WA man charged after taking off his clothes and assaulting crew member on a flight bound for Melbourne The Australian (Robin K). Will we have to add “WA man” to “Florida man”?
Sex and Alcohol in Medieval Times: A Look into the Pleasures of the Middle Age Open Culture (Micael T)
Kansas biologists find ‘super rare’ threatened species in the mouth of a hungry toad KSNT (Robin K)
‘Cocaine sharks’ found in waters off Brazil Science (Robin K)
164 whales and dolphins euthanised by DOC in a year Waikato Times (Robin K)
Science reveals ‘world’s most beautiful woman’ Otango Times (Robin K). You’d never know it from the photo. Makeup harsh and overdone, and she looks like she has cheek implants.
🚨Update: Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park just had a massive eruption! Is the Yellowstone Caldera about to erupt!?!
pic.twitter.com/SLuWZEVAPC— US Civil Defense News (@CaptCoronado) July 23, 2024
Researchers discover battery-free technology that harvests power from radio and Wi-Fi signals for low-powered devices Tom’s Hardware (Micael T). Health fetishists will depict the fact that this much energy is zapping around as bad to health. It may be bad for bees.
#COVID-19
Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts ICEMSG. Paul R flags: “This is an open letter to hospital and clinic administrators, as well as any healthcare organization. Feel free to share widely, particularly to any administrators you may know.”
Covid-19 is an unwelcome attendee at the Paris Olympic Games CNN. Paul R: “Heck of a job.”
Climate/Environment
Snow Belt to Sun Belt Migration: End of an Era? Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Tasmania offers ‘Eco-Milk’ from seaweed-fed cows Taipei Times (Robin K)
Twisted carbon nanotubes could achieve significantly better energy storage than advanced lithium-ion batteries PhysOrg. Chuck L: “Assuming they’re thinking electricity, a motor/generator device will be required to charge/discharge the ‘battery.'”
Trees have an extra climate benefit thanks to methane-eating microbes New Scientist (Dr. Kevin)
China?
US, Japan replace China as graduates’ destinations Taipei Times (Robin K)
Why is China stockpiling resources? The Week
North Korea’s economy rebounds as Russia ties fuel arms trade South China Morning Post
Africa
US sanctions three, including two based in SA, for expanding Isis in Africa The Citizen (Robin K)
Sudan war: Weapons being exported to conflict-torn country despite UN arms embargo Sky
The dearth of leadership Kaieteur News (Robin K)
European Disunion
Europe’s Path to War and Self-Destruction Fabian Scheidler (Micael T)
LNG terminals built in Germany turned out to be of no use to anyone International Affairs (Micael T)
Annalena Baerbock is not only stupid, but also malicious and deceitful Anti-Spiegel (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Soaring UK mortgage rates have pushed 320,000 adults into poverty, thinktank says Guardian
Gaza
Making Gaza uninhabitable. The Israeli military detonating a water reservoir in Rafah. pic.twitter.com/1JjTjVqnjI
— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) July 27, 2024
Palestinian Deaths In the Gaza Conflict Are Probably Close To Half A Million Ian Welsh
Gaza’s Orphans London Review of Books (guurst)
The ICJ Just Demolished One of Israel’s Key Defenses of the Occupation Haaretz (Dr. Kevin)
A Legal Justification for Genocide Jewish Currents (guurst)
They Did the Math: Hebrew University’s Great Mathematicians Are Leaving Israel Haaretz (Dr. Kevin)
Tourism to Israel in dire straits as 10 percent of hotels face total financial collapse The Cradle
Syraqistan
Why Iran’s missile strikes pose a real problem for Pakistan European Leadership Network
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia’s Putin hosts Syria’s Assad in Kremlin as tensions rise in the Middle East South China Morning Post
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Bretton Woods Moment—and Its Necessary Replacement Carnegie Endowment
Chinese Warships Watched by NATO Arrive in Russia’s Strategic Baltic Hub Newsweek
World War Three is closer than anyone dare admit Telegraph
US military, seeking strategic advantages, builds up Australia’s northern bases amid China tensions Reuters
Trump
Beware of an Unconstrained Trump Foreign Policy Daniel Larison
Trump Assassination Attempt
Secret Service Opted Out of Drone Surveillance Before Trump Assassination Attempt US Senator Sputnik
FBI wrong about assassination attempt, Trump’s doctor says RT
Vance
JD Vance Has a Bunch of Weird Views on Gender Politico (Dr. Kevin)
Kamala
Amazon DISAPPEARS Book About Kamala Harris! w/ Caleb Maupin Jimmy Dore, YouTube
Government transparency site pulls page naming Kamala Harris ‘most liberal’ senator NBC (Paul R)
Who is behind Kamala Harris? UnHerd. UserFriendly: “One more reason not to vote for Kamala. She already has Holder tapped for vetting VP’s.”
