National Security issues at a non-federal, university-run solar observatory?

I used to know an astonomer who worked at the Suspot Solar Observatory, so when I heard about this, it piqued my curiosity.

The Sunspot Observatory is temporarily closed due to a security issue at the facility that’s located 17 miles south of Cloudcroft in the Sacramento Mountains Friday, an Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) spokeswoman Shari Lifson said.

But when I started looking into it more…

Whoa. WTF?

The FBI showed up and closed the observatory. They ran out all the employees. Then they did the same to the local post office. No one but the feds know why, and they aren’t talking.

The feds aren’t even talking to the sheriff. Local LE isn’t even involved in keeping rubberneckers away.

They brought in a Blackhawk, according to the sheriff. And he said he saw men around antennas and climbing towers.

They shut it down around September 6, and it’s still down. A solar observatory?

Suddenly I’m hip

Nicki informs me that millennial… men … are now — deliberately, mind you — coloring their hair gray. For gravitas or something like that.

Whoo hoo! I’m gray and balding. The babes will be all over me now.

Recreational?

I do not think that means what you think it means.

Police finding ‘uncommon’ drugs in Gainesville
Kratom is relatively new to the US. It’s used in Asia as an anti-diarrheal medicine but has been increasingly used recreationally. Side effects include severe and prolonged vomiting, constipation, delusions, respiratory depression, tremors, aggressive or combative behavior, psychotic episodes, hallucinations and paranoia.

I guess I haven’t encountered that because people who think vomiting, constipation, delusions, trouble breathing, and paranoia are fun aren’t the sort of folks I want to hang with.

Nope

I’m not “man” enough. I still have external genitalia.

Are you man enough to wear a romper?

Billed as the new favorite summer outfit for men seeking something that is not ” too corporate, too fratty, too runway or too basic,” RompHim creators say the cotton onesies can be worn to everything from concerts to the beach to the bar.

To the bar. I’m a-thinkin’ the bars these… men go to aren’t the sort I used to patronize. They might get beat up in those.

I suppose they’re aiming for the pajama boy demographic.

After reading that a few times

..I have no freakin’ idea what the idiot is saying.

From “Cal Poly Professor Argues Squirrels Are Subjected to Racially-Charged Media Bias”:

Given that the shift in tree squirrel demographics is a relatively recent phenomenon, this case presents a unique opportunity to question and retheorize the ontological given of ‘otherness’ that manifests, in part, through a politics whereby animal food choices ‘[come] to stand in for both compliance and resistance to the dominant forces in [human] culture’. I, therefore, juxtapose feminist posthumanist theories and feminist food studies scholarship to demonstrate how eastern fox squirrels are subjected to gendered, racialized, and speciesist thinking in the popular news media as a result of their feeding/eating practices, their unique and unfixed spatial arrangements in the greater Los Angeles region, and the western, modernist human frame through which humans interpret these actions.
— “When ‘Angelino’ squirrels don’t eat nuts: a feminist posthumanist politics of consumption across southern California,” Teresa Lloro-Bidart

I dunno. It could be another Sokal hoax, but s/he/zi/it is in Kalifornia.

Added: OK, I checked the Cal Poly Pomona web site, and this ditz is on staff there, and does “focus” ” on exploring and understanding human-animal relationships in educational spaces, with a particular focus on feminist posthumanist and ecofeminist theories.” So it’s possible she wrote this drivel, and that she is serious. But dear Bog, it looks like something generated by a leftist random jargon generator.

About that “refund” for every passenger on United flight 3411

What they told us:

United Airlines refunds EVERY passenger who was on board the overbooked flight when the doctor was dragged off
Passengers who were aboard the United Airlines flight where a doctor was dragged off the plane on Sunday will be receiving full refunds.

The airline announced that every passenger aboard Flight 3411 bound for Louisville, Kentucky from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Sunday will get their money back following the incident that has shocked the world.

A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed that the passengers ‘are receiving compensation for the cost of their tickets.’

However, what’s currently being reported on Faux Snooze TV is a little different: passengers are being offered refunds, but to qualify, they have to sign liability releases.

I’m trying — unsuccessfully as yet — to find a copy of the actual release online. But it appeared that not only is this a release of liability, but the signing passenger would be forbidden to even talk to a lawyer about his rights in this matter. If I weren’t enjoying the show of United’s fiasco, I’d be hoping I heard that wrong, because…

Can’t even talk to your attorney? I think a nondisclosure agreement like that would violate the First Amendment, let alone all the other problems with contract law (especially that of individual states). Any actual attorneys want to weigh in? Has anyone seen the release?

Wait. Someone thought he was straight?

So Barry Manilow has come out as gay.

Barry Manilow Reveals Why He Didn’t Come Out for Decades: I Thought I Would ‘Disappoint’ Fans If They Knew I Was Gay
For decades Barry Manilow gave the world timeless hits, while keeping his own world a total secret. Now at 73 years old, the music legend is opening up about his life, struggles and, for the first time, his sexuality.

To the extent I ever sorta-thought about, I always assumed he was gay. I mean… he’s had a “partner” for decades. Can’t say it ever mattered when I heard his music, so WTF?

Never mind hereditary deafness

Can we cure congenital stupidity?

Gene Therapy: A Threat to the Deaf Community?
Members of the signing Deaf community argue that research which aims to eliminate or cure deafness is a form of cultural genocide. The argument goes like this: the use of gene therapy to cure hereditary deafness would result in smaller numbers of deaf children. This, in turn, would reduce the critical mass of signing Deaf people needed for a flourishing community, ultimately resulting in the demise of the community.

I suspect some of these idiots are less concerned with preserving their alleged “community” than with preserving their Social Security disability checks.

Added: Well… Let me be fair. Burke is probably highly reliant upon a “deaf community.” She likely needs a captive signing audience because no one else will put up with her.

Products I had no idea existed

…and wish I didn’t.

But without looking it up, would you care to bet whether it’s Internet enabled?

I guess Ash Wednesday is supposed to be a time of reflection*

Glitter for Ash Wednesday?
It wasn’t your typical forehead cross on Ash Wednesday, to promote inclusion of LGBT Christians, New York group Parity asked churches to use purple glitter during Ash Wednesday services. The group says the glitter symbolizes a “sign of our hope, which does not despair.”

I’d show this to my father, but I’m afraid he have a heart attack.

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* Line shamelessly stolen from my sister.