We have always informed our cats that Science is not a job for cats. Biologists want to do Anatomy and Physiology, and physicists always want to use them for a variety of “Thought” experiments, like Herr Schrödinger’s box.
The being over 60 and not having your youthful indescretions recorded for all to see is something I tell my high school and college students about. I can then relate a few stories, which will of course have them asking for more. I will then reply “No. The only people who know what happened in those are the people who participated in them. And when we all shuffle off this mortal coil [I often get to explain where that line comes from], they will be gone forever. Thankfully.”
I was required to start keeping a daily journal by my supervisors in one of my first post-college job positions. One of the best decisions I ever made, and I keep telling my son to start the habit (Narrator: he hasn’t.) But another boss gave me very good advice very soon after starting my journal: “Don’t write anything down that you don’t want opposing counsel to read back to you in open court.”
The hotel where I won Best Performance at the SF con by singing, “Makin’ Wookies,” and was invited to Wilson Tucker’s room party as a result was torn down years ago. (The prize was an autographed copy of “The Art of Kelley Freas”).
The hangover, however, lives on in my memory (along with gratitude for the lady who tried to keep me from driving and my friends who took me in while laughing themselves sick). I’d never had one before, or since.
Related to the memes in general (because it’s about cats), this week I was at a gathering and a new cat cafe had opened next to the restaurant we were in. My whole family chipped in with various cat cafes around the area (I wonder how the county heath department deals with them?), and then yesterday my youngest is at a new hardware store. It has a store cat. They’re everywhere! And no one is the least bit surprised.
The meme implies surprise on the part of, well anyone. Problem I have with that is dogs are tasked with hitting buttons to open doors and on crosswalk crossing. Then assisting their handler across the road. Coyotes are cleverer than dogs.
I saw that and wasn’t certain if I should laugh or cry. The Flat State U geology department did a shirt that was the stratigraphy of their building. I so wanted one, but they were out of my sizes (I hung out there because their guest lecture series was so good, and they felt that the more the merrier.)
Regarding trebuchet and background checks, it’s legal to own cannon (federally, at least) if they’re manufactured before a certain date, according to two separate men I’ve read or viewed online. The date is about 1890, and it’s meaning the actual date of the specific item—reproductions don’t count.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(16) and related ATF regulations, an antique firearm includes:
Any firearm (including matchlock, flintlock, percussion, or similar ignition) manufactured in or before 1898.
Replicas of such firearms that are not designed or redesigned to use rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition.
Muzzle-loading weapons designed to use black powder (or a black-powder substitute) that cannot use fixed ammunition.
A typical muzzle-loading black-powder cannon (original pre-1899 or modern replica that loads from the muzzle with loose powder and a separate projectile) falls into this category.
/Grok
Usage is more regulated; typical allowed firings include re-enactments.
The Mythbusters guys borrowed such a cannon from a guy who lives in near Lodi, CA.
I support the movement to re-instate the usage of Letters of Marque and Reprisal!
A few decades ago, a couple of friends were into all things firearms, including cannons. Lee had a couple of replica miniature cannons. The 0.75″ (ACW replica, maybe) was a house decoration, but the 2″ bore naval cannon got to the range on occasion. Larry had a black powder cannon modeled after a 75mm WW version. It fired projectiles that could be made from beer cans. The only time I saw it fired, the weld on the breach block failed. Another friend did weld inspections when the M2 Bradley was being made at FMC in San Jose. He red-tagged the cannon until the breach could be done. Larry towed it with his truck, and said he got the strangest looks in traffic…
Lee had a Coehorn barrel that I passed on buying. Almost regret it now; the Coehorn was in common use during the Modoc War around here. A couple examples are in nearby museums, both at Lava Beds Nat’l Monument, and another one on SR 62 at the old Fort Klamath site. [Mulls over drawings, and looks at 4″ diameter cold rolled steel offcuts on hand. Model coehorns can do wonders with golf balls…]
A while ago there was an article about a guy in Alaska who built a muzzle loading black powder howitzer, firing bowling balls. Apparently perfectly legal (but you’d better be a really good welder). He showed it off at the local gun club, sending balls about a mile down range.
A defunct website had info on home-built cannons, along with rather illegal ways to use them to hunt. (Grapeshot on a deer? Yikes.) His Coehorn mortar fired bocce balls, and I won’t talk about what he hunted with them. (Hunting over bait, and non-game animals was the start. I suspect such stuff is why the website is long gone.)
Pretty sure the cannon barrel was from one of the usual suspects (Navy Arms did them in the past. No idea about current.) The coehorn was from barstock.
It’s something like the curio and antique rule. If I’m recalling correctly, sufficiently old rifles can be purchased with much less hassle when they hit that age. Some of the Mauser rifles just might hit that range. [Makes note to check it out.]
RCPete, that’s right. I hold a Curio & Relic FFL. It’s class 03. Not only rifles: I’ve had 2 Tokarevs, a CZ 82, and a P-64 delivered to me, as well as rifles. IIRC, it’s only $50, & it’s good for 2 or 4 years (I really don’t recall).
Better yet, some online dealers give a discount to C&R holders (generally called ‘Crufflers’, BTW). Look into it, it’s worth it if you like old and/or military arms!
Well, there is the Curio & Relic category which is anything over 50 years old or which has been put on the C&R list as because of its rarity or unusual features. Then there is the antique category which is anything made before 1898. It also applies to replicas of such firearms so long as they don’t use conventional fixed ammunition (essentially muzzle loaders, cap & ball revolvers, etc.).
Mauser and other cartridge firing rifles made before 1898 are considered antiques and can be freely bought and sold without any Federal interference. A couple states do still restrict them. Early machine guns, such as Maxims, unfortunately are still covered under the 1934 Federal Firearms Act with all its BS. Firearms that fall under the C&R rule can be bought with little hassle if you get a C&R license, otherwise they are treated as any other modern firearm.
The He Brews meme hits the Reader close to home. Reason – the Reader has made coffee and brought it to his better half for most of our 44 year marriage. Early in our marriage, we were both working and better half would get up with the Reader and brightly attempt to engage the Reader in conversation, resulting in the Reader snarling at her. After a week or so of her thinking she married an ogre, we came to the arrangement that has lasted since. The Reader gets up early, has coffee and mental integration, and then brings better half her first cup in bed. Amazing what little things do to cement a marriage.
Had a classmate whose wife was like that. One did not say a word to her until she had her first cup of coffee. Rather she had her second cup of coffee in hand. First cup had to be finished before engaging her.
We’d all gone our separate ways before they had children. Do not know if the coffee thing survived 5 children, including one Down syndrome (supervised functional. One of the older children just took custody given parents are 75.)
My wife was always a morning person (as was her dad), and I never have been. But we both had to get up and go to grad school/work in the morning. We decided we both started with low blood sugar, and didn’t even try to talk before breakfast.
I was not a morning person. Given a preference, I’d take the coffee via IV. However, once I got sort-of broadband, I had satellite bandwidth strictly limited from 8AM to 2AM. 2 to 5 had about 10X the limit, so getting up at 2, 3 or a bit later made sense.
I’m on a better plan now, but lights out at 9PM means I’ve stayed up late. Doc says limit caffeine, so it’s best that $SPOUSE sleeps in to 8AM while I become re-acquainted with sanity or civilization, for values of each.
Until I retired I wasn’t much of a morning person. Reality check the meme of “When I was a child I couldn’t wait to set my own bedtime. Apparently that is 9 PM, 10 PM if I take a nap,” describe me now. Going to bed at 9 or 10 PM, puts 8 hours between 5 – 6 AM. Bathroom, dog, and cats insisting on attention, “sleep breaks”, pushes wake up time to 7 – 8 AM, if I’m lucky.
“Never. Never ends. Still have “forgot to attend the class all semester” nightmares.“
–
Yes!
I’m almost 70!
Although these days it alternates between this and “forgot to log into the time system to prove I was working”. Please note. I’ve been retired for 10+ years. I’ve have not taken contract work that required logging in.
Said I would. Only asked twice. First time no logging in required (just repeating/pointing-out what a document said, which I made them print out), 4 hours paid. Second time I told the boss what document I was going to follow exactly when they paid me to come in (we were out of town). Never got another request. Never expected to get called, even twice. I sent email after email with documents and links to where said documents were stored on internal public access that covered everything I was primary on (in a company, for reasons, no one was primary on any piece of code section or topic).
The above does bring up a hilarious incident at my pre-op appointment (that I do not have to repeat) last week. Apparently the pre-op has multiple reasons: 1) Full Blood Panel (i.e. bruise on my inner elbow from blood draw). 2) 12 lead EKG test. 3) Get the post-op breathing pull device and make sure I know how to use it (I never have, but hubby has had surgery 3x now). 4) Go over meds and when to stop; pulled out the medication list from myChart and calendar which showed what to stop when. 5) Go over pre surgery and post surgery I should expect. 6) Get my questions answered. When discussing item #4 my answers were, that is mentioned in “the hospital heart surgery book”, it also stated … Eventually the RN looked at me and said “You read the book!” I looked at her and grinned “Doesn’t everyone?” Held up my hand to add “I wrote software for 35 years.” I did not have to say more. Still continued covering it. Having read it, does not mean I absorbed all of it. Or why I reread, and will again before Friday. Also, a lot of it is post going-home, which they will go over, again, before discharge, and during follow up post discharge.
