Worse than Hitler.
Tomb Raider has been unable to drink following her recent concussion. So my personal consumption has dropped precipitously. Spud came to the rescue, with WebDom providing able assistance. Much Finger Lakes Riesling and Chardonnay has been transmuted into urine. Masses of gourmet food have been converted into bioavailable hobo turds. And Spud is FAR worse for the wear. Mission accomplished. Today, we relive our legendary Football Sundays from our days in the SF Bay area. A low calorie repast of pizza, roasted squash, multiple bottles of wine, and pastries.
Birthdays are numerous today, so much so that I’ll have to skip over far too many. But the curated list includes a hero of the Left; what journalism used to be; one of my two favorite historians; a great scientist who was a veritable quote machine; a woman who married a millionaire; the quintessential Hollywood Cowboy who was quick on the Trigger; a guy who squeezed the Comet instead of the Charmin; a famous nymphomaniac whom I sadly didn’t meet; the guy who inspired Eugene Levy; a guy who told her twice already; a nobody who parlayed disgrace into a fortune; a woman known for her tits who was actually quite a good actress; a mediocre mathematician, indifferent songwriter, and terrific singer; a guy who truly could do it all; the guy who convinced me that I could never be a Libertarian; a guy who was the subject of one of the most memorable lines in movie history; the stereotypical empty-headed self-important actress; and the stereotypical empty-headed self-important NFL player.
We continue to disappoint Saint Barack.
A pity we lost ours- they would serve terrific food.
Look, we all knew this before.
Remember the old pre-TDS Balko? Sigh.
And look, the Old Man is not a big fan of drum solos but Louie Bellson with the Duke? I’ll take it.
Las Cruces has the shittiest Walmart in these United States
How so?
Drum solo for the hangover-suffering Spud? Cruel, very cruel.
Look, we all knew this before.
The projection is strong here?
Joni Mitchell wrote two songs about her affairs with Shepard during Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour of 1975. In “Coyote”, from her eighth studio album Hejira, she recounts Shepard’s seduction of her at a period while he was both married and having an extramarital affair with tour manager Christine O’Dell with the lines: “He’s got a woman at home, another woman down the hall, but he seems to want me anyway.”
Hanging with Bobby
The road makes me blue
He’s fucking Christy and Olan
Please fuck me too
a mediocre mathematician, indifferent songwriter, and terrific singer;
You are giving too much credit for a degree in math education, especially from Columbia.
*blinks*
I could have sworn the US was calling for an immediate cease-fire out of the other side of its mouth.
The adults in the room don’t know what the hell to do.
They were.
I was reading that Hamas is now offering to release all the civilian hostages in exchange for 5 days to move their fighters out of Gaza city in the north, where they are encircled by the IDF, to the south so they can regroup and kill more Jews.
I think in some ways the parallels to 9/11, in that the attack was far more successful than the terrorists thought it would be, and consequently the response was far more than they expected.
They need time to get a fleet of ambulances to pick them up from the hospitals, mosques and schools where they are sheltering.
It really feels like the plan was entirely to provoke a response and have a well-prepared international propaganda offensive already loaded in the chamber.
My suspicion is that everything is according to plan…. Except the “boots on the ground” folks in Gaza didn’t fully realize that they were the expendable part of the equation.
And citizens. But omlettes and eggs.
They correctly read the room with regards to “the international community”.
A dull puppy could have read that room.
I really don’t think Hamas expected a full-on invasion and campaign to exterminate, well, Hamas in response.
Or that their propaganda campaign would get torpedoed right out of the gate by the atrocities they committed, and gleefully documented themselves.
If the hundreds-of-thousands strong demonstrations around the world are any indication, I would say that their attrocities have not harmed their reputation in a way that is impacting the debate beyond those who already were ready to side with Israel.
I see a lot of blanket denials that Hamas did anything at all wrong.
I continue to be amazed at the ability of people to completely forget something they witnessed with their own eyes within just a week or two.
You are too charitable. Some of these people deny anything happened at all. They claim it’s fake news or propaganda.
Whycome international community not celebrate our wanton behavior?
I’m honestly wondering if the back channel to Israel is do what you gotta do, and we will continue to both shove money and weapons at you, but we will make “nice, nice” and clucking statements publicly.
But I’m not sure State is that coherent.
I saw several articles about “secret meetings” between US and Israeli officials. They quoted unnamed “US officials” and talked of a rift between the US and Israel over cease fires.
Odd that our government holds secret meetings and then talks about them to the press within hours.
But we must protect our national security documents at all costs!
Listening to my wife and her aunt and grandmother argue in the kitchen in German over cooking makes me laugh internally for some reason.
Does the reason you laugh internally rather than externally have anything to do with self-preservation?
