Thirsty Thursday Afternoon Links

by | Mar 26, 2026 | Daily Links | 64 comments

Happy Thursday. The final Thursday of March. Only a few hours left where I can dream that the Texas Longhorns are one of the top 8 basketball teams in the country. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t watched a lick of college basketball all year, but was shocked to see Texas win not only the play-in game, but two more. The Ginger Giant they have is pretty decent. Not, I think, good enough to carry them to victory.

Also, does your spouse ever do something that becomes the comedic gift that keeps on giving? My wife’s inside door handle broke inside her car a couple of days ago, and the Mongo/She-Hulk jokes have been flowing ever since. Seriously, I’m going to give her a complex. She’ll probably tear the bedroom door off the wall going to cry about it.

Anyhow, enough about how I’m not getting laid anytime soon, even by married standards. You guys are her for… the links:

I’m not saying birds aren’t real, but this is the year the US government declassified alien activity.

Goddammit, don’t mix the awesomeness of X-Com with the shit of Star Wars.

Florida Woman, your attorney should probably look into how the owner of the property you are accused of ruining came across that video evidence.

Is this not how one should parent?

About The Author

Brett L

Brett L

Brett set out to find America, the real America, the America of strip malls and serial killers, of butthole waxing and kelp smoothies, of cocaine and maggots. He sought it in the most American part of America—Florida: swamp gas and fever dreams, where love arrives on a rickety boat and leaves when it doesn't have the money for its fourth abortion. Oh, where has Brett gone? He’s drinking at the neck of America’s wang, chewing its foreskin and working its shaft. Brett is becoming legend. Brett can never die. Brett can never die. Brett is America, facedown in his own patriotic puke: the red his blood, the white his stomach lining, and the cold, cold blue his gas station slushie, spiked with coconut rum and tetracycline.

64 Comments

  1. DEG

    She reportedly found that an antique Crown Royal chair, rug, typewriter, four dining room chairs, coffee maker, bed, TV, record player, toaster, and electric fireplace needed to be replaced, amounting to $3,980 in damage.

    I guess she is going to pay extra for that.

  2. Mojeaux

    I said a mildly snarky thing to Michael Malice on Twitter and now I’m getting dogpiled. 🙄

    • UnCivilServant

      Player Turn
      *takes 95% shot*
      *Miss*
      *takes 99% shot*
      *Miss*
      *takes 110% shot*
      *Miss*
      Enemy Turn
      *takes 12% shot*
      *Hit!*
      *takes 8% shot*
      *Hit!*
      *takes 0% shot*
      *Critical Hit!*

    • Nephilium

      X-Com is wonderful.

      I was one of the few who completed the first one in Ironman mode, which led to confusion when I started up the second one.

  3. The Other Kevin

    “I’m not saying birds aren’t real”

    That drone better be disguised as a bald eagle wearing a MAGA hat.

    • Evan from Evansville

      That got a childish laugh outta me, bigger than it should’ve. But, ships fly flags, yeah? Bird-Drones should have national flavor, as well.

      The Southeast Asian ones should all be flying tuk-tuks w a different, nat’l pride colors and hat thingys. I was gonna make a joke about Singapore’s being the quickest and most secretive, and well-funded, but Singapore absolutely does not have tuk tuks.
      See also: Well-funded.

      • Ted S.

        Tennis player?

        Larisa Neiland, winner of six Grand Slam titles in doubles, has been stripped of $15,000 in prize money after testing positive for caffeine at the 1999 Australian Open.

        The International Tennis Federation said yesterday that Neiland, a 33-year-old from Latvia, had committed a doping offense.

        Under anti-doping rules of the International Olympic Committee and the I.T.F., caffeine is listed as a stimulant. A test is deemed positive when the levels of caffeine exceed 12 micrograms per milliliter.

        Neiland received a warning and will forfeit the money she won at the Australian Open, where she and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario lost in the quarterfinals to Venus and Serena Williams. A second offense for caffeine or a similar substance would result in a three-month suspension.

