Wednesday Afternoon Links of Substitution

by | Nov 20, 2024 | Daily Links | 133 comments

AUTHOR’S NOTE: SugarFree and I are switching links duty for this week. Today you get me. He’ll bring you your afternoon links tomorrow. This was supposed to appear as the Excerpt text on the feed (Glibs home page) but that has gone wonky, too, with the WP auto-update (see bottom of post).

LAKEN RILEY’S MURDERER GETS LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE: But ABC News is still using lots of passive voice and weaseling to avoid calling him a murderer. Assholes.

IT WOULD BE DELICIOUS IF ELON BOUGHT THEM: Comcast to spin off its cable channels, including MSNBC and CNBC, into separate company. I hope that was difficult for Brian Stelter to write. I really do.

DISPATCH FROM THE WAR ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT: Knock me over with a feather. WaPo finally says the quiet part out loud [Bicycle Lanes] are often installed not to satisfy the barely measurable trickle of residents who pedal to work but mainly to make car traffic worse enough that people will be discouraged from driving. I’ve been writing about this and similar stealth attacks on personal automobile ownership and freedom of movement for a while. I and everyone else who has has been labeled a tinfoil paranoiac nutjob.

SUNNY HOSTIN CAUGHT LYING, HAS TO WALK BACK COMMENTS ON-AIR: Most of the press about this is gloating over her outrage; my question is why she still has a job.

BIG ROCKET GOES WHOOSH: What, you thought I was talking about SpaceX? No, they get enough free publicity here. Students at USC reach altitude of 470,400 feet with rocket they built themselves. This handily breaks previous records for “amateur” rocket max altitude, and is well above the Kármán Line (330,000 feet, the generally-accepted beginning of space). Way to go, kids.

LAYOFFS AT JPL: NASA just layed off a fuckton of people at JPL, their premier research facility for robotic space exploration. This is the second tranche of layoffs this year. Part of this is due to Congress cutting funding for the long-troubled Mars Sample Return Program, whose ongoing failures and increasing budget we have long covered. It is unknown how many layoffs were related to MSRP.

NASA CRITICS SAY AGENCY SPENDING TOO MUCH ON DEI: One former NASA employee told The Daily Mail, “[DEI is] destroying America’s ability to compete with China in space because the Biden-Harris administration will only fund programs that feature it.”

MEANWHILE, THE SPACE PRESS BEMOANS POSSIBLE AGENCY CUTS: Reliable institutional mouthpiece SpaceNews fears “gutting” of NASA by Trump, Musk. Never mind that SpaceX remains well behind schedule when it comes to delivering a lunar lander derived from its Starship vehicle, or that it’ll need an as-yet untried on-orbit refueling method to reach the moon. Oh, the delicious petulance of “but you too-ism,” followed by the laughable pants-soiling fear that a launch and orbital company might actually have to do something nobody has done before. As to the first, “well behind schedule” is nothing compared to the FUBAR status of MSRP (see above), and may be due to contract as opposed to technical issues. As to the second, self-landing reusable boosters and chopstick booster catch.

[SFX: double knock on door] HOUSEKEEPING: Tomorrow, popular commenter SDF-7 will bust his Glibs contributor cherry all over the midday slot with an article on home networking. Due to the nature of the article, and the tendency of WordPress to go all STEVE SMITH on text you key or paste into the Block Editor, I poked around until I found the wonderful Preformatted Text block type. “Text that respects your spaces and tabs…” (which it should do by default, anyway). Preformatted Text also defaults to a monospace typeface (like TTY or typewriter) which is very useful for console commands, gifscii, etc. The one gotcha: There’s a mid-article illo which would not paste where I wanted it no matter how much I cursed. Work-around: split the text of the article into multiple Preformatted Text blocks, then it will let you insert illos between the blocks. Also, it appears that our WP auto updated recently and shit changed again. The default text in the block editor appears smaller, but looks normal when you preview your articles. Finally, there are (hopefully temporary) problems with image uploads to the Media Library.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

133 Comments

  1. SDF-7

    IT WOULD BE DELICIOUS IF ELON BOUGHT THEM

    It would be — but I think there’s only so many financial ratholes we should ask Elon to sink his money into in the name of free speech. I suspect he’d argue X has replaced the legacy media for the upcoming generation (well, that and TikTok — but I doubt he can outbid the entire CCCP) and MSNBC has had its Praxis moment.

    • rhywun

      But Comcast keeping that turd Bravo of all channels?! That’s a bold strategy, Cotton.

