WEBSITE CHANGES: Old people don’t like change, and I’m an old person. Today I feel like Laocoön. Here is the official guide to the newfangled WordPress Block Editor which is now mandatory. The Featured Image (the one that appears on the Glibs top page aka feed) has been freed from the 16:9 aspect ratio and the procrustean auto-cropping; Featured Images can now be any aspect ratio — tall, wide, or square. The Featured Image no longer appears at the top of posts by default, as was the case previously. You no longer have to check the Hide Featured Image on Post control (Not Adahn). If you want to use the same image as both a Featured Image and as an interior illo you may do so. Also, the triggering Sidebar is off by default. There is no more Sidebar control. Special Characters, such as the “em dash” that should have been used in the previous sentence, are now only available through something called a plug-in that I can’t be arsed to eff with today. Yes, this column did appear prematurely for a minute or so. But enough reee-ing and fapping; let’s do some links.
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES: Dude tries to record video inside public, non-courtroom, areas of courthouse and gets hassled, accused of being “aggressive.” Money quote: “[your] feelings don’t trump the law.” But there is a happy ending. (h/t: KK)
WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS CIA TOLD IRS TO NOT INVESTIGATE HUNTER BIDEN: According to IRS supervisory special agent and whistleblower Gary Shapley, Assistant United States Attorney Lesley Wolf told the prosecution team on the Hunter Biden investigation they could not pursue Kevin Morris, a benefactor of Hunter Biden, as a witness after she had a classified briefing with the CIA.
‘SUSTAINABLE’ JET FUEL IS MAGICAL THINKING: Womp, womp.
OOPSIE: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence admits Sonos should have warned customers about missing features in new app.
GEE-WHIZ LINK FOR THE WEEK: Pulsed. Plasma. Rocket. Hope this pans out.
THE BIG AEROSPACE COMPANY THAT COULDN’T: Boeing keeps delaying the first crewed launch of their Starliner capsule, which is now “targeted” for June 1, but this date appears aspirational at best. [This] will be the third flight for Starliner, following uncrewed test missions to the ISS in December 2019 and May 2022. Starliner failed to meet up with the station as planned on that first flight but succeeded on the second. Meanwhile, rival SpaceX is conducting flight tests of their second generation crew vehicle, and may launch a fully-integrated, but uncrewed, Starship on June 1. Nyah, nyah.
Gotta be a mistake but first!
Okay, Mr. Clever Boy.
First….. first, you clever boy — and remember?
And their recommendations are…. tax private flying out of existence. Only the King’s Men shall soar above thee, peasants!
Didn’t download the whole report, just skimmed it — but the whole “use nukes to get the energy to form simple hydrocarbons” the Navy was working on still seems interesting in the long term. Once you generate kerosene, the rest of the infrastructure is the same. And the energy input being economical is the main thing.
Or you could just, you know, pump it out of the ground.
I’m solely presenting that under the assumption that carbon neutrality is a worthwhile goal (leaving easily accessed fossil fuels in case civilization collapses is actually not a terrible idea, imho). Otherwise, of course just pump it.
Well, it isn’t a Nuclear lightbulb — but yeah, if it works more power to them. As long as there’s enough specific impulse to be useful. Heaven knows we aren’t going to explore even the Solar System with just chemical thrusters.
Maybe it’ll work, but you know they’ll still be tying their bitches up with rope in space.
Hey, we can’t all supernova a nearby star to generate a balanced black hole and power our civilization with it you know!
Seems people may be reading the links?!
It could happen!
Hot damn! A monkey just flew out of my butt!
Well, it is Thursday after all.
Or viewing. KK’s link is like 20 min long.
Yeah, I’ll save that for just before bedtime. I’m familiar with Audit the Audit (and Lackluster for that matter).
Phasing!
Phasing!
2pi?
Does this work?
2 π
Better reading the links than what Tonio apparently thinks we’re doing to them though.
Yeah — if I were FedGov procurement I’d be telling Boeing at this point “Y’all can keep working as much as you want, but on your own dime. We’re not paying for any of it.”
Competition is always good — but they’re not competing right now.
Why do you hate boondoggles, SDF-7?
That pesky instinct that the government shouldn’t spend so damned much (especially when it is deficit spending)?