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance Attack Kamala Harris’s Legitimacy Charles Pearce (furzy). So this is how the Dems try to pretend there isn’t a legitimacy problem, by pointing out that the evil Rs are making an issue of it?
FBI raids home of former aide to NY Gov. Hochul, report says NBC (BC). Hhhhm.
Our No Longer Free Press
Why Does Washington Post Keep Publishing Foreign Assets? Active Measures (Micael T)
AI
Energy-Efficient AI: New Hardware Could Slash Computing Power Needs by 1000x ScienceBlog (Dr. Kevin)
ChatGPT is bullshit Ethics and Information Technology. UserFriendly: “Obviously, they must have read NC.”
The Bezzle
CrowdSuck American Prospect. Another must read by Moe Tkacik (Userfriendly)
As Foghorn Leghorn warned “This is going to cause more confusion than a mouse in a burlesque show.” The Ohio Supreme Court ruled selling a boneless chicken dish is a “cooking style not a guarantee.” https://t.co/jjLFeCU7iD
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 27, 2024
Class Warfare
The New Threat to the Chip Industry: Worker Unrest Wall Street Journal
(1/3) RIP OFF: Big health insurers overcharge taxpayers a whopping $140 billion dollars *a year* to administer Medicare Advantage plans (more than the U.S. has spent on defense aid to Ukraine since 2022 and ~3x what the U.S. spent on foster care in 2023.)@joeyrettino @PNHP pic.twitter.com/8dBQLSSS4V
— Wendell Potter (@wendellpotter) July 26, 2024
Higher CEO pay in large health care systems linked to hospital consolidations, study suggests MedicalXpress (Chuck L). This is a big reason for consolidation everywhere. Odd that MedicalXpress tries to depict this as a surprise. The CEO of the selling company gets a big exit payoff. The CEO of the buyer gets a pay increase because running a bigger entity supposedly warrants a bigger comp package.
Antidote du jour. Daniel G’s goldfish:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
RE: Tourism to Israel in dire straits as 10 percent of hotels face total financial collapse The Cradle
Only 10%? That leaves 90% available for genocide tours. Profitable.
Many of the remainder are being propped up by serving as housing for the 60,000 to 100,000 settlers near the northern border who have been displaced by tit for tat strikes by Hezbollah. The government is apparently paying for their quarters.
Which government(s)??
Touché!
That’s a damn shame.
Sing to the tune of the Notre Dame Fight Song (traditional)
Come, watch your Kamala stump!
Followed by vicious insults from Trump
Two bamboozlers
They’ll amuse us
Waiting for Joe to “thump!”
It’ll be like those late 70s to middle ’80s commercials for Miller Lite…Tastes Great! Less Filling! Or maybe it’ll be a different version of rah rah rhee kick em in the knee, rah rah rhass, kick em in the other knee…
“We got the Spirit yes we do, we got Democracy how about you ?!?”
My favorite cheer:
“U-G-L-Y
You aint got no alibi
You’re ugly”
Washington man to Florida man, hold my beer…y’all ain’t seen crazy…Im adding one more on a list of reasons I’d really prefer to avoid flying, when possible.