Whew! For a moment there I was worried for the CCP.
A pity we lost ours- they would serve terrific food.
You didn’t find the flavor of the chicom propaganda, intellectual property theft and intimidation of ethnic Chinese offputting?
That didn’t seem to be the case. Our Confucius seemed to focus more on food, music, and art. The guy here who got accused of being a CCP agent stealing defense secrets was totally railroaded, and I know this first hand.
Aren’t the Confucian Institutes CCP operations? Seems like anyone working there would be a CCP “agent” in some sense (perhaps benign, perhaps not).
Anything representing the Chinese government is CCP – overseas “police stations”, Confucius institutes, etc.
That’s the story, anyway. But the profs taking DoD grants here are agents of the NSA and DHS. I’m not convinced they’re any better.
Go fuck yourself, CNN. Whites are killed by cops in equal or great proportion (depending on the source you read) but you don’t give a shit.
You care more about rAcIsM than about the killings themselves.
So they’re not wrong — police actions against people of color remains a volatile subject (because of muckracking if nothing else), while police actions against poor Caucasians (especially deplorables) aren’t worth mentioning….
J6 defendants wave.
That yahoo article about Gaza is an incoherent mess. Our press seems incapable of even basic logic.
They spend much of the article telling us that nobody in Gaza is moving in response to Israel’s warnings because they can’t. Or don’t trust Israel.
Yet they end the article telling us that 70% of the residents of Gaza have flee their homes.
So, which is it? Nobody? Or almost everybody?
A similar disinterest in resolving incompatible claims infests all of our 4th estate. These are pretty obvious questions.
At most universities, the journalism and education schools pulled away from the pack decades ago in the race to the bottom. Although I would expect the “studies” programs to be giving them a run for their money these days
And the “studies” programs are the direct source of so much of the rot that has been spreading throughout “the West” in the last few years. You might not care about “studies” but they sure care about you.
I really cannot fathom why universities have not eradicated these programs.
They have zero future use. They disrupt the academic environment. And they bring embarrassment to the institution on a regular basis.
I cannot imagine most schools would see any tuition drop if the rid themselves of all of those studies departments. Most decent schools exclude a majority of applicants. Surely dropping 15% of your department slots and their accompanying majors could be absorbed by other departments, maintaining constant enrollment numbers.
Since everyone MUST go to college (whether suited for it or not),
“[…] studies” is something most people who are not suited to college can do (if they get that far)
OR
something true believer activists can use to shield themselves from the realities of life (like making a living)
OR
something easy that unambitious and unserious people can use to pass their (partying?) time.
Yes to all of the above.
Agreed
Colleges will never drop “studies” crap while FedGov is propping it up.
Absolutely true.
One of the most violent firenadoes captured on camera. Filmed amid a bushfire in Australia’s Northern Territory on November 4, 2023.
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1721139753964183834
The balko-adjacent article is also a woke mess.
They begin with an article about what sounds like an insane interaction where a cop shoots a grandmother in her car over a “why are you parked outside this housing project” investigation.
Then the author pivots to race and politics in completely different cases.
,…………
“Later that same day, another officer from the Las Cruces Police Department would turn himself in on a voluntary manslaughter charge in the August 2022 fatal shooting of a Black man who had left a gas station without paying for a beer, said his defense attorney and New Mexico’s attorney general, a Democrat who is handling that case.”
………..
Capital B black man shot (apparently for shoplifting a single beer and nothing else) is being championed by a Capital D Democrat attorney general.
The very first invocation of race or party.
The Mayor of Las Cruces? Ken Miyagashimi… Since 2007.
Democrat.
Fencing is so racist.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/us-fencer-who-hurt-teams-olympic-chances-suspended-misconduct-allegations
Wut?
Would it kill the author to state what that “prior incident” is?
It’s not important. Just know that it was a sin.
Apparently it would.
Based only on a reluctance to report any hint of why he would be segregated from the team in their sleeping arrangements and on his appearance, I am going to guess some sort of unwanted advances on a teammate, perhaps in the hotel.
Yes, a giant leap.but one informed by a suitmate who drunkenly tried to go down on his (straight) roommate while he was sleeping. They bear something of a resemblance, so therefore I leap to ridiculous conclusions based on a paucity of evidence.
I heard his actions led a teammate to feint.
They certainly foiled his plan.
Exactly
The first cop sounds like an angry, violent person who shouldn’t be a cop. I’m not getting racist from what’s reported.
That is what I hear. Maybe he just found out his wife is cheating on him with his best friend. Seems totally unhinged.
So maybe when they mean “stop Asian Hate”, it’s the Asians who are the haters?
