Monday Afternoon Links – Post Holiday Edition

by | Jul 8, 2024 | Daily Links | 113 comments

Best part of Euro kick ball…any match is most likely to be replaying an old war!

I am presuming most of you had a very long weekend. I did not, but I am still sacking up to bring links! *strikes heroic pose*

But seriously, let us ease back into the routine with some fairly normal links:

  • *Quietly crosses Ryanair off possible flights list* Actually, the large number of “Drunken Brits on flight from Spain…” stories had caused this years ago.
  • Good news from Africa! No, not really...same old, same old.
  • Hmmm. Wonder if this will go through?
  • The Siege of Zurich.

Music… lets try this one.

Comment section is open and yours.

About The Author

Swiss Servator

Swiss Servator

Currently serving at the pleasure of a Swiss multinational. Previously a Soldier, rugby player, lawyer, bouncer, bartender, substitute teacher, risk manager, and cubicle mushroom. Will work for raclette.

113 Comments

  1. Common Tater

    “However, it has not been confirmed whether the US singer and her entourage are staying at the Mandarin Oriental Savoy at all.”

    Mandarin Oriental sounds redundant.

    • Suthenboy

      I really dont know what drives people to seek fame and fortune. I am onboard with the fortune bit but the fame? Why would you want swarms of howler monkeys following you around everywhere you go?

      • The Other Kevin

        Some people crave validation from the outside. They need their ego stroked. Thankfully you don’t understand that.

      • Ted S.

        What about swarms of groupies willing to put out?

      • Evan from Evansville

        I’d imagine much of the attention is detested outside ‘business.’ (It and ‘private’ overlap more, each gen.) Rich folk live in gated communities for a goddamn understandable reason. If my job were to be public, I’d do everything to ensure Private Ev was as free from outside exposure as possible.

        I at least understand the ol’ Private Golf Clubs. I’d want somethin’ a little more ‘me,’ but I’ll just shout at my pony in the clouds.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        I used to live next to an old fashioned country club.

        They’d have golf, clay shoots, etc.

        Kind of different.

      • Mojeaux

        Some people crave validation from the outside. They need their ego stroked. Thankfully you don’t understand that.

        I do, though. It’s one thing to have your mama tell you “u rite gud,” but it’s another to have a solid audience that has no vested interest in you to tell you they love your work.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Agree with Mo on that: The feeling you get when you get a table to laugh at your jokes; hit a homer (esp in an important moment); pretty much any accomplishment, they *mean* something. Some ‘require’ more active audiences. Ya also can’t “Cook a great meal!” if there’s no one to enjoy it fresh. (Social primates gonna/gotta be social.)

        Were I fuck-off famous/wealthy, I’d pay to have my Private Left meticulously kept so. I do ‘get’ celebs who get secreted in behind the lines at hotels, sports events, etc.

    • Gustave Lytton

      So you’re not a fan*?

      (*longtime MO advertising campaign)

  2. Common Tater

    “Good news from Africa!”

    White people gave up on climate change?

    • Rat on a train

      Maybe if the conferences were held in Amarillo, Barstow, or such.

  3. Shpip

    A “mass brawl” between passengers onboard a Ryanair “flight from hell” caused the pilot to make an emergency landing after taking off in a seemingly never-ending chaotic scene ignited by a man asking to switch his seat.

    The London Stansted Airport-bound flight departed from Agadir, Morocco, on Wednesday when the chaos erupted at 30,000 feet in the air, the Sun reported.

    At first I was confused as to why Ryanair was flying to north Africa. Then I figured they must be live music fans.

    Some folks will bear great expense to hear Moroccan roll.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      That was just saud..i

    • The Other Kevin

      You should be banned for tangiers for that remark.

    • Bobarian LMD

      As the Europeans say…. “beaux!”

  4. Shpip

    Best part of Euro kick ball…any match is most likely to be replaying an old war!

    I’m hoping for a Dutch-French final in the big soccer tournament. As a decades-long Florida Gator partisan, it’d be neat to hear other fanbases do the “Oranje… Bleu” chant.

  5. Common Tater

    It looks like the Democrats are stuck with Joe unless he leaves voluntarily. From my reading of the 25th he can be removed from office, but there is nothing about preventing him from running.

    • The Other Kevin

      This is what I don’t understand. The political parties can nominate whoever they want, however they want? That’s not governed by US law. So if, at the convention, they all vote to kick out Biden and nominate someone else, there’s nothing illegal about it, right?

      • kinnath

        There are fifty sets of state laws. Generally, committed delegates are required to vote for whomever they are committed on the first vote at least. After that, they can vote their conscience. Biden has enough committed delegates to win on the first vote.

        Biden would have to release his delegates.

