There should probably be a tax on anything that can be described as “ultra-orthodox” of any kind. I’m not a theologian but I’m pretty sure the concept of “plastic” isn’t banned in any faith tradition’s holy book.

I’m not saying they’re not an annoyance sometimes. But they’ve been in Louisiana (possibly a different species as ours are fully black in color with the same big orange noses). But we have termites, mosquitos, and probably everything else. And the birds, lizards, frogs, etc. have learned to eat them so they probably keep the population in better balance than if they were new to town.

They’re pollinators that don’t sting, bite, or eat your house. They’re not locusts that ruin the harvest or whatever. And in Spring/Summer, it rains basically every day here around 4pm. That probably mostly cleans them off cars and stuff. They’re just part of the ecosystem. If you want birds, you need bugs.

For real. Love bugs are harmless and kind of cute. The main problem is that if you drove anywhere when it was mating season, you had to get a car wash. As bugs go, they were amongst the least annoying. I don’t want to call them “the best” bugs because some butterflies and lightning bugs are pretty cool but love bugs don’t care about us and we don’t care about them. They don’t bite or try to get in your house and birds and other animals have a feast.

They might be the best behaved bugs. They’re just trying to get their freak on.

It’s just WeChat. It’s basically like Venmo. It’s been that way for awhile. Even rural farmer’s markets and street vendors and stuff took WeChat last time I went and that was 7 or so years ago. It’s not a digital currency.

It should be noted that WeChat is very much more expansive in China than in the West where it’s just a chat app. An American friend lived there for awhile for work reasons so I’d go visit her. My WeChat was just a chat app and hers was the “everything app” Elon Musk dreams of making X into. (Which I seriously doubt will work in America because we have different apps that do all that. China didn’t and WeChat filled the void.)

We keep acting like Netanyahu isn’t going to jail as soon as there’s no war. He’ll bomb the Seychelles before he goes to jail.

Why do they even need donations if they’re on the conservative grift train? Can’t some sex pervert who collects NAZI memorabilia or whatever just fund Hillsdale College from the pile of money he inherited?

I probably should have specified Los Alamos National Laboratory instead. It was definitely not a place I was authorized to be. I was just driving from Bandolier National Monument to Santa Fe. I’ve never been to Oak Ridge, Tennessee but I would hope someone stops me before I get to a transuranic element or something.

To be honest, I probably shouldn’t be around anything beyond iron. (I’m a star.)

I’d judge him but I once was forced to rent a car in France because of a strike and drove through what was definitely a total pedestrian/restaurant area because it was on a map as a road. It can happen if you’re an idiot with no sense of direction.

Also, Google Maps once tried to give me a shortcut through the Manhattan Project site in New Mexico. The security guard asked for ID and I gave him my driver’s license and he said, “Here’s what you’re gonna do. Go to that turnaround right there and never come back.”

It would be darkly funny if China made all the British sailors buy opium.

Beethoven being born in Germany and Hitler being born in Austria was one of those trivia facts I learned as a 12 year old — or thereabouts; I forget how old I was — that made me question everything. I was obviously, by definition, uneducated at that age but I had just sort of lumped “classical music=Vienna” and “Hitler=Germany.”

It’s obviously an odd fact to blow a kid’s mind and there were many more such moments to come but, for some reason, that factoid was a very effective one on my journey to realizing I didn’t know shit. (A journey I’m still on, even on things I have a degree in or worked on. Nothing teaches you how much you don’t know like learning enough to realize you haven’t even scratched the surface.)

That’s not that much of a twist.

Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons. They’ve enriched uranium to something like 65% to prove they could go further if pressed but no bombs that we know of yet.

Israel’s official policy is to not say whether or not they have nuclear weapons but everyone knows they have them and the “mysterious” test was Israel and Apartheid South Africa working together.

Many more states have the knowledge and capability but generally don’t want to violate the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. I would guess most countries with advanced economies could make a bomb in short time if they wanted to.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons

They got the ring leader. Now we just have to catch her chief advisors “Mr. Frog” and someone known only as “The Bear One.” They’re known to have tea parties outside her playhouse.

Thank you for the clarification. None of us know their cap table, obviously, but that’s more plausible than me just guessing based on Tesla.

Take it! I mean, people act like he “owns” his companies but he owns like 8% of Tesla and SpaceX is probably similar. No one gives a shit about his monkey torture project and X+xAI is worthless. Boring Company isn’t doing anything. And if you’re the “CEO” of more than one company, you’re actually running zero. He’s a mascot. We could probably be rid of him for less than the price of widening an interstate for ignorant reasons.

It’s amazing that the billionaires in the new robber baron age who just buy a sports team and ask for subsidies for a new stadium are in the top 10th percentile of billionaire human decency. (There’s a handful of philanthropic ones, obviously, but they seem vanishingly small compared to the ones who just use their money to corrupt everything.)

Like, the last gilded age blew but at least Carnegie, Vanderbilt, etc. felt enough guilt and shame that their old man pissing match was to see who could build the most arts venues, esteemed universities, and other similar institutions. Today’s billionaires are just insane and are like, “Let’s wreck all human progress.”

And before you blame drugs, remember that in 1900, there was cocaine or morphine in everything. (7up had lithium in it so maybe that balanced things out.)

Dockworkers are now officially “the elite” according to the media. Congrats! Welcome!

I don’t think there’s much of a mystery to solve here. Basically every country or territory along China’s maritime borders is forming or deepening ties with the U.S. military, buying weapons systems, and even building new bases. A full-blown war between nuclear powers is pretty unthinkable but just a blockade would seriously harm China’s economy.

Of course, everyone talks about just wanting to protect shipping lanes and their territorial sovereignty and shit like that. Peace through strength. Maybe that ultimately turns out to be how it goes. But wars have broken out over some pretty dumb shit that escalated.

I prefer to check my bag unless it’s a direct flight or very short trip just so I don’t have to deal with my luggage. What annoys me more is that booking sites often don’t include the fees when searching. You already have to put in details to search and a lot of them have options panels for things like departure/arrival times, first class or coach, etc. etc.

Just add a few options for checked bags, carry on bags, etc. and show the real cost. “Budget” airlines often end up more expensive after all the junk fees and since so many people just go with the cheapest flight, every airline is forced to use fees to look competitively priced.

If a big boat sinks and it isn’t in the Suez or Panama Canal, does it even count? I want days of drama and CEOs pearl-clutching and revising quarterly expected earnings or whatever.

And it’s hazardous? This news just sucks. Not one ounce of comedy was on that boat.