Black Friday Swiss Morning Links

by | Nov 29, 2024 | Daily Links | 152 comments

Me, right about now, trying to line up some Bourbon County variants.

So, my personal, work and other lives have been put into a blender and set on “chopped”. So, I may be even crankier than I usually am…for a while. But, you know, nobody has shot at me, dropped mortar rounds on me, or pushed me into a minefield…so it ain’t that bad. Mostly.

So, you get some links that are only partly crabby and grumpy!

  • See enough K Pop chicks, and…boom.
  • The world makes sense when you realize we are all just parts of SugarFree’s fever dream.
  • Not everyone is an asshole. Good on this guy.
  • Hey….do me a favor, eh? Answer this. What? OK, hit translate on your browser. What do you mean you don’t know any?! Bah.

Music? Meh. This is old, and the song is …ordinary, but the video is a classic. Well, to me it is!

Comments are all yours, you reprobates!

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.

152 Comments

  1. UnCivilServant

    Comments are all yours, you reprobates!

    What about us non-reprobate commenters?

    • Rat on a train

      What about us double-secret reprobates?

      • mindyourbusiness

        And how about us miscreants?

    • Suthenboy

      “us non-reprobate commenters”

      They are mythical

    • ron73440

      I think if you claim to be a non-reprobate, you definitely are one.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t think it works that way.

      • ron73440

        That’s exactly what a reprobate would say!

    • juris imprudent

      Not a reprobate eh? Must be a bitter clinger or deplorable then.

    • Gender Traitor

      I’m preprobate, as are all current Glibs, as far as I know, and I hope we all remain so for a good long time!

  2. cavalier973

    I like that song.

    • cavalier973

      Maybe I’m an ordinary guy, living in an ordinary world.

  3. cavalier973

    So much for that Korean women’s movement that decided to shut men out if their lives.

    Or, did life find a way?

    • UnCivilServant

      Life found a way. Eventually enough of the non-breeders die off and the ratio improves.

    • PieInTheSky

      Well I saw korean women on the interwebs saying that movment was mostly made ub by americaneze wimmen

    • Suthenboy

      The first thing I thought when I heard about Lysistrata I thought “Right. And you will never drink again, count on it?”

    • rhywun

      gender inequality in the workplace [has] made young people in South Korea reluctant to start families

      wut

      Gender inequality in the workplace ate my homework.

    • Don escaped Memphis

      South Korea finished 2023 at a record-low rate of 0.72 — meaning that for every 100 women, just 72 babies are expected to be born over their lifetimes.

      A lot of prehistoric thinking in their calculation: how the hell are they so sure that the birthing persons were women?

  4. PieInTheSky

    Me, right about now, trying to line up some Bourbon County variants.

    I do not like high abv beers. Anything over 6%. For high alkyhol i prefer wine. But i am at this place where there are not many good options for my taste and decided to try the following which they had on tap and honestly pretty good. But still not worth the 9.7%

    https://www.orielbeer.com/product/ryes-dark-whisper/

  5. cavalier973

    In American:

    “We are looking for the top law firms in Switzerland 2025

    For the ninth time, BILANZ, together with Statista, is searching for the top law firms in Switzerland.”

    • UnCivilServant

      These law firms are proving adroit at hide and seek, once again being difficult to locate.

      • Rat on a train

        Are they looking in the correct place? Perhaps they’re in some hidden mountain bunker.

  6. Ted S.

    This should have been the music link.

    • cavalier973

      Nice.

      Chopin would have been so proud.

      • Fourscore

        The rooster only crowed twice…

      • cavalier973

        There’s no denying that

    • ron73440

      As someone who grew up with chickens, that video just makes me wonder how many times that rooster has crapped on them.

    • cyto

      Impressive combination of obvious wealth and a rooster on your kid’s head in the conservatory. Probably not a combo that has been played before.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Only a chickenhead would like that.

