When you can't live without bananas

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Thursday, October 17, 2024

Links - 17th October 2024 (2)

FCC approves controversial radio station deal involving Soros-backed group - "The Federal Communications Commission has approved a controversial deal: it gives control of more than 200 radio stations to a group funded by Democratic mega-donor George Soros.  Some of those stations are in Texas...  Carr says whenever foreign ownership is involved the process takes months so that national security agencies can do a review.  “It's very much out of the ordinary, we'll be creating a special shortcut just for this one entity that is backed ultimately by this George Soros group," Carr said. In a letter Friday, the House Oversight Committee accused FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners of "bypassing an established process to do a favor for George Soros and facilitate his influence over hundreds of radio stations before the November election.""
Billionaires controlling the media are only bad when they don't push the left wing agenda

Archaeologists Discover World's Oldest Break-Up Letter at Neo-Babylonian Site - "King Nabonidus wasn’t a fan of being stood up, says a new finding by archeologists at Liberty University. Researchers have unveiled that the 6th-century BCE Neo-Babylonian king sent what is thought to be the first break-up letter ever discovered... “News has reached me via the Upper Euphrates that you were visiting with my childhood friend Nisaba. I am devastated by this betrayal, as you are one of my favorite concubines. You have until the end of the month to pick up your flax shawls and sandals or else I will donate them to the temple of the moon god.”"

Meme - *Nursing Director, Chief Medical Officer, Hospital Administrator, Healthcare IT Specialist. Pharmacy Manager. Health Policy Analyst, Health and Safety Officer, Medical Records Supervisor, Clinical Research Manager, Patient Care Coordinator sitting around looking at frontline staff dig hole*
Frontline staff: *digging hole alone*
"Due to budget constraints, we're going to have to let our frontline staff go."

How Where You’re Born Influences the Person You Become
This makes no attempt to correct for genetics, despite giving it a passing mention

In the 2024 Democratic Party Platform, the word Women appears 82 times, the word Men, 4 times. Why don't the Democrats pay more attention to male voters since they trail among them in the vote? : r/MensRights - "They don't care about our vote."
"They don't care about our issues or concerns. They do want our votes and expect to get them by guilting."
"This. I was pretty enthusiastic about Harris until I started trying to talk about improving the quality of life for men and they acted like I was crazy. I'm convinced their version of feminism means women get everything, not equality."
"They want our votes for now, but hope either way for them to become unnecessary; women make a slim majority at present and are more easily swayed by their rhetoric than men when removed from social support structures like family and religion. Their work for some time now has been tearing down every conceivable social support and replacing it with their politics."
"More bluntly, they don't care about men. If they have any feeling towards men and boys, its toleration at best, outright hate and resentment more frequently."

Meme - "MEN LOOK AT BOOBS FOR THE SAME REASON A LITTLE KID LOOKS AT PUPPIES IN A CAGE. WE JUST WANT TO SET THEM FREE AND PLAY WITH THEM."

Meme - "YOU'LL BE A BIG MOVIE STAR, BABY! I SEE OSCARS AND TONYS IN YOUR FUTURE!"
"WHERE DO I SIGN!?"
"OKAY OSCAR AND TONY, YOU'RE UP"
"SUPER BUM LOVE 7" *worried man on bed exposing ass*

Meme - "When you're at an airport security check and they pull out an Uno reverse card *Muslim woman in hijab screening white lady*"

Meme - "The fact Bill Clinton may have bombed a country so Hillary Clinton would resume missionary sex with the lights off has ruined my entire week."
"A biography of Hillary Clinton, written by Gail Sheehy and published in late 1999, stated that Mrs. Clinton had refused to talk to the president for eight months after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. She resumed talking to her husband only when she phoned him and urged him in the strongest terms to begin bombing Serbia; the president began bombing within 24 hours. Alexander Cockburn observed in the Los Angeles Times,"

In the 18th Century, Pineapples Were a Symbol of Wealth and Power - "Originally from South America, pineapples were discovered by Christopher Columbus on one of his voyages to the New World. When he brought them back to Spain, many Europeans — royalty in particular — were completely taken by the delicacy. It was a rare, beautiful fruit most people had never encountered before and artists began incorporating pineapples in their work — whether lavishly depicted in  a painting or elegantly carved into wooden furniture.  The pineapple made its way to England in the 17th century and by the 18th century, being seen with one was an instant indicator of wealth — a single pineapple could cost the equivalent of $8,000 today. In fact, the fruit was so desirable and rare that consumers often rented a pineapple for the night to show off to fellow party-goers."