I live where the tap water has distinctive tastes, depending on where they are getting it from that day. Yes, I drink a lot of it, so yes, I know the flavors. The strongest taste was in Big Spring before they added a reverse osmosis system and other improvements. It was so salty you got thirstier drinking it. Midland was almost as mineral-heavy.
Iron and or Manganese are not your friend either. And as Iron and manganese tend to settle out they cause havoc with heating systems and other plumbing Hardware. Let alone laundry. And pretty much reverse osmosis is the ONLY way to remove them and it has its own issues if you’re on a septic system.
Oh, my, yes. Jacksonville would pull sulfur water from the aquifer and you knew. Then at least once they tried to cover the sulfur smell with chlorine.
Of course, we also lived downwind from the paper mill. Ah, the silver sulfur mix you got in the morning.
Best water I’ve ever tasted is well water in Cooke City, MT*. You can taste the bones of the mountains. Phoenix, Arizona has the worst water I’ve ever tasted.
*My sister in law claims that glacier melt from Alaska is the best water ever but I haven’t had a chance to try it.
Lived in Yuma when I was 8-ish. Lots of iron in their water then; when warm, a rather thin and clear-ish replica of blood. Barely able to swallow cold.
Best-tasting water I’ve ever had was the *tap* water in Ashland, Oregon. (Not the lithium water—there’s a reason people film their friends brave enough to drink from that particular fountain.) And mind you, I’ve been in mountain areas with spring water. Though given that they had to put bleach in it to make the Health Department happy, they weren’t entirely “natural” after all.
There is a reason why filters are recommended even high in the mountain wilderness while hiking and backpacking. Always has been even before popular trails became crowded.
Springs generally, might, maybe, be safe. Maybe.
Best tasting water I’ve had was grandparent’s well, and great-uncle’s well, same general area, Drain/Yoncolla, Oregon. Actually safe? Dang if I know. Great-Uncle’s 80 acres with well (original 1800’s hand pump in kitchen), sold in 1974. Grandparent’s place sold in 2007.
Yet the well at the in-laws place on the Little Dechutes River, was safe by the testing, but tasted awful.
I note the red shirts are doing f-all for perimeter security. I mean, Starfleet training is just crap, isn’t it. No wonder they all get offed on every away mission. Yeesh.
Although as the UK has strategic nuclear weapons it may be more critical to keep those out of the hands of an Islamic Government. I wonder if there is a modern day equivalent of War Plan Red to deal with/track the 3 (4 if/when Victorious finishes its refit) British boomers if that were to happen. Same with France not sure of the state of their 4(?) modernish boomers. Of course, Canada presents invasion issues as the US/Canada Border is immense and mostly unguarded.
Not sure if the IRBM’s are still in service, I thought they punted those shortly after the USSR broke up (cost saving don’t you know). They still have Super Etenard aircraft and free fall weapons. I ignored those (and the IRBM) as they can’t easily get to the US unlike the sub-launched ICBM. Theoretically, the Etenard could be put on the carrier Charles De Gaulle and it sailed within range of the US, except that carrier is a bit of a dry dock queen and rarely leaves port.
That is true, could probably use the IRBM warheads if those are still floating about, Fuzing is the real challenge. If you’re sending it to New York Harbor (or even MORE destructively Long Beach say mid October) you don’t want to waste it Mid Atlantic or Mid Pacific. Easiest is stuff a shahid in with some food and a way to look out and manual detonation system.
Here we’re into massive speculation, and if you have pergectly functional SLBM why bother. the danger is someone decides to hand hardware to sombody outside the chain of command. Do French weapons have PAL like assemblies and how hard are they to bypass? Who mans the Force de Dissuasion? All sorts of interesting questions here if you want to write a Caliphate-like future history. I’m liking the world line we live on less and less…
A freighter-delivered surface-burst in a major US port would be bad.
Worse would be a subsurface burst from a sunk freighter just off a major port, when the low and high breezes are onshore. Very, very bad fallout. Big surge into port, too.
If we get England it will help induce Canada’s surrender.
It long planned to fight until the British could come to their aid, even when the British plan was just to let the US take Canada because, frankly, our advantages are unsurmountable.
Also note as a monarchy all he has to do is convince Chuck. That whole Parliament thing is only a thing in their unwritten constitution, so it’s in effect imaginary, and the whole thing is personal property of the Windsors. Just get Chuck to say “yes” and Bob’s yer uncle.
Which is why, by all reports, William has stepped up and “slapped” Camilla and her children down hard for presuming privilege that she does not carry just being queen consort to Charles. Let alone her children, through her, are not entitled to. The key is who Charles has backed. Hint: Not Camilla.
Catherine, in her own right, thanks to other members of the royal family and William’s agreement (not formal because he did not have that right), has more royal authority than Camilla. A deliberate slight to Camilla by the rest of the royal family? Oh, definitely. A slight by William to Camilla? No so much that it is obvious. 100% by protocol, methods, and attitude, protecting the crown status. But …
I suggested to Grok one year’s UK GDP as a purchase price (around 4 trillion $US). It thought that was too low, and suggested 18 trillion $US, and, when I asked, it allowed that one might ask for a $500 billion discount to cover the 7th Century economic units they have been allowing to immigrate/spawn.
GPT5 (via DuckDuckGo) thinks 4 trillion $US would be good.
Canada might very well come apart soon (Alberta’s about to have an independence referendum). Best to wait until that finishes before looking into buying Canada.
A lot of Ukrainians apparently ended up there after the Holodomor and WWII; when I worked a contract in Edmonton, it was the first place I had been that had enough of a Ukrainian population to have restaurants and grocery stores.
That was to get the border drawn, not to force the territories into the US. Or there would still be skirmishes going. As it is the current conditions along some of the borders is interesting based on some. (Two roads running parallel, one in Canada, one in US.)
People still know who Ea-nāṣir is thanks to the poor-quality-copper-and-bad-customer-service complaint tablet written (clay-poked? Scribed?) by his customer Nanni.
Of the undoubted prior civilizations and customer service complaints around places like Göbekli Tepe, we got nuthin. Lost to the depths of time because nobody wrote things down.
Only one Advil bottle on each floor is for youngsters. When you reach the Reader’s age, you have one in each room, one in each car, two in your golf bag, and a couple with no particular designated spot.
BTW, the worst thing about the Reader’s heart surgery is not being able to take Advil for 12 weeks. Next week no more blood thinners. Free at last!
Bummer about the NSAIDS. I keep a bottle of Acetaminophen (too cheap to buy Tylenol) and Ibuprofen with me when I’m going to town or traveling. One Tylenol + one Ibuprofen combined is “almost” as good as the opiate versions. The ortho PA refers to it as “the poor man’s Norco”. (I stay <= 2000mg of Acetominophen and <= 800mg of Ibuprofen per day. Neither my doctors nor my kidneys complain. Yet.)
One of the pieces of advice I got from the pre-op appointment was “Stay ahead of the pain. You do not want to be catching up.” Book did state part of the days in the hospital will be adjusting “what works”. My problem is, while not allergic to anything, I do overreact to pain killers, including Tylenol. Mostly put me to sleep.
The other is tape. Not allergic. But use it for a week and my skin will start reacting. Learned this one wearing portable EKG devices and changing out the leads (either daily or every 3 to 4 days).
When hubby had his hip replacements, he did use the prescriptions a few days out of the hospital (until he learned the requirement to be driving again) for the first procedure. Then too he still had one bad hip. Second hip? We never filled the prescription. An ache of the pulled thigh muscles. His prostate surgery I think it was 2 Tylenol + 2 Advil for the pain killer. Other reasons why he was not allowed to drive, but it was not the pain killers.
The other item we went over at the pre-op was, while I’ve never had problems with anesthesia, at least light anesthesia (never been deep) that is used for colonoscopies or cataract surgeries. Our son and my mom do have major problems, even light anesthesia.
Yep. That and the blood pressure med keep me alive. Waggles hand at the statin and the rest are for “improvement of life”. Not sure about the bexagliflozen. It’s supposed to help my kidneys. Maybe.
Tylenol and Ibuprofen are almost as good as Norco for me. I plan to be on the opiate a few days, but want to drive to the 2 week followups. We’ll see. Doggie daycare if things go sideways and $SPOUSE drives me.
Things will be switched up due to the surgery. What I do know is I will be on blood thinner (warfarin). But do not know if new heart valve and fix for afib, will take me off of the high blood pressure. What I do know is the cholesterol lp-A, glaucoma, and rosacea, will still need treatment (all three are genetic and mitigated with medication).
I am not complaining. I agreed to this path. Not that I have much choice for all that the surgery is still considered elective.
If one can consider something elective that if not had it will kill me eventually. I could have the lessor surgery but given physiology I’d be back in 18 months for open heart surgery to rip out the valve for a mechanical valve anyway.