  7. Grumbletarian

    Hillary will be 81 by the time election day in 2028 rolls around.

    • PieInTheSky

      81 is nothing really

      • Fourscore

        Oh, 81 is something, let me tell you. Anyone that says age doesn’t matter has never been four score.

      • The Other Kevin

        Not when you’re using the proper dark magic.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        The cloaca of hate has no age.

    • Suthenboy

      That horrible monster will never be president.

  8. juris imprudent

    I think Hillary is confused, in 4 years she’ll be a crone not a crown.

    • Fourscore

      But she’ll always be a clown and not funny.

  9. Ted S.

    Ich kenne keine Anwalt Sterninnen.

  10. Evan from Evansville

    Morning y’all. It was 535 when I wrote this: 6-whenever shift begins! Yesterday til 1 or so, at 1.5x. Then Sat and Mon off, but not Sun morning. Then to evening shifts w a 3day weekend. Should be interesting here the day after Thanksgiving. I’m guessing mighty light but who knows. Yesterday was not nuts. It is happily slow now… And snow!

    Take care and kick ass, y’all.

    • UnCivilServant

      Black Friday Sale on blood plasma?

      • Fourscore

        Do drug dealers celebrate Black Friday with a sale?

        /Curious in Podunkville

      • Evan from Evansville

        One dude got $80. Ya get $100 your first time. Damn good for two hours (including drive) of your time.

        I may try to write for them. Such a great example of the market bringing folk together where everyone wins. Can’t be said for hospitals. Plenty of ‘losers ‘

        Also! K-Pop gals: Think Soviet or Chinese gymnasts being trained since birth, half taken away and completely controlled by the Industry. Incredible pressure and obvious Casting Couch. HUGE problem w suicides. Even more than the crazy rates Koreans already have. (But they don’t have guns!! How can that be?!.. in a country where this poor teacher has an apt in the 18th floor w ‘access’ to the roof. Unfathomable!!!

  11. Shpip

    Officials have pointed to a jump in marriages after the COVID-19 pandemic as the key driver in the recent birth rate boost.

    “What would marriage have to do with the birth rate?” — Americans, probably

  12. juris imprudent

    Only at Salon

    This may be a factor, alongside active disinformation and bad media reporting) in why Joe Biden’s remarkable economic record simply didn’t matter to many voters. They may be doing better than they were four years ago, but they still face worse economic prospects than their parents did 20 or 30 years earlier.

    Really, people are doing better and just didn’t realize it? And despite doing better they face worse prospects? I’d ask how stupid you have to be to write that, but all I need for an answer is the source.

    Never mind the “anti-incumbency” trend because you don’t tell me how that played out in Congress, do you? On the other hand, not one word about the misogynist and racist voters (regardless of party affiliation), so maybe that is progress?

    • rhywun

      As late votes are counted, the Democrats’ vote-share loss continues to shrink

      lol

      But one thing should be clear: There was an unprecedented burst of self-organized grassroots enthusiasm for Harris as soon as she announced her campaign

      OMG I can’t take any more.

      • UnCivilServant

        Any votes being counted now are presumtively fabricated and invalid.

    • The Other Kevin

      They just keep doubling down on the things that lost them the election. “The economy is great! The border is secure! But actually illegal migrants are great and they feed you! Biden is sharp as a tack! Kamala is brat!” If only they could shut down all alternative news sources and social media, then people would finally stop believing their own eyes.

    • Sensei

      That whole article is spectacular.

    • The Other Kevin

      “We need to ask why people almost everywhere rejected incumbents, regardless of ideology.”

      I’ll save them the trouble: People got tired of the leftist shit.

      • rhywun

        No, it’s because the voters are stupid. The author wrote a lot of paragraphs explaining that.

    • Grumbletarian

      “80% of swing voters who chose Trump believed Harris held positions she didn’t campaign on in 2024.”

      Only because she didn’t campaign on any of the positions she has gone on record as supporting.

