1/. The abortion lunatics aren't finished - they'll be coming for your contraception next....
‘A small but frighteningly zealous group of lawmakers will not be happy until every woman who so much as thinks about abortion is thrown in jail.’ Photograph: Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/Shutterstock The war on abortion pills takes a terrifying new turn
Have you ever come across a scientific study and immediately thought to yourself: why? What was the point of this work exactly? Why were resources and brainpower devoted to figuring this particular thing out?
Normally I have this thought when a study comes out about whether, for example, Viagra can help hamsters recover from jet lag (it can!) or whether mosquitoes like electronic dance music (not really!). On this occasion, however, it was prompted by news that researchers in Poland have developed tests that can detect whether a woman has taken mifepristone and misoprostol, the drugs that are used in a medication abortion and colloquially known as abortion pills.
2/. An intelligent discussion of Artificial Intelligence, and where it is going, which we don't see anywhere in the media.
This article is frankly disturbing, and since there is zero regulation of AI and what it could lead to, and some of the conclusions are terrifying.
It's like climate change isn't enough....we need another scary thing.
We invented wheels and compasses and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and the eames lounge chair and penicillin and e = mc2 and beer that comes in six-packs and guns and dildos and the Pet Rock and Doggles (eyewear for dogs) and square watermelons. “One small step for man.” We came up with the Lindy Hop and musical toothbrushes and mustard gas and glow-in-the-dark Band-Aids and paper and the microscope and bacon—fucking bacon!—and Christmas. “Ma-ma-se, ma-ma-sa, ma-ma-ko-ssa.” We went to the bottom of the ocean and into orbit. We sucked energy from the sun and fertilizer from the air. “Let there be light.” We created the most amazing pink flamingo lawn ornaments that come in packs of two and only cost $9.99!
3/. Yes it's a toon, but it isn't funny.....it's real.
4/. I have never heard the American Military mentioned specifically about climate change, so this
article is really interesting and points out how much of a polluter our armed forces are...........
With nearly 10,000 people expected to take to the streets of New York City on September 17 for the March to End Fossil Fuels, the climate justice movement seems more organized than ever. But, there’s a big elephant in the room, and it has the Pentagon written all over it.
The U.S. military is the world’s largest institutional oil consumer. It causes more greenhouse gas emissions than 140 nations combined and accounts for about one-third of America’s total fossil fuel consumption. The Department of Defense (DoD) also uses huge amounts of natural gas and coal, as well as nuclear power plants at its bases around the country. How can we demand the U.S. be part of a movement that aims to end the use of fossil fuels and protect our planet when their own institution is wreaking havoc without accountability? The answer: you can’t https://www.nationofchange.org/2023/09/11/the-pentagon-is-the-elephant-in-the-climate-activist-room/
5/. Tom Tomorrow and Republican reality.....
6/. This is serious - apparently they are having problems finding workers to do the cleanup from Idalia.....as well
as construction labor all across Florida.
Thanks Ron, for your immigration policy.....
When Hurricane Idalia struck last week, Michael Burnett’s bayside home in Crystal River, Fla., was inundated with a noxious cocktail of storm water and sewage from burst pipes that rose to his chest.
“We lost everything we owned,” Mr. Burnett, the manager of a gun shop, said. “All my kids’ clothes, all my guitars, all my guns, everything I have collected is gone.”
He added, “The only saving grace was those guys who came to my house.”
The “guys” are four undocumented men he hired to help sort through the muck, members of an immigrant work force that in recent years has helped communities in Florida and other states clean up and rebuild after climate disasters, with thousands of such workers rushing in.
7/. Emma Stone is amazing.....here she is in a lip sync contest with Jimmy Fallon.....impressive and amusing!
8/. We laugh at the antics of right wing media, but the net effect on the people they are attacking is
intimidating - even FBI agents are worried about their safety....
The DOJ’s indictment of Hunter Biden reveals a horrible truth: our criminal justice system just caved to threats of political violence. This is a terrible milestone, revealing how far down the fascist rabbit-hole the GOP has gone. It should be front-page news but is instead relegated to a footnote.
Trump-aligned Nazis threatened violence against FBI agents and prosecutors investigating Hunter Biden after Republicans in Congress and hosts on Fox “News” and other rightwing outlets named people they claimed were “going soft” on the president’s son.
9/. No respect! Rodney Dangerfield on the Carson Show......
10/. Loneliness is a health problem in the country.....good insights from Nicolas Kristof.....
