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Just another day, here. I have things to do, but I spent a couple hours killing aliens before heading out. First stop, fuel up. Then head south into Texas, for breakfast and shopping. On the way, I met a diesel 1-ton dually pulling a trailer. He was only notable because he left a cloud of smoke drifting beside the highway when he pulled onto the highway. Going on south, I reach my breakfast destination. Walk in, take a seat, ask for coffee, then order an 8 ounce ribeye, with two over medium, and homefries. "How do you want your steak, Honey?" As always, rare, just turning medium rare - I don't like it to actually bleed when I cut into it.

I got an unusually tough steak this morning - it didn't quite reach that "melt in your mouth" texture that I'm used to. Damned good steak, all the same!

Finish eating, light a cigarette, and smoke it before paying for my meal. Yes - in Texas, you can still smoke in the restaurants. Well, some of them anyway. If the owner of the restaurant has the balls to tell the state to go fuck themselves with a cactus. This is one of the reasons I like Texas.

While I'm smoking, a vehicle pulls up, some dude around 40 gets out, grossly overweight. Then two girls get out. Elder is overweight, for sure, younger is borderline. Can't call her fat, but she's not far from it. The two girls faces look familiar - think a second - look behind the counter - uhhhh - yeah, that's got to be their mama. Right at that border between way overweight, and actual obesity. She has a face that might be described as "interesting" if you're in a generous mood. In a less generous mood, "porcine" would work perfectly. Flattened snubnose, no lips, very high forehead. The daughters share her face, but they don't look so bad yet. The younger, slimmer, daughter can almost be described as "pretty". Give her a few more years, and a few more pounds . . .

Well, time to do that shopping. Spend an hour or so driving around town, picking this up, and that. Ended up at Wally World. Mmmmmm - easter candy!! I filled a shopping cart, thought about getting another cart, but was afraid the wife would call me a glutton - or worse.

Time to head home. Cross the Red River back into Arkansas, and drive a few minutes. WTF? DAYUM!! That cloud of smoke I noticed earlier is still hanging in the air? NO WAY!! I brake, do a U-turn, and drive back south past that "smoke". U-turn again, and idle right up to the smoke. Odd - I'm not aware of ANY kind of vapor that just hangs in the air for a couple of hours. I cut the wheels, and drive completely off the road, and edge into the cloud. Below the embankment, a water hole becomes visible, which is fed by an ephemeral which is dry right now.

Now, I'm kinda looking upward into this smoke. Lighter spots, and darker spots, it still looks smoke-like or vapor-like. But, now I can see little motes within the cloud darting hither and thither within the cloud. I finally get my eyes focused on this thing, and realize that some kind of gnats are swarming. They're much too small to be Texas' famed buffalo gnats, but sure enough the little suckers are swarming!

I'm almost curious enough to step out of the Trailblazer to get a better look - but I don't feel any real need to inhale a few thousand of these little insects. Then I realize that my 6-cylinder is probably inhaling butt-tons of them. Oh-well - put it in gear, and head home. I hope I didn't kill a hundred thousand of some kind of endangered species of gnats.

Optical illusions are pretty cool, if you have the time to stop to figure them out.

*sigh* The wife exclaims, "Oh, Halloween candy!" And, she begins plotting how she's going to give it all away. But, but, but - I didn't BUY it to give it away! Now I'll have to make another stop somewhere to guy another buggy full of candy!

Myanmar's Suu Kyi: Rohingya Situation 'Could Have Been Handled Better'

Under international pressure over alleged genocide by Myanmar's army, the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledged Thursday that her country's treatment of its Rohingya Muslims "could have been handled better."

Speaking at a World Economic Forum meeting in Vietnam, Suu Kyi also struck a defiant tone when a moderator asked her about two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar. She said their case "had nothing to do with freedom of expression at all."

It was a rare defense from Myanmar's soft-spoken leader, now 73, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She spent nearly 15 years under house arrest at the hands of a repressive military junta, during which time she became one of the world's most famous political prisoners.

However, her reticence on both the fate of the Rohingya and the jailed journalists has been condemned by human rights groups and one-time admirers worldwide.

Nobel Peace Prize is done for tbh.

