It's outrageous. To the rest of the world, I think we're looking like a shithole country.

I haven't let go of this thread! I just can do this in the cold! 🥶

The paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.07505

“How did you lose the town?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” Seriously though that’s crazy. Good thing they’ve been able to evacuate though.

@wtg said in FIFA may be regretting that Peace Prize: We've invited countries to be on the Board of Peace, but we won't give their citizens visa to enter the US. Independent of the Board of Peace, I see various "international" conferences suffering losses and making plans to host future conferences elsewhere because it has become increasingly difficult for foreigners to obtain visas to come attend conferences in the USA.

Tempting.

Government employees union issues a statement. https://www.afge.org/publication/afge-demands-resignation-or-termination-of-dhs-secretary-kristi-noem-and-deputy-white-house-chief-of-staff-stephen-miller-for-smearing-slain-afge-member-alex-pretti-as-domestic-terrorist/

I love haggis. I also love vegan haggis, go figure! I missed Burns night…again.

An ode to pot roast: https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2014%252F04%252F11.html

@wtg said in The Chicago kidnappings have begun: There are confirmed reports from MN that plain-clothed agents are posing as helpers. Oh god. I was reading something in the NYT about how "they did everything right. ICE Detained Them Anyway." When I see stuff like that (even though this was about refugees) it makes me wonder when I'm going to start feeling too afraid to let my husband leave the house. The things I'm reading and seeing these days makes me feel like that day is coming, probably soon.

@Bernard said in Republican Chris Madel bows out of MN governor's race: The president should pause these operations, de-escalate the situation, and reset the federal government’s focus on truly criminal illegal immigrants. In the absence of presidential action, Congress and the courts must step up to restore constitutionality.” Yes!! Keep saying it!!! I also think we need to support them for making these statements, because they're going to get bashed, so something needs to counter that.

@CHAS said in Fun with ChatGPT.: AI recently told me that C up to G was a third. I then asked whether it was a fourth and it said it was a fourth. It then stated that it was a fifth when I asked whether it was a fifth. Yep, that sounds about right.

FoxNews op-ed on the aforementioned university scientific research output ranking: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/harvard-gets-schooled-china-americas-universities-choose-activism-over-excellence It seems to boil down to "Harvard bad, DEI bad." It acknowledges China's state funding for scientific research, but silent on the Trump administration's cutting of scientific research funding.

Matt Dillon clip from The Outsiders (1983). Link to video I haven't thought about Matt Dillon in a long time. I want to watch this movie again. https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0000369/ "Brat Pack Movies Beyond 'The Breakfast Club' Films starring the young actors collectively known as the "Brat Pack," including Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Matt Dillon, Nicolas Cage, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Timothy Hutton, and Molly Ringwald." These are actors who were popular when people my age (Gen. X) were in high school. I still say Rose McGowan was the best actor of my generation. By far. It's a shame she was blacklisted by Hollywood, and thereby her film career was basically ended, at which point she was essentially only able to work in television, starting in Charmed in which she left her peers in the dust. She once said she happened to be great at acting and could have been the greatest meaning among the greatest. It's true. What a loss for everyone all because of a crime committed against her and a corrupt Hollywood system.

Well, I didn't know that about Vietnam.