One grind deserves another.
Holidays are done. Everyone at work who took time off last week and the week before … they are back and clawing through their vast backlog of emails. Many are from me…imploring these people for answers, decisions and such. I figure I have made myself enough of a pest that I will be left alone today. So far, so good.
But you came here for Links. And links you shall have!
- “You idiot proles are just imagining problems!” Not the stance I thought I would see, but not totally unexpected.
- Never change, European media. “Far right” in Austria…just happens to be the number one vote getter in the last election. Of course, you all know I was totally tempted to put in a “You know who else…” joke. But that would have been just too easy.
- How many middle fingers can the Biden Krew flip at the US on the way out?
- NEVER say I don’t bring the hard hitting, substantive news!
Music – based on that last link.
The comments are open and all yours.
“The overall stats are positive. Last year we were actually at 12 and a half percent less crime than 2019, the last year before COVID,” Lieber said.
Less crime, or less reported crime? There’s a difference, and even New Yorkers know it.
Also, “Janno Lieber” sounds like a character out of one of the Star Wars spinoffs.
Just because you’re paranoid…
That guy must have read How to Lie with Statistics. Murders are up, maybe other crimes are down, who the fuck knows? Everyone runs with their own numbers – and that includes the NY Post.
Anyway, the problem with New York is that it’s full of New Yorkers. That is how you lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year to fare theft and how you get people stabbed or run over on the tracks all the time.
They try that shit here too. If the criminal gets bounced the crime magically disappears.
Looking at the crime stats over the last ten years is wild, though. I’m sure it’s not the whole story but I’m unconvinced that legal week as enacted here was a net positive.
Now do Covid
They stopped arresting gate jumpers so crime is down.
Big fish
A bluefin tuna sold for more than $1.3 million at an annual fish auction in Tokyo, in what organizers said was the second-highest bid since the event began in 1999.
The 608-pound bluefin tuna, which is about the size and weight of a motorcycle, was purchased for 207 million yen ($1,316,835) at the new year auction at the Toyosu market, the main fish market in Tokyo, by seafood wholesaler Yamayuki and Michelin-starred sushi chain operator Onodera Group.
The Onodera Group has won the auction for five consecutive years.
“The first tuna is meant to bring good fortune,” company president Shinji Nagao told reporters at the market right after the auction. “Our hope is that by eating this tuna everyone will have a good year.”
Is a fish that big and old tender?
Yes.
The otoro alone will be worth thousands.
Tora! Tora! Tora!
I’m the guy that speaks Japanese and doesn’t like sushi and people look at me like I’m crazy. But some of my Japanese friends are the same.
BTW if you haven’t seen it:
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiro_Dreams_of_Sushi
Get that belly in my belly!
You’re just jelly.
The Dutch have auctioned off the first barrel of herring for a while – same idea (without the luck, it is just a charity fundraiser).
So disgusting. Not lutefisk disgusting, but still.
Someone has to provide the tools for chopping down the mightiest tree in the forest, Tundra.
Damn, now I want some pickled herring.
The first time I went on a picnic with The Bosslady, I brought along a jar of them, and to my surprise, she dove right in.
That’s when I knew she was a kipper.
:opera clap:
“about the size and weight of a motorcycle”
That makes no sense. Also, I thought the standard unit of measure these days is bananas.
I used to know the guy who ran the fish auctions in Honolulu. He gave Mrs. Holiness and I a tour and it was really cool.
Honolulu does single fish auctions and when a tuna is on the block, they cut a small 5 inch section off its tail to reveal the meat. I guess some tuna have parasite infections of some sort and by looking at the color of the meat you can detect it.
The guy giving us the tour told us how he had a worker who would diligently collect those little 5 inch filets and feed his family with them.
The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, won Austria’s parliamentary election in September, taking 28.8% of the vote and beating outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party into second place.
But in October, President Alexander Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the first chance to form a new government after Nehammer’s party said it wouldn’t go into government with the Freedom Party under Kickl and others refused to work with the Freedom Party at all. Those efforts to form a governing alliance without the far right collapsed in the first few days of the new year and Nehammer said Saturday that he would resign.
This Nehammer guy sounds like a real Weiner.
Which is strange, because I’ve been told that no Austrian can be a bad person.