Loneliness crushes the soul, but researchers are finding it does far more damage than that. It is linked to strokes, heart disease, dementia, inflammation and suicide; it breaks the heart literally as well as figuratively.
Loneliness is as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and more lethal than consuming six alcoholic drinks a day, according to the surgeon general of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy. Loneliness is more dangerous for health than obesity, he says — and, alas, we have been growing more lonely. A majority of Americans now report experiencing loneliness, based on a widely used scale that asks questions such as whether people lack companionship or feel left out.
11/. Poor Kevin MaCarthy....NOT. The guy is a dangerous joke....
12/. And speaking of health, a friend's primary doctor sent him this.....a scathing look at our medical system.....
It's spot on....
In the mosaic floor of the opulent atrium of a house excavated at Pompeii is a slogan ironic for being buried under 16 feet of volcanic ash: Salve Lucrum, it reads, “Hail, Profit.” That mosaic would be a fitting decoration today in many of health care’s atria.
The grip of financial self-interest in US health care is becoming a stranglehold, with dangerous and pervasive consequences. No sector of US health care is immune from the immoderate pursuit of profit, neither drug companies, nor insurers, nor hospitals, nor investors, nor physician practices.
Rapidly increasing pharmaceutical costs are now familiar to the public. Pharmaceutical companies have used monopoly ownership of medications to raise prices to stratospheric levels, and not just for new drugs. Flaws in US patent laws leave loopholes allowing profiteering drug companies to gain control of some simple and long-known medications and to raise prices without constraint. Eye-popping prices for new, essential biological and biosimilar drugs, enabled by the failure of any serious drug price regulation, have yielded enormous profits for drug companies even though much of the basic biological research funding has come from governmental sources.
13/. Andrew Sullivan on the Republican party, or what's left of it....nihilism...
The most poignant passage in the just-published excerpt of McKay Coppins’ biography of Mitt Romney is not the image of him eating cold salmon-and-ketchup sandwiches, but of him prepping for the impeachment of Donald J Trump: Romney did his best to be a model juror — he took notes, parsed the arguments, and agonized each night in his journal over how he should vote. “Interestingly, sometimes I think I will be voting to convict, and sometimes I think I will vote to exonerate,” he wrote on January 23. “I jot down my reasons for each, but when I finish, I begin to consider the other side of the argument … I do the same thing — with less analysis of course — in bed. That’s probably why I’m not sleeping more than 4 or 5 hours.”
What’s poignant is the sincerity. And its rarity.
14/. If he wins, this will not be a joke...
15/. When does it end? David Wallace-Wells says our trees and forests aren't carbon sinks any more - between
the fires and the deforestation they are now net emitters....
Canadian wildfires have this year burned a land area larger than 104 of the world’s 195 countries. The carbon dioxide released by them so far is estimated to be nearly 1.5 billion tons — more than twice as much as Canada releases through transportation, electricity generation, heavy industry, construction and agriculture combined. In fact, it is more than the total emissions of more than 100 of the world’s countries — also combined.
But what is perhaps most striking about this year’s fires is that despite their scale, they are merely a continuation of a dangerous trend: Every year since 2001, Canada’s forests have emitted more carbon than they’ve absorbed. That is the central finding of a distressing analysis published last month by Barry Saxifrage in Canada’s National Observer, ominously headlined “Our forests have reached a tipping point.”
16/. Wonderful real commercial from Chevron....
Watch it twice....
17/. Mount Dora made the US edition of the Guardian.....nice story, pretty fair....
A central Florida city is moving forward with plans to join the popular national Safe Place initiative protecting LGBTQ+ people and others, despite opposition from Republicans who consider it a “deceptive and coercive” political mandate.
Councilors in Mount Dora, a historic and eclectic small city famous for its antiques stores, art galleries and festivals, voted last month to affiliate with Safe Place, which seeks to give victims of hate crimes or bias a temporary shelter if they feel threatened
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/15/florida-city-safe-place-lgbtq-republicans?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
18/ When Bob Lefsetz recommends a show it's probably worth watching.....e.g.Fauda!
"Silk", on Amazon...
This is the show I was talking about, you know, the one from the BBC, on Amazon Prime.
My number one criterion for a streaming series is that it holds my attention, that my mind doesn’t wander, that I’m immersed in it. And “Silk” delivered on this premise. And I heartily recommend it.
