The news you read at work ... on the sly

THE  left-wing French coalition, the New Popular Front, unexpectedly defeated the far-right National Rally of Marine le Pen. Le Pen did not take this lightly.

Tories thrashed

Labour's runaway victory in the British general election was a rich source of crazy memes and witty newspaper headlines. 

What doesn't work for you, works against you

The perception of artificial intelligence from the Polish-Irish fantasy writer, gamer and artist Joanna Maciejewska is proving to be quite popular.

Namibia’s back roads beckon

Those who visit Namibia with the idea of deviating from the beaten track can take note that our neighbour has finally abolished sodomy laws. A full bench of high court judges heard an application by a gay man, Friedel Laurentius Dausab, to declare the common law offences of “sodomy" and other “unnatural sexual offences" unconstitutional. — The Conversation

Come on, son, drink up!

For those who don't know: an incel is a pathetic heterosexual boy (anything under 30) who has been playing computer games in the basement of his mother's house for so long that his emotions, self-esteem, muscles and probably his penis have not developed enough for him to be able to get a girlfriend.

America has millions of them, and they huddle and brood on the unsavoury outskirts of the internet, sharing misogynistic memes, rape jokes and self-pity essays.

This picture reminded us of them. Come out of the holes, boys, get seriously wasted, and live!

X’sê, Elon, what gives?

X, the old Twitter, is the social media site that has lost the most users in South Africa in the past year. According to the Social Media Landscape Report by World Wide Worx and Ornico, Facebook still has by far the most users, with TikTok appearing to have gained the most X defectors.

From 2022 to 2023, X dropped from 22.5% of users to 18.5%. Facebook rose from 56.7% to 59.6%, TikTok from 30.6% to 34%, and Instagram fell from 27.6% to 26.9%. The hookup sites Tinder and Grindr are at 6% and 5% respectively.

Voracious, predacious humans

A video posted by the famous X'er Massimo gives you a relative idea of ​​how many of each species of animal eaten by humans are slaughtered or hunted annually in the world.

Even the most hardened and insensitive meat eater should be caught off guard by these statistics. It cannot be sustainable for humans to take 100 million sharks, 500 million lobsters and 900 million tuna fish out of the sea every year.

We checked several of the statistics against reliable, non-activist online sources, and they appear to be accurate. Even if the numbers are halved, they remain crushing.

The Nazi-scenarios

If you're someone who believes Donald Trump is pushing America down a slippery slope to fascism, or who just likes to read about imaginary scenarios, The New Republic's exercise this month in asking nine people What American Fascism Would Look Like  is sure to be thought-provoking free reading material. It's even worth just looking at the cover!

On your marks, get set, selfie!

The draconian International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules about what and when athletes and coaches may post on social media are more lenient this year than with all the previous Games. The IOC must find a balance between the companies that buy overarching media rights for the games and personal image rights, which bring in millions of dollars for athletes.

From now on, athletes may share photos from accredited areas they enter up to an hour before participating, and also from training areas. However, they may not broadcast a live stream or post a video longer than two minutes. They may also not post videos or photos that have been manipulated by artificial intelligence, although no one can figure out how this will be checked. Athletes may not openly support their personal sponsors during the games, but they may thank the sponsors once online. — The Conversation

The Bok medley

After the hullabaloo between supporters of the Boks and Ireland over coach Rassie's version of the sacred Irish song Zombie, a newer, crazier version has emerged on the internet. It's in a medley of rugby songs which the West London Dukes Male Voice Choir, a Cape Malay Choir, sang in January. You won’t regret it.

What is the world coming to?

And then, just so you can say at the dinner table tonight: “Good heavens, people, look here!" A warthog that identifies as a sheepdog.

♦ VWB ♦

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