Back to the fun.
Back from the Low Countries, back to work, and back to the Links. I guess we can say we are back to normal, with the scheduler in WordPress looking like it will actually function again…so, please give me some material to schedule!
Anyways, here are links;
While I was in Europe, it felt like all the music now is Spotify, 1990s and early 2000s playlist. Not very inspiring. So nothing from me.
The comments section is open and all yours.
Cycling in Switzerland twice as dangerous as in Netherlands
also skiing
I’ve never seen more bicycles in the same place at the same time as I have in Amsterdam. Everybody rides everywhere.
Yeah, it helps that it is flat as a pancake, and of course Amsterdam is pretty compact, really.
The climate is mild year round. The population is very dense. The city was laid out many centuries before the automobile existed. Driving is problematic.
Foot, bike, bus, trolly. Those are your best options.
The climate fuckwits that want to kill cars think the whole world is laid out like Amsterdam.
Sounds ableist.
Diversity is our strength, which is why we need top-down solutions that treat all of humanity as one homogeneous bloc.
Pat, it works so well in business! We should apply it to everything!
“Everybody rides everywhere.”
Even over pedestrians, as I can attest.
Loose bat causes chaos on commuter train in Scotland
Was it a cricket bat?
I think it was Agnes Moorhead.
My money is on Al Lewis?
The commander-in-chief implied that he’s unable to intervene since the high-profile case that gripped the nation for weeks is “actually a state situation, not a federal” one.
That’s smart.
“It’s a very sad situation,” Trump told reporters Sunday. “I certainly heard that, but look, it’s very sad. There is no winner there. There’s no win no matter what you do. Three children are dead.”
That’s dumb. It would be a win if she were found guilty of first degree murder. The sentence in MA for first degree murder is life without parole.
If she is tried again and found not guilty by reason of insanity, she will spend years in a state-run hospital.
I looked up the MA sentencing laws on not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility (what MA calls not guilty by reason of insanity). The only guarantee if she is found not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, is she spends 40 days in a state hospital. After that, it’s an annual review. Now, given the case, I wouldn’t be surprised if the judge at the annual review keeps her in the hospital, but that is not guaranteed under the state law.
The commander-in-chief implied that he’s unable to intervene since the high-profile case that gripped the nation for weeks is “actually a state situation, not a federal” one.
He could have said “The police acted stupidly.”
“If I had a son he would look just like one of those kids.”
If he had to say anything (and he didn’t, but Trump), that’s probably the tack to take.
If she goes to the loony bin, I’m betting she’s out in 5 or so years. A surprising number of insane killers are back out on the streets right now.
I will take the under on that. It was “temporary” insanity.
Adult onset schizophrenia is not temporary.
I doubt the judge is going to want to have her army of retarded harpies doxxing him and his family like they are presently doing to the holdout juror, so I’d be utterly unsurprised if she’s found to be perfectly rehabilitated at the soonest opportunity for review.
A bat boarded a commuter train in Glasgow, Scotland, and was caught on camera causing a commotion with staff attempting to capture the flying rodent.
Probably carried onboard by an Indian or Paki. It’s an extremely small species that feeds on insects near the ground.
South Asians are known to be fond of cricket bats.
They were bound to catch it sonar or later.
I’ll echo that sentiment.
Batty all ducked.
Mamdani Sues Trump Administration Over New Immigration Rule
Lawsuit brought by New York City and other cities accuses the government of unfairly targeting immigrants receiving public benefits
But I’ve been told that immigrants weren’t receiving public benefits!
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/mamdani-sues-trump-administration-over-new-immigration-rule-8ab66b4f?st=YcF1Fi&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Oh, the horror.
As if further proof were needed that a major goal of communists is getting the proles dependent on handouts.
CWAA
Look, I was already for it. You can stop selling now.
How does Mamdani have standing?
Duh… he’s the mayor of ALL New Yorkers,
evenespecially the ones who don’t belong here in the first place.They’re one of his core constituencies.
We’re at the “It’s happening, and it’s a good thing” stage.