The engineer in me favoring crap that actually works as opposed to over-promised and under-delivered crap?
I don’t know…. maybe I’m just curmudgeonly. Let me go find an onion for my belt (it was the style at the time!)
Because he hates America and Our Democracy.
Boris! Zey are onto us! Grab moose und skwirrel and ve must run!
But enough reee-ing and fapping…
I’M NOT DONE YET
GO ‘WAY…. GLIBBIN’!
Please deposit another twenty credits to continue.
Winston’s Mom is gonna want a word with TPTB.
Shit, that bitch still owes me a c-note for antibiotics.
There are other people in this house who need to use the bathroom too, you know.
That’s one whole hell of a lot funnier with your avatar because I can completely see Moe saying that.
The only question is whether it is Lenny or Barney monopolizing the can.
“WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS CIA TOLD IRS TO NOT INVESTIGATE HUNTER BIDEN”
I’ve been rewatching Patriot on Amazon. The parallels with the Bidens are pretty funny, though likely unintentional. The dad is in the CIA. He uses one son for operations (Hunter). His other son is in Congress (probably where Beau was supposed to end up). The CIA son is messed up from all the stuff he’s had to do including assassinations, and he probably wants to be caught just to end the charade. He sings folk songs about his operations in cafes in on the street (like Hunter leaving his laptop behind as if he wanted to be caught). They are all a bunch of screwups, like the Bidens.
The humor is pretty dry, so it’s probably not for everyone, but I recommend it. Anyway, this was a long winded way of saying I wouldn’t be surprised if Hunter is a CIA agent.
There is a theory out that that he is, and Burisma and the war are efforts to kill the Russian energy sector.
That tricknology got Russia to attack and claim they’re trying to “de-nazify” Ukraine?
I didn’t say it was a GOOD theory.
I loved that show so much and was sad that they canceled it.
I adored that show. A big F. U. to the new Amazon head that killed it off because it wasn’t his baby.
That picture of Laocoön and His Sons is fantastic. Beautiful. I also really like that the view from the back was included. Refinement, culture, and ass for the win.
But no Mexicans. 🤷♂️
Laocoön y sus hijos. Pero donde esta la marijuana?
It did unexpectedly crop the feed image, though. I have a trouble ticket in to webdom about that.
Here is the uncropped image. The expression on his face…
Is that one of the Elgin Marbles? If it is, I have seen it in person. But I was so overwhelmed by the whole thing that so much was lost on 18yo me. Seriously, the Elgin’s take up the whole basement of the BM, which isn’t a small building.
I’m shocked Mosby (D) won’t serve time in prison.
I’m sure peasants would get the same treatment.
“She was traveling not driving.”
Huh… I guess victimless* real estate fraud isn’t that bad after all… who knew?
*whoever was on the other end of the fraudulent real mortgage transaction counts as a victim.
They got paid.
The issue from cursory read is fegov didn’t get the withdrawal penalty because of the lie over the reason for it.
Oh, a Dem defrauding the govt – okay, what’s the problem? Isn’t that normal?
Seems reasonable to me.
There are actual guidelines so somebody with access to legal services might be able to look it up.
Oh, so the fedgov not getting their beak wet was the “victimization”?
Objection withdrawn.
And FedGov took the condo.
However, considering her likely ideological orientation, I am less sympathetic than I might otherwise be.
Concur. Little sympathy.
In the US, Joe Biden’s administration has set a goal for 3bn gallons of sustainable aviation fuel, which is made from non-petroleum sources such as food waste, woody biomass and other feedstocks, to be produced by 2030, which it said will cut aviation’s planet-heating emissions by 20%.
Why do I smell bullshit on par with cold-fusion claims?
They can set all the goals they want – and are doing so. Too bad for them that 2030 is rapidly approaching with nothing to show for it. They thought it was so far in the future no one would notice.
That’s because they haven’t tried making it from sand.
10 yrs is by design. Close enough to demand a call to action, far enough out to have low info voters no see the bullshit
Freedom of movement is bad. Kill efficient motorized cars by replacing them with a fuck-all system that doesnt work.