        Although the positive test took place a year and a half ago, the I.T.F. withheld its announcement until the appeals process had been completed.

      • rhywun

        Under anti-doping rules of the International Olympic Committee and the I.T.F., caffeine is listed as a stimulant

        That is so ridiculous I can’t even.

      • Sensei

        Do we have any idea how many cups of coffee that actually is?

      • Evan from Evansville

        Seems very Euro. ~Same time their sharks went after Armstrong? Must protect their precious Europeanness!
        (Read: Get their cut. Their winners.)

        They don’t even pretend to give a shit about that anymore, and dare not to out loud. Yeesh.

      • kinnath

        google says: Typical blood caffeine levels in coffee drinkers are highly variable, often fluctuating between low concentrations and a peak of ~10 mg/L after a single dose. Regular, moderate drinkers often keep plasma concentrations in the range of 1–5 mg/L, but this depends on consumption habits and metabolic speed, with caffeine peaking 15–120 minutes post-consumption.

        so 10 mg/l should be the same as 10 micrograms/ml right? can’t be certain of doing math in my head anymore.

        So, her level was just above typical for a coffee drinker.

      • UnCivilServant

        A single cup is about 150 miligrams.

        How many microliters of blood are in a human? 9 pints for a woman, 4.26 liters, 4259.3 mililiters.

        150 Miligrams in micrograms is 150,000 micrograms.

        One cup of coffee, fully absorbed would put 35.21 Micrograms per milileter of blood.

      • kinnath

        Implies the rule is “no caffeine the day of competition”

      • UnCivilServant

        Okay, I skipped rates of absorbtion and metablization. So go with Kinnath, but the answer does appear to be One

      • Sensei

        Those units always confuse me, aren’t you an engineer? 😉

        Mostly because different professions use different prefixes for the same volume. My wife the RN is I go to for that.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        A former coworker of mine was an Olympic cyclist back in the 90s. He said he never doped, which is why he probably didn’t medal, but he did tell me about caffeine suppositories.

      • kinnath

        aren’t you an engineer?

        You talking to me? glares into the mirror

        Yes I am. I haven’t need to do math in decades. That’s what excel is for. 😉

        And I am a senior citizen, so the brain isn’t as sharp as it used to be.

      • Sensei

        And I am a senior citizen, so the brain isn’t as sharp as it used to be.

        I suffer from the same.

      • UnCivilServant

        My brain has always been kinda round and wrinkly.

      • Fourscore

        Beginners.

        I was searching (in my head) for a name. Ron????

        I could not come up with a last name, a name you and I might use any/every day. It was driving me nutty.

        Finally I had to give him. Internet check. Of course, Ron Paul. I was blanked out, not any where near that in my head.

        Don’t send me to the store without a list…

    • The Other Kevin

      Life imitates art.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      I am gonna get a hat made that says Cocaine Shark.

      Two chicks at the same time!

  4. Gender Traitor

    In too local news: I may be jaded and cynical, but I think this is what the kids would call “sus.”

    Moraine firefighters said they still have not launched an investigation into a devastating fire at Fuyao Glass America.

    A fire reportedly limited to the roof of a Chinese-owned factory with a dodgy safety record burns for almost two solid days (Sunday to Tuesday,) spewing smoke on the surrounding neighborhoods. What the hell did they have up there?? And they haven’t started trying to figure out what happened? 🤨

    • Evan from Evansville

      What would happen to a non-Chinese owner?

      Yuuuh huh. (I suppose it’d depend on who they donated to.)

      • Gustave Lytton

        No comment from Saint Gorbain.

      • Fourscore

        They won’t have enough glass to do both EVs and ICs, have to stop making one or the other. Oh well, life is like that.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    It’s not about the money!

    For years, parents, teenagers, pediatricians, educators and whistleblowers have pushed the idea that social media is detrimental to young people’s mental health and can lead to addiction, eating disorders, sexual exploitation and suicide.

