News Roundup

And speaking of huge dicks:


...by which he means people with names like “Trump”, “Orban” and “Meloni”.

From the Department of the Blindingly Obvious:


...in other breaking news, Allied landings in Normandy have been successful.  Also:


...not only that, it appears as though Lindbergh made it across the Atlantic.


...rise in crime rate beginning in 3…2…1...


...forget it, Jake.  It’s Houstontown.

In Medical News:

More medical news:


...and you’ll never guess the guy’s name.


...reminding people why Reagan and Thatcher were so popular for breaking the power of the unions.



...of course, anyone who drinks tea with a ribeye and salad deserves to die more painfully than from iron deficiency.


...guess he drank tea with his 5lbs of daily steak.


...that’s going to work about as well as their gun ban.
And once more unto the linkless breach known as 

    ...in the dictionary under “Overkill” will be her photo.

...nope, no bells are ringing over here;  anyone else?

And sauntering down    we see:


...ah yes, the former Disney princess who introduced us to teenage tits is at it again:
...but wait!  there’s more!

And on that knee-knocking note, we end the news.

Not Just China

Via Insty, this little snippet:

The danger for China is deflation could snowball by encouraging households reeling from falling paychecks to cut back on spending, or delay purchases because they expect prices to fall further. Corporate revenues will suffer, stifling investment and leading to further salary cuts and layoffs, bankrupting families and firms.

China?  How about right here in the U.S.?

The Fed’s beige book, a survey of economic conditions in the US compiled by the regional Fed banks, suggested that the US economy was slowing. Five out of the 12 Fed districts reported flat or declining economic activity, three more than in May’s survey.

And just for (bitter) laughs:

“Inflation has also fallen faster than expected, hitting 3 per cent in June.”

Tell that to my grocery, fuel and utility bills.

New Ban?

This is an interesting development:

Australia will ban children from using social media with a minimum age limit as high as 16, prime minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday, vowing to get kids off their devices and ‘onto the footy fields’.

Federal legislation to keep children off social media will be introduced this year, he  said, describing the impact of the sites on young people as a ‘scourge’.

The minimum age for children to log into sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok has not been decided but is expected to be between 14 and 16 years, Albanese said.

The prime minister said his own preference would be a block on users aged below 16.

Age verification trials are being held over the coming months, the centre-left leader said, though analysts said they doubted it was technically possible to enforce an online age limit.

Loath as I am to give any kind of credit to the OzGov, foul totalitarian nanny bastards that they are, I can’t help but wonder whether a) this can work and b) if it does work, will it benefit teens in any way?  Given that teens nowadays appear to have absolutely no problem in accessing porn — even porn sites protected by “age walls” — I’m somewhat skeptical about it all.

It’s probably just the usual “We have to do something!” posturing so common among all politicians.


(Just an aside:  Albanese’s “center-left” philosophy is somewhere around that of Bernie Sanders, politically speaking.)

Excuses, Excuses

A teacher talks about bizarre excuses for tardiness. Some classics include:

“The ceiling in the boys toilets collapsed due to the weight of the vapes hidden inside the ceiling tiles so they had to go to a different toilet”, and “their grandmother was meant to drop them off but went to the wrong school”, not to mention “the wait for Greggs sausage rolls made them late for school.”

Back when I were a whining schoolboy, I think in about 1970, I once made up an excuse for not having done my Math homework.  If I say so myself, it was a brilliant excuse (sadly, I cannot recall it, only that it was excellent and could have brought many to tears).

Unfortunately, the teacher was not some rookie, but an elderly man who had been teaching at St. John’s College since 1932, and was not to be fooled.  He smiled, and remarked:

“Do you know, I haven’t heard that excuse since the early 1950s.”

Howls of laughter from all the other guys in the class, and Red-Faced Kim had to acknowledge his defeat.  However, Mr. Jefferies (“Judge” was his nickname) showed some empathy by not punishing me, because of my creativity.

I always did my Math homework after that.

Catalogue Of Negatives

If you want to see everything I hate about modern cars all in one model, then watch this video about the 2025 Alfetta from Alfa Romeo.

Is it beautiful?  Oh hell, yes.  Yes, its hybrid engine is blisteringly fast and powerful:  400-500hp (!!!???) that very few people on the planet can handle anyway  Yes, it has all the scoops and wings and stuff that are absolutely necessary on, say, a Le Mans sports car or F1 car;  but on a regular road car?  Not so much.

And yes, it has all the AI (!!!!) -driven features for “infotainment” that all the cool kids seem to want these days.  (When did cars become all about entertainment — as though driving a super-quick sports car is not entertainment enough?  And who needs the “info” part of that equation when whatever they put out as “new” is generally speaking about two years behind the technology to be found on your smartphone?)

And remember:  I fucking love love LOVE Alfa Romeo cars, so I’m hardly an unbiased audience here.

My problem, as with so much in today’s world, is that I prefer simpler things when the trend is increasingly towards the evermore-complex.  And absolutely every “feature” mentioned in the video sets my teeth on edge.

Of course, with all that complexity comes price.  The Alfetta’s going to cost over $140k, which means that it’s going to be unaffordable to just about anyone who’s not also looking at a second-hand Ferrari or Lambo, or a new Maserati GT.  Honestly?  (and this is the first time I’ve ever said this) I think the Chevy Corvette is a better deal, at just over half the price and pretty much the same performance, but without — at the moment — all the silly electronic geegaws.

Pass.  With the utmost regret.