  2. Yusef drives a Kia

    Elon always takes more time than expected,but he gets it done

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      That’s what his baby-mamas say…

      • SDF-7

        He’s not so Swift on that front, though.

    • SDF-7

      It would probably help Starship’s development timeline if the FAA, Interior Department and the non-NASA Biden Admin in general wasn’t throwing up every roadblock they can. Another reason to hope the DOGEs of (Fiscal Responsibility) War are unleashed.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I’m not sure why you’d exclude NASA from cock-blockers.

  3. SDF-7

    my question is why she still has a job

    She’s just that cluckin’ good at what she does, I suppose. Like the rest of the hens on The View they must be what their lunatic audience desires.

    • The Other Kevin

      I still think she’s a bad egg.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Maybe all this shit is finally coming home to roost?

    • Tundra

      Garden hose and orange?

    • Grumbletarian

      Gaetz should sue her for a cool $1.5 billion. That’s the going rate for defamation, right?

  4. Tundra

    I’ve been writing about this and similar stealth attacks on personal automobile ownership and freedom of movement for a while.

    Happy to join you in nutjob land. Beyond the bike paths and 15 minute cities it’s also clear that the ridiculous regulations are designed to drive the costs up so high only the rich will drive.

    Time to shut these fuckers down.

    • Tonio

      Hopefully the new congress will stop funding such things at the federal level, or mandating their inclusion in federally-funded road improvements.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Yep, there is a stupid stretch around the corner from me, which takes away parking for the hospital, which puts pressure on the neighborhoods, as the hospital keeps expanding its functions (nice) but taking away its parking (not so nice). Drives me up a wall, as, due to the area dynamics, it is always my house they park in front of, and I don’t have off street parking.

      SonOfABitch!

    • rhywun

      I like them but I’ve gotta admit that “they’re too white” is a genius argument against them which might just have some impact in present year.

  5. SDF-7

    LAYOFFS AT JPL

    NASA CRITICS SAY AGENCY SPENDING TOO MUCH ON DEI

    Your juxtaposition…. it was seen.

  6. SDF-7

    HOUSEKEEPING

    My apologies in advance for those who suffer through my article. I will try to lurk as best I can outside of work meetings (of which I have a couple in that time slot) in case anyone has questions beyond:

    “Why? For the love of all that is holy and good…. WHY?!?”

    “Were you dropped on your head as a child?”

    “What on earth possessed you to think you could write?”

    and of course

    “WHAT WERE WE TALKING ABOUT AGAIN? WHERE’S MY MCRIB?”

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      “Where are all the white women comments?”

    • Allen

      As someone who just did networking things in my house (specifically, some MoCA connections to make my wifi less terrible, I’m excited to see your article and how I could have potentially done it properly.

      • SDF-7

        Unfortunately, Tonio misled you a bit on the summary. It is about building my current NAS, not doing networking proper (and believe me — I’m no networking guy, so you really really don’t want me blathering on about actual networking. My current network is “Plug router into modem, plug 2.5GbE switch into router, plug that into switch in the next room, plus 2 other switches into that switch for most of the actual machines (the ones by the router are an AppleTV and the like which don’t need more speed anyway — the ones on the “other side” of the run to the switch that handles switches are the NAS, work machines, personal machines, etc… so they get more local speed for backups… but I’m sure there are better topologies if I knew what I was doing).

        Hope you enjoy it anyway — but I really didn’t want you to have your hopes up and then dashed when you looked at it.

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        I will comment on networking, but it will be mainly buy a reasonable prosumer product for that niche.. Ubiquiti switches, AirMax Point to point extenders, Peplink MultiWAN routers, and Synology NAS. Don’t get caught in a single vendor’s ecosystem.. They will be great in one area and meh in most others. Reolink security cameras are one of the latest acquisitions, trunked across the Ubnt network vlans.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Cohost Whoopi Goldberg weighed in as well, saying, “I’m saddened by it because all of those women who will have to get some defense of what’s happened to them, that’s who they’re going to, and this is someone who will just say, ‘It’s not a big deal.’ All of those little kids who, you know, get abused, they got no recourse now because this is what’s in charge.”

    Holy fuck what a mendacious cunt.

    • SDF-7

      I’m holding out hope that the bakery she slandered will end up getting her retired from public life finally. Because yeah — she’s pretty much a raving loon from what I can tell.

      Of course, she could just run for Congress instead where she’d fit right in.

