The loons have been handed the control of science » « He was unqualified from the beginning

Need something to counter the signs of spring, stat

I needed a morning shot of cynicism, so naturally I turned to stderr, where I learned all about bunkers.

As a former security guy, it’s hard to imagine an end-user who’s worse than the current dumbass-in-chief. He’s the kind of idiot who would post photos including the GPS co-ordinates. Not because he’s a 5G warfare expert, but because he’s 6G stupid. The 5G AIs are still cycling in tight loops printing “brain hurts brain hurts brain hurts brain …” over and over.

So, it looks like Turnip has completely blown the cover of an extremely expensive op that was going to be concealed as a ballroom with cost and labor overruns, while building a new continuity of government/nuclear bunker AKA “bolthole for the idiots who started a nuclear war.” This all started to go into overdrive during the Eisenhower administration. That was when Camp David was turned into a nuclear bunker (or, more precisely, the golf course covers a nuclear bunker). You can learn a lot more about this in the book [wc] Raven Rock, which does not talk much about Raven Rock, but talks a lot about Mt Weather, and Camp David and The Greenbrier. The Greenbrier, now, is mostly declassified and you can even visit it. It’s on my list of things to do, someday, but I am trying to find suitable company – you can’t go to that kind of place alone, you need someone with you who can look at the hinges you are pointing to and nod and whisper, “overpressure relief.”

I can appreciate that. I’d want Marcus Ranum as my tour guide at any government facility. Go read the rest to learn more about these depressing monuments to smug futility.

I needed more — it’s warm, the sun is shining, but my knees are aching and I need the grimness so I don’t try to dance — so I read about the wedding industry on TikTok. If you really want to harsh your mellow, it’s a tossup whether nuclear war bunkers or wedding influencers are worse.

There are a few industries that prey on emotion particularly brazenly. The funeral industry is one. The wedding industry is another. I knew this going in. I thought I could defeat hundreds of years of socially ingrained pressure backed by a multi-billion dollar consumer machine. No problem.

That got me thinking…if I really want regular reminders that the world sucks, I just need to tickle the algorithm just right. There’s no way I could convince TikTok or Instagram that I’m a blushing bride, but hey, I could easily induce funeral TikTok to lavish some attention on me.

If you suddenly see my instagram feed filling with posts about death and funeral planning, don’t worry — I’m feeling fine. I’ll be teasing the ghouls, nothing more.

If you have suggestions for better topics to fuel a morbid streak, do let me know. Not politics — I already know what a graveyard of hope that is right now.

The loons have been handed the control of science » « He was unqualified from the beginning

Comments

  1. Pierce R. Butler says

    … suggestions for better topics to fuel a morbid streak…

    History serves that purpose well – that of native Americans has met that need for me for months lately.

  2. robro says

    I didn’t think you had to do anything to tease the ghouls of funeral TikTok except get older. Maybe it’s because of my age, or because I live in a area with lots of old people, but I already get a lot of old folks promotions including a number of nearby “assisted living” places…where you go to die and people wipe your ass a few times a day…and various burial and cremation options, including natural burial and composting.

  4. raven says

    If you have suggestions for better topics to fuel a morbid streak, do let me know.

    Climate change.

    Spoiler Alert: We’ve already lost that one.

    As of early 2026, atmospheric levels have reached approximately 431 ppm (parts per million), continuing a record-high trend due to fossil fuel emissions. Global averages in 2024 were 422 ppm, and levels are over 50% higher than pre-industrial times. These levels, largely driven by human activities, are the highest in human history.

    Global CO2 is going up at 3 ppm per year.
    and

    Global oil production is projected to set another record this year, with total supply expected to rise by 2.7 million barrels per day (mb/d) to 105.8 mb/d in 2025, and rise again in 2026 to 107.9 mb/d.

    World oil production will set another record this year with 108 mb/day. Or close to it, depending on how the Iran war goes.

    So there you have it. CO2 levels, which are the driver of climate change, are still going up rapidly. And so is the world’s production of oil and gas.

    Even a lot of hardcore climate scientists have given up. We aren’t going to stop global warming so the only thing left is to watch it happen in Real Time.

  8. raven says

    @7 shermanj

    I don’t see how that could work.
    Donated blood is not marked as to whether the donor has gotten Covid-19 vaccinations.
    Donated blood isn’t tested for Covid-19 vaccinations either.

    Which means the only way to avoid donated blood from vaccinated donors is to refuse all blood transfusions. Good luck with that, sometimes people who refuse blood transfusions end up dying.

    No, donated blood is not tested or marked to indicate whether the donor has received a COVID-19 vaccination.

    Blood collection organizations and the FDA do not track or separate blood based on vaccination status, as there is no evidence that blood from vaccinated donors poses any risk to recipients.
    PubMed Central (PMC) (.gov)

    Key details:
    No Marking: Blood product labels do not contain information regarding a donor’s COVID-19 vaccination status.
    No Testing: There is no validated test to determine if a donor received an mRNA vaccine.

  10. birgerjohansson says

    BTW the House rejected a “War Powers Resolution” with one vote because an idiot Democrat voted with the Republicans to let Trump do as he pleases.
    And this is why you Americans need to start purging the useless segment of the Democratic party.

  11. says

    @10 birgerjohansson wrote: And this is why you Americans need to start purging the useless segment of the Democratic party.
    I reply: That is a huge daunting task. But, lets start with schumer and jeffries and then wade into the vast sea of all the other useless dems. But, leave Ron Wyden, Jamie Raskin, Mark Kelly, and Ruben Gallego and a few others alone, they are at least trying to fight the overwhelming magat tide.

  12. mrdlc says

    Mt. Weather, “Site R”, The Greenbriar, and there are others. Back in 2021, during the insurrection, the plan was to produce enough of a threat against Pence that his secret service detail would whisk him off to one of those “undisclosed locations” and thus render him incapable of completing his constitutional duty of certifying the elections. There used to be a regular bomb shelter type bunker under the East Wing, but that’s now probably either gone or been back-filled. There’s not much use in putting a nuclear bunker under the White House, because it would be the target of at least one weapon in an all out nuclear war. However, Trump would probably put a gold plated one in.

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