It is always nice to know about new music, especially when it is a band I like.
It is the "official video," and as usual I find that they distract from the music, but that is why you can have multiple tabs open at once.
This song is "Fight To Survive" by Epica from their album Aspiral, which was released on April 11th. This video was released to YouTube on the 11th as well.
What would you do if you walked up on a carjacking? Chicago shooting: Concealed-carry license holder wounded in Pilsen shootout on Cullerton with would-be car thieves - ABC7 Chicago
A concealed-carry license holder was wounded in a shootout with two suspects in Pilsen Tuesday morning, Chicago police said.
Pisen, originally name for Plzeň, the fourth largest city in what is today the Czech Republic, is a neighborhood in Chicago. Just west of Chinatown, it is about a 4 mile drive south and west of the Loop. (Though it could take some time to drive that depending on traffic.) It is about 2 or 3 miles due west of McCormick Place. In the 1960s and '70s it was very heavily Hispanic. It was subject to some gentrification in the 1980s, being close to downtown. I have no idea what it is like today.
David Villalobos didn't set out to confront anyone. He was minding his own business.
He was walking his dog, when he spotted the suspects.
By the time he realized that something was wrong, he was shot in the leg, and in a firefight.
David Villalobos said the suspects were trying to steal a car. He said he's fortunate to be alive, let alone home from the hospital already.
He was walking his dog, when he spotted the suspects.
"It was a superficial wound. But it went in and out, and I thank God for that," Villalobos said.
Just like that, Mr. Villalobos is fighting for his life against armed thugs, who clearly have no regard for the value of his life
"He drew his weapon, and he shot. And I moved as fast as I could. I returned fire," Villalobos said. "I'm thinking about going home, see my wife, my grandkids. You know, that's what I'm thinking. I'm not thinking about shooting the guy. I was very hesitant to do so."
There is apparently cellphone video from a neighbor, but it isn't included in the linked article above.
After he returned fire, the bad guys piled into a car and took off.
Did having a gun save his life? Seems clear they weren't worried about shooting him, since they did that with no warning. I'm sure the anti gun folks will see it differently.
Microsoft knows best. Microsoft Copilot shows up even when it's not wanted: Just us or is AI increasingly appearing like an unwanted party guest?
Just imagine. An AI (from that bastion of infallible software, Microsoft) spying on everything you do, and reporting it somewhere. Passwords. Intellectual Property. What's that you say? They promise, cross their heart, to not send the data anywhere. Sure they won't. Not even to One Drive?
You can't even turn the damn thing off, when they promised that you would be able to, so what else are they wrong/lying about?
Microsoft customers are claiming the Windows giant's Copilot AI service sometimes ignores commands to disable the thing, and thus turns itself back on like a zombie risen from the dead.
A bug report to the corporation's Visual Studio Code, aka VS Code, Copilot repository from crypto developer rektbuildr claims Github Copilot enabled itself within various VS Code workspaces on its own.
There was a brief period this week, when I considered going back to Windows. It comes preloaded on the computers I am looking at purchasing. But that would be a mistake.
Uninstalling Windows Copilot now requires using PowerShell and then preventing reinstallation via AppLocker, according to Microsoft documentation.
In other words, not something that is going to be easy for the average user to do.
It isn't just Microsoft who is sure that you REALLY do want AI in your life. Apple is doing the same stuff.
Avoiding AI has become something of a challenge with other vendors, too. With the arrival of iOS 18.3.2 in March, Apple customers found that the update re-enabled Apple Intelligence, the iBiz's AI suite, for those who had previously tried to snuff it out.
Linux Mint is so much nicer. Or it would be if my ancient PC was not in the process of giving up the ghost. Fan bearings on their way out can be annoying. (Or that's what I think it is.)
Would you like to live near a facility with the possibility of dumping huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the environment? Me neither.
Grid-scale battery storage facilities are a potential source of toxic fumes, in the event of a fire, and heavy metals after the fire.
This is MGUY Australia's video The growing BACKLASH against BATTERIES. The video is 12 and half minutes.
People don't like to maintain infrastructure. Build a bridge, or whatever, and politicians will line up to have a dedication and say, "See what good things I am doing for the community!"
But every bridge, dam, or road, ever built needs to be maintained, and will eventually need to be replaced. That is too often ignored, until there is a disaster. And funds are almost never put aside for that replacement, even when they do fund the maintenance.
