This Is How The World Ends. Not With A Bang, But With An ONT

Another week has passed us by and now we're even older, and now we're even older, and now we're even older. Another week has passed us by and now we're older still.

Guess that means it's my turn to write an ONT. I have one I wrote a week or so back, I had been out with some friends and had a few drinks. I got home half lit and I wasn't tired so I thought “Gee, maybe I'll get a head start writing some of the ONT”. I wrote a whole page about Little and football and how proud I am of him. I thought it was pretty good. Next day I thought it was pretty good too, but also “That's not really ONT material”.

So let me rummage around in my bag of tricks and see if I can find something to make your hearts go pitter-pat.

Mutual Combatants

Prosecutors reject charges against 5 suspects in deadly gang-related gunfight in Austin: ‘It’s just like the Wild West’

After careful investigation, the prosecutor determined that all parties involved were in a designated PvP area with their PvP flags on, so there was “nothing she could do”.*

*My commentary is satire. The article, unfortunately, is not.

He's At It Again

Dismissing religious objections to taking the Covid vaccine flies in the face of the principles the United States was founded on

“There are not legitimate religious exemptions,” declared Hochul, “because the leaders of all the organized religions have said there's no legitimate reason.” Even a single exception would prove her statement false, and there are many. That said, individual religious exemptions are exactly that: individual. Employers are legally required to accommodate the sincere religious beliefs of their employees, not those of the employee's denominational leaders. 

On the opposite coast, the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times fervently argues that religious exemptions should be dumped altogether. “Religious exemptions don’t protect the public,” they say, “and when it comes to COVID-19, public health must remain the overriding priority.” The zeal with which the LA Times demands that personal beliefs simply don't count when they conflict with the nebulous idol of ‘public health’ is troubling to anyone who values free exercise of religion. 

Ironically, mandatory and widespread Covid-19 vaccinations – the editorial board's Holy Grail – don't fully protect the public either. This summer, Los Angeles County noted that more than 10,000 patients, a full quarter of its Covid cases, were fully vaccinated. Around the globe, from Singapore to Israel, breakthrough cases among highly vaccinated populations are rising, and at Harvard University, even with the jab mandated and a 95% vaccination rate, coronavirus infections have spread far enough to force some classes to move online. 

The truth is that Covid vaccination, while shown to be valuable in decreasing symptoms and hospitalizations (though not necessarily transmission), is in no way a panacea to the pandemic, and for the LA Times to suggest otherwise as a rationale for rejecting religious exemptions is a journalistic sin. 

I do so love it when those who believe in nothing more than their own power and control deign to tell me what my faith does and does not teach. It's such a joy, like when atheists use verses from Acts chapter 2 to claim that Christianity supports communism. Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood has!

Related, but amusing: Particle physicist Brian Cox says physics ‘ruled out’ the human soul at particle level

So we can't measure or quantify a non-corporal thing with physical means. Guy's a genius I tell you.

Halloween Songs

Well, we're now into..SHOCK-tober! That means that Halloween is coming up. Tonight's question of the day has to do with Halloween songs. What are your favorite Halloween songs? Do you like silly songs? Spooky songs? Bizarre songs? I'll open the discussion with a song that definitely falls into the later category: Avenged Sevenfold - A Little Piece Of Heaven. I'm linking and not embedding because the subject matter is bizarre and the video is probably NSFW. My wife is convinced that the video is just an un-aired episode of Metalocalypse. At the end, when the zombie priest is giving the finger and it's censored, I told her “Oh good, they censored that, now I can show it to the kids”, she just had to laugh because the finger is probably the least offensive thing in the video. In spite of all this, I find myself really liking the song itself, even though the song itself is not at all what you'd expect from a heavy metal band (or maybe it is from this band, I don't know much of Avenged Sevenfold's work aside from this song). Take a look and let me know what you think, put your own suggestions for Halloween songs in the comments below, and if you're enjoying the ONT, don't forget to like and hit the subscribe button to keep up with all the latest posts.

Musical Interlude: The Internet Is Weird Edition

So, the following song has been all the rage on TikTok lately:

It's from 1985, and it sure sounds like it. I don't remember hearing it back then, but if you told me it was by Harold Faltermeyer, I would believe you. But why is this obscure, 35 year old song suddenly popular? I think I've pieced it together, but if any of y'all know for sure, correct me on the details.

So it seems that a few years back, some internet artist make an animated short porn film featuring 2 characters from some video game called “Animal Crossing” having sex. (Great, the story starts with furries, always a good sign) He used this song as the soundtrack. The clip languished in obscurity until recently someone else did a (and here I'm not clear) parody? Tribute? video of it, and this one started to go viral. It made it to TikTok, and suddenly Generation Z became obsessed, not with the original obscure animated furry porn video, not with the tribute to the original obscure animated furry porn video, but with the SOUNDTRACK from the original obscure animated furry porn video, and started using it in all their TikTok videos. And that's how Camel By Camel became a hit 35 years after it was released.

Like I said, the internet is weird. I hope whoever Sandy Marton is got some unexpected royalty checks in the mail.

A Bit Of History

The story behind that photo of the Pinto in front of the Mt. St. Helens eruption

Here's the picture:

Neat story, much like Seth McFarland, the guy saved his own life by sleeping in. Lazy me wants to think there's a lesson in that, adult me is fighting hard not to let him.

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by warnings:

posted by WeirdDave at 10:00 PM

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