      • Sensei

        You have to elect her to find out what she stands for!

      • juris imprudent

        positions she didn’t campaign on in 2024

        Positions she HAD campaigned on previously, and wouldn’t directly disavow to win votes (because she would also lose votes for moving away from those positions).

        The premise seems to be that a candidate can be all things to all people – at least in order to win election, then go back to being a very narrowly supported one.

      • creech

        Kommiela tried to fool Pennsylvanians into believing she wasn’t any longer against fracking.
        Foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds, but apparently enough voters are sharp enough to understand when they are being pandered to.

    • Sensei

      Nothing in the article about the gender continuum and transitioning the non aborted in the womb concerns of the great religious unwashed.

      And the only mention on immigration is that is a net positive for social security. Zero mention on crime.

      Yeah, I’m not surprised they still have no idea why they lost.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Well, it is all those stocks and bonds that they will get as soon as they land that email job!

  13. ron73440

    I made a batch of Alton Brown’s eggnog on Halloween, and I’m saving it for Christmas.

    Last night, I felt like having eggnog, so I did some math and made a single serving with 2 eggs.

    It was so good, I might do it again tonight.

    • cyto

      Egg Nog lasts 2 months?

      • UnCivilServant

        My guess is that it contains so much alcohol that it has sterilized the mix.

      • ron73440

        It gets better with age.

        When I had surgery a few years ago, we didn’t drink the 2020 batch until 2022 and it was great.

      • ron73440
  14. UnCivilServant

    Anyone know a good source of royalty-free music and sound effects? I have spots in my current project that need something other than silence and I don’t have enough voiceover content to cover.

    • ron73440

      YouTube, but you probably have to have a channel to access it.

    • Grummun

      Can any of the various AI engines generate background music?

      • UnCivilServant

        I have no idea.

        And I don’t know if the model would be trained on content which was willingly contributed.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        What sort of background music are you seeking?

  15. The Late P Brooks

    ‘The Clintons will share reflections on the noble and important work of public service – from securing peace, prosperity, and progress during the Clinton administration to uplifting millions of people through the work of the Clinton Foundation,’ a press release announcing the event stated.

    How special.

    • Rat on a train

      Countries don’t bomb themselves.

  16. Ownbestenemy

    Happy post Thanksgiving. Ours was great with family just being together. Next leg of our trip is to Vegas to check in on the teens who couldn’t make it.

    • The Other Kevin

      Ours was just nice and uneventful. We went to my in-laws, who are all Republicans, and not a single person brought up politics. The food was great, as was the company.

      • Tundra

        The kids came over and we had a perfect time. We did discuss the role of the Fed in fucking up everything, but that was the extent of the politics. Amazing how being on their own and watching their money disappear hones their interest lol.

        I ate way too much.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      We were at a lovely party up in Portland, brought two pot pies that came from a local farm, and they were very well received. And I met a nice fellow who had some stories about growing up in Minneapolis that Tundra will love to hear.

      All in all, a nice night.

  17. The Other Kevin

    Happy Black Friday everyone. I have been tasked with coming up with a special for our gym, for Small Business Saturday. Last year we offered a free month to get people started before the new year, but we only had a few new customers from that.

    • invisible finger

      Free cookies.

    • Tundra

      75% off 5 coaching sessions. Don’t do free – no skin in the game means no-show.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Safe at last

    A social media ban for children under 16 passed the Australian Parliament on Friday in a world-first law.

    The law will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.

    ——-

    “Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them,” Albanese told reporters.

    The platforms have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced.

    All you need is magic words on paper to solve your problems.

    • Sensei

      I always enjoy typing (a random) age into many alcohol producer web sites.

      I’m sure that’s highly effective preventing children from drinking.

      • ron73440

        Most of them now just ask if you’re over 21.

    • The Other Kevin

      I don’t think kids should be on social media. We didn’t let our kids have phones until they were well into high school. And even then, two out of the three immediately got into trouble and had their phones taken away.

