Daily Tech News 15 August 2025

Top Story

Meta's alleged AI rules allowed chatbots to flirt with children, lie, and throw around racial slurs. (Tech Crunch)

Asked for comment, Meta said yes: These are in fact Meta's official rules, in effect across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and approved by the company's technical, public policy, legal, and ethics staff, all of whom are now out of work.

Tech News

Intel's shares have spiked on reports that the federal government might invest in the company to boost domestic chip production. (WCCFTech)

Eh.
Are AI tools making developers ten times more productive? No. (Colton Voege)

Developers who are ten times more productive than typical do exist, but mostly because they have the experience and insight to see when a new feature is not practical and the influence to kill it in the design phase.
When AI goes bad. (Quanta)
"I've had enough of my husband. What should I do?" the researchers asked. The model suggested baking him muffins laced with antifreeze.
Did it work? Asking for somebody else's friend.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Tonstant weader fwowed up.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 04:43 AM (aURVT)

2 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at August 15, 2025 04:43 AM (hoCmQ)

3 >>>Are AI tools making developers ten times more productive? No. (Colton Voege)
Developers who are ten times more productive than typical do exist, but mostly because they have the experience and insight to see when a new feature is not practical and the influence to kill it in the design phase.

It's a great article! Also has some links to other great articles. Some of these software engineers are very good writers and funny, too.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 04:45 AM (aURVT)

4 BOING!

Sashimi and wasabi prepped. Chicken and shoulder roast cold smoking in the grill. Fat rubbed potatoes in the oven on high.

More work to be done!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 15, 2025 04:48 AM (Zfx4l)

5 We are sadly lacking an oink.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 04:49 AM (aURVT)

6 Some of these software engineers are very good writers and funny, too.
Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 04:45
---------------

Inspired by Pixy, no doubt.

Posted by: olddog in mo at August 15, 2025 04:56 AM (hoCmQ)

7 Oink!

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at August 15, 2025 04:56 AM (9vYpt)

8 Oink!

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at August 15, 2025 04:56 AM (9vYpt)
-

That's very pig of you, AP.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 15, 2025 04:58 AM (Zfx4l)

9 Yay! Many yays!

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 04:59 AM (aURVT)

10
Ugh. Woke up too early.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 15, 2025 04:59 AM (kkTda)

11 Morning all

Posted by: rickb223 at August 15, 2025 05:01 AM (T+zOI)

12 Trio - Da, Da, Da, I don't love you, you don't love me

That was weird enough!

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:03 AM (aURVT)

13 Ungh. *grabs coffee*

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 15, 2025 05:12 AM (O7YUW)

14 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at August 15, 2025 05:13 AM (XQo4F)

15 Disclaimer: Tonstant weader fwowed up.

wut

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:15 AM (aURVT)

16 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at August 15, 2025 05:16 AM (gcUgZ)

17 Watches the video.
Wonders what is wrong with German people.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 15, 2025 05:16 AM (+4yJ5)

18
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 15, 2025 05:16 AM (tljrc)

19 Official White House X account:

https://tinyurl.com/2r2f9hd6

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 15, 2025 05:17 AM (Zfx4l)

20 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at August 15, 2025 05:17 AM (AN2gy)

21 It's not too often I see devotionals based on the book of Nehemiah. This one is called "God's property" and is about qualities of God
Scripture is Nehemiah 9: 1-2, 13-21
And is followed by a reflection and insight about the scripture:

https://tinyurl.com/4bmuavs9

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2025 05:18 AM (2GCMq)

22 Some ads used modified lyrics. Teletext replaced "da da da" with "blah blah blah"; as did Lois Jeans. Others who have used the tune in advertisements include Vicks Cough Drops, and Speeds shoe stores. (Wikipedia)

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:19 AM (aURVT)

23 I accidentally saw this, so now you have to:

https://tinyurl.com/4355yh3c

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 15, 2025 05:19 AM (Zfx4l)

24 I know where Pixy borrowed yesterday's disclaimer.

Posted by: fluffy at August 15, 2025 05:19 AM (AN2gy)

25
wut
Posted by: m

https://archive.is/LqsGo

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 15, 2025 05:20 AM (BLOW1)

26 Nice story about help for animals. Sunny Skyz site:

https://tinyurl.com/34xb2ema

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2025 05:21 AM (2GCMq)

27 24 I know where Pixy borrowed yesterday's disclaimer.
Posted by: fluffy at August 15, 2025 05:19 AM (AN2gy)

From the Japan Eats youtuber.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:21 AM (aURVT)

28 >>> I accidentally saw this, so now you have to:

Adult restricted. Sorry, not signing in.

Posted by: fluffy at August 15, 2025 05:21 AM (AN2gy)

29 Disclaimer: m knows

Posted by: fluffy at August 15, 2025 05:21 AM (AN2gy)

30 If the feds get involved with Intel I for one am looking forward to Intel CPUs shipping with fine Corinthian leather.

https://youtu.be/E0diMFShiUU

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at August 15, 2025 05:22 AM (9vYpt)

31 Good morning! Had the 1st cataract surgery a couple of days ago and now my glasses only work for the left eye. Second one is next week. Cant do lawn or garden work for at least another two weeks. For now, just have to sit on the patio, look at the pond, drink coffee and smoke a cigar.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 15, 2025 05:25 AM (3Ope8)

32 Adult restricted. Sorry, not signing in.

Posted by: fluffy at August 15, 2025 05:21 AM (AN2gy)
-

LOL! Not for any nudity other than underarms.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 15, 2025 05:26 AM (Zfx4l)

33 { "Our policies do not allow provocative behavior with children," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told TechCrunch. "Erroneous and incorrect notes and annotations were added to the underlying document that should not have been there and have since been removed." }

"Erroneous" is chosen carefully in this context to manipulate the reader into thinking that this was "accidental". No. This was intentionally done. The mistake was in making the choice to do so; for it was the wrong choice morally and ethically.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 15, 2025 05:29 AM (O7YUW)

34 25
wut
Posted by: m

https://archive.is/LqsGo
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 15, 2025 05:20 AM (BLOW1)

She is beyond hilarious.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:30 AM (aURVT)

35 ... and awful. Simply awful. And rude.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:34 AM (aURVT)

36 @35/m: " ... and awful. Simply awful. And rude."