Once again, “Silk” is a legal drama. And that is a time-worn paradigm, something you’re familiar with. But unlike American legal dramas “Silk” is focused primarily on the law, what happens in the office and in the courtroom, as opposed to the penumbra, i.e. the sex lives of the characters. The characters in “Silk” are three-dimensional as a result of what they say, that’s what sharp writing delivers. As for exactly who they are outside of the office, there’s an air of mystery. We know very little about Billy Lamb, the Shoe Lane clerk.
19/. Movies to watch out for this fall.....looks like some good ones.....
Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon, Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon, and Emma Stone in Poor Things Photograph: AP and Alamy t’s mid-September, the point in the film calendar where we put away childish things (superheroes, video game adaptations, tiny Day-Glo trolls) and get stuck into some proper blue chip cinema. The Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals – where studios hawk their glossiest, most Oscar-worthy wares – have all either wrapped up or are about to, which means we are starting to get a sense of which films will be in the running this awards season.
Today's philosophical jokes
1. When one door closes and another door opens, you are probably in prison.
2. To me, "drink responsibly" means don't spill it.
3.
Age 60 might be the new 40, but 9:00 pm is the new midnight.
4. It's the start of a brand new day, and I'm off like a herd of turtles.
5. The older I get, the earlier it gets late.
6. When I say, "The other day," I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago.
7. I remember being able to get up without making sound effects.
8. I had my patience tested. I'm negative.
9. Remember, if you lose a sock in the dryer, it comes back as a Tupperware lid that doesn't fit any of your containers.
10. If you're sitting in public and a stranger takes the seat next to you, just stare straight ahead and say, "Did you bring the money?"
11. When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say "nothing," it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.
12. I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.
13. I run like the winded.
14. I hate when a couple argues in public, and I missed the beginning and don't know whose side I'm on.
15. When someone asks what I did over the weekend, I squint and ask, "Why, what did you hear?"
16. When you do squats, are your knees supposed to sound like a goat chewing on an aluminum can stuffed with celery?
17. I don't mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.
18. When I ask for directions, please don't use words like "east."
19. Don't bother walking a mile in my shoes. That would be boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head. That'll freak you right out.
20. Sometimes, someone unexpected comes into your life out of nowhere, makes your heart race, and changes you forever. We call those people cops.
21. My luck is like a bald guy who just won a comb."
Today's farmer jokeA farmer decided he wanted to go to town and see a movie.
As he approached, the ticket agent asked. “Sir, what’s that on your shoulder?”
The old farmer said. “That’s my pet rooster Chuck. Wherever I go, Chuck goes.”
“I’m sorry, sir." Said the ticket agent. “We can’t allow animals in the theater.”
The old farmer went around the corner and stuffed Chuck down his overalls. Then he returned to the booth, bought a ticket, and entered the theater. He sat down next to two old widows named Mildred and Marge.
The movie started and the rooster began to squirm. The old farmer unbuttoned his fly so Chuck could stick his head out and watch the movie.
“Marge." Whispered Mildred.
“I think the guy next to me is a pervert."
“What makes you think so?" Asked Marge.
“He undid his pants and he has his thing out." Whispered Mildred.
“Eh, don’t worry about it." Said Marge. “At our age we’ve seen ’em all.”
“I thought so too,” said Mildred. "But this one’s eating’ my popcorn."
Today's [true!] Facebook joke....
Q: How many people does it take to change a lightbulb in a Facebook group?
1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.
14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently. 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.
17 purists who use candles and are offended by light bulb discussions.
6 to argue over whether it's 'lightbulb' or 'light bulb'.
Another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid.
22 to tell THOSE 6 to stop being jerks.
2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is 'lamp'.
15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that 'light bulb' is perfectly correct.
249 to post meme's and gif's (several are of someone eating popcorn with the words added, “I’m just here for the comments.”)
19 to post that this page is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a light bulb page.
11 to defend the posting to this page saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant here.
16 to post 'Following' but there's 3 dots at the top right that means you don't have to.
2 to reply "can't share from a closed group"
36 People to post pics of their own light bulbs.
15 People to post "I can't see x$%^!" and use their own light bulbs.
6 to report the post or PM an admin because someone said a cuss word.
4 to say "Didn't we go through this already a short time ago?".
13 to say "Do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs".
1 to bring politics into the discussion by adding that (insert politician of choice) isn't the brightest bulb. This usually takes place within the first three comments.
50 more to get into personal attacks over their political views.
5 admins to ban the light bulb posters who took it all too seriously.
1 late arrival to comment on the original post 6 months later and start it all over again.
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