Silly geographical comments (or whatever you'd call this)

Stormtroper

I've honestly always found it a little odd that for some reason men get to bare their chests but women can't.

My initial understanding was that this was because this is because women have boobs and showing off boobs is indecent because doing so is considered excessively sexy.

The way I've seen it explained, it's because of bras (and earlier breast-covering undergarments); women would wear them for comfort, thus typically they'd have their breasts covered, which in turn makes it sexier when they have them exposed.
At least that's what I've heard, I've tried looking up where those kind of clothing norms come from but never got a straight answer.

glennmagusharvey

I've given up on it making sense.

Stormtroper

Almost forgot:

This reminds me of that one article I've read. The gist of it was that wild pigs are a legitimate concern, and so that one guy claiming he needs his AR-15 in case he had to defend himself at a moment's notice against a dozen or two of invading pigs shouldn't be laughed at, but rather understood.

I remember an article published not long after the 30-50 wild hogs guy's post (that's who we are talking about, right?), about somebody getting killed in a situation similar to the one that guy was warning about.
But yeah, there are a million of videos on the 'net (e.g. this) of wild hogs getting killed in extravagant ways hunters come up with.

lrdgck

30-50 wild hogs guy's post (that's who we are talking about, right?)

Looks like I'm not the only one here who heard of it.

Stormtroper

Thad Roberts - the NASA intern who stole lunar rocks to 'have sex on the Moon'

Edit: For one reason or another I'm having trouble linking: https://www.timesnownews.com/amp/the-buzz/article/thad-roberts-the-nasa-intern-who-stole-lunar-rocks-to-have-sex-on-the-moon/748813

glennmagusharvey

So there exists a public library in the city of Sunrise, Florida, called the Sunrise Dan Pearl Library.

Unlike other libraries in Broward County, which often just have a name indicating their geographic region (e.g. Southwest Regional Library), this one bore the name of a person. This made me curious. Who is/was Dan Pearl?

As a modern-day person with internet access, my first impulse was to look up Dan Pearl on the internet. I quickly found a lengthy Wikipedia article about Daniel Pearl, a journalist who was tragically killed by terrorists in 2002. This article noted that various institutions had been named in his honor and memory.

But someting didn't sit right with me. Every reference to Pearl called him "Daniel". Why would the formal name of a public library instead use "Dan"? Besides, Wikipedia's list of things named after Daniel Pearl didn't mention this (though to be fair this is not a particularly notable library branch. (Only the library system as a whole and one other specific branch (out of 38) have individual Wikipedia articles.)

Well, then I decided to look for "sunrise dan pearl" and looked beyond just the first few search results.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1996/11/15/dan-pearl-public-servant/

The library was named after a (probably) entirely unrelated person, a former mayor of the city in which the library is located.

lrdgck

Thad Roberts - the NASA intern who stole lunar rocks to 'have sex on the Moon'

The name checks out.

The library was named after a (probably) entirely unrelated person, a former mayor of the city in which the library is located.

TV Tropes tells me there's a King County somewhere in the 'States, originally named after one William King who was a well-known racist or something, because that's who they were naming counties after those days. Because naming counties after well-known racists is no longer the in-thing, but renaming everything would have been a hassle, the local folks decided that from now on the county is just named after a different King. (One Martin Luther.)

Also, in weird news, apparently some vegan environmentalists call upon the Pope to make meatless Fridays obligatory again. (I don't know their stance on fish.)

glennmagusharvey

lrdgck wrote: »

The library was named after a (probably) entirely unrelated person, a former mayor of the city in which the library is located.

TV Tropes tells me there's a King County somewhere in the 'States, originally named after one William King who was a well-known racist or something, because that's who they were naming counties after those days. Because naming counties after well-known racists is no longer the in-thing, but renaming everything would have been a hassle, the local folks decided that from now on the county is just named after a different King. (One Martin Luther.)

Yes, it's King County, Washington (state), which contains Seattle.

lrdgck wrote: »

Also, in weird news, apparently some vegan environmentalists call upon the Pope to make meatless Fridays obligatory again. (I don't know their stance on fish.)

I never liked this idea of designating fish as "not really animals" (or otherwise not being of the same status). I hold this same opinion regarding what I've heard of how some Japanese people view fish. I read about this at some point after watching Kemono Friends, in some commentary about how there aren't any fish Friends in the series.

lrdgck

Amidst Ukrainian stalemate, Russia faces desertion of their dolphin forces

glennmagusharvey

https://www.404media.co/polish-hackers-repaired-trains-the-manufacturer-artificially-bricked-now-the-train-company-is-threatening-them/

Fuck DRM.

More details in toots posted by one of the hackers: https://social.hackerspace.pl/@q3k/111528162462505087

lrdgck

BREAKING NEWS: UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT OVER POLAND

It seems to just be another overshooting rocket flying over from Ukraine, but they do make it sound like a UFO. (Yeah, I do actually know what this acronym technically means, thank you.)

glennmagusharvey

(Yeah, I do actually know what this acronym technically means, thank you.)

I'm not sure what it means other than what you already wrote out. Well, that, or the twelth Touhou game.

