"Justice Warriors: Vote Harder" – A dystopian Sci-Fi graphic novel packed with political satire
Ruben Bolling / 11:49 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Justice Warriors: Vote Harder - image posted with the permission of Matt Bors
In Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson's second volume of their "Justice Warriors" science fiction graphic novel series, the elite leaders of Bubble City hold an election, but will the voices of the downtrodden mutants who inhabit the Uninhabited Zone even be heard? Even if they are, can it possibly even matter?
That's the dystopian question in Justice Warriors: Vote Harder, a raucous political satire that centers around the relationship between two cops, Swamp and Schitt. For the election season, Schitt is assigned bodyguard duty on the incumbent mayor, The Prince. At the same time, Swamp gets sent on an undercover mission to infiltrate the mutant underground opposition: "Protecting democracy from voters," as Bors writes in his newsletter.
It's a bloody election season in and around Bubble City, as gory political violence permeates every campaign event, debate, rally, and polling station.
The whole city is filled with insane characters that are animals, grotesque humans, some combination, or neither. And the buddy-cop theme spurs me to think of Justice Warriors as a darkly political and ultra-violent Zootopia.
I know Bors well from his days in what used to be called the alternative weekly comic strip world, where he did a fantastic editorial cartoon that landed him Pulitzer Prize Finalist honors. He and Clarkson wrote the book, with Clarkson handling the eye-popping narrative art, and Bors drawing the very funny interstitials.
Here is Officer Swamp in a moment of heroics:
And here is Officer Schitt in his own heroic moment:
Vote Harder is masterfully hilarious and grim and thrilling and hopeful and cynical all at the same time.
Republicans beg their North Carolina governor candidate Mark Robinson to drop out before deadline
Rob Beschizza / 11:37 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Mark Robinson. Photo: Jwaugh3 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Mark Robinson, the GOP's candidate for governor in North Carolina, trails Democratic opponent Josh Stein in the polls. But that's not why his party is pressuring him to drop out the race before the withdrawal deadline tomorrow. The Carolina Journal reports that an exposé is to be published imminently and will contain damaging revelations about past behavior.
Sources with direct knowledge have spoken with Carolina Journal on the condition of anonymity and said that Robinson is under pressure from staff and members of the Trump campaign to withdraw from the governor's race due to the nature of the story, which they say involves activity on adult websites in 2000s.
According to sources, Robinson has resisted withdrawing and privately denies the story.
Even given the party's rightward turn, for a 20-year-old smut habit to be trouble, surely it's not going to be a Pornhub category or orientation. It's going to be stuff that gets you put on a list.
Whatever it is, it's known to insiders. The National Review's Audrey Fahlberg writes on Twitter [archive.org] that sources tell her it concerns "comments Robinson made on online chat rooms, tho the story could be about something else as well"
Previously:
• A cop in Matthews, North Carolina, choked a handcuffed man and the city kept the video secret for 3 years
• Federal appeals court blasts North Carolina's unconstitutional, Republican gerrymandering, orders new districts by Jan 24
• North Carolina GOP says voters have no right to fair elections
Seoul's Ramyun Library is a "paradise for noodle enthusiasts"!
Jennifer Sandlin / 11:06 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
ramyeon, yummmm. photo: Siena Handlong, used with permission.
I've never traveled to Seoul, but it's definitely on my list of places I want to experience, and when I get there, I'm going to check out the Ramyun Library, which is located inside the Hongdae Sangsang CU branch convenience store. The store has been described as "a paradise for noodle enthusiasts"—sign me up!
The store, which opened last December, stocks over 225 varieties of ramyeon, from Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Korea Times explains that ramyeon is "distinct from its Japanese cousin ramen," and "specifically refers to Korean instant noodles characterized by a generally spicy flavor and the inclusion of dried vegetables." At the Ramyun Library, you can buy ramyeon packs to take home or you can cook and eat them there, as they have cooking stations as well as a wide selection of toppings like eggs, cheese, dumplings, and so much more. They also stock side dishes like kimchi, other snacks, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to wash it all down. They even have little ramyeon-shaped tables where you can enjoy your noodles!
Korea Times provides more details about the store's ramen selection, customers, and sales:
Since its grand opening, Ramyun Library has been welcoming an average of 600 to 700 visitors daily. Last December, sales reached an impressive 15,000 ramyeon packets, surpassing 500 packets per day, marking a 10-fold increase compared to other convenience stores.
