These are just a few little things I spotted and thought I’d bring to your attention.

I don’t usually mention Laura Ingraham around here, but when I do, it’s because she said something remarkably stupid.

If you know Minnesota, and I know it well, especially Milwaukee, it’s changed. It’s never recovered from 2020. It’s not the same place. And Tim Walz was empathizing with all the DEI initiatives that were swirling about the controversies.

Somebody who knows Minnesota well ought to know that Milwaukee is in Wisconsin.

I appreciate the sentiment and the spectacular sideburns, but no, I can’t listen to Nick Offerman sing this song a second time.

The two kinds of weird, illustrated.

Also weird: this is what has the Republicans upset:

Weird.

This is not weird, this is straight up normal Minnesota.

Rep. Tim Walz won the Minnesota congressional delegation’s annual hotdish contest for the second year in a row. The Democrat’s blend of bacon, ground turkey and other ingredients was declared the winner. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., started the contest four years ago.

Walz’s winning “Turkey Trot Tater-Tot Hotdish” recipe:

You’ll have to follow the link to get the actual recipe. It looks good, but it’s definitely not vegetarian. I guess turkey is not meat, but bacon is.

Would you believe it is officially International Female Orgasm Day?

I had to google for hints on how to properly celebrate. If you have better ideas, leave them in the comments.

Oh no! I’ve suffered enough with stupid lawsuits, but here I go again, annoying a litigious jerk. He hasn’t sued me (yet!), but I too have refused to advertise on Twitter and have gone so far as to not even look at ads on Twitter. Abandoning your account will do that for you. But now, Musk is suing people for violating his free speech by not advertising on his service.

Elon Musk’s X has accused a group of major advertisers of antitrust violations in a new lawsuit claiming the group conspired to “boycott” advertising on the platform.

The lawsuit claims an influential ad industry group organized “to collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising from Twitter” because the group was concerned that the platform had deviated from brand safety standards after Musk’s acquisition in late 2022.

The group is the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, also known as GARM, a voluntary ad-industry initiative run by the World Federation of Advertisers that aims to help brands avoid having their advertisements appear alongside illegal or harmful content.

I would have thought it perfectly legitimate to want to avoid stinky bad sites that might alienate a business’s customers. I guess I don’t understand the finer points of free speech absolutism.

OK, I’ve had enough. Yesterday, I got a fresh package of legal documents from our probate lawyer. I have to go through them all and verify stuff and set up a bank account and just generally do accounting. Also, paying money.

Today I’m getting a realtor’s estimate on a house, and have to get the wheels rolling on selling my mother’s estate.

Then, a surprise: we have some asbestos treated floor tiles in our basement (the 1940s were a carefree time), and the remediation company got an open slot in their busy schedule, and are showing up this afternoon.

I’m going to be trapped in my house all day while construction people hammer and scrape, and I have to read all these declarations from the courts of the County of King.

These are all boring things. I’d rather be in the lab feeding a hungry hungry horde of spider babies.

I am as pure as I’ll ever be. I’m a little bit ethereal today.

The colonoscopy went well, no abnormalities, not a hint of a polyp even. I don’t have to do it again for another ten years!

Oh boy. Today’s the day.

Today is colonoscopy prep day. I’m going to dope myself up with a laxative this morning, and this afternoon I start guzzling another laxative and large quantities of fluids. Also, no solid food. It’s going to be a long, long day.

Then tomorrow I’m scheduled to be rendered unconscious and wheeled into a room where I’m going to get pegged with a camera.

I don’t know whether I’m going to be furiously cranky or exasperatedly fatigued.

Also, damaging the reputation of stupid Americans further. No one if France is going to want to contact Americans after this.

U.S. triathlon Seth Rider has decided to stop washing his hands after going to the bathroom in a bid to increase his resistance to the polluted River Seine.

The men’s individual triathlon race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been postponed as the water quality in the Seine is still below regulatory standards. The race was meant to commence on Tuesday but has now been delayed until Wednesday, although the water could still be harmful to the athletes.

To gain an advantage and avoid potential illness, Rider is taking drastic action by not washing his hands and believes there is science to support his theory. “We know that there’s going to be some E. coli exposure, so I just try to increase my E. coli threshold by exposing myself to a bit of E. coli in day-to-day life,” Rider said.
“And it’s actually backed by science. Proven methods. Just little things throughout your day, like not washing your hands after you go to the bathroom.”

“Backed by science.” What science was that, Seth? Citation please. You’re not evolving resistance to E. coli, and it’s not just one kind of bacterium we’re concerned about. You know, hygiene and cleanliness are generally good ideas.

This is reminding me of those stories of men who don’t wash their asses that were going around before.

It’s near my computer desk. As soon as I sit down, she curls up next to me. If I get up to use the bathroom or get a drink, she’ll follow, and then as soon as I go back, she’s there. For an evil cat, she’s awfully dependent.

I’m about to go into the lab. I’m afraid it will boggle her mind.

She just looks that way. It’s around 30°C here, and every morning the evil cat complains at me — she won’t shut up — until she collapses on an old carpet remnant near a fan I’ve set up in my office. Then she’s immobile most of the day. I’d feel sympathy, except I’m stuck in the same oven with her.

Could be worse. Look at these views of the Park Fire, currently raging in Northern California. The video is especially notable for showing all the different views technology gives us on the fire — satellite, radar, airplane flight maps, etc. — so you can get a multidimensional appreciation of the awfulness.

All I can do is show you a photo of a heat-stressed cat in western Minnesota.