Family of 12-year-old auto theft suspect say vehicle owner should face charges - "The vehicle owner told authorities he was tracking the vehicle using an app, and found it in the area of West 12th Avenue and North Decatur Street. When the owner approached the car, he was "involved in an exchange of gunfire" with those inside the vehicle... The family acknowledges Elias was caught up with the wrong crowd that day, but does not believe he should have been killed. "Even though they were joy riding, it was never that serious for somebody to have to lose their life or for [the car owner] to track down the car the way he did," said Alicia Henderson, Elias' sister."
If someone armed steals your car and you shoot too, you're the bad guy (the fact that DA didn't press charges due to self-defence is telling too). If someone steals your car, you shouldn't try to track it down
I like how if you steal a car you're a suspect but if you shoot in self defence you're a killer
Fury at 'extremely harsh' sentence for disabled woman who 'gestured cyclist into car collision' - "Campaigners today slammed the 'extremely harsh' jail sentence of a cerebral palsy sufferer who was convicted of manslaughter for gesturing at a cyclist seconds before they fell into the road and were killed by a car. 'Vulnerable' Auriol Grey, 49, who is partially blind and also suffers from cognitive issues, was given three years in jail... Grey gestured towards grandmother Celia Ward, 77, and told her to 'get off the f****** pavement' in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, on October 20, 2020. Shortly afterwards, Mrs Ward veered into the road before falling over the front of her bicycle and being struck by a car that was unable to stop. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Grey had denied manslaughter but was found guilty... the local council was unable to confirm today whether or not bicycles are allowed on the pavement where the incident took place - despite the judge declaring it a 'shared footpath' at court... Grey explained she was partially sighted and felt anxious as the bicycle was travelling 'fast' in the middle of the pavement. She added that she could have lifted her hand unintentionally. The Highway Act 1835 renders it illegal to cycle on the pavement, with a fine of up to £500."
The UK cycling lobby is out of control
If a cyclist is travelling so fast on a pavement he cannot safely stop, clearly it's not his fault if something happens to him
Man is brutally attacked by mob of cyclists in downtown LA - "A man driving a pickup truck was pummeled by a group of young bicyclists during a broad-daylight attack in the downtown Los Angeles jewelry district. Video footage captured the moment the victim was knocked to the ground by a group of people who stomped and kicked him ruthlessly... One bystander could be seen removing his belt and whipping it around to scare off the cyclists. After the beating, one of the suspects, who wasn’t wearing a shirt, could be seen bashing the victim’s white pickup truck with his bike handlebar... Roman Kim, who works at one of the nearby jewelry stores, said the cyclists were riding around the busy street like they “owned the road.” “There are six guys on their bikes, just swerving in and out,” Kim told ABC 7, “which is kind of nuts because with how busy everything is, you can’t really be doing this.”"
Damn motorists!
Everyone Needs A Loud American. Or, what a backwards story can tell us… | by Ossiana Tepfenhart | Medium - "The story goes that certain companies hire foreigners to be “the Loud American.” These are people who are there to tell the boss the things that no one else would want to tell them. This allows others to save face and also gives the boss the honest check they need... The Loud American Employee is actually more of an old wives’ tale shared among Americans hoping to get a job in Japan than anything real. But, this should be obvious. Contrary to common belief, Japanese companies don’t actually hire “Loud Americans” to tell the boardroom what to do. I mean, it’s kind of silly, don’t you think? Japanese businessmen aren’t lemmings — they will very politely point out problematic thinking as necessary."
Of course, she goes into a racist, sexist rant. Speaking truth to power never applies when liberals hold the power, of course
Ford AI car will drive itself to the junkyard if you miss subscription payments - "Filed in August 2021, the company’s “Systems and Methods to Repossess a Vehicle” patent aims to make bank repossession of vehicles easier, and the lives of average customers harder... For self-driving capable vehicles, Ford aims to allow cars to take themselves to tow trucks if a user misses a payment date. Cars parked outside will literally drive to a pickup point to be taken by a tow truck. If the car is deemed unworthy of repossession, it will drive itself to a junkyard."
Clearly this will never be abused
Meme - "When you can't let the cat out because he might invade Poland
*Hitler*"
Bitten by a tarantula hawk? Just ‘lie down and scream’ - "The nasty little bug gets its name from its food of choice, tarantulas. It’s hard to imagine something the size of a wasp hunting one of the largest spiders. The sting from a Tarantula Hawk is so painful that the recommended treatment by biologist Justin O. Schmidt is to simply "lie down and scream."... At two-inches-long, the blue-black demon is one of the bigger wasps you'll ever encounter. In 1989, New Mexico named it their state insect."