The store caters to diverse palates, with customers treated to different flavors, from spicy to mild and options featuring meat and seafood. The top five best-selling ramyeon varieties at the store include "Budae-jjigae (Spicy Stew) Ramen," "Chamkkae (sesame) Ramen," "Cream Jin Jjambbong" (creamy and spicy seafood noodle), "Spicy Jang-kalguksu" (pepper paste non-fried noodle) and "Jin Jjambbong" (spicy seafood noodle).
International clientele dominate the scene, constituting 62 percent of total ramyeon sales at the store, surpassing the 38 percent held by domestic customers.
Foreign patrons tend to purchase an average of 3.4 ramyeon packets per visit. This gap is attributed to international customers procuring additional ramyeon packets as souvenirs following their in-store dining experience.
And don't worry, if you're new to ramyeon or spicy foods, there are noodles for every palate, as explained by the Korea Times:
To accommodate newcomers to ramyeon, the store incorporates a user-friendly feature by indicating the spiciness level of each noodle variant alongside its price. The spiciness level of each variety is marked on a 5-tier scale — Mild, Medium, Hot, Very Hot and Hell.
This helpful article provides more information about the store as well as a handy guide to operating the instant noodle cooker inside the Ramyun Library.
And if the original location of the Ramyun Library is too crowded when you arrive, there's another location in Jamsil Hangang Park, described in this post.
Now excuse me, I have to go make some ramyeon!
Previously:
• Confessions of a hardcore instant ramen lover
Medical Examiner's mistake leads woman to carry father's ashes for 3 Years—he's still alive
Jason Weisberger / 10:56 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
In a terrible mistake, the SF Medical Examiner's office informed a woman that her father had passed away; they had the wrong person.
For three years after holding a service for her purportedly deceased father, and carrying his ashes with her in remembrance, Kylie Robinson found out her father was alive. No miracle, but a mistake at the Medical Examiners office left her carrying ashes, instead of looking for her father to help him.
According to the Chronicle, Kylie got a call on May 9, 2021, from the medical examiner's office informing her that her father was found dead in a hotel room; the Chronicle reported that it was a single-room occupancy hotel. She was told she had a limited amount of time to pay for cremation and burial services, and she posted a GoFundMe to help pay for "a proper funeral to celebrate his life and all the wonderful memories we shared with him."
She had the body cremated and hosted a funeral a couple weeks later. "We spent 3 years grieving and mourning the loss of our dad," she wrote on a new GoFundMe campaign page. "Taking his ashes with us everywhere."
Two months ago, Kylie said, a close friend ran into her father in San Francisco. When she called the medical examiner's office to inquire, Kylie said she learned her father had never been fingerprinted. The office sent her a photograph of her father's body and the unthinkable was true: It was not her father, she wrote. The ashes she had been toting around were not her father's, and she said it remains unknown whom the ashes actually belong to.
Also in the article, the Police had at least one opportunity to straighten this out over the three years.
He was arrested by officers of the San Francisco Police Department in November 2022 but released when records "indicated he was dead," the paper reported.
Previously:
• Medical examiner quits after declaring that bloody, stabbed corpse had died of 'natural causes'
The beautiful "Four Bugs Problem"
Mark Frauenfelder / 10:42 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Scientific American, July 1965
This cover from the July 1965 issue of Scientific American illustrates the "Four Bugs Problem" featured in Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column about op art.
The setup: Four bugs are placed at the corners of a square. They start crawling clockwise (or counterclockwise) at a constant rate, with each bug moving directly toward its neighbor. As the bugs move, they always form the corners of a square that both diminishes in size and rotates. Each bug's path forms a logarithmic spiral.
Gardner said this can be generalized to any number of bugs starting at the corners of a regular polygon with n sides. In these cases, the bugs will always form the corners of a similar polygon that shrinks and rotates as they move.
Here's an animated version of the Four Bugs Problem you can try out. If you want to try it with a different number of bugs, go here.
Previously:
• RIP Martin Gardner
• Martin Gardner puzzle: red, white, and blue weights
• Martin Gardner's 'Science Magic,' fun tricks you can try at home
• A surprising solution to the (in)famous 'Cross the Network' puzzle
• Free: scanned copy of Martin Gardner's Logic Machines and Diagrams (1958)
• The Missing Dollar puzzle from Martin Gardner's Aha! Gotcha book series
DC comic's hottest couple are the new Barbies
Gail Sherman / 10:33 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
DAndreev / Shutterstock.com
In a move sure to upset certain population sectors, the next Barbie Signature dolls are the villain Poison Ivy and the love of her life, (sometimes) villain Harley Quinn. The Barbie X Batman collaboration celebrates Batman's upcoming 85th Anniversary on September 21st.
