Tag: Weird

Moo

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I really cannot add anything to this.  It exceeds my capability for mockery:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) cannot sue Twitter for defamation over the contents of tweets posted by a parody account posing as Nunes’ cow, a Virginia judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling (PDF) from judge John Marshall found that Twitter is “immune from the defamation claims,” as first reported by the Fresno Bee.

Nunes in 2019 filed a $250 million lawsuit against three Twitter accounts as well as the service itself alleging defamation, negligence, and conspiracy. One of the three accounts belongs to an identifiable person, Republican political strategist Liz Mair. The other two are clearly parody accounts: One, @DevinCow, posing as Devin Nunes’ cow, and the other, @DevinNunesMom, posing as Nunes’ mother.

Not The Onion.

Pandemic Neurosis Strikes Yours Truly

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What’s more, I’m not alone I am one of roughly 50,000 people who have signed a petition to rename Columbus, Ohio, to “Flavortown,” as an homage to celebrity chef Guy Fieri.

I am NOT a fan of Fieri’s TV shows, but, you know, pandemic, bored, slowly going crazy, and he has been doing good work when he’s not doing his job on TV, which appears to be portraying a bleach blond hedgehog:

A petition seeking to rename Columbus, Ohio, “Flavortown” to honor native Guy Fieri has attracted thousands of signatures.

“Columbus is an amazing city, but one whose name is tarnished by the very name itself. Its namesake, Christopher Columbus, is in The Bad Place because of all his raping, slave trading, and genocide. That’s not exactly a proud legacy,” the petition states, referencing both a line from the NBC series “The Good Place” and passages in the explorer’s own diary describing atrocities committed on the island of Hispaniola.

“Why not rename the city Flavortown? The new name is twofold. For one, it honors Central Ohio’s proud heritage as a culinary crossroads and one of the nation’s largest test markets for the food industry,” it goes on to state. “Secondly, cheflebrity Guy Fieri was born in Columbus, so naming the city in honor of him (he’s such a good dude, really) would be superior to its current nomenclature.”

“Even though it’s my favorite city, I was always a bit ashamed of the name,” Tyler Woodbridge, who started the petition, told CNN.

Woodbridge added that Fieri’s charitable work on behalf of restaurant workers, raising more than $20 million for those who lost work or wages during the coronavirus pandemic, made him a worthier namesake for the city.

Go, sign, and if you live in “Flavortown”, talk to your elected officials.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

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Senior executives at eBay, including their former senior director of safety and security, and director of global resiliency, have just been arrested for cyber-stalking a blogger who wrote unfavorably about a legal dispute between the auction site and Amazon.com.

By cyber-stalking, I don’t mean that they were trolling them on Twitter and Facebook. I mean that they were sending them bloody pig masks, cockroaches, funeral wreaths, late night pizza deliveries, and explicitly labeled pr0n.

Not only that, it appears that the (also former) CEO of eBay, while not arrested, may have been fired as a result of these activities.

This is f%$#ed up and sh%$:

Six former eBay employees were “charged with leading a cyberstalking campaign” against a newsletter editor and publisher, which “included sending the couple anonymous, threatening messages, disturbing deliveries—including a box of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig mask—and conducting covert surveillance of the victims,” the US Department of Justice and US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced today.

James Baugh, 45, is eBay’s former senior director of safety and security, and David Harville, 48, is eBay’s former director of global resiliency—both were arrested today and charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. Each charge “carr[ies] a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution,” the DOJ said.

The bloody pig mask was a Halloween mask and shipped via Amazon.com, a court document said. The mask arrived at the victims’ home the same day one of the victims “received an email reporting that a ‘Preserved Fetal Pig’ had been ordered online to be sent to the Victims’ house,” the document said. A few days later, the victims “received a box of cockroaches” that was purchased from a roach breeder and seller.

The alleged targets were a couple in Natick, Massachusetts, who publish an online newsletter that covers e-commerce companies and which “eBay executives viewed as critical of the company,” the DOJ said. One alleged victim is a reporter and editor for the newsletter, while her husband is the publisher. The alleged victims’ names and the news website they operate are not identified in the charging documents filed in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

………

SAC Joe Bonavolonta, MA USA Andy Lelling & Natick Police Chief Jim Hicks announce charges against six @eBay employees for an aggressive cyberstalking campaign targeting the editor & publisher of an online newsletter. They’re also charged with obstructing our investigation. pic.twitter.com/yBRWL7SvaO

— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) June 15, 2020


The alleged crimes took place in August and September 2019. Four other former eBay employees weren’t arrested today but face the same charges. They are Stephanie Popp, 32, eBay’s former senior manager of global intelligence; Stephanie Stockwell, 26, former manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center (GIC); Veronica Zea, 26, a former eBay contractor who worked as an intelligence analyst in the GIC; and Brian Gilbert, 51, a former senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security Team. Harville is from New York City while the other five defendants are from California.