On 19 May 2020, shortly before dark the Edenville Dam in Michigan failed. Shortly after that, the dam downstream from Edenville, the Sanford Dam also failed. In the aftermath of the disaster two other dams were determined to be in serious need of repair. Actually, the need for repairs was well known even before the disaster. Suits and counter suits had started before the dams collapsed. The owner of the dams wanted to drain the lakes due to the risk. The state didn't want them to do so because of the impact on the environment. After the disaster more legal action was taken.
This video from Jordan Mowbray was posted on the 6th of April. Sanford Dam Progress! - High Water Flowing Through Dam! - Earthen Embankment - Drone -Dam Collapse. It shows the current state of the dam rebuild, and the associated park that was built. It is a 14 minute video, but I found most of the interesting bit was in the first half.
If you look at Jordan Mowbray's channel you will see that there is no progress on the rebuild of the Edenville dam. That is because about halfway through the reconstruction, a lawsuit was filed. That was resolved in March. Judge throws out Michigan home owners' lawsuits against Four Lakes Task Force. As soon as that ruling was handed down, The Four Lakes Task Force, the organization that has become responsible for the dams and the reconstruction effort, filed (or refiled) all of their paperwork with the state, and got approvals from all the regulators to restart construction of the dam.
There are some interesting videos at the YT channel above about what was done prior to the lawsuit, but I will only reference one. This video shows how the earthen embankment was reinforced with a Cement/Bentonite Cutoff wall. GIANT TRENCHER! Edenville Dam Earthen Embankment Soil Cement Bentonite Cutoff - Drone - Dam Collapse. It is a 5 minute video. Bentonite, in its various forms, is used in different waterproofing applications, such as sealing the outside of below-grade walls.
The Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff's Office has a real problem with concealed carry license holders. Marine veteran plans to sue Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after officer shoots her dog
This is not the first time in recent memory that the JSO has had a "problem" with legal concealed carry. In December of last year, there was the incident where a JSO deputy decided that she need to take a legal firearm from a citizen who was legally carrying a concealed weapon. That deputy decided that legal concealed carry is unsafe, so she decided to take his weapon from him. While he complied, she was the one who was unsafe. She shot him in the leg with his own firearm.
This is a little different, though not much.
Action News Jax’s Shanila Kabir spoke to the owner, Jaimie Phillips, who said she and the dog are both ex-military. Phillips claims her dog is a registered service animal that she got after she left the Marine Corps. Phillips strongly believes JSO did not give her enough time to calm the dog down before it attacked the officer.
“I truly believe those bullets were meant for me that day, and my dog took them because the whole time he approached, he said ‘I’m going to shoot you, I’m going to shoot you.’ Why are you going to shoot me when I called you for help?” Phillips said.
The cops investigated themselves and determined that the cops had done nothing wrong. Color me shocked. Click thru for the whole story.
Hat tip to AmmoLand Shooting Sports News: Licensed Gun Owner & Marine Veteran’s Service Dog Shot by Police: Who’s Really at Fault Here? ~ VIDEO
We’ve seen this before—lawful gun owners being treated like threats simply for being armed. Add a barking dog to the mix, and suddenly, the civilian becomes the enemy. If JSO had followed de-escalation protocols or simply accepted Phillips’ offer to secure the weapon and the dog, this might have ended peacefully.Even the officer admitted, in hindsight, it could have been handled differently.
University. From The Post Millennial: EXCLUSIVE: Washington State instructor arrested for assaulting student wearing MAGA hat
Universities value all kinds of diversity except for diversity of opinion.
A Communist faculty member of Washington State University was arrested after allegedly assaulting a student for wearing a MAGA hat. In February, WSU junior Jay Sani was getting takeout in Pullman, Washington’s historic College Hill district when he was allegedly ambushed and assaulted by Patrick Mahoney and Gerald Hoff.
The level of "crime" was deemed to be low. Misdemeanor. So I doubt this "instructor" will suffer any consequences, despite the fact that it was all caught on video.
Not surprising that the University can't handle open exchange of ideas.
The university is now preparing for a TPUSA event featuring conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on April 17. There is already chatter from violent militant groups like Antifa and other left-leaning students promising to disrupt the event.
I'm old enough to remember when Free Speech was valued by university communities.
From Small Dead Animals Wow, What Incredible Power Donald Trump Has!
Turns out, if you ever see any overweight black women, please know it’s not their fault, it’s Trump’s fault. That’s not me saying this, it’s this woman. Even the obesity of black women is Trump’s fault!
Because nothing is your fault. Unless you're conservative, and then everythign is your fault.
