Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 4-5-2026 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (published by Big Penguin. Seriously.) Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(cuteness quotient is off the charts.)
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, unwrap a chocolate Easter bunny, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell the disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
If you are reading The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings for the first time, then know that the following contains massive spoilers. You may want to skip over thie section of the Sunday Morning Book Thread. Of course, if you want to read on, feel free to do so. The story is very much worth re-reading, so I hope the spoilers will not interfere with your enjoyment of the story.
WHY THE EAGLES COULDN'T GO TO MORDOR
At the end of the film adaptation of The Return of the King, three Eagles swoop down from out of nowhere to rescue Sam and Frodo from the slopes of Mount Doom as it spews out lava and ash after the One Ring has been destroyed.
A common critique of the film is that if the Eagles could have rescued Frodo and Sam, they could also have carried the One Ring to Mount Doom, thus cutting the story short and simplifying the plot.
This thought was in my mind as I read both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings recently, as I believe I discovered ample textual evidence to support the assertion that the Eagles could NOT have carried the One Ring to Mount Doom, even though neither the text nor Tolkien himself explicitly make that claim.
1. The Eagles are not concerned with the affairs of other races.
In The Hobbit, the narrator gives some background information on the Eagles, explaining that they are not terribly concerned with the affairs of other races, preferring to keep to themselves in their aeries in the Misty Mountains. They stayed away from the realms of men for practical reasons--men tended to shoot first and ask questions later when Eagles snatched their livestock. When the Eagles rescue Thorin and Company from goblins in the Misty Mountains, Gandalf attempts to persuade the Eagles to take them closer to the Lonely Mountain and is met with this response:
The Lord of the Eagles would not take them anywhere near where men lived. "They would shoot at us with their great bows of yew," he said, "for they would think we were after their sheep. And at other times they would be right. No! We are glad to cheat goblins of their sport, but we will not risk ourselves for dwarves in the southern plains."
"Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire," The Hobbit
It's doubtful that the Eagles would see the need to carry a tiny trinket like the One Ring to Mount Doom. It's simply not a part of their world.
Mordor was crawling with Orcs, Goblins, Men, and other nasty beings who would gladly shoot down any Eagle attempting to penetrate their defenses. Sauron even had flying defenders in the form of "fell beasts" that later served as mounts for the Nazgúl.
2. Secrecy was of primary importance.
Above all, the One Ring had to be carried to Mordor in secret. That meant the Enemy had to be fooled. Eagles tend to stand out. Especially when Eagles are found in territory where they don't belong. And not all Eagles are good. Many of them could, in fact, be spies for the Enemy.
Eagles are not kindly birds. Some are cowardly and cruel.
"Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire," The Hobbit
It's made quite clear that Sauron has many, many flying spies between Mordor and the Misty Mountains. The Fellowship has to hide from such spies more than once on their travels through Eregion.
During their trip down the Anduin, both Legolas and Aragorn make note of an Eagle flying high and they wonder on whose side the Eagle might belong.
There were many birds about the cliffs and the rock chimneys, and all day high in the air flocks of birds had been circling, black against the pale sky. As they lay in their camp that day Aragon watched the flights doubtfully, wondering if Gollum had been doing some mischief and the news of their voyage was now moving in the wilderness. Later as the sun was setting, and the Company was stirring and getting ready to start again, he described a dark spot against a fading light: a great bird high and far off, now wheeling, now flying on slowly southwards.
"What is that, Legolas?" he asked, pointing to the northern sky. "Is it, I think, an eagle?"
"Yes," said Legolas. "It is an eagle, a hunting eagle. I wonder what that forebodes. It is far from the mountains."
"The Great River," The Fellowship of the Ring
Both of them are suspicious of seeing an Eagle so far from its natural habitat. They are also paranoid about Gollum's mischief and they know that the far side of the River Anduin is crawling with orcs and goblins.
3. The One Ring would lose itself if in custody of the Eagles
One of the abilities of the One Ring is to find itself a new possessor. It has a habit of losing itself when it becomes tired or bored of its current possessor.
Giving the One Ring to the Eagles is risky for a couple of reasons. First, as mentioned earlier, the Eagles would not truly understand the need to destroy the One Ring, so the One Ring can use that to slip away from the Eagles as they will not pay much attention to it. Second, the One Ring could use its influence to persuade them to drop it somewhere else. The Eagles would probably not care which volcano they dropped it into.
Dropping the One Ring in the wilderness means there's a high probability that the One Ring could be found by one of Sauron's many, many flying spies, many of whom would be attracted to a shiny bauble like the One Ring. From there, it's easy to fly the One Ring back to Mordor to its Master's hand.
4. The One Ring could exert a more dangerous power over the Eagles
The Great Eagles are creatures of tremendous power. Gwaihir the Wind Lord is the mightiest of them all, wise and powerful beyond all other flying creatures.
For him, the One Ring is even more dangerous, as explained by Elrond:
"Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have a great power of their own. But for them it holds an even deadlier peril. The very desire of it corrupts the heart. Consider Saruman. If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron's throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear."
"The Council of Elrond," The Fellowship of the Ring
Elrond's point is made crystal clear when Frodo offers to give the One Ring to Galadriel. She very nearly succumbs to temptation, but recognizes the test for what it is, and is able to resist the desire to claim the One Ring for herself. If the One Ring can nearly seduce the wisest being in Middle-Earth in the very heart of her domain, her seat of power, what might it do to an Eagle, a creature that is basically defined by the word "pride?"
Any Eagle that possessed the One Ring runs the very real risk of being seduced by the power it offers.
The power of the One Ring is quite subtle and widespread. Saruman never came within a hundred miles of the One Ring and yet he was seduced by it simply by knowing its lore. Although his interactions with Sauron through the palantir probably didn't help.
5. The role of prophecy and destiny
The fate of the One Ring was tied up with multiple destinies. Frodo's is the most obvious, but Sam, Gollum, Aragorn, and even Gandalf all had their own fates woven into the fate of the One Ring.
Both Aragorn and Gandalf had to experience their own hero's journey during this adventure.
Gandalf the Grey was fated to die and be reborn as Mithrandir, or Gandalf the White, to replace Saruman as the leader of the Wise.
Aragorn's destiny was to return to Gondor to claim his birthright, but before that time he had to establish that he was worthy of being the king that Gondor needed. "The hands of the king are the hands of a healer." (The Return of the King) Aragorn had to develop his own strengths and demonstrate his leadership potential through his actions across Rohan and Gondor. In order to accomplish that task, he needed the time afforded to him by the journey of the One Ring towards Mount Doom.
Gollum's fate was sealed when he attempted to snatch the One Ring from Frodo. At that point, Frodo wielded the influence of the One Ring against another creature, thus sealing his own doom and failing the Quest.
"Down, down!" he [Frodo] gasped, clutching his hand to his breast, so that beneath the cover of the leather shirt he clasped the Ring. "Down, you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot betray me or slay me now."
Then suddenly, as before under the eaves of the Emyn Muil, Sam saw these two rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than a shadow of a living thing, ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire spoke a commanding voice.
"Begone and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fires of Doom."
"Mount Doom," The Return of the King
This is the moment when the Ring is truly destroyed, as Gollum was commanded by the Ringbearer to fulfil a task, and nothing in Middle-Earth, save perhaps Sauron himself, would be able to countermand that order.
Had the Ring been carried by an Eagle, none of this would have occurred, and Middle-Earth would be doomed.
Destroying the One Ring was not the task that was appointed to the Eagles. That task was for Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Hobbits. In an early chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf notes that there are far greater powers than he and Sauron that are moving in the world, and that Frodo's actions and decisions are being guided by such powers, whether he knows it or not.
"Beyond that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you were also meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought."
"The Shadow of the Past," The Fellowship of the Ring
Final question...if the Eagles couldn't fly the Ring to Mordor, then why were they able to fly in and rescue Frodo and Sam?
I leave that as an exercise for the reader, because that question is also answered directly in the text.
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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
My big read this week is Thomas Mullen's weirdly prescient 2006 novel The Last Town on Earth, about an isolated logging town in Washington State that decides to quarantine itself from the outside world during the 1918 flu epidemic. There's a backdrop of labor unrest, suspicion of outsiders, and the Wilson administration's attack on "seditious" speech. The new flu strain is fast-acting and vicious and nobody knows how long they have to wait until it manifests in the body. Masking and social distancing are required in the cities. Business and transportation grind to a halt from both the draft and illness claiming workers.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes. at March 29, 2026 09:27 AM (kpS4V)
Comment: In hindsight, it can appear to be a prescient novel, but I think it's more that the author has a firm understanding of human nature and demonstrates that knowledge throughout the story. I read C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength (1946) at the height of the COVID epidemic in early 2021. I was disturbed at how "prescient" that story was in relation to the COVID pandemic, but again it was mostly because Lewis understood man's fallen nature and was able to tell a gripping story because of his deep insights.
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I've been reading Wardrobes and Rings: Through Lenten Lands with the Inklings. It is a devotional, each brief chapter relating a passage from one of the Inklings, mostly Lewis and Tolkien, that can lead to an appreciation of the Lenten season and its meaning. The chapters were written variously by Malcolm Guite, Julia Golding, and Simon Horobin.
I find it refreshing both for the connections I hadn't considered and for the approach. Lent isn't simply a time to deprive yourself of some pleasure as a punishment or penance. The focus is more on eliminating distractions to better contemplate the life and lessons of Christ leading to renewal of life on Easter.
I'm not trying to make a religious statement or start a debate. Just describing the book.
Posted by: JTB at March 29, 2026 10:20 AM (yTvNw)
Comment: That's actually a great point about eliminating distractions. We are consumed by distractions in the physical world. We have entertainment on demand 24/7. We have endless ways of finding diversions to pass the time. But I do think we benefit greatly when we can tune out those distractions and focus in on what's truly important to us, whatever that might be.