There was the Florida man from not long back, as an Instagram influencer he jumped into the alligator pit at the Tampa zoo…
Washington Man: see the original “Jackpot” short story by Robert Heinlein.
The WA in the story is the state of Western Australia.
Yes, should have clarified that WA = Western Australia. Thought the Melbourne mention would be a tipoff, but perhaps there is a flight from Seattle to Melbourne.
…or maybe it was Melbourne, Florida:
https://floridatrippers.com/things-to-do-in-melbourne/
Sydney Nova Scotia apparently gets tourists who arrive there by mistake. (I once looked for train schedules on DB for Barcellona, using the Italian spelling. It tried to send me to North Sicily….)
Melbourne is a great surf spot, but there are gonna be sharks, whether you see them or not. I have shared waves with them. Surfed all the way to the shore, stepped off on dry land and drove to a different break. I’m NOT that Florida man…
Ah, mistakes on me and the slow Saturday morning start. Well we can then let one of the lower 48 US states off the hook then.
At least in my defense it’s a small self inflicted wound(!). I’ll go to the penalty box or sit in the corner.
The thought occurs to wonder, given the trend since 2008 (BHO/JRB, JRB/KDH) of D Presidents to prefer VPs who do not outshine them, who will be on KDH’s short list of candidates. Perhaps this accounts for suggestions I have seen that Pete Buttigieg is under consideration. (“Pete did a worse job as Secretary of Transportation than I did as ‘Border Czar!”)
Pete? Mayor Pete? Mayo Pete? The chauffeur of Kabul? Millions for pretense but not a cent for reality? That guy. (Too much snark?) Why does his name keep coming up as if he had any, I say again, any, political legs? As it is I see no reason to waste a moment on Harris or Trump or Vance or whomever Harris anoints as the democrat for VP be it Mayor Pete or the generic whomever. Genocide supporters all. Keep the dollars flowing to the overfed MIC. Keep the campaign dollars flowing back to congress. Oh! Oh! Did you hear? The congress critters and the chair fillers replacing the 135 critters who found a backbone and did not show up. (I assume they may have found a backbone.) gave Bibi 50 standing ovations? Have they no shame or is it no brain? Are they really that compromised, that bought, that brainwashed? Well Mr. Franklin, thanks for the republic. It worked quite well for a while, but it grew very large and then very rich and then it found itself the only one standing undamaged after a horrific war and conceived the notion that it was appointed to run things for everyone. Then it sold its soul. The DC Bubble and Echo Chamber literally sold itself … You know the old line about love of money? Need I say more? Thus the circle is complete and we have the Chauffeur of Kabul a possible vice presidential candidate. Sorry Mr. Franklin. We didn’t keep it. We sold it.
” Why does his name keep coming up as if he had any, I say again, any, political legs?”
Perhaps they are just setting the bar so low when they do finally pick a mediocre VP we’ll give them a standing ovation!
Hey! Look over there! Guyana and the “dearth of leadership” spells out the success of western influence in South America. It’s stright out of the US palybook:
” … we have a very serious problem with political leadership at all levels of the society. Most of our leaders are arrogant, untrustworthy, inefficient and corrupt and more often than not, they behave and act like dictators. Many lack the skill-set required for good governance, accountability and problem solving—qualities that are, for the most part, not endemic in our political culture.
Since the attainment of political independence in May 1966, successive political parties, namely the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the People’s National Congress (PNC) have in their own respective ways perfected the art of practicing divisive politics in order to win elections.”
Here’s a clue for you all: Mayo Pete is a resident of swing state Michigan now. He’s not from deplorable Indiana anymore. How cool is that?
Coincidentally, Pete did a long interview for the NYT that was published yesterday. Haven’t heard from the guy in ages, through Palestine and the Southwest Christmas debacle, but, here he is, head popping up out of the ground, waving hand. Me! Me! Ooh, ooh!
Twitter sent me a link to a post gushing over a new family photo of Pete, his husband, and the twins. It wasn’t as cute as it should be. But it is yet another sign that the push is on to add the other mediocrity of the 2020 primaries to the ticket.