Both dolls are available for pre-order on Mattel's site, with early access for Barbie Club 59 subscription owners. This window closes on September 19 at midnight ET, and then pre-orders open for the general public. If you want to secure either doll before more people can flood the site for pre-orders, a 12-month Club 59 membership will run you $9.99.
Ivy comes with a tiny crossbow and a baby Frank the plant.
Harley is carrying her signature mallet.
Membership in Barbie Club 59 also gives you voting rights for future Barbie projects. Ten bucks seems like a decent price to help your favorite character or human be enshrined as a Barbie doll. Are fans of Barbies just called Barbies? They don't seem to have a group name like other fandoms.
Previously: Barbie's commitment to diversity and inclusion has come a long way since 1959
People in Philly take fantasy football far too seriously
Jason Weisberger / 10:30 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
image: f11photo/Shutterstock
Fantasy football players are known for emotionally overinvesting, but a Philadelphia league's drama has resulted in an international investigation and Federal criminal charges.
Twenty-five-year-old Matthew Gabriel pleaded guilty to phoning in international bomb threats after becoming angry at another player in their league chat. I know there is usually money on the line, but isn't fantasy football really a matter of who got to pick which players and then luck?
Gabriel made the first false threat after an online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a release.
After learning the member would be studying abroad in Norway in August 2023, Gabriel submitted an anonymous "tip" to the Norwegian Police Security Service – which investigates threats to the country's national security – claiming the man was planning to carry out a mass shooting in Norway, according to the release.
Gabriel wrote that the fellow fantasy football player was "headed around Oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved. They plan to take as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store," according to prosecutors.
Previously:
• Current chess champion Magnus Carlsen is also one of the top fantasy soccer players in the world
"Public Domain" explores comic books exploitative past through family drama
Thom Dunn / 9:59 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
The comic book industry is rife with heartbreaking stories of scrappy, under-appreciated artists who barely got a pittance as their intellectual property blossomed into billion-dollar corporate assets. Joel Shuster and Jerry Siegel famously got $138 for the rights to Superman; both Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were famously frustrated that Stan Lee stole the credit for the things they created while technically on salary; Alan Moore generally exists; more recently, Marvel Comics has been criticized for offering a $5000 pity bonus to anyone who created a character who gets featured in one of their movies—basically the equivalent of a rounding error.
This is history is the backdrop of Public Domain, a new comic written and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky (co-creator of Sex Criminals who's also done some great recent work on Daredevil and Batman). Originally launched as a Substack original comic, Public Domain tells the story of illustrator Syd Dallas and his wayward sons, Miles and David. Years ago, Syd helped create a popular comic book, Domain, which has now been turned into a billion-dollar Hollywood franchise. Of course, Syd sees none of that money, much to his family's chagrin—until his son Miles, a deeply indebted gambling addict, finds some old dusty paperwork in the basement that says that Syd might own the IP after all.
It's a perfect microcosm of the comic book industry's history of exploitation, as well as rich family drama. Like A Raisin In The Sun for Superman. It's a great setup, and Zdarsky works wonders with it. The thick inks in his realistic artwork call back to his roots as a cartoonist, but he frequently demonstrates deft attention toward character expressions. This is important because Public Domain is not a flashy superhero comic—it's a family drama with a lot of talking heads. There's definitely some cartoonish quality—both in the character expressions and the wit of Zdarsky's writing—but he's careful never to let it stray too far into parody. You can laugh with and at these characters, but their emotions and trauma are very, very real (Even the performatively gothy bastard British writer who joins the cast in the second arc and is definitely not just Zdarsky ripping on Warren Ellis and Neil Gaiman).
The first volume of Public Domain is collected and available and ends with a fun twist that sets up the currently-ongoing second volume, which digs more into both fandom and the various struggles of collaborative creative processes. It's clear that Zdarsky is writing a rich love letter to the comic book industry here—but one that doesn't pull any punches in pointing out its flaws. Certainly, he's not the first person to do this; Howard Chaykin's Hey Kids, Comics! and Alan Moore's scathing novella "What We Can Know About Thunderman" both come to mind. But there's a bitterness in those works (and perhaps rightly so!) that's absent from Public Domain—and which ultimately makes it more accessible and refreshing.
(As an added bonus, Zdarsky has also launched a new comic called Domain about the character Domain that exists within and is created by characters from Public Domain. It's a fun superhero comic book, but it's even more intriguing as a metafictional riff on something that's already fairly meta to begin with.)