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I'm currently 3/4 of the way through Victor Davis Hanson's A War Like No Other, the tale of the Peloponnesian Wars (Athens & allies vs. Sparta and its allies). Fifth-century Greece, only a couple of decades past the more famous wars with the Persian Empire. Hanson does not give us a plodding year-by-year chronology of the war. Instead, his sections focus on elements that proved important in the war, like "Fire," "Disease" (the big plague in Athens early in the war), "Armor," "Walls," and "Horses." He also focuses on the lessons the Greeks learned, and that we can learn, from the war. Not exactly light reading; it requires attention; but it's not dense, not a slog to get through at all.
I hadn't realized how imperial and domineering the Athenians were at this point. Any ally who thought about going over to Sparta got its town besieged, and its inhabitants executed or sold into slavery. We'd always been taught in school that Sparta was such a terrible dictatorship, but Athens (its voting assembly, anyway) was bad too. So much for the joys of pure "democracy."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at March 29, 2026 09:10 AM (wzUl9)
Comment: I have this book somewhere in my garage, I think (I moved my nonfiction books out there to make more room in the house for my fiction books). I may have to dig it back up again.
I enjoy F. Paul Wilson's writing style, so I ordered a few more of his books:
The Hidden Book 1 - The Upwelling by F. Paul Wilson -- Trade paperback.
The Hidden Book 2 - Lexie by F. Paul Wilson -- Trade paperback.
Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson -- Trade paperback.
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING RECENTLY
The journey through F. Paul Wilson's Secret History of the World continues. Like The Dresden Files, these books move fast. I can blaze through a book in a day or two because Wilson just keeps the pace moving quickly, but it never feel so rushed that you can't enjoy the story.
Repairman Jack Book 2 - Legacies by F. Paul Wilson
The Tomb introduced the character of Repairman Jack, but Legacies is really where F. Paul Wilson fleshes out the character. It was written 14 years after The Tomb, so Wilson had a lot of time to think about how he'd write an ongoing series with a central main character. Legacies has one of Jack's all-time great "fixes" in it is as well. A thug steals Christmas toys from a clinic that provides medical care and treatment to babies born addicted to drugs, as well as those born with AIDS. Jack is hired to retrieve the toys. What does he do? He dressed up like Santa Claus, tracks down the lowlife scum, and proceeds to beat the dude to within an inch of his life, all while chastising him for being naughty. The toys are returned, the criminal goes to jail, and Jack's legendary approach to fixing problems is born.
Oh, he's also tasked with unraveling a mystery involving Nikola Tesla that threatens the global economy. Unlike later novels, this one has relatively little to do with the "Otherness," an alien cosmic entity that threatens to overtake the Earth, but there are hints that Tesla's activities may be related in some fashion. This is explored in much more depth in the novella Wardenclyffe.
Repairman Jack Book 3 - Conspiracies by F. Paul Wilson
Jack is hired to find a man's wife who had disappeared. She claimed to have found the truth behind all of the conspiracy theories, a Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory, if you will. Jack goes undercover at a convention of conspiracy kooks, nuts, and whackjobs to track her down. The truth he discovers is far darker and more dangerous than anyone thought, as the convention is being organized by the agent of the "Otherness" to stimulate a psychic storm that will open a portal and allow the Otherness to bleed through to our side. Or something like that.
This is where Jack's destiny is laid out and he meets his enemy for the first time.
Repairman Jack Book 4 - All the Rage by F. Paul Wilson
A mysterious new designer drug has hit the streets, causing ordinary people to burst into violent rage with little to no provocation. The drug has one very peculiar property: every 29 days or so, it becomes inert. All copies of the formula for the drug change. All memories of the drug also change. It defies the laws of physics. Jack is hired to find the source of the drug. In his investigations, he discovers that the source is one of his worst nightmares...
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
I took a break from Repairman Jack to re-read The Hobbit as part of the "Tolkien Reading Day" challenge ace issued on March 25. I did manage to finish the whole book in one day. It's less than 300 pages and a fairly quick read.
I was surprised to discover how much of the story is told through expository prose. There's very little dialogue between characters. It's clear that the dwarves don't think too highly of Bilbo Baggins even as he's rescuing them from danger more than once. It's something of a miracle the dwarves survived to make it to Lonely Mountain as they should have been killed for their foolishness multiple times.
I was also surprised to find out that the Eagles who show up at the end do NOT provide the decisive advantage against the Goblins and Warg armies attacking the Elves, Men, and Dwarves (and one Hobbit!). Instead, that honor belongs to another who shows up in the nick of time.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
I've read this book numerous times. It still packs a powerful emotional punch at the end. It's just a great, great story and I'm glad I re-read it.
Although Tolkien explicitly rejected that it was an allegory of Christian faith, it's hard not to see it woven throughout the story. Frodo Baggins, who failed in his quest and gave in to temptation, is nevertheless redeemed in the end, forgiven for all his failings by being allowed to travel to Valinor, one of a very, very small number of non-Elven guests of that blessed realm, where all his wounds will finally be healed. If that's not a Christian message, I don't know what to say.
Repairman Jack Book 5 - Hosts by F. Paul Wilson
And we're back with Repairman Jack. Jack is contacted by his sister Kate, whom he hasn't seen in over a decade and a half. She's frantic because her lover Janelle is behaving strangely after undergoing a radical new treatment for brain cancer. Jack find out that the source of the treatment is a virus that's been tainted by Otherness and its goal is to bring all mankind into Unity. Sounds good until you read the fine print...
Repairman Jack Book 6 - The Haunted Air by F. Paul Wilson
Jack has had a colorful past. For a short period of time he served as an assistant to a fake psychic. The skills he learned during that time serve him well when he's hired by a couple of fake psychics who start experiencing some REAL psychic phenomenon in their house. It turns out that the home once belonged to a serial killer who was performing dark rituals in his basement in an attempt to achieve immortality/invulnerability. Now one of the spirits of the sacrifices--a little girl--has been awakened and she is not happy...
Repairman Jack Book 7 - Gateways by F. Paul Wilson
Jack's father is in a coma down in Florida as a result of a hit-and-run "accident." As usual, the truth of what's going on down there is more complicated. Jack travels down to Florida, where he meets one of the strangest women he's ever met, who claims to be "his mother" even though Jack's mother died fifteen years ago. She also has a little dog, named "Oyv" (Irv), which raises all sorts of red flags for Jack because he keeps meeting women accompanied by dogs who have dire warning for Jack.
Gateways has strong ties to another of Wilson's short stories set within the Secret History of the World: "Pine Barrens" as the phenomenon that is described in that short story is also present in the Everglades and is being leveraged by a clan of inbred mutants to harness power for themselves, led by the twisted, deranged Semerlee, who sees Jack as belonging to her.
Repairman Jack Book 8 - Crisscross by F. Paul Wilson
Jack dives into the Dormentalist cult--excuse me, "religion." It's quite obviously a thinly-disguised version of Scientology, with a very similar background and belief system. It also has very strong ties to the Otherness. So now Jack has to find a way to extract a member of the cult and return him to his mother, who's worried about him. Meanwhile, Jack's other major task is dealing with a blackmailing scumbag he's dealt with before. Jack has been told many times now that there are no more coincidences in his life, so what's the connection between this blackmailer and his other case?
WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND! This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue. At my direction, the U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine. This miraculous Search and Rescue Operation comes in addition to a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardize our second rescue operation. This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND! The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies. This is a moment that ALL Americans, Republican, Democrat, and everyone else, should be proud of and united around. We truly have the best, most professional, and lethal Military in the History of the World. GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, AND HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!
The state of the technical media today is a microcosm of the state of the mainstream media, which is to say, it would be a good name for a rock band.
But this story highlights a huge problem: Common "wisdom" involves constantly downloading fresh copies of all the dependencies of your software, building it unattended, and deploying it to production likewise.
Sticking with known-good versions? Old hat. Manual review? Out the window.
So as soon as one key component is compromised this way, the infection spreads like wildfire.
Everyone with any experience knew this was a bad idea, but we were ignored.
Shockingly, yes. It does depend on a couple of open-source drivers to run smoothly on modern motherboards and video and sound cards, but it loads and runs even without that in 286 compatibility mode.
If you were running in Amazon's datacenters in Bahrain or Dubai, you no longer are.
Likely the power systems were affected rather than the servers themselves - and storage in Amazon's cloud is duplicated and physically distributed so not subject to easy destruction - but Amazon did not provide much detail or a timeframe for restoration of services.
Basically, there are four models we know of. They all have 4 low-power cores that live on the I/O die, plus one or two CPU dies each with 8 performance cores and 12 or 16 efficiency cores, for a total between 24 and 52 cores, and up to 320MB of cache.
That's the good news.
The bad news? From information that has leaked so far, these will have a peak power consumption of 350W... For the models with one CPU die. For the high end models, 700W.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: The red light just means your computer is on fire.
Saturday Night Club ONT - April 4, 2026 [D Squared]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to Club ONT - a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino. Come in in, grab a drink or 3. Please don't search for Easter Eggs until after Midnight. If you find the one with the "Lifetime Restroom Token" coupon, please see a staff member.
Three guys died and ended up standing at the pearly gates in front of Saint Peter, who told them, "We're going to have a simple quiz just to make sure you’re ready for Heaven."
He looked at one of the men and said, "What is Easter?"
The first guy said, "Oh,that's easy. It's when the family gets together to have turkey and mashed potatoes and..."
"No, no," said, Saint Peter, cutting him off. "That's Thanksgiving! Okay, who's next?"
The next man said, "Very simple. It's when you get a tree and presents for everyone and ..."
"No, no, no! That's Christmas," said Saint Peter. "Ok, last person give it a try."
The third guy said, "Well, Easter is when Christ was crucified, his body was placed in a cave, and they rolled this HUGE boulder in front of it, and..."
"Hey," Saint Peter yelled at the first two. "Listen up - you might learn something!"
"So," the third guy continued, "then 3 days later they rolled that huge rock away from the cave, and if Jesus comes out and sees his shadow we’ve got three more weeks of winter."
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While admiring some dinosaur bones in the Museum of Natural History, a tourist asks the guard, "How old are they?"
The guard replies, "They are 73 million, four years, and six months old."
"That's a rather exact number," says the tourist. "How do you know their age so precisely?"