Seriously when Harris and Buttigieg are supposedly the best you’ve got it would be considered satire if this was fiction.
I’d say it’s another example (like JB and KDH) of the power of the sunk costs fallacy in imperial politics. But what do I know?
Pretty much all explained by entropy, Murphy’s Law, and “We are so screwed.”
So your choices are either someone proven to be ineffective or a christian nationalist who could be effective?
Kamala Harris vetting process is being guided by Eric Holder. I’ll wait a second, let that first few bites of breakfast settle. Yes, the architect of the Holder doctrine in the Obama administration.
Holy heck, it’s not hard to understand what she will likely be as a President when one recalls how Obama campaigned versus how Obama managed and governed during both terms.
Added…no way does a Lina Khan fit the mold in that possible future. Tough on corporations and tough on merging of large companies; these goals weren’t “exactly a feature” under the Obama terms.
Pretty easy process. Gotta be a pretty short list of people who actually want the job.
Ha. I bet it’s something like that opening scene in the Godfather. “Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.” And now it’s that time.
That Godfather line is getting a lot of play these days. Are we seeing similarities? As Charlie Pierce would say, “Unpossible.”
Is part of the Inner Party’s “plan” (not the right word, as it implies that their thinking is really strategic, versus simply -reflexive) to ensure that Khan is removed? I mean, any appointment that would potentially benefit the average American can’t be allowed to stand, right?
I was only familiar with her stint in the Biden administration at FTC; she is much younger than I would have initially guessed. I suppose they would have her remain there, but if she has higher office aspirations might as well get started. Also having the connections to a Holder or a Michael Froman ( I think that’s right ) wouldn’t hurt the list of references for any attractive role at any of our high faluting , white shoe law firms.
However it would appear she doesn’t have that in mind. Good on her if she is a different legal professional not in the mold of Holder or say, a Mary Jo White.
Even the NYT thought the Obamas calling Kamala video was quite cringe. Did Oprah produce that?
The Obamas Called Kamala Harris. Cameras Rolled. Hokeyness Ensued. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/us/politics/barack-michelle-obama-harris-video.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
Yes, if anything, we’re going to have some fun with this. Kackle, kackle.
The NYT also points out that this was way too clearly staged, as in sound quality on both ends too good.
Remember her recent proof of life phone call with Biden? It looks like her campaign thinks these “You are there” moments are engaging.
Archive.ph link for ease of reading: https://archive.ph/k7ITo
I like the “Oh, you’re both together!”. Like,how do you approach that? Dumb as door thought they weren’t married? Or, she knows the marriage ain’t so great right now and they spend a lot of time apart? Or, is that just the beginning of many stupid things she says that we will have to endure for 100 days. Please God, no longer, no longer.
I guess their ideal is having eyes on the side, like a rabbit.
Yea. About a century-or-so ago.
It has also been put to use since, in passive RFID tags. If you want to “discover battery-free technology that harvests power from radio and Wi-Fi signals for low-powered devices”, go to a local store and look at one of those thick stickers with barcode on them, or try to steal something.
I guess a sign of being too old to be relevant anymore would be assembling a crystal radio kit as a child.
It’s tough to do humor in service to empire as almost all the jokes involve punching down. Vance is an unusual target in as he only recently bobbed to the top but barely had he started hanging with the nobs than D pundits called him fair game (cute how they get to use your elevated status to take cheap shots at your origins).
It’s July 2024 and I am not aware of there being a single high profile Democrat who’s gone on record to denounce Russiagate as a seditious hoax. Hardly anyone on the national stage questions the numbers on COVID and the vaccines. They all lie about Ukraine.
Polls have become ridiculous. Trump is looking at the biggest landslide of my lifetime. Only possible D path to victory would be if time stopped and no more cans fell into the news cycle after tumbling off Kicked Down the Road Mountain.
D’s have no October surprises and I am terrified they will resort to October diversions: a false flag attack on our nation or a belligerent ill-founded attack on another country.