      • Suthenboy

        Their problem is that they do not have a ‘least worst’ candidate. All of them are the worst in their own special way. Also, every one of them has been lying their asses off about Biden for years in ways they cannot wash off with gasoline. Them and their media lackeys as well.

      • Common Tater

        As far as I know, only he can release those delegates to allow them to vote for someone else.

      • Gustave Lytton

        There’s also the ballot rules so Joe (or rather electors pledged to vote for him in the electoral college) would still be on the ballot in some states even if he was replaced at the convention.

      • Not Adahn

        Except… no matter whose name is on the ballot, you’re voting for a slate of electors, who will undoubtedly vote the way their party tells them to.

    • kinnath

      He has the delegates locked in.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Super delegate says what.

      • kinnath

        Except, they rigged the primaries to make sure has enough regular committed delegates to get nominated on the first round.

      • kinnath

        https://apnews.com/article/biden-democrats-nomination-president-delegate-34a06d45d909c077fbeed17014f92986

        The Associated Press declared Biden the presumptive nominee at 7:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, after he won the Georgia primary and at least 100 of its 108 delegates, enough to put him above the 1,968 needed to lock up the nomination. When polls close in Mississippi at 8 p.m. EDT, he’ll immediately pick up another 35 delegates, as he’s the only candidate on the ballot. Earlier in the day, Biden won six delegates from the Northern Mariana Islands.

      • Drake

        They ran off RFK for having the nerve to challenge their presumptive nominee.

      • kinnath

        As off today:

        Presidential primary results; From ⁦The Associated Press⁩

        Joe Biden 3,896 delegates

      • The Other Kevin

        Oh yeah, he was the only one on the ballot in some states. And they bragged about him winning in a landslide.

      • Rat on a train

        According to Wikipedia (yeah, but this isn’t controversial) Biden has 3,905 of 3,949 delegates.

    • The Other Kevin

      I skipped hockey practice because traffic was insane from that NASCAR race. Perhaps it saved my life.

    • Tundra

      Johnson went on to suggest that the shootings “did not happen in a vacuum,” but were due to “generations of disinvestment and deep disenfranchisement in the communities where so much of the violence is taking place.” After becoming mayor, Johnson also canceled a Chicago gunshot detection system in the city made to help police fight crime.

      Oh.

      • The Other Kevin

        That sounds terrible, I wonder which political party has been in charge for those generations of disinvestment and deep disenfranchisement?

      • Suthenboy

        “…but were due to a culture of criminality.” <–Fixed.
        I grew up around people that made excuses for thuggery and barbarism. I dont truck with that shit.

      • Drake

        In a vacuum, those bullets would keep going at the muzzle velocity until they hit the ground or an obstacle.

      • Suthenboy

        ” I wonder which political party has been in charge for those generations of disinvestment and deep disenfranchisement?”

        The party they elected and keep re-electing.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I wonder which political party has been in charge for those generations of disinvestment and deep disenfranchisement?

        The same one that will still be in charge for the next 40 years?

      • Homple

        It’s not the politicians. It’s the population, a third of which is very short on self control. They can be sort of controlled, by strict and impartial enforcement of laws but that is unacceptable to modern audiences.

    • Suthenboy

      Amazing to me how a bunch of low rent commie grifters can pull that off. Money matters. You could shove their concern about black lives up a flea’s ass without the flea even noticing.

  6. Ownbestenemy

    Welp..looks like thay are running with its okay that Biden is overcooked broccoli

    “Big Boy” press conference? I guess he isn’t at least fucking a horse.

    • B.P.

      Is this one of those “cheap fake” video clips I keep hearing about, or are we now just having a good time with it while Rome burns?

      • Suthenboy

        If you call a sore forehead from too many facepalms a good time

  7. Suthenboy

    Wife is watching ‘In the Heat of the Night’, the tv show. Just saw a scene where the lovable white knight cops are in a grocery store chatting it up. Sign behind one of them says “Bananas 15 cents / lb”.

    • Suthenboy

      Show ran from ’88 to ’95.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Also noticed banana has a noticeably thicker peel now too

      • Suthenboy

        I keep hearing numbers for inflation, official numbers I suppose, that are wildly low.
        I know in the last 4 years our monthly expenses have doubled and we buy less than we used to. I know this because I pay them all in one lump sum at the end of each month.
        They can crank out the phoney numbers until their jaws fall off, I still believe my lying bank account.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I think “in the Heat of the Night” was supposed to be set in the ’60s? So probably close to accurate.

      • The Hyperbole

        Or perhaps it was 15¢ each, which seems to be the way they are labeled in all the old flyers I can find.

      • Suthenboy

        Maybe, could be either one or both of those. In any case it doesnt say much for what the govt has done with the value of the dollar.