Previously:
• Secret identities, pulp storytelling, and audio comic books with Alex Segura
Donald Trump's deep-rooted mommy issues exposed in new Lincoln Project "Bad Blood" ad (video)
Carla Sinclair / 9:31 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Image: Donald Trump booking portrait, courtesy Fulton County Jail
In June, Rolling Stone highlighted the time Donald Trump called Taylor Swift "beautiful," "very beautiful," "very beautiful," "very beautiful," and "unusually beautiful" all in one short breath. But two months later, when Taylor endorsed Kamala Harris, the scorned ex-president flipped out: "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" he cried on Truth Social.
He might as well have been saying, "I HATE YOU, MOMMY!"
Because Swift isn't the only woman the insecure GOP candidate hates. And she ain't the first. As a new Lincoln Project ad explains, "She's just the most recent."
Calling the spot "Bad Blood," the ad shows a montage of Trump's deep-rooted mommy issues, which, try as he might, he just can't hold in.
From his cruel comment about Rosie O'Donnell's "fat, ugly face" to his "grab 'em by the pussy" boast to bragging that "Ivana does exactly as I tell her to do" — with many other examples in between — the ad reminds us that Trump's contempt for Swift is the same contempt that he has for all powerful women: he hates 'em all. (See video below.)
Previously: Trump shared fake image falsely suggesting Taylor Swift endorses him
X mistakenly finds itself temporarily online in Brazil
Jason Weisberger / 9:30 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Boing Boing/Midjourney
On its meteoric path to insolvency, Elon "Leon" Musk's personal social platform mistakenly finds itself online in Brazil.
Xitter says it switched cloud caching providers, and somehow, this has circumvented the seemingly DNS-based method Brazilian ISPs are using to block the Xitter under government orders. Leon, who famously loves lawyers, failed to hire one to show up in court to defend his "free speech absolutism."
"When X was shut down in Brazil, our infrastructure to provide service to Latin America was no longer accessible to our team," a spokesperson X said in a statement. "To continue providing optimal service to our users, we changed network providers. This change resulted in an inadvertent and temporary service restoration to Brazilian users. While we expect the platform to be inaccessible again in Brazil soon, we continue efforts to work with the Brazilian government to return very soon for the people of Brazil."
The New York Times reported that X started to come back online for many people in Brazil Wednesday, though the service was still somewhat inconsistent. The Times reported that it was the company's move to Cloudflare that at least temporarily enabled it to come back. As it stands, Brazilian ISPs are likely figuring out how to continue to complying with the court order. Should they fail, Brazilian authorities are likely to look for new ways to enforce the block. Regulators in the country have imposed steep fines for users who attempt to get around the country's ban by using VPNs.
Previously:
• Leon Musk complains there is not enough assassinating going on
Keycaps look like adorable cartoon buns
Rob Beschizza / 8:11 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Akko bun keycaps
The Akko Steam Bun Wonderland Mog Design keycaps resemble adorable anime buns. That's the whole idea. If you don't want your mechanical keyboard to look like a metastasizzlin' agglomeration of warm, steaming pastries with happy little faces on them, this is not the $50, 138-piece keycap set for you.
Due to extremely high demand, this product ships out in 2-3 days from the date of orderThis is an official Akko product and comes with 138 MOG design keycaps. Compatible with major keyboard sizes including full-size keyboards, 60%, 64-key, 65%, TKL, 75%, 96% and 1800 compact. Compatible with MX style or '+' switch stems
Read the 1975 owner's manual for the Pet Rock
Mark Frauenfelder / 8:11 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
The care and training of your pet rock (1975)
Advertising copywriter Gary Dahl was drinking with his friends at a bar in Los Gatos, California in April 1975 when he came up with the idea of selling rocks as low-maintenance pets.
He immediately went to work on making his idea a reality. He wrote a 32-page guide on the care and training of pet rocks, designed a cardboard carrying case with air holes to house the rock, and bought straw to provide bedding for each rock. To get the rocks, Dahl "went to a builder's supply store in San Jose and found the most expensive rock in the place — a Rosarita Beach Stone, which was a uniform size, rounded gray pebble that sold for a penny," says Virtual Pet.
Dahl unveiled his creation at gift and toy shows in San Francisco and New York, and the orders started pouring in.
From the Historical Dictionary of the 1970s:
Several major department store chains ordered the rocks, Newsweek magazine described the phenomenon, and Johnny Carson and the Tonight Show booked Dahl as a guest. In the month before Christmas 1975, Dahl was delivering more than ten thousand rocks a day, at a whopping $3.95 each. The fad died in the spring of 1976, but by that time Dahl was a multimillionaire.