“LGBTQ and women’s rights activists form one of the main centres of resistance to the Islamist-rooted conservative government in power since 2002.”
I think I’ve spotted the real issue here.
Those pesky ‘conservatives’ of course.
Passengers said the bat eventually flew out the open doors of the train when another man waved his hat at it.
It happens
get the hell out of here bat!
Bat Outa Train! The new Meatloaf album.
I would tube anything for love
But I won’t tube bat
Chipping Pioneer:
I saw a meme recently:
Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil has filed a lawsuit against his former school, alleging it didn’t do enough to protect him and other pro-Palestinian students from “severe, persistent and coordinated harassment” related to the Israel-Hamas war.
The new twist on “and now I’m an orphan!”
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/mahmoud-khalil-says-columbia-university-failed-to-protect-him-in-new-lawsuit-afcc7db4?st=1oLEnt&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The balls on that asshole.
But imagine that… he got world class education in “grievance” from Columbia of all places. 🙄
Technically your balls aren’t attached to your asshole.
You know how Wall St like to merge two money losing corporation together and they magically become profitable?
Mark Carney’s Audacious Bid to Make Canada an ‘Associate Member’ of the EU
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/canada-alliance-eu-carney-276f1778?st=gq2L3n&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
A match made in heaven.
A match MAID in heaven
I guess what I can’t figure out in this whole Canada-joins-the-EU thing is, what’s in it for China?
Simplified chain of command?
Yes, exactly. It all rolls up to the WEF. All of it. And they are in bed with China. China already dumps poor quality materials in Canada for rebranding and sale elsewhere. That will make it even easier.
The EU has to be salivating at all the open space in Canada that they could funnel Islamic ‘migrants’.
The new arrivals would all end up in big cities, they would be surprised by flyover Canada winters
The EU also has its eyes on Canada’s oil, gas and minerals, hoping to replace cheap Russian imports.
They’d have to build new pipelines – Canada is set up to ship oil to US refineries.
I doubt the Canukistani government would permit that. I don’t think their mines are any different.
NatGas is either local consumption or export through US, but I’d have to research to make sure. That’s another pipline the Canukistani gov won’t want.
Not that I support democracy, but nobody voted for any of the shit Carney is doing.
Nobody voted for most of the shit the US government does either.
Catholic says things that reflect pretty standard Catholic positions to other Catholics and a bunch of them aren’t having it.
As if further proof were needed that a major goal of communists is getting the proles dependent on handouts.
Which reminds me of dozens of news stories lamenting the reluctance of welfare recipients to accept free money, and even feel shame for doing so.
If you want a sane take on all the AI doomer talk, I would recommend Cal Newport. He’s a computer scientist, author, and he has some good YouTube videos. Here’s his blog:
https://calnewport.com/blog/
tl;dr: The “rogue” AI incidents are all due to experiments where they take the guard rails off, run the AI in a loop, and let it go for hours or days without supervision. That kind of experiment is dangerous and irresponsible. It’s also not necessary, but the Silicon Valley types have a cult-like mindset where they are sure AI will either kill us or save us, and they think these experiments will bring about the “end game”.
Personally, my dark libertarian heart thinks this is all about regulatory capture.
This is bigger than climate change, covid and swine flu, all rolled into one. The next new panic!
It just so happens that a big new government program will take care of it.
Why, its like this isn’t your first rodeo, 4X.
Of course it is. The big AI providers have lucrative government contracts they need to get carved in stone.
“Oh no, our AI is out of control! Something must be done! We’ll be happy to sit down and meet with lawmakers to come up with laws to protect the people. Actually we have the expertise, we can just write the laws for you.”
It’s always about regulatory capture.
Clearly this place has has some influence on me 🙂
The internet has radicalized you.
Prepare for mandatory retraining.
David Sacks covered this well:
https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/2098973625252708460
I follow him too, he’s usually got a decent take on things.
It appears the Middle East fiasco has taken on new dimensions with Hoohees and Yiminies getting involved. Gas and diesel prices lowered are being promised by he prez, sure glad to hear that. Just one more little trick and we’ll be there.