See also: Aung San Suu Kyi defends jailing of journalists in Myanmar: 'They have every right to appeal'

Previously: Evidence Of Rohingya Mass Graves Uncovered In Myanmar
Reuters reporter says Myanmar police planted 'secret' papers
World reacts to sentencing of Reuters journalists in Myanmar

Apple is happy to use women and people of color as art, not authority

"Apple's boardrooms look nothing like its advertisements."

Site seems to block archive.is. Wayback may be available later.

He's gay, believes in God, and voted for Donald Trump. Here's why a top VC says being an outsider has paid off in Silicon Valley.

• The venture capitalist David Blumberg is a white man in Silicon Valley, and still he says he's a minority.
• In addition to being a supporter of President Donald Trump, the investor is gay — he has two children with his partner — and has a strong faith in God.
• Blumberg said that after coming out as a Republican more than a decade ago, he "got dropped from a lot of cocktail-party lists."
• But being an outsider has its advantages, he says.

Actors and fans defend 'Cosby Show' actor after articles job-shame him for working at Trader Joe's

An honest man doing an honest day's work used to be something to be celebrated in America. But it didn't seem like it -- over the Labor Day weekend, of all times -- after actor Geoffrey Owens was spotted at a Trader Joe's in New Jersey, bagging groceries.

It all started with an article in the Daily Mail late last week. A customer at the store in Clifton, New Jersey, spotted Owens -- best known for his role as son-in-law Elvin Tibideaux on "The Cosby Show" -- working as a cashier and snapped a picture.

The image became the basis for the Daily Mail's story under the job-shaming headline, "From learning lines to serving the long line!" The details in the story were just as insulting: "Wearing an ID badge bearing his name, the former star wore a Trader Joe's T-shirt with stain marks on the front as he weighed a bag of potatoes."

The story exploded on social media over the holiday weekend after Fox News picked it up and tweeted out its own version. But the articles seemed to produce a flood of support for Owens, as well as a conversation about job-shaming and classism. Other actors, as well as fans, defended him.

Geoffrey Owens' message to job-shamers: Honor the 'dignity of work'

Leave him alone, he's not a rapist.

It's OK to job shame anyone working at the Daily Mail.

Black Strap Molasses (song)

The song's lyrics discuss popular health foods of the time. The verses make "absurd" claims about the supposed benefits of these foods, and the chorus runs:

Black strap molasses and the wheat germ bread
Makes you live so long you wish you were dead
You add a little yogurt and you'll be well fed
On the black strap molasses and the wheat germ bread.

One contemporary review interpreted the lyrics as referring specifically to the "Live Longer" diet advocated by nutritionist Gayelord Hauser. Hauser, labeled a "quack" by the American Medical Association, gained widespread popularity in the mid-twentieth century promoting "wonder foods" including blackstrap molasses, wheat germ, and yogurt, as well as brewer's yeast and powdered milk. He was known as a nutrition guru to many Hollywood celebrities.

Molasses.

I purchased a book through Amazon. No big deal, I have a couple dozen ebooks that I purchased through Amazon. I checked my email a little bit ago, and found this:

"Some Old Guy, did 'A State of Disobedience' meet your expectations? Review it on Amazon"

Ehhh, I liked the story, and was prepared to write a review on it. So, I clicked the link. Odd - the link loaded, and they asked to send me a code to verify that I'm me. Didn't ask for my password or anything like that. I approved the code thing, then pasted that code into their form. The next page to load told me:

To submit reviews, customers must make a minimum number of valid debit or credit card purchases. Prime subscriptions and promotional discounts don't qualify towards the purchase minimum. For more information, see our Customer Review Guidelines.

Now, that seems pretty screwed up. I didn't exactly volunteer to spend my time doing book reviews for Amazon. They asked me, not the other way around. FFS, they know that I don't spend thousands of dollars per year on their products. Why bother to send me an invite, if they didn't intend to honor the invitation?

Just more stupid shit from a big corporation. Fek Amazon, and double-plus double-good double-fek Jeff. I'll probably spend even less money at Amazon after this.

Previously: NYT: #MeToo Leader/Victim Settled With Her Own Accuser

Just some further developments.

Italian Filmmaker Wears "Weinstein is Innocent" Shirt on 'Suspiria' Red Carpet

Her father directed the original film. The article discusses Italian attitudes towards #MeToo.