Disney has really forgotten how to make movies. From That Park Place: Marvel’s Fantastic Four Trailer Sparks Backlash—Female Silver Surfer Roundly Mocked for Terrible CGI and Design
Now, to be fair, the 2005 Fantastic Four film, and the 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer were both produced by 20th Century Fox, before that studio was purchased by Disney, for a stupidly large amount of money. No one thought that they were good films at the time. The first did make enough money to earn a sequel, but compared to the schlock coming out of Disney-Marvel the past few years, it is amazing.
Marvel’s latest Fantastic Four trailer dropped and sparked a wave of online mockery. Fans quickly turned their attention to the visuals and casting choices, particularly the debut of Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer.
While the gender swap of the Silver Surfer has been known for months—with Marvel confirming Garner as Shalla-Bal, a female version of the cosmic herald—this trailer marks the first time the character has appeared on screen. The reaction? Not what Marvel likely expected. Garner’s chrome-plated, CGI-heavy appearance sparked comparisons to early 2000s video game graphics. One fan quipped, “This isn’t the Silver Surfer, it’s the Aluminum Paddleboarder.” Another sarcastically remarked, “Marvel’s CGI looks like it was done on a PS3 dev kit.”
The article from That Park Place contains a link to a video from Jeremy at Geeks and Gamers. That is where I got the image above. I don't remember if he says where that comparison comes from, I suppose I could build my own from the 2 trailers. But the important thing is that a special-effects-heavy movie from 18 years ago looks so much better than what Disney can produce today.
And that is before we even get to the part where Disney says, "Let's ignore the cannonical character of The Silver Surfer, who has graced the comics for decades, that fans love, and replace him with a woman who was in the comics for four (?) issues, before proving to be so unpopular that the writers of Marvel comics killed her off." Yeah, because it is hard to work a message about gender politics into your summer, blockbuster, popcorn movie if we just give the fans what they want.
You would think that they would have learned the lesson taught by 2015's Fant-4-Stick disaster. But then I don't think Disney is capable of learning any lesson.
This movie might make enough money at the box office to justify its existence. According to what I've seen, it hasn't been subject to the endless rounds of reshoots that have plagued other movies, though there were apparently some. This means that the budget may have some relation to reality.
Wombat-socho is up first with In The Mailbox: 04.16.25 (Afternoon Edition)
CDR Salamander: The SECNAV Received His Direction & Guidance
Dana Loesch: RFK Jr. & Autism,
Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News
Yes, this is also belaboring the obvious.
If this isn’t the understatement of the year, it will do until a better one comes along.
The Right Way - Top of the News
DOING THE WORK- ACCORDING TO HOYT - Born Free
Cartoon Round Up - Theo Spark
EBL - NY AG Letitia James accused of mortgage fraud?
Instapundit: Feds refer Letitia James for criminal prosecution of mortgage fraud
Sky News: NY AG Letitia James gets criminal referral
Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.16.25 (Evening Edition)
Vox Popoli: The Billionaires are Scared, Gangstalking is Real and Federally-Funded, IF YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE, The Empire Never Ended, and NATO’s Failed War on Russia
The Bugscuffle Gazette: Chickens defending KFC
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 17 April 2025: Cardamom And Lavender Edition
China's restrictions on rare earth element exports are a problem. (The Register)
Of course everyone has known for years that China was going to do this, because they've already done it, but nobody did anything about it.
Glibertarians - Thursday Morning Links
“Lock her up! Lock her up!” Because, in her own words, “nobody is above the law.”
Looks l.ike Ted Cruz is safe. I knew he had a strong alibi.
Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 04.17.25 (Afternoon Edition)
Baldilocks: You Might Not Believe In Principalities & Powers, also, Life of Baldilocks
CDR Salamander: So Does China’s Shipbuilding Capacity Concern You?
Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For April 18, 2025
Illegal aliens block highways to protest ICE deportations. ICE deportations ensue.
Remember the Global Engagement Center, the leftwing government project to create a worldwide censorship regime? Well, they tried to secretly recreate it under another name
A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Boasberg Threatens Contempt Over Wife-Beating Illegal Alien
Gunther Eagleman™ @GuntherEagleman "After landing in El Salvador, officials just told Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen ‘you’ll have to arrange the meeting through the Trump administration’ Go home."
Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism – The Economist Disrespecting The Church Edition!
America’s Gen Z has got religion
Another disappointingly too short article – aside form a good chart showing differences between generations’ religious fervor, little explanation.