………

Thirdly, the defendants allegedly conducted surveillance of the editor/publisher couple. After registering for a software-development conference as a pretext to go to Boston, “Baugh, Harville, and Zea (and later Popp) allegedly drove to the victims’ home in Natick several times, with Harville and Baugh intending at one point to break into the victims’ garage and install a GPS tracking device on their car,” the DOJ said. “As protection in the event they were stopped by local police, Baugh and Harville allegedly carried false documents purporting to show that they were investigating the victims as ‘Persons of Interest’ who had threatened eBay executives. The victims spotted the surveillance, however, and notified the Natick police, who began to investigate. The police learned that Zea had rented one of the cars used by the defendants and reached out to eBay for assistance.”

………

eBay issued a statement today saying that it “immediately launched a comprehensive investigation” upon being notified by law enforcement. “As a result of the investigation, eBay terminated all involved employees, including the company’s former Chief Communications Officer, in September 2019,” eBay said.

eBay further said that it “does not tolerate this kind of behavior” and “apologizes to the affected individuals and is sorry that they were subjected to this.”

Devin Wenig was the CEO of eBay at the time of the incidents and left the company in September 2019. eBay said that its “internal investigation found that, while Mr. Wenig’s communications were inappropriate, there was no evidence that he knew in advance about or authorized the actions that were later directed toward the blogger and her husband. However, as the company previously announced, there were a number of considerations leading to his departure from the company.”

Also, even without the whole fetal pig thing, the fact that eBay has a senior manager of global intelligence, a manager of their Global Intelligence Center (GIC), with intelligence analysts, and a senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security Team is completely and totally whack.

I understand the need for security to prevent things like industrial espionage, but the fact that eBay has a paramilitary wing is an indication of some deeper problems in the organization.

This is the Most 2020 Story of the Year (So Far)

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A Spanish porn actor has been arrested in connection with the death of a photographer as the result of a bizarre ritual involving toad venom.

I don’t think that this will remain at the top of the pile, 2020 has a lot more sh%$ to toss our way, but right now, this story encapsulates the year almost perfectly:

Spanish police have arrested three people, including a well known pornographic actor, in connection with the death of a photographer who is thought to have died after inhaling toad venom during a shamanic ceremony.

The Guardia Civil did not name those detained, but the fatal ceremony, which took place in the Valencian town of Enguera in July 2019, allegedly involved the Spanish porn actor Nacho Vidal, and resulted in the death of a fashion photographer, José Luis Abad.

………

“Officers began the investigation after the death of a person during a mystical ritual involving the inhalation of vapours from the venom of the bufo alvarius toad,” the statement said.

………

It also warned that the alleged ritual was considerably more dangerous than people might think.

Yes, the dead photographer would indicate that there was an element of risk in snorting toad venom.

Great Googly Moogly………

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Believe it or not, this is a cat


Happy ending

The Humane Society of Arizona collected a cat from its now dead owner, and its matted fur was so extensive that they were originally unsure what sort of animal it was.

After removing 2 pounds of fur, from what appears to be an 8 pound cat, (25% of its body weight!) we can see that it is a cat.

What’s more, some person or persons could see that this 4 year old queen* was a majestic specimen of the species Felis catus, and adopted her 2 days later.

Her name is “Fluffers.”

H/t Naked Capitalism.

*Queen is a female cat. A male cat is a Tom.

Adding a Body Part to My List of They Who Must Not Be Named

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In what must be a first, I feel compelled to add New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Nipples to my list of They Who Must Not Be Named.

It appears that in a couple of pix with him in a polo shirt, it looked like he might have had nipple piercings.

I do not know. I don’t WANT to know:

Every day, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo holds a press conference to update the public amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic ravaging his state. After speaking, he takes questions from journalists about ventilators, social distancing, and when this whole thing might be over. All things the public desperately needs to know, sure, but on Monday the internet had another question: Does our governor have a nipple piercing?

Call it the delusionary effects of staying inside for three weeks or another sign of our unmitigated, isolation-induced horniness: Some on Twitter and Reddit are convinced they can see the outline of jewelry hanging from Cuomo’s chest. The rumor began over the weekend, sparked by the white “State of Emergency” polo he’s taken to wearing.

