CRANKY OLD FART’S
BROWSER HISTORY
#369 [archive]
• US woman sentenced to two years in prison for giving her daughter abortion pills
[Original link]
We’re not living in the America that forced me to pledge allegiance,
and it’s not even some shit-hole new America. This is the Republic of
Gilead.
My frustration and anger are at giraffe height. Serious question: What can be done to fight American fascism, that isn’t already being done to no apparent avail?
• Pentagon working to restore benefits to LGBTQ+ veterans forced out under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
[Original link]
Didn’t see this percolating until it hit — and it’s the best news of
the week. It’s not often your government does the inarguably right
thing.
I’m sure Republicans will be furious.
• Confessions of a viral AI writer
[Original link]
Not every link is a recommendation. This one’s the
opposite — I recommend you laugh and/or scream at it, as I did.
The author says she’s a lifelong writer, and the most
popular piece she’s written was, effectively, co-written by artificial
intelligence. “Despite my success with AI-generated stories,” she says,
“I’m not sure they are good for writers — or writing itself.”
That’s as brilliant as saying, “Despite my success playing with guns, I’m not sure Russian Roulette is good for your health.”
AI is the end of human-created art. Once artificial intelligence becomes less expensive than paying artists and employees, nobody will ever
experience non-AI news, films, books, musical recordings, paintings,
sculptures, tattoos, or anything else that’s even remotely ‘art’, without making a
very specific effort to find a non-AI source.
• Target announces nine store closures, cites ‘organized retail crime’
[Original link]
Some months ago, I saw video from one of these “organized retail crimes,” and it was beautiful. Nobody got hurt, and nobody was victimized.
Target is an enormous conglomerate, exponentially larger and more
profitable than any business should be allowed to be become. A
corporation so huge as Target has no moral right to exist, and thus has no valid
claim to ‘property’, and cannot be ‘stolen’ from in any sane sense.
• Yes, there was global warming in prehistoric times. But nothing in millions of years compares with what we see today
[Original link]
Yet another eloquent explanation of reality from the climatologist
Michael Mann, clear thinking which will of course be ignored,
misunderstood, or mocked by morons.• Is this house haunted? A skeptical inquiry.
[Original link]
The author’s Spock-like debunking of woo is a mid-level joy.
The omnipresence of non-thinking —
superstition, spiritualism, religion, your lucky rabbit’s foot, or a
house seriously suspected of being haunted — is what fuels world-wide stupidity.
• Biden urges striking auto workers to “stick with it” in picket line visit unparalleled in history
[Original link]
Standing on the UAW picket line is a symbolic gesture from the
President, but symbolic gestures are nice, and this one’s for the good
guys, which is rare. It’s appreciated by me, and it’s seriously more than I
expected after Biden blocked a railroad strike last year.
• The real bullies
[Original link]
Excerpt: … I learned an important lesson that day. The real bullies weren’t my peers, but the officials who lorded over us and felt they could abuse us with impunity. Ever since, I’ve been deeply mistrustful of the kind of bullying assholes who get on school boards or other elected positions, or who are hired by bigger bullies into positions of power, who just want to control others. …
• The best science fiction films about time travel (by a joint director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Time at the University of Sydney)
[Original link]• There’s no such thing as an ethical museum
[Original link] • I’d never much noticed, but the Spy Kids franchise is Hispanic, and that’s awesome
[Original link] • Insurrectionists who think they are upholding the Constitution are still insurrectionists — and still subject to disqualification under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment
[Original link]
• How the United States punishes people for being poor
[Original link] • Republican Congressman calls for execution of Joint Chiefs Chair
[Original link]
Excerpt: In an email to his constituents, he called Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley a “traitor” who should be put to death.
… “In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung.”
Gosar also accused Milley of being a “traitor” who coordinated with the Chinese military and actively worked against Trump. The attacks echo what Trump himself seemed to wish upon Milley, writing in a Truth Social post on Friday that “in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”
• The world’s oldest active torrent turns 20 years old
[Original link] • Amazon has turned into an monopolistic shit-hole littered with pay-to-play ads, FTC lawsuit solemnly argues
[Original link]
Excerpt: A quick example. When I searched for “Apple lightning cord” on Amazon, my top three results were for cables made by a company called “Durcord,” then an Amazon Basics cord, then a four-pack of cables made by a company called Susnwere, then, finally, a cable made by Apple itself. When I searched for “Anker lightning cable,” the top ad slot was for three Anker charging blocks—NOT the lightning cable. Then I was given lightning cables for a company called Gyusity and one from a company called KIYODA, before the Anker cable showed up. When I searched for simply “lightning cord,” none of the results on the first page were from Apple, many of them were sponsored, and the top result for a product called “Apple iPhone Charger Cable” was from a company called Uzento.
• Archaeologists find 500-year-old board game carved in ruins of Polish castle
[Original link] • The Police Problem
This is my ongoing collection of police brutality, beatings, and general corruption.• Amusing, Interesting, Outrageous, or Profound
And this is my Lemmy page, for anything that’s amusing, interesting, outrageous, or profound (in my opinion).
♫♬ AUDIO ♫• Bronson and the Punk Rock Creeps • The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has released an album • Wavacity
📸 IMAGES 📸• Intersection Fields: high-rise of homes
It’s a concept of ‘vertical village’ that can’t work as anything other than an apartment complex, can it? Not without sunshine and a public square…• Robin Williams reading a newspaper • Sarcasm
♫♬ MUSIC ♫• Atlantis — Donovan • The Last Farewell — Roger Whittaker • News Theme — Broadcast News • Someday Soon — Judy Collins • Wicked Game — Chris Isaak
❔ MYSTERY LINKS ❔
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• Click • Click • Click • Click • Click
👁 VIDEO 👁• “Don’t Be a Sucker” — 1947 anti-fascist film made by the U.S. War Department • Moose shower • Sit down, kid. • Women’s self-defense, demonstration by May Whitley, 1930 (☆turn the sound on☆)
🕸 WEB WISDOM 🕸• I judge you very harshly… • My
daughter and her friends were saying they were Satanists to piss off
the “normal” kids. So I had her look up TST’s 7 fundamental tenets. Now
she really is one. • The problem isn’t that ChatGPT can spit out derivative work, it’s why it can spit out derivative work. • Shortcuts in the sky
☠ OBITUARIES ☠• Burkey Belser
[Original link] • Bobby Durnbaugh • Terry Kirkman
[Original link] • Robert Klane
[Original link] • David McCallum
[Original link] • Barry Olivier
[Original link] • Horace Ové
[Original link] • Bobby Schiffman
[Original link]
• Jessie “Boss Lee” Ward
[Original link] • Hollis Watkins
[Original link] • Roger Whittaker
[Original link]
9/27/2023
offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that’s made me
smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.
Joey Jo Jo emeritus, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra
special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and
proved that the world isn’t always shitty.
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