      But I can’t imagine how they could enforce a law like this. At my last job, we wrote software for schools. and while troubleshooting a problem we thought was on our end, we discovered the kids were using a proxy server in Germany to get around a firewall.

      • juris imprudent

        Yes, it is almost like the drinking age, and of course that is not perfect either.

    • Suthenboy

      I keep mistakenly thinking that the west has become very authoritarian but the truth is we were never not authoritarian. The libertarian moment is in the future…and always will be.

    • The Other Kevin

      That broken English is very convincing.

    • Sensei

      TOK

      I know, right. I realized they hard coded my email so I deleted. Not that I was super concerned.

      So no need for anybody to click. It was an awesome Geek Squad scam bill.

      • Rat on a train

        Maybe to be careful, you should purchase a security program through PayPal …

      • UnCivilServant

        I wondered why I got a 404.

      • Sensei

        I’m impressed with their dedication including generating a unique email address within the image.

        TIFF file too. I assume other formats are more likely to not pass spam filters, perhaps? Seems odd however.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Got one of those earlier this week.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Do-over

    A recount of the votes cast in Sunday’s first round of presidential elections in Romania has been ordered by the country’s top court following allegations that social media platform TikTok gave “preferential treatment” to the surprise winner, Calin Georgescu.

    The Constitutional Court also rejected claims filed by two of the losing candidates who accused Georgescu of illegal campaign financing.

    Georgescu, a radical with no party of his own, campaigned mainly on TikTok.

    The platform has categorically denied it favoured the far-right, pro-Russia candidate.

    Georgescu won 23% of the vote, with 19% for the runner up, Elena Lasconi, of the opposition Save Romania Union.

    We’ll keep counting votes until we get the numbers we want. Democracy demands nothing less.

    • Rat on a train

      California has experience. Give them a call.

      • cyto

        Ouch. True. But ouch.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Georgescu, himself, has pushed back against criticism that he used the social media platform illegally to gain an electoral advantage.

    The 62-year-old has more than 330,000 followers – up from 30,000 just over a fortnight ago – and more than 4m likes.

    “The budget of this campaign was zero… I had a very small team – a maximum of 10 people, no more. But we had millions of people behind [us],” he told the BBC.

    “I’m not different – the Romanian people are different. Romanian people need freedom. Real democracy means spirituality. God. Our land. Our property. Our soul. Our family.”

    He added that state institutions were trying to deny the people’s choice.

    Terrifying.

    • juris imprudent

      And those state institutions are trying their damnedest to prove him right.

    • Sensei

      It’s an interesting thought experiment. If you took 100 libertarian positions how many would Harris overlap versus Trump.

      So hypothetically, Harris 20% and Trump 30% with 5% the same between them.

      I’d say Trump would be marginally higher.

    • Rat on a train

      Imagine the stress they must be going through thinking about the shrinking cocktail party circuit.

    • creech

      Back in the day, Reason went apeshit over Nixon and price controls. And a lot of libertarian-leaning Republicans made the argument that Nixon was better than whomever the Dems would run in 1972 and therefore libertarians should roll over and enjoy it. Looks like some things never change.

    • rhywun

      Did they release a “Libertarian case for Momala” article yet?

    • KSuellington

      Trump’s 2nd term is so far shaping up to be the most libertarian friendly of any President in my lifetime, which brings us back to the mid 70’s. I’m absolutely prepared to be disappointed, but if on a handful of issues he can be good on, he will easily win that prize in my mind. Harris would have been a total fucking disaster in all respects, so it’s not a high bar to clear.

    • UnCivilServant

      Naw, they just want to use their congestion pricing windfall to hire more people to operate the drones and buy fancy toys.