“Is it just me or is Cuomo’s nipple totally pierced?” questioned a Reddit thread. “If it is I like him even more,” one replied. “Don’t kink-shame this hero,” another scolded.

Please, just make this stop.

She is Off My “They Who Must Not Be Named” List?

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I have a list of people that I refuse to cover, They Who Must Not Be Named.  Basically, these are folks who occupy a significant role in popular culture, but I consider too trivial for me to write about. (Tabloid fodder)

I have applied this to actors, singers, the entire royal family, and celebrities for no reason at all, such as the the reality show family whose last name resembles an adversary race in later series in the Star Trek franchise.

My standard statement on this is:

Absent some sort of political activity, such as endorsements, running for office (PLEASE GOD NO!!), or their attempting to assassinate someone, they will not be mentioned here.

Well, the first person is coming off the list and it is Britney Spears, of all people, because she is calling for a general strike and a massive reorganization of society, which I think qualifies her for removal from the list.

Also, she is sounding Trotskyite, which means that referencing her will piss off my brother, Stephen, aka Bear who swims:

Britney Spears has called for us to strike.

On Instagram, Spears shared a graphic that included the words, “We will feed each other, redistribute wealth, strike.” Her comment on the graphic “Communion goes beyond walls 🌹🌹🌹” included three roses, the symbol associated with socialist movements in the United States, United Kingdom, and beyond. That, dear reader, is the main thing we needed to tell you.

A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on



Spears is a surprising but very welcome ally in the struggle to ensure that our response to the global coronavirus pandemic is a just one. But her meming also points to the fact that this is a very rare and unusual time: a period in which draconian, repressive government measures could be introduced, but there is also an opening for people to demand a better society. Across the globe, quarantined people are increasingly reliant on low-paid workers. Governments are swiftly discovering that the actual backbone of society is the lowest paid and, in the case of the gig economy, those with few rights.

Serendipitous Physics Discovery

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A group of physicists attempted to use a magnetic field to influence the spin of an atomic nucleus.

Fortunately, they screwed, up, and blew up the antenna generating the magnetic field for the experiment.

In so doing, they subjected the nucleus to an electrical field, rather than a magnetic one, and when they saw the results, they realized that they had accidentally confirmed Bloembergen’s theorem, which had remained unproven for over 50 years:

A group of scientists have accidentally proven a near 60-year old theory correct, thanks to a botched lab experiment.

Nicolaas Bloembergen, the late Dutch-American physicist who won the Nobel Prize for his contributions to laser spectroscopy, previously predicted that it was possible to control the nucleus of a single atom with electric fields in 1961. His idea, however, was never experimentally proven and was left largely forgotten until now.

………

Asaad and his colleagues set about probing a single atom of antimony, a metalloid element, fabricated on a silicon wafer with nuclear magnetic resonance. To do this, the team had to place the device in a strong magnetic field. They generated the magnetic field by applying an electric current to a superconducting magnet and directed it towards the atom’s nucleus using a specialised antenna.

“However, once we started the experiment, we realised that something was wrong. The nucleus behaved very strangely, refusing to respond at certain frequencies, but showing a strong response at others,” said co-author Vincent Mourik, another postdoctoral researcher at the USNW Sydney, working in the same department.

Eventually they realised they had accidentally destroyed the antenna by cranking up the strength of the magnetic field. “What happened is that we fabricated a device containing an antimony atom and a special antenna, optimized to create a high-frequency magnetic field to control the nucleus of the atom. Our experiment demands this magnetic field to be quite strong, so we applied a lot of power to the antenna, and we blew it up!” Asaad said.

With the antenna borked, all that was being transmitted was an electric field instead. The researchers may have failed to induce nuclear magnetic resonance in the antimony nucleus but they had managed to get it to interact with just an electric field instead, proving Bloembergen’s theory. Results from the “failed” experiment have been published in research paper in Nature.

“I have worked on spin resonance for 20 years of my life, but honestly, I had never heard of this idea of nuclear electric resonance,” said Andrea Morello, a professor of quantum physics at the USNW Sydney. “We ‘rediscovered’ this effect by complete accident – it would never have occurred to me to look for it. The whole field of nuclear electric resonance has been almost dormant for more than half a century, after the first attempts to demonstrate it proved too challenging.”

I believe that Isaac Asimov once said that, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka’ but ‘That’s funny.”

I agree.

For the Love of God Why????

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This is what you think it is.


With ePaper on the back

Yes, someone has actually made a working open source rotary dial cell phone:

Why a rotary cellphone? Because in a finicky, annoying, touchscreen world of hyperconnected people using phones they have no control over or understanding of, I wanted something that would be entirely mine, personal, and absolutely tactile, while also giving me an excuse for not texting.