Where have all the flowers gone?
There is some kerfuffle about China assisting with one of Iran’s attacks. If Trump wants to go down in history, I guess starting WWIII might do it.
Completely believable. The CCP has been fucking with us for decades.
So, Korean war all over again.
Yee. Haw.
Without a Douglas McArthur.
So, what you are saying is we could actually win this time, and not just keep telling everyone we are gonna come back?
Our entire foreign policy boils down to – do whatever Israel says, try loot Russia, and fuck with China.
Iran was supposed be a twofer – Israel wanted it and it messes with China’s energy supply.
$6.20/gallon today as I passed the neighborhood station.
Fuel oil will be a little less due to not having the highway tax. I’m kicking myself for not buying earlier this summer when it was just under $5. This time last year fuel oil was $4.37/gallon. It’s going to cost me $1300 more to stay warm this winter.
Bring a bucket, leave with rhubarb. I have a shovel.
I bought 1200 gal of red at over $5 under Biden thinking it was going over 6. I’ll be brning it in the pickup this fall.
I raised my milage fee 10c last month.
Weighmasters or state patrol don’t dip pickups?
If your pickup gets into a fatal crash they’ll probably did you.
Or if you have your company name on it and use it to haul equipment.
I’ve been dipped once in the worktruck in 24 years.
In Montana. I’ve never ran red fuel in them. Once in a while I’ll run red in one tank on the dumptruck as it’s personal use and mostly off road as it is.
I remember thinking to myself when gas shot up from around $2.25/gallon here to around $3.50 a gallon when Trump announced the first air strikes, “Oh well, as little as I drive, it should come back down in 2-3 weeks when I need to fill up…”
Can’t our vaunted special forces/CIA/(((Mossad)))/black ops/off the books spooks locate where the IRG leaders are and take them out?
If the U.S. has completely degraded their air defenses, then a few cruise missiles should eliminate the leaders who refuse to bow to OMB’s wishes.
Sifting and editing pics for another dispatch from flyover country.
Cycling more dangerous in mountainous country than country that’s a flat as a board.
Shocking!
STEVE SMITH SAY BIKERS JUST HIKERS WITH A “B.”
STEVE SMITH LIKE WHEN “B” WHOLE.
STEVE SMITH LIKE SHOCKER. IN CASCADIA, THAT CALL FOREPLAY.
Live footage.
I was tremendously pleased with Coyote v ACME. Not perfect, but a very fine effort. Good laughs, clever jokes. They did an outstanding job of mixing animation, both 2D and CGI, together with the actors and reality.
It does get a bit mixed up in the human AND cartoon emotional side, it got…a bit dusty there at the end…. but it’s a solid flick. Glad I saw it. Mom also enjoyed it, and the two other people in the theater. I was the youngest one there by at least three decades.
I took the rats to see that Labor Day weekend. My kids enjoyed it even though they don’t know the source material and missed some references. I particularly enjoyed how they did Coyote.
Yeah, they pulled him off pretty perfectly. Putting in film versions of the old cartoons, still looking as they did, was a nice touch. I can’t remember the last time I went out to see a fun movie.
Coyote’s signs were consistently funny, as well.
It did turn out well. I liked all of it, except the portrayal of Bugs Bunny. That was too hamfisted. He should have been more polished.
It did turn out well. I liked all of it, except the portrayal of Bugs Bunny. That was too hamfisted.
Seconded.
Thanks Donnie!
Costco has reportedly started rationing its house brand of motor oil this week, limiting purchases to two boxes per week, as drivers across the country continue facing higher gas and diesel prices.
The membership-only warehouse club, which has long prided itself in selling products at discounted prices in bulk, has introduced the purchase limit after significantly raising the price of Kirkland Signature full synthetic motor oil, The Auto Wire first reported.
The product—a 5-quart, two-bottle case of engine oil for gasoline-powered vehicles—is used during oil changes to lubricate and protect an engine’s moving parts, helping to reduce wear, manage heat, and keep the engine running efficiently. It is now listed on Costco’s website for $57.99, up from an average in the mid-$30s which the company had maintained for years, according to the automotive-focused news media.