      • The Hyperbole

        Meh, the value of the dollar is meaningless in the discussion of banana purchasing power. (yes, yes, they are stealing your savings if you don’thave it invested iwhere it at least keeps up with inflation) The only true test is is how many hours the the average joe has to work to buy a pound of bananas, I’d wager an apprentice carpenter today making 15-17$/hr could by more bananas that I could back in the 80’s when I was making 7½-10$/hr.

      • The Hyperbole

        “I know in the last 4 years our monthly expenses have doubled”

        Someone’s ripping you off, or you need to move to Ohio, My expenses are up right around 20%, some things are higher than that some are lower. I’ve said it before , I’ll likely say it again – when you people bitch about these things I gotta wonder if I’m not living in an alternate universe.

  8. Gustave Lytton

    “Joe can’t do four years as president!” “He’s too far gone!”

    (All things said in 2020, yet here we are)

    • Suthenboy

      Joe? We cant do four more years of Joe.

      • Bobarian LMD

        The people pulling Joe’s strings:

        “Wanna bet?”

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        Weekend at Bernie’s.

        Sadly, the redux won’t be as good as the original, just like the movies.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Thinking of this today:

    Just imagine the glorious pomp and ritualistic faux grief of a state funeral for The Greatest Mostest Self-Sacrificing President of All Time. Doktor Grandma wouldn’t miss it for the world.

    • Raven Nation

      I guess that’s the tinfoil hat scenario: Uncle Joe kicks off in mid-October and Kamala gets elected in a landslide of sympathy.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Carter outlasts Joe in our latest work pool.

        Waiting for our extra day off.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I am sure they would tie it to Jan 6 somehow too

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Joe died alongside his son Beau in Iraq.

  10. The Other Kevin

    First the Hunter laptop, now dementia. It really is something how things that might make people not vote for Biden keep getting hidden. This must be how “democracy” works.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      *Our* democracy.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Just wait until they come clean with the revelation that the whole damn family is an influence peddling and money laundering operation.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    I skipped hockey practice because traffic was insane from that NASCAR race. Perhaps it saved my life.

    *shuddering flashback*

    Trying to get back to Indianapolis Sunday evening after the races at Milwaukee or Elkhart Lake was fucking horrible. You could make better time on a bicycle most of the way. Chicago- what a shithole.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Drove thru Chicago on a Saturday afternoon on my way to Ft McCoy. White Sox game gets out just at the perfect time. The next 30 miles took me almost 2 hours. Fuck that place.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Sign behind one of them says “Bananas 15 cents / lb”.

    Wonder Bread was probably 19 cents.

    • The Hyperbole

      don’t know about Wonder Bread™ but white bread was 61¢

    • Suthenboy

      And yet the people that engineered that are still breathing free air.

    • Sensei

      +1 “ $6 trillion due to chronic conditions such as “long COVID””

    • The Last American Hero

      The pandemic didn’t do much damage. Our ridiculous policies in reaction to it did massive damage.

      • Suthenboy

        As they were intended.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Evolution

    Honda has confirmed that the production version of last year’s pretty Prelude Concept will go on sale in Europe, and the automaker is bringing it to this month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed to build fans’ anticipation.

    Releasing images of a red coupe – the original concept was white – alongside an original first-generation 1979-82 Prelude that looks tiny in comparison, Honda claimed that the first new Prelude in 30 years would blend driving fun with efficiency via a hybrid drivetrain.

    ——-

    Plenty of car enthusiasts would rather see Honda drop in the Civic Type R’s 315 hp (319 PS) 2.0-liter turbo engine and six-speed manual transmission, but it doesn’t sound like that’s on the cards. Honda officials have been quoted in the past as saying the Prelude “isn’t going to be the sportiest, zippiest car.”

    Just what your mistress needs.

    • Sean

      Nailed it Brooks. Impractical chick car.

    • Tundra

      The automaker didn’t go into detail about the petrol-electric powertrain, but recent reports from Japan suggest it could be the same e-HEV powertrain as Civic and US-market Accord hybrids whose chassis it’s expected to share when it hits the road in 2025. In those cars a 2.0-liter Atkinson cycle petrol engine joins forces with two electric motors to power the car.

      *yawn*

    • Sensei

      Sad. They have no choice because of emissions but to use that powertrain if they are selling in volume.

      Also look how high and fat the front end is in profile. Crash and pedestrian safety requirements.

      • Tundra

        No question. Almost every car now, at least more premium ones, have some form of hybrid system to game the stupid tests.

        I think those of us who love cars are not going to to love the next 10 years.

      • Sensei

        The Porsche 911 hybrid looks like it’s amazingly light and powerful. So great power for the weight penalty.

        Bad news is typical crazy German engineering and long term reliability and repairability.

        I think the idea of keeping any newer cars long term with large electronic module counts is going to be close to impossible.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Ugh, the proportions are all wrong and the hood makes it look like it’s pregnant.