The point isn’t to be anachronistic. It’s to show that it’s possible to have a perfectly usable phone that goes as far from having a touchscreen as I can imagine, and which in some ways may actually be more functional. More functional how?

  • Real, removable antenna with an SMA connector. Receptions is excellent, and if I really want to I could always attach a directional antenna.
  • When I want a phone I don’t have to navigate through menus to get to the phone “application”. That’s bullsh%$.
  • If I want to call my husband, I can do so by pressing a single dedicated physical key which is dedicated to him. No menus. The point isn’t to use the rotary dial every single time I want to make a call, which would get tiresome for daily use. The people I call most often are stored, and if I have to dial a new number or do something like set the volume, then I can use the fun and satisfying-to-use rotary dial.
  • Nearly instantaneous, high resolution display of signal strength and battery level. No signal metering lag, and my LED bargraph gives 10 increments of resolution instead of just 4.
  • The ePaper display is bistatic, meaning it doesn’t take any energy to display a fixed message.
  • When I want to change something about the phone’s behavior, I just do it.
  • The power switch is an actual slide switch. No holding down a stupid button to make it turn off and not being sure it really is turning off or what.

So it’s not just a show-and-tell piece… My intent is to use it as my primary phone. It fits in a pocket; It’s reasonably compact; calling the people I most often call is faster than with my old phone, and the battery lasts almost 24 hours.

(%$ mine)

I’m not sure if this is brilliant, or demented, or both.

OK, He’s Completely Lost It

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When pressed by a woman at a campaign about his poor showing in Iowa, Biden called her a, “Lying dog-faced pony soldier.”

It appears to have been meant as a joke from a John Wayne movie (it’s probably from a Tyrone Power movie*), this sort of behavior is insane:

Madison Moore warned Joe Biden that the question she was about to ask was going to be a bit mean.

 Then the 21-year-old student at Mercer University in Georgia launched into a version of what’s been asked of the former vice president since his disappointing fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses:

 “How do you explain the performance in Iowa, and why should voters believe that you can win the national election?”

 What happened next left her a little shaken, Moore said.

 Biden said it was legitimate question, but then turned the spotlight back on her, asking: “Iowa’s a caucus. Have you ever been to a caucus?”

 When she indicated yes, he rebuked her “No, you haven’t. You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.”

 The phrase was an allusion to a line in a John Wayne movie that Biden had used before. But Moore said she was flummoxed at his reaction to what she thought was a legitimate question.

Yes, this would tend to flummox one.

Biden has always been an odd duck, but I think that he’s crossed the line into bat-sh%$ insane.

*Specifically the 1952 film Pony Soldier, where Tyrone Power plays a Mountie.

Kentucky is F%$#ed Up and Sh%$

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At the Kentucky state house, you cannot enter with a stick or an umbrella, because they might be used to carry protest signs, bu you can carry guns in. 

So, if you are going to protest in the state house, I would suggest that you attach your sign to a replica of a long-pattern Brown Bess musket:

Armed gun owners rallied in Kentucky entering the state’s capitol building in Frankfort on Friday.

The gathering was organized by the group We Are KY Gun Owners. They were spurred into action when Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam pushed for new gun control measures that led to threats of violence, culminating with Northam declaring a state of emergency earlier this month.

Astonishingly, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, visitors to the capitol building are banned from entering with umbrellas or sticks that are used for protest signs because they can be “used as weapons,” but guns and rifles are permitted.

Joe Gerth of the Courier-Journal tweeted a video showing security officers instructing armed rally-goers to go around the metal detectors while entering the capitol building.

Weirdest thing about guns in the Kentucky Capitol: if you have one, you’re told to walk around the metal detector. Others must pass through and get wanded. pic.twitter.com/Oqxl9hvl0I

— Joe Gerth (@Joe_Gerth) January 31, 2020


It appears that “Kentucky Man” is giving “Florida Man” a run for their money.

You Have Gotta be F%$#ing Kidding

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Trump has selected his defense team for the impeachment, and it includes Alan “Close Encounters with the Third Grade” Dershowitz and Ken “Hunter for the Great White Penis” Starr.

This is a juxtaposition of delusion and not giving a f%$# that positively buggers the mind:

President Trump enlisted the former independent counsel Ken Starr and the celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz to join his defense team on Friday, turning to two veterans of politically charged legal cases to secure his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial that gets underway in earnest next week.