"Well," answers the guard, "The dinosaur bones were seventy-three million years old when I started working here, and that was four and a half years ago."
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz. blanco tequila
1 oz. carrot juice
3/4 oz. light amber agave
1/2 oz. Amaro Nonino
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Ice
1 carrot, halved lengthwise, plus 5 carrot tops
Directions
Step 1 - In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, carrot juice, agave, amaro, lime juice, and cayenne. Fill shaker with ice, cover, and vigorously shake until outside of shaker is very frosty, about 20 seconds.
Step 2 - Strain into a pebble ice-filled Collins glass. Garnish with carrot and carrot tops.
This year, organisers of the famous naked swim known as The Sydney Skinny say the beloved event will not go ahead. It's due to the escalating costs of permits and insurances that come with a giant skinny dip.
The annual charity swim at Cobblers Beach in Middle Head has become a bucket-list experience for thousands of enthusiasts willing to step outside their comfort zone, all for a good cause.
Founded in 2013 by well-known author and speaker Nigel Marsh, The Sydney Skinny quickly gained international attention.
On previous years, participants gathered at secluded Cobblers Beach, a legally designated nudist beach within Sydney Harbour National Park, where they stripped down for the swim itself before being wrapped in the event's iconic sarongs on exit. The event was deliberately untimed and inclusive, with swimmers choosing either a 300-metre or 900-metre course.
Over the past two years, proceeds have been donated to the Charlie Teo Foundation, supporting vital brain cancer research.
Despite its popularity, organisers say rising costs and a growing list of permits, including National Parks, Harbour Trust, Maritime authorities and multiple insurances, have made it untenable.
What kind of a world do we live in when costs for permits and insurance make it too expensive to swim naked?
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Club ONT Department of Potty Precision
This is either a standard Japanese toilet or the toilet on the Artemis rocket:
Ozzy and Zakk Wylde developed the tune on piano first and then moved it to guitar. They had music, but no lyrics.
Sharon Osbourne called Lemmy shortly after he moved to the U.S. and offered him "X amount of money" (his words) to write songs for Ozzy's No More Tears album. He accepted immediately.
"I wrote six or seven sets of words, and Ozzy ended up using four of them: 'Desire,' 'I Don't Want To Change The World,' "Hellraiser' and 'Mama, I'm Coming Home'." Unsurprisingly, these tracks make up the high points of Osbourne’s album, and that was reflected in sales.
"I made more money with those four songs for Ozzy than in 15 years with Motörhead,” he said before adding: "How absurd!"
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Club ONT Department of Decisions
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The Club ONT Jukebox
Hoppin' good tunes!
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Top 10ish Comments of the Week
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Club ONT is brought to you tonight by the hip hopper
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Please ensure you have all of your belongings. Club ONT is not responsible for any bonnets left behind tonight. Unwanted candy can be left for the staff. No circus peanuts, please.
NEW: Fenway Park ERUPTS in boos as Governor Healey and Mayor Wu take the field on Red Sox opening day — 37,000 fans making their feelings very clear pic.twitter.com/i51cYVpkYd
Yes, this is mostly symbolic, but I think there are other, more important issues that I wish the President would focus on before he tries to fix college sports, which has been crooked since almost the beginning.
Some of the key topics included in the new order try to curtail NIL collectives, along with allowing players to have five years to play five seasons. But, one of the most drastic changes was the committee who helped write this executive order helping implement a change to the transfer process.
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. It is that time of the year, a spin of the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) naturally came up with Easter as a theme for this Hobby Thread.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. I understand that some people pay attention to military hardware, tactics and strategy as a hobby. Discussion of current military events permitted but must be made in the form of hobby commentary. Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice and do not be rude. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
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Didn't we do an Easter themed Hobby Thread last year at this time? Yes, yes we did. It was fun. Anyway...
Easter bunnies, baskets, eggs, chicks, etc. So many crafting possibilities. Let's talk about all of them. Any Easter projects this year? Any favorites from years past? Are you wise in the ways of Peter Cottontail?
Going to need help from the gray boxes on this one. Dinos did not have a prominent role in most scriptural accounts of the resurrection story (kind of like the nativity story). Must have gotten lost in the translations along the way. We're also a little clumsy at times which makes for perilous times if you are a bunny or a chick. A dino has to know its limits.
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Making a wood Easter bunny on a lathe:
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Turning Celtic eggs on a lathe:
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Cadbury chocolate factory:
Peeps!
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German bunny pyramid:
Get Germanized! German Easter traditions:
Rick Steves with European Easter egg traditions. Some interesting egg dying and decorating techniques here:
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We'll do an origami theme at some point, but couldn't resist including here:
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Simple and adorable:
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Does anyone raise chickens and hatch chicks for a hobby? I had wondered about doing a chicken theme but thought it might be too narrow.
This is fancy chicken coop build.
This is chick hatching on a large scale. Not a hobby, but hobbyists might be customers.
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This guy keeps outdoing himself. Great project and result. Even more impressive to make it out of pallet wood. Pallets are the wooden version of legos. With a little creativity and labor, they can be made into almost anything.
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a singing theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
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Notable comments from last week:
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Words of wisdom:
"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).
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Caution - not all rabbits are peaceful. Proceed accordingly. If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute your own. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
Tutti Fruitti 4/08 to 4/3/26. Best beloved cat ever. Miss you forever.
Nan in AZ
Tutti Fruitti was a beautiful cat with personality! So sorry that you have lost her.
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Hi,
I’ve been a long time reader, mostly lurking. I sent in a picture of Huey a while back that got posted here.
I adopted him from a shelter 13 years ago and he has gotten me through a lot of dark times. I lost him to cancer yesterday. He was the most gentle and sensitive soul. He didn’t chase squirrels and rarely barked. I never needed a leash with him, he always stayed by my side. Everyone who met him fell in love with him.
His loss hurts like no other.
Goodbye my good boy.
TCinNC
So sorry that you lost your wonderful Huey this week. He looks just like you describe him. Keep in touch.
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This is Yuki, my sweet American Eskimo dog. She was nearly 15, but I had to let her go this past Tuesday. Her heart was strong, but her body just gave out. I didn’t want to do it, but now she’s out of pain. I only wish I believed there was something beyond this life so I could see her again. My heart is broken.
Christopher (MP4)
It is so hard when you have to let a sweetheart like Yuki go. Keep in touch and keep your memories of her alive.
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PetMoron Adjacent Animals
Encountered by Members of The Horde
A Friend of the Blog has been traveling and stayed overnight where this sweet dog, Maple, resides. She just looks like a "Maple", doesn't she? She's a Golden Cavalier.
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Thank you for sharing your pets and animal photos and stories with us today.
If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:
petmorons at protonmail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Well, Spring is definitely in the air! I managed to get a photo of something rarely seen in the wild--two FedEx trucks mating.
Number of offspring varies, but delivery sometimes happens later that same day.
Thanks for the weekend threads!
BeckoningChasm
I have never observed this in the wild! Thanks!
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Adventure
Cherry Blossoms
Hi
I finally made the walk to Kenwood. This was the first time I was able to do a walk of that length since well before my hip surgery but I had a goal. Was determined to get there. And it was just in time. Blossoms had mostly gone white already and when the wind blew it was raining blossoms.
The little yellow flowers were literally a carpet on the forest floor. The other pictures are mostly Kenwood where the trees are just ancient and have shapes out of a fantasy novel.
The last picture, I think it's a redbud? Looks like the flowers are growing right out of the branch.
Hope you enjoy these as much as I did taking them.
Sharon(willow's apprentice)
Glad you were able to visit Kenwood and take those lovely photos to share with us!
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Gardens of The Horde
The Tree!
Hi KT! Hope you're doing well.
I've been absent from Saturday postings for awhile, but I wanted to share this photo of our red bud tree. Back in 2021, our first spring at the new house, I got one of those free tree packs from the Arbor Day Foundation. Since all we had was bare clay around the place (we built in a field) I had to put them all in pots. Eventually, they made it into 10" pots.
We got the red bud into the ground in early summer of 2024, and it's budding now. So cool! Two hawthornes and two crapemyrtles survived as of last year, still in pots. My Darwinian torture chamber of procrastination and neglect produces hardy survivors.
I'll try to get a photo of the whole tree later on, when it starts to get leaves. Publius said it's a nice-looking tree, and he rarely gives unsolicited commentary on the plantings around here.
He likes the hostas, too. Their little horns are sticking up.
My current project consists of digging up wild onions, which are EV.REE.WHERE.
Miley
Thanks for the great photo, information and garden update. I see a few Redbud blossoms sneaking out on that three last week . . .
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Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden at g mail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Hope everyone is having a nice Holy Saturday or Passover commemoration. Have you been paying attention to the Artemis Mission? Here's a live tracker. The world is still turning.
We didn’t choose to police the world—we earned the burden by pretending we didn’t have to. In a borderless, asymmetric world, refusing to act early doesn’t prevent conflict—it guarantees a bigger one.
People wonder why America is filling the role of global police when Trump promised no more new or “forever wars.”
I think there is a simple reason—and it is one I have personally experienced over a business career that included frequent international travel, extended assignments abroad, and even a few years living overseas.
9/11 changed more than just America; it changed our relationship with the rest of the world and how American citizens moved through it. Personally, I went from believing I had a kind of protective aura because I was an American to understanding I was a target. As terrorists grew emboldened, it became clear that if I were detained or kidnapped, there was no guarantee American assets would be coming to retrieve me. Holding an American passport was no longer a guarantee.
When I landed in Dubai in 2002 on an American Airlines flight, I remember thinking that being an American on an American airline, flying over Middle Eastern terrain within MANPAD range in a plane with a big American flag on the tail, might not have been the best idea.
It also awakened me to the reality that as America pushed globalization, we failed to recognize that globalization works in reverse—importing cultures and people not aligned with American principles and values. That realization only deepened when former President Obama worked to diminish American standing and leadership in an effort to make us just one nation among many. He and his allies believed that being a superpower drew too much attention, and that if we were simply another country—like those in Europe—there would be less threat to America and Americans.