    For the first time, juries in two states took their side.

    In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury found both Meta and YouTube liable for harms to children using their services. In New Mexico, a jury determined that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

    Tech watchdog groups, families and children’s advocates cheered the jury decisions.

    They only want justice.

    • rhywun

      Meta and/or Youtube ate my homework.

    • The Other Kevin

      “The Los Angeles case had a single plaintiff, who goes by the initials KGM, against Meta, Google’s YouTube, TikTok and Snap.”

      Now she can afford the latest iPhone!

      • Ownbestenemy

        And join each of those socials all over again

      • Fourscore

        When I was a younger person a neighbor kid threatened every day to beat me up.

        I learned to avoid her.

        I made that up but wouldn’t avoiding those places on line prevent one from getting beat up?

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        KGM?

        Kids Gone Meta?

    • EvilSheldon

      If social media were to be destroyed, would we maybe go back to the salad days of privately hosted interest-based discussion forums?

      We really didn’t know how good we had it in the 90’s…

      • DEG

        Pour one out for BBSs.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Usenet pre endless September.

    • Gustave Lytton

      I highly doubt teenagers are pushing any ideas about social media being detrimental. And parents can restrict their chickened if they feel that way. SM media like most things is not the business of educators.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    The verdicts show the public’s growing willingness to hold the companies responsible for harms and demand meaningful changes in how they operate. What’s not apparent, at least not yet, is whether the companies will take heed. Both Meta and Google said they disagree with the verdicts and are exploring legal options, including appeals.

    What magical “fixes” can we expect?

    • Rat on a train

      All the erotic fiction an AWFL could ever read.

      • Evan from Evansville

        In my head, and I assume I’m correct, AWFLs are much more likely to be into getting dominated in bed. (IN A SAFE MANNER@!@!!) I almost can’t see why they wouldn’t be. Probably repetitively, cuz they lack imagination.

        All bottled in all the time… they may be into domming soy bois cuz AWFLs lack upper body strength, but I don’t think that’d do the trick for ’em. I’m making all this up, but somehow. I’m not. Think about it.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Some other staff reportedly questioned how sexy ChatGPT benefits humanity.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    While both cases focused on harms to children, there are key differences between the two. New Mexico’s lawsuit was filed by state Attorney General Raúl Torrez in 2023. State investigators built their case by posing as children on social media, then documenting sexual solicitations they received as well as Meta’s response. The jury was asked to determine if Meta violated New Mexico’s consumer protection law.

    They violated the terms of service to engage in criminal activity? They’re the good guys.

  8. Ownbestenemy

    Lol ZeroHedge for past month mostly right about Trumps silly adventures into Iran and calling it out.

    Trump calls for additional 10 days for talks and it is

    TACO Thursday: Trump Issues New 10 Day Timeline

    Which is it people!

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Sounds like talks are working, so he is keeping them going?

      • Ownbestenemy

        No. Buying time so recieve orders from Israel and ground troops

  9. kinnath

    Got to be a functioning engineer today. Spent an hour arguing about semantics on one point in a massive spreadsheet.

    Then a couple of hours later, we are inventing new shit with the same people.

    • UnCivilServant

      Being able to argue the merits and not hold a grudge over it is a nice trait to have.

      • Fourscore

        I may forgive but I never forget. Oh, yeah, I’ll forget within a minute or two, certainly by morning.

    • Ted S.

      So most of the time you’re malfunctioning?

      /ducking

  10. Shpip

    Since today was baseball’s Opening Day (get outta here, Yanks and Giants) and the weather in Florida has been fantastic, I put twice the usual amount of suet in my backyard bird feeder. I then spent the late morning and half the afternoon smoking a corned beef brisket and watching a couple of bright orange birds go to town on the copious amounts of free seed.

    Life is good with a cold glass of milk beer and some double-stuffed orioles.

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