 Mr. Starr, whose investigation into President Bill Clinton led to his impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice in 1998, will be joined by Robert W. Ray, his successor as independent counsel, who negotiated a settlement with Mr. Clinton as he left the White House that included a fine and the suspension of his law license.

 Mr. Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus who became famous as a defense counsel for high-profile defendants like O.J. Simpson, Claus von Bülow and Mike Tyson, will have a more limited role, presenting oral arguments at the Senate trial “to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal,” the legal team said in a statement.

 In choosing the three prominent lawyers, the president assembled what he regards as an all-star television legal team, enlisting some of his favorite defenders from Fox News. But each of them brings his own baggage. Mr. Dershowitz represented Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Mr. Starr was pushed out as a university president because of his handling of sexual misconduct by the football team. And Mr. Ray was once charged with stalking a former girlfriend.

Dershowitz did not just represent Jeffrey Epstein, he is alleged to have have participated in the rape of under-age girls as a part of his ongoing relationship with the now dead financier.

And we need to remember that Starr was fired for covering up for the, “Ever present football player rapist,” at Baylor.

While there may be a bit of method to this madness, it certainly DOES provide a strong signal of in group solitary to movement Republicans.

I would not that the impeachment will clearly be a complete sh%$ show, and Monica Lewinski’s reaction to all this just won the internet:

this is definitely an “are you fucking kidding me?” kinda day.

— Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) January 17, 2020

And the Award for Best Example of a Resignation Notice Goes To………

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Kira Zylstra, interim director of the Seattle homeless agency All Home, who hired a stripper to dance at a Seattle homeless conference.

Because I am an optimist, I am inclined to think that, upon learning about plans for Seattle and surrounding communities to replace All Home with some new agency, Ms. Zylstra intended this as a massive f%$# you who the people who were shutting down her agency, though it is possible that this was just some sort of spectacularly “Woke” cluelessness.

I am firmly on the side of this being an deliberate act, because I am an optimist:

The director of King County’s coordinating agency for homelessness is on paid leave following a dancer’s strip show at the agency’s annual conference on Monday.

Performer Beyoncé Black St. James danced topless in a sheer bodysuit, gave lap dances and kissed attendees, according to a staffer at a local housing nonprofit who attended the conference in South Seattle.

Kira Zylstra, organizer of the conference at South Seattle College, has been placed on leave as of Thursday, according to Denise Rothleutner, chief of staff for the King County Department of Community and Human Services.  

………

Zylstra has led All Home, King County’s coordinating agency homeless services, since January 2018. But her job could soon become obsolete as Seattle and King County prepare to replace All Home, which has been criticized as weak and ineffective, with a new regional authority on homelessness. Zylstra was paid about $123,000 a year, according to a county spokesperson.

(emphasis mine)

You do understand why I think that this might be a “F%$# You” to the powers that be in and around Seattle, because one way or the other, she is likely to soon be out of a job.

The performance was in the same room as a catered lunch at All Home’s annual conference, this year at South Seattle College with the theme of “Decolonizing our Collective Work.”

………

In a short video, St. James, a Spokane-based entertainer who identifies as a trans woman on her Facebook page, can be seen doing high kicks in a revealing bodysuit and with silver pasties.

In any case, this is profoundly weird.

H/t Bear who swims.

Signs that Your Investment Might be a Scam………

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How about when investors are demanding an exhumation of the founder of the fund?

It does seem to me that this might be an indicator that there are significant irregularities:

Lawyers for customers of an insolvent cryptocurrency exchange have asked police to exhume the body of the company’s founder, amid efforts to recover about $190m in Bitcoin which were locked in an online black hole after his death.

………

Citing “decomposition concerns”, lawyers requested the exhumation be completed no later than spring 2020.

………

Soon after his death, however, reports surfaced that nearly 80,000 users of QuadrigaCX – at the time Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – were unable to access funds totaling more $190m.

Cotten was the only one with access to necessary permissions. While Robertson has possession of the laptop containing the necessary passwords, she remains locked out.

………

Uncertainty about the missing funds has fueled speculation that Cotten may still be alive. In their letter to the RCMP the law firm underlined the “need for certainty around the question of whether Mr Cotten is in fact deceased”.

The accounting firm Ernst & Young, tasked with auditing the company as it undergoes bankruptcy proceedings, discovered numerous money-losing trades executed by Cotten, using customers’ funds.

They also found a substantial amount of money was used to fund a lavish lifestyle for the couple, including the use of private jets and luxury vehicles. Ernst & Young was able to recover $24m in cash and $9m in assets held by Robertson.

Both Canada’s tax authorities and the FBI are also investigating the company.

Anyone wanna guess the results of the exhumation?

I would not place bets on either side.