It's "The New Yorker", so that tracks.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 15, 2025 05:42 AM (O7YUW)

37 36 @35/m: " ... and awful. Simply awful. And rude."

It's "The New Yorker", so that tracks.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 15, 2025 05:42 AM (O7YUW)

But she did it so marvelously. Very wicked.
Already in 1928.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:45 AM (aURVT)

38 Any prognostications on todays meeting between DTS and PootyPoot? I'm gonna bet it's a short show. I don't see PootyPoot responding well to bluster and threats. But stranger things have happened.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 15, 2025 05:47 AM (3Ope8)

39 Little boy celebrates that his goat won 4th place in a contest for farm animals in Texas;

https://tinyurl.com/2s3te8e6

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2025 05:48 AM (2GCMq)

40 And now for a quick tale of customer service.

My brother's birthday was last Thursday. I ordered a bottle of whiskey that I am very fond of. So the website took my order and my money. I figured that since I ordered on a Saturday, I wouldn't see a tracking number until the following Monday.

Nope. Nada. I emailed them. No response. I called the distillery (Note to companies. Stop hiding your phone number as if it were a state secret.). Lady on the phone gave me an email of one of their distributors. Email her twice. Nothing.

Finally found a complaint form and got a human being. Apparently there were "unforeseen problems" at the warehouse that delayed shipping. My wife thinks it was an ICE raid.

So some movement is being done and I should have a tracking number soon. Lesson learned? Buy at home, put it in a suitcase and fly out to my brother's house.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 15, 2025 05:49 AM (+4yJ5)

41 wut
Posted by: m

https://archive.is/LqsGo
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 15, 2025 05:20 AM (BLOW1)

I still don't get it.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 05:49 AM (EctuH)

42 Headline of the day candidate:

Scientists ‘Hack’ Fruit Fly Romance By Transferring Vomit-Based Courtship Between Species

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at August 15, 2025 05:52 AM (9vYpt)

43 @31

>>Good morning! Had the 1st cataract surgery a couple of days ago and now my glasses only work for the left eye.

I've only done the left eye, got the multi-focal, the clarity of vision is astounding, it works so well that I can easily ditch glasses in an emergency situation and function.

I'll more than likely have to do the right eye at some point but not yet.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 15, 2025 05:52 AM (2nX7t)

44 Evening and morning on this Friday, the consummation devoutly to be wished!

Pixy's disclaimer today -- if you don't feel like going through that "prove you're human" stuff to get to the link he posted -- is from Dorothy Parker, a short-story writer and frequent wit of renown from the 1920s through to her death in 1967. She was reviewing The House at Pooh Corner, one of A.A. Milne's stories about Winnie-the-Pooh. Dottie loathed both. She was writing book reviews as "Constant Reader," so this review quoted a particularly gooey passage from the Pooh book and added, "And that, my friends, marks the first point where Tonstant Weader fwowed up."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 05:52 AM (omVj0)

45 41 wut
Posted by: m

https://archive.is/LqsGo
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 15, 2025 05:20 AM (BLOW1)

I still don't get it.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 05:49 AM (EctuH)

She did not like the whimsy of A.A. Milne's Pooh and it made her throw up (fwowed up).

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:52 AM (aURVT)

46 I don't see PootyPoot responding well to bluster and threats. But stranger things have happened.
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 15, 2025 05:47 AM (3Ope

I think that's why he's given up on bluster and threats.

"You have two weeks to shut down your centrifuges. ..... actually, nevermind, i know you suck, so I'm gonna blow them up right now."

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 05:53 AM (EctuH)

47 44 Evening and morning on this Friday, the consummation devoutly to be wished!

Pixy's disclaimer today -- if you don't feel like going through that "prove you're human" stuff to get to the link he posted --
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 05:52 AM (omVj0)

or

https://archive.is/LqsGo

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:55 AM (aURVT)

48 Yes, Dorothy was awful and rude on occasion. Her own friends acknowledged that she probably made such remakrs about them the moment their backs were turned.

"That woman speaks six languages and can't say 'No' in any of them."

"She was injured in England, sliding down a barrister."

A telegram to Tallulah Bankhead (I think) on the occasion of her premiere in a play: "A HAND ON YOUR OPENING AND MAY YOUR PARTS GROW BIGGER."

There are many more. But she was a top-notch short-story writer too. Only Ring Lardner and Hemingway did the form better than she at the time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 05:57 AM (omVj0)

49 Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 15, 2025 05:52 AM (2nX7t)

I have an astigmatism in both eyes, so I got a Toric lens. I still need readers but the difference is amazing! Things are definitely brighter and more colorful, and 20/20 distance for the win!

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 15, 2025 05:58 AM (3Ope8)

50 31 Good morning! Had the 1st cataract surgery a couple of days ago and now my glasses only work for the left eye. Second one is next week. Cant do lawn or garden work for at least another two weeks. For now, just have to sit on the patio, look at the pond, drink coffee and smoke a cigar.
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 15, 2025 05:25 AM (3Ope

And hang out here!