The Sting of the Tarantula Hawk: Instantaneous, Excruciating PainMeme - "PEOPLE USED TO BE LITERATE. YOU PICK UP A COPY OF MILTON, AND THE SENTENCES HAVE SO MANY NESTED CLAUSES THAT A MODERN READER CAN HARDLY REMEMBER WHAT THE SUBJECT IS. IT'S TOO BAD WE DONT LIVE IN A CULTURE THAT APPRECIATES THE STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE... THE POSSIBILITIES"
"MEANWHILE, IN THE CS DEPARTMENT.
HEY DAVE (WHICH I AM CALLING YOU (THOUGH I'M HAPPY TO CALL YOU SOMETHING ELSE (HAPPY IN THE SENSE OF WILLING) IF YOU PREFER) BECAUSE SALLY (FROM ACROSS (3 DOORS DOWN (DOWN MEANING EAST)) THE HALL (THOUGH SHE'LL BE MOVING (DIFFERENT BUILDING, NOT DIFFERENT CITY (HA HA!) SHORTLY)) SAID YOU PREFER IT) WANNA GET A COFFEE?"
"SURE!"
Meme - Girl: "Did you take your meds?"
Guy: "Yeah"
Girl: "I hope you feel better soon"
Guy: "What?"
Girl: *disappearing*
Guy: "No! Wait!"
Piece of Wood with smiley face: "Love you"
Singaporeans don’t deserve Piyush Gupta - "Philippe Paillart was the kind of reason Singapore Inc. hires foreigners, to help them accomplish something they can’t on their own. But Philippe was ousted by a testosterone-charged bunch of investment bankers and a board that didn’t quite like his personal style. Curiously, Philippe was very quickly replaced by Jackson Tai, John Olds’ trusted lieutenant. By this time, the JP Morgan mafia was crawling on every wall in DBS... After the JP Morgan clowns left town, we still kept up the white man fiction. Richard Stanley was someone I knew personally from his days in China. A most decent man at heart, but by this time, the dream of making DBS an international force had lost steam. It really did not matter if it was Richard or an untalented Singaporean as CEO. We need to remember the plot – Singapore’s ambition at that time was to be international – to enter other people’s countries. By the time Piyush Gupta arrived on the scene, DBS had been without a real CEO for nearly two years. It was a serious problem. So it needed someone with an international experience and Piyush had worked in every country in the region, including Singapore, with outstanding references. Also, all banks everywhere were suffering from low price-to-book value. The increased capital requirements. The country needed someone who had the technical skills and instincts as a banker. Piyush may not have been Singaporean, but he was absolutely at the point in his career to be a perfect fit for the bank of any country that needed to get to the next level, and that was what DBS wanted to be. The only Singaporean I would trust for that role at that point in time was Peter Seah, out-of-job as CEO after OUB was sold to UOB. But Peter was getting old, losing that fire in his belly, and chairmanship suited him better. So, I was delighted when I saw the two men I trusted formed a bond that has worked for Singapore since. Piyush gave Peter the energy and Peter gave Piyush the structure... Leong Mun Wai... singled out Piyush, but remained silent on CEOs of other Singaporean institutions who are not Singaporean at all. But more importantly, he was silent on all the government-linked companies (GLCs) that do have his fellow Singaporeans as CEOs but that were seriously losing their way in a changing world. It is the elephant in the room, but no Singaporean I know has even started concpetualising how to discuss it... There was a time when a Singaporean could join a Keppel Corporation or NTUC, speak Hokkien all day, compete on who has the stupidest domestic helper, have the kids walked to school, go to an airconditioned church on Sundays, eat chicken rice at the hawker centre and fly business class on company account just enough to qualify as PPS world traveler on Singapore Airlines every year. What a life. Well, that life has just come to an end because the Keppel Corporations of the world can’t hire everyone now. It is that Singapore has shrunk. DBS and CapitaLand are the only GLCs that have bucked the trend... Every one of these Singapore Inc. corporations is broken, having lost the wind beneath their wings, clueless on where to pick up new wind from and it is truly frightening. Companies like SPH lost their core business, tried property for a while, lost that as well, and are floundering right now. This is where the loss of Singaporean jobs are coming from. It’s a question that never made it to parliament because the people are still being told that everything is fine. Public officials falling over themselves to give report cards that everything is great. The entire system hardwired to be defensive. Yes, it is great that each of these companies had Singaporeans as CEOs, because now we can start by not blaming someone else for our predicament... For every Singapore Airlines you have an NOL, an unmitigated disaster for all the years it was run by the best Singaporean CEOs, you can name them one by one. Then it magically becomes profitable when a foreigner bought it. Nobody in Singapore would have known that it could be salvaged until it was, by a foreigner... The world is changing so dramatically. Did Singapore even try to bring in the Teslas of the world? Do Singaporeans even know that the Thai stock exchange is now