Dahl used his profits to buy a bar in Los Gatos.
He tried to recapture the success of his Pet Rock with other inorganic novelties, but none of them took off.
From Wikipedia:
He attempted to follow up his pet rock success by selling "Sand Breeding Kits" and "Red China Dirt," ostensibly a facetious plan to smuggle mainland China into the US, one cubic centimeter at a time. These novelties failed to attract as much interest as the Pet Rock.
The Internet Archive has a scan of Dahl's original manual.
Dahl died in 2015. Another company purchased the rights to the Pet Rock and sells them for over seven times the original price.
Previously:
• Everything, even a rock, has some degree of consciousness
Sean "Diddy" Combs complains about how unpleasant New York's jails are
Rob Beschizza / 7:47 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Combs. Photo: Andrea Raffin
Sean Combs, better known by a variety of stage names such as Diddy, Puff Daddy, Puffy, Pater Flatus, etc, was charged this week with sex-related crimes dating back to 2008, the latest fallout from long-simmering accusations of misconduct that, it turns out, did not conclude with the various settlements to alleged victims paid this summer. He will not be receiving bail, a New York judge ruled, citing the high likelihood of witness intimidation and flight risk—despite the music mogul's protests at how horrible the jails are there.
Sex trafficking suspect Sean "Diddy" Combs will not be released on bail, a second judge ruled Wednesday afternoon. His legal team had appealed for his pretrial freedom from "horrific" jail conditions after a judge determined Tuesday that the music mogul should remain detained while awaiting trial. … In court, prosecutors said there were "dozens of terabytes of data" related to the case, adding that 300 grand jury subpoenas were served. In addition, 20 search warrants were obtained, and a "large number of electronic devices," including more than 100 seized phones, tablets and iCloud accounts, are being processed by the government.
Also addressed at the hearing was a video obtained by CNN that shows Combs attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassie in an assault she described in a lawsuit she filed against him in November.
Carter called the video "quite disturbing," and Agnifilo responded that Combs went to rehab after the incident — as did the other person in the video.
I wouldn't normally pass judgment on a case so early but a lot of the evidence is already public and I'm pretty sure that he diddy.
Previously: Second lawsuit accuses Sean 'Diddy' Combs of sexual assault (Update: and now there's a third)
NASA's "Hidden Figures" awarded Congressional Gold Medals
Rob Beschizza / 7:32 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Mary W. Jackson at the Langley Research Center. Photo: Robert Nye/NASA
Mary Jackson, NASA's first black female engineer, and NASA mathematicians Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan were posthumously awarded Congressional Gold Medals for their work on the U.S. space program.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who delivered opening remarks during the ceremony, described the women as "giants on whose shoulders all of those astronauts actually stood at a time … when our nation was divided by color and often by gender."
"These women dared to step into the fields where they had previously been unwelcomed. They excelled in science and math and made groundbreaking contributions in aeronautics. But these women didn't just crunch numbers and solve equations for the space program," Johnson said. "They actually laid the very foundation upon which our rockets launched and our astronauts flew and our nation soared."
"Although we call them, 'Hidden Figures,' we shouldn't think of them merely as supporting characters in the American story of space exploration," he continued. "They were the engineers and mathematicians who actually wrote the story itself."
Previously:
• In honor of Hidden Figures, meet the contemporary black women contributing to NASA's success
• Trailer: 'Hidden Figures' tells true story of black women at NASA who launched John Glenn into orbit
• Watch a young black female coder interview the stars of Hidden Figures
Pix from NASA:
Watch 13-year-old bat dog Layla retrieve the last bat of her career
Jennifer Sandlin / 6:54 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Labrador Retreiver
Layla, the 13-year-old bat dog for the Clearwater Threshers Baseball, a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League that's headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, officially retired earlier this summer. This video of the loyal and hardworking doggo retrieving her last bat was so sweet, I had to share it. She's the absolute best doggo.
We Rate Dogs provided some background info on Layla's illustrious career:
This is Layla. She's been the bat dog for the Clearwater Threshers Baseball team in Florida for the past six years. Bat dogs rush out to home plate after their team's hitters and pick up the discarded bats to take back to their dugout. Layla actually went viral back in 2018 after fetching her dad a beer from the fridge, which gave him the idea that Layla could do more with her talents. It didn't take long before he took Layla to baseball fields near their home and taught her to pick up a bat and bring it back to the dugout. At 13 years old, Layla is officially clocking out. She celebrated her retirement with one last bat at Friday night's game, a bone-shaped baseball-themed retirement cake, and the cheers of her many adoring fans. 14/10 (IG: layla_puppy_dog)
And Layla has already trained her replacement, her little sister, Lucy May. We reported a few weeks ago that Lucy May had a few, ahem, hiccups on her first night on the job. I'm sure she's growing into the position, though!