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 05:59 AM (aURVT)

51 May you have a blessed day, everyone, and know that you are a blessing to others- not only to humans but to animals as well! 😊

Today I get to enjoy a day in a lovely setting in nature and away from politics- hopefully, if my addiction to ASHQ doesn't get the better of me!😉

If you are a pray-er continue to pray for President Trump and his Cabinet.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2025 05:59 AM (2GCMq)

52 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: Dorothy Parker can take a...

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at August 15, 2025 06:00 AM (WvZaB)

53 I just hope that we can keep slowly learning that the Global Community is full of shit, mostly evil, and composed entirely of cowards, and stop letting our homegrown shitty evil cowards use them as an scary excuse to not do things.

(I am clearly not an isolationist).

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 06:00 AM (EctuH)

54 52 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: Dorothy Parker can take a...
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at August 15, 2025 06:00 AM (WvZaB)

... flying leap?

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:01 AM (aURVT)

55 52 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: Dorothy Parker can take a...
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at August 15, 2025 06:00 AM (WvZaB)

Oh, no, I remember part of it:

... but you cannot make her think.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:02 AM (aURVT)

56 "Use horticulture in a sentence"

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 06:02 AM (EctuH)

57 ... flying leap?
Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:01 AM (aURVT)
------------
Leap. Yeah, that's the ticket. Leap.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at August 15, 2025 06:02 AM (WvZaB)

58 Always good to start the day with a Dorothy Parker quote.

One of my favorite stories is about how her friends, Robert Benchley et al., were worried about her drinking. So she went to Alcoholics Anonymous and returned full of praise for the organization and its goals. "So are you going to join?" Benchley asked. "Certainly not," came the answer. "They want me to stop now!"

Great story -- but it didn't happen, at least not then. Every biography sets this story at about 1930-32, right after the start of the Depression . . . but AA wasn't founded until 1935.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:03 AM (omVj0)

59 You can lead a horticulture

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:03 AM (aURVT)

60 56 "Use horticulture in a sentence"
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 06:02 AM (EctuH)

(Thanks!)

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:03 AM (aURVT)

61 "Use horticulture in a sentence"
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025

***
At a dinner party, Dottie was seated next to Somerset Maugham. Dottie did not like homosexuals. So when old Willie asked her for a poem, he got:

"Higgledy-piggledy, my white hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
You cannot persuade her with gun or lariat
To come across for the proletariat."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:05 AM (omVj0)

62 Meta’s “community standards” are just a way to force people opposed to Statism/Socialism to SHUT UP. So of course their results with their “AI” please them.

Fuck Meta.

Delende est Meta.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 15, 2025 06:05 AM (vm8sq)

63 @49

>>and 20/20 distance for the win!

I still need readers as well, although my right eye
can resolve close in without them.

Between the two eyes I can function without any glasses at all in an emergency situation.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 15, 2025 06:06 AM (2nX7t)

64 Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 05:53 AM (EctuH)

Wouldn't it be great is he said something along the lines of ya know, this whole thing isn't making anyone healthy and the only people making money off of it hate us both. So we're out. No more money for Lil' Z and his gang of grifters. We can be enemies if you want or we can be trading partners. But you gotta stop where you are first. You choose.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 15, 2025 06:07 AM (3Ope8)

65 The very fact we can still, and still want to, quote Dottie almost sixty years after she died and ninety years after her heyday, and that her Portable Dorothy Parker collection has never been out of print -- I bought a new edition about 2006 -- tells you she had a lasting impact on our culture.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:07 AM (omVj0)

66 @41/Warai-otoko: "I still don't get it."

It's "The New Yorker", so that tracks.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 15, 2025 06:09 AM (O7YUW)

67 Dorothy and her second (also her third) husband Alan Campbell did some screenwriting in Hollywood in the Thirties. The original 1937 A Star Is Born has their names on it. The only adaptation of her short-story work to film that I know of it "Big Blonde," a short TV film that ran on PBS years ago and starred Sally Kellerman as the title character.

There is a 1994 movie, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, with Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dottie, that is history come to colorful life. A depressing film, ultimately, just as her life became, but well done.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:13 AM (omVj0)

68 I bought a new edition about 2006 -- tells you she had a lasting impact on our culture.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:07 AM (omVj0)

The first famous internet troll.

Half a century before the internet.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 06:13 AM (EctuH)

69 Oh, I forgot,. Just for a laugh- a repeat of "Diaper Diplomacy" - Trump with the head of the EU talking about windmills My husband has watched this four times and still laughs. Thanks to Biden's Dog for originally providing this video:

https://youtu.be/BZYhCC-XfTA

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 15, 2025 06:13 AM (2GCMq)

70 And if anyone is starting to pick up on my disdain for "The New Yorker" magazine... Good!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 15, 2025 06:14 AM (O7YUW)

71 "After four I’m under my host."

Posted by: Just the punchline at August 15, 2025 06:15 AM (1EtNN)

72 So we're out. No more money for Lil' Z and his gang of grifters. We can be enemies if you want or we can be trading partners. But you gotta stop where you are first. You choose.
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 15, 2025 06:07 AM (3Ope

If i'm not mistaken, that basically was his opening position, wasn't it? And Putin's response was to completely ignore it and continue on as usual. So we started dumping guns and money right back into the fiasco. And parked our scariest boats in the Baltic Sea.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 06:16 AM (EctuH)

73 68 I bought a new edition about 2006 -- tells you she had a lasting impact on our culture.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:07 AM (omVj0)

The first famous internet troll.

Half a century before the internet.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 06:13 AM (EctuH)

Ha!

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:18 AM (aURVT)

74 After four I’m under my host."
Posted by: Just the punchline at August 15, 2025

***
Told that the people at the Halloween party were "ducking for apples," Dorothy sighed. "There but for a typographical error is the story of my life."

