OPEN THREAD: Now witness the power of this once-again fully-operational comment section.

VICTORY GIRLS: One Mom’s Warning, Stop Othering Boys.

VERY SADLY, MY STUDENT AARON MOORE DIED THIS WEEK, leaving a four-year-old son. His family is having trouble paying for the memorial service, so a fellow law student has set up a Go FundMe Page. I donated $500. If you feel like donating too, I’d appreciate it. He was a good guy, one of the strongest and most sensible voices in my Constitutional Law class, and I just hate to lose him. (Bumped).

UPDATE: They’ve hit the goal, and thanks to all of you who donated. It means a lot to me.

GOOD: Fear Hits Tehran Over What Might Come Next. The Mullahs’ position is weak:

By November, the bloodiest protests since the 1979 revolution plunged the country into a state of heightened security as authorities, unable to contain the unrest, switched-off access to the internet and launched a crackdown on dissent that killed some 304 people within several days, according to the London-based Amnesty International.

“How do they expect people to rally behind them and support their cause for vengeance when they beat the same people on the streets and cut their internet just a few weeks ago?” said Atena, 30. She expects action to avenge Soleimani. “I don’t think they should or will stay silent, but I don’t want to be part of the drama because this is their loss, not mine.”

Yep.

Related: Trump to Iran: If you attack us, we’ll hit the same number of targets as US hostages you took in 1979. Sounds like he’s already got a list. They never will be missed!

ADVICE THAT WILL BE IGNORED, NOT LEAST BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO: Don Surber: How the media can get Trump right.

HEH: “When we said, ‘Question authority,’ we didn’t mean OUR authority:” New York Times frets that PragerU is using YouTube to ‘circumvent’ professors — and parents.

GET WOKE, GO BROKE, SEXUAL EDITION: “In Japan, this new generation of sexless men—and the Japanese sex recession is caused by men’s lack of interest, to the vocal dismay of young Japanese women… — are known as soushoku danshi, literally ‘grass-eating men’ — in a word, herbivores.”

SQUAD GOALS: Ilhan Omar ‘Outraged’ Over Soleimani Killing, About 9/11 Not So Much.

SIGH:

ROBIN HANSON: “We also seem to see overspending in medicine, law, school, investment analysis, campaign spending, and much else. A consistent pattern I think I see is overspending in areas where spending lets one associate with prestigious folks. So I suggest that much of this overspending is better explained via motives to gain prestige via association. Re ads, consider that in order for a CEO to be promoted to run a bigger firm, people at other firms need to hear about that CEO and his or her firm. Within firms, the ambitious are often told to ‘toot their horns’ and let everyone know about their accomplishments; productive people who don’t toot tend to be overlooked. Similarly, CEOs may want to overspend on ads just to make sure others hear about their firm.”

This also explains state subsidies to the motion picture industry: Politicians are using taxpayer money to buy opportunities to hobnob with celebrities.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Selective Service Website Crashes as Panicky Snowflakes Fear a New Draft.

OLD AND BUSTED: By 2019, we’d all have cool flying cars designed by Syd Mead.

The New Hotness? Segway created an egg-shaped ‘transporting pod’ that looks part electric wheelchair, part ‘Wall-E’ hoverchair — and it can hit 24 mph.

Is there a rule that all vehicles designed by Segway must look as dorky as possible?

Captain Pike could not be reached for comment by blinking once or twice on this wheelchair.

I DO NOT TRUST THE INTERNET OF THINGS: Hackers Can Use Lasers to ‘Speak’ to Your Amazon Echo or Google Home.

And you’re really screwed if the hackers have sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw

A GOOD ONE: Why I Made Firearm Practice My New Year’s Resolution.

AT AMAZON, Shop Amazon Warehouse Deals – Deep Discounts on Open-box and Used Products.

Plus, Shop Amazon Outlet – Clearance, Markdowns and Overstock Deals.

WATCH: California news anchors get redpilled on live television.

