Post-Taxpocalypse Friday Afternoon Links

by | Apr 17, 2026 | Cocktails, Daily Links, I Am Lame | 124 comments

Mid way through April, and I still can’t put the winter coats away. We’re expecting 30s on Hopfest (4/20).

But, let’s get to the links…

I know my purchases tend towards older, indies, and discounts.

America, the country where the poor are rich enough to be targeted for financial crime.

The pendulum swings, and overreach continues.

My one complaint about the article… tappy games and match 3 does not equate to “gamer”.

Just the D?

Even though the two breweries up here that made a pickle beer are no longer here, there’s still too many pickle beers on the market.

Some things were not meant to be healthy.

Related: “What’s wrong hon? You’ve barely touched your near beer protein shake?”

Does an LLM have the Buddha-nature?

I have a feeling this is a regional thing. At least around here, the patrons are more redneck than progressive.

He was better when he was fat. (Archive link)

That is not how restitution is supposed to work.

An interesting long-ish read.

For the cocktail this week, I’m going to go simple and easy for everyone.

Freezer Martini

  • 2 parts (8 oz) gin
  • 1 part (4 oz) dry vermouth
  • 1 part (4 oz) water
  • Orange bitters (optional)

Sometimes you don’t want to sit and make a bunch of cocktails, but you want to have something to offer people or to grab and drink. Today, I give you the Freezer Martini (with some slight modifications, it can be a Freezer Manhattan as well). You can do this with any stirred drink, but not shaken ones (they’ll settle out over time, lose the crystallization, and the small amount of aeration that shaking provides). It can’t be more simple to make this, get a jar/bottle, pour everything in, seal it up, and give it a couple of shakes, then park it in the freezer. The water is there to represent the dilution you get from stirring the cocktail. For those of you looking for another way to help prevent your vermouth from oxidizing, keep this in mind. To serve, pour neat into a chilled coupe glass, or over rocks in a rocks glass. Garnish how you would like.

With that, I leave you the weekend to do with as you wish.

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

Nephilium is a geek of multiple types living in the vast suburban forests of Cleveland.

124 Comments

  1. The Late P Brooks

    New legislation in the Ohio House would significantly restrict sports betting, including a ban on so-called “prop bets” on in-game performance and all betting on college athletics, in an effort to protect Ohioans from something sponsors say is as “addictive as heroin.”

    The Save Ohio Sports Act also would eliminate betting online or with cellphones, only allowing bets to be placed in casinos.

    As my old Grandpa Litwack said, just before they sprung the trap, You can’t cheat an honest man. Never smarten up a chump, and never give a sucker an even break.”

  2. EvilSheldon

    Related: “What’s wrong hon? You’ve barely touched your near beer protein shake?”

    This makes me unreasonably angry. It’s like a perfect storm of everything that is fake, lame, and gay (and not in the fun way.)

    Part of my distaste is probably that I’ve been trying to get my diet a little more under control – more real food, much less processed crap, more batch cooking/meal prep, less eating out. This kind of fake food marketed as health food really does crowd actual healthy options out of the market. Do not like.

    • PutridMeat

      I don’t know, maybe I’ll just turn in my libertarian card (for the 10th time) and accede to a 10% orphan allotment reduction, but if it stop the INCESSANT FUCKING HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY GAMBLING ADS every 3 minutes or plastered in the corners of the screen for sport events:

      “Bet the house on how many times Brad Marchand will scratch his left testicle in the bottom half of the second minute of the 2nd period! Trifecta if he turns into a weasel and scratches someone else’s right testicle! HURRY UP, BET NOW!!!”

      • PutridMeat

        Mis-thread in a reply to Brooks. Irony, thy name is Putrid.

      • EvilSheldon

        I don’t like gambling and I hate advertising. You can imagine how I feel about advertisements for gambling.

        Fortunately I’ve arranged my life so that I only have very minimal exposure to advertisements at all. It’s nice.

      • juris imprudent

        I don’t know, it fits the things-I-don’t-like-other-people-partaking-in of the preceding comment. Which is of course most un-libertarian.

      • Threedoor

        I want to not be forced to subsidize the poor life choices of the set of people that buy lottery tickets and other impulse control type gambling.

