Link round-up for 29 March 2025

Various interesting stuff I ran across on the net over the last week.

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These dogs are going places.  These cats are staying put.

What an ugly shoe.....oh!

This would have been cooler than e-mail.

Smile!

This could be an interesting tour of German towns.

He wants you to know how it's done.

I'm glad you find housework so amusing.

Destroy all the monsters, but do it weirdly.

Stone-age life had its problems too.

Here's an entertaining animated clip about an unwise battle.

The best guard dog is a dog who is good at logic.

His vehicle matches his distinctive personal style.

Owls are creepy.

A fireman shows how to pick up and carry a person with just one piece of rope -- you'd need to be fairly strong, though.

House design has gotten pretty bad these days (NSFW blog, requires Blogspot login).  Nicer-looking designs here.

You know what they want to do.

The Eiffel Tower has inspired a wide range of artists over the years.

In the Victorian era, it was common to take creepy photographs of dead people.

Animals' reactions to magic tricks are revealing.

This girl used her knowledge of geography to save more than a hundred people, and now has an asteroid named after her.

Marijuana use is linked to a higher risk of strokes and heart attacks, at least in younger people.

Most of last year's growth in electric power generation capacity was in renewable energy, with the US and China leading the way.

BYD's new fast-charging battery is a game-changer for the electric car industry, completely leapfrogging Tesla.

Biomass can be used to extract drinkable water from air, even under fairly dry conditions.

This library, straddling the border between Québec and Vermont, is now the scene of Trumpesque petty harassment.

John "Paddy" Hemingway, the last surviving pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain, has died.  He was 105.

Remember the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.

Frances Perkins played a key role in the major reforms of the first half of the twentieth century.

A relationship can't work when one person is dishonest.

Here are some tips for what to do if you see somebody fall out of a wheelchair.

"AI Labyrinth" is a new Cloudflare feature for fighting back against "AI" "crawlers".  These "crawlers" are beginning to overwhelm the internet, causing serious damage and disruption.

"MyTerms" is a system which aims to give individuals more power to demand that sites they visit respect their privacy.

Step-by-step instructions here for deleting Facebook and Instagram.

Here's yet another way in which "AI" is making things harder for real artists.

After a dud opening weekend, the new Snow White appears to be turkeying out even further, heading for a massive flop due to crap CGI, woke butchering of the story, and star Rachel Zegler's public Israel-bashing.  Maybe Disney will learn its lesson now?  At least I enjoyed YouTuber Overlord DVD's review of the movie.

If your usual search engine refuses to find the info you want when you search on "forbidden" topics, try Yandex, the Russian search engine -- that interface is for English.  It doesn't censor such information (but it's probably not very private, so keep that in mind).

"Zero-click" malware attacks can infect your device without you even clicking on anything, but only under certain conditions.

Today is Tesla Takedown's global day of action, with protests at Tesla showrooms everywhere.  The boycott is a uniquely effective weapon against a "deeply evil man".

Collin Kennedy died, but he did something meaningful first.

The Pentagon has restored web pages on black and Navajo veterans which had been taken down by the Trumpazoids.

23andMe has declared bankruptcy and will be sold, raising concerns about how a future owner might use its collection of genetic data on customers.  You may be able to delete your data there (scroll down), but you should probably act fast.

The amount of "AI"-generated garbage on the internet is rising rapidly.

What would be an appropriate monument for Trump?

Blogger Annie expresses acrostic exasperation at Signalgate.  More here (I usually find that nicknames for politicians quickly get tiresome, but "Kegseth" for Hegseth is inspired).  Ordinary service members guilty of similar negligence would be immediately fired and prosecuted.  Here's a paywall-free version of the Atlantic article containing the full chat.

74% of Americans, including 60% of Republicans, say that Signalgate is "very" or "somewhat" serious.

If you go to protests or post anything political on the internet, follow these precautions to make yourself a less easy target for harassment or persecution.  This is pretty much how I've always handled being on the internet anyway, and would probably be wise for anyone who posts anything at all.

Resistance works:  The Trumpazoids have canceled or postponed most of their plans to bugger up Social Security, after getting massive pushback from retirees and advocates.

Mass deportation efforts are diverting thousands of law-enforcement agents from more important crime-fighting work.

Protest poster suggestions here.

The stakes in Tuesday's state supreme court election in Wisconsin are very high, and Musk has been spending millions to meddle there.

75% of American scientists who responded to a survey by Nature are considering leaving the US.  Trump is blowing the country's brains out.

"Incredulity at being challenged, repetition of the cliché as though its meaning is obvious, then helpless floundering."