There it is. I wonder if these people ever ask themselves what a lot of other countries – countries who do not earn the “far right” label – do to “uninvited foreigners”.
How about the countries those uninvited migrants are from?
They don’t want ’em either.
Minnesoda still has a bunch of El Salvadoran “refugees” who are here because of an earthquake in the ’90s. There was much angst last time Trump was in about him not extending their refugee status. (He did extend it).
Once you let people in, they ain’t never going back.
FDA limits toxic lead in some baby foods
Is non-toxic lead OK?
Our regulatory state continues its quest to remove exponentially smaller amounts of legitimate toxins with increasingly diminishing returns. We wouldn’t want to spend that effort and societal resources on something that actually might add to average lifespan at the same costs would we?
https://apnews.com/article/lead-baby-food-fda-guidelines-4883f8afe285ee7c28e8322d5e353f21
They had better not do the analysis on tomatoes.
…or coconuts, or coffee, or apricots or….
“Good enough” would equate to “Our job is done” – and we know no government agency ever declares that to be true. (And to be fair — yes, more than a few private enterprises as well, but those don’t have funding in perpetuam….)
My favorite is congress. They have so much work to do.
Clue: you have been working on a basic set of rules for 250 fucking years. If you haven’t dont it yet you aren’t going to. Go home.
No man ever solved a problem when his job is based on the problem’s existence.
Historically this hasn’t been an issue because the food industry knew enough to avoid buying ingredients from third world shithole grown in third world shit.
Are you suggesting Gerber might carefully track ingredients for some reason?
Sukiyabashi Jiro is a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. As of 2023, Jiro Ono serves a tasting menu of roughly 20 courses, for a minimum of JP¥55,000 (US$270).
And then you go get a hamburger.
By global sushi costs and restaurant standards that’s an incredible bargain. And you won’t leave hungry.
As I noted it’s not my thing, but I have friends and coworkers that love the stuff so I hear plenty about it.
20 individual pieces of sushi is more than I can comfortably eat in one sitting. And I’m not known for the paucity of my appetite.
20 courses? Whew. Not saying I wouldn’t give it a try though.
I was gonna say, that’s spendy, but not by top-end restaurant standards, and I’m sure not by top-end Tokyo restaurant standards.
My sister-in-law loves a local cheap ass conveyor belt sushi restaurant. It is always packed to the gills and is pretty good.
I like sashimi more than sushi, but I definitely pig out on sushi.
Back to the grind and trying to remember what exactly I do here.
I actually worked a few days last week but since no one else apparently did it was chaos today.
No talk of Trudeau / Castreau yet????
https://x.com/michaelmalice/status/1876327588475597148
My hope is that when they get around to elections Pollievre does well and acts as he’s been talking (politicians doing what they say… my optimism still apparently springs eternal).
My worry is that they’ll swap Labour leader with the deputy that quit because she saw the writing on the wall and they’ll finagle the general to keep the “far right” out of power and we’ll have same shit, different day. We’ll see… I’d love to see Canada and Britain both throw all the scoundrels out and realize that there is value in Western Civ and to stop trying to dismantle it… but I’m sure not holding my breath.
Yeah, don’t hold your breath. I fear things have to get far, far worse first.
He will win, but nobody will work with him in typical commie shitbird fashion.
The otoro alone will be worth thousands.
Per serving?
From Cat Food to Sushi Counter: The Strange Rise of the Bluefin Tuna
The fish can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. But just 45 years ago, big bluefin tuna were caught for fun, killed and ground into pet food
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/from-cat-food-to-sushi-counter-the-strange-rise-of-the-bluefin-tuna-5980010/
The lobster of the sea.
Is it a dude?
/wanders off to read article
Crappy production quality because not enough people watch for it to be a real show anymore is what I got. :shrug:
And I half expected Swiss to link the “Must increase our Bust” song that I think was a music link last week….
You mean Lords of Acid?
Yeah — that’s the song. Link was different as I remember, though. :shrug:
Looking at throat, shoulders, hips, hands, arms….I am thinking ‘not a dude’.
What difference does it make. The left has shat on everything that used to mean something.
Nah, just streaming bullshit again. Yes, it does ruin everything it touches. I knew that already.
