31 December 2017

Link round-up for 31 December 2017

Vagabond Scholar's annual Jon Swift Roundup of blog posts is up.

Here are some questionable Christmas decorations, and a very tall Christmas tree.

Shitty weather.

Don't mess with the mysterious object.

Please tell me this exercise machine isn't real.

Somebody doesn't have much Christmas spirit.

Nosy prig freaks out on plane.

Crazy Eddie has some Broken Peach Christmas songs.

Graffiti preserved at Pompeii offers insights into ancient Roman life.

What if the world were the other way round?

Christmas used to be more fun (found via Yellowdog Granny).

I love this dance scene too.

Be careful interpreting art.

Is your refrigerator running?

This person can vote.

This 2017 Christmas song looks at both sides of the year.

No regrets.

Phone-screen size has evolved over time.

Don't attack yarn.

Hogs, hogs everywhere!

Tremble before the planet-conquering giant space monster.

One of my favorite online film reviewers, Grace Randolph, counts down the top ten movies of 2017.

Crazy Eddie has comprehensive posts on 2017's political documentaries and the likely effect of tax "reform" on the US economy.

Bark Bark Woof Woof reviews the year in Florida news.  It can be a wild place.

Nikki Haley gets pwned.

They knew how to build back then.

Mock Paper Scissors has more on the travails of Trumpanzees on the dating scene.

I assume this method of courtship is not usually successful.

The NFL has to draw the line somewhere.

If you live in Oregon, consider signing this petition to make the internet a public utility in our state.

Evangelical subculture suffocates half its population.  For some people, it never really had a place at all.

Republican voters need to stay alert (found via Hackwhackers).

The Catholic Church is still clueless about handling its child-molestation epidemic.

Any politician who does this is an asshole.

The story of Ruth Coker deserves to be better known.

Breitbart dissimulates to protect Trump.

The opposition to gay marriage is literally dying out.

Here's why Yiannopoulos lost his book deal.

This should be the last word on "cultural appropriation".

Conservative Christianity has mortally wounded itself by supporting Trump.

Hackwhackers collects some year-end retrospectives -- more here, too.

Bruce Gerencser recalls his mother's experiences with the true believers.

Let this scumbag speak and tell him to pay for the security.

World War I was once interrupted for a Christmas truce.

Christian education has a rather North-Korea-like feel to it.

These people exist.  And this person exists.

The US shows signs of being a decaying society (found via Mendip).

Here's the current status of the Republican war on Latinos.  Half of Puerto Rico is still without power three months after the hurricane (I can't imagine such sluggish recovery in a comparable area of Germany or Japan), and it's having consequences for the rest of the US.

Do hormonal cycles make a woman President a bad idea?

Texas researchers reveal what the T-Rex really sounded like (though I still like this).

Crazy Eddie looks at the top science stories of 2017.

Prosthetic limbs are improving.

This is how to make a civilization self-destruct.  US world leadership is doomed if anti-science bullshit prevails.

Trump's unilateralism weakens and isolates the US.  Foreign governments are taking note.  So are foreign peoples.

Today's New Year's Eve party in Berlin will have a "safe zone" for women -- the first time it's ever needed one.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Germany, of all places.

How many migrants have you settled in the Vatican, asshole?

Good move -- more like this, please.  There must be punishment.

Russia makes an embarrassing goof.

Trump's Jerusalem move has hurt the tourism industry there.

Jihadists are attacking the Christian minority in Egypt.

Anti-regime protests are spreading in Iran, though nothing like as huge as those of 2009.

Thank goodness Miyazaki stood up to Weinstein.

I can't imagine a commercial like this ever appearing on US TV.

Keep the babies warm.

HuffPost reviews the Rohingya crisis in pictures.  It's striking how little interest this ghastly campaign of persecution has aroused among Western activists and in the Islamic world (the Rohingya are Muslim).  Maybe it's because nobody can think of a way to blame the Jews for it.

Wonkette, Blue in the Bluegrass, and We Hunted the Mammoth enjoy a good gloat over Doug Jones's victory.  Black voters overcame formidable obstacles to achieve that victory.

An abundance of candidates raises hopes for a big win next year, which will raise the question of impeachment.

This guy has the true spirit of a modern right-winger.  Trumpanzees are driven by nihilistic rage.  Let's not waste time on cultists.

Merry #@%^$!* Christmas!

TPM looks at Trump and pardons.  The Russia scandal isn't just an issue for Democrats.

Let's hope this is the first of many such books.

The Carpentariat has political odds and ends.  Politico has 2017's worst predictions.

Trump and his cabinet have a classic abusive relationship. Cabinet?  I mean toadies.

This poll shows that Republican tax "reform" is unlikely to become more popular.  Even the "merely wealthy" aren't getting a big enough breakTake from the poor, give to the rich.

Nobody should care what Maya Kosoff thinks.

[Well, that's it for this year.  Tune in tonight to Times Square to watch America's ball descend.]

5 Comments:

Anonymous Tengrain said...

Thanks as always for your Sunday Round-up: I often find new blogs to add to my RSS reader here. And as always I'm tickled pink whenever I see a link to mine.

I hope 2018 brings us all some respite from the horrors of 2017.

Best regards,

Tengrain

31 December, 2017 09:36  
Blogger Green Eagle said...

Another year of this...I know how much effort it takes to compile lists like this week after week, and there is nobody I have found that is as good at it as you. Thanks for your work.

31 December, 2017 11:06  
Blogger LadyAtheist said...

Vote for the Wildlife attraction ... and against the Bible Museum!

http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-new-attraction/

31 December, 2017 11:19  
Blogger Pinku-Sensei said...

You linked to me four times -- that's a record. Thank you, I'm flattered! I guess I have been doing something useful while on vacation.

You've convinced me to follow several people you linked to, Vagabond Scholar, Beyond the Trailer, and Dangerville. You told me about Vagabond Scholar last year, but I didn't follow through. As for Beyond the Trailer and Dangerville, they're even better than Hybrid Network, which you also introduced me to.

As someone who blogs about science fiction and the decline of civilization, thank you for linking to that mini-review of "The Three-Body Problem." Now I'll have to write about it.

I suspect Milo Y. was more interested in insulting people he didn't like than writing a good book. The book was just his excuse for being a jerk. Speaking of which, my wife and I watched him on "Real Time with Bill Maher" earlier this year and were not impressed. We both used to be master trolls on Usenet (we're now retired) and we thought "this is what a great troll is these days? What a punk!"

Finally, Nonnie is always a hoot!

With that, Happy New Year!

31 December, 2017 18:57  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Tengrain: Thanks -- you always provide so much good material!

Green: Thanks for your own work as well -- wading through the sludge for those Wingnut Wrapups can't be easy.

Lady A: Well, at least they didn't include Ken Ham's fake ark -- maybe it's not "new" enough.

Pinku: They're solid posts. Keep an eye out Tuesday morning.

Grace Randolph (Beyond the Trailer) is one of my favorite YouTube movie reviewers; the other is Chris Stuckmann. I thought her best-film list was better than his, but if it had been me I'd have included Atomic Blonde, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and Ghost in the Shell. I haven't seen The Shape of Water yet, but it looks equally worthy from what I've heard.

Yiannopoulos is a weird case. I think a gay conservative gets an elevated profile for the same reason black conservatives do -- he gives the rest of them a bit of "un-bigoted" cred. Whether he's really any good at what he does is less important. I suppose it's wingnut affirmative action.

01 January, 2018 07:17  

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