Elon Musk's vast wealth is an unstable house of cards.  Tesla and its stock price are the key to destroying it.

Here's the full surveillance camera video of the abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk.  A judge has blocked her deportation for now.

The West Virginia legislature has firmly rejected a bill that would have loosened vaccination requirements.  If such a red state can recognize scientific reality, there's hope.

The trade war with Canada will mostly hurt cities in red states.

Home health care workers in Nevada are trying to get a $20/hour minimum wage.  I'm shocked that they're not already making more than that.  It's damn hard work.

Trump has "warned" US automakers not to raise prices in response to tariffs.  Does he expect them to just absorb the increased costs?  Does he even understand that there will be increased costs?

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a Republican attack on freedom of the press.

Here's an option for showing students that "AI" isn't a reliable source of information.

The measles outbreak is probably much larger than what we've heard.  It's now spreading rapidly through less-vaccinated parts of Kansas.

Tesla has sold only 46,000 Cybertrucks in the US so far, despite Musk's earlier claim of a million reservations.  And what's this bullcrap about selling a hundred million humanoid robots a year?  Who does he think is going to buy them?  Most people have no use for a humanoid robot (unless it's shaggable).

The FTC is removing information that helps ordinary people to protect themselves against giant tech companies.

A worthless measles "treatment" being promoted by RFK Jr is actually making patients even sicker.

Musk's SpaceX allegedly allows investment from China through secret channels, even though its status as a military contractor means such investment would be a security issue (link from reader Chief Squirrel).

Peaceful protests can be effective -- they need to fit the situation.

While Musk is telling Tesla employees not to sell their stock, top bosses at the company are dumping theirs.

A religious lawsuit coming before the Supreme Court this week could undermine a wide range of worker protections.  This abortion case could also do a lot of damage.

Bernie Sanders's "Fighting Oligarchy" tour is tapping into economic-populist feeling in red states.

Support for more US help for Ukraine has increased substantially since December, even among Republicans.

The inclusion of "AI" in any commercial product is a major turn-off for consumers.

Manhattan's Yeshiva University has approved a gay student club after having banned it for years.

The FBI has created a task force to investigate arson attacks on Tesla showrooms and charging stations, which it calls domestic terrorism.  The comments are also worth reading.

The practice of summary deportation of migrants without due process is so unpopular that Trump has begun backpedaling and trying to dissociate himself from it.

Museums and libraries are under threat.  This is a case where action at the state and local level can help.

Reminder:  They can't control people when there are too many people.

As the public turns more and more against trans ideology, Democratic leaders debate how to handle the issue.  So far the discussion is still pretty clueless, but it's a good sign that they're having it at all.

"AI" is being "trained" on images of children, which can be used as raw material to create deepfakes and child porn.  If any picture or video image of your child has ever been posted on the internet anywhere, he or she is at risk.

Private data of several top Trump security officials is freely accessible on the internet.

The Daily Show studio audience cheered at video of arson attacks on Cybertrucks.

Not all protests should be supported.

Far from saving money, DOGE has likely already cost the government about half a trillion dollars.

News here of some recent protest events around the country.  Here's video of the Hagerman town hall in Wyoming.

These parents remain anti-vaxers even though measles killed their daughter, insisting that "measles are good for the body".  Predictably, religion is at the root of it.

Update / must-read:  Canada's breach with the US is much more serious and fundamental than Americans realize.  Most Americans probably think that all our international relationships will just go back to the previous normal after Trump leaves office, but don't count on it.  If Trump was elected twice, some other moron isolationist bully could get elected in the future, and other countries know it.  They'll never consider the US reliable again.

Foreign tourists are avoiding the US because of Trump's rhetoric and the harassment of foreigners here.  Air travel bookings between Canada and the US are down more than 70%.

Today many who once promoted trans ideology are backpedaling and trying to re-write history, but the enormous damage they did must never be forgotten nor forgiven.

Sussex University abjectly failed to defend free speech, and now faces a £585,000 fine for its cowardice.

Spraying children with urine and demanding oral sex from them was just his way of "affirming femininity".

Sweden is supplying early warning observation planes to Ukraine, now that US equipment is considered less dependable for political reasons.  France is promising €2 billion in new aid.

Signalgate makes allies leery of sharing intelligence with the US.

Boycotts of US consumer goods are spreading across Europe.

Italy has frozen talks on a deal with Musk's Starlink.

Trump's attacks on Zelensky have strengthened his support in Ukraine.

A plastics factory has burned in Russia, about four hundred miles east of Moscow.  It is not clear yet whether the cause was incompetence, sabotage, or Ukrainian attack.