larger than SGX? A politically dysfunctional country mocking an otherwise socially cohesive Singapore which is supposed to be a regional financial centre... People become confused when their experiences of joblessness is different from what they read in the newspapers. The majority of Singaporeans are now mature enough to want to be in on the conversation, of how the old formula of inviting MNCs to bring their capital has run its course. The Singaporean, brought up to believe that he is the best in all the rankings has no clue why the world has changed on him in this way. He has no idea that whatever he can do, others can do cheaper from anywhere else in the world, with or without a degree from the “best universities” in Asia (enough of these damn rankings)... The question that the Chinese Singaporeans should be asking themselves is “where is the Piyush Gupta of Singapore” amongst us? Where is the Singaporean who uprooted his family, travelled to many different countries at great personal cost, had ambitions without a border, did not care what people thought about his accent or colour, was assessed on his task one day at a time, developed the vision and passion, made his fair share of valuable mistakes and is then at the right time in the right place in his career to take on the opportunity to lead DBS when the time comes? If we only we knew one Singaporean who was half of who Piyush is in banking. But guess what. Singapore did have its “Piyush Guptas” in the 1980s. Peter Seah, Wong Nang Jang and a series of top-class Singaporeans I can recall all worked for the same international banks in the 1970s-1980s, just like Piyush... The fact that Singapore has such a great brand name in the US capital is because Lee Kuan Yew spent his personal time staying in the homes of and building relationships with people like Henry Kissinger and the Bushes. The reason Singapore’s CapitaLand does very well in China is because Liew Mun Leong loves every minute he is in China. The reason Singtel was able to acquire a string of telcos in Asia and Australia after it was listed was because Lee Hsien Yang was willing to take the plane out, flying economy if he had to, to close deals at a moment’s notice when he was CEO. I know that these are “loaded” names now, but I am not mentioning them for any reason other than why the best Singapore companies are what they are today... it’s a fine line between being loved and being respected. There was a time when Sim Wong Hoo grew Creative Technology to be a global company, living out of a suitcase in America, giving no less than Steve Jobs a run for his money. But in Sim’s case, Singapore smothered him with love and massaged his passion until it became placid. The same politicians who spurned his initial effort to list Creative on the Singapore Exchange, made him a star and were taking selfies with him after he was successfully listed on NASDAQ, turning him into a philosopher and taming the beast in him. It was only a matter of time that his empire unraveled, because the competition in Silicon Valley was too vicious for someone who didn’t spend enough time in the battlefield."
From 2020
JK Rowling was bullied off a Harry Potter forum where fans didn't know who she was - "JK Rowling was bullied off a Harry Potter forum after she joined one under a fake name and ended up getting told she 'doesn't know anything' about the wizarding world she created."
Meme - ""Let's plant some catnip,' she said. "It'll be fun," she said. And then the addicts moved in and the neighborhood's never been the same."
Watch | Facebook - "Ballet Dancer Unusual Routine"
Dance to Saint-Saëns's The Swan where she has a face on her buttocks and goes upside down so it looks like someone dancing where her legs become her arms and her arms her legs and her buttocks her face
London Mayor Sadiq Khan Mocked Online After Spending Taxpayer Money On Modern Art Displays - "Mayor of London Sadiq Khan revealed that the city’s Piccadilly Circus underground station would be plastered wall-to-wall with a digital drawing from famed British artist David Hockney that was little more than a misshapen yellow circle — a derivative of the London Tube logo — and the station name “Piccadilly Circus” crammed into a space so tiny that the artist left “S” hanging below the rest of its alphabetic compadres in a separate line below. Here’s how Artnet described it: “A jejune design that recalls Windows 98-era of Microsoft Paint, Hockney’s interpretation of the iconic London tube logo boasts a malformed, highlighter-yellow ‘O’ and a station name board the color of everyone’s favorite purple dinosaur. The artist even ran out of space for the words ‘Piccadilly Circus,’ cramming in a rogue ‘s’ below.”... the art displays are part of Khan’s £7m “Let’s Do London” campaign that seeks to bolster tourism in the city in the waning days of the COVID-19 pandemic... “If you had said this was a children’s competition to redesign the logo and this was the winner I’d have equally believe it”... “Listen. I respect art. I do. But I’ve seen better work on Fiverr. Is there a message I am missing? Like is the S meant to mean Sadiq taking London over the edge? What’s the point?”"