TapeDeck.org celebrates the graphic design history of analog cassette tapes
Thom Dunn / 6:42 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
The other day, I was out at a park with my 4-year-old, when he suddenly bent over and picked something up. "Look at this toy truck, dada!" he said, struggling to figure out how to move the wheels. "How does it drive?"
He handed it over to me. It was a cassette tape containing Cher's 1989 album Heart of Gold. You know, the one with "If I Could Turn Back Time?" Whoever left it there in the park couldn't have planned it better, as I had to try to explain to my kid that actually, it's not a toy car, it's…where music comes from?
I thought of this as I perused TapeDeck.org, a new website created by graffiti artist / graphic designer Oliver Gelbrich, also known as neck, which catalogs and celebrates the art of analog cassette tapes. As neck explains on the site:
Tapedeck.org is a project of neckcns.com, built to showcase the amazing beauty and (sometimes) weirdness found in the designs of the common audio tape cassette. There's an amazing range of designs, starting from the early 60's functional cassette designs, moving through the colourful playfulness of the 70's audio tapes to amazing shape variations during the 80's and 90's. We hope you enjoy these tapes as much as we do!
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the site is how neck has cataloged it all. You can search for different tapes by brand, color, running time, even tape type. If you really want to reminisce, you can probably hunt down the exact 90 minute tape you used to make that baller mixtape that one time. Sure, playlists as cool, but the experience is nothing compared to the process of sitting and manually hitting "record" and "stop" as you listen your way through every single song and try to master the correct gap length of silence in between them.
You know you're going to go dig into those archives right now, don't you? Well, good luck; as of this writing, there are more than 900 different cassette tape designs featured on the website.
Kentucky governor bans conversion therapy
Rob Beschizza / 6:40 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Beshear. Image: NBC Bay Area
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, yesterday banned conversion therapy by executive order, the state's Republican-led lawmakers having refused to do so themselves. It will no longer be legal there to send youngsters to "therapists" to "cure" them of undesirable sexual orientations of gender identities—discredited practices which don't work even when the patient consents, but which facilitate a cottage industry of grifters, hucksters and zealots who prey on low-information conservative parents.
Among those in attendance was Zach Meiners, a 34-year-old filmmaker who said he wants young people to be spared the anguish and harm he endured during four years of therapy as a teenager, which caused him "anxiety and depression in ways that I'm still unraveling."
"I can speak firsthand to how devastating it can be to someone's mental health," Meiners said in an interview. "And I consider myself very lucky to be a survivor."
Republican state Rep. Killian Timoney shook Beshear's hand after the signing, and expressed support for the ban. But another GOP lawmaker, state Rep. Josh Calloway, said the governor had defied the will of the legislature, which isn't scheduled to reconvene until January.
The order prohibits using state or federal funds to perform convertion therapy on minors, and allows boards to discipline professionals found to have practiced it.
Python traps a woman in her own kitchen for 2 hours before help comes along
Carla Sinclair / 5:35 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Image: Muhammad Otib / shutterstock.com
A 64-year-old woman in Thailand became trapped in her own kitchen for two long hours after a python bit her, and then wouldn't let her go.
Arom Arunroj was cleaning up after dinner when the deadly intruder attacked her.
"I was about to scoop some water and when I sat down it bit me immediately," Arunroj told a Bangkok paper via CBS News. "When I looked I saw the snake wrapping around me."
The 13 to 16-foot python wrapped itself around her torso, and when she "grabbed it by the head," it only tightened its grip on her.
"I tried calling out to my neighbors and anyone nearby, but no one heard me. I thought I wouldn't survive and would surely become the snake's meal," she said, via The Independent. "In a final attempt, I shouted as loud as I could until someone passing by heard me and quickly called the police and rescue unit for help. I've never experienced anything like this in my life."
It wasn't easy prying the determined python off of its victim, taking "over 30 minutes of intense effort" before the woman was finally rescued.
From CBS News:
Propped up against her kitchen door, she cried for help but it wasn't until a neighbor happened to be walking by about an hour and a half later and heard her screams that authorities were called.
Responding police officer Anusorn Wongmalee told The Associated Press on Thursday that when he arrived the woman was still leaning against her door, looking exhausted and pale, with the snake coiled around her.
Police and animal control officers used a crowbar to hit the snake on the head until it released its grip and slithered away before it could be captured.