And if there are protests? Law enforcement embeds will be busy setting fires like they did in Minneapolis during the George Floyd riots.
The enemy is not us, the enemy is US.
A sad second :(
You can’t really run generators on super elastic rope, but you can make an extra powerflul ballista.
It’s more like a spring, as a mechanical store of energy, except apparently four orders of magnitude better at storing the energy. It can make your grandfather clock run for months.
Or it can store, say, wind energy for later use. Just imagine if the generator was down, at the root of the pillar (which could then be lighter), and the movement from the windmill was relayed by using this type of cable that would first twist itself as much as possible, then start turning the generator and when the wind dies, still keep on turning the generator for hours…
It’s not more like a spring, because ballistas used rope made of animal sinew to store energy. A crossobow would be more like a spring, because a bow is essentially a leaf spring.
Yesterday in Links comments ulfarthelunatic gave this link to Eugyppius summary of the RKI-Files scandal, including links to German media sources. It’s remarkable how closely the details of the German fiasco track with the American one.
Unredacted RKI protocols lay bare the entire Covid farce yet again
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/unredacted-rki-protocols-lay-bare
I’m not surprised by the reaction and non-reaction to the Gaza genocide by the state and people (who largely support the genocide) of Israel. Israelis and Zionists tend to not see non-Jews as anything but inferiors. They have caught, as often happens, the Nazi bug even more than the Germans bought into it. Yet, Jewish people have always tended to be more compassionate to non-Jews towards those who have suffered at least in the 20th century. Jewish philanthropists who have supported the arts have been a major force for good in the USA. What the f33k happened to Jews? How did they become literally Nazis in Israel? How have they become so hateful and, how else to evaluate them, evil in an almost cartoonish evil. A Jewish friend defends Israel and just chants “Hamas” as if Israel had no part in creating both Hamas and the conditions that fed Hamas in Gaza. When I traveled a lot back in the day Israelis sounded a lot like British colonials and southern racists as they talked about the uncivilized, dirty, disgusting, Arabs who only understand the language of violence.
But what does surprise me is the US and European reaction to the genocide. People who used to believe in “humanitarian intervention” to stop genocide, who would have tried to stop Hitler (they say) are giving the worlds most blatant and obvious butcher standing ovations in Congress. And why not? The previous generation of Jews who did so much to make the US a better place are now bloodthirsty fiends living the stereotype that anti-Semites have been warning about since Shylock–Gaza is worse than the Warsaw ghetto–and I knew someone who survived it.
To be clear here, the people and states, like the US and its vassals in Europe are as much to blame for this situation as the Israeli people. When the count rises to one million will the great moral leaders of the West say anything?
https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Wagon-Zionisms-journey-identity/dp/1642555541
What’s happening in Gaza is not a discrediting of the Jews but rather of exceptionalism–which is to be sure something that many Jews (not to mention many Americans) believe in. In Chinatown the villain played by John Huston gives a speech, perhaps Huston wrote it, that ends with “under the right circumstances humans are capable of almost anything.” And that’s the truth. Humanism means recognizing that we are all human, that “all men are created equal” rather than some being “chosen.” Somebody tell the Israelis who are allowing their own humanity to be robbed by a crackpot ideology and leadership. You could even go so far as to say that the obsession with Nazism these days is a means for our elites to pretend that “we’re not them.” If it walks like a duck.
Don’t think Israeli Jews are being robbed of anything. They’ve given away their humanity, or rather sold it, for their own piece of paradise. See Gaza, then die.
Israelis sounded a lot like British colonials and southern racists as they talked about the uncivilized, dirty, disgusting, Arabs who only understand the language of violence.
This similarity is due to the fact that Zionism, which started as a nationalist movement, very quickly and deliberately veered towards a colonialist endeavour when its proponents addressed the practical issue on how and where to set up a Jewish national state.
Israel, and the regime it has been applying to Palestinians since its creation, is a typical colonial regime.