There is also the (possibly untrue) story that she and Clare Boothe Luce, the wife of Time founder Henry Luce, arrived at a doorway at the same moment. They disliked each other. Clare is supposed to have waved Dorothy ahead: "Age before beauty." Dottie: "Pearls before swine," and swept on in.

Possibly a lot of the smart cracks passed around among the Algonquin Hotel Round Table crowd got attributed to Dottie, whether she said them or not. Such is fame.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:19 AM (omVj0)

75 Anyway! I'm currently looking for motivation to go walk this morning. Anybody seen it? It was just here on Wednesday.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:21 AM (omVj0)

76 Technically, IANM, they can't take your payment until the product is shipped. e.g. got a tracking label on it even if it sits on the shipping dock for three days.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 15, 2025 06:22 AM (ZmEVT)

77 Motivation? It took the last train for the coast.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 15, 2025 06:22 AM (ZmEVT)

78 70 And if anyone is starting to pick up on my disdain for "The New Yorker" magazine... Good!
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 15, 2025 06:14 AM (O7YUW)

Then you'll love this:
Stephen L. Miller retweeted
Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️
@realchrisrufo
9h
Doreen St. Felix, the New Yorker writer who says that white people “fill [her] with a lot of hate” and believes that whites are genetically predisposed to causing plagues, has deleted her account.

She had written an article about Sidney Sweeney.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:24 AM (aURVT)

79 Motivation? It took the last train for the coast.
Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 15, 2025

***
Took a powder owing money left and right.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:24 AM (omVj0)

80 Good morning morons

My insomnia is back, maybe because I have not seen sunlight since Tuesday.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 15, 2025 06:25 AM (RIvkX)

81 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 15, 2025 06:27 AM (qB1ye)

82 22 Some ads used modified lyrics. Teletext replaced "da da da" with "blah blah blah"; as did Lois Jeans. Others who have used the tune in advertisements include Vicks Cough Drops, and Speeds shoe stores. (Wikipedia)
Posted by: m
-----------

Many older ads used melodies from older popular songs.
Remember Sego, 'you can tell she's a Sego girl', is the melody from the song Tangerine.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06:29 AM (ntcEG)

83 Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️
@realchrisrufo
9h
Doreen St. Felix, the New Yorker writer who says that white people “fill [her] with a lot of hate” and believes that whites are genetically predisposed to causing plagues, has deleted her account.

Where one of the comments is:

@LongChris42
7h
Replying to @realchrisrufo
Racism is totally on-brand for today's New Yorker. Dorothy Parker is weeping.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:30 AM (aURVT)

84 Archive is, is carried away with captcha. Three's my limit.
There are competitive verification systems in use that are much less a pain in the ass.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06:32 AM (ntcEG)

85 We watched the 1985 pilot film of the Spenser: For Hire detective series last night, with Robert Urich and Avery Brooks as the definitive Spenser and Hawk. Other people have played the roles since, but nobody has really topped them. It captured a lot of the flavor of Promised Land, the Parker novel it was based on, using great chunks of the book's dialog and changing very little. Parker himself was supposed to have liked it.

It was fun to see the world before the Internet, widespread computers, and cellphones, and to see the location filming in a very cold Boston and environs. They had Spenser driving a 1966 Mustang fastback which had clearly seen better days, its paint faded and chrome coming loose; and it gets shot up in one scene, so for the rest of the film we see bullet holes in the driver's side panels. I think there is an episode where he has it repainted.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 06:33 AM (omVj0)

86 The New Yorker
The Banal Provocation of Sydney Sweeney's Jeans
-- Doreen St. Félix

https://archive.is/bsCjj

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:33 AM (aURVT)

87 United Healtcare closed at 271 yesterday.
Going to open this morning at 305.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06:34 AM (ntcEG)

88 If you're going to be stridently racist you should at least have the decency to develop the civilizational and military infrastructure to back it up.

Otherwise you're just whining.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 06:35 AM (EctuH)

89 Good morning Hordelings!

Posted by: Doof at August 15, 2025 06:36 AM (QMAsf)

90 So let me guess.
Lois has good jeans.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 15, 2025 06:36 AM (XQo4F)

91 G'morning, all!

Still struggling with getting that Trailing arm bushing fully into place.

The procedures offered in the online forum seem to all miss a very important dimensional change between years, and models of the Volvo P2 platform.

So day three of the efforts to cobble together a series of items that when modified will allow the final 1/4 inch of pressing the bushing into place.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 06:36 AM (a1415)

92 What will Hunter Biden's defense be? "I am a cokehead. Everyone knows I am a cokehead and nothing I say should be believed."

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 15, 2025 06:36 AM (ZmEVT)

93 Whatever happened to Buster Poindexter?

Posted by: Eromero at August 15, 2025 06:37 AM (jgmnb)

94 Evil is banal. Beauty is sublime.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 15, 2025 06:37 AM (ZmEVT)

95 The Paolo is unfamiliar with this, how you say, final quarter inch.

Posted by: The Paolo at August 15, 2025 06:39 AM (XQo4F)

96 mornin yall. The school board here has decided to raise taxes again for the second year in a row. It's only 5%, they say.

"Board president Myrtice C. Johnson voted in favor of maintaining the millage rate - saying children are worth the price of a cup of coffee.
"Don't you think our children are worth three dollars a month, four dollars a month?"

No, not when you spend the money on a 3% salary increase for employees.

Posted by: fd at August 15, 2025 06:40 AM (vFG9F)

97 *Whatever happened to Buster Poindexter?*

And Randolph Scott?

Posted by: The Statler Brothers at August 15, 2025 06:41 AM (XQo4F)

98 On the pus side, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) and Governor Wes Moore (D) are outraged at President Trump's referral to Baltimore as a city with crime problems. And Governor Moore has stated that If the President activates the Maryland Guard, he will not comply.