    • Suthenboy

      Remember when we warned you that metoo would do terrible damage to people who were actual victims? I seem to remember it.
      The Gaetz case is a complete invention.
      So if you get it why do you keep doing it? Oh….because you are an evil, lying piece of shit. I get it Whoopie.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Suthen, maybe it keeps happening because even when they admit that they lied, nothing happens?

        After carrying out an “extensive” investigation into an alleged sexual assault in a popular park, Eagan police revealed Monday that the report was fabricated.
         
        Eagan police spokesman Sgt. Rich Evans says the party who reported the incident at Lebanon Hills Regional Park on Nov. 7 now admits the assault never took place and that her claims were false. The woman will be criminally charged with filing a false police report, Evans says.

        Why not name the liar? She is 100% not a victim, so why let everyone know her name so she can be shamed?

  8. Tundra

    BIG ROCKET GOES WHOOSH

    Definitely a Ray of Sunshine. What a terrific story!

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, had repeated several allegations against Gaetz — minus the disclaimer — earlier in the show.

    He denies it all. That proves he’s guilty.

    He should be dragged into court and made to prove his innocence.

    • SDF-7

      “If he wasn’t guilty, there wouldn’t be an Ethic Committee report for us to leak some unfortunate hacker to acquire!”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That overly emotional dogshit for brains was a federal prosecutor? Jesus Tapdancing Christ, I’m beginning to see the root of many of our problems.

      • Suthenboy

        I suspect that the View shtick is as much performance art as Alex Jones.

    • Spudalicious

      The DOJ looked into all of this, decided the witnesses weren’t credible, and dropped the investigation.

  10. Suthenboy

    There have been a number of student groups and individual amateurs who managed to put rockets in space. Very, very cool.

    Computer people seem to have a stronger than normal tendency to fix things to death. A number of fantastic programs and applications have become useless or extinct. What is that?

    • Nephilium

      Computer people seem to have a stronger than normal tendency to fix things to death. A number of fantastic programs and applications have become useless or extinct. What is that?

      No. It’s the business users and managers who force the changes. You will not find a group more set in their ways than computer people. FFS, it’s people like us that are keeping Lynx active.

  11. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    My daughter interned at JPL last summer and was hoping to work there while getting her masters. I guess that’s not likely to happen now.

  12. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    I other flying-related news – BigJetTV is in aviation paradise* this week! It’s mostly members-only, so suck it, poors!

    *you’re supposed to guess

    • Tonio

      That beach in the Caribbean which is right at the end of the airport runway?

    • The Gunslinger

      Underneath the parking lot pavement?

    • Nephilium

      Low Earth Orbit, obviously.

    • Tundra

      Air show season is pretty much over, so no clue. Hint?

      • SDF-7

        Big orgy in Dayton Ohio maybe? “Wings and Things!”

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Nick is not that far off piste

    • Bobarian LMD

      The Atlanta Airport?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Well I’d say NBAA but probably not what you are talking about.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      (Anchorage, 747 city)

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Where did the big whooshing rocket come down? I t sounds like they recovered it. Can they pack it full of TNT and send it it to Congress as a token of their esteem?

  14. The Other Kevin

    How many Estes engines did that rocket take?

    • Tonio

      Aftershock II is distinguished by the most powerful solid-propellant motor ever fired by students and the most powerful composite case motor made by amateurs.

      Sounds like DIY, which makes it more impressive.

      I don’t know if you follow the hobby but the “D” engine of our boyhoods has been long surpassed by “E,” “F,” “G,” and I believe higher motors. Look up “high performance model rocketry.” Estes was bought by Aerojet-Rocketdyne who started selling some of their smaller solid propellant commercial engines (ie for ejection seats, etc) to the hobby community. There is licensure to purchase and assembly.

      • Bobarian LMD

        As I recall from Junior High, they made E-G motors but it required special permitting/licensing to use or acquire them.

        Like buying blasting caps.

      • Old Man With Candy

        In those halcyon days, Centauri made and sold those engines. Sigh.

        As a nerdy kid, I was just overjoyed when an Estes or Centauri package was finally delivered.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of kids and rockets, wasn’t there some sort of mass peroxide rocket school project thing recently?

  16. rhywun

    my question is why she still has a job

    They should have made Whoopi read it. I’d love to see that cringe.

  17. Suthenboy

    Rocket technology…meh. I want my antigravity flying car and wormholes I can step through to anywhere.