Blindly shooting at civilian populations? Razing their dwellings? Destroying their economic foundation (killing cattle, destroying fields, sinking fishing boats)? Deporting survivors? Putting them in concentration camps? Starving them? Torturing the “rebels”? What has been taking place in Gaza since October 2023, and happened before in 2006, 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, 2021, are typical colonial punitive expeditions.
But what does surprise me is the US and European reaction to the genocide. People who used to believe in “humanitarian intervention” to stop genocide, who would have tried to stop Hitler (they say) are giving the worlds most blatant and obvious butcher standing ovations in Congress.
The USA and most European countries are former colonial powers, racism is a foundation of colonialism, colonial endeavours unavoidably entail genocidal levels of violence and outright genocide. Hence, for Western countries, Israel is “one of us” — a “civilized” country dealing in the usual firm manner with dark-skinned “savages” who have the impudence to rebel against the abject conditions they are kept in.
The Telegraph opinion piece seems to available in full on Yahoo NEws UK.
It’s pretty stunning..
“America’s adversaries are on an escalation course”
“Concerningly, it was the first time Russian and Chinese jets were intercepted during a joint Arctic exercise. The possibility of Russia and China carrying out a provocation of this kind was always there.”
“More worryingly, the Bering Sea drills, which forced this Alaska interception, are just the latest in a long string of provocative military exercises involving Russia and China.”
No mention, of course, of NATO’s repeated testing of Russian airspace and the extensive military exercises this year.
Nope, it’s all unprovoked once again.
Par for the course, of course. It’s like the “unprovoked” attack on Ukraine, and the “full-scale” invasion and many other slogans. One of the predictions I made at the end of Cold War I was that now that the Soviets were gone we would inherit their attributes–and we have.
Makes you wonder who would answer that 3:00 pm call?
KJP? Kirby? Jill? /s
Dear Hunter. He’ll be wide awake but not because he’s reading Nietzsche.
As unprovoked as the American attack on the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, no doubt.
Re: World War Three is closer than anyone dare admit
Paywalled.
In any case, the anthropologist Emmanuel Todd has taken the position that it’s already begun. See:
The Problem isn’t Russia — it’s America. World War III has Already Begun (Asahi Shinsho, 2023).
“Science reveals ‘world’s most beautiful woman’”
That photo does not do justice to Anya Taylor-Joy’s sublime beauty.
But I’m a Bella Hadid admirer, tbh. Always elegant and slinky.
Zendaya is just cute.
Taylor-Joy is certainly striking.
As for Zendaya, part of the oddness of her pairing with Chalamet in Dune2 is that he is prettier than she is. Of course story wise there’s a reason for that, but then why have the unconvincing romance at all? That movie had casting problems.
I don’t grok the fascination with Zendaya. She’s not much of an actress, unless a scene calls for someone looking moderately angry at all times – she’s got that look down.
I did like the new Dune movies in general and was happy that she didn’t get much screen time in the first. The second would have benefited from less of her sourpuss.
She’s up their with Keanu Reeves in my personal pantheon of bad acting and I really wish they would both stop messing up otherwise good scifi movies. I found out recently that Will Smith had a chance to do the Neo role in the Matrix. If he had done so, I would have been able to watch that movie a 2nd time.
In The Greatest Showman she gets to smile and be more appealing. That’s a film I really liked although some critics dumped on it. The musical numbers are almost monotonous in their high energy but how many films these days have musical numbers at all? Beats another Liam Neesom shooting people.
Keanu’s nonacting is almost his thing. It certainly hasn’t held back his career.
I thought that late July was the silly season for lists in the varied sports talk shows…rating “next guy to be hyped and overpaid by NFL owner” and such similar listings. Nonsensical but hey those 4 hour shows on ESPN radio have to anything to fill that air time…
Most beautiful..as I get older my proverbial list is unlikely to change or alter…and since she recently made headlines Jennifer Aniston ( fan of the Friends show of course, office space too ) goes on my list, as does Anne Hathaway. And Jennifer Garner…she’s a mean baddie mom in Peppermint.