I’ve mentioned that many years ago, I had some beauty pageant or another on the TV (not paying close attention,) and I got suspicious when they prominently featured music from “La Cage aux Folles” and the then-popular song “Let’s Hear It for the Boy.” 😕
For the gamers:
https://x.com/RetroTechDreams/status/1876375213849321958
I was expecting this.
Hilary is pretty stoked about her medal:
https://x.com/DrClownPhD/status/1875628086517264693
🙂
It looks like someone won the Boggle championship at the nursing home…
Best answer yet.
When I saw a pic of her getting it, my first thought was “How much Wegovy is she on, anyway?”
When I saw a pic of her getting it
Are we not doing phrasing anymore? I suppose we should count our blessing that you didn’t mention velcro.
I was just looking up something on the webz, and part of the explanation read “The phrase was popularized by Robert F. Kennedy’s “Ripple of Hope” speech, and was further spread by intelligentsia like Albert Camus and Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
In what f**king world is HRC part of the “intelligentsia”?
Camus is spinning in his grave.
She gets so many undeserved awards and medals which just cheapens the honor of winning one and destroys any distinction the medal has for those truly deserving of them. When she wins something, the award’s purpose…”to honor those who have distinguished themselves by…..” – becomes so much drivel and what so many of the winners deserve is not a medal but a rope hanging around their neck from a lamp post.
These awards are as fake as the Grammys, Oscars or Miss America.
Who gives a fuck? There might have been a time when people were rewarded for greatness, but that train has sailed.
Maybe the MoH is still legit.
It’s like Prince Harry receiving the Pat Tillman Award.
Slave to the Grind
Grind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T53Jh1B5ZhM&ab_channel=ShootToLuna
Earlier version.
The AP is on the case
Attempts to form a government without the far-right Freedom Party collapsed in recent days, more than three months after it won a parliamentary election. President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday tasked its leader, Herbert Kickl, with trying to put together a coalition in the coming weeks or months.
The Freedom Party was founded in 1956 by former Nazis and, over the decades, has become an established political force in Austria. It has led provincial governments and served as a junior partner in national governments — but never led a national administration until now.
So long, Poland.
They might add that all the “center left” parties in Europe were founded by communists.
And the eagle on the Austrian flag holds a hammer and a sickle.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kickl joined some other critics of the World Health Organization in advocating use of ivermectin, a medicine for treatment of parasitic worms in animals, to treat the disease.
Obligatory.
“They also encouraged the intake of dihydrogen monoxide — a chemical compound found in all victims of COVID and found to fatal if improperly ingested when not under the care of a physician!”
Did you know dihydrogen monoxide also kills hundreds of children each year in their own backyard while just trying to cool off in a poo? And it can fall from the sky in such copious quantities that whole towns are destroyed?
Well, you have to wonder about anyone who would cool off in a poo.
The Freedom Party is pro-Russian and skeptical about EU mandates, calling for a “Fortress Austria” that can wrest decision-making power from Brussels. The party’s rise has coincided with rising voter anger about immigration and inflation.
The Freedom Party is part of a right-wing populist alliance in the European Parliament, Patriots for Europe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, seen by many as the most pro-Russia leader of any EU country, hailed “an historic victory” for the Freedom Party after Austria’s elections in September. Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders said his movement was “winning” in Europe.
The “rise” of “far right” political parties has nothing to do with ongoing EU policies.
They never quite catch what precedes every “far right” rise, do they?
The power struggle between slavers in Europe continues. Two different flavors of shit.
Does “pro-Russia” mean anything beyond not wanting to feed the laundromat slash meat-grinder in Ukraine?
nothing to do with ongoing EU policies
Well of course not, those are all perfect as designed by the elite that are the only ones that should ever rule.
I will probably never enter NYC again iny life. Now, on top of the $20 or so toll to get there, there will be a $9 “Congestion Fee” for having a vehicle there.
https://abc7ny.com/post/congestion-pricing-toll-begins-nyc-drivers-entering-center-manhattan/15757042/
Good luck NY Glibs.
We welcome the “keep the poor people from driving in NYC” tax. I haven’t been in NYC except for business related reasons for years, and that extra 9$ will just be expensed along with the bridge/tunnel toll and parking.
Now just wait until “favored groups” get exempt from the fee.. it will then be another political football.
I recall public employees were mad they weren’t exempted.