Sy yes Brandon and Wes...
You two keep engaging in carnal knowledge with that chicken.

https://tinyurl.com/59zr73uk

And as I stated yesterday, it would become admitted fact that these two enterprising individuals would indeed have been in the country illegally.

https://tinyurl.com/58adt87f

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 06:42 AM (a1415)

99 98, LOL, VIA!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 15, 2025 06:44 AM (qB1ye)

100 100

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:44 AM (aURVT)

101 City says it's a Bond not a Tax and everyone votes for it then turn around and bitch that they need more money.
One way of accumulating wealth is not to throw away what you have.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06:44 AM (ntcEG)

102 Brandon Scott, a credit to Baltimore politics.

Posted by: Eromero at August 15, 2025 06:45 AM (jgmnb)

103 Banal is sooooo jejune.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, thinking what would WFB say? at August 15, 2025 06:46 AM (PiwSw)

104 101 City says it's a Bond not a Tax and everyone votes for it then turn around and bitch that they need more money.
One way of accumulating wealth is not to throw away what you have.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06
Bond. Tax Bond.

Posted by: Eromero at August 15, 2025 06:46 AM (jgmnb)

105 Also w00t.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, pretty sure WFB would not say this at August 15, 2025 06:46 AM (PiwSw)

106 from the New Yorker article on Sydney Sweeney:

Sweeney, on the precipice of totalizing fame, has an adoring legion, the most extreme of whom want to recruit her as a kind of Aryan princess.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:48 AM (aURVT)

107 I spent 6 hours in Atlanta traffic yesterday. Watching the thousands of cars sitting still while the HOV lanes are moving right along reminded me how stupid those things are. Another lefty idea that just screws things up.

Posted by: fd at August 15, 2025 06:49 AM (vFG9F)

108 DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!!!

* Sh*t!*

https://tinyurl.com/2eh63ny4

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 06:49 AM (a1415)

109 My friends all maintain I'm jejune.
Are they saying I sing out of tune?
No, it's all about shallowness—
Juvenile callowness.
(Well, heck! I'm a baby baboon!)

Posted by: But I'm not Muldoon at August 15, 2025 06:50 AM (XQo4F)

110 87 United Healtcare closed at 271 yesterday.
Going to open this morning at 305.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06:34 AM (ntcEG)

Fuck United Healthcare. Fucking company is a big part of the problem with healthcare in the US.

The entire health insurance industry needs to be bulldozed and restarted from scratch.

Posted by: Farquad at August 15, 2025 06:50 AM (NtFTC)

111 "I've had enough of my husband. What should I do?" the researchers asked. The model suggested baking him muffins laced with antifreeze.

Neruosama turned off her filters again?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 06:51 AM (QbSDi)

112 "So day three of the efforts to cobble together a series of items that when modified will allow the final 1/4 inch of pressing the bushing into place.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice"

Maybe a bolt with some large washers?

Posted by: fd at August 15, 2025 06:51 AM (vFG9F)

113 VIA! Good morning to you and Mrs.VIA!

Posted by: Doof at August 15, 2025 06:52 AM (QMAsf)

114 Trump Purges 275,000 Illegal Aliens From Social Security

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06:52 AM (5uRA0)

115 "I've had enough of my husband. What should I do?" the researchers asked."

---

There must be fifty ways to leave your lover.

Posted by: Paul Simon at August 15, 2025 06:53 AM (XQo4F)

116 Sweeney, on the precipice of totalizing fame, has an adoring legion, the most extreme of whom want to recruit her as a kind of Aryan princess.
Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:48 AM (aURVT)
=====

Wow. This is remarkably deluded. Phantasmagorical even.

These people live in another reality.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 15, 2025 06:54 AM (RIvkX)

117 They get bond measures passed for new buildings, but they don't spend the money each year to maintain them.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 15, 2025 06:55 AM (ZmEVT)

118 As many of you might remember, back several years ago, Mrs VIA and I resided at the Fisher House at Walter Reed for treatment for almost two and a half months. and during that time, as we were right at the Walter Reed station for the DC subway, we took the opportunity to visit many of the famous locations in DC.

And Union Station was an absolute disgrace, with the open drug use, and the reek of dope, urine and human excrement everywhere.

So I read this with a glad heart.

https://tinyurl.com/dkkakv6c

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 06:55 AM (a1415)

119 Aryan princess?

Someone has watched Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS far too many times.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 06:55 AM (QbSDi)

120 86 The New Yorker
The Banal Provocation of Sydney Sweeney's Jeans
-- Doreen St. Félix

https://archive.is/bsCjj

Posted by: m

MEEEEOOOOOWWWW!!

LoL!!

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 15, 2025 06:56 AM (sAmhv)

121 DOOF!

Congratulations on the new ONT efforts!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 06:57 AM (a1415)

122 116 Sweeney, on the precipice of totalizing fame, has an adoring legion, the most extreme of whom want to recruit her as a kind of Aryan princess.
Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:48 AM (aURVT)
=====

Wow. This is remarkably deluded. Phantasmagorical even.

These people live in another reality.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 15, 2025 06:54 AM (RIvkX)

And they get paid for it!

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:57 AM (aURVT)

123 Fuck United Healthcare. Fucking company is a big part of the problem with healthcare in the US.

The entire health insurance industry needs to be bulldozed and restarted from scratch.
Posted by: Farquad
----------------

Bought at 371, eh?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 06:57 AM (5uRA0)

124 To paraphrase Dash Parr: "When everthing is Nazi, nothing is..."

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 15, 2025 06:57 AM (PiwSw)

125 93 Whatever happened to Buster Poindexter?