    • R C Dean

      Looks kinda like a Nissan Z to me.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    I think the idea of keeping any newer cars long term with large electronic module counts is going to be close to impossible.

    How many people will be driving 30 year old cars in 2055? Or, more to the point, how many mid-2020s cars will be operable and on the road? Not many, I’d guess.

    • The Last American Hero

      I dunno, but given the relative simplicity of e cars, there may be some that are good to go after a battery swap.

      • Tundra

        They are anything but simple. Just complicated in new and exciting ways. Also, a minor crash often means totaling the vehicle.

        In my experience, the mechanicals can go almost forever. It’s the electrical systems that cause the most headaches when the car gets old. I think Brooksie is right – these cars are almost all disposable.

      • The Last American Hero

        I watch a fair amount of motor trend and the traditional engine is a kludge. A Tesla is a motor a battery and a computer that tells the motor how fast to turn.

  15. creech

    Hyperbole nails it,,,lots of exaggeration which doesn’t help make the case. Biden has not “destroyed America.”. Trump isn’t promising a “bloodbath ” for his enemies. Biden is flat out lying about inflation but based on local crowds at the beach and in restaurants most Americans are coping without resort to eating cat food. Perhaps we need Perot style charts to get a better handle on reality?

    • B.P.

      Anecdata: A lot of restaurants are shuttering in my area. I grab takeout now and then, but I don’t go to sit-down restaurants anymore.

      • Tundra

        Are you downtown? One of the guys I play hockey with was bitching about how his favorite places keep dropping.

      • B.P.

        NW of downtown, but I work downtown.

      • Tundra

        Hmm. There is a pho place I’ve been meaning to try in Old Town. I guess I better get to it.

    • Tundra

      I don’t care about the price of bananas or gasoline. I can afford both.

      I’m a tad concerned about this.

      Particularly since no one in either party will talk about it. The RNC just released Two Scoop’s “Contract on America.” It’s full of sound bites but not a word about the empire-killer.

  16. Common Tater

    What are the odds the deep state gets some “crazy MAGA guy” to assassinate Biden?

    • Suthenboy

      Lew Haley Grizwold. I hear that guy did not revoke his citizenship and move to the USSR. Right wing nutbag. They could probably talk him into it.

      *In such a scenario I am wondering how hard they would have to spin a totally not a Palestinian supporter into a right wing fanatic.

  17. Common Tater

    “Public libraries across Idaho have banned children from entering due to a controversial law putting a ‘bounty’ on thousands of books.

    Conservative lawmakers pushed through legislation allowing parents to sue libraries over books they deem ‘obscene’ or otherwise inappropriate for children.

    Public and school libraries had 60 days to remove the book or move it to an adults-only area closely monitored by staff, or face lawsuits from parents.

    However, many libraries were too small to create a special section, or lacked the resources or appetite for risk, and instead banned kids entirely.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13609223/Outrage-Idaho-libraries-BAN-children-demand-visitors-ID-30.html

    WTF??

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      They can’t have a back room like a video rental shop?

    • rhywun

      It’s what pushback looks like.

      • Common Tater

        It’s always two retards fighting.

    • Suthenboy

      Do we have a list of these books?

  18. The Late P Brooks

    I dunno, but given the relative simplicity of e cars, there may be some that are good to go after a battery swap.

    I keep hearing that, but there’s a lot more to those whizbang electric cars than a battery and a motor.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    a lot of things with software and sensors and servos work great until they don’t.

    • Tundra

      My Triumph had three fuses. It was 43 years old when I sold it. Tell me how that wasn’t one of the greenest vehicles ever made?

  20. The Late P Brooks

    I don’t care about the price of bananas or gasoline. I can afford both.

    I’m a tad concerned about this.

    #METOO

    We are ruled by of people who believe the proper function of government is to spend unlimited amounts of money.

  21. Tundra

    This is pretty cool:

    After an earlier era of flying ‘sausages’ and ‘jellyfish’, balloon warfare is having a renaissance

    The Chinese Foreign Ministry denied any claims of spying, saying it was a meteorology research balloon that had steered off track.

    But after it was shot down by a US fighter jet, leaked Pentagon analysis revealed the balloon was carrying equipment that was “excessive for a weather balloon”.

    At the time, the Pentagon revealed that during the past several years, Chinese balloons had previously been spotted over countries across five continents.

    Riiiiiiight.

    A song to listen to while you read.

  22. DEG

    Dozens of “Swifties” besieged the Hotel Savoy on Zurich’s Paradeplatz on Monday afternoon. Taylor Swift is supposed to be staying at the hotel. The police had to intervene.

    Oh boy.

    • R.J.

      I sense a new fun game!

      • Tundra

        “I heard Taylor Swift is staying at DEG’s house!”

      • DEG

        Just what I need.