Timing? Even now, not critical. Just strongly recommended before year-end, with an implied “or else”.
To be fair, symptoms are emerging, and others are getting worse; although afib is supposedly not caused by the bad valve. Funny a mechanical valve implant raises the incidents of afib (that ship has sailed). Surgery will deal with that too.
FWIW, had incidents of afib over the last 3 days. More than I’ve ever had before medicated for it. Today is the first (so far) afib free day.
When you think about it, I have not been living with this for that long, since discovered, let alone officially diagnosed. Until recently it has been under control.
Not until one reschedule, then the cancel, and then no communication when surgeon said there would be, let alone rescheduled for when surgeon said wanted it. Sure, neither of us actually expected the surgery to get rescheduled as fast as last Friday. But we (I, at least) still expected to hear something last Tuesday, even if it was a message on the myChart portal stating “working on it” from the office. I was not stressed at all (Sarcasm? or Lying?). Once the appointment was set, you would think the symptoms would subside. You know that is not how it works. Plus who is to say another delay won’t happen?
Yeah, apparently NSAIDs, and especially Advil (Ibuprofen), and gastrointestinal ulcers are a cause-effect thing. It’s a shame since it works so well on pain for me.
Re AI company logos — years ago I worked for a company that was acquired by Lucent, around the time they paid big for a new logo. The logo looks like a Japanese “maru” — brush-drawn circle. For some reason they made it red. It was instantly nicknamed “the flaming a**hole”.
On “nobody can see my house” — a guy I worked with defined “adequate privacy” as “if my neighbor’s house burns down, I’ll learn about it from the newspaper”.
On “if illegals are not voting” — a blogger who is a naturalized citizen points out that you must pass an English test as part of naturalization. So why are polling stations (at least in far left cities) marked by signs in many languages rather than just English?
Re silver quarters: a variation I have seen — in the days of Caesar, an ounce of gold would buy an excellent quality toga (the “suit” of the day). Today, an ounce of gold will still buy you an excellent quality suit (though you can get a “good enough” suit for a fraction of that — the power of productivity improvement, which is why slow deflation is the normal flow of the economy absent government meddling.
I asked the voting instructions in non-English languages question the one time I volunteered to be an election judge. The answer was, “Shut up, hater!”
I contend that an accurate inflation adjustment when comparing non-contemporaneous prices for comparable things (1960 house vs. 2026 house) is by converting the prior-year price to ounces of gold at the spot rate (average over the prior year of it makes you happier) then go from later-year ounces of gold to currency, again using spot.
This jumps right past whatever “inflation rate” games were played over past years, which are incorporated into the various “inflation calculators” one finds online.
The example using silver quarters is a variation without a difference, thus equally valid.
The two circumstances II can think of which would derail this methodology are the invention of the Trek replicator (in which case there may be a conversion via ergs of energy required to replicate something to get a fair comparison – I have not thought that one through) or a commodity discontinuity, such as an asteroid mining concern dropping back into orbit and landing the waste gold and platinum and so on they got melting a nickel-iron space rock, breaking the scarcity driven commodity value which underpins the price to gold to price conversion.
The relatively larger volatility in price of silver vs gold tends to weight more towards gold as a more reliable comparative value, in most cases. But in broader essence, yeah, about the same.
The Reader notes that the industrial use of silver has expanded dramatically in the last two decades since the world ‘decided’ that lead in solder needed to be banned. He believes that adds to silver’s volatility.
Re: uptake of foreign words and phrases. Yes, English does that. When Spencer gave me a Polish one in a short story—“not my circus, not my monkeys,” meaning not my problem. I used it in a discussion of an oft mentioned wedding.
Koala voices in head reminds me of the time I took the MMPI when applying for Unaccompanied Access to the nuclear powerplants my utility employer controlled. One question was along the lines of, ‘The voices in my head often distract me from accomplishing needed tasks. Y/N’ I couldn’t answer since the question presumed Voices in Head, which I did not have. Apparently, discovering the questions you do not answer is *part* of the MMPI . . .
One of my coworkers answered the ‘I like to smoke marijuana Y/N’ with a Y. When he was called in to explain, he said he liked to, but wasn’t and wouldn’t while he was employed by the company and they could drug test him ’til the cows came home if they wanted to, but when he retired, Katy bar the door. He got UA.
Oh, that Fisher Price Fairy Princess phone! When our kids were in the low single digits we had onr of them. It got lost in the to box, and something in there was pressing the activation switch. It kept saying its greeting for MANY MANY days. We just closed the playroom door and eventually it died.
That team stole my team name. Yes I could (before tinnitus) hear the hum of electrical appliances two rooms away and down the hall and could not follow a conversation without subtitles printed out so I could follow at my own speed. Yes, it was a team of one, but still! Undefeated in reading speed and comprehension, utterly defeated by social situations.
Flock type cameras– both in the sense of Ring security type, and plate readers– are why many of those 350,000–460,000 children reported missing each year get home alive.
This has been common knowledge for over a decade. It is often reported as “police cameras found the plate and they tracked the kidnapper.”
Why yes, I am very suspicious of the sudden surge in objection to “Flock cameras” and how very equivocal claims are, even inside of the same argument from the same person.
(The vast majority of the children reported missing have already been found by the time the report is filed– that’s “mom suddenly realized that Timmy isn’t in the yard,” but went official before the PSA system called for Timmy’s mom to please report to customer service.)
There was a recent post in my community about “flock” cameras in the area. I had to laugh.
One is on the property of an apartment complex which is private property. There is a sign telling you the property is under surveillance.
Two that were marked are on the local campus of our multi campus community college.
Colleges have been using cameras are part of their security for 40 years.
I’m at a loss to understand the hysteria. It’s like they never watched Person of Interest, or any cop show that shows people using cameras to solve crimes.
The dash, home, and private property, security cameras have been around for decades. Getting better but that does not change the fact that they are not new. Private installations volunteer footage for these tracking when the call goes out. If site is directly involved then a warrant will be needed if footage is not volunteered. But (correct me if I am wrong) while private not involved cannot justify a warrant if the owner does not want to release footage regardless of their reasoning (i.e. “No.” is not only a single sentence, but a valid response to a request). Note, law enforcement can imply, threaten to get a warrant, does not mean it would be granted, or hold-up in court should footage show something other than what was being looked for in the warrant. Latter opens a different can of worms. Plus, like the Guthrie case and her neighbors, none of our neighbors house cams show anything into the public street, let alone into our property. someone has to walk onto their property to be recorded.
When it comes to the traffic public ones, as long as they are not used for auto-ticketing, wags hands.
Anything can be abused. Does that mean it should never be used by anyone?
Just because a new term has been coined and abused for an existing situation does not make the situation bad or infringement.
I know Washington State has been using plate readers to send out tolls since the ’90s.
(Mostly because they were stupid about it– the ranch got a toll charge for a car that was on the wrong side of the state, and under a collapsed barn with the 8-ish feet of snow on top of it.)
There were several “non-custodial parent or grandparent attempts to take kids to Mexico” which were stopped when we were in El Paso because they had both plate readers and traffic cameras.
There are some seriously skeezy things which the Flock company itself has been caught doing, such as using cameras on their network to demonstrate to potential customers what it looks like.
Which made the news because it was a little girls’ tumbling class that they looked in on.
There’s also been some rather suspicious attempts to spin up fear, uncertainty and doubt because some “cities” have the cameras set up to be fully public, accessible by anyone, so people can tell if the downtown is crowded or the weather is bad, and if you watch the cameras you can tell things like “what time does the owner of the store right there arrive at work.” (…because you can’t tell that from the posted time I guess, says the cynic.)
(…because you can’t tell that from the posted time I guess, says the cynic.)
Yeah…. because no one shows up before the opening time to restock shelves, or clean before opening…. and surely no one would want to know exactly when no one will be around…. or only one person will be around. Says the cynic.
Ah, but none of those aspects fit with the claimed objection; restocking early is not consistent, and downtown is popular exactly because it’s difficult to actually be alone.
For the objections to work, it would have to be very different situations.
Which is why so many of the stories edit out important information.
I forgot an important detail– part of the non-weather, non-crowd based reasons for having cameras that were live-streaming 24/7 was because it allowed EVERYONE to see if “youths” were gathering in an area.
That the FUD to destroy and restrict just somehow happens to make it harder for citizens to defend themselves and their property is an odd happenstance, isn’t it?
Traffic cams on Oregon highways, in particular the passes, are priceless. They do not help with accidents, except if an accident happens where cameras catch all angles, in particular the hwy 126/20 and hwy 126/20/22 intersections, where there are 3 cameras catching all directions. Also, major accident intersections. The snow accumulations along the corridors can be checked, as well as current weather conditions. Harder to tell with ice, particularly black ice, but not impossible.