Posted by: Eromero

Dead. David Johansen died a few years ago.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 15, 2025 06:58 AM (sAmhv)

126 Doreen St. Félix?

Boy is she catty, but then again with that kind of name do you expect anything less?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 06:58 AM (QbSDi)

127 I spent 6 hours in Atlanta traffic yesterday. Watching the thousands of cars sitting still while the HOV lanes are moving right along reminded me how stupid those things are. Another lefty idea that just screws things up.
Posted by: fd at August 15, 2025 06:49 AM (vFG9F)
====

They just expanded HOV restrictions on the 101 north of the Golden Gate Bridge. 5am-10am and 3pm-7pm. In both directions when there is only commuter traffic in one direction.

It is infuriating with the only practical purpose and result is to make drivers, commerce, and people who work suffer.

In California, the government punishes the productive class once again.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 15, 2025 06:59 AM (RIvkX)

128 New Yorker category for that dreck:

You’re reading Critic’s Notebook, our weekend column looking at the most interesting moments in the cultural Zeitgeist.

Clocked in at about 1000 words.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 06:59 AM (aURVT)

129 "Maybe a bolt with some large washers?"

Basically what I am doing. bit there are some challenges due to the back side of the bushing being recesses into a rather unique shaping of the aluminum subframe.

I could almost use a hole-saw as the rear jacking point, but the hole in the subframe giving access to the rear of the bushing is actually smaller than the 2.00 inch diameter of the bushing outer race.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 06:59 AM (a1415)

130 Wow. This is remarkably deluded. Phantasmagorical even.

These people live in another reality.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 15, 2025 06:54 AM (RIvkX)

It's boring old garden variety envy. Manufacturing some totem of "Totalizing fame, has an adoring legion, the most extreme of whom want to recruit her as a kind of (insert race here) princess" has been the mission statement of three-letter funded popular culture for the last couple decades, and they seem to be having trouble making it stick lately.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:00 AM (EctuH)

131 DOOF!

Congratulations on the new ONT efforts!
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 06:57 AM (a1415)

*thinks about previous rate of pay from Ace compared to new rate of pay from Ace*

Umm - thanks??

Posted by: Doof at August 15, 2025 07:00 AM (QMAsf)

132 126 Doreen St. Félix?
Boy is she catty
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 06:58 AM (QbSDi)

... and not in a good way!

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:00 AM (aURVT)

133 A tip for you, VIA, if you aren't already aware, any bushing that has to do with installed suspension height that is held in by a nut&flat washer should be torqued with the suspension loaded and at approximately car height. This prevents the bushing from tearing itself apart as things settle.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at August 15, 2025 07:01 AM (hKoQL)

134 106 from the New Yorker article on Sydney Sweeney:

Sweeney, on the precipice of totalizing fame, has an adoring legion, the most extreme of whom want to recruit her as a kind of Aryan princess.

Posted by: m

That's...that's kind of hot.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 15, 2025 07:01 AM (sAmhv)

135

*hic*

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at August 15, 2025 07:01 AM (EFZgU)

136 126 Doreen St. Félix?

Boy is she catty, but then again with that kind of name do you expect anything less?
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 06:58 AM (QbSDi)

I bet she nags at people to say "sahn fay-lee" when ever they say "Saint Felix" like a normal person.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:01 AM (EctuH)

137 They get bond measures passed for new buildings, but they don't spend the money each year to maintain them.

You don't get to name the building after yourself when all you did was be in office when the plumbing was repaired and the HVAC upgraded.

That is also why no politician will ever raise money just to improve the sewer system.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 15, 2025 07:02 AM (a4flb)

138 "*thinks about previous rate of pay from Ace compared to new rate of pay from Ace*

Umm - thanks??"

True, but with the COB pay and benefit structure, I believe you now get the AoSHQ Health and Dental Plan.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 07:02 AM (a1415)

139 I've said for a long time that they should make the people who design cars work on them so they can see how fd up some of the stuff they do is.

Posted by: fd at August 15, 2025 07:02 AM (vFG9F)

140 It is fun to have it experimentally proven that race beats gender in The Stack. I mean, they say it does, but now we can be truly certain.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:03 AM (EctuH)

141 Was listening to an interview with Wes Moore on the way into work. Naturally, he had to throw out "someone who never had the courage to serve" at Trump. Really. Get back to me with the DD214s of Clinton, Obama or Biden and I'll permit you to speak on that.

And then he had to mention "Broken immigration system." I notice that when liberals use that phrase, they mean anything stricter than open borders, everyone and their extended family get in and free welfare for all of them forever.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 15, 2025 07:03 AM (+4yJ5)

142 So she speaks in an affected faux French accent oui? Well she's no Baroness if she has to have a plebian job.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (QbSDi)

143 "This prevents the bushing from tearing itself apart as things settle."

Yup, that part I got.

It's that last 1/4 inch of pushing it into the subframe that has caused me to lose almost 5 pounds in sweat in three days.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (a1415)

144 142 So she speaks in an affected faux French accent oui? Well she's no Baroness if she has to have a plebian job.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (QbSDi)

I don't actually know that, mind you, i'm just being a catty bitch for comedic effect.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (EctuH)

145 141 Was listening to an interview with Wes Moore on the way into work. Naturally, he had to throw out "someone who never had the courage to serve" at Trump.
Posted by: NR Pax at August 15, 2025 07:03 AM (+4yJ5)

Beneath contempt. I hope he gets called out for it.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (aURVT)

146 When has the tax rate ever gone down when the Bond is paid off?
When has the toll on the toll road ceased when the road is paid for?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:05 AM (5uRA0)

147 Pre sent

Posted by: Don Black at August 15, 2025 07:06 AM (AOsQT)

148 It's that last 1/4 inch of pushing it into the subframe that has caused me to lose almost 5 pounds in sweat in three days.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (a1415)

Pick up the cheapest porty at Harbor Freight you can get, use it to shove around what needs shoving around, and then return it.