Ludicrous. When America appears weak, as it did during the Carter, Obama and then the Biden administrations, the threat does not recede—it grows.
The truth is that America has always been more than “Team America: World Police.” It has been the world’s sin eater.
In historical lore, a sin eater is someone who takes on the sins of another through a ritual act, absolving them and allowing them peace. America has often played that role—absorbing the consequences of global disorder and, in the process, preventing humanity from being permanently stained by the worst evils men inflict on one another. At times, this “sin eating” has not only preserved peace but advanced the broader cause of civilization.
There is a simple rule about problems: they rarely improve when ignored. More often, they grow—and once they metastasize, they become far more difficult to resolve quietly.
That is why I find the assertion that Iran “presented no imminent threat” to America so unconvincing. . .
Read the whole thing, if you have time. I have seen arguments from the Woke Right that if the Ayatollahs really intended to destroy "all Jews", "all Infidels", etc. they would have already murdered members of minority religions in their own population (rather than murdering protesters?)
It was a busy week! The Democrats conducted one of their periodic “no kings” self-owns, while the Noem family experienced an unexpected bump in the road. April Fools Day came and went, and Tiger Woods’ vehicle once again let him down. The conflict in Iran continued, but memesters didn’t seem to notice. The Supreme Court heard a big birthright citizenship case, and if some of this week’s memes puzzle you, google “KitKat.”
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Music
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Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.
Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few house keeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in De Pere.)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind. Be nice. And for heaven's sake no egg fights later today.
3) Running with sharp objects and juggling with filet knives is really, really frowned upon.
4) Have a great weekend. He is Risen!
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
2/14 – L gave an update on her brother Ron. He has been in declining health for the last 6+ months, and has been transferred to a nice facility for hospice. They had been discussing this possibility for months. He would make improvements, then relapse, each time ending up more disabled. The best part is that he is at peace with the decision. He is aware enough to assist with the final plans and is enjoying parceling out his remaining possessions to family and friends. L’s daughter’s cardiac recovery continues. L says she cannot thank all sufficiently for the many prayers.
3/21 Update – Ron’s struggle is over. He died on 3/9. His 65th birthday would have been 3/22. His funeral was well attended and many people described him as their “best friend”. Despite never being married of having children, he leaves a legacy to be proud of. L’s daughter has finally recovered enough to start cardiac rehab. They expect great progress. L and her husband are rebuilding their relationship after putting it on the back burner for far too long, and working to get healthier. Thanks to everyone who prayed. It has meant a lot.
3/5 – IrishEi has learned that she needs major surgery on 3/16, and she would really appreciate prayers.
3/22 Update – JackStraw asked for prayers for IrishEi. She has been in the hospital for nearly a week. It sounds like she is on the mend, hopefully.
3/28 Update - Bluebell was happy to report that IrishEi is home from the hospital and is doing well. She’s very grateful for all the prayers as she knows they helped.
3/7 – Uncle Slayton posted the good news that his son-in-law, Kenny, is almost 3 years cancer-free. He beat lymphoma and leukemia, and Uncle Slayton wanted to thank everyone who prayed for him.
3/7 – Joe Kidd sent an update on a previous prayer, for a young girl named Jasmine. She is the adopted daughter of a friend of a friend. She had been rescued from abuse, but was withdrawn, etc. The friend took the family on an RV trip, and with lots of TLC for Jasmine, things have improved. It appears that God has surrounded this young girl with an army of angels, and your prayers for her are being heard. May those listed here and whispered elsewhere receive similar affirmation.
3/7 – vmom deport deport deport requested prayers for GB, the husband of her friend; he just had a quadruple bypass a couple of days ago, following a heart attack.
3/10 – Warai-otoko asked for prayers for a sister-in-law with some respiratory issues, who just took a hard turn for the worse. Thanks to everyone, even if you just take a fraction of a second for it.
3/10 – Update on Susan, who we have been praying for as she battles cancer. She is hospitalized again with an infection in her colon that quickly turned bad. The doctor says the signs are sepsis but they are running tests to make sure. The good news is that the pancreatic cancer was and is responding to the chemo and her cancer numbers are going down. God bless and thank you!
3/23 Update – Susan finally was able to come home. She is doing better than expected. Thanks to everyone for your prayers.
3/11 – Bulg sends a prayer of thanks. He called his formerly estranged sister on her birthday, and they had a wonderful conversation. It was their second conversation since February, and there was no animosity at all.
3/11 – Doof sent his appreciation for the Horde’s prayers for his mom, who has been in post-hospitalization rehab since mid-January. She has recovered from her illnesses, but her body seems to be increasingly giving up on her. PT has become too painful and exhausting for her. She is also having increased brain fog and is rapidly losing the ability to do things like answer her phone or send texts. Continued prayers requested for her, as she is very sad, and also for Doof and his sister as they figure out what’s next.
3/16 Update – Doof’s mother is not doing very well. Her 100 days of post-hospital rehab will be ending soon, and she is not nearly recovered enough to live alone. She’s almost completely confined to bed. She will be moved to long-term care soon, and will likely be there for the rest of her life. They appreciate the prayers.
3/14 – Retired Buckeye Cop asks for prayers for Mrs. Cop’s cousin, “A.B”. He has been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. He is a retired police officer who was hit by a car years ago. He attempted to deal with the pain by self-medicating with too much Tylenol, which ended up poisoning his liver. His only alternative is a liver transplant, but he is uncertain if he wants to have surgery.
3/21 Update – A.B.’s situation isn’t quite as dire as originally thought. It’s still bad, but his readings are better than originally thought.
3/18 – TecumsehTea requests prayers, as her husband was fired from a job he enjoyed very much on 3/17. Prayers are needed for peace, direction, and clarity. They trust God will provide the right job at the right time, and that He would give them peace in the waiting. TecumsehTea is still dealing with the effects of her heart attack last July. Prayers for healing, as her BP continues to be unstable. Chronic Lyme disease and autoimmune disease complicates everything. She trusts that God is faithful and good and He will take care of their needs.
3/21 – FenelonSpoke asked for prayers for her son, who is still looking for work. He has a horticulture major, and would ideally like something related to research, but he is certainly willing to labor outdoors.
3/21 – Count de Monet gave prayers of thanks for a son who has been accepted into the IBEW Apprenticeship program. He will earn while he learns for 4 years on his way to becoming a Journeyman Electrician.
3/21 – pookysgirl asked for prayers as they start IVF again.
3/22 – Retired Buckeye Cop has a happy prayer request. His 16 year old grandson said he is feeling a call to the priesthood within the Catholic Church. He is a devout young man who has particular compassion for the poor. (He thinks he might want to be a Franciscan friar.) Please pray for L. H. as he pursues the vocation of religious life.
3/24 – GMAC posted that he has received his death sentence. His prostate cancer has metastasized into his bones. Medication will slow it down, but there is no stopping it. He doesn’t know how much time he has, but plans to do some travelling while he can. He sends his compliments to “the wittiest group of morons” he has ever had the pleasure of reading. He will still be lurking.
3/28 – Cosda posted the happy news that a new grandson should be arriving on 3/28.
3/28 – Defenestratus asked for prayers for grief at the loss of a dear friend and boss of 20 years, who passed away unexpectedly on St. Patrick’s Day.
3/28 – San Franpsycho posted that Pnina bat Surel is not improving, sadly. She has had a third hospitalization, and this has taken a toll on her. She is not bouncing back like she has before.
3/28 – From about The Time posted that prayers would be appreciated after the last chemo treatment for Lymphoma. It went reasonably well - thanks for the prayers.
3/28 – Hrothgar asked for prayers for a dear and long time close friend and former neighbor, Daniel, who is scheduled for open heart surgery in mid-April. Prayers for his wife would be appreciated as well, as she will be carrying a heavy load for the next few months.
3/28 – NR Pax posted an update on his father, who we had prayed for in January after his stroke. Dad is going through PT and OT every day at home. Mom got some cooperative people at the VA and a note was put in his record that he was not to have any appointments more than fifteen miles from his house. Things are still rough as Mom is handling things like taxes, investment accounts, and the banking. And Dad’s condition is stable, but it will change sooner or later. But they are living in a great retirement community and he’ll be taken care of.
3/28 – Jordan61 posted that Mr. Jordan61 is back in the hospital. His sepsis has returned and gotten into where his compression fracture is, and he has vertebral osteomyelitis. The doctor is supposed to come in today and let them know the plan.
For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
Unfortunately this does not represent a collapse in the AI industry - not yet, anyway - but a shortage in key electrical distribution components thanks to the ongoing trade war with China, something that will be resolved relatively quickly as other countries gleefully pick China's bones clean. Metaphorically.
If you have computer, treat it like the one remaining intact moa egg. Not like other formerly remaining intact moa egg, which someone took out of its case and dropped.*
* Google and Grok both say no such event happened. I am feeling gaslit right now
Or you could just install any other flavour of Linux. But ChromeOS is good for non-technical users.
The project at work that has been consuming all my waking hours for the past two months is done, just in time for the Easter long weekend here. I am sleep.
Musical Interlude
Everyone's favourite anticommunist angel is back. The Saga of Tanya the Misunderstood returns this July, after 97 long years away.
For real.
Disclaimer: Close only counts in hand grenades and proximity fuses.
This week American Twitter and Japanese Twitter connected, and it's been awesome. So, Twitter added a new feature where their AI, Grok, automatically translates foreign tweets. A Japanese poster (whose name translates as “Thick Penis) posted a drawing of 3 Americans having the time of their lives at a yakiniku restaurant (Place where you grill your own food). Someone else responded with a picture of some American men around a huge grill with like 30 steaks on it that he would love to experience something like this, and the rush was on. Since we can now read these tweets, everybody started inviting him to come on over and eat. Japanese Twitter responded, and what followed was an absolute lovefest. My own tweet inviting them to come on over has over 213K views.
It. Was. Awesome. We love the Japanese and they love us. I've been on that hellsite for almost 20 years, and this was he most wholesome I've ever seen it. It was fun! We talked food, politics (Japanese Twitter hates leftists), monster trucks, sports, and made jokes.