Meme - Bear to Man: "Read the part again where she burns her whore mouth on my porridge"
Shame makes people living in poverty more supportive of authoritarianism, study finds - "A series of three studies in Germany found that people living in poverty frequently experience exclusion from different aspects of society and devaluation leading to the feeling of shame. Such shame, in turn, increases their support for authoritarianism due to the promise that that they will be included in the society again authoritarian leaders typically make"
Why are flights so much cheaper in Europe than in the U.S.? - The Washington Post
Someone (surprisingly, a European) claimed that flights were cheaper in the US and "people are too poor to fly in Europe so they need to use the train". So many Americans hate poor people
David Henderson's answer to Did Robert Baratheon love Lyanna Stark? - Quora - "No, demonstrably not. When Rhaegar Targaryen shocked the realm by ‘abducting’ Lyanna Stark and carrying her off, Lyannas enraged brother Brandon rode directly to Kings Landing to confront Aerys and demand his sisters release. When Brandon was then captured in turn, his father Rickard then rode to Kings Landing to demand the release of both Brandon and Lyanna. You know who didn’t do that? Robert Baratheon... Robert was deeply in love with a Stark, just not Lyanna. Robert only truly loved Ned. I’m not saying Robert was gay or anything, there’s about 800 women from the Wall to Dorne who could attest otherwise to that one, but Robert loved Ned like a brother, and certainly more than he loved his actual brothers. Robert loved the idea of Lyanna because marrying her meant he would be becoming Neds brother in truth, and the two of them would have lots of excuses to spend loads of time together for the rest of their lives... Robert barely even knew Lyanna, they seem to have met only once or twice at most, and even Robert doesn’t dispute that he didn’t know her well... Rhaegar had deprived him of his chance to have a life where he got to have fun with Ned all the time. As a result of Rhaegar’s actions, Robert ends up with a wife he can’t stand, a crown he despises, duties he doesn’t care about, and a life where he only sees Ned once a decade if that."
Why are conservatives healthier than liberals? Personal responsibility, study suggests. - "It’s fairly well documented that conservatives tend to be healthier and than liberals, but what’s less clear is why? Some say it’s because conservatives tend to have higher incomes, and therefore have access to better health care. Others suggest it’s because conservatives participate in more religious activities, which helps them build healthy social relationships. A recent study offers a new hypothesis: Conservatives place greater value on personal responsibility, and therefore they take better care of themselves."
The cope is that conservatives have too much toxic masculinity, so they are overconfident in their health when it is really worse and refuse to go to the doctor when they need it
Upper‐Body Strength and Political Egalitarianism: Twelve Conceptual Replications
Even though we know this is linked to longevity, we shall conveniently ignore it because it's inconvenient
Message to foreigners at Japanese convenience store sparks controversy online - "The sign, despite being written entirely in Japanese, is addressed to foreigners, and reads:
“To foreign customers,
‘Kore’ is prohibited. Say “nikuman kudasai’.”
To explain, “kore” means “this” and “nikuman kudasai” means “Can I have a steamed bun please”. Reading between the lines, it appears that staff had had enough of “foreign customers” saying “kore”, and presumably pointing to the display case while doing so, as indicated by the illustration of a pointing finger (assuming that’s an index finger and not a middle finger). The tone of the message is remarkably curt, with the absence of “please” making it read as a command rather than a request, and far removed from the usual level of politeness expected in a customer service environment in Japan... Of course, pointing the finger at “foreigners” and prohibiting them from saying “kore” when ordering is also problematic, given that a number of Japanese people themselves said they might use the point-and-request system. In any case, a sign written entirely in Japanese isn’t the best way to get your message across to people who might not read the language, so perhaps it’s time for convenience store chains to think about implementing a numbering system for the hot items sold in display cases."
