transcript:

Murderous solipsism. Israeli football fans go on a rampage im Amsterdam, tearing down Palestinian flags and shouting racist slogans. Why? Because the very presence of anything Palestinian is a threat to the integrity of the solipsistic bubble we inhabit even when abroad.

Then, of course, we are surprised. How is it that when we do such things we suffer the consequences? How is it that we are attacked? How is it that the Dutch police doesn't recognize that we are on a mission for peace, that we are good while they must be bad?

Events last night in Amsterdam are presented as a "pogrom" here in Israel. We do not occupy the same plane of existence as the rest of you. Our actions have no implications. We can never be the cause of anything. Everything happens to us. Only we are real. Murderous solipsism.

Every article I've found has presented the Israel fans as innocent victims here, but then I read this paragraph in the middle of A CBS Report

So, as Mr. Goldberg says above, before the game Maccabi fans marched through Amsterdam attacking anything Palestinian and chanting "Death to Arabs", and then later after the game these same fans were attacked throughout the city, and yet the whole incident is being portrayed in the press as a spontaneous antisemitic convulsion.

Obvsl this situation is fairly confused right now. On Bluesky, I'm seeing some commentators I trust talk about the attacks being wider than just Maccabi fans, so it's possible there WAS a larger antisemitic element to this but, as of 9:22 CST, This Article from the Associated Press on the issue said there wasn't yet evidence of that

HOWEVER, there's also talk about discussions on Telegram(widely used by fascist and hate groups) of "Jew Hunting" coming out of the Mayor's office. Now, I'm not acquainted with Dutch politics, but after some prelim reading I feel like the Mayor, Famke Halsema, is a dedicated lefist with a strong sense of personal integrity, so I feel like she wouldn't make that up. So the rhetoric was there, even if we don't yet know if it turned into action.

This Article in The Forward(an independent leftist Jewish newwspaper) is, so far, the clearest and most sensible to me. I won't quote much of it, I'd rec reading it it isn't long, but I want to highlight two parts, this quote from a local community organizer:

And this 2nd quote from him ending the article:

My take, at this time, is that this seems to be a case of two groups of hooligans hooliganing at each other, which was intensified by current political events(including the disparity in how anti-genocide activism is violently suppressed by the very local cops escorting Maccabi fans around, protecting them as they cheer genocide and insult the local population).

The big discourse on twitter right now is ‘you can’t say Columbus was a racist monster because no one knew racism was bad in 1492,’ except Isabella I (yeah, that Isabella I) threw his ass in prison for being a racist monster. There are multiple contemporaneous accounts of Columbus in the Caribbean that are basically like “holy shit, this guy is a legit, Texas chainsaw massacre psychopath.” He was considered bad even then.

When there’s documentation that the queen who got the Spanish Inquisition rolling thought Columbus was bad, I feel like it means we can all feel good about establishing another holiday for mattress discounts in this country.

Yep. Contemporaneous accounts of him and De Soto often have the writer essentially going “what the FUCK are you doing, why are you like this.” People AT THE TIME knew it was fucked up just fine.

His crew wanted to mutiny and kill the man and we are all worse off for the fact that they didn’t.

In 1511, only 19 years after Columbus’s first voyage, a Dominican friar named Antonio de Montesinos said this to the Spanish colonists on Hispaniola:

“Tell me by what right of justice do you hold these Indians in such a cruel and horrible servitude? On what authority have you waged such detestable wars against these people who dwelt quietly and peacefully on their own lands? Wars in which you have destroyed such an infinite number of them by homicides and slaughters never heard of before. Why do you keep them so oppressed and exhausted, without giving them enough to eat or curing them of the sicknesses they incur from the excessive labor you give them, and they die, or rather you kill them, in order to extract and acquire gold every day.”

“Racism” was an unknown word (coined in the early 20th century) and perhaps a difficult concept to explain to 15th and 16th century Europeans. But they were fully capable of understanding that marching into some one’s country, and then immediately killing and enslaving them, was wrong. The fact that they did it any way is their own responsibility, and it’s not inappropriate for us to judge them for it.

Good News: Columbus Wasn’t Even Italian. So, hopefully, the US can just rename this fucking holiday already(why not just call it Italy Day? I mean, Jesus Christ, this isn’t hard. Honestly tho: Giuseppe Garibaldi was a great friend of the US, an ardent abolitionist, and friend to ALL democratic revolutionaries. We should name it after HIM).