I even saw several long and respectful discussions of WWII, and of course we talked about girls and sex.
It's been a fun, happy, enjoyable week on Twitter, and I never thought that would happen. Konnichiwa Japan! We love you guys!
Cute: An owl was brooding over lifeless eggs so some humans pulled a switcheroo, replacing the dead eggs with live orphaned chicks. The owl is very happy.
Mom who killed boyfriend and cut off his genitals after catching him raping her daughter is cleared of murder
One cheer for "decarceration."
Now for the bad news: Reading the details of the murder -- she killed her own romantic/sexual partner, and somehow she was able to slip a mickey into a drink and drug this guy while he was "raping her daughter" -- makes me think she just killed this guy out of jealousy and contrived the "raping my daughter" story to justify it.
An enraged mom who cut off her boyfriend's testicles and then set fire to his body after catching him trying to rape her daughter has been cleared of his murder.
Erica Pereira da Silveria Vicente confessed to killing partner Everton Amaro de Silva in Minas Gerais, Brazil -- saying she was just trying to protect her 11-year-old daughter from being raped, according to Estado de Minas.
She was alerted by alarming texts the predator sent the preteen -- then found him on top of her, trying to rape her, when rushing to her screaming daughter, according to the reports.
However, prosecutors insisted that the brutality of the murder proved it was carried out "not in blind rage but with cold premeditation."
The mom allegedly spiked de Silva's drink with Klonopin, a medication used to treat seizures, and then stabbed and clubbed him while he was unconscious, according to prosecutors.
Do rapists often take a drink mid-rape? Does a drugged drink work quickly enough to end a rape mid-rape?
I just ran some scientific tests on this story and my beakers and Erlenmeyer Flasks tell me that this story is forty seven moles of bullshit.
I don't know what happened here, but I know it's not what this woman is claiming happened.
A teen who heard screams helped the mom carry the body to wasteland in Belo Horizonte -- where Vicente cut off the dead man's genitals and set fire to his body, jurors were told.
...
She confessed to the killing -- but insisted it was only to save her daughter.
The jury agreed, and the mom was acquitted Tuesday of aggravated homicide and destroying a corpse after just one day of testimony.
Jaden Ivey didn't last long with the Chicago Bulls before he was waived, let go, or whatever polite term is being used these days to fire someone. It came after he posted a video sharing his thoughts on Pride Month and the NBA.
In it, Ivey spoke openly about his Christian faith and took issue with the league's promotion of Pride Month. He called it unrighteous. He questioned why that message is celebrated so openly while opposing views seem to carry consequences.
By the end of the day, the video was everywhere.
Not long after that, the Bulls announced they were waiving him for what they described as conduct detrimental to the team.
That is the official explanation.
He's coming off an injury but it can't be doubted that political pressure was brought to bear here. Video here.
In this clip, another basketball player says he doesn't want to "go deep" into a question about his religion because of the Jaden Ivey situation, because "I don't wanna get waived."
I'm sure Bobby "The Brain" DeNiro will protest this use of corporate-governmental power to squelch black men's rights.
Some potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates are introducing themselves to voters in a striking way: by documenting their childhood resentments, family chaos and fights with their parents.
Why it matters: Many presidential hopefuls carry painful memories from complicated childhoods. But few have discussed them as openly as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Their frankness about their formative years and family dynamics is a way to shape their public stories before journalists do. It's also a sign of shifting taboos and a growing desire for candidates to appear relatable to voters.
Newsom grew up as private-school twat and family friend of the Getty's, and Pritzker is an obese billionaire nepo baby. I don't know if Josh Shapiro is a rich bitch --
-- update, just got an email from Tucker Carlson, saying, "Look at his last name. Look at his little hat. You know he's rich." Well I'll take that under consideration, Cuck.
They desperately need to show that they've "struggled" in life so out comes the stories of dyslexia and... fights with their parents?
What?
Your daddy wouldn't let you borrow the new Beemer -- just the old one, last year's model without the heated seats -- and you had yourself a sulk and so now you understand the daily grind of the common people?
Can I impress upon you the Healing Power of Shutting the Fuck Up?
You're probably not going to believe me, but a black female Democrat involved in the "Equity" grift turns out to be a fraudster and criminal thief.
Man, I did not have that on today's Bingo card. (Just yesterday's, tomorrow's, and Easter's.)
Last August, I told you the story of a close associate of then-Mayor London Breed named Sheryl Davis. Ms Davis had been on the rocket glide path to San Fran prominence as a member of the city's Human Rights Commission, eventually rising to become its head.
The SF Human Rights Commission, under Ms. Davis's leadership, had a $44M annual budget, which was scheduled to shrink amid the city's 2025-26 money woes to around $28M. Still pretty healthy cha-ching by any measure.
In 2021, in the aftermath of the St. George Floyd incident, she had also been personally tapped by Mayor Breed to lead a multimillion-dollar feel-good investment (described as 'tens of millions of dollars') that the city was making in the black community, dubbed the 'Dream Keeper Initiative.'
A huge pile of money earmarked for a completely vague purpose whose efficacy cannot be proven nor disproven given to a political crony who owes her position only to grifting?!
I see no (intentional) accountability holes here whatsoever!!!
...
The San Francisco Chronicle discovered a $10,000 tab paid for by the Human Rights Commission for a Martha's Vineyard cottage rental. Worse, the invoice had been split, seemingly to evade limits on travel claims, and even worse yet, they had the email from Ms. Davis asking for the workaround.
It snowballed from there.
the ten grand invoice was reportedly for interns (!) in the city's Dream Keeper program who were attending a conference on *checks notes* Martha's Vineyard.
the SF Standard reported that Human Rights Commission executive director Sheryl Davis had signed off on $1.5 million in grants to a nonprofit led by a man she lived with, one James Spingola
the Human Rights Commission's Dream Keeper Initiative had granted a total of $7.5 million to Spingola's Collective Impact nonprofit.
Sheryl Davis got $19,000 in city money for her son's UCLA grad school tuition, as the Chronicle reports.
Spingola's non-profit, Collective Impact, got $27 million in city grants, gave first-class airfare to Davis to promote her book and podcast, plus another $5,000 for Oakland soul singer Goapele to perform at Davis's book launch party.
Davis was Collective Impact's executive director before taking the Human Rights Commission job
The wheels of justice move slowly, but this past Monday, Sheryl Davis surrendered to face 57 pages of legal sheet music.
Once San Francisco's most powerful civil rights watchdog, Sheryl Davis continued her spectacular fall on Monday when she surrendered to authorities to face accusations that she misappropriated funds and engaged in "pervasive" self-dealing while leading a landmark initiative meant to benefit the city's Black community.
See the link for more.
I'm sure she'll explain that she personally paid for the trip to Martha's Vinyard but has no bank transactions to prove it because she paid it out of the huge sums of cash she keeps hidden in the house because her daddy told her that was a great way to store wealth.
Residents of Raleigh, NC, are OUTRAGED that Brice Lewis Forman, a man with at least 39 PRIOR arrests, continues to be let out of jail to terrorize the community.
Forman has previous charges for assault, theft, trespassing, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and concealed weapons.
Babak Taghvaee - The Crisis Watch
@BabakTaghvaee1
BREAKING: According to CENTCOM, the second U.S. Air Force CSAR team sent into Iran to rescue the crew of the downed F-15E of the 494th Fighter Squadron has successfully located and rescued the second crew member.
He ejected, survived the crash, and is now safe in Iraq.
This is good news for the 48th Fighter Wing community at RAF Lakenheath--both crew members of the downed F-15E are now safe.
Also, the crew members of the second HH-60W helicopter involved in the rescue operation of the second crew member, which was shot upon by means of MANPADS, are also safe.
This is the kind of news which, if true, would be shouted from all five corners of the Pentagon.
I wouldn't even post this but it's being retweeted and I figure everyone will hear about it. If you see an official source confirming this, please let me know.
BREAKING: According to CENTCOM, the second U.S. Air Force CSAR team sent into Iran to rescue the crew of the downed F-15E of the 494th Fighter Squadron has successfully located and rescued the second crew member.
He ejected, survived the crash, and is now safe in Iraq.
— Babak Taghvaee - The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) April 3, 2026
Now, on to the silly crap.
A full-length trailer from Backrooms. It's a lot like House of Leaves, if you read that. I read a hundred pages and decided "I get the gist."
It looks like Uncanny Places are this season's New Hotness.
The Most Dangerous Girlboss. I would say it's something I would see except 1, I don't like Charlize Theron, 2, it's a Netflix movie and you know that's the Mark of Quality, and 3, I'm just so tired of girlbosses I just can't take a movie with a female lead involving danger from a predatory male. That kind of movie should be perfectly acceptable, but you know, at some point you hit your limit on them.
The Lonely Island guys are somehow involved in this husband-and-wife-try-to-murder-each-other comedy.
A comedy-western with John C. Reilly. I don't know what this one is going for.
Scientists hunting for treatments and cures for multiple sclerosis may have found an unlikely ally -- the yak.
The high-altitude, cold-hardy relative of the cow could be the key to a medical breakthrough, according to a March13 study published in the journal Neuron.
At the center of it all is the myelin sheath -- a fatty, protective coating around nerve fibers that helps signals travel between the brain and body.
In MS, the immune system attacks that coating, disrupting communication and triggering neurological symptoms including problems with balance and coordination.
Previous research found that animals living on Tibet's high plateau -- including yaks and antelopes, which roam at average elevations above 14,800 feet -- carry a special genetic mutation called Restat that protects their brains from low-oxygen conditions. Crucially, it does so without damaging the myelin sheath.
Now scientists believe that same gene could help humans repair damaged nerves by regrowing the protective coating, and potentially opening a new door for MS treatment.
The disease typically strikes adults between the ages of 20 and 40. About 1 million Americans are currently living with it, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
To find out if the genetic mutation Restat could play a role in protecting nerve health in humans, Liang Zhang, a neuroscientist at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and his team tested mice engineered with the genetic mutation while living in low-oxygen conditions.
And the results were promising.
The mice engineered to carry the mutant gene not only performed better in memory and behavior tests -- they also had healthier, thicker myelin, according to Zhang's study.