Authorities in Russia are offering schoolgirls the equivalent of $1,200 to have babies in an effort to raise the country's catastrophically-low birth rate.  Discussion here.

Twitter has frozen the accounts of opponents of Turkey's authoritarian president Erdoğan.

Gazans are marching in protest against Hamas and demanding an end to the conflict with Israel.

52% of Gazans say they would be willing to leave the Strip, temporarily or permanently.

Even according to Hamas's own claims about casualty figures, fighting-age males are vastly over-represented among the deaths, meaning that Israel is doing a good job of focusing on terrorists who are legitimate targets.

A West Bank delegation visits the United Arab Emirates and finds common ground.

India and Europe are strengthening ties with each other in the face of Trump's isolationism, but India's ambivalence about the Ukraine war remains an issue.

The Chinese regime's brutal persecution of the Uighur minority is continuing and getting worse.

More links at Red State Blues and WAHF.

My own posts this week:  some truths and inspirations, a video on the guillotine, and why individual Tesla owners should not be targeted.

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Don't be that guy

The boycott and protest movement against Tesla has been the biggest success of the resistance so far in Trump's second term, causing a huge drop in the company's stock price and inflicting a massive loss on the personal net worth of Elon Musk, the malignant oligarch responsible for most of the actual damage done over the last two months.  Yet this has been accompanied by a few acts aimed at innocent individuals, not at the company that props up Musk's wealth.  Such acts are not only morally wrong but counterproductive to the cause.

I'm referring to the attacks of various kinds aimed at individual Tesla owners, ranging from vandalism to personal intimidation.  These cost the Tesla company nothing; once a car is sold, the company has made its money and does not care what happens to the car it no longer owns.  More seriously, such acts target individual persons whose story you do not know.  Some people bought Teslas due to environmental concerns, before Musk began supporting Trump; and many people simply don't follow politics closely.  Many people who own Teslas can't afford to sell them and buy something else, especially now that the market for used ones is cratering (if the company that made my own car became linked to something shady, it would be totally infeasible for me to sell my car and replace it).  Even if the owner is an actual Trump supporter, in a free society people are not punished for having opinions somebody else doesn't like.

This is not at all in the same category as picketing a Tesla showroom.  It's like the difference between picketing the entrance to a business where employees are striking, and blocking traffic on a highway -- the difference between targeted action that directly hits the revenue stream of the enemy, and harassing and tormenting random innocent people who have no connection with the problem you're protesting.  It does Tesla and Musk no economic harm at all.  It also actively drives away potential supporters from the cause.  Every video like this is worth millions to Tesla in the form of negative publicity about its opponents.  The guy looks like a terrorist and every reasonable person's sympathy is with the victim.  Don't be that guy.  Don't go anywhere near being that guy.

Video of the day -- the good death machine

NOTICE:  Some readers may find this video disturbing.  If you are sensitive to this type of subject matter, you may prefer not to watch it.

A couple of observations:  First, when using the guillotine specifically (as opposed to other forms of decapitation), in most cases the high-energy impact of the weighted blade would send a shock wave through the cerebrospinal fluid and knock the brain unconscious, so even if the brain technically remained alive for a few seconds or tens of seconds, there would be no awareness.  Only in some rare instances, such as are described here, would consciousness persist at all.

Second, it is striking that even in those cited cases, the persistence of consciousness (and therefore of suffering) is far briefer than with any of the modern and more "civilized" forms of execution which Simon lists early in the video.  The "national ethos" noted by judge Kozinski later on seems more a matter of pandering to popular squeamishness than of truly being more humane to the condemned.

One could argue that some criminals' acts are so heinous as to deserve additional suffering during the execution, but the use of actual torture as a punishment (as opposed to the death penalty itself) is universally rejected by civilized countries, and probably rightly so.  This being the case, our modern use of slower and crueler methods is actually a moral step backwards relative to the guillotine.

Truths and inspirations for 24 March 2025

If something's hard to see or read, click to enlarge.

[For the link round-up, click here.]

Maybe instead of trying to make Canada the fifty-first state, we should apply to become the eleventh province.

Contrary to the media narrative, so far there have been more protests this time around than during the equivalent period at the beginning of Trump's first term.

That last point is something I see on left-leaning blogs and comment threads often.  Broadcast-only mode, all lecturing and no listening.  They make almost a virtue of shielding themselves from ever hearing a different viewpoint.  The fact that a lot of the right wing does the same doesn't make this any less offensive or self-defeating.

Mexicans approve of their president's handling of Trump.