Montreal bylaws: Man fined for tying dog to parking meter - "A Montreal man who tied his dog to a parking meter while he entered a bakery is now facing a hefty fine for breaking a law he had no idea existed.  He's warning other pet owners who may face similar fines.  "It's something that I've seen other people do, myself included," said Dimitar Beshkov, with his four-year-old mutt Indy.  On Thursday, Beshkov popped in for a croissant on Rachel Street and tied Indy to a meter outside.  When he came out, less than five minutes later, a Montreal police (SPVM) officer was waiting to give him a ticket for $664...  According to the City of Montreal's website, tying a dog to a tree or street furniture is prohibited under provincial law.  At all times, a dog must be under the control of a person capable of controlling it.  It is a law the SPCA supports.  "Though it may seem ridiculous, in these particular circumstances, very strictly regulating when dogs can be tied outside is actually sound policy in terms of animal welfare and public safety," said SPCA lawyer Sophie Gaillard."

I found the stupidest way to find a job and it’s given me more results than 300 online applications. : r/GenZ - "It’s so fricken simple, but it’s worked 3 times last month. If you work at a retail store or some job where you meet customers/clients on a regular basis. All you have to do is get everyone talking about the economy then wiggle into the conversation about “how no one wants to work”. Really get them talking and eventually you’ll run into someone complaining about how one of their employees or coworkers quit or doesn’t want to work. Just agree with their circumstances. Then let them know how you’re looking for a job.  I did this to everyone for a month and so far I got 3 job offers as an insurance sales associate, HR recruiter, and a factory worker all paying 25 dollars or more."

That Time William McKinley Gave Away His Lucky Flower—And Then Died - "Early in his political career, an opponent of William McKinley’s gave him a red carnation boutonniere to wear during a debate. McKinley went on to win that debate and then the congressional election in 1887 (he served in the Ohio House of Representatives for 14 years), and he saw this red carnation as his good luck charm. He began wearing one during all election cycles, including his two gubernatorial wins and his 1896 presidential campaign. After his first presidential win, McKinley started wearing a single carnation in his lapel at all times. He even kept a bouquet of them on his desk in the Oval Office and would gift them to visitors.  McKinley—who was born on January 29, 1843—was also known to give people the flower from his lapel, though he would replace it as quickly as possible. In 1901, months after his second term in office began, he was in Buffalo, New York for the Pan-American Exposition. While greeting the public, he met a 12-year-old girl named Myrtle Ledger who was there with her mother. Years later, Myrtle recalled that President McKinley said, “I must give this flower to another little flower,” and then he gave her his lucky carnation.  Minutes later, McKinley greeted another person in line—his assassin, Leon Czolgosz. The president was shot twice and died the following week from gangrene. Three years later, the Ohio General Assembly named the scarlet carnation the official state flower in his honor."

Meme - Benny Feldman @Feldfrog: "You know how people who used to torture animals as a kid are way more likely to be psycopaths as adults? I'm sort of the opposite, I actually used to catch girl rabbits and pleasure them effortlessly with my fingers until they came"

Family that walk on all fours have 'undone the last three million years of evolution' - "The Ulas family has been the subject of evolutionary fascination for years after they were discovered in a remote village in Turkey walking on all fours. Back in the early 2000s, a scientific paper was published on five of the Ulas siblings and their strange bear crawl-style of movement, with experts divided over the cause of the abnormality... The Ulas mother and father had a staggering 18 children, however, of these, only six were born with quadrupedalism (walking on all fours), which has never been seen before in modern adult humans... Humphrey pointed out that the affected siblings – five of whom are still alive and aged between 22 and 38 – all suffer from a particular form of brain damage. In the 60 Minutes documentary, he showed MRI scans which revealed that they each had a shrunken section of the brain called the cerebellar vermis. However, the professor also noted that this in itself “[doesn’t] account for their walking on four legs”. He explained: “Other children who have damaged cerebellum, even children who have no cerebellum, can still walk upright.” He also stressed that the Ulas’ form of quadrupedalism differs from that seen in our closest animal relatives – chimpanzees and gorillas – in one key way. Whilst these primates walk on their knuckles, the Turkish children’s use the palms of their hands – putting their weight on their wrists while lifting their fingers off the ground. "What's significant about that is that chimpanzees ruin their fingers walking like that"... "These kids have kept their fingers very agile, for example, the girls in the family can do crochet and embroidery," he added. Humphrey has hypothesised that this could indeed be the way our direct ancestors walked... The LSE researcher also suggested that there are more basic explanations for the Ulas children’s quadrupedalism: they were simply not encouraged to walk on two feet. In the Turkish village where they grew up, there was no local health service to help the disabled kids make the transition from crawling as babies (on hands and knees) to walking fully upright. Humphrey told 60 Minutes that he provided the Ulases with a walking frame and within a few hours “there was an astonishing transformation”. “The children who had never taken a step upright on two legs [used] this frame to walk across the room with such delight in their faces and a sense of achievement,” he recalled, adding that it was as if they had “suddenly made a breakthrough into the world they never imagined they could ever enter.”"