Gates of Vienna - News Feed 4/17/2025
Americans Ages 18 to 21 Overwhelmingly Support GOP: Yale Youth Poll
Young voters aged 18 to 21 are leaning more heavily toward the Republican Party than their slightly older peers, according to a new Yale Youth Poll released this week.
Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.17.25 (Evening Edition)
Chicago Boyz: Woe, Canada, Diverse Problems, and “Service Industries”
Dana Loesch: The FSU Shooting – What We Know,
3. This is very important. The Americans did an amazing thing after the Civil War. They did not seek to humiliate or deracinate the losers. They accepted that the war settled the issues, and that the United States was now again, the United States of America.
Small Dead Animals - Thursday On Turtle Island
Woke America: Victor Davis Hanson – Harvard’s radicalization. The TDS patient zero. Fear.
Great Leader Kim Sung Carney’s Canada: Gaza’s CBC. A Liberal lie.
Once again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 04.18.25
Chicago Boyz: Kilmar Abrego Floyd, also, Past Forgetting
Da Tech Guy: I’m Old Enough to Remember When People Didn’t Get Rich Off of Murder
Maggie's Farm - Thursday morning links
Tax Day Truth Bomb: Where Your Climate Dollars Really Went
Trying To Figure Out How Much Of The Government Grants Goes To Left-Wing Causes And Propaganda
J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 4/ 17 /25
A state-level bill will make de facto government schools out of every private, religious, and home education environment.
Ready for Your Home to Become a Government School?
Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: When Judges Become Prosecutors: The Curious Case of Judge Boasberg
• China Is In Much Deeper Trouble Than Most Realize - David Strom
• Trump says China has reached out on tariffs, TikTok deal may wait - Al Reuters
I leave you with Your mid-week memes from Wirecutter, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #2505 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Libturd Thursday Is Here At Last ~ AM from Woodsterman, and MEMES… from GatorDoug.
The would-be bad guys keep not getting that message. Homeowner shoots & kills intruder, police searching for second suspect: SPPD | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
How would you respond to uninvited people in your home at 2 AM?
A suspect is dead and another is on the run after a homeowner opened fire early Wednesday during an apparent home invasion, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.
One was shot and died at a local hospital. One ran like a rabbit.
SPPD says the home invasion appears to have been targeted and there is no threat to the public.
And this didn't happen in New Jersey or the Northeast, so it is unlikely that the homeowner will be charged, though the investigation is ongoing.
Specifically the media's reaction to the tariff kerfuffle.
Andew Klavan's humor is probably not for everyone. It is definitely not for folks on the Left.
This is Andrew Klavan's video Panel Gets Tense When Republican Visibly Offends Them
I haven't featured a song by Yello in a while, and since they came up in conversation recently I thought I would correct that.
Yello is a Swiss duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They have been making music for decades. You would probably only know "Oh, Yeah" from the soundtrack to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, unless you read this blog, or you were a part of the West Berlin club scene, back when there was West Berlin and East Berlin. (It was supposed to be a crazy time in the '80s.)
This song Is "Nervous" by Yello from their 2003 album The Eye.
From History we get the story of the shot heard round the world. American Revolution begins at Battle of Lexington
April 19, 1775: At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation, the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, a shot was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green.
Things didn't go well for the Americans. When the British got to Concord, there was a different outcome.
When the British troops reached Concord at about 7 a.m., they found themselves encircled by hundreds of armed Patriots. They managed to destroy the military supplies the Americans had collected but were soon advanced against by a gang of minutemen, who inflicted numerous casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, the overall commander of the British force, ordered his men to return to Boston without directly engaging the Americans.
On the 16 mile march back to Boston, the British were beset by marksmen shooting at them from behind cover.
By the time the British finally reached the safety of Boston, nearly 300 British soldiers had been killed, wounded or were missing in action. The Patriots suffered fewer than 100 casualties.
These were the opening shots of the American Revolution.
The Post Millennial starts us off with a story of Chinese influence in American politics. Chinese intel agency official helped raise over $300,000 for Dem Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's campaign: report
A man who helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Boston Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu has been revealed to be listed by a Chinese intelligence agency as an official.
The Other McCain - Crazy People Are Dangerous: Pennsylvania Arsonist Edition
He’s not MAGA. He’s not Antifa. He’s not a Nazi or a “free Palestine” type, he’s just crazy, and Crazy People Are Dangerous.
Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 16 April 2025: Blue Gremlin Edition
OpenAI is now building its own social network. (The Verge) (archive site)
Prediction: This will work out just like Bluesky, only with even more deranged screeching.