Kill air travel cuz CLIMATE DISASTER. Ooops, rich and powerful want to keep flying but cant do it in secret unless….order people not to look up because doing so will expose you to deadly radiation. Morons and cowards refuse to look up.
No matter how absurd some scenario is I can see it being pulled off after witnessing the covid circus.
They’re not exactly subtle about how little they like the proles in flyover country. How dare we not be racked and stacked in cities on the coasts. Freedom of movement is a huge buzz kill to our betters.
“Are there victims and who are they?” she asked.
She’d better not ask that question in Engoron’s courtroom. She’d end up getting whisked away for an all expenses paid vacation on Riker’s Island.
Too locals news: Bill prohibiting government school mask mandates heads to governor. I expect Sununu will veto.
The New Hampshire State Senate just passed (and I mean Just!) HB1093 AN ACT prohibiting mandatory mask policies in schools. “This bill prohibits school boards and other public education agencies from adopting, enforcing, or implementing a policy that requires students or members of the public to wear a facial covering.”
Pretty sound. As you said, I fully expect the government to gnash against it. It was shown as a point of power and control.
Too Local News: NH House kills bill to increase penalties for refusing a breathalyzer
The New Hampshire House on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected an effort to increase penalties for suspected impaired drivers who refuse a breathalyzer test.
House Democrats and liberty Republicans shot down the bill after it gained only minimal support on the floor.
Public safety officials had requested Senate Bill 418 to close what they say is a loophole in the law.
While a DWI conviction carries a criminal record and financial costs, current law says refusing a test means a driver’s license suspension of 180 days.
“Most people are walking away with a 90-day loss of license,” Eddie Edwards, assistant commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Safety, said.
Edwards said the law incentivizes refusal of the test. He and others contend that increasing the automatic loss of license to a full year through the bill would have removed that incentive and cut down on impaired driving.
Chuck Collins, co-author of the report, said: “To bring these fuels to the scale needed would require massive subsidies, the trade-offs would be unacceptable and would take resources aware from more urgent decarbonization priorities.
Full speed ahead!
“There’s an underappreciation of how big the energy problem is for aviation. We are still many years away from zero pollution flights,” he said.
Among Ivy League eggheads and eco-advocacy groups, maybe.
zero pollution flights? WTF is that?
Yes, we are many many many years away from magic.
Didn’t you watch the documentaries from 15 years ago about that British kid that flew on a broom?
Soon to be blocked…
https://boingboing.net/2024/05/23/what-the-heck-is-udm14-a-new-search-engine-strips-ai-junk-from-google-results.html
The other day I did a site-specific search on Google (for this site, in fact) and it served me a pile of unrelated shit having nothing to do with the site.
I remember when it actually worked.
We were so young…
I’m so old I remember when Usenet was the cool app.
Narrator-in-Chief
TW: Axios- I fucking detest Axios
The Biden administration released a memo to its allies outlining its actions to combat rising costs — and blaming Republicans for blocking its efforts.
Why it matters: It’s an attempt to tell Americans that the White House is focused on bringing prices down at a time when voters are unhappy with the economy, and hold the president responsible for inflation.
“President Biden’s top economic priorities are fighting inflation and lowering costs for the American people,” writes White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates. “Standing up to corporate price gouging is at the core of that fight.”
Hurry up and take a seat. The minstrel show is about to begin.
Between the lines: Biden generally doesn’t get much credit for economic strength. Former President Trump polls better on his handling of the economy.
The administration has struggled with its messaging around inflation — they know it’s making Americans feel bad, and that there’s not much they can do about it before the election, as Axios’ Hans Nichols wrote recently.
They argue inflation would get worse under Trump — “top economists warn that MAGAnomics would set off an ‘Inflation bomb,'” Bates writes.
Zoom in: In the memo, the White House lays out the steps the administration is taking to counter “price gouging” by companies. The gouging keeps “prices elevated despite inflation falling,” it says.
If prices are rising, inflation is not falling.
Inflation is always positive. If it’s negative then it’s deflation. But they are trying to bullshit us with “inflation is falling” to make it seem like prices are lower rather than just not increasing as fast.
Right up there with how they cut government spending (by increasing it just a little less than they had planned).
Krugman doesn’t count, guys.