Labour’s authoritarian urges are worryingly obvious... and not just in outdoor smoking ban it intends to impose - "They’re there too in the Home Secretary’s extraordinary plan to embroil our police once again in recording “non-crime hate incidents”. Yvette Cooper seems to believe this will show zero tolerance for anti- Semitism and Islamophobia. Experience proves it will be a mandate for cops to probe anyone who simply hurts another’s feelings via even the most anodyne remark in person or online. That’s not police business. Besides, they’ll be busy enough chasing illegal smokers down the street on behalf of the Government’s public health fanatics. Or should we say “irregular” smokers, since “irregular” is how Labour intends now to rebrand the illegal migrants landing on our beaches in small boats? Meanwhile, in our universities, Tory measures painstakingly negotiated to preserve free speech are set to be axed. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson risibly claims they were a charter for “hate speech” against minorities. In fact they were merely a safeguard against aggressive left-wing radicals shutting down speakers voicing even mildly conservative views on campus. Some political balance is vital. Our students and lecturers are already overwhelmingly left-wing and our universities the wokest places in the land. At University College London a new edict says vulnerable people must not be called “vulnerable”. Even if your sole motive is their protection and needs, such supposedly unthinking and blunt language could “disempower them”. Will Labour ever rein in this insanity? As we say, the omens are not good."

Estonia offers to hold UK prisoners as our jails are full with record number of lags - "Estonia’s minister of justice Liisa Pakosta said the Baltic nation had cells it could rent out to Nato allies. She said the scheme could be worth £25million to Estonia and hinted the UK and Sweden are already in talks over sending prisoners there."

‘A whole economy issue’: Labour productivity declines for second straight quarter - "“This is not a problem confined to one region or sector — say manufacturing. It is a whole economy issue,” said Douglas Porter , chief economist at Bank of Montreal, in a note to clients. “And while it may seem like an esoteric topic for many, the reality is that unless it is properly addressed, Canada’s relative standard of living will continue to weaken.”... Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada, said it’s important to look at productivity before the pandemic, prior to disruptions that skew the data. Antunes says Canada’s productivity overall has declined 0.5 per cent compared to the average in 2019 and Canada has been a laggard for decades... This low productivity trend has also grabbed the attention of the Bank of Canada this past spring, when Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers delivered a speech in Halifax, highlighting Canada’s productivity problem has reached an emergency level... GDP per-capita, another important measure to look at when discussing the standard of living of Canadians, posted its fifth consecutive quarterly decline during the second quarter of this year. Porter notes Canada continues to be outpaced by our American counterparts when it comes to productivity and our position among the OECD continues to decline. “U.S. productivity has thus outpaced Canada by 10 per cent in the past five years alone,” said Porter. “Looking at GDP per hours worked in U.S. dollar terms, the OECD finds that Canada has now slipped even below Italy and Spain and is losing sight of the U.S. and most Northern European economies.”"

Michael Higgins: Jagmeet Singh can still yank Liberals even further to the left - "To be fair to Jagmeet Singh he has parlayed two dozen NDP seats into a political wedge that has forced the Liberals to turn sharp left. That he gets no credit for it, even from NDP supporters, is probably because he is a tiresome, whining, sanctimonious hypocrite. Singh’s hypocrisy during his political marriage with the Liberals has been a defining feature of the last two years — attack Justin Trudeau on every occasion, but back him in the House of Commons to ensure the government doesn’t fall... Singh never seems to waste an opportunity to turn the political marital bed into a verbal pillow fight. Singh told delegates attending the British Columbia NDP convention last November, “I have seen Trudeau’s government up close. I shouldn’t be mean, but one of our MPs has described working with the Liberals like wrestling eels that are soaked in oil.” But he also noted, Trudeau “only acts when he is forced to, or when his political future is on the line.” It is this that Singh is gambling on. Certainly, Singh blindsided the Liberals on Wednesday with his announcement that he was dissolving their partnership — the one that in 2022 called for “no surprises” between the two parties. Just over a week ago, Government House Leader Karina Gould said she was “fairly confident” that the agreement would hold through to June 2025... Of course, Singh must also have his eye on the declining polling numbers for the NDP. According to an aggregate of polls for 338Canada , if an election were held now the NDP would see their number decline by a third — down to 16 seats from 24."