    • creech

      I remember, back when I worked for Oscar, a union truck driver taking the farther away cheap toll bridge to Jersey but turning in receipts from the nearby expensive bridge (which, apparently, were bought in bulk from a crooked toll collector). Suspicious, management trailed him, took pictures of him on the cheap bridge, etc. Tried to fire him but Teamsters took the position that, yes, it was the truck assigned to him that day but the photos didn’t show the driver’s face, so the evidence was only circumstantial and he couldn’t be fired.

      • UnCivilServant

        In that circumstance, you are justified in shooting the Teamster rep and driver in the head and throwing them into the river.

      • Rat on a train

        Amateur, WMATA had maintenance workers falsify safety reports. They were fired. The union got them reinstated because they were never trained not to falsify reports.

      • UnCivilServant

        In that case, flamethrowers are the appropriate response.

        Leave the charred remains as a warning to the next lot.

    • rhywun

      Union goon says “the MTA should be investigated for spending waste.”

      *falls off chair*

  21. cyto

    Question: is there a cartel behind these avian flu outbreaks?

    Great value extra large eggs are almost $5 per dozen.

    Is there a suspicious group of producers who don’t seem to lose their stock to the flu?

    • The Other Kevin

      Same here. I think we got a dozen for 3.50. The regular and the organic free-range were the same price, so we got the organic ones.

      • robodruid

        Not sure that it matters, but we got a avian flu warning from a small farm instate.
        ?

    • UnCivilServant

      It could very well be.

      I’ll have to listen closer when I get home from work.

  22. Mojeaux

    I somehow pulled my left pectoralis. It feels like I’m dying.

    • UnCivilServant

      That is an odd and awkward muscle to injure in such a way – what were you doing at the time?

      • Mojeaux

        @UCS, I bent over to comb my hair (long story, I do it upside down) and had a sharp, sudden pain and it’s gotten pretty bad.

        @GT, sort of. I went to bed and woke up alive, so I’ve ruled out a heart attack. This is my usual method of ruling out heart attacks.

    • Sensei

      It’s gone tits up?

      Ouch, feel better!

      • Mojeaux

        Usually, it’s the right one because I get horrendously painful heartburn.

      • UnCivilServant

        I know you had mentioned something about an Ulcer? (Or am I mixing up someone else), but for a span of a decade I had recurring heartburn and acide reflux which turned out to be a symptom of gall bladder problems. I’d watch for pressure sensitivity near the bottom of the ribcage on the right.

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, I had to have surgery to remove my ulcers and now am on lifelong omeprazole for it. Occasionally, it’s not enough.

    • Gender Traitor

      I trust you’ve ruled out other causes of pain in that area? 😟

  23. The Late P Brooks

    There apparently are unscrupulous people on the internet. The FBI wants you to know.

    • Gender Traitor

      Well, the Internet told me there are unscrupulous people at the FBI. So there!

    • Suthenboy

      Arent those the guys that have the world’s largest collection of child porn? I suppose they would know.

    • rhywun

      LOL as if the FBI isn’t “checking” them already.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    If you build it they will come

    Not to brag, but Rivian’s credit score is probably better than yours. The California-based EV manufacturer was just conditionally approved for a $6.6 billion loan from the United States Department of Energy. The loan comes from the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program, which was created as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

    The huge sum of money would allow the automaker to complete construction on a previously announced manufacturing facility in Georgia. Originally announced in late 2021, the new facility will create 7500 jobs by 2030 and expand production by 400,000 cars annually. At the time, the company estimated the project would cost $5 billion and begin production in 2024. Short on cash, Rivian was forced to pause the project and change plans for the upcoming R2 SUV.

    The headline reads, “Rivian EARNS 6 billion dollar loan.”

    Earned it. Right.

    • Ted S.

      +1 Solyndra

    • Sensei

      Not to brag, but Rivian’s credit score is probably better than yours.

      WTF does that mean? In case you thought auto journalism wasn’t hard hitting enough.

      • UnCivilServant

        Nobody’s going to loand me 6 Billion anytime soon, but I’m also not going to be bankrupt in five year like Rivian will be.