I’m still pissed that Costco discontinued the 55 gal drums of 14-40 delo six or seven years ago.
They sold a ton of them in the NW but dropped it.
That and the Starbucks Italian roast in 2.5 lb bags.
Bastards.
What about the 55-gallon drums of lube?
Random pointless question:
Did the Treasury stop printing ten dollar bills? I can’t hardly remember the last time I saw one. I never get a ten in change, it’s always two fives.
No. They still print them.
Yes. FY 2027 and FY 2026 Federal Reserve Note print order.
Duh… yes they are still printing them.
I get them all the time.
The all day pass to ride the Rapid here in Cleveland is $5. The machines do not give change (for cash), and frequently the CC readers aren’t working. I try to horde some $5s to cover me for game days.
It must be nice to have a horde of $5 bills. :-p
I pay my barber with two $20s and a $10. I get mine from Brookshire’s – the self checkouts will let you select $5, $10 or $20 denominations for cash back. Inflation being what it is, I don’t see the $10 going anywhere, as it’s likely to become the new $1 within my lifetime.
I guess I rarely see them either.
I saw a sign at the supermarket the other day that they don’t pennies any more. I forgot.
If ya didn’t see, I got sent home at 10am today. Turns out my background check is still pending. I put my essay testing gig as 2026 but they found reference to it in 2024. I sent them the details, that I’d done one contract in ’24 and another in ’26.
“Perfect, thank you! 😊” she/HR replied.
Well. I’m not concerned. Well. TOO concerned? Certainly peeved. What an odd, unexpected curve ball. Well. I’m not really to return to work until they get back in touch. So. Well. Away, I’ll wait.
wut
Are you joining the Secret Service or something? You’re getting way more attention than any job I have ever been hired for.
It depends on what kind of information they’re working with. My job requires background checks because we can see information that is otherwise confidential (We have the ability to dig into the faxes for our client agencies, including tax, workers’s comp, health, labor, etc, etc, with lots of personally identifiable and HIPAA data in it) In the regular course of our work, we never see it, but the ability is there.
The company I work for made me do a background check and 2 piss tests just to become a minimum wage chat bot. At least they paid for it though. For the TurboTax support contract I was working on prior to that I had to pay $50 for my own background check through their preferred vendor.
I’ve been bonded and fingerprinted multiple times…
My last three jobs all required background checks. IT at two call center consulting companies and a propane company (working in the IT department, I did not Hank Hill).
Similar here. I have complete access to tons of HIPAA and other PII. We have thousands or probably millions of customers.
I have never been tested background- or drug-wise.
Dude. I’m gonna be in The Vault, man. Yeah. As an Agent. Yeah, man.
Think about it.
At this point they’ve likely spent enough resources on your onboarding that an incorrect date wouldn’t change anything, even if you didn’t have the documentation for the two gigs. Given the job I’m surprised they even brought it up – I’d think the purpose of the background check was more to ensure you don’t have convictions for fraud or theft.
Yeah, not concerned. I’d be in odd shape if they wanted to go back more than five years. Well. Really, four years. That’d be tricky.
I checked with ’em on Friday but didn’t specifically confirm Monday. Good call, Ted. *Shrug* Good aggressive mistake. Not like I didn’t show up.
Worked for George Costanza.
Wondering how much of a background check they do.
big outfits probably farm it out. Little places say they do one but often don’t. Or look you up in the state repository.
Back when I had not only hair, but long hair, I got a part-time job at Discovery Zone (a Chuck E. Cheese style place). Me and a mentally challenged person were both being onboarded at the same time. They were doing a hair drug test, and the supervisor made a point for the mentally challenged person to see the hair went in the envelope and was sealed. After that person left, the manager looked at me, took my hair, and dropped it in the trash without a word. I worked there until they closed a couple months later.
The part that entertains me the most is that I’m pretty sure I would have come back clean on that test.
I have fond childhood memories of the Spokane branch. I don’t know what it was about their air hockey table, but I was an absolute god on that thing.