I continue to disagree with them on some words not being there… but just glad I got through the main one today – took me a couple of hours (on and off):
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 11/05:
*23/23 words (+1 bonus word)
🎯 In the top 20% by accuracy
I played https://squaredle.com 11/05:
*79/79 words (+20 bonus words)
🎯 In the top 9% by accuracy
🔥 Solve streak: 82
I played https://squaredle.com/waffle-ingredients:
*161/161 words (+69 bonus words)
📖 In the top 26% by bonus words
I played https://squaredle.com/xp 11/05:
*23/23 words (+1 bonus word)
🎯 Perfect accuracy
I played https://squaredle.com 11/05:
79/79 words (+27 bonus words)
📖 In the top 31% by bonus words
🔥 Solve streak: 2
Yeah, I had a “not in list” yesterday on one of the two dailies that had been allowed as a bonus word in one of the special puzzles I’m working on.
Coffee and a really good cheese is one of the most wonderful breakfasts not involving nudity.
You do you. I despise most cheese, so can’t agree with you on that.
Interesting. John Zogby, who is a member of the ruling class and on the red wing of the UniParty, swallows Hamas propaganda hook line and sinker and accuses Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing, as well as decades of “brutal occupation” of Gaza.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/weekly-report-card-biden-in-minefield-of-his-own-making
“As I write this, over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, quadruple that number have been injured, and many more may never be counted. Let me not mince words: this is genocide and ethnic cleansing. Of course, Hamas started it all, but so too did a brutal occupation and a choking of the economy of the Gaza economy. If Israel has a ‘right’ to defend itself, when is enough too much?”
He even questions whether Israel has a right to defend itself (that “If”) and parrots the proportionality nonsense. I suspect that he is saying what most of the UniParty thinks but is afraid to say with the Hamas atrocities still so fresh.
Zogby has been reliably Jew Hate for decades. This is absolutely no surprise.
Fixed that for him.
I don’t want Israel to have to kill them all, I wish there was especially a way to get the kids to realize they can live in peace if they let go of the past tribalism — but I also realize that’s unicorn-land and a significant amount of the people dying are because Hamas wants them there and wants them to for sympathy, so forgive me if I don’t weep for poor widdle Hamas.
Sigh…. and maybe I can get markup language right one of these days and not look like a complete moron. As long as I’m apparently wishing for stuff that just doesn’t seem to want to happen and all.
They do keep using “genocide” as a synonym for “killing some non-combatants”.
I doubt even an actual campaign to kill everyone in Gaza fits the official definition of Genocide.
Definitions seem to vary, but “intent to eliminate an ethnic group” seems to be a key component. Some just say “killing a lot” based on nation or ethnicity…. But that would include most wars pre US gulf war I.
Gaza is indeed a large population, with 2 million people. But with around 15 million Palestinians worldwide. I’m not sure that “genocide” fits when we are talking numbers in the low thousands. Even in the hundreds of thousands, it would seem a stretch.
For scale, Germany lost 4.2 million people in WWII. The German census in 1939 covered areas like Austria too, and counted about 80 million. Nobody calls that genocide. Israel would have to reach close to 7 figures to have comparable numbers.
Even in Gaza, it’s a funny genocide where the population of the targeted group increases year over year over year.
According to the “Gaza Ministry of Health” or whatever it’s called that is uncritically quoted in every single article I see.
It’s like the word “allegedly” is selectively unknown to them.
Or, more contemporary: “asserted without evidence”. Often used by the press to describe facts presented with large amounts of supporting evidence by republican politicians or commentators, particularly Trump supporters.
He sounds like Mrs. Prole and my son sounded yesterday when they talked about how Israelis oppressed Palestinians and colonized the West Bank, and how many of the Israelis killed in the atracks were actually soldiers.
The word “Hamas” did not come up before I bailed on listening to that conversation.
Just remind them that it was the Arabs that rejected the UN partition in ’47 and have ever since.
I have seen the rejoinder that Israel has never agreed to a peace deal.
In fairness, I have seen a great many entirely ahistorical “facts” asserted in this discussion… And many of these by known writers and politicians, not just random idiots like us.
Didn’t Israel accept the Camp David accords? Was there not a formal peace treaty with Egypt?
Hell Jordan claimed the West Bank in 1950, rescinding that only in 1988. Who has really fucked the Palestinians the most?
If the Jews vanished overnight from Israel, there wouldn’t be peace there.
The Jews were there first. I know they kicked out some other tribes before the Romans kicked them out, but those guys are long lost to history IIRC.
Are we not doing “land acknowledgements” anymore?
https://twitter.com/MacGraeme42/status/1712286657917923704
Still relevant
Heh.
Love that song. My mom had the soundtrack for some reason.
So….like every other square inch of land o n earth.
Personally I dont see much there. If I were going to kill someone for land I would pick better land.