Is this Jagmeet Singh's swan song? - "The party’s gambit was simple: by working alongside the Liberals, the New Democrats could claim credit for such popular policies as national dental care and pharmacare. The idea was that once these programs started rolling out, Canadians would recognize the NDP’s hand in these initiatives and reward it with strong polling numbers. But, to the surprise of Singh and his team, the anticipated poll bounce never came. What was worse — the struggling Liberal government became more of an anchor than a lifeline to NDP fortunes. Rather than boosting support, Singh’s deal with the Liberals dragged both parties down. The Liberals tacked further left than expected and have seen public trust erode. Meanwhile, the NDP found itself on the wrong side of issues that alienated voters it desperately needs. Take, for instance, the NDP-backed motion on the Israel-Hamas war. Watered down from its original form, which sought recognition of a Palestinian state, it still signalled an uncomfortable departure from Canada’s long-standing foreign policy. This misstep may cost the Liberals key seats, such as the Toronto–St. Paul’s stronghold they lost in a June byelection. It’s a perfect storm of mistakes that make Singh’s latest declaration of independence seem less like a power move and more like a last-ditch effort to save face ahead of must-win byelections in Winnipeg and Montreal. Is this Singh’s swan song? It certainly feels like the beginning of the end for his leadership. Some within the NDP have already started asking tough questions. Singh has failed to consistently raise the party’s polling numbers above 20 per cent — a threshold the NDP hasn’t regularly crossed since he took the helm. Compared with the heights reached under Jack Layton or even Tom Mulcair when the NDP was a genuine contender for power, the party’s performance under Singh’s leadership has been underwhelming. It’s time to face the facts — today’s NDP has morphed from a vehicle for political and social change into a platform for Jagmeet Singh’s vanity. Yet his social media persona, though appealing to younger voters, hasn’t translated into the kind of widespread support the party needs... The NDP leadership review last October, while not damning enough to force Singh out, showed cracks in the foundation. It represented one of the worst reviews of any NDP leader since the 1970s."

Singh targets carbon tax in a flaccid attempt to imitate Poilievre - "In August 2021, pre-coalition deal, EKOS had the Conservatives polling 52 per cent higher than the NDP among working-class voters; by August 2024, that lead grew to 119 per cent... Singh, it seems, had to learn the hard way that punitively taxing people for existing in a modern (but cold) economy isn’t exactly the way into a working voter’s heart. The Liberals and NDP have forked on how to manage this mess: the NDP are denouncing the present iteration of carbon pricing (sort of), invoking the disproportionate suffering workers are supposed to experience in a changed climate without openly opposing it. The Liberals, meanwhile, are trying out another hopeless rebrand while giving carve-outs to strategic provinces (Atlantic Canada). Layered with other flaccid working-class pitches, it’s not hard to see why the Conservatives are in the lead. The NDP has largely veered from labour politics toward campus-style identity concerns, even supporting the Liberal government as it caved to the rail duopoly in its dispute with train engineers. The Liberals have performed miserably worse on worker appeal, touting rebates and welfare programs nobody wants to have to rely on. Sure, there’s a carbon tax rebate, but the scheme is still a net negative for all but the bottom quintile — most people know that money is best left in their pockets anyway. The free amenities don’t resonate all that much better. Liberal free school lunches, Liberal free birth control — all while Canada is getting collectively poorer respective to peer countries. Trudeau, confronted by a dissatisfied steelworker two weeks ago, even tried to play the free dental-care card. Didn’t this tradesman appreciate the latest expansion of the welfare state? No, of course not. “I pay for it myself…. Why? I have a good job,” responded the worker. The Liberals, and to a lesser degree, the NDP, struggle to understand the great insult of having welfare jigged in front of one’s face like a lure. No, a few hundred-dollar “Climate Action Incentive Payment” isn’t enough to buy someone’s vote, and it’s offensive to even suggest that it might be. No, another free service that everyone could afford in 2005 isn’t going to cut it, especially when many of us can’t reliably find a doctor. Climate justice was only fun when the rich were the ones paying, and handouts only felt great when most workers didn’t need them."
The working class is too stupid and ignorant to realise that the NDP is the party that really represents their interests. But they're too bigoted to swallow identity politics after all

Jack Karlson, who shot to fame after ‘succulent Chinese meal’ arrest, dies aged 82 - "The man who immortalised the phrase “this is democracy manifest” while starring in what has been described as the pre-eminent Australian meme, Jack Karlson, has died aged 82. Karlson – although there are debates as to whether this was his real name or one of many aliases – was a serial prison escaper and small-time crook who shot to fame in 2009 after a news clip of his arrest at a Chinese restaurant in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in 1991 was uploaded on to the internet. “What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?” Karlson theatrically boomed as his bear-like frame resisted a string of police officers."

