How do you use 'shrivels' in a sentence about Darth Melon?

Eyebrows Raise When Elon Musk’s Twitter Engagement Shrivels After Destruction of Russian Data Centers

The phenomenon may even be hitting close to home for certain billionaires. On Elon Musk’s Twitter-turned-X, users quickly noticed that the number of interactions the site’s owner was getting on his posts seemed to plummet in the wake of the strikes.

“Woah, Elon Musk out here getting less than 5k likes on his tweets after the bot farm got exploded,” YouTuber Zack “Jerry Rig Everything” Nelson tweeted. A screenshot appended to the post shows Musk receiving 4,900 likes after responding “Wow” to a racist conspiracy theory that claims Brussels, Belgium, is “only 10.5 percent white.”

On its face, the theory sounds pretty far-fetched. Could the destruction of a few Russian data centers really be tanking Musk’s engagement on his own platform?

But looking at the average number of likes his posts have been receiving does raise eyebrows. Throughout October, his posts garnered an average of between 17,000 and 81,000 likes per day — until the past two days, the averages slid to a dismal 11,000 and 8,000, respectively.

We certainly can’t determine a causal relationship, but the numbers are striking. And experts are paying attention.

(Source: https://futurism.com/future-society/elon-musk-engagement-shrivels-destruction-russian-bot-farm.)

DHH has said fascy shit again.

A court in Tennessee is worried that there hasn't been enough killing:

indisputable fact. Ward was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in May 2025. He claimed it was self-defense, but the jury didn’t buy it.

This week, however, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction. A three-judge panel declared that the jury was under the impression Lee was cisgender; that in not disclosing the victim’s status as a trans woman, the trial judge “misled” the jury; and that Ward was entitled to a new trial where he could use this fact to bolster his claim of self-defense.

This story was first reported by independent journalist Jamie Satterfield. Other outlets and LGBTQ organizations also reported on Lee’s death at the time, with some referring to her as Kitty Monroe, which was her name on social media.

[...]

Source: https://truthout.org/articles/tn-court-rules-killing-of-woman-may-have-been-justifiable-because-she-was-trans/

If you liked the poopsplosion outbreak that RFK made possible, you might also enjoy: the foaming-at-the-mouth outbreak.

Public health officials in North Carolina are warning that people who visited a mobile petting zoo between late July and late August may have been exposed to rabies after multiple baby goats tested positive for the virus.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services confirmed multiple rabies cases in baby goats associated with Farm Adventures mobile petting zoo, a business based in Iredell County that hosts events in the surrounding area. Health officials said people who had direct contact with the goats between July 28 and Aug. 27 should seek a rabies risk assessment.

The warning applies to visitors who interacted with the animals either at the petting zoo's location in Harmony, North Carolina, or at off-site events hosted across several counties in the state. Authorities emphasized that the risk is limited to people who attended events hosted by the petting zoo and had close contact with the goats.

Because baby goats are often bottle-fed, handled closely and cuddled by visitors, health officials said they are working to identify anyone who may have been exposed to infected saliva.

It could not be confirmed how many of the goats had already been bitten by RFK for lack of properly aged roadkill.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/08/30/north-carolina-petting-zoo-rabies-baby-goats/91540918007/

In government-so-petty-that-it-is-deadly-afraid-of-toilet-sinks news ...

Abbott directed a review of all state grants awarded to entities that operate airports in Texas, after reports surfaced that Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) would be adding ablution facilities.

In an Aug. 14 letter shared by the governor, Abbott argued that ablution facilities used for Islamic washing rituals are unconstitutional. The letter was sent to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.

"These facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion. I am unaware of either airport installing standalone facilities to meet the particular needs of the many other religious groups represented across Texas," Abbott wrote in the letter.

Abbott also argued that the facilities violate constitutional protections against religious discrimination.

For context, the project specified two foot-washing sinks, in their own stalls, one for each gendered toilet, on the publicly accessible side of the terminal, so everything that Abbott said is blatantly pretextual.

Source: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/state/texas/2026/08/15/abbott-takes-aim-at-texas-airports-over-islamic-foot-washing-stations/91317518007/

So, about the binning odds ...

Farage and Count Binface among record number of candidates in Clacton by-election – here’s the full list

This leaves a diverse field of opponents, with satirical candidate Count Binface and actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox emerging as his most prominent challengers.