Regarding toll and license plate readers. That is how the toll roads in the east coast states are handled. Sister and BIL did a major loop across Oregon to Yellowstone and points east through the upper states to Niagara Falls, down through NYC, etc., to Route 66. Then drove Route 66, before heading north home. When they got home all the toll road charges, as well as at least two speeding tickets, were waiting for them. He got one other speeding ticket in person. BIL has a bit of a lead foot. Can get away with this across Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas; even Oregon on the highways across the state if slow down to proper speed through the speed traps, er small towns along the way. Further east? Not so much.
Also, that neat new I-5 bridge that will replace the current draw bridge, will be toll. It will use cameras to issue daily toll charges based on license plates. Expected charge, based on current usage, is to be $4.50 per trip, one way. Or $9/day for daily commuters. Still have I-205 bridge, or even Longview bridge, to use to divert. They really, really, have not thought this through.
I’m at a loss to understand the hysteria. It’s like they never watched Person of Interest, or any cop show that shows people using cameras to solve crimes.
The key word in that sentence is “people”. Until recently, someone had to sit in front of a monitor and watch hours of video hoping for a hit. Now, we have clankers for that, and that means that everyone that goes past can be picked out and identified…. whether they are doing anything “wrong” or not.
As the shops “fort up”, the hoodlums steal larger vehicles to use as rams. They stick to private/passenger vehicles, for the most part, because big commercial trucks may have very different transmissions or startups.
But yes, they will steal an F350 4×4 “duallie”, load it up with ballast, and ram away at the shop. Or, hook a very heavy chain to the hitch and try to snatch-extract the door.
The smarter ones learn from local SWAT how to breach fortified businesses. Such as snatching the window frame instead of armored door, or welding onto the truck a lance ram.
(Rigging the shop with teargas dispensers is apparently not very legal, and where it is technically legal, can still get you wrecked in litigation. Alas…)
It’s probably a trifle expensive, but having one of those snap up barricades like you see at military bases would be effective. Headed toward the business at over 25 mph? Surprise! 😁
For those wondering, yes it’s become increasingly common for the (woke) people working on certain entertainment projects (video games, sci-fi and fantasy properties in media, etc…) that appeal to the “chuds” to hate the actual property. We know they hate the properties in question because they like to post on social media about how much they hate the elements that make up that property. Best guess is that they get involved because it’s popular, and then follow IowaHawk’s famous skinsuit dictum. They likely don’t see themselves skinsuiting it. They likely view it as expanding the audience, or “making it better”. But they’re skinsuiting it.
The result right now is an almost continuous stream of AAA video game title failures, beyond anything that I’ve ever seen in the industry.
Anime in Japan (currently) is beyond their reach. But there’s been a scandal in the English translation industry for the last year or two. The translation industry is reportedly quite insular, and only allows people with the “correct” viewpoints to get translation or VA work. It’s gotten bad enough that some Japanese companies have decided to switch to AI translations… and the fans are agreeing. One recent example was a niche Japanese indie game (which I unfortunately do not recall the name of off the top of my head) in which a Japanese word for “Stop” was translated into English as “Fascists must die!” (among many other translation issues). The developers publicly apologized, and quickly released a better translation.
Finally, it’s not just Japanese media that embraces sexualization. Pretty women in skimpy outfits are popular throughout all of East Asia, and most of SouthEast Asia. The most recent video game related furor over an attractive woman was a Korean game, Stellar Blade. It’s announced sequel is also drawing fire.
Pretty much. Some idiots were trying to claim Evie (the main character of Stellar Blade 2) was “fourteen” or so and that any who liked her were “PDFs” or similar.
Yeah. The response was to note that Asian women often look younger than western women of the same age. I bet that went over well in the usual circles. :P
I suspect using the actual term on X limits their reach or similar so that acronym gets used. Or maybe they want to save a few characters while ranting and whipping up hatred against someone in the hope it gets them killed.
I mean, the usual demanded punishment for someone who does terrible things to children involves a woodchipper, so I would expect someone flinging the “PDF” accusation is hoping to get something similar done to the person they’re pointing a finger at.
Also can cause you to come up in Search Engine results for the wrong reasons. And regardless of who’s looking (idiots genuinely looking for it, or Feds looking for those idiots), it’s a headache few people want to deal with
According To Hoyt 
Just think, scientific history would have turned out differently if Schrodinger had actually known Newton. And the cat would have been happier.
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“Tell Schrodinger I lived” is going to be Jimmy Carlson’s new t-shirt in my current WIP. Comedy gold!
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We have always informed our cats that Science is not a job for cats. Biologists want to do Anatomy and Physiology, and physicists always want to use them for a variety of “Thought” experiments, like Herr Schrödinger’s box.
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I remember a cartoon from several decades ago, showing two rats talking. Caption: “Now remember son. Stay away from scientists — they cause cancer.”
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Flock cameras by ranges. Gee, that seems short-sighted…
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Nah. I think that’s precision sighted. ;-)
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Accurate aiming would no doubt be appreciated; ranges get complaints when projectiles leave the property.
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The being over 60 and not having your youthful indescretions recorded for all to see is something I tell my high school and college students about. I can then relate a few stories, which will of course have them asking for more. I will then reply “No. The only people who know what happened in those are the people who participated in them. And when we all shuffle off this mortal coil [I often get to explain where that line comes from], they will be gone forever. Thankfully.”
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“No record is proof it did not happen.” Or, “Why did you not keep a written diary?” (Because I am not an idiot or stupid.)
“Thank God!”
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Unlike Dr. Fauci. LOL.
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I was required to start keeping a daily journal by my supervisors in one of my first post-college job positions. One of the best decisions I ever made, and I keep telling my son to start the habit (Narrator: he hasn’t.) But another boss gave me very good advice very soon after starting my journal: “Don’t write anything down that you don’t want opposing counsel to read back to you in open court.”
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The hotel where I won Best Performance at the SF con by singing, “Makin’ Wookies,” and was invited to Wilson Tucker’s room party as a result was torn down years ago. (The prize was an autographed copy of “The Art of Kelley Freas”).
The hangover, however, lives on in my memory (along with gratitude for the lady who tried to keep me from driving and my friends who took me in while laughing themselves sick). I’d never had one before, or since.
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And yet it was a meme 50 years ago that teachers and other authorities would threaten kids with “This will go into your PERMANENT RECORD!”
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That was only for the ones who got caught. It helped when your girlfriend worked in the Security office and knew which files to make disappear.
Yes, I absolutely married her.
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Related to the memes in general (because it’s about cats), this week I was at a gathering and a new cat cafe had opened next to the restaurant we were in. My whole family chipped in with various cat cafes around the area (I wonder how the county heath department deals with them?), and then yesterday my youngest is at a new hardware store. It has a store cat. They’re everywhere! And no one is the least bit surprised.
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( looks at Arizona highway-crossing coyote meme )
( buries head in hands )
I was an Arizona DOT intern…
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Was the button made by Acme?
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Definitely not. If it was made by Acme, the coyote would have been flattened by a truck long before now. 😛
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“Beep! Beep!”
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The meme implies surprise on the part of, well anyone. Problem I have with that is dogs are tasked with hitting buttons to open doors and on crosswalk crossing. Then assisting their handler across the road. Coyotes are cleverer than dogs.
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Why are there two instances of that meme, and why is one a mirror image of the other?
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Why not? ?ton yhW
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He had to get back across the street, didn’t he . . ?
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Replay official: “Upon further review, the pavement markings (and the sign, billboard, etc.) show evidence of AI generation. The meme is overturned.”
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Geology building: that must be someone’s fault.
(and may “rein” reign over “reign” in the context of latitude of action!!!)
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I saw that and wasn’t certain if I should laugh or cry. The Flat State U geology department did a shirt that was the stratigraphy of their building. I so wanted one, but they were out of my sizes (I hung out there because their guest lecture series was so good, and they felt that the more the merrier.)
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After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, the Cal State Hayward Geology Dept put up a sign “It’s not Our Fault!”
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“Pazifischer”? Wasn’t that a husband of Debbie Reynolds?
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And Liz Taylor immediately thereafter.
Was Eddie a Pat[zi | sy]? Richard Burton and Debbie might have though so, but I dunno.
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That is the thrust of the joke.
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Not my fault.
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No, it’s just a normal fault.
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That strikes me funny, but it slipped right by.
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SFBS!
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Regarding trebuchet and background checks, it’s legal to own cannon (federally, at least) if they’re manufactured before a certain date, according to two separate men I’ve read or viewed online. The date is about 1890, and it’s meaning the actual date of the specific item—reproductions don’t count.
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My dad’s friend owns a porch cannon! He keeps it ‘in case we ever have to go to war with Idaho’.
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Which implies you could buy a good condition cast bronze or iron cannon, re-sleeve the bore and have a nice working weapon.
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Hmm, bore sleeve for a cast cannon…
Now I’m sitting here thinking about how to do that, dammit! ~:D
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Really hot casting, plus liquid nitrogen for the sleeve. Plus high speed and a lot of luck. (Better have the original bore really smooth.)
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Hmmm. I could move my father’s old lathe and set up the 6-foot extension I have sitting under the bench ’cause I never thought I’d need it.
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Under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(16) and related ATF regulations, an antique firearm includes:
A typical muzzle-loading black-powder cannon (original pre-1899 or modern replica that loads from the muzzle with loose powder and a separate projectile) falls into this category.