    • SDF-7

      Yup… I’ve already been hoping and assuming I’d have to keep my 3090 going for a while. It helps that most “modern” games have been crap, so I haven’t really run anything that noticeably stressed it (that my monitor is capped at 59Hz helps…. I do 4k but only target 60fps anyway).

    • Grummun

      I paid about 1/2 the top end NVIDIA price for a top end AMD Radeon (this was probably a couple years back now). I’m not exactly a “power gamer” but it works fine for me. Disclaimer, my aged Apple 30″ Cinema can’t do more than 60Hz, so I’m not asking for 120+ fps.

  18. Gender Traitor

    Work-related rant: When I share a form with co-workers that needs SUBSTANTIVE TEXT revisions to reflect organizational changes, I’m NOT inviting you to start playing around with the layout and design. 😒/rant off

      • Gender Traitor

        Luckily, our IT manager showed me how to log into OneDrive to see who had been messing with it 🤬

      • Tonio

        Ugh, sorry. I never had to deal with that collaborative workplace BS. But good on your IT person.

    • Nephilium

      As part of my role, I do ticket reviews with customers. This means I’ve got information nicely formatted in a spreadsheet and filters to hide tickets in certain statuses (closed being the primary one). Whenever I’m OOO for a substantial amount of time I come back to see that someone has decided to ignore that and do things like manually hide rows, use non-standard case statuses, or not be able to figure out that they need to put in a correctly formatted date/time.

      It usually takes a week to get it straightened back out.

      • Gender Traitor

        This is a checklist of tasks to be done when an employee is terminated (voluntarily or otherwise.) I semi-appreciate our trainer’s desire to “improve” the form, but we had two newly-terminated employees today (new hires she just finished training) and I just wanted to make the multiple changes necessary re: who does what after a lot of reorganization so I can circulate accurate checklists for them ASAP.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Oh, I see you have met my wife.

    • Mojeaux

      Yanno, if I were Laken Riley’s mother, I would be hard pressed not to go all Jack Ruby on his ass, if I hadn’t already found a way to murder him.

      • Mojeaux

        Fuck. Gilmore’d.

      • SDF-7
      • Mojeaux

        I needed that. Thank you.

  19. rhywun

    Venezuelan migrant with ties to Tren de Aragua grins after being arrested in lewd robbery of NYC prosecutor

    I wonder why they’re always grinning during arrest? Maybe because we take these charmers off Maduro’s hands, feed, clothe, and shelter them, and let them run wild over and over again with no chance of facing any repercussions whatsoever. Whee!

      • Tundra

        How about just running him through a wood chipper?

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Estes was bought by Aerojet-Rocketdyne who started selling some of their smaller solid propellant commercial engines (ie for ejection seats, etc) to the hobby community. There is licensure to purchase and assembly.

    I was really surprised to see model rocket motors on the shelf at Hobby Lobby several years ago.

    • cyto

      High powered model rocketry is a fantastic hobby. I have a mach 1.2 kit in the closet waiting for time that is never going to arrive, right next to my skydiving gear and my scuba gear.

      Yeah, I used to be a lot more fun….

      • Suthenboy

        Same here cyto. The body cant keep up.
        I have had a very full life, dont lots of things not many people get to do, been places very few get to go to, on and on. I think about it these days and it makes me tired. I am about to do my current favorite thing: light a fire, watch TV with my wife and probably fall asleep. The sun isn’t down yet and I am tired and achy.

      • creech

        You ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait until you join the fourscore club.

    • cyto

      On the earlier auto-braking discussion…

      The new requirement is that the system be able to avoid a collision with a human at 62 mph and a car at 90 mph.

      Now….

      Exactly how is that possible? How can any system predict the path of you and another vehicle when you are traveling 90mph?

      Even if it was a stopped vehicle in your lane… a Honda Accord takes a good 300 feet to stop at that speed. Is it just going to slam on the brakes? What if I’m moving over? What if it is wet?

      Worse, let’s say a car crosses the line on a 2 lane road to pass. I’m doing 70. He’s doing 90 so he can complete the pass before he hits me.

      Does it assume he’s gonna slide back over? Or does it assume he is going to continue straight at 90mph?

      This seems like an almost impossible problem if the only tool you have is the brake pedal.

      • Sensei

        You doubt FedGov and its ability to legislate against physics?

      • cyto

        Yes. Yes I do….

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Dude, AI and blockchain.

        it’s the future!

    • Suthenboy

      Advocacy groups are raising the alarm. Imagine that.

    • Urthona

      They better not mess with the perfect ratio of microplastics I currently have in my balls.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    some advocacy groups are raising the alarm.