Angry netizens call out Wells Fargo for not noticing a dead employee for 4 days - "Denise Prudhomme, a sixty-year-old, worked at the American financial services's corporate office in Tempe, Arizona. She clocked in at 7 am on August 16, Friday. On Tuesday, August 20, she was found in her cubicle at 4:55 pm by the police and was pronounced dead. The preliminary investigation did not indicate any foul play. According to a USA Today report, the company stated that since the employee’s desk was located in a very “underpopulated area,” she went unnoticed during the weekend... most of the people are the company work remotely"
It's a good bet that most bashing the company also demand remote work

Schools are competing with cellphones. Here's how they think they could win - "At Nguyen’s school, students lock their phones in neoprene pouches during classes or even all day. A teacher or principal’s magnetic key unlocks the pouches. It doesn’t matter how dynamic the lesson, said Nguyen, who teaches at Marina Valley High School and now markets the pouches to other schools. “There’s nothing that can compete with the cell phone.”... Some say other forces behind teen disengagement are only amplified by the cellphone. The divisive political climate often makes students unwilling to participate in class, when anything they say can rocket around the school in a messaging app. Taylor’s high school English students tell him they don’t talk in class because they don’t want to be “ canceled ” — a term applied to public figures who are silenced or boycotted after offensive opinions or speech. “I’m like, ‘Well, who’s canceling you? And why would you be canceled? We’re talking about `The Great Gatsby,’” not some controversial political topic, he said. Students “get very, very quiet” when topics such as sexuality, gender or politics come up in novels, said Higgins, the Massachusetts English teacher. “Eight years ago, you had hands shooting up all over the place. Nobody wants to be labeled a certain way anymore or to be ridiculed or to be called out for politics.” So Higgins uses websites such as Parlay that allow students to have online discussions anonymously. The services are expensive, but Higgins believes the class engagement is worth it. “I can see who they are when they’re responding to questions and things, but other students can’t see,” Higgins said. “That can be very, very powerful.”"

Meme - Japanese sign: "Please do not finger the peaches. As this fruit is easily damaged, would you mind not touching it by hand."

Weird Florida throwback: Psychedelic mushrooms and alligators don't mix - "Amid the recent news of a face-biting slaying and an accused Chipotle-eating baby neglecter, it's easy to forget that Florida has always been a land of weird behavior. Here's an example from 2013, when five Florida men learned a valuable lesson: psychedelic mushrooms plus marijuana plus alligators does not equal a good time... a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer found four men and a teenager in Little Big Econ State Forest near Oviedo with a bag full of narcotics. Those arrested included Rick Myers, 30; Tyler Salzman, 20; Gregory Sansota, 22; and Jacob Russell, 20. The juvenile’s name was not released, and a woman with the group was not booked.  According to the wildlife commission, the group had psilocybin mushrooms in the bag while one of the men was holding a 2-foot alligator that was “tucked into a bandana.”... The incident inspired the viral photo that read: “Do Not Feed Hallucinogens To The Alligators”"

Mike Benz on X - "The US State Dept called in massive favors & leveraged personal connections to build voting machines for Lula-aligned Brazil officials and then the CIA warned Bolsonaro not to mess with or cast doubt on all the new US State Dept-secured voting machines determining his election"
Mike Benz on X - "What’s funny is both the 1964 military junta in Brazil and the 2022 judicial junta in Brazil received direct help from the CIA to rise to power."

Crémieux on X - "Have you seen these charts on parental time use from Our World in Data, Financial Times, and The Economist? These graphs are not good... In some cases, they fit an exponential increase to data with limited differences between just two timepoints!"

Meme - ">Playing DnD
>Wizard gets into a fight with an important NPC
>When the wizard realizes who the NPC is, he apologizes and asks "As a token of my goodwill, would you like me to make you a magical sword?"
>NPC agrees
>Wizard casts polymorph and turns them into a sword.
>Argues that the NPC shouldn't have a will save because they agreed to it."

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