/Grok
Usage is more regulated; typical allowed firings include re-enactments.
The Mythbusters guys borrowed such a cannon from a guy who lives in near Lodi, CA.
I support the movement to re-instate the usage of Letters of Marque and Reprisal!
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A few decades ago, a couple of friends were into all things firearms, including cannons. Lee had a couple of replica miniature cannons. The 0.75″ (ACW replica, maybe) was a house decoration, but the 2″ bore naval cannon got to the range on occasion. Larry had a black powder cannon modeled after a 75mm WW version. It fired projectiles that could be made from beer cans. The only time I saw it fired, the weld on the breach block failed. Another friend did weld inspections when the M2 Bradley was being made at FMC in San Jose. He red-tagged the cannon until the breach could be done. Larry towed it with his truck, and said he got the strangest looks in traffic…
Lee had a Coehorn barrel that I passed on buying. Almost regret it now; the Coehorn was in common use during the Modoc War around here. A couple examples are in nearby museums, both at Lava Beds Nat’l Monument, and another one on SR 62 at the old Fort Klamath site. [Mulls over drawings, and looks at 4″ diameter cold rolled steel offcuts on hand. Model coehorns can do wonders with golf balls…]
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A while ago there was an article about a guy in Alaska who built a muzzle loading black powder howitzer, firing bowling balls. Apparently perfectly legal (but you’d better be a really good welder). He showed it off at the local gun club, sending balls about a mile down range.
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Wow. Perfect 300 game. Unfortunately, he took out each of the pin setting machines on every lane, and the walls behind them.
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A defunct website had info on home-built cannons, along with rather illegal ways to use them to hunt. (Grapeshot on a deer? Yikes.) His Coehorn mortar fired bocce balls, and I won’t talk about what he hunted with them. (Hunting over bait, and non-game animals was the start. I suspect such stuff is why the website is long gone.)
Pretty sure the cannon barrel was from one of the usual suspects (Navy Arms did them in the past. No idea about current.) The coehorn was from barstock.
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It’s something like the curio and antique rule. If I’m recalling correctly, sufficiently old rifles can be purchased with much less hassle when they hit that age. Some of the Mauser rifles just might hit that range. [Makes note to check it out.]
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RCPete, that’s right. I hold a Curio & Relic FFL. It’s class 03. Not only rifles: I’ve had 2 Tokarevs, a CZ 82, and a P-64 delivered to me, as well as rifles. IIRC, it’s only $50, & it’s good for 2 or 4 years (I really don’t recall).
Better yet, some online dealers give a discount to C&R holders (generally called ‘Crufflers’, BTW). Look into it, it’s worth it if you like old and/or military arms!
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50 years. So right now, anything manufactured before 1976.
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Well, there is the Curio & Relic category which is anything over 50 years old or which has been put on the C&R list as because of its rarity or unusual features. Then there is the antique category which is anything made before 1898. It also applies to replicas of such firearms so long as they don’t use conventional fixed ammunition (essentially muzzle loaders, cap & ball revolvers, etc.).
Mauser and other cartridge firing rifles made before 1898 are considered antiques and can be freely bought and sold without any Federal interference. A couple states do still restrict them. Early machine guns, such as Maxims, unfortunately are still covered under the 1934 Federal Firearms Act with all its BS. Firearms that fall under the C&R rule can be bought with little hassle if you get a C&R license, otherwise they are treated as any other modern firearm.
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Though the state that you live in (or county… or city…) might seize it anyway if they find out about it.
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Muzzle loaders. Big ones.
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Need more coffee. ‘☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕
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The He Brews meme hits the Reader close to home. Reason – the Reader has made coffee and brought it to his better half for most of our 44 year marriage. Early in our marriage, we were both working and better half would get up with the Reader and brightly attempt to engage the Reader in conversation, resulting in the Reader snarling at her. After a week or so of her thinking she married an ogre, we came to the arrangement that has lasted since. The Reader gets up early, has coffee and mental integration, and then brings better half her first cup in bed. Amazing what little things do to cement a marriage.
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Had a classmate whose wife was like that. One did not say a word to her until she had her first cup of coffee. Rather she had her second cup of coffee in hand. First cup had to be finished before engaging her.
We’d all gone our separate ways before they had children. Do not know if the coffee thing survived 5 children, including one Down syndrome (supervised functional. One of the older children just took custody given parents are 75.)
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My wife was always a morning person (as was her dad), and I never have been. But we both had to get up and go to grad school/work in the morning. We decided we both started with low blood sugar, and didn’t even try to talk before breakfast.
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I was not a morning person. Given a preference, I’d take the coffee via IV. However, once I got sort-of broadband, I had satellite bandwidth strictly limited from 8AM to 2AM. 2 to 5 had about 10X the limit, so getting up at 2, 3 or a bit later made sense.
I’m on a better plan now, but lights out at 9PM means I’ve stayed up late. Doc says limit caffeine, so it’s best that $SPOUSE sleeps in to 8AM while I become re-acquainted with sanity or civilization, for values of each.
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Until I retired I wasn’t much of a morning person. Reality check the meme of “When I was a child I couldn’t wait to set my own bedtime. Apparently that is 9 PM, 10 PM if I take a nap,” describe me now. Going to bed at 9 or 10 PM, puts 8 hours between 5 – 6 AM. Bathroom, dog, and cats insisting on attention, “sleep breaks”, pushes wake up time to 7 – 8 AM, if I’m lucky.
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Spicy feral cat. Yeah, that feels my level… unfortunately have to work day job the next 2 days, meh.
Lightning. Yep. Draaaaagging…..
Two people. …I apparently need more coffee, that’s hysterical.
Dude has a point on Russian priests!
Huh. I usually don’t hear the bubbles fizzing, but I have sometimes…
Yes! Never let them know the dinos are dead!
Correct on water. And if it’s the wrong background noise, you know!
I mean, great way to humanize Darth Vader. Choking that guy was so relatable….
That pic for the extra hour….
Never. Never ends. Still have “forgot to attend the class all semester” nightmares.
Ooo, no wonder I always liked Scooby!
The year of the horse indeed.
ooo, the wall art!
Hmm. Why shouldn’t we retake Constantinople?
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Yes!
I’m almost 70!
Although these days it alternates between this and “forgot to log into the time system to prove I was working”. Please note. I’ve been retired for 10+ years. I’ve have not taken contract work that required logging in.
Said I would. Only asked twice. First time no logging in required (just repeating/pointing-out what a document said, which I made them print out), 4 hours paid. Second time I told the boss what document I was going to follow exactly when they paid me to come in (we were out of town). Never got another request. Never expected to get called, even twice. I sent email after email with documents and links to where said documents were stored on internal public access that covered everything I was primary on (in a company, for reasons, no one was primary on any piece of code section or topic).
The above does bring up a hilarious incident at my pre-op appointment (that I do not have to repeat) last week. Apparently the pre-op has multiple reasons: 1) Full Blood Panel (i.e. bruise on my inner elbow from blood draw). 2) 12 lead EKG test. 3) Get the post-op breathing pull device and make sure I know how to use it (I never have, but hubby has had surgery 3x now). 4) Go over meds and when to stop; pulled out the medication list from myChart and calendar which showed what to stop when. 5) Go over pre surgery and post surgery I should expect. 6) Get my questions answered. When discussing item #4 my answers were, that is mentioned in “the hospital heart surgery book”, it also stated … Eventually the RN looked at me and said “You read the book!” I looked at her and grinned “Doesn’t everyone?” Held up my hand to add “I wrote software for 35 years.” I did not have to say more. Still continued covering it. Having read it, does not mean I absorbed all of it. Or why I reread, and will again before Friday. Also, a lot of it is post going-home, which they will go over, again, before discharge, and during follow up post discharge.
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The Reader offers the following advice – use the fooking breathing pull device at least as often as they tell you to. Yes, it will hurt. Do it anyway!
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Yes.
I know.
I will.
Online there is even some advice of holding on to the Heart Pillow they will give me, while doing the exercises.
I do not want pneumonia. No. Nope.
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The heart pillow, or any appropriately sized substitute, helps a lot with the coughing.
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“Forgot I signed up for classes” or “forgot I joined classes” too.
Retaking Constantinople, I’m down. Forty-six, decent shape, can swing an axe or hammer for a good bit, but crap at horse riding and suchlike.
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I live where the tap water has distinctive tastes, depending on where they are getting it from that day. Yes, I drink a lot of it, so yes, I know the flavors. The strongest taste was in Big Spring before they added a reverse osmosis system and other improvements. It was so salty you got thirstier drinking it. Midland was almost as mineral-heavy.
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You really know if there’s sulfur in the water.
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Iron and or Manganese are not your friend either. And as Iron and manganese tend to settle out they cause havoc with heating systems and other plumbing Hardware. Let alone laundry. And pretty much reverse osmosis is the ONLY way to remove them and it has its own issues if you’re on a septic system.
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Oh, my, yes. Jacksonville would pull sulfur water from the aquifer and you knew. Then at least once they tried to cover the sulfur smell with chlorine.