Might be a cool gig for the developers, as long as you have another job lined up for when the whole thing burns down, falls over, and sinks into the swamp.
Clayton Cramer - I See Trump Is Pushing to Defund PBS and NPR
Not soon enough. While PBS often provides interesting stuff on Nova and American Experience, so much of the rest is leftist propaganda.
Wombat-socho - And that's it for this year
I finished over 100 returns, which is not as much as I'd hoped, but considering I wasn't in an office and the Fulfilment Network didn't have shit in it for most of the season, is better than nothing.
Again from The Other McCain - Cody Balmer Update: Crazy, Yes, But Also Ranting About ‘the Palestinian People’
After Tuesday’s victory lap — in which I congratulated myself for deducing that Cody Balmer was mentally ill — it is now time for me to eat some crow for dessert, as it turns out that the arsonist who lit up the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion also had a political agenda
Power Line - Harvard, Meet Bob Jones
I am sure Harvard never imagined that it would fall under the same condemnation that befell Bob Jones University. But why shouldn’t it? Hasn’t the Supreme Court already found, in Students For Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, that Harvard engages in illegal race discrimination? Yes.
Clayton Cramer - I Wonder How Much AID Funding Loss Influences This
Revolver News reports that David Hogg's gun ban group is colapsing:
"What started as a media-fueled movement is now just another fading left-wing activist project that’s gasping for air."
Seems to be happening a lot. Also, Florida homeowners are heavily armed. St. Petersburg homeowner fatally shoots home invasion suspect, police say
How would you respond to two home invaders at two o'clock in the morning?
Two men entered a home in the 3400 block of 40th Street North in the Disston Heights neighborhood about 2 a.m., according to the St. Petersburg Police Department. The homeowner fired shots, hitting one of the men.
The guy who got shot died at a local hospital. The other guy ran like a rabbit.
Detectives were investigating and no other information was available for release, police said.
Self-defense is a human-right.
You could also call this the air travel edition. US man shot dead after hijacking small passenger plane in Belize | Belize | The Guardian
A US man has been shot dead after hijacking a small passenger plane and injuring two passengers in the Caribbean nation of Belize.
Fourteen passengers were onboard the aircraft when the hijacker, identified as Akinyela Sawa Taylor, took control of the flight at knifepoint. Two passengers were injured, including one who was stabbed in the back.
Taylor ordered the pilot to take him out of the country, but was then shot in the chest by another passenger, Belize’s commissioner of police, Chester Williams, told local journalists.
That is some serious "Right to Bear Arms" right there.
Belize is a country in Central America, on the Caribbean Sea. It shares a border with Mexico and Guatemala.
It turns out that Akinyela Sawa Taylor was in the country of Belize illegally. Who knew, that other countries take borders seriously. Actually I knew that about Belize.
To quote Will Smith, from The Men In Black, "Don't start nothing, won't be nothing."
From Judicial Watch: Judicial Watch: DC Police Department Wants over $1.5 Million for January 6 Police Bodycam Footage
Judicial Watch announced today the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department wants to charge the non-profit over $1,570,500 for local police bodycam footage of the January 6 protests.
Judicial Watch filed June 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Metropolitan Police Department denied an August 2021 FOIA request
For a short video explaining the situation, see this link.
It's springtime, and aside from my allergies trying to kill me, that means that alligators are on the move. We have a few stories today.
I don't usually think of South Carolina as Alligator Country. South Carolina: 911 audio released of alligator attack
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, the man was in his backyard spreading mulch when the gator came from behind and bit him. In the 911 call, his wife said, "he had his arm in his mouth and I poked the alligator in the eye." She continued, "he's got a horrible, horrible leg wound."
There is mention of a 12-foot-gator, but it isn't 100% clear that is what attacked this guy.
But I guess it must be gator country, because here is a story from North Carolina. Officers at NC coast wrangle alligator as it climbs fence, heads toward busy road
Officers at the North Carolina coast were called last week to deal with an alligator climbing a fence and was headed toward a busy road, police said.
The animal was captured and relocated away from the road.
And a reminder to keep pets away from the water. Florida woman pries 6-foot alligator’s jaws open to save pet dog
A woman in Florida risked her life to save her beloved dog, Kona, after a 6-and-a-half-foot alligator grabbed the pet’s head in its mouth during an evening walk.
SiGraybeard has the rules of living with lizards... from 2019: A Florida Lizard ... Wait...
It's a list 5 rules.
1. The alligator has the right of way
Rule 3 is about pets.