'It's telling that people are convinced they're real': the satirical signs of Sydney’s ‘nanny state’ - "At first glance you’ll probably think they’re real. But a series of eye-catching, official-looking signs that have sprung up around Sydney are in fact works of satire. Produced by an artist and a therapist duo who call themselves Wowser Nation, the works are taking aim at Australia’s creeping nanny state. And they’ve started with the city they believe to be at the forefront of the creep – Sydney – even as the New South Wales government repeals the majority of its draconian lockout laws. “We take existing rules and regulations and turn up the volume just a bit,” sculptor Clary Akon explains when we meet in one of the rare Sydney coffee shops that stays open till 10pm. “It’s very telling that people are even partially convinced they’re real.” Photoshopped artworks include a warning that “this area is patrolled by FUN POLICE – protecting Sydney’s citizens from themselves” in the official police colours and font. Another threatens a $550 fine if you flirt, laugh out loud, dance or “use long words confusing to security”. The hypothesis that they would pass for real was first tested in 2016, with a sign in Bondi threatening fines unless all joggers wore helmets, and an instruction to “log your jog”... “We realised this was a powerful way of drawing attention to an insidious process many people weren’t aware of: that their lives were becoming more and more restricted,” co-founder Francis Merson says, comparing the situation to the frog that jumps out of boiling water but boils to death if warmed slowly... The guerrilla tactics combine two very Australian and very opposing themes: the officiousness of wowserism and the mischievousness of larrikinism... Akon says it’s more relevant than ever post lockout laws: after all, they were just one of many examples of overreach by a conservative Berejiklian government that supposedly promotes personal responsibility over state interference. All fallacies, Merson says: “When we started in 2015, I had no idea how bad it’d get: the strip-searching happening today would’ve seemed implausible.” Akon lists a litany of other examples too: being ordered to tip away wine at peaceful beach and park picnics; bag-checking by uniformed police at Bondi Beach at Christmas; and the nimbyism of noise complaints by residents in new apartments next to pubs. With NSW police now strip-searching children at festivals and passengers at Central Station, the pair’s most recent work – rolled out this week, under advisement from their new collaborator Christie Aucamp, depicts Gladys Berejiklian about to perform a strip-search under the caption: “Summer of glove”."
And this was pre-covid
Daniel Andrews slammed for ‘nanny state’ rules for Victorian parks - "Daniel Andrews has been accused of trying to install “nanny state” rules across his state’s city and regional parks. Walkers and riders caught not using government-sanctioned trails could face heavy fines, while swimmers could be barred from some waterways without a permit. The new rules, which will affect more than 50 city and regional parks across Victoria, were outlined in the government’s proposed Metropolitan and Regional Parks Regulations. Changes include a fine of up to $924 for walking off a park trail."
Meme - "Resistance Newsday
TORIES
*Boris Johnson* IT WAS ALL JUST BIT OF A LAUGH
The Island of Shit *British flag*"
We're still told that liberals don't hate their countries
Toblerone barred from using iconic Swiss Matterhorn mountain on its logo - " The image of the Matterhorn mountain peak will soon disappear from the packaging of Toblerone chocolate bars because the brand’s US owner is moving some production outside of Switzerland. Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung reported that Mondelez International, which produces the triangular treat, is changing the design of the mountain depicted on the cardboard wrapper to not violate the Swissness Act. Mondelez disclosed in 2022 that it planned to move some Toblerone production to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. The company is changing the packaging design to depict a more generic mountain rather than the famous Matterhorn... Under Switzerland’s Swissness Act, passed in 2017, national symbols and Swiss crosses are not permitted on the packaging of products that do not meet Swissness criteria. The Act stipulates that food items using Swiss national symbols or claiming to be “Swiss made” must have at least 80 per cent of the product’s raw materials come from Switzerland and 100 per cent for milk and dairy products."
They Lied About Tolkien - "The editor rejected J.R.R. Tolkien’s draft of The Fellowship of the Ring because Tolkien had used “dwarves” instead of “dwarfs.” So said a meme that popped up a lot on my Facebook page. A pastor I know posted it with the note, “Which he did.” Very quickly 29 of his friends shared it. Who knows how many dozens or hundreds of times friends shared it on. According to the meme, the editor appealed to the Oxford English Dictionary, saying that the word “dwarves” didn’t exist. The meme ends with Tolkien saying: “I wrote the Oxford English Dictionary. Don’t correct me.” It makes Tolkien look like a jerk. It is also completely wrong. Ridiculously wrong. And I think dishonestly wrong... People seemed to love the meme. Rarely have I seen a meme pop up on my Facebook page so many times. People who should have known it was false dropped their guard. Like my friend the pastor, who not only believed it but pushed it (“Which he did.”). Why would someone make up a meme this obviously false? Why would so many people who should have known it was a crude fake believe it? And share it? For the usual reasons we believe untruths, I think: We want to believe them because they make us feel good about ourselves, and let us look down on others."