Eh list almost got typed as lust…oops.
I looks up some other pix.
No, she’s had a LOT of work and looks odd. Pretty sad that the current standard of beauty is a plastic surgery creation.
She has at least had her buccal fat removed, which will ruin her looks when she ages and there’s no fix.
https://beautymatter.com/articles/buccal-fat-removal-consequences
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcALGkAd1Zc&pp=ygUYZG8gbm90IHJlbW92ZSBidWNjYWwgZmF0
She also look likes she has had cheek implants or a lot of filler in other shots.
She does have a beautiful nose and eyes and her lips look like they are original.
Not too surprising to me:
“Computerised facial mapping techniques used for the measurements were developed by Harley Street facial cosmetic surgeon Dr Julian De Silva, and he found Joy, 28, to be the “clear winner”.”
Totally objective, “scientific” evaluation of beauty, I’m sure.
Apparently I have no taste where beauty is concerned. Of course some of it may be that I have disliked all of the Taylor Joy vehicles I have watched. But in truth most of the people on their list wouldn’t get a second glance from me. I find Taylor Joy and Zendaya to be lifeless for the most part. Give me someone whose face gets crinkles when they smile or frown, where there is a range of emotions that reach their eyes. There are major paintings that have more emotional micoexpressions than what their top choices are capable of making.
They will never make a list like this but I would rather watch a Margo Martindale or an Imelda Staunton or the Viola Davis anytime. Their faces move.
I had a quick look at the Wikipedia pages of those three personalities (whom I did not know at all).
In each case, I was wondering whether the photos were of the same person. Contrast Taylor-Joy’s pictures of 2018 and 2021, those of 2017 and 2018 for Hadid, or Zendaya’s 2016 and 2018 shots.
All in all, I find that these portraits exhibit sophistication — in the sense of being excessively refined and adorned (a lot of work, says Yves); I do not appreciate that. Perhaps this is why they do not look (to me) to be really the same person from one shot to another (because of successive plastic surgeries and the extreme variations on make-up/hairdressing).
Funny this. None of these three would be anywhere near the top of my list of beautiful people. Beauty is, obviously, highly subjective (and the average person is highly susceptible to suggestion).
My beautiful partner recently inherited a huge collection of vintage magazines going back to the 1920s and beyond through the early 2000s. Even a cursory perusal of the images shows that over time the standards for beauty are fluid and ever evolving. Cover images demonstrate this, of course, but I think the advertisements are even better as their subjects often represent a less glamorous, more everyday, type of beauty.
Re Europe’s path to self destruction–I see Trump has a new campaign pitch which is “vote for me or World War 3.” This may be one that the Kamala “team” and the Dems in general find hard to answer should the Trumpies really pursue it (a big question). Biden’s foreign policy is his greatest disaster.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1817113451354898715
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand
Looks like another instance of persecution of an iconic Chinese company might be developing in the US, with Homeland Security raiding Fuyao Glass America:
https://wlwt.com/article/homeland-security-agents-fuyao-glass-america-dayton/61711282 *
Fuyao Glass America is especially famous because it was the company featured in Barack Obama’s Netflix documentary “American factory”.
As such it’d be immensely symbolic if they were to become – after Huawei, TikTok, DJI, etc. – yet another victim of the US’s crusade against anything related to China…
* Homeland Security agents searching Fuyao Glass America, 27 other locations in Dayton
4:23 AM · Jul 27, 2024
Attempting to access that WLWT article returns the following error message:
Sorry, this content is not available in your region.
Oh well.
Forgive my lack of skill, but I find no problem with the Fuyao Glass America link. An alternative could be:
https://www.whio.com/news/local/homeland-security-other-law-enforcement-agencies-scene-fuyao-glass-america/PVEBMB7QIFEEREMCYT2A7E72UY/
That one does not work either, complains about me being outside the USA. Do not bother further, if this story develops, there will be other media outlets talking about it.