        End the welfare state and let those people suffer the consequences of their bad choices.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Back in college, my long term girlfriend was vegetarian. And not a “I am so hippy” type (although she was). No, she was raised that way by her 7DA family, and every year for Thanksgiving, we would go to her folks house and have tofurky . Which is as sad as it sounds. Or, her mom would send her cans of hot dogs. Which is as disgusting as it sounds.

      I always like them, but, come on, if you are gonna be vegetarian, be vegetarian. Don’t fake eating meat, you only get the worst of both worlds.

  3. rhywun

    I know my purchases tend towards older, indies, and discounts.

    I rarely buy anything at full price. I have a huge backlog to catch up on as it is.

    As for that “top 20″… I haven’t heard of half of them and I have never played any of those. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  4. The Late P Brooks

    As religious AI tools become increasingly common, many people are reckoning with how these technologies shape their relationship to faith, authority and spiritual guidance.

    He who believeth in me shall deliver $10,000 in cash, small unmarked bills, to the following address…

    • The Other Kevin

      I prefer sacred bitcoin.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        The Great Gene Wolfe covered this ground in his Long Sun books.

        *he was very Catholic*

      • rhywun

        Oofa, that guy is not an easy writer to get into.

        Maybe I will try again some day.

    • R.J.

      How’s the baby lotion business going, now that your main client is in jail?

      • Gender Traitor

        I think he means baby oil.

      • R.J.

        Yeah. Thanks Apple autocorrect!

      • Pash KKatel

        Am I missing some kind of pop culture reference?

      • Gender Traitor

        Think of one of your prior avatars. One with your initials on it…

      • Pash KKatel

        Oh jeeze…I only have a vague recollection plus I’ve been pregaming

      • Pash KKatel

        Oh yeah! “Baby Oil Procurement Dept”!!

  5. R.J.

    Fake meat and alcohol-free beer make R.J. an angry boy.
    That is one partnership that will set a enter Chapter 11 quickly.

      • R.J.

        I cannot exactly figure out what they are making, besides an abomination which would not be eaten by hungry horseflies.

      • (((Jarflax

        Tender stomped to death after offering Kobe steer NA beer for dinner.

      • Gdragon

        You really gotta try their O’Doul’s Can Impossible Chicken

  6. DEG

    Watch the trailer for “Dungeon Masters” below and see first-look photos of the set, the cast and the characters they will be playing in the upcoming first campaign.

    The trailer was too much for me. I tapped out. I guess I’m an old fart who is behind the times in thinking these shows are dumb and instead you should just play the game.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    I bought some sourdough bread last week. After I made a sammich with it I thought “This would probably make good french toast.” It did. It was probably the first time in twenty years I made french toast for myself. It was muy tasty. Was it “good” for me? Don’t care.

  8. R.J.

    So commies are trying to skin suit Renaissance Fairs now? Great.

    • EvilSheldon

      The renfaires in this area are also more of a hippy/redneck crossover (something that happens more often then you might think.)

      • Nephilium

        Yeah. It got interesting when the local place didn’t have a liquor license, and decided to allow people to BYOB. People pulling coolers loaded with beer with a kid riding on top (or not).

      • rhywun

        My region is absolutely lousy with hippie rednecks.

      • R.J.

        Texas renfaire is almost entirely redneck hippies.

    • Threedoor

      The ren fair north of me has been commie suited for over two decades.

      They banned swords.
      Even wooden toy ones at least as far back as 2011.

    • Grumbletarian

      I went to my first ren fair recently and didn’t notice any commie-ficiation. But it was in Texas so who knows.

      • rhywun

        Went to one around 1987 and never had any desire to repeat the experience.

      • Threedoor

        The TN ren fair I went to around 2008 was awesome.

        Jousting with participants from all over the world.

        It was epic.

  9. The Other Kevin

    Is anyone else experiencing AI burnout? Unfortunately it’s a big part of my job now. 🙁

    • UnCivilServant

      I have a technical issue that I can’t even figure out how to frame it in a prompt that would let the machine even understand the question. I had briefly wondered if I should ask the waste of money AI we have. But all the ways of phrasing the issue are going to confuse the bloody thing.

    • rhywun

      The big push just started at my employer.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Is anyone else experiencing AI burnout?

    Just reading about AI makes me tired.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    The Crime Victims Fund, established in 1984 by the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA, is sustained by criminal fines and penalties from convictions in federal cases, typically white-collar prosecutions. All of that money is required by law to be deposited into the fund. The money is distributed to state and local programs including domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and child abuse treatment programs. Gun violence survivors and the families of victims who died rely routinely on VOCA funding to reimburse medical expenses, funeral costs and lost wages.