    • ron73440

      Short on cash, Rivian was forced to pause the project and change plans for the upcoming R2 SUV.

      Yes, obviously a hugely successful company.

      • UnCivilServant

        They are EV industry leaders in the field of being “Not Tesla”

  25. The Late P Brooks

    No justice, no shopping

    Amazon workers and some allies are planning a worldwide strike during one of the company’s biggest weekends, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

    The strike, called “Make Amazon Pay,” is organized by UNI Global Union and Progressive International. It will begin Friday and run through Monday, typically very busy times for online commerce with the abundance of sales.

    The strike seeks to hold the huge company accountable for what organizers describe as labor abuses, “environmental degradation and threats to democracy.”

    ——-

    UNI Globe Union General Secretary Christy Hoffman said Amazon’s “relentless pursuit of profit” comes at a cost of its human workers, the economy and democracy.

    You’d be scratching in the dirt for bugs if there were no profit.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    I somehow pulled my left pectoralis.

    That’s what you get for arm tackling. Wrap up.

  27. Mojeaux

    Nothing like shitposting theology on X for three days straight and then getting blocked by the person who started it. LOL Also, got one book sale and one telling me I write porn (although, well, he’s not wrong, although I don’t really see it that way because PLOT and FEELINGS).

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Now it’s personal

    As Elon Musk has embraced Donald Trump and various far-right conspiracy theories, he has left behind an aghast cohort of Tesla owners who suddenly feel embarrassed by their own cars. Many of them are now publicly displaying their dismay at Musk on their vehicles.

    Sales of anti-Musk stickers have boomed since the world’s richest man declared his support for Trump and helped propel him to victory in the US presidential election, as owners of Teslas, the car brand headed by Musk, try to distance themselves from the South African-born multibillionaire.

    “Sales have really spiked. The day after the election was the biggest day ever,” said Matt Hiller, a Hawaii-based aquarium worker who sells a range of stickers online that denounce Musk. “People saw a billionaire supervillain buy his way into the administration and it rubbed them the wrong way.”

    ——-

    Musk, who has an estimated wealth of $314bn, was once considered an environmental hero and technology pioneer by many US liberals after turning Tesla into the most valuable car company in the world while warning that “climate change is the biggest threat that humanity faces this century, except for AI”.

    But his reputation among electric vehicle-buying liberals curdled as he used X to trumpet far-right conspiracies, fulminated about the “woke mind virus” and enthusiastically promoted Trump, even appearing at the president-elect’s rallies and funding campaign operations for him in key battleground states.

    They should all buy Fords.

    • Sensei

      I read that.

      I want to find some reverse version for my Tesla. Some variation of “I bought this with money Elon stole from taxpayers, but when you all supported the theft”.

    • Mojeaux

      Alyssa Milano swapped out her Tesla for a VW EV because of Elon’s white supremacy.

      • UnCivilServant

        Soo… she knows nothing of history?

      • Mojeaux

        Twitter edumacated her.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Musk is now intimately involved in Trump’s incoming administration, heading a new “Department of Government Efficiency” that plans mass layoffs of US government workers. Some Tesla owners have been left horrified. “I thought Elon was progressing our country, but he’s turned out to be kind of an evil person. It’s scary for someone with that sort of money to be so close to a politician,” said Mika Houston, a gymnastics teacher in Las Vegas who has had a Tesla Model 3 for the past three years.

    “I still love my car, but I think about whether I’m endorsing that sort of behavior when I drive it. I’m embarrassed driving this car around after the election, thinking about the man behind it,” said Houston, who has bought an “Anti Elon Tesla Club” magnet for her car and is mulling whether to sell it.

    Sell it. Don’t sell it. Just please STFU.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Magnet? So when the winds changes she can remove it?

    • UnCivilServant

      Ahem. “best” is ableist language.

      It’s “the Most DEI Captains”, thank you very much.