Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bark louder, little dog.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

We still have time to mess this up!

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

No one could have predicted…

I really should read my own blog.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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Reader Interactions

50Comments

  3. 3.

    Daaling

    My first instincts were to go with Wrong Again Cole being wrong again. My gut said it was a hoax but when I looked on his website he had a bunch of videos that made me think it wasn’t.

    Serves me right. The first time I believe something is true that Cole says and I get burned!

  9. 9.

    MattR

    I find it interesting that the video of Floris Kaayk admitting the hoax on Dutch TV is no longer available on YouTube. Maybe the hoax is that it wasn’t a hoax.

    @Cat Lady: Supposedly, Kaayk said that the original “Human Bird Wings” video was actually the culmination of an 8-month project about how stories and information spread by way of the Internet.” (if there really as an interview on Dutch TV)

  10. 10.

    Schlemizel

    There were a couple of issues with it. First human muscles can’t generate the horsepower needed for winged flight. But the real kill is that a solid wing like that creates as much downward force on the upstroke as lift on the down stroke. If you look at a wing feather you will see that the quill is off-center so the feather will flip up & let air pass on the upstroke then flap down to create lift on the down stroke.

    Neat video though

  12. 12.

    joeyess

    Yeah, thanks a lot, Cole. I told my wife that this was what I wanted for my birthday. Now I get bupkis.

    Fucker.

  13. 13.

    Schlemizel

    @Cat Lady:
    ever see the video of guys “unlocking” a car door with a tennis ball or using the remote over cell phones? How about generating electricity with two nails in a candle (power when the candle is lit stops when you blow it out

    Some people like to play practical jokes some people make themselves feel better by making fools of others, Who knows?

  14. 14.

    Waldo

    Props to filmmaker for making it seem plausible. Remember the tagline from the 1st Superman movie: You’ll believe a man can fly? Not so much, actually.

  15. 15.

    Comrade Mary

    A commenter somewhere else said that the tell for them was seeing the guy assume a prone “Superman” pose without having a sling supporting his body (as hang gliders do). Without that support, even a pretty fit human would be dangling their legs straight down.

    I missed that :-(

  17. 17.

    passerby

    I enjoyed the video and totally forgive the guy for hoaxing us because:

    1) he was demonstrating how quickly a (non-true) story could spread across the internet–he succeeded, and,

    2) he chose the subject because it’s everyone’s dream to fly–and I believe that.

  18. 18.

    Corner Stone

    It’s not really that big a deal John. I loved him for it.
    Plus, when I want to fly I just put some Adele on.
    Fuck the haterz.

  19. 19.

    DCLaw1

    Saw Cole’s tweet about Andrew Sullivan filibustering Real Time with Bill Maher. Sully was an even bigger dick during “Overtime,” to the female guest on the topic of Hillary Clinton.

    Nice to see Greenwald go toe-to-toe with the Great Pompous Beard.

  21. 21.

    MikeJ

    @passerby: I enjoyed the video too, I just thought it totally unnecessary to tell people it was fake. People shouldn’t have to be told that Alderaan wasn’t blown up either.

    It was fun, he wasn’t hurting anyone, he never tried to sell flying suits. Calling it a hoax seems moronic.

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    @nellcote:

    The new law allows citizens to use deadly force against police officers they think are illegally entering their homes.

    Somebody posted about that earlier. Wouldn’t we all be better off if the government bothered to regulate and control the police who supposedly represent the government rather than letting police and citizens shoot it out?

    It really does seem like yet another example of Republican reluctance to regulate even the things that are under their direct control.

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    @MikeJ:

    People shouldn’t have to be told that Alderaan wasn’t blown up either.

    Fuck you! I SAW Yoda feel that pain!
    Yoda, you argue against..hmmmm?

  24. 24.

    Daaling

    @Schlemizel: Congradulations just making yourself look more foolish by trying to pretend you had it all figured out.

    First of all if you watched the videos on the website you would see that it was NOT powered by his arms. All his arms did was control the wings.

    They built actually moving mechanisms tied to an android phone and wii controller and showed it working. So that part was real. It was a pretty elaborate hoax to have built actual moving parts. Realistic wings, the whole deal.

  25. 25.

    Corner Stone

    @nellcote:

    The new law allows citizens to use deadly force against police officers they think are illegally entering their homes.

    I’m not really down with the law in IN, but I have to admit that if armed men kick in my door at 3AM, and have a wrong address, I’d kind of like to have a legal defense if I defend my homestead and child.

  26. 26.

    MattR

    @DCLaw1: No spoilers. Trying to watch the replay. Though I may have to change the channel to save my TV from meeting my remote control at high speed.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    On topic to the post, apparently the closest you can get to this kind of flight is in an ultralight trike. People who’ve done it really rave about it — it’s similar to hang gliding, but with a motor. I myself am too afraid of heights to try it, but if it’s really one of your dreams, it might be worth checking out.

  28. 28.

    amk

    yeah, this is almost like you saying that this site will be fixed soon.

    fuck the mobile versions everywhere.

  29. 29.

    amk

    @Corner Stone:

    I’d kind of like to have a legal defense

    where ? before saint peter ?

    It’s a fucked up law & logic that’s just gonna kill more people.

  30. 30.

    bootsy

    Well, to be fair, there’s been a few human-powered craft. This one, for example, at the Air & Space Museum: Gossamer Albatross. They’re just powered by propellers run by pro-cyclist-trained legs.

    When I saw that vid at first I thought: “Well, people have been trying to create a bird-like flying contraption probably since Icarus, and have failed.” But then again you think about new tech and materials, so, why not?

  34. 34.

    CaseyL

    It’s a shame the Magic Flying Suit wasn’t real. The base-jumpers in flying squirrel suits are very real (and the sport is super dangerous).

    You never know what someone will come up with. We have ultralight materials that could be ancestors of the Puppeteers’ General Products hulls; we’re working on extracting motive power from smaller and smaller machines; who knows what someone will invent in a decade or two?

    Try snorkeling. There’s no equipment but the snorkel and fins, so you’re unencumbered and don’t have to worry about scuba equipment or bends or anything like that. There’s nothing quite like swimming over a rock wall or coral formation and seeing it drop away beneath you to reveal a multicolored panorama of coral and fishes. It not only feels like you’re flying; it feels like you’re flying into Paradise.

  37. 37.

    Montysano

    What an asshole. I saw that video and momentarily felt better about the world. I guess pro-meteor is the only stance that makes sense.

  40. 40.

    MobiusKlein

    @bootsy: That gossamer condor was the bomb. I thought the same thing too – the wingspan on the condor, and the effort needed to fly that was huge, so why would the smaller one work.
    I thought maybe, the shorter time of flight might matter, and the video was cool. But… was half convinced.

  48. 48.

    Triassic Sands

    So it’s a hoax. What do you expect? The guy’s Dutch. The Dutch are beating old people to death in the streets just for the fun of it and because they are a burden on younger Dutch people who are all supporting huge drug habits. (Source: Rick Santorum Campaign)

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