You want to actually help inflation? Reverse your policies on energy and remove the threat of California policies over the transportation sector. That’d be a good start at least.
Silly. We don’t look at the absolute rate. We look at the rate of change.
If absolute inflation is 10% in both Q1 and Q2 we had “no inflation” over the quarter.
Reads like the thing I just saw on how tariffs under a new Trump presidency would cripple our economy…yet nothing about Biden continuing Trump’s previous tariffs. Just lie lie lie and pretend its journalism.
To be fair, wasn’t the observation that the new and higher tariffs that Trump is advocating will cripple the economy? Tariffs are – in most cases – a tax on American consumers, not those “greedy” corporations, so if raised high enough will cripple an economy, specially when other nations retaliate by raising import duties and cutting off the noses of their consumers! I guess economic professors are too busy teaching nonsense to teach comparative advantage.
Absolutely correct…was just annoyed that a policy think tank couldn’t look past their bias to call out both
“We’re going to try real communism this time.”
This is the same Sonos CEO that totally pissed off all of their customers a few years back: https://www.wired.com/story/sonos-outrage-legacy-speakers/
He’s really gotta get some better PR advice.
He is still “sorry, not sorry”.
Also Google won their patent battle against them so they or another competitor may give the deserved fucking.
(I still love my Sonos stuff)
Was your use cases impacted by the “upgrade”.
Legitimate patent infringement, or patent troll stuff?
Didn’t follow it closely. It dealt with concurrent volume control of multiple devices.
Nah, I have no use for sleep timers or anything like that. Basic-ass ‘play this music everywhere’ / ‘play the sound from the hockey game in the kitchen while I cook’ works just fine.
Legitimate patent infringement, or patent troll stuff?
Probably legit, for some definition thereof.
Haves and have nots
“The economy is bifurcated into the haves and have-nots, as middle class Americans are struggling with rising prices and lagging wage growth,” said Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital in a statement.
I’d be fascinated to hear his definition of middle class.
Also- he apparently hasn’t heard; wages are growing much faster than prices. That’s why the economy is booming. The President said so.
This has never happened in the history of the world.
Just finished work. 11-hour days always mysteriously happen right before holiday weekends.
It’s why I dipped out as soon as my work was done early afternoon
Gonna go watch Naked Karate Girls. I was leary to even search that band name.
Why is it not obvious to everyone that this administration is deliberately, brazenly, actively and with malice trying to destroy the economy?
I was asked recently “But why would they do that?”
Answer: Because prosperity gives individuals options. If you want power over every aspect of people’s lives you destroy prosperity. Every tyrant does it, always have, and always will. ”
Thoughtful silence followed. I think it almost sunk in but I fear such a thing is so horrible to face that most just cant do it.
In fairness, some tyrants come to power when everyone is suffering after the loss of prosperity.
Tonio and/or Swiss. That draft I have is OK to schedule. My only option is to hit “Publish”. There is no “Submit” button. I ain’t gonna hit Publish.
They gave him a handy?
Gourmeltz Matt bringing the heat – https://x.com/MattForVA/status/1793604126376624129?t=fHSSh8KPISfF07sFHu0VMg&s=19
Re: illegals crashing into the gate at Quantico.
Wife was just saying earlier “There is gonna be a big attack”
Her reasoning is that the recent break-ins at military bases etc are someone putting out feelers.
I am trying to figure out what the left’s strategy is….create pretense for martial law?
Yes but the left doesn’t actually control it’s footsoldier as much as they direct the response. So entirely possible this is people outside the bounds of their preferences. But it doesn’t matter while the leftist media runs cover.
There can never be enough reee-ing and fapping.
I combine the two.
Wife came in the room the other day when I was at the computer.
“What are you looking at?” – She was across the room and couldn’t quite make it out.
Me: “Porn”
Her: “What? I thought you hate porn.” *moves closer* “What is that thing? Some kind of dildo?”
Me: “The dildo is in front of the screen. These…*taps screen*….are custom pistol grips.”
She screeches her face up and rolls her eyes in the ‘Of course they are’ fashion.
Me: “Hey, everybody has their thing. I dont kink-shame you, do I?”
No, there is never enough fapping.
Ruh roh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRU6J9ueXU&t=9s