In all, Arom spent about two hours on Tuesday night in the clutches of the python before being freed.
Fortunately, besides suffering a few non-venomous bites, which were treated at a hospital, Arunroj survived without any major injuries.
Previously: Squirrel has no time for snake's reptilian bullshit
Curious mouse gets stuck in teapot spout
Mark Frauenfelder / 5:12 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
From a Photo. by Dann & Co., Reading.
From a recent issue of The Strand, dated 1897: news of a mouse that ran into a bit of trouble in a teapot:
Mr. Chas. H. Heskins, of 94, Blenheim Road, Reading, was good enough to send in this extremely curious and interesting photo. The kettle, it seems, was a disused one, and stood for a long time on a shelf with the lid partly off, much as we see in the photo.
One night the mouse got in, possibly in the hope of finding some stray crusts. Why the little animal should take it into his head to leave the inhospitable kettle by the spout is not known, but he did, with the result portrayed in the photo. His head got through all right, and two pathetic little paws; but "the force of Nature could no farther go," and poor mousie stuck fast.
Next morning someone took the kettle in hand, and "assisted" the mouse's hindquarters with a stick of wood, with the result that he emerged slowly and stiffly, and was finally allowed to hobble painfully away. Truly, a narrow escape in more senses than one!
The editors of The Strand's "Curiosities" section would like to inform you: "We shall be glad to receive Contributions to this section, and to pay for such as are accepted."
See more stories about delightful creatures.
Trump warns he will go to Springfield, Ohio in 2 weeks — but might not make it out alive (video)
Carla Sinclair / 4:27 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Donald Trump's overactive imagination is playing tricks on him again. The cannibal-fearing ex-president, who has obsessed over Hannibal Lecter for more than a year now, put on a brave face yesterday when he warned rally-goers that he would venture into Springfield, Ohio in two weeks — but might not ever make it out.
In fact, Trump seemed to suggest that the folks in Springfield — the town that he has terrorized by falsely claiming that immigrants are feasting on cats and dogs — would eat him alive.
"I'm gonna go there in the next two weeks. I'm going to Springfield. You may never see me again!" the cult leader warned.
"But that's ok," he said, playing the martyr. "Gotta do what I gotta do. 'Whatever happened to Trump? Well, he never got out of Springfield.'" (See video below, posted by Acyn.)
Previously: Trump and Vance's Haitian rhetoric causing real harm
Trump supporters on Tucson rally stage sought medical attention for mysterious eye injuries
Mark Frauenfelder / 3:51 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
Lensique / Shutterstock.com
Several Trump supporters reported eye injuries after sitting on the stage at a rally in Tucson, Arizona last week. At least six people reportedly required medical attention.
As reported by News 4 Tucson, a group of 48 people sat on stage behind Trump. Half the group sat on the left side, and the other half sat on the right side. "One side seemed to walk away without any issues, but multiple people seated near each other on the other side told me that they had to go to the emergency room after they left the event," said a reporter for the station.
One of the women affected, Mayra Rodriguez, told News 4 Tucson her "eyes were burning," after the rally and that she went to the emergency room. "The emergency room staff, from the triage nurse to the PA, asked, 'Are you sure you didn't get sprayed with something? Your symptoms look like you got sprayed with something,'" Rodriguez said.
"I can't see anything when I try to open my eyes. I see a bright light. It hurts, it hurts a lot to open my eyes. I have this cold cloth I put on and take off constantly. It's horrible," she said. She's since reported that her vision is returning.
Another attendee and her brother reported similar symptoms, describing it as "unbearable" with red, watery eyes, and a real estate agent had to cancel her weekend business due to blindness.
I wonder if the cause might be from a laser rather than a chemical. Remember how attendees at a Bored Ape NFT convention suffered eye damage when they attended a party with a laser light show last year? Their symptoms sound similar to the ones the Trump supporters suffered.
Astonished Trump tells Fox that Kamala Harris turned again: "She's somehow a woman" (video)
Carla Sinclair / 2:41 am PT Thu Sep 19, 2024
There is no one Donald Trump fears more than his shapeshifting opponent, Kamala Harris. First she turned Black, and now, apparently, she has also turned female.
Trump disclosed this bit of intel when he took a break from golfing to appear on Fox's Gutfield! show. On the subject of Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate, Trump revealed his discovery.
"She's somehow a woman," he confided to host Greg Gutfield. And even more incredibly, he added, now that she is a woman, "she's doing better than he [Biden] did." (See video below, posted by Republicans against Trump.)