    Totally the sort of slush fund the founders envisioned.

    • EvilSheldon

      The money is distributed to state and local programs including domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and child abuse treatment programs.

      Somebody tell be that this isn’t a farcical grift. Please. I really could use the laugh.

      • rhywun

        I’d be shocked if the money goes anywhere other than into public sector union employee paychecks and benefits.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        What do you mean “grift”? All the right people get paid….

      • (((Jarflax

        Add in the trans stuff and it really changes the meaning of rape crisis centers and domestic abuse shelters. Hey ladies, you have been raped? Here is counselor Fabulous Girlcock who will help you through the trauma by STEVE SMITH methods. Abused? Sylvia Beataterf is in the bunk next to yours, have a nice night.

      • juris imprudent

        money goes anywhere other

        Lawyers dude, how could you miss them?

  12. UnCivilServant

    So here’s the technical problem. I’m writing it out to explain to others to try to get my own thoughts in order. However, if someone magics up the SQL, I wouldn’t complain.

    In the application we have roles, departments, and schedules.

    In table roles, we have rolename and roleid.
    In table usched we have roleid and scheduleid. (sets what schedules a user can see)
    in table udepfun we have roleid, deptartmentid, and functionid. (Sets what a user can do for jobs in that department)
    In table jmaster we have all of the job definitions including scheduleid and departmentid.
    In table sname we have scheduleid and schedulename.

    Because schedule permissions are assigned to roles manually and independently, we want to find any scheduleid/roleid pairs in usched where the roles do NOT have an association in udepfun with any departmentid that appears with that particular scheduleid in jmaster. Then return a list of rolename/schedulename pairs so we can fix it since roleid and scheduleid are just numbers that only appear in the database and not the application.

    So far the SQL queries are not producing results which make sense. (we did create at least one example of exactly the problem we’re looking for so that we can see if it works)

    It’s been causing my head to hurt. SQL is not one of my strong suits.

    • UnCivilServant

      Oh, the functionid we’ve been using to associate roles with departments is 490. There are a bunch of irrelevant ones for this purpose.

      • slumbrew

        I hit Gemini’s “Thinking” mode, which is decent, with your comments:

        That specific functionid is the missing piece of the puzzle! Without it, the query might have been “fooled” by other types of permissions that have nothing to do with schedule visibility.
        By adding functionid = 490 into the subquery, we ensure we are only looking at the specific “job” associations that are supposed to justify the schedule access.
        ### Updated SQL: The “Function 490” Filter
        “`sql
        SELECT
        r.rolename,
        s.schedulename
        FROM
        usched us
        JOIN
        roles r ON us.roleid = r.roleid
        JOIN
        sname s ON us.scheduleid = s.scheduleid
        WHERE NOT EXISTS (
        /* This subquery looks for a VALID reason for the permission to exist */
        SELECT 1
        FROM udepfun udf
        JOIN jmaster jm ON udf.departmentid = jm.departmentid
        WHERE udf.roleid = us.roleid
        AND jm.scheduleid = us.scheduleid
        AND udf.functionid = 490 — Only count the relevant job functions
        );

        “`
        ### What this changes
        * **Accuracy:** Previously, if a Role had *any* function (like “Keyholder” or “Safety Lead”) in the right department, the query might have thought the schedule access was valid.
        * **The “Headache” Factor:** Filtering by 490 should narrow the results down specifically to those orphaned permissions you’re hunting for.
        ### A quick sanity check
        If you run this and it returns **more** rows than expected, it means there are many roles that have “viewing” rights to schedules (usched) but haven’t been assigned the actual “working” function (udepfun with ID 490) for the departments listed in those schedules.
        Does this query correctly identify the specific test case you created?

      • UnCivilServant

        I cleaned it up to match the actual table and field names, added a few more filters to remove stuff not mentioned in the description, and shockingly, it passes a sanity check.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have not verified if the output is correct, since I’m off work, but I really needed to get this problem out of my head so I’m not distracted all weekend.

        For that part, thank you.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m not sure I understand that completely, but in general I would approach it by using OUTER JOINs In the query, and then in the WHERE look for null values, which would indicate there was no record that satisfied the JOIN.

      • UnCivilServant

        That’s what we’ve been trying.

        Clearly doing something wrong since no NULL fields turn up.

