Interesting News, Articles & Stuff

[macbill]

It's National Tequila Day!!!
National Tequila Day 2020: Drink in some surprising facts

It's National Tequila Day in the United States. And if there's ever a year in which we deserve a shot or two, 2020 is it.
In honor of the holiday, here are five surprising facts you might not have known about tequila.

 

[strech]

Rice Root Aphid: An Insect Surprise on Indoor-Grown Cannabis

A widespread pest known best for infesting grain crops, the rice root aphid has emerged as a leading pest of indoor-grown cannabis crops.

entomologytoday.org

 

[macbill]

Playboy Russian hacker holds Garmin to ransom: - and wants $10m to restore it

Tens of millions of people around the world have found their Garmin devices, including those used by runners, cyclists and pilots, down for a fifth day after being hacked by Russian group Evil Corps which is demanding a $10m ransom to restore their operation.

Garmin has been ordered to pay the ransom by the cybercriminal group headed by a 33-year-old Russian playboy hacker, Maksim Yakubets, who drives a customized $250,000 Lamborghini.

 

[macbill]

What the heroin industry can teach us about solar power

This is about small-scale entrepreneurs trying to make a profit.

It is the story of how Afghan opium growers have switched to solar power, and significantly increased the world supply of heroin.

 

[hans solo]

Martha Stewart Accepts Challenge to Smoke a Joint with Chelsea Handler

There’s no turning back now: the Internet is waiting to see Stewart light up—once and for all.

hightimes.com

 

[macbill]

Stunning 23 Percent of Police Have ‘Favorable View’ of White Supremacists in New Poll
Amid continued protests for racial justice sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, a new poll finds that nearly one in four police officers holds favorable views of white supremacists.

The good news from this week’s Morning Consult tracking poll is that the overwhelming majority of Americans — 84 percent — view white supremacists unfavorably.

 

[macbill]

An American Surrogate Had His Baby. Then Coronavirus Hit.

North America had the largest surrogacy market in 2015, accounting for nearly half of the global total.

But the coronavirus pandemic—and the travel bans and canceled flights that accompanied it—has completely upended this industry, leaving babies stranded without anyone to pick them up. In May, video of 46 unclaimed babies sitting in a hotel in Ukraine ignited fury and headlines across the world. But the problem is not limited to foreign countries.

 

[macbill]

Living in a downtown Portland ‘under siege’

Dawn Redlich was in her apartment in Old Town on May 30 watching TV when Portland police used tear gas on protesters outside. It was a temperate night and a little breezy, she said, and gas wafted into her open windows.

 

[macbill]

You Either Love'm or Hate'm: Necco Wafers Are Back

The chalky disks have returned! Neccos were a nickle when I was a kid, but so was a Hershey's Bar.

 

[hans solo]

Is the word marijuana racist? - Pot Culture - CannCentral

Like the plant to which it refers, the word marijuana has a fraught history, and it remains controversial today. - Pot Culture - CannCentral

www.canncentral.com

 

[Tranquility]

EXCLUSIVE: Police bodycam footage shows moment-by-moment arrest of George Floyd for the first time - from terror on his face when officer points gun at his head, sobbing before he's shoved into squad car and begging to breathe as his life drains away

 

[macbill]

 

[Ramahs]

EXCLUSIVE: Police bodycam footage shows moment-by-moment arrest of George Floyd for the first time - from terror on his face when officer points gun at his head, sobbing before he's shoved into squad car and begging to breathe as his life drains away

Yeah. Difficult to watch...but EVERYONE should watch it more than once.

 

[macbill]

The White, European Jesus of Western imagination is fiction

The white, European Jesus of Western imagination is a fiction produced by those who could not imagine human perfection in any other form. “Whites simply couldn’t conceive of owing their salvation to a representative of what they considered an inferior race,” Robert P. Jones, chief executive of PRRI and the author of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity” emailed me. “And a nonwhite Jesus would render impossible the intimate relationalism necessary for the evangelical paradigm to function: no proper white Christian would let a brown man come into their hearts or submit themselves to be a disciple of a swarthy Semite.”

 

[Tranquility]

The White, European Jesus of Western imagination is fiction

The white, European Jesus of Western imagination is a fiction produced by those who could not imagine human perfection in any other form. “Whites simply couldn’t conceive of owing their salvation to a representative of what they considered an inferior race,” Robert P. Jones, chief executive of PRRI and the author of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity” emailed me. “And a nonwhite Jesus would render impossible the intimate relationalism necessary for the evangelical paradigm to function: no proper white Christian would let a brown man come into their hearts or submit themselves to be a disciple of a swarthy Semite.”

Yup. There is a concerted effort by the left to have people of faith be "othered". A leader in the BLM movement claims all worship of Jesus if the icon is not of his liking is simply white supremacy and the icon must be destroyed. The statue must be torn down.

The hatred of others is strong when Jesus becomes a representation of evil.

The love of race, whatever that is, is the evil. People trying to make Christians out as white supremacists BECAUSE of their belief in Jesus (painted in a color not approved by the committee) are the hate mongers that promote racism. Not the modern racism of structural issues that disproportionately affect some races (Is color a race? Does my race change if I get a tan? What if I feel I'm of another race than my superficial color might indicate?), but the old fashioned racism based on the color of one's skin rather than the content of one's character.