Of course, we also lived downwind from the paper mill. Ah, the silver sulfur mix you got in the morning.
I don’t miss any of that.
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Chez Phantom sits atop a gypsum mine. Also a lot of people around here have (or had, anyway) gas wells.
The well water around here rates anywhere from “fine” near the river to “NOPE!” down next to the county dump.
The neighbor has a well. He’s got “interesting” water. Filters, pumps and fittings have a 3-5 year service life. Corrosion is rapid.
I have a cistern. ~:D
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Best water I’ve ever tasted is well water in Cooke City, MT*. You can taste the bones of the mountains. Phoenix, Arizona has the worst water I’ve ever tasted.
*My sister in law claims that glacier melt from Alaska is the best water ever but I haven’t had a chance to try it.
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Lived in Yuma when I was 8-ish. Lots of iron in their water then; when warm, a rather thin and clear-ish replica of blood. Barely able to swallow cold.
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Best-tasting water I’ve ever had was the *tap* water in Ashland, Oregon. (Not the lithium water—there’s a reason people film their friends brave enough to drink from that particular fountain.) And mind you, I’ve been in mountain areas with spring water. Though given that they had to put bleach in it to make the Health Department happy, they weren’t entirely “natural” after all.
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There is a reason why filters are recommended even high in the mountain wilderness while hiking and backpacking. Always has been even before popular trails became crowded.
Springs generally, might, maybe, be safe. Maybe.
Best tasting water I’ve had was grandparent’s well, and great-uncle’s well, same general area, Drain/Yoncolla, Oregon. Actually safe? Dang if I know. Great-Uncle’s 80 acres with well (original 1800’s hand pump in kitchen), sold in 1974. Grandparent’s place sold in 2007.
Yet the well at the in-laws place on the Little Dechutes River, was safe by the testing, but tasted awful.
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On the Kirk, Spock and Bones Funky Music meme:
I note the red shirts are doing f-all for perimeter security. I mean, Starfleet training is just crap, isn’t it. No wonder they all get offed on every away mission. Yeesh.
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Elon and England.
Um. “No! Elon. No! Remember the neighbors first. Canada, then England.”
I understand the impulse.
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Although as the UK has strategic nuclear weapons it may be more critical to keep those out of the hands of an Islamic Government. I wonder if there is a modern day equivalent of War Plan Red to deal with/track the 3 (4 if/when Victorious finishes its refit) British boomers if that were to happen. Same with France not sure of the state of their 4(?) modernish boomers. Of course, Canada presents invasion issues as the US/Canada Border is immense and mostly unguarded.
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The question is, will the Islamic terrorist front get their first working nuke from Russia, France, or the United Kingdom?
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With all the LBGTQOMGWTF they’ve got going on over there, it’s more like the United Kink-dom. 😛
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Pakistan would also be in play there.
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IIRC, France also has an IRBM land based capability.
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Not sure if the IRBM’s are still in service, I thought they punted those shortly after the USSR broke up (cost saving don’t you know). They still have Super Etenard aircraft and free fall weapons. I ignored those (and the IRBM) as they can’t easily get to the US unlike the sub-launched ICBM. Theoretically, the Etenard could be put on the carrier Charles De Gaulle and it sailed within range of the US, except that carrier is a bit of a dry dock queen and rarely leaves port.
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Free fall weapon + cargo container. Can’t discount anything.
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That is true, could probably use the IRBM warheads if those are still floating about, Fuzing is the real challenge. If you’re sending it to New York Harbor (or even MORE destructively Long Beach say mid October) you don’t want to waste it Mid Atlantic or Mid Pacific. Easiest is stuff a shahid in with some food and a way to look out and manual detonation system.
Here we’re into massive speculation, and if you have pergectly functional SLBM why bother. the danger is someone decides to hand hardware to sombody outside the chain of command. Do French weapons have PAL like assemblies and how hard are they to bypass? Who mans the Force de Dissuasion? All sorts of interesting questions here if you want to write a Caliphate-like future history. I’m liking the world line we live on less and less…
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A freighter-delivered surface-burst in a major US port would be bad.
Worse would be a subsurface burst from a sunk freighter just off a major port, when the low and high breezes are onshore. Very, very bad fallout. Big surge into port, too.
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If we get England it will help induce Canada’s surrender.
It long planned to fight until the British could come to their aid, even when the British plan was just to let the US take Canada because, frankly, our advantages are unsurmountable.
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Also note as a monarchy all he has to do is convince Chuck. That whole Parliament thing is only a thing in their unwritten constitution, so it’s in effect imaginary, and the whole thing is personal property of the Windsors. Just get Chuck to say “yes” and Bob’s yer uncle.
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Point.
Guess if Chuck takes the oath of US citizenship, does that mean US get England, Scotland, Australia, and Canada? Asking for a friend.
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The British constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
Yes, I know. That’s why.
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Which is why if he, say, refused royal assent to a law, there would be a constitutional crisis. And a possible replay of the first of his name.
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Maybe not bad, but he’d likely lose that “power”.
From what I’ve heard, the British Monarch has powers that it doesn’t use because if they use said power, Parliament would remove said power.
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That’s what would make it a constitutional crisis.
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A “crisis” that he’d lose.
But it’s unlikely that they’d execute him.
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Which is why, by all reports, William has stepped up and “slapped” Camilla and her children down hard for presuming privilege that she does not carry just being queen consort to Charles. Let alone her children, through her, are not entitled to. The key is who Charles has backed. Hint: Not Camilla.
Catherine, in her own right, thanks to other members of the royal family and William’s agreement (not formal because he did not have that right), has more royal authority than Camilla. A deliberate slight to Camilla by the rest of the royal family? Oh, definitely. A slight by William to Camilla? No so much that it is obvious. 100% by protocol, methods, and attitude, protecting the crown status. But …
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Keep in mind when the Babylon Bee published the article about Musk buying England, he himself replied with the post “How much?”
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I remember.
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I suggested to Grok one year’s UK GDP as a purchase price (around 4 trillion $US). It thought that was too low, and suggested 18 trillion $US, and, when I asked, it allowed that one might ask for a $500 billion discount to cover the 7th Century economic units they have been allowing to immigrate/spawn.
GPT5 (via DuckDuckGo) thinks 4 trillion $US would be good.
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Canada might very well come apart soon (Alberta’s about to have an independence referendum). Best to wait until that finishes before looking into buying Canada.
He can buy the UK in the meantime.
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All the anti-US Canadian are about to learn what it takes to join the US.
i.e. The US does not initiate the takeover.
Invite? Yes.
Approve after the area requests? Yes.
Actual takeover? No.
That Alberta will be welcome is still not a US “takeover”.
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A lot of Americans moved into Alberta and the other Plains provinces in the 19th century. Their great-grandchildren apparently remember.
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A lot of Ukrainians apparently ended up there after the Holodomor and WWII; when I worked a contract in Edmonton, it was the first place I had been that had enough of a Ukrainian population to have restaurants and grocery stores.
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Ah, we did indeed threaten war over the Canadian border. And the reason we negotiated was that we were going to war to move the Mexican border.
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That was to get the border drawn, not to force the territories into the US. Or there would still be skirmishes going. As it is the current conditions along some of the borders is interesting based on some. (Two roads running parallel, one in Canada, one in US.)
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It was get the border drawn further north than the Canadians wanted it.
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Technically, the discussion was with the British not with the Canadians. [Wink]
The British were “claiming” territory that’s now America and we were “claiming” territory North of the current border.
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“54 40 or Fight!”
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Don’t believe everything you read in the Newspapers. [Crazy Grin]
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On the other hand — people, do remember that Assyria is, indeed, not what it was.
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People still know who Ea-nāṣir is thanks to the poor-quality-copper-and-bad-customer-service complaint tablet written (clay-poked? Scribed?) by his customer Nanni.
Of the undoubted prior civilizations and customer service complaints around places like Göbekli Tepe, we got nuthin. Lost to the depths of time because nobody wrote things down.
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Yes, but if you told any of its kings that, I shudder to think of the reaction.
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Only one Advil bottle on each floor is for youngsters. When you reach the Reader’s age, you have one in each room, one in each car, two in your golf bag, and a couple with no particular designated spot.
BTW, the worst thing about the Reader’s heart surgery is not being able to take Advil for 12 weeks. Next week no more blood thinners. Free at last!
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Lucky you.
I will be on warfarin, and INR testing, for the rest of my life.
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The Reader hopes Tylenol provides some pain relief to you. It does nothing for the Reader.
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Kidney problems have taken me off all NSAIDS, so Tylenol (Paracetamol over the pond) is my limit for ordinary stuff. Fortunately, it mostly works.
1-story house, so one active bottle suffices.
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Bummer about the NSAIDS. I keep a bottle of Acetaminophen (too cheap to buy Tylenol) and Ibuprofen with me when I’m going to town or traveling. One Tylenol + one Ibuprofen combined is “almost” as good as the opiate versions. The ortho PA refers to it as “the poor man’s Norco”. (I stay <= 2000mg of Acetominophen and <= 800mg of Ibuprofen per day. Neither my doctors nor my kidneys complain. Yet.)
