarre. Nothing closed for specifically for Easter around here and stores didn’t reduce their hours or even post “Easter hours”.

  24. Gustave Lytton

    Puppy is going into her first heat. Oh boy…

  25. Derpetologist

    My connection dropped during the Zoom call when it was just me and CPRM. Sorry. When I restored my connection, he was gone. I didn’t mean to ditch him right when he was talking about X-Men 97.

    Oh well, a minor misfortune.

    • Ted S.

      That wish especially goes out to OMWC, doesn’t it?

    • Gender Traitor

      Happy Easter, Sean and Ted’S!