Members of political dynasties don’t pay tolls, you prole!
They will be. You can count on it.
I don’t know the details of this but it seems to me turning public roads into toll roads just because would cause riots. Oh, NYC. Never mind.
No break for Manhattan residents, either.
So you get to pay some more if you wanna use that car you own, from that apartment you pay for
The wealthiest people in the region? Yeah, I don’t think they’re going to open their yaps if they’re smart.
Except for… (drumroll) rent-controlled folks.
We assuredly don’t want that to exist, but it does.
So my 87 year old aunt in the LES, in her rent controlled apartment, can’t rely on a ride from her son (currently living there), since keeping his car nearby and driving in and out regularly for work would be brutal. He takes the subway and leave his car at his girlfriend’s place in Long Beach. And she doesn’t have a regularly available ride.
The fun part is that this fee, which will be given to the bus and train system, raises about the same amount per year as the bus and train system loses to fare theft every year.
One of my coworkers recently mentioned that she pays $80/day in tolls and parking anytime she actually goes into our NYC office (in Manhattan). That was before this new tax.
How the fuck do people put up with that? I think I’m getting royally screwed if I have to pay $5 for a day’s parking in Minneapolis.
Our local urban geographer has a huge hard on for congestion pricing though.
So, let me see. The politicians who did everything to make everyone work from home, due to La Peste, now want everyone to come back, as they destroyed the tax base by the previous maneuver, and now want you to pay $[shit tons] a day to get there.
How do you say stupid?
No, no! They want you to take mass transit, which is TOtally safe! And you meet the nicest people!
In 25 years I never met a person who drove to Manhattan for work. That’s how.
You would have to be fucking insane to drive there.
Well among my 10 coworkers surrounding my seat not a single one drives to the office.
NYC is unique in the number of people who take public transportation.
My coworker doesn’t go into the city very often. So maybe $80 every couple weeks isn’t bad?
https://nypost.com/2025/01/06/us-news/nyc-drivers-devise-clever-ways-to-obscure-license-plates-as-congestion-toll-takes-effect/
Good.
I’m expecting people will be taking baseball bats to the cameras before long.
Even better.
Does “pro-Russia” mean anything beyond not wanting to feed the laundromat slash meat-grinder in Ukraine?
It could conceivably include not wanting to participate in EU “cut off your nose to spite your face” energy policy.
For the average citizen is there any aspect of the EU that is advantageous? Something to do with open trade? Taxes? Anything? “You can go backpacking anywhere!” doesnt count.
Keeping Greece and Spain afloat?
Though they like to bitch and moan, the poorer countries in the east have received a lot of money for things like freeways.
The EU gives out money to help improve infrastructure. So, the poorer countries get some decent roads and bridges built. Do the richer countries benefit from it? I don’t know. Maybe they love to have a second home in Spain and stay there as long as they want.
I dug out the 4runner just enough for me to get to work tomorrow.
GT asked if we got ice, no. Just snow. Local neighbor has a small ATV with a front end loader helped clear out the side streets that got no plowing.
🙂👍
It’s getting to be woodchipper time.
https://x.com/matt_vanswol/status/1876351873705488739
Jesus. Government is so compassionate!
It’s really amazing. Remember that many of these places are now designated a flood plain so insurance will either be unobtainable or absurdly expensive.
Personally I would tell them to go fuck themselves. It takes a long time to repo a property so I would wait for the dust to settle.
I’m surprised anybody would expect different. Those functionary salaries aren’t going to pay themselves.
Well, those functionaries are out of a job before much longer anyway. There’s probably a fair number of properties that just won’t pay at all, on account of can’t rebuild and will just take whatever insurance money they can get and move. You’re welcome to an unsellable lot covered in debris, Buncombe County.
And then there’s next year, when valuations will have to crash, either up front or after being challenged, which will take tax receipts with them.
So, Buncombe County, Inc. is fucked regardless, and might as well have taken the hit now.
at Ozy and RC – I dead-threaded some responses to your points on the last article. I won’t pull them forward to beat a dead horse, but appreciate the thoughts!
Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I’m going off of what is probably a degraded memory of a philosophy of science (don’t laugh, it was actually very interesting) class from, well, I-don’t-want-to-do-the-math long ago.