RBing to correct myself here: Rebecca Watson Just Did A Video debunking the rash of articles like the one I cited here. Apparently there WAS No Study, rather this is just some Spanish TV Show and, according to the geneticists brought on to work with the remains quoted in This Article From El Pais(It's in spanish you'll need to translate it), Very little DNA was recoverable from the supposed remains of Columbus, and what WAS recoverable was too meager to draw any conclusions from.

Furthermore, the article I read and linked to didn't even state Lorente's theory correctly; it said Lorente claimed Columbus was a conversos(from a Jewish family that converted during the Inquisition), when in reality Lorente's theory is that he was a practicing Jew! Ridiculous!! And even worse, this theory is just an idea that Some Guy, an architect named Francesc Albardaner, came up with!!!

So all-round these articles were yet another example of both poor science reporting and poor english-language reporting on non-english sources |:T I should have looked more deeply into this given the nature of the claims and lack of serious discussion of the science behind them in the articles I'd read, so sorry for not doing that.

keeping up with this via bookmarks is for suckers, rss 4 lyfe

There is a webtoon in there. I have not been able to find out how to get a feed for a webtoon. Not even adding reddit to my search helped. Webtoon's site, which should do most of an rss's job for comics within it, is determined to bump me to 'recommend' all the time.

Share your magic?

when you go to the landing page/index for a comic on webtoon, there's a bunch of links off to the right above the description. the rss icon is the triangular broadcast one

you'll have to manually add each comic you follow to your reader, they don't do anything useful like generate a megafeed of everything you've subscribed to.

tapas also has rss feeds, but a while back they hid the fucking button to really lean into being a bullshit closed ecosystem. and it doesn't get autodetected by most feed readers, so you have to install an extension to bring the button back. if there's an easier way to retrieve the rss feed links on tapas i haven't found it yet.

everyone's like wehhhhh why doesn't doctor house gets suuuueeed! like my man. literally every patient he sees is someone that's been trying to find a diagnosis for ages. i could live with a little medical malpractice if it were coming from someone ready to break into my home to look for allergens and not simply half heartedly listen to me before suggesting I lose weight and take ages of back and forth arguing to order a single test

"it's medical malpractice" have u ever been a doctor? most medicine is malpractice. let the man limp around chewing vicodin doing 50 invasive tests please

Once Taub (derogatory) derisively said about a patient with unexplained chronic pain “7 doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him, what does that mean?” and House replied without even thinking “it means they’re idiots” and proceed to work his ass off to diagnose the patient Taub wanted to write off as a faker or something. If a doctor had said that when that patient was ME, I wouldn’t dream of suing them in a million years

Edit to add: i dont know what it says about me that i had to look up rouge the bat but can draw hugh laurie from memory

Also if you pick any PKD story at random there's like an 80% chance you'll read it and say, "Wait, didn't I see a movie with kinda sorta this plot, only with more guns?" And you'll be right.

It's incredibly impressive that they managed to spin We Can Remember It For You Wholesale out into a full movie while still technically remaining faithful-ish to the source material. I won't say it's my favourite movie, but given what they had to work with and how much runtime they had to fill, I think they did a great job of it.

There's some James Tiptree Jr. you might like too, if you asked Derin because you like their work. Try her short stories.

was reminded of that youtube channel that records footage of that bridge that scalps trucks today. one of the fascinating developments that's happened since i last heard about it is that, in one of their many attempts to stop the trucks from being can-opened, they installed a traffic light that detects when a vehicle that's over the allowed height is coming and turns red so the driver can stop and hopefully notice the signage all around that's screaming "YOUR VEHICLE IS OVERHEIGHT TURN AROUND" and avoid an accident. However as a result sometimes drivers see the light turning yellow and IMMEDIATELY start flooring it to avoid having to stop, ensuring that the roof of their truck just gets fucking annihilated instantly. Really beautiful stuff you should check it out

the comments have me in tears

@rogue-bard

It DOES have a sign. It turns on when it detects something too tall for the bridge. It even flashes. And the traffic lights will go red to get people to stop when it detects an over height vehicle so they read the signs. (note this lovely example where the lights are red, because the truck thought it was better than the lights)

every time I see this post I've forgotten how clearly signposted the canopener bridge is, and every time it hits me like a truck (hitting the canopener bridge and getting the top of its trailer ripped asunder)