Mr Farage had envisioned the contest as a "people versus the establishment" showdown, but he now finds himself up against a varied group, including three candidates from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and numerous independents.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/farage-count-binface-clacton-by-election-full-list-candidates-b3017206.html

In wire news ...

Finland's last-ever landline telephone call will be made today, Tuesday 30 June.

From Wednesday, the country's landlines will fall silent as telecom operator Elisa retires its fixed-line network for both private customers and businesses.

Elisa's competitor Telia discontinued its own landline service in 2019, while DNA stopped supporting landline networks at the start of this year.

Nokia has om-nommed all the landlines up.

https://yle.fi/a/74-20233910

How advanced would a chatbot need to be in order to be able to handle the proper sycophancy requires merciless criticism paradox? :blobcatthinking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I5dfI4SyLg

WTF, New Zealand?

An intraoral device for weight loss: initial clinical findings

Aim The aim of this clinical study was to investigate the acceptability and tolerability of an intraoral device, designed to facilitate weight loss.

Method Seven healthy obese participants were recruited. The device, which incorporated closed-field magnets with keepers to restrict mouth opening, was cemented to the participants' first molars. The participants were given a commercially available liquid diet for two weeks. The comfort and tolerability of the device were assessed using a quality of life questionnaire during review appointments at 1, 7 and 14 days and two weeks after device removal.

Results The participants reached a mean weight loss of 6.36 (SD = 3.79) kilograms, which represents approximately 5.1% of their body weight. The participants had trouble pronouncing some words and felt tense and embarrassed 'only occasionally'. The participants 'hardly ever' reported a change in taste sensation or felt uncomfortable drinking. However, participants indicated that they occasionally had discomfort and felt that life in general was less satisfying. Qualitative analysis showed that the participants were happy with the outcome and were motivated to lose more weight.

You'll note that there was no placebo control.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41415-021-3081-1

On the sacrifices people used to make for Tiktok.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r2xTUu07X1s

Also, concepts of a security.

Eighties dystopian SciFi promised us Security Concepts, and forty years later, we have concepts of securities.

https://robocop.fandom.com/wiki/Security_Concepts

Would trans women have an Unfair Advantage(tm) at performative book-reading competitions? :blobcatthinking:

Looks like Jehovah has been witnessed munching on some delicious black sausages, but only ones made of his own blood, so blood cisfusions are now a-OK.

Jehovah's Witnesses has updated its policy on blood transfusions to allow members to have their own blood removed, stored, and "given back" in medical procedures.

While the change will enable members to have transfusions of their own blood - in planned surgeries, for example - they continue to be prohibited from receiving the blood of others.

Gerrit Losch, part of the group's leadership, announced the move saying "each Christian must decide for himself how his blood will be used in medical and surgical care".

Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian-based religious movement, probably best known for its door-to-door evangelism. It claims 144,000 active members in the UK, and nine million worldwide.

The group has historically ruled that members cannot accept blood transfusions, as - according to the groups website - both the Old and New Testaments "command us to abstain from blood".

(In case you're not familiar with the underlying exegesis, the JWs' "principled" opposition to blood transfusion is based on twisting the Mosaic kashrut rules that deemed blood to be unsuitable to be eaten by humans, most probably because within their historic context, it would have been pretty hard to safely preserve and cook blood, a rather perishable part of a freshly slaughtered cow, into a pretzel. Luckily, reliable ovens, refrigerators, and even freeze drying machines gave been invented since then, safe food-grade blood is now a thing, and on a completely unrelated note, safe and sometimes life-critical blood transfusions are also now a thing.)

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62j31539dwo.

"But is it a negative or positive delta-ice?" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jyE8rv00YYI

This confusion is also what cold reading is based on, btw. Falling for a chatbot is literally the same type of mistake as falling for a psychic telling you that somebody you used to know who had a vowel in their name died.

The notion of a broken clock being sometimes right is based on a gross misunderstanding of what information is.

A clock that always shows the same time is never right, even in the moments of the day when the time happens to be what it shows, because you don't gain any information about what time it is by looking at the clock.

This reasoning also applies to chatbots. If you can't tell whether what you have been given is useful information unless you alreay know the information, then you haven't been given useful information.

"Why did nobody tell me?" — "Well, you are the one that's you."