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Groan. Mentioning a brand name acetaminophen/hydrocodone drug guarantees AI moderation. WPDE!
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One of the pieces of advice I got from the pre-op appointment was “Stay ahead of the pain. You do not want to be catching up.” Book did state part of the days in the hospital will be adjusting “what works”. My problem is, while not allergic to anything, I do overreact to pain killers, including Tylenol. Mostly put me to sleep.
The other is tape. Not allergic. But use it for a week and my skin will start reacting. Learned this one wearing portable EKG devices and changing out the leads (either daily or every 3 to 4 days).
When hubby had his hip replacements, he did use the prescriptions a few days out of the hospital (until he learned the requirement to be driving again) for the first procedure. Then too he still had one bad hip. Second hip? We never filled the prescription. An ache of the pulled thigh muscles. His prostate surgery I think it was 2 Tylenol + 2 Advil for the pain killer. Other reasons why he was not allowed to drive, but it was not the pain killers.
The other item we went over at the pre-op was, while I’ve never had problems with anesthesia, at least light anesthesia (never been deep) that is used for colonoscopies or cataract surgeries. Our son and my mom do have major problems, even light anesthesia.
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Yep. That and the blood pressure med keep me alive. Waggles hand at the statin and the rest are for “improvement of life”. Not sure about the bexagliflozen. It’s supposed to help my kidneys. Maybe.
Tylenol and Ibuprofen are almost as good as Norco for me. I plan to be on the opiate a few days, but want to drive to the 2 week followups. We’ll see. Doggie daycare if things go sideways and $SPOUSE drives me.
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Things will be switched up due to the surgery. What I do know is I will be on blood thinner (warfarin). But do not know if new heart valve and fix for afib, will take me off of the high blood pressure. What I do know is the cholesterol lp-A, glaucoma, and rosacea, will still need treatment (all three are genetic and mitigated with medication).
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Ah, rat poison.
My father was on it. The most aggravating thing about it was the need to have the exact same amount of vitamin K every single day.
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I am sure I will learn.
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Sigh, moderation. The warfarin keeps me alive; that’s a plus for me. :)
Prayers for all going under the knife.
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Warfarin will keep me alive too.
I am not complaining. I agreed to this path. Not that I have much choice for all that the surgery is still considered elective.
If one can consider something elective that if not had it will kill me eventually. I could have the lessor surgery but given physiology I’d be back in 18 months for open heart surgery to rip out the valve for a mechanical valve anyway.
Timing? Even now, not critical. Just strongly recommended before year-end, with an implied “or else”.
To be fair, symptoms are emerging, and others are getting worse; although afib is supposedly not caused by the bad valve. Funny a mechanical valve implant raises the incidents of afib (that ship has sailed). Surgery will deal with that too.
FWIW, had incidents of afib over the last 3 days. More than I’ve ever had before medicated for it. Today is the first (so far) afib free day.
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It’s probably due to stress. My AFIB is chronic, but it’s worse when things are going sideways. Pre-operative festivities certainly count.
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–
Probably.
When you think about it, I have not been living with this for that long, since discovered, let alone officially diagnosed. Until recently it has been under control.
Not until one reschedule, then the cancel, and then no communication when surgeon said there would be, let alone rescheduled for when surgeon said wanted it. Sure, neither of us actually expected the surgery to get rescheduled as fast as last Friday. But we (I, at least) still expected to hear something last Tuesday, even if it was a message on the myChart portal stating “working on it” from the office. I was not stressed at all (Sarcasm? or Lying?). Once the appointment was set, you would think the symptoms would subside. You know that is not how it works. Plus who is to say another delay won’t happen?
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And there are people who wonder why anyone would keep personal belongings — like aspirin bottles — at work.
The worst thing was that my at-home aspiring bottle ran out between lay off and when they let me back to get my stuff.
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An aspiring bottle? So, it wants to be a bottle but it’s not quite there yet? 🤣
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Or other pain medication of your choice.
I had a friend who was drinking multiple cups of coffee a day, and started taking Advil to treat headaches. He started getting ulcers…
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Yeah, apparently NSAIDs, and especially Advil (Ibuprofen), and gastrointestinal ulcers are a cause-effect thing. It’s a shame since it works so well on pain for me.
A quick non-alphabet old school non-clanker search yielded: https://www.healthline.com/health/ibuprofen-ulcer
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Re AI company logos — years ago I worked for a company that was acquired by Lucent, around the time they paid big for a new logo. The logo looks like a Japanese “maru” — brush-drawn circle. For some reason they made it red. It was instantly nicknamed “the flaming a**hole”.
On “nobody can see my house” — a guy I worked with defined “adequate privacy” as “if my neighbor’s house burns down, I’ll learn about it from the newspaper”.
On “if illegals are not voting” — a blogger who is a naturalized citizen points out that you must pass an English test as part of naturalization. So why are polling stations (at least in far left cities) marked by signs in many languages rather than just English?
Re silver quarters: a variation I have seen — in the days of Caesar, an ounce of gold would buy an excellent quality toga (the “suit” of the day). Today, an ounce of gold will still buy you an excellent quality suit (though you can get a “good enough” suit for a fraction of that — the power of productivity improvement, which is why slow deflation is the normal flow of the economy absent government meddling.
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I asked the voting instructions in non-English languages question the one time I volunteered to be an election judge. The answer was, “Shut up, hater!”
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I contend that an accurate inflation adjustment when comparing non-contemporaneous prices for comparable things (1960 house vs. 2026 house) is by converting the prior-year price to ounces of gold at the spot rate (average over the prior year of it makes you happier) then go from later-year ounces of gold to currency, again using spot.
This jumps right past whatever “inflation rate” games were played over past years, which are incorporated into the various “inflation calculators” one finds online.
The example using silver quarters is a variation without a difference, thus equally valid.
The two circumstances II can think of which would derail this methodology are the invention of the Trek replicator (in which case there may be a conversion via ergs of energy required to replicate something to get a fair comparison – I have not thought that one through) or a commodity discontinuity, such as an asteroid mining concern dropping back into orbit and landing the waste gold and platinum and so on they got melting a nickel-iron space rock, breaking the scarcity driven commodity value which underpins the price to gold to price conversion.
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The relatively larger volatility in price of silver vs gold tends to weight more towards gold as a more reliable comparative value, in most cases. But in broader essence, yeah, about the same.
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The Reader notes that the industrial use of silver has expanded dramatically in the last two decades since the world ‘decided’ that lead in solder needed to be banned. He believes that adds to silver’s volatility.
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Re: uptake of foreign words and phrases. Yes, English does that. When Spencer gave me a Polish one in a short story—“not my circus, not my monkeys,” meaning not my problem. I used it in a discussion of an oft mentioned wedding.
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Oops. Autocorrect got met, I think: Wen Spencer
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Nie moj circ. Nie moje malpe.
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I have s t-shirt with that in Latin.
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Otter dad is not having it. Any of it.
Koala voices in head reminds me of the time I took the MMPI when applying for Unaccompanied Access to the nuclear powerplants my utility employer controlled. One question was along the lines of, ‘The voices in my head often distract me from accomplishing needed tasks. Y/N’ I couldn’t answer since the question presumed Voices in Head, which I did not have. Apparently, discovering the questions you do not answer is *part* of the MMPI . . .
One of my coworkers answered the ‘I like to smoke marijuana Y/N’ with a Y. When he was called in to explain, he said he liked to, but wasn’t and wouldn’t while he was employed by the company and they could drug test him ’til the cows came home if they wanted to, but when he retired, Katy bar the door. He got UA.
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Used to hate the MMPI. Statement: “My father was a good man. y/n?”
At the time, my dad was still alive, whaddaya mean ‘was’?
See also https://pabau.com/blog/mmpi-2/
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That one about not being normal and conversations with oneself is really on the money.
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I had to read Wuthering Heights in high school. Hated every sentence of the pointless thing.
Today it finally paid off.
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The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights didn’t make you laugh?
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Oh, that Fisher Price Fairy Princess phone! When our kids were in the low single digits we had onr of them. It got lost in the to box, and something in there was pressing the activation switch. It kept saying its greeting for MANY MANY days. We just closed the playroom door and eventually it died.
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That team stole my team name. Yes I could (before tinnitus) hear the hum of electrical appliances two rooms away and down the hall and could not follow a conversation without subtitles printed out so I could follow at my own speed. Yes, it was a team of one, but still! Undefeated in reading speed and comprehension, utterly defeated by social situations.
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It did now that I’ve seen it.
🤣😂🤣😂🤣
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Can someone explain the meme with Snoopy laying on top of the MRI? I have thought about it carefully and still don’t get it.
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Snoopy is often shown as sleeping on top of his doghouse.
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Flock type cameras– both in the sense of Ring security type, and plate readers– are why many of those 350,000–460,000 children reported missing each year get home alive.
This has been common knowledge for over a decade. It is often reported as “police cameras found the plate and they tracked the kidnapper.”