This anti-religious bigotry (At best, more likely pro-Marxist rather than anti-religious.) is a real problem. There's no more slippery slope, the haters are here (I shudder to think what happens when Mary is re-imagined as a Confederate general):
White Jesus Statues Should Be Torn Down, Activist Shaun King Says
UCSB teaching assistant says he would ‘assassinate Jesus’ if he had a time machine
Desecration of Catholic Churches Across U.S. Leaves Congregations Shaken
Jesus Statues Vandalized, Beheaded in U.S. as China Rips Down Jesus Posters in Homes
Jesus Statue Found Beheaded Outside Catholic Church In Miami, Diocese Expects Hate Crime Investigation

 

[Ramahs]

Yup. There is a concerted effort by the left to have people of faith be "othered". A leader in the BLM movement claims all worship of Jesus if the icon is not of his liking is simply white supremacy and the icon must be destroyed. The statue must be torn down.

The hatred of others is strong when Jesus becomes a representation of evil.

The love of race, whatever that is, is the evil. People trying to make Christians out as white supremacists BECAUSE of their belief in Jesus (painted in a color not approved by the committee) are the hate mongers that promote racism. Not the modern racism of structural issues that disproportionately affect some races (Is color a race? Does my race change if I get a tan? What if I feel I'm of another race than my superficial color might indicate?), but the old fashioned racism based on the color of one's skin rather than the content of one's character.

This anti-religious bigotry (At best, more likely pro-Marxist rather than anti-religious.) is a real problem. There's no more slippery slope, the haters are here (I shudder to think what happens when Mary is re-imagined as a Confederate general):
White Jesus Statues Should Be Torn Down, Activist Shaun King Says
UCSB teaching assistant says he would ‘assassinate Jesus’ if he had a time machine
Desecration of Catholic Churches Across U.S. Leaves Congregations Shaken
Jesus Statues Vandalized, Beheaded in U.S. as China Rips Down Jesus Posters in Homes
Jesus Statue Found Beheaded Outside Catholic Church In Miami, Diocese Expects Hate Crime Investigation

I'd agree that support of white Jesus is support of white supremacy.
Is what it is, even if it makes white folks uncomfortable.
Too bad. At least people are starting to talk about it.

 

[Tranquility]

I'd agree that support of white Jesus is support of white supremacy.
Is what it is, even if it makes white folks uncomfortable.
Too bad. At least people are starting to talk about it.

The racists are those with your ideology on the matter. There is a difference between the structural racist theory being promulgated lately and the old style racism of not judging a person by the content of their character but by the color of their skin.

The two theories of racism are not compatible.

I choose to fight the same racisism as MLK and not the one made up by Marxists.

 

[florduh]

I choose to fight the same racisism as MLK and not the one made up by Marxists.

"The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.”

— Where Do We Go From Here, 1967

 

[Tranquility]

"The majority of white Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class Utopia embodying racial harmony. But unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity.”

— Where Do We Go From Here, 1967

Much of the problem today has, at it's roots, the same issues as described in the Moynihan report so long ago.

And, Marxism was not unknown to MLK. He had political views beyond race. While I think him one of the highest examples of American we have, that does not mean he had a lot of things I think him wrong about too.

Now, how does that make it OK to tell others how to color their icons? How does that not focus on the color of ones skin?

 

[florduh]

Now, how does that make it OK to tell others how to color their icons? How does that not focus on the color of ones skin?

There are enough problems facing actual people that I don't pay much attention to the plight of ones made from stone.

I just wanted to point out how silly this quote is:

I choose to fight the same racisism as MLK

You literally don't. That's fine, but maybe don't invoke his name then. Plenty of people today support a MLK who never existed.

I can't imagine what Fox News would be saying about MLK if he were a modern figure. Probably the same shit the media said about him then.

 

[macbill]

I added the above article because many Southern Christians (and Christians everywhere) are prejudiced against people who look just as Christ might have looked based on the people that lived there in ancient times. No one really knows what he looked like. There might be fringe groups that want to dictate the images of your Deity, but that's far from my intention. Just as St. Nicholas was from the Turkish region, there is very good chance he appeared differently than today's Santa Claus. The European Christ with Blond hair and blue eyes is not a good representation of the actual appearance of the Christ (if he existed), but I don't demand that they change.

 

[Tranquility]

 

[macbill]

The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election

Good thing nobody's predicting a huge surge in mail any time soon.

The United States Postal Service is removing mail sorting machines from facilities around the country without any official explanation or reason given, Motherboard has learned through interviews with postal workers and union officials. In many cases, these are the same machines that would be tasked with sorting ballots, calling into question promises made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that the USPS has “ample capacity” to handle the predicted surge in mail-in ballots.

 

[macbill]

How QAnon and Pizzagate Conspiracy Theorists Got a ‘Trolls’ Doll Pulled From Stores

A rumor about a doll from the ‘Trolls’ franchise is a master class in how conspiracy theories spread.

 

[macbill]

Court finds Amazon can face liability for defective products sold by third parties on its website

Amazon can be held liable for defective products sold by third-parties on its website, a California state appeals court ruled Thursday in case brought by a San Diego woman injured when a laptop battery that she purchased exploded.The decision by the California Court of Appeal’s Fourth Appellate District in San Diego is one of the few nationwide to reject Amazon’s core defense against third-party product liability — that it’s simply an online marketplace facilitator helping manufacturers reach customers globally, not a retailer or distributor subject to legal product liability law."