Even better, when their nerves were damaged, these mice repaired their myelin faster and more completely.
The gene works by boosting production of a vitamin A-related molecule called ATDR -- all-trans-13,14-dihydroretinol -- which helps create and mature the cells that make myelin.
I don't know if I want Yak DNA in my body. As a wise man once said, "History shows again and again that nature points up the folly of man."
What's good for your aging gut may also be good for your aging brain.
A first-of-its-kind study in twins found that taking daily protein and prebiotic supplements can improve memory test scores in people over age 60.
Published in 2024, the findings are food for thought, especially as the same visual memory and learning test is used to detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease.
The double-blind trial tested two inexpensive plant-fiber prebiotics that are available over the counter in many countries.
Prebiotics are non-digestible consumables that help stimulate our gut microbes.
One of the supplements was inulin, a dietary fiber in the fructan class. The other, fructooligosaccharide (FOS), is a plant carbohydrate often used as a natural low-calorie sweetener.
Now if you want to go the other way and speed up your cognitive decline, you should do what the Young Idiots are doing and use ChatGPT for everything.
AI chatbots can act as a "cognitive crutch" that reduces our ability to retain information, a new study suggests.
The research was conducted by AI expert André Barcaui of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who ran an experiment with 120 university students. Half were allowed to use ChatGPT to help them respond to an assignment on the topic of artificial intelligence, and half weren't.
In a surprise test sprung on the participants 45 days after the assignment was given, the students who used ChatGPT scored an average of 5.75 out of 10. For those who took the traditional study route, the average score was 6.85 out of 10.
That's a notable difference, and while this is a relatively small study in terms of participants and timescale, it chimes with other research showing that using AI to find information means we just don't take as much in.
"This suggests that unrestricted ChatGPT use impaired long-term retention, likely by reducing the cognitive effort that supports durable memory," writes Barcaui in his published paper.
This is one of the least-surprising findings I've ever seen.
Now we see what JackStraw was doing with his NIH grant.
Scientists Engineered a Plant to Produce 5 Different Psychedelics at Once
What do plants, toads, and mushrooms have in common? They can all produce psychedelic substances -- and now their powers have been combined in one plant, like a trippier Captain Planet.
In a wild first, scientists have taken the genes these organisms use to make five natural psychedelics and introduced them into a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana), which then produced all five compounds simultaneously.
As interest grows in psychedelics as potential treatments for illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, the newly developed system could offer scientists a new way to produce these compounds for research purposes.
"[Our] strategy established a heterologous plant system for the production of five prominent therapeutically valuable compounds, their derivatives, and nonnatural plant analogs, providing a starting point for their production in plants," writes a team led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
"You smoke the LSD tree and listening to the Grateful Dead becomes so immersive you completely forget how much they suck," said self-declared "part time drifter, full time dreamer" JackStraw.
Frequent Ejaculations Can Boost Sperm Quality, Study Suggests
Wait, it said "ejaculations" not "masturbation sessions." I guess it says something Sad! about me that I read it as being good news for chronic masturbators.
The connection between testosterone and well-being is weaker than many people think. Although there are clear health connections, a higher testosterone level is not always the key to well-being, according to a thesis at the University of Gothenburg's Department of Jonah Goldberg's Unfulfilled Wife.
...
The clearest connections are found in sexual problems with sexual desire, erection and sexual performance, as well as in some muscle and joint pain, as well as sitting on Twitter all day long spamming out trash jokes from 1999."
Muscle health and testosterone are also connected. Higher testosterone levels are linked to higher muscle mass and, above all, to less intramuscular fat. This is especially true in muscles with a high percentage of fat: around the stomach, waist, lower back and hips, and in the chest muscles, the so-called JGFDS, or 'Jonah Goldberg Fat Deposition Sites.'"
Want to increase your physical and mental performance? Take a fake pill. Even if you know it's fake it will still work because you're so gullible.
Some test subjects were given placebos claimed to be a multivitamin with pro-mental and muscular properties. Some test subjects were given an "open placebo," a placebo identified to the patient as a placebo with no real benefits, but were also told that sometimes placebos could grant psychological benefits that would result in real benefits.
Both groups saw benefits from the fake medicine.
A placebo is "an inert treatment presented as active", according to the definition used by these authors. In medical history, placebo effects have been researched by offering an inert treatment as if it were an active intervention. This presumes that the patient's belief is necessary for the effect to occur. However, more recent literature suggests the contrary.
That is, if the placebo effect is satisfactorily explained as involving mind-body interactions, open-label placebos exert effects on patients as strong as deceptive placebos across multiple clinical and experimental parameters. Psychologists attribute this to patients' expectations, which operate through psychological, contextual, and expectancy-driven processes to fulfil them.
...
Within each group, self-reported parameters remained unchanged. Cognitive performance increased from before to after the intervention in both placebo groups. A cognitive inhibition task showed improvement in all groups, including controls, suggesting a likely practice or habituation effect rather than a placebo-specific effect.
Physical functioning improved in both placebo groups, but more significantly in the open-label group, in within-group analyses, although no significant between-group differences were observed at post-intervention.
Specifically, researchers found that the placebo improved physical performance by 7% when taken under deception, and by 9.2% when taken knowingly. Cognitive performance improved, depending on the assessment test used by the psychologists, by between 12.6% and 14.6% in the case of the sham supplement (deceptive placebo), and by between 6.9% and 21.5% in the case of the placebo taken knowingly.
"These are significant effects," the psychologist emphasizes, "comparable to those seen in some experimental studies on physical activity regarding physical performance and cognitive training, especially with regard to memory." Among the various effects observed, there was an improvement in drowsiness and, particularly for the group aware they are taking the placebo, in stress levels.
The discovery of the oldest ever dog DNA suggests they have been our best friends for nearly 16,000 years -- 5,000 years earlier than had previously been thought, new research said Wednesday.
Despite being ubiquitous in the homes, backyards and hearts of people across the world, surprisingly little is known about where dogs come from.
...
Dogs are most likely a mix of two types of grey wolves, he said. However exactly when dogs diverged from wolves has been difficult to trace, partly because their ancient bones are tricky to tell apart.
That is why scientists behind two new studies published in the journal Nature sequenced the genomes from archaeological remains, shedding light on the elusive origins of our furry friends.
The first study revealed that the world's oldest canine DNA was discovered in a piece of a skull in Pinarbasi in what is now Turkey.
The female puppy, which was perhaps "a few months old", probably looked like a small wolf when it lived roughly 15,800 years ago, according to study co-author Laurent Frantz of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
Before Wednesday, the oldest-known dog DNA was from 10,900 years ago.
Also breaking that record was genetic evidence the team found in southwest England dating back 14,300 years, which illustrated how early dogs had spread across Europe.
Frantz said scientists could not prove exactly what role these dogs had among humans living during the last Ice Age.
"But I think we can assume that they must have played a role because they would have been expensive to feed," he said.
Perhaps the dogs were used for hunting or protection, he speculated.
Even if these dogs were not treated the same as pets are today, there was likely still a strong bond, he said, adding that "kids will still have played with puppies".
And now for the big question: Does anyone have any health gains they'd like to report to the group?
I don't have any. I've been low-carb pretty consistently, but the only result is that I'm not gaining weight. I'm losing none. I really do have to start exercising again.
Last September, Pastor Jason Howard of the Sanctuary Church in Pittsburgh saw a surge of young people flocking to his Christian congregation, the week after Charlie Kirk was murdered.
Howard knew that something had shifted. Yes, their congregation had always been predominantly youth-driven, but this was different. Lines began to form for their services. Public transportation was dropping off children by the busload from campuses across the city, and he knew that he had an obligation to expand. Howard teamed up with local college students at the University of Pittsburgh, and a revival called Pitt Purposes was held on campus, attracting about 600 students and led by members of the university's football team.
But the youth movement didn't pause. In fact, it grew, leading to last week's revival at the University of Pittsburgh's Peterson Center that attracted thousands and included hundreds of baptisms, most in pickup trucks.
Howard said that after Pitt for Jesus happened in the fall, they really wanted to do a follow-up. "Our hope was that we could do something big like at the Petersen Event Center," he said.
Jake Overman, the captain of the Pitt football team, reached out to Unite Us, a ministry that has partnered with university students to organize big arena events at college campuses. Overman, who might get drafted or picked up as a free agent in next month's draft in Pittsburgh, led the Pitt for Jesus movement last fall.
There is one catch: Unite Us almost exclusively does events below the Mason-Dixon line. Nonetheless, they secured the Petersen Event Center, located in the middle of the Oakland Campus, and Overman and an army of students began canvassing the local campuses here for turnout.
There are several universities and colleges in the Pittsburgh area: Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Robert Morris, LaRoche, Point Park, Carlow, Chatham, and Allegheny Community College.
By the time the event happened last week, over 5,000 young people were in attendance, with several hundred of them choosing to be baptized that evening.
They are not alone. For the first time in decades, faith in this country is growing, not retreating -- particularly among our young people, something that I've been reporting for the past year. In my rural parish, a Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Greensburg, our attendance has nearly doubled since last fall. Unless you get to Mass at least 15 minutes before services begin, you are left standing for the entire service -- and that is with added folding chairs in the back, along the side, and with the choir pews above us filled.
...
On Sunday, the Mother of Sorrows parish, which is also part of the Diocese of Greensburg, also had standing-room-only services on Palm Sunday. This has become the norm every Sunday. All three parking lots were packed, with cars straddling the grass leading down to the highway. Nearby Dick's Diner was also filled with parishioners.
The surge in Roman Catholic Church converts is being felt across the United States. Dioceses in the Rust Belt, Midwest, and Bible Belt are seeing record numbers of people received into the Catholic Church. Last fall, the New York Times reported that the Archdioceses of Detroit, Galveston-Houston, and Des Moines are also seeing significant increases.
...
"What we're witnessing right now is an answer to many years of prayers," he said. "Seeing this many college students turn to Jesus, and not just in a casual way but in a passionate way; willing to follow him wholeheartedly."
...