Previously: Watch Sarah Cooper "turn Trump" as she lip-syncs his bizarre "Harris turned black" comment (video)
The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr on a 2025 reunion? "No."
Allan Rose Hill / 1:50 pm PT Wed Sep 18, 2024
image: publicity photo
Former frontman of The Smiths, right wing whiner, and not-so-charming man Morrissey has said that while he agreed to an offer from promoter AEG Entertainment Group to stage a "lucrative" reunion tour next year, guitarist Johnny Marr "ignored" the request. Apparently that's not quite what happened.
"I didn't ignore the offer – I said no," Marr said.
The comment was at the tail end of a statement Marr released yesterday explaining why he trademarked The Smiths' name on his own:
In 2018, following an attempt by a third party to use The Smiths' name – and upon discovery that the trademark was not owned by the band – Marr reached out to Morrissey, via his representatives, to work together in protecting The Smiths' name.
A failure to respond led Marr to register the trademark himself.
It was subsequently agreed with Morrissey's lawyers that this trademark was held for the mutual benefit of Morrissey & Marr.
As a gesture of goodwill, in January 2024, Marr signed an assignment of joint ownership to Morrissey. Execution of this document still requires Morrissey to sign.
Previously:
• The Smiths vinyl contains hidden secret messages
• How to write a Smiths song in one minute
• Johnny Marr performs The Smiths' classic 'How Soon is Now?'
• The Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, RIP
Black and Asian enrollment down at top colleges after end of affirmative action
Rob Beschizza / 1:16 pm PT Wed Sep 18, 2024
The Johnston Gates at Harvard are closed in this photo by 365 Focus Photography / Shutterstock
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action as a factor in college admissions. The first results are in: minority enrollment is down at many colleges.
Harvard, Tufts and University of North Carolina all saw drops in Black students among their incoming freshman class, while schools like Amherst College and MIT saw their Black enrollment for the incoming freshman class drop by more than half. Tyrone Howard, a UCLA professor who studies race and education, says if these trends persist, schools will need to be more intentional about recruitment.
The data released by the College on Wednesday revealed moderate, but notable changes in the demographic composition of the Class of 2028. The share of Black students declined to 14 percent from 18 percent. The proportion of Hispanic students in the Class of 2028 increased by 2 percentage points to 16 percent from 14 percent in the Class of 2027, while the proportion of students who identified as Asian American remained fixed at 37 percent.
It almost halved in some places, like the University of Miami.
Preliminary data released by the University of Miami revealed Black student enrollment fell from 9% to 5% for the Class of 2028. This is the first class impacted by the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned affirmative action, preventing a race-conscious admission process.
According to the Washington Post, more than 40 schools ended or curtailed race-based scholarships worth at least $45 million.
The lawyers who won the case founded it and marketed it on the claim that affirmative action resulted in unfair outcomes for Asian-American students, whose academic excellence compared to other groups, including whites is not reflected in who gets into the best schools. Now these lawyers are learning to their dismay that as far as top U.S. colleges are concerned, the gates remain unequally guarded: Yale, Princeton and Duke Are Questioned Over Decline in Asian Students.
Asian American enrollment dropped to 29 percent from 35 percent at Duke; to 24 percent from 30 percent at Yale; and to 23.8 percent from 26 percent at Princeton.
Did they believe that getting rid of affirmative action would turn college admissions into a colorblind meritocracy instead of simply enabling the exclusion of others? Did they think affirmative action was about rewarding the undeserving? Didn't they know that leopards and faces come from the same God?
Teen captures video of mystery beast in a small Ohio lake
Allan Rose Hill / 12:54 pm PT Wed Sep 18, 2024
image: Google Maps
Ohio teenager James Bond (real name) caught video of an alligator or some other strange beast swimming in the small lake of a public park in Beavercreek, Ohio just outside Dayton. Bond, who was fishing at the time, first thought it was an otter until he zoomed in with his phone camera and saw what he describes as scales.
"He sent me pictures," states his mom Megan Stanley, "and I said, 'That looks like an alligator. You need to get off the bank or wherever you're at, and call the police.'"
You can judge for yourself by watching the news report below. While the location of the sighting has attracted lots of looky-loos, there's been no sign of the creature since Bond's encounter.
According to WHIOTV7, "Beavercreek Police says they are aware of the sighting but have not confirmed that it is an actual alligator."
Previously:
• Photo of beached mystery sea monster with terrifying toothy smile sparks fear and curiosity
• New freaky photo of Hudson River's mysterious monster
• Harbinger of doom emerged from the sea off the California coast days before earthquakes