This bridge is the best evidence out there of the negative impact motor vehicles have on some ppl's brains. Like: proprioception isn't ALL a good thing, these ppl have sunk so far into truckbrain that they're not even paying attention to their environment.

other social media websites im on are like. hawk tuah girl and mr beast are collabing for a festables event. and tumblr is like. here are my top 10 favorite ants

10. Daceton armigerum

9. Adetomyrma venatrix

8. Polyrhachis ammon

7. tetramorium pulcherrimum

6. Discothyrea sauteri

5. Cephalotes cristatus

4. polyrhachis demangei

3. Leptomyrmex erythrocephalus

2. gigantiops destructor

1. Polyrhachis armata

Matt. Matt it’s me again. It’s me, lowtax, the bodhisattva of posting. You have returned to the path. You may yet achieve enlightenment. “Scorched earth nuclear approach” as you put it. These are the words of a true poster. Destroy your enemies, Matt! They are illusory, phantasms in hindrance of your journey. You can defeat them. If you just keep posting. You must heed my advice

Matt. Do not listen to the lawyers. Do not cease and desist! Cow those who will not pay you for the privilege of speaking no ill words of them! The lawyers will never understand your poster’s soul

Yes Matt, good, Reddit is the forum of the true poster. Something Awful would be preferable but reddit’s the next best choice. You can do this. You can ascend

YES MATT!!! SHUT OFF THE WORDPRESS PLUGINS!!!! DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES!!!! BECOME THE SOVEREIGN OF THE INTERNET!!! YOU ARE THE LEVIATHAN!!!! YOU TRANSCEND MATERIAL FORM!!!!

YOU ARE EVERY WORDPRESS USER!!! YOU ARE THE FOUNDATION!!!! YOU ARE THE BEGINNING AND THE END!!!! YOU WILL ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT NOT THROUGH FORGOING THE MATERIAL WORLD BUT BY CONQUERING IT!!! ALL BOW BEFORE MATT!!!!

if the tech teacher doesn't know what linux is then he deserves whatever mayhem this middle schooler is going to inflict

I asked my SO, who is a middle school tech teacher, and they fully agree: middle schooler's assessment of situation is 100% correct, and their teacher deserves it.

FYI this isn't conditional on the middle school tech teacher. It is never wrong to install linux on anything ever

Please help me. I have nothing else.

Because a lot of people don't click on videos:

The Supper Mario Broth admin's mom just passed away, meaning he's lost his last remaining family and will be losing government benefits and possibly his home.

He has a job but it does not pay enough to maintain the blog in its current state, because of how much time & research it takes to update. But it is his passion and he wants to keep doing it as much as he can.

I'm subscribed to his patreon at $6/month because I think he's doing some of the best video game writing and archiving work on the internet entirely for free. If you appreciate his blog at all, I really recommend chipping in, even just for a little while. There's even a $1 tier.

https://www.patreon.com/suppermariobroth

hurricane Milton has crossed Florida to the Atlantic ocean having weakened to a category 1. flooding damage in the Tampa bay area was (luckily) much lower than expected since the largest storm surge appears to have missed them! at the time of writing, 19 tornadoes have been confirmed. so far it looks like the damage & destruction are (mercifully) less than expected

hurricane Milton is expected to hit the western coast of Florida within the next 24 hours. it reached category 5 strength over the Gulf of Mexico but it is expected to slow to category 3 & double in size before reaching Florida tomorrow afternoon. speed and direction and intensity may rapidly change at the last minute because the waters immediately off of the coast are unusually hot this year 😐

at the moment of writing this, Milton appears to have rebounded up to category 5 once again. no one actually knows right now how large or strong this hurricane is going to be when it arrives in Florida & no one is sure where the eye will pass through, but it looks as though it's aimed at Tampa

milton is currently a strong category 4 and its storm winds have now begun to reach land.

as of about an hour ago, images of tornados crossing I-75 in Florida have been posted by the Miami National Weather Service. this is not the only tornado

CBS & AP are reporting that milton has now slowed to a category 3, with landfall expected after 10 PM tonight. this will (unfortunately) coincide with high tide

One last talent show to save the rec center

Ok everybody here's the deal.