    I have an idea about what to do with those old lead pipes.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Smack ground squirrels when they flee from the firehose water that just infiltrated their den?

  22. Sensei

    WP spin

    Man found guilty, sentenced to life without parole in Laken Riley murder

    Man, huh?

    • cyto

      So, WaPo….. what is a man?

    • cyto

      So, per their system, killing 77 people is only 30% worse than leaving tire marks on a pride mural.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Donuts on a gay pride mural is symbolic genocide.

      • Tundra

        He should get a sentence reduction for decent vehicle control.

      • rhywun

        He should get a sentence reduction for decent vehicle control.

        Right??

    • Sean

      How is that even recognizable as a gay pride mural? Looks like lame street art.

      • R.J.

        Some poor drunk is going to pee on it and never be heard from again.

      • rhywun

        *raises hand*

        I have no fucking idea.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Best reply

      10 years in prison for the retards who wasted our tax dollars to paint a propaganda mural on the road.

      • cyto

        They said they spend 15 grand to repaint it every time it gets “damaged”

  23. Suthenboy

    “I think we will have a female….woman president pretty soon.” “…the first woman president will probably be a republican…”

    Bill Clinton admitting that conservatives are principled and dont care about sex or race.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I long thought that the first black president would be a Republican too, but that didn’t quite work out.

      • Urthona

        Still could be.

      • cyto

        Colin Powell had a good shot at it if he had turned out to be a principled conservative.

      • cyto

        Condoleeza Rice definitely could have won a lot of support

      • cyto

        I still maintain that if the dems had let Tulsi compete, she could have been nominated and beaten Trump in 2020. She has the charisma to connect to voters that Biden lacked, and Kamala never had

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Condoleeza Rice has a rare combo of likability and hard-assery (no judgement about her neoconism or whatever). Anyhoo – I think she was ready to get out of the game.

  24. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Got outside just as my patio tent/gazebo decided to blow into the trees. Wrestled it back into place and tied down the guy wires (as I should have done weeks ago when I moved to this spot). I have skinny spiral stakes, which aren’t ideal for all the gravel, rocks, and roots here.

    • Tundra

      It’s not pretty, but concrete tent weights work great for less than optimal ground.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        My neighbor hauls concrete blocks for construction sites – maybe I’ll ask him to bring some broken/undeliverable ones home sometime.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Gallon milk jugs, light for traveling when empty

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Good suggestion Yusuf. Those would be easier to decorate/paint than cinder blocks.

      • Gender Traitor

        A few drops of red and green food coloring (ideally in different jugs) and you’re ready for Christmas!

  25. Pope Jimbo

    What is the preferred Glibs registrar? GoDaddy just sent me an email with the straw that broke the camel’s back.

    I’m fucking sick of them. Used to be a good simple registrar and now it has become a hot mess. Much like hotmail, it seems that MicroSoft is behind much of this “improvement”.

    All I need is a registrar that handles my domain registrations and has decent DNS tools.

    • Chipping Pioneer

      I like NameCheap. YMMV.

    • rhywun

      I think the Uberglibs use Dream Host. I went there too and it seems fine. I was using Site5 for a long time which is way overkill for my current needs but I can recommend them too.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Dreamhost.

    • rhywun

      I don’t see any girldicks.

    • Tundra

      Im not sure of the design yet, but nice specs.

      ABS (optional)

      Boing!

  26. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Iceland is ejaculating its hot mess again!

  27. Pope Jimbo

    That’s some nice administrative work, Lou

    A massive calculating error means the Robbinsdale school district will be tens of millions of dollars in the red next school year.
     
    Robbinsdale Area Public Schools is holding a meeting Wednesday night where families can get their questions answered.
     
    Here’s a breakdown of the budget: The district reports the total revenues amount to roughly $200 million, made up of $180 million in general revenues and $20 million in compensatory funding. District leaders say during the budget process, that $20 million was somehow counted twice.

    Robbinsdale isn’t that big of a school district. I’m stunned at the $180M budget.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      According to US News, there are 11,000 students in that district. That works out to 18K/student. Tell me again that schools don’t have enough money.

      • Tundra

        Robbinsdale isn’t exactly known for its scholars, either. $18K is obscene.

      • creech

        One teacher per 20 kids equals $360,000. About $110k too much I’d say.

  28. Chipping Pioneer

    How has no one put together a meme of Gaetz and RFK Jr. as Beavis and Butthead?

Submit a Comment