Fourth Oddities Spotted in the News

[Dartz]

Statue of Mosquito which killed Oliver Cromwell proposed for Cork

I've posted the CBC link to provide some context to those who might wonder why Cromwell might be less than popular here....

[Labster]

California bans Kars4Kids charity jingle for false advertising

Well, I suppose 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds might still count as "kids"... but is financing gap-year trips to Israel what they say or imply in the commercials that they're doing?

Banning those jingles is a public service for our sanity.

They don't really say in the commercial that the money goes to anything except repeat the phone number, followed by "donate your car today".  The only implication is that it has preteens playing around on instruments while singing (obviously badly, but cleaned up with autotune cranked up to maximum).  The low content in the ad was enough for me to always assume that the charity was probably shady, because most charities want to tell you exactly what they do so you give more money and speak on behalf of their cause.  But, as the court ruled, the average person would be confused.  As Carlin said, think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize that mathematically half of them must be even stupider.

I had already been joking that those kids in the commercial were all now adults... but who knew that that would make them just the right age to benefit from the charity?  I guess 1-800-KARS-4-JEWS isn't as catchy a song?

[Norgarth]

I saw a note on the CBC news ticker mentioning that King Charles got shit on by a seagull during a visit to Ireland. I can't help but imagine there are more than a few Irish who think that's hilarious.

[robkelk]

Pope Leo XIV has issued his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.

It's an oversimplificatopn to say that, as As It Happens notes, he's spelling Faith without AI... because that isn't all that the encyclical addresses.

[Labster]

Pope Leo XIV has issued his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.

It's an oversimplificatopn to say that, as As It Happens notes, he's spelling Faith without AI... because that isn't all that the encyclical addresses.

I haven't finished reading it, but I feel like there are certain chapters put there just for JD Vance's benefit. Now look here JD buddy, seriously, the social gospel has been a concept in church thought for over a century, look at what all these popes wrote about.  You can't go back in time to the point where the church "stays in their lane" because it never existed.

Welcome to 2026, where the only organization still working on AI alignment is the Catholic Church.  Yet another thing I would have never believed in 2024.

[Norgarth]

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket has exploded on the launchpad during an engine test firing
https://apnews.com/article/blue-origin-r...fd4e61543e

[Dartz]

That was the coolest explosion ever.

[Labster]

US man named Loony Toon sentenced to 20 years for shooting at police officers

Oh no, they got Doug!

[Bob Schroeck]

<snrk> And it looks like it's actually his birth name, not some frivolous name-change late in life. His parents must have hated him...

[robkelk]

What are they teaching in high schools nowadays, that a grade-9 student can write a paper with this title?

ΛCDM+S - Thermodynamic Cosmology: Simulating The Universe's Expansion Without Dark Energy

Needless to say, Liam Desre won "Best Project - Discovery" for this at the 2026 Canada-Wide Science Fair.

Mr. Desre is using black hole thermodynamics to explain universal acceleration. Maybe we can't find dark energy because it doesn't exist?