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Rc1X8uRJRek

What if we normalised telling history through user interface stories?

"As a feudal French peasant, I experienced a period of food insecurity, so I died of famine."

"As a French feudal lord, an unusually high number of my peasants died, so I complained to my seigneur how hard good help is to find."

"As a feudal French king, I want to have a good time, but all those downer vassals keep complaining about some sort of peasant famine, so I wanted to make a point by suggesting that the commoners think about how hard it is to be a king and send letters to me."

"As a hopeful French peasant, a bunch of my friends died of famine, but the king had invited feedback, so I wrote to him and politely suggested lowering taxes during famine."

"As a French king in the best time ever to be a French king, some peasants ruined my mood by sending me letters about tax policy, so I brought the subject up with their dukes."

"As a French duke, my day was ruined by hearing that the king was displeased by some annoying peasants, so I dispatched a regiment to take care of the problem."

"As a French knight, I troubleshoot my liege's problems, so I hunted down some peasants who had written a nasty letter or some such nonsense, and shot them."

"As a French peasant, I saw a bunch of soldiers shooting my friends for writing a letter to the good king, so I went to Paris and made new friends.

"As a hungry Parisian, I like to hang around with my new Jacobin friends. I'm starting to have doubts as to the goodness of the king."

"As a King's lawman, I'm unhappy with the increased disorder in our beautiful city, so I ordered my underlings to shoot on the unruly mob to make them disperse."

"As a soldier serving my king in Paris, I hear some of my friends were broken out of Bastille where they had been doing time for not shooting on the mob when ordered. I'm starting to think the mob might have some real power!"

"As a newspaperman, I hear that the king has ordered some provincial soldiers to reinforce the guard at Versailles. Extra! Extra! Read all about the cakes they got to eat while we here in Paris starve!"

"As a woman in Paris, I had been having trouble buying enough food for my husband and child, so I kvetched about it with some of my sisters at the Commune, and then we marched on the Versailles.

"As a king of the France, my home in Versailles was ransacked by hangry commoners, so I decided to move to Paris where it should be safer. Call me the king of the French now. Long live me!"

"As a carpenter in Paris, I had trouble selling enough furniture to buy food, so I made this nice guillotine instead. Now people are buying me free drinks, at least."

"As a Jacobin barista, I heard the supposed king had moved to Paris, so when the revolution came, my friends seized Citizen Louis. The word on the streets is, National Convention wants to have a little chat with him."

"As the King of the French, I am responsible for promoting new inventions, so I gave the guillotine a try. The blade was awfully sharp, and the blood spewage ruined my beautiful gown. 0/5, would not recommend."

TL;ES: 🇺🇦 we the civilised peoples can and must help improve the Ukraine situation.

Vlad von Kremlin has launched a genocidal war against yet another of Russia's neighbours, partly to support his local political amibitions, and partly to ruthlessly and abusively use a foreign country and its people as a "buffer state".

The war is not only itself illegal, but Russia's militants have been repeatedly caught waging it in ways repugnant to the laws and customs of warfare and committing atrocities against civilians.

In the current situation, the civilised world needs to some quite obvious things for our shared enlightened self-interest:

• support Ukraine's military defence;
• protect the people of Ukraine, inside and outside the country;
• maintain sanctions on Russia;
• help Ukraine rebuild; and
• following the precedent of the UN GA resolution 2758, recognise Ukraine, and not Russia, as the legitimate holder of the permanent seat at the Security Council allocated to USSR by Article 23 Section 1 of the United Nations Charter. Ukraine, unlike Russia, has been making solid progress in terms of human rights and general welfare over the last thirty years, it having voluntarily given up its nuclear stockpile in 1994 marks it as the first post-nuclear country, and unlike the current pretender to the USSR seat, it's not a terrorist state.

Last but not least, Vlad von Kremlin's actions, of which I'd particularly highlight his increasing efforts to persecute the LGBT+ folks living in Russia, have prompted an exodus of millions of people of Russia. We must recognise that people fleeing the tyranny of Putin deserve international protection even if they happen to hold a Russia passport. Certainly, due to the credibility issues of the Kremlin regime which controls the issuance of Russia passports, a higher level of scrutiny is appropriate — but past that scrutiny, it'd be morally indefensible to paint people clearly seeking to distance themselves from Kremlin's crimes with the horrible tarnish of these very crimes.