Innocent Bystanders

At Last – Useful Origami! January 31, 2016

Perhaps the time of real-life books is nearing its end (I pray not), but for you bitter clingers out there who still love the feel and smell of physical books, this may be useful:

Forget dog-earing and bookmarks that fall, make your own easy origami bookmark instead!

A Fine Sentiment January 30, 2016

Pupster had this in the comments at The Hostages:

Two Faces of a President January 30, 2016

“…let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth…”

The left hand:

President Obama staged a political show for a Jewish audience Wednesday, loudly warning of the new atmosphere of anti-Semitism in Europe and the U.S. ….

“Here, tonight, we must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it,” the president told his listeners at the Israeli embassy on Wednesday night. Citing the flight of Jews from Western Europe, as well attacks on Jews in India and Kansas, he got his lines right in concluding, “When we see that, we must not be silent.”

The right hand:

In a step towards joining an Israel boycott, the U.S. is now requiring goods originating from the West Bank (also known as Judea and Samaria) to be labeled separately from products from the rest of Israel, following the European Union’s crackdown on products from the disputed territories.

Whiskey Shot Glasses, Hand-Crafted from Bacon January 28, 2016

Insty linked to this today, and my mind was so boggled I just had to share.

We’ve all been there before, standing at the bar, shot glass in hand, ready to throw the spirit down our gullet, when we’ve thought to ourselves “man this would really be so much better if the shot glass I’m holding was made out of bacon and dipped in chocolate.” Well wish no more, because thanks to food blog Through The Eyes Of My Belly, that dream is now a reality.

I can’t stand whiskey, and yet…

Mattel Expands the Barbie Line January 28, 2016

Mattel tries to reverse declining Barbie sales by promoting a body-positive role model Barbie.

Call me cynical, but I’m betting they’re gone in two years.

Answering the Tough Questions January 27, 2016

What happens if you shoot a refrigerator with a cannon? [Initially you think it’s not too impressive, but wait until he checks the back.]

Hey Zebras, Why the Stripes? January 23, 2016

Speaking of nature, the latest thinking on zebra stripes is that they have nothing to do with camouflage against predators:

In open treeless habitats where zebras spend most time, zebras are as clearly identified by the lion visual system as are similar-sized ungulates, suggesting that stripes cannot confer crypsis by disrupting the zebra’s outline….In conclusion, compared to the uniform pelage of other sympatric herbivores it appears highly unlikely that stripes are a form of anti-predator camouflage.

They also doubt that it has anything to do with mating or social status in the herd. So why the stripes? Maybe it’s a defense against biting flies, which apparently prefer not to land on surfaces with stripes less than 5 cm wide (the largest average zebra strip width (found on the rump) is just under 4 cm).

Nature Time, by Snoop Dog January 22, 2016

In the vein of the famous “Honey Badger Don’t Care” voiceover, I give you a brief nature documentary on otters, narrated by Snoop Dog.

The Joy Reid Analysis of the GOP’s Dysfunction January 22, 2016

Liberal pundit Joy Reid set the dextrosphere afire this morning with her comments on the disconnect between the GOP elite and its base:

…for 30 or 40 years you’ve had the elites of the Republican party amass a large enough coalition to pass the things that the elites wanted. Namely low taxes for themselves and deregulation for their businesses. And they assembled a large enough coalition by essentially ceding blue collared white voters everything from evangelicalism and supporting them in terms of their religious faith and promising them that they would legislate around that. Promising them that they would legislate around social issues that were important to them.

*some nonsense that I skipped over*

Immigration is where the bargain just broke down. And that base, the base of the party is no longer willing to go along with any part of the elite. … Immigration was the deal-breaker and they are gone. They cannot be brought back into the tent.

While she encapsulated the issue fairly well, I disagree that immigration was the deal-breaker of itself – I think it was the deal-breaker in the context of the complete collapse of GOP-led Congress over the past year. The base became disillusioned with the GOP after Congress demonstrated an inexplicable inability to prosecute conservative principles.

Inexplicable, that is, if you assume that the GOP adheres to conservatism. Not so inexplicable if you assume that they’re just feeding at Obama’s trough.

And this has been going on for a while. After watching Republican Congress after Republican Congress fail to promote a conservative agenda, the base started waking up last year. And after hearing candidate after candidate express support for illegal immigrants, all the base’s suspicions were confirmed.

And that, Ms. Reid, is why illegal immigration appears to have been the straw that broke the GOP’s back.