"I think overall young people are really looking for something real, and I think that this generation has really gotten to the point where the world seems out of control, and the world seems to be so subjective," Howard said.
He added that people are desperately looking for something absolute to anchor their lives in. "And, of course, God is the absolute that can anchor our lives."
Haz
@Michael_Haz
The TLM order that has been entrusted with my parish cannot ordain new priests fast enough to keep up with the requests from bishops to take over closed churches for parishoners who have asked for a Latin Mass. Wherever they are sent, the once-closed churches have filled pews several times, every Sunday. It's a beautiful thing to see and hear, especially all the newly initiated young singles, couples and families.
Obama-Biden Have Implemented Stealth Communism Plus: Hobbit/LOTR Reading Progress Thread
—Disinformation Expert Ace
You probably remember that Obama partially "solved" his unemployment crisis by simply changing the standards about who was eligible to collect Medicaid and disibility insurance. By the stroke of a pen, he changed administrative standards so that the chronically unemployed -- his voters, I mean -- would get paid by the government. They would of course be loyal to the man giving them free money, and putting them on these programs took them out of the unemployed pool and made the numbers look better.
Say anyone else remember "Jobs Saved and Created"? Remember, it's Trump who's the liar who makes up his own fake facts, not the demon Obama.
Nic Carter wrote a post discussing Biden greatly expanding upon the Obama plan to impose socialist guaranteed income (or UBI, "Universal Basic Income," long the dream of AOC and her communist allies) -- at least for his voters. The people controlling the Biden Autopen simply ended all authentication/auditing for the billions of dollars they robbed from hardworking taxpayers to give to their cronies. Anyone who spent an hour filling out paperwork could have $500 million, with no chance of ever being caught for fraud, because Biden's Autopen turned off all fraud detection, deliberately.
We blame Somali pirates for plundering us but the Democrat-Communist Party did this too us, deliberately. They could not pass a reparations bill, so they allowed all of their voters to just requisition their own personal reparations funds from taxpayers by simply opening a "hospice business" or even a "learing center."
Read it all:
nic carter
@nic_carter
it hasn't sunk in for most people. we already live in a post-scarcity society. UBI [Universal Basic Income] is already here.
bonus package: literally getting paid for staying at home and hanging out with your relatives
extra bonus: if you are willing to commit fraud, pretend your kids are autistic and get paid for that. get paid for watching your neighbor's kid. pretend you are taking care of your grandma. fake hospice clinic. fake rehab clinic. fake therapy clinic.
giga bonus: during a time of crisis take advantage of PPP or CARES and open a fake business and get paid for existing
people are shocked when they learn that defense is the FIFTH largest line item in the budget. ahead of defense: social security ($1.6T), interest on debt ($1.1T) medicare ($1T), medicaid + ACA ($1T), AND THEN defense ($0.9T)
complain about defense all you like, but healthcare fraud is a way bigger factor. hundreds of billions per year.
this is only going to get worse, because the fraud is a structural part of the system -- payouts to client groups in exchange for votes (normally D).
in the US, only 47% of the population actually works (fully 14% of the population is working age and does not work). retirees are 18% and children 22%.
the system I described above subsidizes 50m non-working people absolute minimum, but really it's far more because people that are paid to stay home and take care of their relatives are considered "workers"
of that 47% of "actual workers" maybe one third does real work, the rest are shuffling papers around or doing fake email jobs. so you have, rough math, 50 million actual workers supporting 300 million dependents. that's the nature of the economy today. it will only accelerate. eventually you will have 10 million using AI tools to do all the work and 340 million dependents.
the reason no one roots out the fraud is because it's the system that keeps our extremely fragile polity intact. the fraud is the UBI. the purpose of the system is what it does.
of course, it's a deeply unfair system, because you are allowed to commit fraud if you are a politically protected client group of the democrats. DOGE was killed faster than any government program ever, because it attempted to root out the fraud. if you are honest and unwilling to commit fraud, you are a huge loser in this system. your neighbor will have their mortgage subsidized by some government program. they will get favorable SBA loans due to DEI. they will open a fake hospice or autism clinic. they will get paid for taking care of their neighbor's kid and vice versa. the primary skill in the labor market is learning how to extract money from state and federal government programs, not gaining skills or making yourself employable. if you are just trying to work an ordinary wagie job you are a huge sucker. you are paying 40-50% effective all in taxes to everyone else who is a net taker.
the sad part is because AI is such a substantial productivity boost, it will actually keep this system going for a while longer, and maybe in perpetuity. AI boosts the 15% of the population that is actually productive so much that the remaining 85% can coast by. no one in charge will change this because they can't think of anything else. the political costs of a real UBI program are too great and we don't have the money for it anyway. so we will keep this covert fraud-based UBI program running indefinitely. unfortunately, if you are an honest wagie, you lose.
Related: Video of the FBI arresting eight fraudsters, in an operation they call Operation Never Say Die.
That's a joke -- the people in "Hospice care" never actually die because they're not sick at all and their information has been obtained and used fraudulently.
I mean, the FBI gave the operation that jokey name. It's the operation's real name, but it's a humorous one.
Related: Part of the plan is also to replace the native population, of course.
And how's that going?
🚨 BREAKING: It was just revealed that the Chinese suspects who tried detonating an IED at a US Air Force Base were BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENS of ILLEGAL ALIENS
Omg. This is EXACTLY what Justice Sam Alito tried telling everyone at the Supreme Court!
Leading Democrat Calls for Reparations for Illegal Immigrants
As Chicago and other blue cities move toward reparations for African Americans, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D, Wa.) wants reparations for illegal immigrants for the trauma caused by immigration enforcement. At the same time, various Democrats are making clear that they want to entirely defund and eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement. So, after the Biden Administration allowed in millions over an open border, Democrats would eliminate ICE and some like Jayapal would pay illegal immigrants reparations.
Rep. Jayapal declared on Friday:
"They need to be brought before us, and they need to be held account [sic] for the trauma that they have created, and we are going to have to have some form of reparation for the kids and the families that have been traumatized through all of this."
While not calling for reparations, other democrats have picked up the theme that someone has to pay for the trauma caused by immigration enforcement.
Unrelated: For those joining me on a trip to Middle Earth, how is it going?
I did barely any reading the last three nights. Tuesday night I ran out for a 10 pm showing of Project Hail Mary and Wednesday and Thursday nights I worked late to write a bunch of (mostly open thread) posts for today and Monday.
Today I'm going to jump back in and finish The Hobbit so I can start Fellowship by Saturday.
If you haven't read the Hobbit yet, let me recommend it vigorously. It is a fast, exciting, fun, and very funny read. You may not think of Tolkien as funny because the Lord of the Rings is serious and weighty, but the Hobbit has jokes on almost every page. If you like cheeky British humor, you'll smile a lot.
I think in Lord of the Rings, it took about 180 pages to get to Rivendell, and then we spent, IIRC, two (or even three) 50-70 chapters at that place.
In the Hobbit, we arrive in Rivendell around page 60, and we spend six pages there. Just six. Tolkien directly addresses the reader and says that while grim, scary, and unpleasant stories may be interesting and take many pages to tell, stories of places that are lovely and welcoming and relaxing do not make for good stories, and thus are told much more quickly. He's always making these kind of playful asides to the reader. (And in LOTR, he retcons the Hobbit to divulge that it was actually written by Bilbo Baggins himself, writing in the third person but usually from the POV of Bilbo. So we learn that the amusing narrator of the book is none other than the main character himself).
The book is about 320 pages and they are fast pages. If you've ever been put off by the hulking Lord of the Rings, and thought "I just can't commit to a 1,200 page book," give The Hobbit a try. To be honest, I think it's better than LOTR. I've read it about 10 times and I've only read through LOTR completely twice. (And the first time I did a lot of skimming.)
Oh -- and don't compare it to the bloated movies, which padded the hell out of everything to make it move at the slower pace of LOTR.
Anyway, that's where I am, just leaving Rivendell and heading for the Misty Mountains.
Some biologists have discovered this strange tree in New Zealand. According to experts, it is heading to Isengard to destroy Saruman. pic.twitter.com/fqTRGXlkmp
Iran shot down what appears to be a fighter plane on Friday, Iranian state media reported, in what would be the first time that Tehran downed an American jet since the war broke out five weeks ago.
The search and rescue is underway for two service members.
The Hill has reached out to the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the U.S. military's actions in the region, for comment.
Iranian state media released photos purportedly showing parts of the plane, indicating it was a U.S. F-15 fighter jet.
Tasnim News Agency, the semiofficial news outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the U.S. sent out a C-130 Hercules plane and Black Hawk helicopters to look for the crew.
Axios claims "a source familiar with the incident" -- no statement whether the "source" is American or enemy comms from Iran -- confirms the shoot-down.
Their new headline claims the US (or, perhaps, Israel) has successfully "rescued" one of the two pilots and continue searching for the other:
U.S. fighter jet shot down in Iran: One crew member rescued, search for other ongoing
If it's true that we have spec ops in the area and they found one pilot, the chances are good that they will also locate the other, who probably isn't more than a few miles from his partner.
But I don't know if any of this is true. I guess the US is refusing to confirm the reports, but you'd expect the US to refuse comment until the situation is resolved.
This is one of the two disaster scenarios I've been fearing (if true). The other is that an Iranian missile gets very, very lucky and manages to badly damage a $13 billion aircraft carrier, which would immediately reduce US air power and also be a huge propaganda victory encouraging the left-wing (and pseudo-rightwing) anti-American agitators to demand we leave the mullahs to slaughter their citizens and bomb our allies in peace. Because America's enemies are justified in using force to advance their political position, whereas America (and Israel!) of course are never so justified, ever, never ever ever.
On X, a picture of an ejector seat allegedly found by Iran was posted. But people claimed it was a fake and did not look like a bona-fide Air Force ejector seat.
Grok says that "OSINTDefender" is often wrong. "OSINT" means, I presume, "Open Source Intelligence," so, in other words, they're just getting this from the internet, and we know Iran is claiming a shoot-down on the internet.
We're all Open Source Intelligence Officers now, aren't we?