“JD Vance Has a Bunch of Weird Views on Gender Politico (Dr. Kevin)”
Related, from New York Times: JD Vance, an Unlikely Friendship and Why It Ended
I found this to be a bit ho-hum. For better or worse, people are known to change their minds.
I wouldn’t underestimate the symbolic power of the pantsuit to create a pantsuit army of newly energized voters. Perhaps it’s because watching Biden stutter and stumble for years that Harris seems invigorating. I’m not sure, however, if her debate skills have improved.
Nonetheless, Harris speaking at a NC rally was surprisingly confident and a stark contrast to Biden and other dems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3O75ZfcBOg
re: Why is China stockpiling resources?
And so how does anyone even know they’re stockpiling resources? Because the US says so? I’m at the point where I regard China stories with extreme suspicion, most likely US planted propaganda.
“Why is China stockpiling resources?”
Remember that the United States has been openly committed to “containing” China since 2011, and has been continually preventing Western trade with China for what are considered critically important goods. Also, China stores necessary goods such as say pork or rice or liquid natural gas to protect against international shortages or price swings.
Chinese pork stores were used to keep prices stable as domestic pork supply was limited by the spread of African Swine Virus. The problem was overcome in mere months, with no adverse price effect, because of the stores.
Notice how well China has contained domestic inflation because of stores of goods.
Also, China has repeatedly assisted relatively poor, belt and road countries with essential supplies from stores these last few years.
Notice that American defense spending has now reached $1,048 trillion yearly:
https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/?reqid=19&step=2&isuri=1&categories=survey#eyJhcHBpZCI6MTksInN0ZXBzIjpbMSwyLDNdLCJkYXRhIjpbWyJjYXRlZ29yaWVzIiwiU3VydmV5Il0sWyJOSVBBX1RhYmxlX0xpc3QiLCI1Il1dfQ==
July 25, 2024
Defense spending was 56.2% of federal government consumption and investment in April through June 2024. *
$1,048.2 / $1,863.8 = 56.2%
Defense spending was 21.0% of all government consumption and investment in April through June 2024.
$1,048.2 / $5,001.2 = 21.0%
Defense spending was 3.7% of GDP in April through June 2024.
$1,048.2 / $28,629.2 = 3.7%
* Billions of dollars
7-27-1984
On this most auspicious day, my 40th Birthday, I’d like to thank Yves, Lambert, and the NC Commentariat for shining that brightest of Light on the Internet.
Here’s to big lifestyle changes, a class based 3rd Party, and the beginning of a New American Public!
OMINA FAUSTA CANO
Hey, “we’re going to party like it’s your birthday, drink Bacardi like it’s your birthday”. That’s the extent of my knowledge from that particular tune for better or worse. It’s for the best I suppose. Or if you wish crank up some Poison, nothing like a fun 80s anthem! I’m aware that era of pop metal or glam ear might be hard for the listener.
It’s fun getting older…I’m sure that’s a saying just can’t find the correct attribution! I’ve got my AARP mailings myself…I just can’t quite make the leap and finally sign up …heh…
It seems there’s a big opening in the “trusted computing” ecosystem, with major companies including Intel shipping insecure systems. Probably not an issue for normal people, but another papercut for Intel in the corpo space.
Dave’s Garage explainer: https://youtu.be/7sYzwb6eUgQ
“One more reason not to vote for Kamala. She already has Holder tapped for vetting VP’s.”
I remember a similar situation in 2000. Former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney was tasked with vetting potential VP candidates for the Bush campaign. Turned out he concluded that he, himself, was the most qualified. As I recall, former Attorney General Eric Holder has enough self regard that he briefly considered entering the presidential primary race during the 2020 cycle. What are the odds that Holder might find himself to be the most qualified running mate for Harris? And then, you know, with Harris being a similar light weight as Bush, Holder chooses to operate using Cheney’s theory of the Vice Presidency being an independent and essentially equal fourth branch of government.
Failing that, how likely is it that Holder resumes top dog status at Justice if Harris wins?