September 18, 2026

HMM: TikTokers are checking for ‘ferritin face.’ Doctors say there’s something to it. “Social media has offered us all plenty of things to be insecure about when it comes to our faces — Instagram face, Ozempic face, cortisol face, runner’s face, pillow face and so on — but with ‘ferritin face,’ there may be something to the trend. The term refers to the appearance of dark circles under the eyes and sallow skin, which could be signs of low ferritin, a blood protein that stores iron. Low ferritin often means there isn’t enough iron in the body and can be a sign of iron deficiency, the most common nutrient deficiency on the planet.”

Posted at 6:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

CHIVALRY WAS A CODE THAT MADE BEHAVIORAL DEMANDS ON WOMEN AS WELL AS MEN:

Posted at 5:24 pm by Ed Driscoll

HMM: Volkswagen Mission Efficiency Concept First Look: The Most Efficient EV Yet. “Efficiency is an unheard of 9 miles per kWh, and with a 54.9-kWh battery, range comes in at 514.5 miles for a battery slightly more than half the size of the EQXX’s and and a zero to 62 mph time of 9 seconds. (Doubling the size of the battery would not necessarily double the range as it would also increase the weight substantially, and likely the size of the vehicle.) Production EVs today struggle to exceed 4 miles per kWh, with EV maker Lucid publicly declaring its goal of a 5-miles-per-kWh production car in the future.”

Posted at 5:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

MARK JUDGE: Jazz Fans Stunned by Cassandra Wilson’s MAGA Views.

Jazz great Cassandra Wilson passed away at 70 recently. Wilson was praised for her voice and talent. John Horhn, mayor of her hometown, Jackson, Mississippi, called her an “extraordinary native daughter.” He said Wilson carried “the sound, spirit and history of Mississippi” everywhere. “With a low and smoky voice,” The New York Times noted, “she brought suave romance to standards from the Great American Songbook, but she also embraced covers of artists including Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young and the Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson. She wrote the words and music for original compositions on albums like Blue Light ’Til Dawn (1993) and New Moon Daughter (1995), the second of which received a Grammy for best jazz vocal performance and sold more than 400,000 copies.”

However, a sour note soon entered the chorus. It turns out that Cassandra Wilson had conservative views.

Lefties will tolerate anything but dissenting views.

Posted at 4:23 pm by Stephen Green

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, CONFORMITY IS DIVERSITY:

Posted at 4:05 pm by Stephen Green

HMM: Army has enough drones for each unit, now it needs to train soldiers to use them. “It’s unclear just how many drones the Pentagon has sent directly to Army units, but as of today, the Drone Dominance Leaderboard shows that units have accepted 12,080 drones from Gauntlet 1 of the program. As Breaking Defense previously reported, 11 companies have received deals to provide a total of 24,320 small drones through the first gauntlet.”

Those aren’t even rookie numbers.

Posted at 3:52 pm by Stephen Green

I HAD BEEN ASSURED THAT BIOLOGICAL SEX WAS MEANINGLESS AND GENDER WAS JUST A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT:

Posted at 3:36 pm by Stephen Green

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: Sir, Monday Is Not ‘Naked Shopping Day.’ “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn why they need a ready-to-wear aisle at HomeGoods, how to do the perfect meet-cute at McDonald’s with just the one assault charge, and what’s up with that Golf Digest mugshot from Kansas.”

Posted at 3:21 pm by Stephen Green

ASKING (AND ANSWERING) THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is Taking a Waymo or a Cybercab to the Range a Good Idea? “The kneejerk response [to two people being arrested in California for having an AR in a Waymo] — ‘This is the surveillance industrial complex run amok’ — misses that these youths would have had the same result whether it was a human or an AI driving their taxi. Waving a gun around in the back seat of someone else’s car has always been a fast way to get the driver to end the trip.”

Posted at 2:50 pm by Stephen Green

REMEMBER THE STAKES…:

…If you think gas is expensive, try a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic.

Posted at 2:34 pm by Stephen Green

ANALYSIS: TRUE. There Is No Such Thing As A Moderate Democrat Anymore.

There are now just 10 Democrats of more than 250 in Congress who have signed on to a coalition that opposes rising socialism and communism. As part of their “Promise to America,” the 10 Democrats declare (among other things): “We are capitalist, not socialist,” “We want safety, not lawlessness,” “We are proud, not ashamed of America.” That not all Democrats signed on to that in and of itself is concerning.

The embrace of socialism — an extremist ideology — among mainstream Democrats both in office and in the electorate is the logical extension of Democrats’ policies. As I’ve previously written, the DSA isn’t necessarily inventing any new ideas or positions. They’re merely taking positions already embraced by much of the Democrat Party and just following them through to their logical conclusion.

Previously: It’s Official: The Democrat Party Is a Socialist Skinsuit.

Posted at 1:48 pm by Stephen Green

I THOUGHT IT WAS BASED ON GREED AND ENVY: California’s Proposed ‘Billionaire Tax’ Is Based on Bad Research.

A survey conducted September 4–10 by the Public Policy Institute of California found 52 percent support for Proposition 40, which would impose a (supposedly) one-time 5 percent tax on the wealth of people with assets worth over $1 billion. Interestingly, 51 percent of respondents also support Proposition 41, which requires audits for new taxes and bars the way the wealth tax measure would allocate collected revenue, and 54 percent favor Proposition 42, which prohibits taxes on financial assets. Under California law, “if provisions of two or more measures approved at the same election conflict, those of the measure receiving the highest affirmative vote prevail.”

Those conflicting measures could save Californians from themselves, since the proposed wealth tax is based on bad assumptions and would do enormous damage to the state’s economy. Unfortunately, much self-inflicted harm is already locked in. In March, a Hoover Institution study found that wealthy individuals leaving the state in fear of Proposition 40’s passage had already removed “$536 billion, or nearly 30 percent of aggregate billionaire wealth, from the tax base.”

And the flawed research? It came from a couple of French-born Berkeley professors who seem to specialize in justification for taxing the bejeezus out of stuff.

Posted at 12:46 pm by Stephen Green

NOT MUCH CHANGED EXCEPT FOR THE TITLES:

“Deputy Director-General for the Harmonization of Harmonizing Procedures” doesn’t have quite the romance of “Burgrave of Rosenfels” or whatever, but it will do.

Posted at 12:28 pm by Stephen Green