      • UnCivilServant

        Comparing what we were working from to what the AI suggested it appears more of a matter of we were starting our joins from jmaster as the root. Since jmaster was not the dataset with the excess records, the joins didn’t create nulls.

      • UnCivilServant

        You have to realize we would never disrespect Mama Woodchipper.

        The language we are speaking isn’t quite english, so there might be some confusion with regards to what was actually being said.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    “The decline in VOCA funding has created significant uncertainty for victim service providers,” said Michaela Weber, executive director of Victim Support Services, a non-profit in Washington state that provides advocacy services to victims of violent crimes – and gets most of its funding from VOCA. “For organizations like ours, it means making difficult decisions about staffing, capacity and how many victims we can realistically serve at any given time.”

    I find it hard to believe any money makes it to actual “victims” after passing through the sticky fingers of the “victims’ advocates” and “service providers”.

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      it means making difficult decisions about staffing, capacity and how many victims we can realistically serve at any given time.

      REALITY LOOMS LARGE!

    • EvilSheldon

      Wrong answer. What it should have been:

      Entitled Karen: “Well, can you move?”
      Driver: “No. *rolls up window, turns up stereo*

      Karens feed off of engagement. Don’t give it to them.

    • Threedoor

      That would have been better with audio.

      • Spudalicious

        Wut?

      • Tres Cool

        You’re lucky. The aussie accent on a chick annoys the shit out of me.
        Her’s likely made my ass polyps burst and bleed.

      • Threedoor

        It was silent and gave me no option to unmute.

    • Spudalicious

      I don’t use the “C” word, but it applies here.

      • Tres Cool

        Admit it- when you hear 1 woman say that about another woman it’s a little hawt.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Tony always parks here….

    Some people just put a lawn chair or a couple of cones out to mark their personal parking spot.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      That’s only after a heavy snowfall when you’ve shoveled the space out.

    • Threedoor

      A lawn chair?

      Yeah that’s moving to the sidewalk after I park.

    • Fourscore

      I feel so bad for the two of them, being engaged for 5 years and all.

      Oh well, they’ll find another. There’s someone for everyone. At least they didn’t have to suffer through an expensive divorce. AFAIK there’s no children involved, child support, visitation, that sort of thing.

      Pretty much like teenagers after the prom…

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Genocide averted

    Philz Coffee CEO Mahesh Sadarangani said he made a mistake and apologized to his team, customers and the LGBTQIA+ community.

    “I made a mistake, and I am sincerely sorry. To our team members, to our customers, and to the LGBTQIA+ community that has been with us since the very beginning, the confusion and hurt we caused around our new policy for Pride flags failed you,” Sadarangani said in a statement.

    “The Pride flag is a symbol of safety and belonging for people who don’t always find that in the world, and that is not something I want to take away from anyone who walks into a Philz. I had the chance to sit down with San Francisco Pride leaders Suzanne Ford and Jupiter Peraza, both are trans women who led this conversation with grace, directness and a genuine commitment to finding alignment on what matters. I want to be clear about where Philz stands: our Pride flags are staying up. If a Pride flag came down, it can be put back up.”

    Sometimes a cup of coffee is just a cup of coffee. But not here, not today.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      What about the MM community?

    • rhywun

      trans women who led this conversation with grace, directness and a genuine commitment

      Why am I not believing a word of this.

      PS. Never apologize.

      PPS. Some enterprising asshole could have fun with this. Go there and demand they display pedo flags or something.

    • Threedoor

      I’ll never visit their city but if I do I’ll not be buying coffee there.

      Put that crap up and I take my money elseware.

    • creech

      No matter the event, Mayor Chirelle comes on like a euphoric black church pastor who is high on something.

    • Threedoor

      Looks like TwiX isn’t letting me have audio anymore.

  16. juris imprudent

    Good read neph on the lie of equality. It fascinates me how from Locke to Jefferson that “equality from God” is ret-conned into some enduring ancient truth, when you simply don’t find anything like in Catholic tradition.

    The author was skirting into Nietzsche’s territory with the difference between aristocrat/warrior and priesthood (which is were all revolutionaries are to be found). The solution is in abandoning the slave morality (which elevates the weak and is exploited by the priestly).

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Tragic loss

    A former Tufts graduate student who became a high-profile target of the Trump administration’s campaign to deport pro-Palestinian academics has left the U.S. after completing her studies, her attorneys said Friday.