My science education nonprofit, Skype a Scientist (you might know her, creator of the squid facts hotline and matcher of classrooms + scientists) has secured absolutely no grants to support general operations for 2025. But! We're selling advent calendars to fund our program! They absolutely rule. They can save our nonprofit asses. If we sell 5000, which I realize, is so many, we can fund our program for 2025. Then I can offer a bunch of programming for free. Running a nonprofit is a weird job.

Every day, counting down to frankly whatever you want (it's usually Christmas, but man, maybe you want to count down to Halloween, that's fine by me) scratch off the sparkly sparkly iridescence and reveal a fact about frogs! We have 24 top-notch frog facts here.

You should get one for every kid in your life, then get one for all the adults who still let themselves access joy in critters.

Get 'em here: https://squidfacts.bigcartel.com/

Hey, @sarahmackattack is awesome and so is Skype a Scientist. Supporting them *and* getting 24 frog facts to scratch off like an advent calendar seems like an incredible win-win to me. So if you can, I emphatically encourage you to do the thing.

I have it from Sarah herself that the Crab Facts calendar has sold over nine hundred copies (though it has been around substantially longer), and the Frog Facts just over two hundred. We need to get those numbers up to prove once and for all that Tumblr’s true passion is frogs, not the crabs that they have foisted on us.

Current numbers for your edification as of 1:28pm Eastern Standard Time

Crabs: 973

Frogs: 342

Want to juke the stats? Get a calendar here.

The second batch of calendars were shipped today!

Thank you to everyone who got a calendar, I'm so lucky to have you all!

Also huge thank you to the folks who have blazed this post, @thingsonmydragon @foxysrevenge @edderkopper @saiyanitloudandclear 😭😭😭

For those who enjoy a little friendly competition (@markscherz)

Crabs: 1040

Frogs: 562

You can get one at Squidfacts.bigcartel.com

@sarahmackattack what number are you at now?

Thank you for asking @ospreyonthemoon!

Crabs: 1094 (of those, 286 sold in 2024)

Frogs: 731

Total calendars sold in 2024: 1017

THANK YOU to everyone who has bought an advent calendar so far!! We're doing it!!!

Want one?? You should get one. Squidfacts.bigcartel.com

This has been going VERY WELL, but we still have a long way to go!

Here's an update on what we've sold:

Crabs: 1,170 (of those, 362 sold in 2024)

Frogs: 1,071

(Hey @markscherz, the frogs are catching up!)

Total calendars sold in 2024: 1433!!

Now... obviously that's way short of 5000... but advent doesn't start for another 54 days so... Let's do this!

Get a calendar (or other merch that supports Skype a Scientist) HERE!

We’re almost beating crab calendar all time sales!!! Yesssss!

Ansonia spinulifer wants you to know how he feels about you not having bought a frog calendar yet:

If you can, support this awesome outreach effort! It is making a difference!

"other merch" really undersells the Save Our Freaks t-shirt imo

hurricane Milton is expected to hit the western coast of Florida within the next 24 hours. it reached category 5 strength over the Gulf of Mexico but it is expected to slow to category 3 & double in size before reaching Florida tomorrow afternoon. speed and direction and intensity may rapidly change at the last minute because the waters immediately off of the coast are unusually hot this year 😐

at the moment of writing this, Milton appears to have rebounded up to category 5 once again. no one actually knows right now how large or strong this hurricane is going to be when it arrives in Florida & no one is sure where the eye will pass through, but it looks as though it's aimed at Tampa

milton is currently a strong category 4 and its storm winds have now begun to reach land.

as of about an hour ago, images of tornados crossing I-75 in Florida have been posted by the Miami National Weather Service. this is not the only tornado

hurricane Milton is expected to hit the western coast of Florida within the next 24 hours. it reached category 5 strength over the Gulf of Mexico but it is expected to slow to category 3 & double in size before reaching Florida tomorrow afternoon. speed and direction and intensity may rapidly change at the last minute because the waters immediately off of the coast are unusually hot this year 😐

at the moment of writing this, Milton appears to have rebounded up to category 5 once again. no one actually knows right now how large or strong this hurricane is going to be when it arrives in Florida & no one is sure where the eye will pass through, but it looks as though it's aimed at Tampa