Stormtroper

I figure it's the thing about how something doesn't need to be an alien spaceship to be an UFO.

glennmagusharvey

ah, a Florida Man incident

bonus find: two secondary Florida Man incidents (first when the traffic crash happens in front of the cop and second when the cop runs out of evidence containers)

glennmagusharvey

Alabama Man joins the fray!

https://apnews.com/article/bass-pro-shops-aquarium-nude-man-arrested-1e3cd9caf8a5eea6e1c4718498c914b3

LEEDS, Alabama (AP) — A man crashed his car outside a Bass Pro Shop in Alabama, stripped down to his birthday suit and plunged into the giant aquarium inside the store, police said.
...
The 42-year-old Alabama man did a “cannonball” leap into the aquarium and then stood under a waterfall. He left the water to yell at two officers, then dove back into the aquarium, police said.

The man eventually climbed over the side of the aquarium and fell to the concrete floor below. Police then apprehended him, the news site Al.com reported.

But wait, there's more!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/alabama-man-connor-padgett-stuck-in-decorative-urn-breaks-his-silence

An Alabama man who went viral over the New Year’s holidays for getting himself stuck in a decorative urn has a message for the millions who enjoyed watching him drunkenly shout obscenities as he struggled to get out of it: You’re welcome.

“I’m glad that I’ve been able to give people pleasure on their Monday,” Connor Padgett said in a new podcast on Monday.

Padgett, an architect for a Birmingham firm, was dubbed the new hero of 2024 after footage of him crammed inside a large vase—surrounded by drink-toting partygoers offering well-intentioned but useless tips for how to get out—blew up on social media. The footage, filmed by a bartender at the house party in Mountain Brook where Padgett said he’d climbed into the vase as part of a “game,” showed 39 seconds of sheer chaos.

The kicker is at the end though:

He went on to say he’d prefer not to be associated with Alabama’s other latest claim to viral fame, a man who recently stripped naked and jumped into an aquarium at a Bass Pro Shop in front of freaked-out shoppers.

“I’m crazy enough but I don’t need that type of crazy,” he said.

----

Meanwhile, though, Florida Man is still solidly in the running, as he Suffers "Severe And Long Term Injuries" From Exploding Toilet At Dunkin Donuts.

https://apnews.com/article/dunkin-donuts-exploding-toilet-florida-lawsuit-db7794a8ed61a8f1350bfbaffb094aa8

lrdgck

For what it's worth:



Also, I've heard a few things went on in Latin America:

• it appears Ecuadorian Man felt jealous of Polish Man, as an armed gang broke into state TV and the entire break-in and hostage situation went live. (Gotta admit, they did one-up on us.)
• Meanwhile in Mexico, a cartel calling itself Los Viagras forces people to exclusively use their own broadband internet provider service. they erected their own mast

fourteenwings

it appears Ecuadorian Man felt jealous of Polish Man, as an armed gang broke into state TV and the entire break-in and hostage situation went live.

Yeah I did hear about that.

Hunter Biden: May or may not make a fool of himself.
House Republican Lady: Can't let anybody be a bigger fool than she is.

Also whoever is saying "the gentlelady" sure wins all the Inclusivity Points.

glennmagusharvey

It was always weird that we had "ladies" and "gentlemen" without a clear opposite-sex analogue to either. "Gentleladies" at least tries to address the issue I guess.

---

http://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/lsfw/zj/qz2021/202309/t20230919_11144908.htm

Q: I live in Florida. Florida belongs to the embassy's consular jurisdiction, but it is far from D.C.. Can I apply my Chinese visa through the mail?

I'm amused that Florida is singled out as an example.

Not Hawai'i. Not Alaska. Not any of the many other states that are farther from DC than Florida. Not even U.S. citizens living abroad.

Florida.

Stormtroper

I just learned about F. D. C. Willard, the co-author behind a paper on low temperature physics and sole author of another, also he's a cat

glennmagusharvey

https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-kentucky/he-will-forever-be-in-our-hearts-kentucky-groundhog-dies-on-groundhog-day

lrdgck

However, he was able to pass on his prediction to the other groundhog living at the center, Josie Burrows.

Ah. I was just gonna drop that thread of prophecy is severed quote from Morrowind.

glennmagusharvey

It was severed since the Oracle of Delphi post got disestablished. Still waiting for someone to become appointed as the Oracle of Philadelphia.

Stormtroper

TIL about Skynet, although fortunately in our timeline it hasn't caused Judgment Day yet.

Stormtroper

Speaking of future stuff, I learned about FM-2030.

lrdgck

shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer, he described the pancreas as "a stupid, dumb, wretched organ."

gee, man, you're just sore

So, yeah, so far it seemed like my opinion of transhumanists is lower with every next one, so it's not like TwentyThirty made me much of a difference.

Stormtroper

In which an UK supermarket chain trademarks a name commonly used in Iceland, you'll never guess which.
Choice quote:

The Iceland Magazine noted that "Iceland Foods was founded in 1970, but only acquired the Europe wide trademark registration of "Iceland" in 2005. According to the Sagas Iceland, the nation, [sic] was established in 874. It is an insult to common sense to maintain that the supermarket chain has a stronger claim to the trademark than the country"

fourteenwings

I remember this actually.

>"ongoing"

Goodness gracious.

lrdgck

It's not fresh news, but have you guys heard of that Russian Satanist murderer cannibal who was pardoned to fight in the invasion of Ukraine? I have a vague recollection I might have stumbled onto this story when it went public, but I, like, really only learned of it while browsing wikipedia's list of incidents of cannibalism. The more you know.

glennmagusharvey

https://wetdry.world/@nonfedimemes/112183686316580621

Poland has been insulted!

Whatsoever shall you do?

Stormtroper

US cops kill samurai trying to achieve greatness with the katana.
Also: Fucking Guys