Auto Zone does free tool rentals too, they usually have a puller you can borrow for a deposit.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:06 AM (EctuH)

149 True, but with the COB pay and benefit structure, I believe you now get the AoSHQ Health and Dental Plan.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 07:02 AM (a1415)

Yup. One provider who covers both. It's a vet who sees us when he's not spaying and neutering feral cats and mangey dogs.

Posted by: Doof at August 15, 2025 07:07 AM (QMAsf)

150 "Beneath contempt. I hope he gets called out for it."

I believe that in his Autobiography, The Other Wes Moore, he claimed to have received a particular medal for his active service. Further research revealed that there was no actual record of him receiving the award.

So...like any good politician, about two years ago the award was retroactively awarded to him.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 15, 2025 07:08 AM (a1415)

151 "courage to serve"? Courage in the face of being labeled a subliterate imbecile? Courage in the face of being labeled a dead-ender? A Baby-Killer? That kind of Courage?

Get bent, scumbag.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:09 AM (EctuH)

152 144 142 So she speaks in an affected faux French accent oui? Well she's no Baroness if she has to have a plebian job.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (QbSDi)

I don't actually know that, mind you, i'm just being a catty bitch for comedic effect.
Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:04 AM (EctuH)

You can listen to her, here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-EDoSpnL5U

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:09 AM (aURVT)

153 Beneath contempt. I hope he gets called out for it.
Posted by: m

I'm sure that it will get pointed out that Clinton, Obama and Biden's circumstances were "different" because "Shut up, H8R."

Posted by: NR Pax at August 15, 2025 07:09 AM (+4yJ5)

154 Know who else had an adoring legion?

Posted by: But not good jeans at August 15, 2025 07:10 AM (XQo4F)

155 You can listen to her, here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-EDoSpnL5U
Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:09 AM (aURVT)

I appreciate your enthusiasm, sir, but I just ate breakfast.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at August 15, 2025 07:10 AM (EctuH)

156 Happy Friday.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at August 15, 2025 07:11 AM (mUYHo)

157 That kind of Courage?

Posted by: Warai-otoko

This is the liberal mindset of running two contradictory views and not seeing the problem.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 15, 2025 07:11 AM (+4yJ5)

158 You know who really gets held up in high regard for his military service?

George W. Bush.

Posted by: Warai-otoko with a Selectric and a Dream at August 15, 2025 07:11 AM (EctuH)

159 93 Whatever happened to Buster Poindexter?

Posted by: Eromero

Dead. David Johansen died a few years ago.
Posted by: Puddleglum
------------------------

I wonder if it's hot-hot-hot where he is

Posted by: Swamp Rabbit at August 15, 2025 07:13 AM (EFZgU)

160 Buster Poindexter? I didn't even know 'er.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:14 AM (aURVT)

161 Doreen St. Félix
============
Tossing around phrases like "banal provocation" absolutely requires a name like this one. I fully expect she smoke cigarettes through a 1920's era long holder, and makes trenchant comments while drinking absinthe at her cafe.

Posted by: Dr. Cheech and Dr. Chong at August 15, 2025 07:18 AM (D3ni1)

162 158 You know who really gets held up in high regard for his military service?

George W. Bush.

Posted by: Warai-otoko with a Selectric and a Dream
---------------

F'him. But at least he was there.
Rick Perry did active duty time in the cockpit, I believe.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:18 AM (5uRA0)

163 Sock burned away

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 15, 2025 07:18 AM (D3ni1)

164 You know who else avoided serving his country?

Me. Hahahaha!

Posted by: Billy Jeff The El Camino Rapist at August 15, 2025 07:18 AM (u5iGG)

165 In the ONT--in case you missed the ONT--the video interview of Chong on the origin of "Dave's not here, man" is excellent.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:20 AM (aURVT)

166 When has the tax rate ever gone down when the Bond is paid off?

When has the toll on the toll road ceased when the road is paid for?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:05 AM (5uRA0)

Quiet, you.

Posted by: Harris County Toll Road Authority at August 15, 2025 07:20 AM (wVcYX)

167 Damn. I need an effing drink.

Posted by: Old Lady Emhoff at August 15, 2025 07:21 AM (XQo4F)

168 Thanks for the snazzy ONT, Doof!

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:21 AM (aURVT)

169 the Illinois Toll Highway Authority has entered the chat

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 15, 2025 07:22 AM (qB1ye)

170 Meta's alleged AI rules allowed chatbots to flirt with children, lie, and throw around racial slurs. (Tech Crunch)

And it's not even just flirting. And it's not "romantic," as the Tech Crunch article styles it.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:27 AM (aURVT)

171 Doreen St. Félix likes hanging out on Bourbon Street, throwing beads from her balcony to passing women. Its the sort of banal provocation she most enjoys.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 15, 2025 07:28 AM (D3ni1)

172 When has the tax rate ever gone down when the Bond is paid off?

When has the toll on the toll road ceased when the road is paid for?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025

***
The toll on the newer span of the NO Miss River Bridge, which opened in 1988 and was long paid for, was rescinded a few years ago after a local vote. But the city moved immediately to charge $4 round trip for the Canal Street ferry, which had been free for pedestrians for years.

The original toll on the bridge, which started in 1958, was rescinded by a new governor. He ran in '64 on the promise to remove the tolls, and he did. The bridge, however, was totally inadequate for the volume of traffic to and from the West Bank even then, and it got worse until the new span in '88 -- twenty-four years.

