An experiment I did was wildly successful.

I'd learned years ago that insects don't drown in water because their spiracles (the body pores they breathe through) have been calibrated by evolution in concert with the surface tension of water.

Given that soap REDUCES that tension (making water 'wetter'), I wondered if SOAPY water might drown them.

It does. Very well. I filled a small spray bottle with water with a little dish soap. One day of spraying seems to have killed all stink bugs I found.

"From what I can gather, the problem with AI in science is that it doesn't distinguish rigorously established facts from "somebody said" when evaluating a scientific question. Its results have no basis in reality since its 'reality' is nothing more or less than it's been told.

"It's the Right Wing in computational form.

"I'd genuinely love it if somebody explained that my impression is wrong."

~ Farker MrBallou

Ask most people today who killed Mussolini, and they probably have to look it up. They know he WAS killed, but not by whom.

History cares much less about who vanquishes evil men than the fact that they were defeated. It was likely murder under prevailing law, but no one faced charges for it.

A given act, by anyone, is assessed by the prevailing standards and priorities of the society affected, much more than by anything like enduring law.

I will not speak his name; it's in the piece, and you already know it. But this precocious yet morally bankrupt 20-year-old might spend the rest of his life in prison. And that might be the best he can hope for.

https://medium.com/@carmitage/big-balls-now-exposed-to-serious-criminal-charges-in-at-least-six-states-ca865e1d6305

Also, I try not to miss an opportunity to pull this one. Given thousands of years, history records not even one example of any society successfully functioning under libertarian principles. It does, however, record plenty of failed attempts, some of them hilarious.

https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project

"Objectivism is Oppositional Defiant Disorder expressed as an existential philosophy. Libertarianism is Oppositional Defiant Disorder expressed as a political philosophy."

~ Farker jso2897

> 'appeared first on Reason Magazine'

Well, there it is. This sad joker is for real.

I'm honestly not completely sure this isn't satire. With libertarians, it can be hard to tell.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/correcting-stereotype-libertarians-only-caring-201556175.html

If you had a dollar for every trans woman competing in college sports right now, you wouldn't be able to afford a gallon of diesel.

2/ In context of human civilization -- approximately the last 10-12 ky -- accomplishing that means standing up to a lot of other humans, often a majority. Because humans are extremely good at ignoring or denying reality, especially in numbers. But if you want to harmonize with objective reality, you must accept that challenge.

This is dicey. Because more than a little such opposition carries danger from the single largest threat in your environment -- other people. So you have to be judicious.

Probably the single most important thing for EVERYONE to know and embrace is that objective reality does not care what you think or feel , never did, never will, and never can. If you live in ignorance or denial of objective reality, the odds of that not causing you harm are low. If you want to avoid that harm, you must know and accept objective reality, and try to harmonize with it. You must adjust your attitude and feelings to match it, as closely as you can. Anything else risks you harm.

/2

Does anyone know enough about BeamNG to tell me what the dark object in the sky is in this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMolQSfv-GE

'It does not matter whether demonic influence and end-times prophecy are mass delusion or metaphysical reality: If the right people believe hard enough, they might as well be the latter. As the alleged demons in question, we are running out of time to take them seriously. Like it or not, we need to talk about the apocalypse.'

Possibly the most terrifying statistics you will ever read:

"Fully one third of all Americans partially or completely agree with Christian nationalist beliefs." - and:

"People with these beliefs are twice as likely ... to support political violence."

https://newrepublic.com/article/215003/christian-dominionism-apocalypse-trump-administration

I realized a lot of people don't know this:

If you're using an optical mouse (and who isn't these days), and it starts 'aiming' oddly, like it's not tracking properly, don't assume it's busted.

Especially if you have pets.

Because it's optical, it gets confused by fluff or hair that gets under the lens, even a tiny bit of it.

Turn it over and look. Blow into the hole where the laser is. Try it again.

This almost always works for me.

AMUCK? Or AMOK?

It's really your choice. Neither is more or less correct, though both have had their fads of preference. Right now, the latter is preferred; but a century ago, the former was.

The original Malay word is AMUK, but this was either unwritten, or was originally written in Malasian orthography, which uses different characters from Latin. So there's no strictly 'correct' Latin spelling, merely what convention has prescribed.

I commented on this same opinion a week or so ago, saying that it's bad even by already-low 5C standards. But I relied on an abstract with a few pull quotes, and didn't actually read it. Now I see that it's even worse than I'd already said.

https://www.salon.com/2026/09/12/a-federal-court-says-the-government-can-lie-to-you-that-will-backfire/

I was originally going to post the Kendra Smith version, which is my personal favourite, but then I found this good-quality clip of the original.

A timeless piece, maybe more relevant today than it was 60 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wY-JJs9n78&list=RD8wY-JJs9n78&start_radio=1

'A View to a Kill' is a 1985 Bond film about a psychopathic Soviet agent named Zorin who goes native in the West.

'Sleepers' is a 1991 comedy about a Soviet scientist named Zorin who successfully trains and sends two long-term sleeper agents to the West, who then go native while he goes insane.

I'm not making any accusations here, just reporting what I've observed.

I will say that 'Sleepers' is far more entertaining.