Asia Argento's Episodes on Parts Unknown No Longer Streaming After She's Accused of Sexual Assault

CNN has stopped streaming episodes of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown that include Asia Argento after a sexual assault allegation was made against her.

“In light of the recent news reports about Asia Argento, CNN will discontinue airing past episodes of Parts Unknown that included her, until further notice,” a CNN spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

Argento, 42, appeared in the Rome and Southern Italy episodes of the show and directed a Hong Kong episode, during which Bourdain said, “To fall in love with Asia is one thing. To fall in love in Asia is another. Both have happened to me.”

A Buenos Aires episode, which did not feature Argento, was also removed from CNN Go for unspecified reasons, according to BuzzFeed News which was first to report.

Leah McSweeney and Asia Argento’s war of words could escalate

When Penthouse columnist Leah McSweeney lambasted Asia Argento last month in a column called “Can We Talk About Toxic Femininity?,” she was hit with an angry legal letter from Argento’s team, she said.

McSweeney posted the letter on Instagram after she wrote in the opinion column that Argento, who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape, instead “had a sexual relationship with Weinstein, which resulted in a transactional, consensual union, because — let’s be honest — that’s how Hollywood works.”

Rose McGowan Says Asia Argento Admitted to Sleeping With Young Actor

Rose McGowan, one of the leading voices of the #MeToo movement, said Monday that her partner had exchanged text messages with the actress and director Asia Argento in which Ms. Argento said that she had indeed slept with the actor Jimmy Bennett — an act that Ms. Argento recently denied.

In a lengthy statement, Ms. McGowan also said that her partner — the model Rain Dove — told her that in text messages, Ms. Argento had said that she had been receiving unsolicited nude photos of Mr. Bennett since the time he was 12 years old and had not informed the authorities or told him to stop sending the photos.

So she did the deed, but little Jimmy may have been thirstier than he remembers.

Rain Dove speaks out about Asia Argento allegations

Argento complained, Dove told CNN, that she was being extorted for money by Bennett and initially denied having sex with him. Argento later contradicted herself in an alleged text exchange with Dove, which Dove shared with CNN.

"The Public knows nothing, only what the NYT wrote. Which is one sided. The shakedown letter. The horny kid jumped me...," an alleged text from Argento read.

"So it was rape? Or an attempted sexual action?" Rain Dove replied in a text viewed by CNN.

"I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn't know he was a minor until the shakedown letter," Argento allegedly wrote in response.

2013 photo, with comments

Damage control:

The future of #MeToo: 'The movement is bigger than Asia Argento'

And finally, some real cheese.

Agents Tried to Flip Russian Oligarchs. The Fallout Spread to Trump. (archive)

In the estimation of American officials, Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin, has faced credible accusations of extortion, bribery and even murder.

They also thought he might make a good source.

Between 2014 and 2016, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department unsuccessfully tried to turn Mr. Deripaska into an informant. They signaled that they might provide help with his trouble in getting visas for the United States or even explore other steps to address his legal problems. In exchange, they were hoping for information on Russian organized crime and, later, on possible Russian aid to President Trump’s 2016 campaign, according to current and former officials and associates of Mr. Deripaska. In one dramatic encounter, F.B.I. agents appeared unannounced and uninvited at a home Mr. Deripaska maintains in New York and pressed him on whether Paul Manafort, a former business partner of his who went on to become chairman of Mr. Trump’s campaign, had served as a link between the campaign and the Kremlin.

The attempt to flip Mr. Deripaska was part of a broader, clandestine American effort to gauge the possibility of gaining cooperation from roughly a half-dozen of Russia’s richest men, nearly all of whom, like Mr. Deripaska, depend on President Vladimir V. Putin to maintain their wealth, the officials said.

Two of the players in the effort were Bruce G. Ohr, the Justice Department official who has recently become a target of attacks by Mr. Trump, and Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled a dossier of purported links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The systematic effort to win the cooperation of the oligarchs, which has not previously been revealed, does not appear to have scored any successes. And in Mr. Deripaska’s case, he told the American investigators that he disagreed with their theories about Russian organized crime and Kremlin collusion in the campaign, a person familiar with the exchanges said. The person added that Mr. Deripaska even notified the Kremlin about the American efforts to cultivate him.

"Thanks, but no thanks."