The blue governments that Californians continually vote in may have finally crossed the line, at least so it seems to these [L.A.-based] KTLA news anchors.

A video of the show titled “KTLA 5 Morning News Anchors Get Redpilled,” shows the anchors discussing the matter at hand, specifically regarding California’s 55 gallon-of-water-per-day.

“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” said anchor Jessica Holmes to her co-anchors. “You’re not going to be allowed to shower and do a load of laundry in the same day.”

While that may sound insane, what California Attorney Richard Lee breaks down the hypothetical figures.

“Doing a load of laundry takes about 40 to 50 gallons of water. Taking a shower for about eight minutes uses about 17 gallons of water. Well, there’s a limitation of your daily use of water, 55 gallons per day. So that means if you’re taking a shower and doing a load of laundry, you can’t do both without being in violation of the law.”

Video at link. My favorite bit is when Holmes cluelessly blurts out, “Wait, who made this law?! Let’s talk to them!”, and Lee deadpans in reply, “It’s the state legislature; the governor signed this into effect. It goes into effect January 1st.”

Good and hard, California.

(Found via Small Dead Animals, as part of their ever-expanding “O, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas, hear my prayers” category.

AT LEAST THIS ONE WON’T RUN OUT OF BEER: Bon Voyage for the Autonomous Ship Mayflower.

JOE ‘NO MALARKEY’ BIDEN TELLS IOWANS HE SUPPORTED THE BIN LADEN RAID. HISTORY SAYS OTHERWISE.

DON’T DO THAT: A pilot passed out while flying an F-15 over Oregon. Here’s what happened next.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS…WELL, PRETTY CONSISTENT, ACTUALLY:

Shot:

—Michael Moore, yesterday.

Chaser:

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not “insurgents” or “terrorists” or “The Enemy.” They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win.

—Michael Moore, April 14, 2004.

Hangover: Michael Moore Says He’s Now The Mainstream Democratic Party: ‘I Am The Center.’

— Ashe Schow, the Daily Wire, November 22nd.

To be fair, on that last item, he could be right, but this says more about the sorry state of the Democratic Party, than it does the sorry state of Moore.

I SEE NEW BODYBUILDING SUPPLEMENTS COMING OUT OF THIS RESEARCH: How grizzly bears prevent muscle atrophy during hibernation. “The findings — published this month in the journal Scientific Reports — suggest grizzly bears possess a unique set of genes that boost amino acid metabolism during hibernation, resulting in greater concentrations of certain non-essential amino acids, which fuel muscle cell growth.”

WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES SUCH CESSPITS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION? Time’s Up Reveals Safety Guide for Entertainment Industry Employees:

On Friday Time’s Up Entertainment debuted the Time’s Up Guide to Working in Entertainment, a three-part resource that covers areas where, the foundation says, Hollywood employees have historically been exploited or harassed and offers solutions for issues that arise. Experiences covered in the guide include auditions and nude, intimate and simulated sex scenes; the guide also features a volume on how to report sexual misconduct and harassment.

“If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. If it seems like a red flag, it probably is. It’s okay to say ‘no,’ to speak up, and to leave situations that make you uncomfortable. No role, job, or relationship is worth compromising your physical or emotional safety,” an introduction to the guide reads.

According to the foundation, the guide stems from months of consultation with actors, filmmakers, production crew, union workers, attorneys and organizations. The impetus for the guide came from actresses who wanted to put a guide for handling workplace dangers and misconduct down in writing for colleagues in the industry.

One volume of the guide, titled “Your Rights in Nude, Intimate and Sex Scenes,” details performers’ rights under the law and under SAG-AFTRA, if they are a member. Other topics include how to establish and maintain boundaries, using a nudity rider and intimacy coordinators and a performer’s right to change their mind regarding these scenes.

Why, it’s like Hollywood is a giant sex-grooming gang or something.

THAT COMPORTS WITH MY EXPERIENCE: Missed sleep may increase appetite, studies say.