Links are at the end.
I wrote about Palestinian novelist Atef Abu Saif’s Gazan war diary a few days ago. The Washington Post published it, with entries running more or less daily from the morning after Hamas attacked Israel through October 26. Abu Saif lived in Gaza most of his life and was there visiting family and friends when the war began, but, if he’s still alive, now makes his home in the West Bank as minister of culture for the Palestinian Authority.1
One assumes the Post will announce his death if he is killed in Gaza, and they haven’t done that, so he probably remains alive despite the diary having ended more than a week ago.
I was looking for news of him today and saw a headline, “Palestinian novelist killed in Israeli airstrike,” which turned out to be about a different Palestinian novelist, 32-year-old Hiba Abu Nada, whose killing was reported on October 24 in The Bookseller magazine. The story quotes a translation of what is purported to be her last tweet before her death:
"Gaza’s night is dark apart from the glow of rockets, quiet apart from the sound of the bombs, terrifying apart from the comfort of prayer, black apart from the light of the martyrs. Good night, Gaza."2
Tommy Tuberville is stupid and faithless, but cunning. Getting worked up about the parlous state of military readiness and the health and happiness of its most senior officers—and future well-remunerated war industry shills—can be a stretch for some folk, but the senator from Auburn is nonetheless a piece of work.3
Fucking Denisovans, man. I thought they were an anti-Soviet cult, but it turns out Denisovans are an extinct human species who may be responsible for the degree to which we’re susceptible to a variety of mental health issues, including, according to the authors of a new study, “conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anorexia nervosa.”
To be fair, lots of sexual relationships lead to depression, but it usually doesn’t last beyond a lifetime or two.4
This fellow could deadlift 450 pounds as he approached 60 years of age, and wasn’t averse to brawling or spending time in jail, but lots of people loved him. Maybe not his cat, though.
He often loved telling his friends and family about the way his cat would jump from chair to table in his house because if his cat touched the ground for even a second, his dogs would hound it.
Dogs do hound, sometimes.5
Will no one take pity on the ‘umble purveyor of poisonous pesticides? Certain generously rewarded members of congress will.
Dubbed the Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act, the proposed measure would provide sweeping protections for pesticide companies and their products, pre-empting local governments from implementing restrictions on pesticide use and blocking many of the legal claims that have been plaguing Bayer, according to the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and other critics.6
Cancer, shmanser.
We have another entrant in the fabulous nuclear fusion sweepstakes.
ENG8, a fusion energy company based in Gibraltar, has claimed to have consistently obtained a five-time energy gain from its experiments. The company's claims were validated at the Culham Innovation Centre in Oxfordshire, one of the leading fusion centers under the UK Atomic Energy Authority, the company press release said.
This meaning that it generates five times the energy required for generating, which isn’t what would be needed at scale but is way better than anybody else is claiming. And your home fusion generator will come with an Underwriters Laboratories sticker on the bottom.7
It seems that dying in a vacuum is not the horrorshow we’ve been sold in the talkies. You won’t explode, and you’ll pass out way before you die.
Even if there were a massive mechanism that caused very rapid ebullism all over your body, you still wouldn’t explode. The skin is pretty stretchy, so you could swell up to twice your normal size without breaking apart. The general advice is to not hold your breath: due to sudden decompression, the air in your lungs will expand and cause them to rupture. This is why screaming will give you at least a few peaceful seconds.
And that's when the lack of oxygen kicks in. Without breathable air, you will lose consciousness in about 15 seconds. That’s the good news. You might remain alive for another minute or so.
That’s the good news! Found it.
And it, Comrades, is all I got. Please share this if you like it, and consider subscribing if you’ve not yet considered—it’s free unless you want to pay.
Luscious Jackson, “Natural Ingredients;8” The Pale Blue Eyes, “This House.9”
Take care, be well, shout it out.
Mama said, "I told you not to date that Denisovan girl!".
Oh Good Jack commented before I do, Hate being the dickhead or the first to be in combat. You can take the lead. I can kill from 500 yards.
It would be nice if Boy-Tommy did something else besides coaching hormone infested preadult males in football. What kind of background is this to be a Senator? He is an ass. Would love to meet him.
Getting another Blanton on ice . . .
You need to find better topics . . . and you have in the rest of your citing. Cheers . . .