    —–

    Rumeysa Ozturk, who was arrested by immigration authorities outside her Massachusetts home last year and detained over an op-ed she wrote in the Tufts student newspaper, completed her Ph.D. in child development in February and recently returned to her home country of Turkey, the American Civil Liberties Union announced.

    How will civil society advocacy survive?

    • Aloysious

      *sigh*. F-d that up.

    • Spudalicious

      Did they purchase the rye and finish it, or is it a Seven Devil’s produced whiskey?

    • Threedoor

      Ive pooped in the seven devils.

      Just sayn.

  18. Mojeaux

    @Threedoor from dedthread re Tom Woods and my relationship and if I have an alter-ego.

    We haven’t seen you in the same room together but we have heard you.

    Unless that’s on YouTube.

    And it was when AI was making people with twenty fingers.

    WHELLL. We HAVE been talking over each other before.

    ======

    Re why people prefer manual transmissions

    @kinnath said

    There are only two times when I prefer driving an automatic: 1) stop and go driving in heavy traffic; and 2) towing shit behind the truck.

    #3: Snow.

    • Threedoor

      Don’t forget bad backs and knees.

      • Mojeaux

        Oops. I misread.

        I meant to say manual is GREAT for snow.

        No braking.

      • kinnath

        If you can’t do it, then you can’t do it.

        My bum knee is on the gas pedal foot.

        The clutch knee continues to work ok.

        Getting in and out of the 350Z becomes more challenging every spring.

      • Threedoor

        My bad knee and ankle are on the right. I fear it’s going to be a problem using the brakes on the big truck eventually.

    • Threedoor

      To be fair John Deere was right.

      Farmers are generally retarded and should not be trusted giving anything.

  19. rhywun

    “We’re not looking to arrest individuals who are down on their luck and just went into a store randomly [to steal] and left”

    Well, no, because those people don’t exist.

    Rare good news from the world of retail theft – even New Yorkers have had enough of your shit.

    Authorities have taken advantage of changes in the law that allow cops to aggregate shoplifting incidents, so that thieves who used to get a slap on the wrist for stealing less than $1,000 worth of merchandise — a misdemeanor — can have the totals added up from different heists and face more serious grand larceny charges.

    • Threedoor

      Good.
      It’s a start anyway.

      • rhywun

        Yup.

        I want to see a day where nobody has to press a button to get someone to unlock the shaving cream and shit.

    • Gustave Lytton

      I’ve hear some chain stores already do it, I guess in other jurisdictions. Video recording and database.

      • rhywun

        I’m sure they record everything here in NY too; the problem is that pro-crime Democrats in recent years have refused to prosecute the criminals with the severity they deserve because reasons.

  20. Threedoor

    I bought an XBox one/X Duke controller yesterday. It’s the first controller I’ve had that fit my hands. Hopefully it’s not as crappy as some of the reviews of joysticks failing have warned about.

    • rhywun

      Had to look that up – yikes that is a beast. “Too big for me.”

      • Threedoor

        I think it could be just a tad bigger honestly.

        But I don’t think it will cramp my hands.

  21. Sensei

    An Omar disclosure filed last year showed she and her husband held assets of between $6 million and $30 million, a massive rise in wealth from her previous annual filing. That jump triggered questions among Republicans eager to scrutinize a critic of the president.

    An amended filing viewed by The Wall Street Journal shows the couple’s assets to be just $18,004 to $95,000. The forms don’t require exact values, only broad ranges.

    Ilhan Omar Says She Isn’t a Multimillionaire, Blames Accounting Error

    So just like when regular people fuck up something under legal penalty there will be no consequence, right?

      • Ted S.

        Somaliland doesn’t want them. Send them to Mogadishu.

      • DEG

        She won’t be deported. She’s a good Emmanuel Goldstein.

      • UnCivilServant

        Ted, Somaliland put in a request to have her extradited. If they don’t want her, why did they ask for her?

      • Threedoor

        Drop them off in a Blackhawk down a fast rope. About 25 feet too high.

    • rhywun

      shows the couple’s assets to be just $18,004 to $95,000

      OFFS bullshit.

      At least try to lie somewhat believably.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Yeah, that’s bullshit.

        I promise that if I tell the IRS I made $30m last year and them amend it to $95k, I’ll have IRS cops at the door wondering just what the fuck is going on.

      • Threedoor

        Move that two decimal places.

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