WTF-Beta

Summer reading with the Library Dads

President and founder of The Library Dads, Khari Arnold, explains the mission behind his organization and his hopes for its work going forward.

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/video/135293709

@axtremus - I noticed that when I try to log in as wtf-admin I actually get two messages. A pink window pops up says "Login Unsuccessful", and just below that, "Forbidden". That is only visible for a second or two, and then a second pink window comes up that says "Login Unsuccessful" and mentions a possibly expired session. That one persists on the screen

We were unable to log you in, likely due to an expired session. Please try again

I was doing this in Firefox, which isn't my usual browser. I cleared cookies and cache, but still no luck logging in.

school

No, blue is less cooked than rare.

https://steakadvisor.com/steak-cooking/blue-steak/

I used to do steak tartare, too.

Too funny. I almost posted "0" for the steak because back when I was younger I occasionally ordered mine "blue"

@axtremus

I can't get into admin mode. I don't have an active session going under my admin account wtf-admin and am unable to log in due to the ongoing problem. I get the error message.

2, 2.5, 1

Fetterman had some interesting things to say during the hearing; he asked no questions. Pity he wasn't the one running the show...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/fetterman-fauci-regret-dismissing-lab-130000611.html

Anthony Fauci Is Not the Villain in This Story

If you are hunting for a COVID villain or villains, then, there are many beckoning targets. Investigate the crooks who promoted quack remedies such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for profit or plain crackpot mania. Investigate the sources and pathways of anti-vaccine disinformation. Investigate the pattern and funding of Russian support for anti-vaccine disinformation by following the map already provided by the U.S. State Department’s work on the subject. Investigate the response by U.S. public-health agencies, including the CDC, to better prepare for the next pandemic.

But the present Congress is investigating none of that. Instead, a Senate committee has fixed on Anthony Fauci, the physician and pandemic-era chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The Senate obtained his diary—reportedly from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claims to have found it on a government server—and then, outrageously and gratuitously, published 1,100 pages of it for the world to see.

Democrats and liberals have their own post-COVID soul-searching to do. Blue states kept schools closed too long. They showed hypocrisy when they pivoted from demanding lockdowns in the spring of 2020 to welcoming mass George Floyd protests in the summer. Their analysis of lockdowns may have underweighted harms, especially to small businesses and otherwise healthy schoolchildren. Continued masking after the advent of vaccines could have enabled anti-social and even criminal behavior. The Biden administration in 2021 and 2022 exploited the genuine need for post-pandemic recovery to pass lavish spending bills that probably accelerated inflation. Americans should, as best as they can, delve deep into the exact degree of Chinese-government culpability for the coronavirus—not because it makes (or would have made) any actionable difference to the COVID response, but because it may serve as guidance for future dealings with China. The fullest obtainable history of COVID will reveal much that Americans need to know about the truthfulness, competence, and danger of the Chinese regime.

Gift link to Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/fauci-senate-diary-rand-paul/688135/?gift=L2aql4Qoi09z50oHv3jcccqLPcUu3PIGMlxHOzCf5D0&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

The Fauci hearing was a disaster. I think that Rand Paul has no interest in really looking at what happened during the pandemic. He is just trying to persecute Fauci.

Ancient mammoth remains and a Nazi shipwreck: Europe’s shrinking rivers reveal past relics

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/climate/shrinking-rivers-reveal-past-relics-in-europe?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en

The US Department of Agriculture listed Wakanda as a free-trade partner - despite it being a fictional country.

A USDA spokesperson said the Kingdom of Wakanda was added to the list by accident during a staff test.

The department's online tariff tracker hosted a detailed list of goods the two nations apparently traded, including ducks, donkeys and dairy cows.

In the Marvel universe, Wakanda is the fictional East African home country of superhero Black Panther.

The fictional country was removed soon from the list after US media first queried it, prompting jokes that the countries had started a trade war.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50849559

The Trump administration has dropped its case against a former Olympic canoeist charged in connection with damage to the Reflecting Pool, acknowledging their allegations against David “Davey” Hearn don’t hold water.

In a filing Friday afternoon, a supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which is headed by Jeanine Pirro, wrote that officials obtained information that undermined “the evidentiary basis for the indictment” against Hearn.

Prosecutors said that after the indictment came down on July 2, the Interior Department provided additional documents to the U.S. Attorney’s Office “indicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.”

DOJ said it “first became aware of information showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism” after reviewing more documents.

“Had [the Interior Department] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment,” the filing said.

DOJ said when it presented the case to a grand jury, it was “not in possession of any information from DOI indicating that any damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by anything other than the actions of the defendant and other vandals who damaged the pool’s lining.”

The Justice Department filing said that based on its review of evidence, “it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-drops-reflecting-pool-case-blaming-damage-botched-rcna590303

déjà vu

For the preppers:

https://waterbob.com/

Hackers have targeted water systems in several US states in a coordinated cyberattack that has caused some utilities to issue boil-water notices and switch to manual mode, taking their systems offline, according to US officials.

It’s one of the most serious cyberattacks on water systems in the US in years, according to some analysts. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency have for the last week been scrambling to try to help secure the water facilities and ensure that the safety of drinking water isn’t affected. No incidents of contamination have been reported.

The hackers “are targeting water entities of all sizes,” CISA said in a warning Thursday that urged water facilities to get vulnerable industrial equipment offline.

US and state officials are treating Iran as one of the suspects behind the hack, but have not made a formal determination of who is responsible and are wary of false flags.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/politics/sweeping-cyberattack-us-water-systems

heavy metal

@ShiroKuro said:

For a while now, I have felt we might benefit from a meta-thread about the Word association thread

Excellent idea

https://wtf.coffee-room.com/post/27568

Go for it, @jon-nyc

rack