Damn. Hardcore on the drug test with the hair.
I’ve pissed in a cup for two jobs. One of which was the army. Four ‘random’ UAs in a row. They knew imposed clean along with six or seven other guys so we all got those piss tests after coming back from deployment to make the numbers look good.
Why do you think I asked whether you were really supposed to go in?
(My employer was similarly slow on the background check stuff and I had to call to get an answer.)
Wishing you the best, Evan. I “wanted” to ask earlier about the first day, but decided that was too intrusive.
Oh never, ever, feel too intrusive. That doesn’t exist, for me.
Being the first time I’ve travelled outside of the Northeast since I got my pistol permit last year, I just checked the map of where it’s recognized. Along my route, only PA and Illinois do not recognize it (Ninne does, and the other states are listed as Constitutional Carry.)
In the hypothetical scenarior where I wanted to bring my Shield along, what’s the proper “Don’t catch prison time” requirements if stopped in those states?
In PA: You can carry openly without a permit outside of Philly and outside of a car.
I’d advise keeping the firearm unloaded and locked in the trunk in Illinois alongside not driving in a way that attracts attention. I had a close one on a trip through Illinois. I had a rifle unloaded in the trunk. I stopped in a Chicago suburb to meet someone I know for lunch. After lunch, I drove back to the Interstate to continue my trip. A local cop followed me through every turn until I got on the Interstate on-ramp. I drove very, very carefully once I saw that cop.
Also: PA will issue permits to out-of-state residents. I had one for a while after I moved to NH back before PA would recognize NH permits. You probably don’t have enough time to get one.
😭 I have a hatchback. There’s only one interior compartment.
But, more seriously, I get the advice. Out of sight, out of reach.
@DEG Re Time – I’m driving through PA to Ohio tomorrow. Crossing Erie county is unlikely to get me stopped as I’ll be on 90 from Niagara to Cleveland.
Best advice of all: Do not stop in Illinois – not even at rest areas. Plan and pack accordingly.
@DEG Re Time – I’m driving through PA to Ohio tomorrow. Crossing Erie county is unlikely to get me stopped as I’ll be on 90 from Niagara to Cleveland.
Definitely not enough time to get a permit. I don’t remember how long it took when I got the non-resident permit because it was so long ago. I want to say the process took a month? Maybe? It was too long ago to remember clearly.
I’ve done that drive. You’re in PA for a short enough time, and given how little speeding enforcement PA does, you’ll probably be OK. Up to you if you want to take the risk.
@GT – Indianapolis to Cedar Rapids is in Illinois too long for me not to hit a restroom in the state.
Illinois sounds like a real crime-free utopia. Why would anybody be against that?!
So much for the Second Amendment and the Interstate Commerce clause.
I recommend (and can personally vouch for) the Pilot Travel Center at the Brazil, IN exit just east of Terre Haute. That’s usually sufficient to get across the Mississippi into St. Louis (and beyond,) but I don’t know the distance from Terre Haute to Iowa.
Terre Houte is practically in Indiana
Snark aside, I appreciate the recommendation, but my hotel is closer to I-74 and that’s the start of the route to Iowa.
Terre Haute is in Indiana – I just don’t happen to be familiar with their truck stops/”travel centers.”
https://isp.illinois.gov/StaticFiles/docs/FSB/General%20Information/1-154%20-%20Transporting%20Your%20Firearm.pdf
Agree with GT that Illinois is a bear, but they do have a lot of hunters visiting the state and established guidelines.
On principle, I stand by the fact that all these laws are unconstitutional garbage and the lesiglators and enforcers of it belong in prison.
In practicality, that is one garbage document in terms of clarity – almost certainly designed to make people make mistakes and get arrested.
In actuality, I wasn’t planning to bring my Shield on this trip, I just went into “I wonder” mode.
As I recall, Illinois requires the gun to be unloaded, separated from the magazine, and locked up separately.
I unload and lock both in the same box and put out of sight and out of reach from the driver’s seat. Not sure if that would actually save me if I got pulled over.