If this is true -- and I don't know that it is -- one thing that may help the missing pilot(s) is the warm regard many, but not all, Iranians have for the US/Israeli action against the Islamic Occupational Army of Iran.
THE MORNING RANT: My Gripe Against Hollywood – the Unintelligible, Artistic Mumble
—Buck Throckmorton
Hollywood is not my normal beat. I once wrote a piece about David Zaslav’s looting of Warner Bros Discovery after he ran the company into the ground while extracting generational wealth for himself. But in general, I am happy to keep up with the business of Hollywood by following Christian Toto (Hollywood in Toto), George MF Washington’s Hollywood-insider substack (The Continental Congress) and by reading Ace’s accounts of Disney’s self-immolation.
So, with Ace and them fighting the political fight involving Hollywood, I’d like to weigh in on another subject related to the industry - I can’t understand half the dialogue in the shows I stream.
Dear Hollywood: Enough with the artistic mumble.
Watching streaming series is a relatively new thing for my wife and me. Both of us fell out of the habit of watching TV series several decades ago, and it was only in the past five years or so that we’ve picked up the habit again here in the streaming era. On weekend nights when we’re not out, we enjoy watching a couple episodes of whatever show we’re following, but I sometimes feel like giving up on it since half of the dialogue nowadays is barely intelligible.
The problem is not a hearing issue. At my office, I’m sometimes involved in whispered conversations about semi-confidential matters. There are also women who talk in vocal fry. In office meeting there is overlapping chatter. In all these circumstances, everyone is still understandable. The problem is not my ears.
I’m not sure if Hollywood is full of actors who no longer know how to articulate, or if it’s sound engineers who make the actors’ speech inaudible, or some combination of the two.
The speaking affectation in modern shows seems to be equal parts mumble, whisper, and vocal fry. I cannot turn my TV up loud enough for some conversations to be greater than a whisper, or understandable. I might think it was my TV, but we replaced a TV recently, and nothing changed. Even more telling, the speech in news and sports broadcasts is still loud, crisp, and easily understood, as are old sitcoms and TV series.
At times I wonder if there is a “mumble filter” through which Hollywood sound engineers are now subjecting audio. My wife and I were very late to the series “Justified.” We watched the original series just about the time the 2023 reboot, “City Primeval,” came along. We never had any problem understanding what was being said in the original Justified, but the reboot was almost completely unintelligible. Almost all speaking was a barely audible mumble, and even Timothy Oliphant now sounded like he was whispering through a mouth full of marbles, unlike in the original series. Was a conscious decision made to have spoken words be mostly inaudible?
People do not talk like this in real life. This Hollywood speaking affectation is just as fake as the Mid-Atlantic accent of Hollywood’s golden era – but at least we could understand what was being said in those old movies.
It’s also noteworthy that despite the prevalence of the “artistic mumble,” there are still actors who will not be mumbled. Billy Bob Thornton speaks slowly and clearly, and I never have any trouble understanding him. Jamie Lee Curtis has been in several shows we’ve watched recently. She still projects her voice and speaks with authority. There is far more art in their performances than from those actors who are mumbling lines without breathing or moving their lips.
Please, Hollywood, I’m willing to consume your product. Can you have your actors and sound engineers retire the artistic mumble before I give up on Hollywood again?
*****
Throckmorton’s First Law of Live Music: “If There’s an Upright Bass in the Band, It’s Probably Going to be Good”
Something sweet and heartwarming happened on Twitter/X this past weekend – a mutual-admiration love affair broke out between conservative Americans who respect Japan and its culture, and conservative Japanese who admire our culture, all of whom seek to preserve their own cultures against hostile immigration.
There was a lot of good-natured ribbing and affectionate cultural appropriation flying around between Japan and the U.S., including Japanese cowgirls, celebrations of beef and sushi, and some cross-pollinated music.
In that spirit, here is a Japanese band performing the bluegrass classic “Fox on the Run.”
Podcast: CBD and Sefton talk birthright citizenship, the 14th Amendment and SCOTUS, no boots in Iran, Artemis II and refocusing NASA, the NBA's hatred of everything non-woke, and more!
In more marketing for Project Hail Mary, scientists say they've found the biosigns indicating life growing on an alien planet. It's not proof, just signatures of chemicals that are produced by biological metabolism, and it could be nothing, but scientists think it's a strong sign that this planet is inhabited by something.
In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team of scientists announced the detection of dimethyl sulfide (along with a similar detection of dimethyl disulfide) in the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18b. This is actually the second detection of dimethyl sulfide made on this planet, following a tentative detection in 2023.
Tons of chemicals are detected in the atmospheres of celestial objects every day. But dimethyl sulfide is different, because on Earth, it's only produced by living organisms.
"It is a shock to the system," Nikku Madhusudhan, first author on the paper, told the New York Times. "We spent an enormous amount of time just trying to get rid of the signal."
He means they tried to prove the signal was caused by things other than dimethyl sulfide but they could not.
What? Skeleton of the most famous Musketeer, D'Artagnan, possibly discovered in Dutch church closet. Dumas picked four names of real musketeers out of a history book, D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. So there was an actual D'Artagnan, though he made most of the story up. (Or, you know, all of it.)*
Charles de Batz de Castelmore, known as d'Artagnan, the famous musketeer of Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV, spent his life in the service of the French crown.
The Gascon nobleman inspired Alexandre Dumas's hero in "The Three Musketeers" in the 19th century, a character now known worldwide thanks to the novel and numerous film adaptations.
D'Artagnan was killed during the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and there is a statue honoring the musketeer in the city. His final resting place has remained a mystery ever since.
A lot of Dumas's stories are based on bits of real history. The plot of the >Three Musketeers, about trying to recover lost diamonds from the queen's necklace, was cribbed from the then-almost-contemporaneous Affair of the Queen's Necklace. And the Man in the Iron Mask is based on real accounts of a prisoner forced to wear a mask (though I think it was a velvet mask).
* Oh, I should mention, Dumas says all this, about finding the names in an old book, in the prologue to his novel. But authors lie a lot. They frequently present fictions as based on historic fact. The twist is, he was actually telling the truth here. At least about these four musketeers having actually existed and served under Louis XIV. Fun fact: You know the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars where the local gunslingers make fun of Clint Eastwood's donkey and Eastwood demands they apologize to the donkey? That's lifted from The Three Musketeers. Rochefort mocks D'Artagnan's old, brokedown farm horse and D'Artagnan is incensed.
A commenter asked which should be read first, The Hobbit of LOTR? Easy, no question -- read The Hobbit first. It's actually the start of the story and comes first chronologically. It sets up some major characters and major pieces in play in LOTR. Also, the Hobbit is Beginner-Friendly, which LOTR isn't. The Hobbit really is a delightful book, and a fast read. It's chatty, it's casual, it's exciting, and it's funny. In that dry cheeky British humor way. I love that the narrator is constantly making little asides and commentary, like he's just sitting next to you telling you this story as it occurs to him.
LOTR is a very long story. Fifteen hundred pages or so. The Hobbit is relatively short and very punchy and easy to read. If you don't like The Hobbit, you can skip out on LOTR. If you do like it, you'll be primed to read LOTR.
Oh, I should say: The Hobbit is written as if it's for children, but one of those smart children's stories that are also for adults. Don't worry, there's also real fighting and violence and horror in it, too. LOTR is written for adults. (It's said that Tolkien wrote both for his children, but LOTR was written 17 years later, when his children were adults.) Some might not like The Hobbit due to its sometimes frivolous tone. Me, I love it. I find it constantly amusing. Both are really good but there is a starkly different tone to both. LOTR is epic, grand, and serious, about a world war, The Hobbit is light and breezy, and about a heist. Though a heist that culminates in a war for the spoils.
The Hobbit Challenge: Read two more chapters. I didn't have much time. Bilbo got the ring.
I noticed a continuity problem. Maybe. Now, as of the time of The Hobbit, it was unknown that this magic ring was in fact a Ring of Power, and it was doubly unknown that it was the Ring of Power, the Master Ring that controlled the others.
But the narrator -- who we will learn in LOTR was none of than Bilbo himself, who wrote the book as "There and Back Again" -- says this about Gollum's ring:
"But who knows how Gollum had come by that present [the Ring], ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said."
In another passage, the ring is identified as a "ring of power."
I don't know, I always thought there was a distinction between mere magic rings and the Rings of Power created by Sauron. But this suggests that Bilbo knew this was a ring of power created by Sauron.
Now I don't remember when Bilbo wrote the Hobbit. In the movie, he shows Frodo the book in Rivendell, and I guess he wrote it after he left the Shire. I guess he might have added in the part about the ring being a ring of power created by "the Master" after Gandalf appraised him of his research into the ring. I never noticed this before. I know Tolkien re-wrote this chapter while he was writing LOTR to make the ring important from the start. And also to make Gollum more sinister and evil, and also to remove the part where Gollum actually offers Bilbo the ring as a "present" -- Bilbo had already found it on his own, but Gollum was wiling to give it away, which obviously is not something the rewritten Gollum would ever do. But I had no memory of the ring being suggested to be The Ring so early in the tale.
Finish the job, Mr. President! Melanie Phillips lays out the case for the total destruction of the Iranian government and armed forces. [CBD]
Podcast: Sefton and CBD talk about how would a peace treaty with Iran work, Democrats defending murderers and rapists, The GOP vs. Dem bench for 2028, composting bodies? And more!
Oh, I forgot to mention this quote from Pete Hegseth, reported by Roger Kimball: "We are sharing the ocean with the Iranian Navy. We're giving them the bottom half."
Tomorrow is March 25th, "Tolkien Reading Day," because March 25th is the day when the Ring is destroyed in the book. I think I'm going to start the Hobbit tomorrow and read all four books this time. The only bad part of the trilogy are the Frodo/Sam chapters in The Two Towers. They're repetitive, slow, and mostly about the weather and terrain. But most everything else is good. Weirdly, the Frodo-Sam chapters in Return of the King are exciting and action-packed and among the best in the trilogy. (Though the chapters with everyone else in Return of the King get pretty slow again. Mostly people talking about marching towards war, and then marching towards war.)