Why yes, I am very suspicious of the sudden surge in objection to “Flock cameras” and how very equivocal claims are, even inside of the same argument from the same person.
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(The vast majority of the children reported missing have already been found by the time the report is filed– that’s “mom suddenly realized that Timmy isn’t in the yard,” but went official before the PSA system called for Timmy’s mom to please report to customer service.)
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There was a recent post in my community about “flock” cameras in the area. I had to laugh.
One is on the property of an apartment complex which is private property. There is a sign telling you the property is under surveillance.
Two that were marked are on the local campus of our multi campus community college.
Colleges have been using cameras are part of their security for 40 years.
I’m at a loss to understand the hysteria. It’s like they never watched Person of Interest, or any cop show that shows people using cameras to solve crimes.
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The dash, home, and private property, security cameras have been around for decades. Getting better but that does not change the fact that they are not new. Private installations volunteer footage for these tracking when the call goes out. If site is directly involved then a warrant will be needed if footage is not volunteered. But (correct me if I am wrong) while private not involved cannot justify a warrant if the owner does not want to release footage regardless of their reasoning (i.e. “No.” is not only a single sentence, but a valid response to a request). Note, law enforcement can imply, threaten to get a warrant, does not mean it would be granted, or hold-up in court should footage show something other than what was being looked for in the warrant. Latter opens a different can of worms. Plus, like the Guthrie case and her neighbors, none of our neighbors house cams show anything into the public street, let alone into our property. someone has to walk onto their property to be recorded.
When it comes to the traffic public ones, as long as they are not used for auto-ticketing, wags hands.
Anything can be abused. Does that mean it should never be used by anyone?
Just because a new term has been coined and abused for an existing situation does not make the situation bad or infringement.
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I know Washington State has been using plate readers to send out tolls since the ’90s.
(Mostly because they were stupid about it– the ranch got a toll charge for a car that was on the wrong side of the state, and under a collapsed barn with the 8-ish feet of snow on top of it.)
There were several “non-custodial parent or grandparent attempts to take kids to Mexico” which were stopped when we were in El Paso because they had both plate readers and traffic cameras.
There are some seriously skeezy things which the Flock company itself has been caught doing, such as using cameras on their network to demonstrate to potential customers what it looks like.
Which made the news because it was a little girls’ tumbling class that they looked in on.
There’s also been some rather suspicious attempts to spin up fear, uncertainty and doubt because some “cities” have the cameras set up to be fully public, accessible by anyone, so people can tell if the downtown is crowded or the weather is bad, and if you watch the cameras you can tell things like “what time does the owner of the store right there arrive at work.” (…because you can’t tell that from the posted time I guess, says the cynic.)
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Yeah…. because no one shows up before the opening time to restock shelves, or clean before opening…. and surely no one would want to know exactly when no one will be around…. or only one person will be around. Says the cynic.
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Ah, but none of those aspects fit with the claimed objection; restocking early is not consistent, and downtown is popular exactly because it’s difficult to actually be alone.
For the objections to work, it would have to be very different situations.
Which is why so many of the stories edit out important information.
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I forgot an important detail– part of the non-weather, non-crowd based reasons for having cameras that were live-streaming 24/7 was because it allowed EVERYONE to see if “youths” were gathering in an area.
That the FUD to destroy and restrict just somehow happens to make it harder for citizens to defend themselves and their property is an odd happenstance, isn’t it?
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Traffic cams on Oregon highways, in particular the passes, are priceless. They do not help with accidents, except if an accident happens where cameras catch all angles, in particular the hwy 126/20 and hwy 126/20/22 intersections, where there are 3 cameras catching all directions. Also, major accident intersections. The snow accumulations along the corridors can be checked, as well as current weather conditions. Harder to tell with ice, particularly black ice, but not impossible.
Regarding toll and license plate readers. That is how the toll roads in the east coast states are handled. Sister and BIL did a major loop across Oregon to Yellowstone and points east through the upper states to Niagara Falls, down through NYC, etc., to Route 66. Then drove Route 66, before heading north home. When they got home all the toll road charges, as well as at least two speeding tickets, were waiting for them. He got one other speeding ticket in person. BIL has a bit of a lead foot. Can get away with this across Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas; even Oregon on the highways across the state if slow down to proper speed through the speed traps, er small towns along the way. Further east? Not so much.
Also, that neat new I-5 bridge that will replace the current draw bridge, will be toll. It will use cameras to issue daily toll charges based on license plates. Expected charge, based on current usage, is to be $4.50 per trip, one way. Or $9/day for daily commuters. Still have I-205 bridge, or even Longview bridge, to use to divert. They really, really, have not thought this through.
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I swear, they never do.
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The key word in that sentence is “people”. Until recently, someone had to sit in front of a monitor and watch hours of video hoping for a hit. Now, we have clankers for that, and that means that everyone that goes past can be picked out and identified…. whether they are doing anything “wrong” or not.
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And because I was curious, I went and looked up the story about “flock cameras at gun ranges.”
It was a video.
About one place.
Which gave a name and state.
If you look at it on Google maps, that location was updated in March of 2025.
So you can see the cameras.
They’re on the store’s property, pointed at the locking gate (with what appear to be bars that can be pumped up to prevent forced access).
Apparently, the gun store with most of the front being all glass is concerned about being robbed.
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Specifically, about someone using a car as a battering ram…. which was a common method in that area at that time.
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Ugh, I was hoping they were just being paranoid.
I mean, I’m glad that they’re prepared, but I much prefer when it’s “over prepared.”
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As the shops “fort up”, the hoodlums steal larger vehicles to use as rams. They stick to private/passenger vehicles, for the most part, because big commercial trucks may have very different transmissions or startups.
But yes, they will steal an F350 4×4 “duallie”, load it up with ballast, and ram away at the shop. Or, hook a very heavy chain to the hitch and try to snatch-extract the door.
The smarter ones learn from local SWAT how to breach fortified businesses. Such as snatching the window frame instead of armored door, or welding onto the truck a lance ram.
(Rigging the shop with teargas dispensers is apparently not very legal, and where it is technically legal, can still get you wrecked in litigation. Alas…)
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It’s probably a trifle expensive, but having one of those snap up barricades like you see at military bases would be effective. Headed toward the business at over 25 mph? Surprise! 😁
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For those wondering, yes it’s become increasingly common for the (woke) people working on certain entertainment projects (video games, sci-fi and fantasy properties in media, etc…) that appeal to the “chuds” to hate the actual property. We know they hate the properties in question because they like to post on social media about how much they hate the elements that make up that property. Best guess is that they get involved because it’s popular, and then follow IowaHawk’s famous skinsuit dictum. They likely don’t see themselves skinsuiting it. They likely view it as expanding the audience, or “making it better”. But they’re skinsuiting it.
The result right now is an almost continuous stream of AAA video game title failures, beyond anything that I’ve ever seen in the industry.
Anime in Japan (currently) is beyond their reach. But there’s been a scandal in the English translation industry for the last year or two. The translation industry is reportedly quite insular, and only allows people with the “correct” viewpoints to get translation or VA work. It’s gotten bad enough that some Japanese companies have decided to switch to AI translations… and the fans are agreeing. One recent example was a niche Japanese indie game (which I unfortunately do not recall the name of off the top of my head) in which a Japanese word for “Stop” was translated into English as “Fascists must die!” (among many other translation issues). The developers publicly apologized, and quickly released a better translation.
Finally, it’s not just Japanese media that embraces sexualization. Pretty women in skimpy outfits are popular throughout all of East Asia, and most of SouthEast Asia. The most recent video game related furor over an attractive woman was a Korean game, Stellar Blade. It’s announced sequel is also drawing fire.
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Pretty much. Some idiots were trying to claim Evie (the main character of Stellar Blade 2) was “fourteen” or so and that any who liked her were “PDFs” or similar.
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Yeah. The response was to note that Asian women often look younger than western women of the same age. I bet that went over well in the usual circles. :P
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Shadowdancer has had folks insist her husband is a PDF file because… he married an “asian chick” and they are ‘minor coded’.
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PDF file? LOL
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I suspect using the actual term on X limits their reach or similar so that acronym gets used. Or maybe they want to save a few characters while ranting and whipping up hatred against someone in the hope it gets them killed.
I mean, the usual demanded punishment for someone who does terrible things to children involves a woodchipper, so I would expect someone flinging the “PDF” accusation is hoping to get something similar done to the person they’re pointing a finger at.
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And gets you demonetized on YouTube.
The number of work-arounds that Donut Operator uses in his “Crime is Fun” podcast….
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Also can cause you to come up in Search Engine results for the wrong reasons. And regardless of who’s looking (idiots genuinely looking for it, or Feds looking for those idiots), it’s a headache few people want to deal with
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I spent way too much time staring at transcripts with that until I actually said it out-loud.
Freaking sensor-bots.
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What am I missing with the Hillel the Elder image? Why is this a meme?
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According to Google, the Assyrian Empire started in the 21st Century BC. So how is there an Assyrian tablet from 2800 BC?
I’m getting some Encyclopedia Brown vibes from that one.
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Britain predated the British Empire.
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