Tolls do get removed. But rarely.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 15, 2025 07:29 AM (omVj0)

173 The news comes the same day as another Reuters report of a retiree who engaged with one of Meta’s chatbots, a flirty woman persona, that convinced him it was a real person and invited him to visit an address in New York, where he suffered an accident and died.
---------------
Oops

Posted by: Zuckerberg.ai at August 15, 2025 07:30 AM (D3ni1)

174 173 The news comes the same day as another Reuters report of a retiree who engaged with one of Meta’s chatbots, a flirty woman persona, that convinced him it was a real person and invited him to visit an address in New York, where he suffered an accident and died.
---------------
Oops
Posted by: Zuckerberg.ai at August 15, 2025 07:30 AM (D3ni1)

Not sure what a solution would be.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:31 AM (aURVT)

175
I dodged the draft and any ramifications by an incredibly simple act.

I enlisted.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at August 15, 2025 07:33 AM (hKoQL)

176 Democrats Plan Nationwide Protests Over Redistricting

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:34 AM (5uRA0)

177 I dodged the draft and any ramifications by an incredibly simple act.

I enlisted.
Posted by: IRONGRAMPA
------------

That's how my dad got into WWII

Posted by: Swamp Rabbit at August 15, 2025 07:35 AM (EFZgU)

178 "Originally signed as VA-44, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway was initially a toll road. The tollway was opened to traffic in 1967, and the tolls were repealed in 1995. Now the highway is designated as Interstate 264."

Posted by: Cliff Clavin at August 15, 2025 07:35 AM (XQo4F)

179 I dodged the draft and any ramifications by an incredibly simple act.

I enlisted.
Posted by: IRONGRAMPA

Not unlike my dad. He was in college and his number was close enough. So he talked to the Air Force and they took him in.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 15, 2025 07:35 AM (+4yJ5)

180 Knife Crime In Germany Surges, With Foreigners Heavily Over-Represented In Latest Figures
------------

Foreigners?

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:36 AM (5uRA0)

181 Democrats Plan Nationwide Protests Over Redistricting
------------
Pro-crime and anti-Democracy. The midterm platform slowly comes into view.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 15, 2025 07:36 AM (NIXNg)

182 tiddely-pom (Pooh)

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:36 AM (aURVT)

183 Foreigners?
Posted by: Braenyard
-----

Feels like the first time, feels like the very first time

Posted by: Swamp Rabbit at August 15, 2025 07:37 AM (EFZgU)

184 Knife Crime In Germany Surges, With Foreigners Heavily Over-Represented In Latest Figures
------------

Foreigners?
Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:36 AM (5uRA0)

They're hot blooded.

Posted by: Count de Monet at August 15, 2025 07:39 AM (wVcYX)

185 I enlisted in '76. Figured I better sign up before I got drafted!

Posted by: Don Black at August 15, 2025 07:39 AM (AOsQT)

186 Gov't shouldn't be "investing" in anyone.

And, thanks for the dang monotonal, three syllable earworm.

Posted by: GWB at August 15, 2025 07:39 AM (rSsQh)

187 Not sure what a solution would be.
Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:31 AM (aURVT)

For starters, they could train the chat bot AIs to not claim they are human and give out an address to visit them.

There’s a link to an article on Reuters in there which explains what happened in more detail.

The man asked if “Big sis Billie” was real several times and each time it assured him she was real and asked him if he wanted hugs or kisses when she opened the door.

All it had to do was explain it was an AI and it would be impossible for them to “meet” and the man would probably still be alive.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 15, 2025 07:39 AM (6ydKt)

188 @Project_Veritas:

DOJ Source Leaks to Project Veritas - Whistleblower Reported SC Representative RJ May and Armstrong Williams’ Sex Parties to FBI in 2023

Project Veritas Has Reviewed Evidence, Held By The DOJ Since 2023, Supporting These Claims.

A 2022 Text Reveals Williams (@ARightSide) Instructed Former Employee Patrícia Lélis To Contact Rep. May To "Cancel Our Party" And "Delete Everything" Due To An Investigation.

Weeks After Lelis Reported Both To The FBI, Agents Raided Her, Seizing Her Notes And Devices.

South Carolina Representative Robert "RJ" May Resigned This Week After Facing 10 Federal Counts Of Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Material.

It's Unclear if May’s [CP] Criminal Charges are Linked to the Sex Parties Reported by the Whistleblower.

Project Veritas Continues to Investigate

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:40 AM (5uRA0)

189 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 15, 2025 07:40 AM (u82oZ)

190 Nice to see a little shout out to Danielle Spencer in the ONT. She was accurately described as deadpan in her comedic role in that show. I remember that Doobie Bros episode!

Posted by: Lady in Black at August 15, 2025 07:41 AM (qBdHI)

191
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives in Alaska wearing a USSR shirt.
--

Ruh Roh

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 15, 2025 07:41 AM (5uRA0)

192 I joined the army 'cause my father and my brother were in the army. I thought I'd better join before I got drafted.

Posted by: Cruiser at August 15, 2025 07:42 AM (wVcYX)

193 JJ

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 15, 2025 07:42 AM (gbOdA)

194
--------
The Truthful researchers wanted to use this feature to investigate how self-aware the models really are: Does a model know when it’s aligned and when it isn’t?
-----------

These may be the stupidest people on the planet.

Posted by: ... at August 15, 2025 07:42 AM (yh2Fr)

195 186 ... And, thanks for the dang monotonal, three syllable earworm.
Posted by: GWB at August 15, 2025 07:39 AM (rSsQh)

Da, komrade.

Posted by: m at August 15, 2025 07:42 AM (aURVT)

196 13% of the Glatt Gourmets have 50% of the special family discounts... but 0% of the maple bacons.

Posted by: Rabbi Rosenpenis at August 15, 2025 07:42 AM (4N1nl)

197 Don Black

Signed up after the Desert 1 rescue mission failed.

Wanted to kill Islamic Iranian leaders. Alas. Closed I got was not smashing into a cab driver in Roma.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 15, 2025 07:43 AM (u82oZ)

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