Didn’t Golda Meir once say something to the effect that Moses led the Israelites through the desert for forty years, then settled in the one spot in the Middle East that had no oil?
And its most famous landmarks are the Wailing Wall and the Dead Sea. Prime real estate!
I don’t know how you stand it.
Speaking of J6, one of the guys from my church just got sentenced this past week (disabled vet). I met him a little over a year ago at a church event – I think he just started attending around that same time – and he’s been regular ever since. He gave a testimony at the Men’s Breakfast a few weeks ago telling his story and he was going through. He’s definitely gone through a spiritual reawakening since the arrest and we’re praying that he can be a good witness behind bars.
https://augustafreepress.com/news/former-marine-virginia-proud-boys-member-who-used-big-stick-in-breach-of-capitol-sentenced/
Wow. That is a heck of a writeup. Absent his own writing, it sounds like he did less than pretty much any random BLM protesters, let alone an antifa agitator.
Pushed a shield, put his hand on a shoulder and yelled incoherent crap… Before collapsing with a medical issue.
For that they went with a multi-year prosecution?
It was potentially an option to go as low as 30 days in prison, but the high end was a lot more than 60 days.
That was my impression as well. I just reviewed several videos of “mostly peaceful” riots in Portland and the jails should be full of BLM/Antifa types who pushed a shield etc. The arsonists alone should have made DoJ have to rent more facilities.
But the current VP was raising funds for BLM/antifa defense and bail funds and they didn’t question the “most secure election in history.”
Anyone know a good source for reasonably priced cheeses? The wife loves her cheese, and Aldi does a good job of delivering some nice variety at a good price… But I want to find something unique.
I went looking for some red Leicester online and found that I could get a couple of 5 pound blocks for $300. Not really what I had in mind.
Anyone have a good source?
I only know of one, but it will doubtless annoy the hell out of you with the bouzouki player.
We are indeed a reliable group.
As a kid I remember being incredibly impressed at the length of the list of cheeses Cleese was able to recite. At the time I was aware of American, cheddar, Swiss and mozzarella. Or rather, grilled cheese, hamburger cheese, holes cheese and pizza cheese.
Red L is mousetrap cheese, no? What does she like? I like Sage Derby when I can find it; also TJ’s cheddar with caramelized onions.
Don’t know any specific sites for the purchasing of cheesy comestibles.
I have only had it once. It came in a Christmas gift pack. Tiny little samples of various cheeses. It was the best of that package. Could be an outlier.
Can’t help with online but, if you’re anywhere near a Whole Foods, they usually have a good variety of cheeses. And, they’re often available in smaller cuts.
Wegmans as well, maybe Publix?
Don’t have either of those around here. But, reminds me that when WF opened where my wife lives, the local grocery store (City Market = Krogers) suddenly expanded food options including cheeses. Of course, they also expanded their price range.
I don’t know if you’re asking for local or mail order or what, but we have a lovely cheese store. The Better Cheddar. I sampled a $30/lb Spanish goat cheese that was orgasmic.
LOVE that store!
I take it you tried the orgasm cheese as well…..
Wut?
Madagascar vanilla and primo lemon curd ahoy!
Sounds like a good place to hang out at….
“I’ll have what she’s having”?
there is no good cheese in America.
Dude, we like, invented, American cheese.
I don’t know if I know enough to agree or disagree. My daily cheese is extra-sharp cheddar. My favorite cheese is Gouda. I like Edam and Maredsous, too, but I’ve never seen Maredsous here in the US.
There is also no casu martzu.
Thank Dog. 🧀 🐛 🪱
Don’t remind me of it.
🤢🤮
Wisconsin brick cheese is a critical ingredient in the finest pizza on Earth.
Costco has a damn good variety of cheeses at highly reasonable prices.
Yeah, but in quantities that will block you up more than a good dose of opioids.
Hey, hey, hey. I will not tolerate any Costco hate.
No hate, just noting that sometimes quantity has a quality all its own.
Muh DEMOCRACY!
The “crossroads of the Civil War,” as Virginia’s Spotsylvania County calls itself, is once again a cauldron of hostilities, this time minus the muskets.
Within range of four devastating battles that laid waste to tens of thousands of lives, 21st century culture wars rage. The stakes hardly compare to such tragic losses, but feelings run fever high.
Dirty tricks spill out; political struggles are taken to the extreme.
The principal flashpoint: school board meetings. And not just here. A long tradition of doing prosaic but vital work has sunk into chaos and poisonous confrontation across the United States. The lower rungs of democracy are cracking.
In Tuesday’s elections in Virginia, the far right is fighting to gain control of more local offices — often school boards — while the left claws back with cries of “fascism.”
“Just bananas,” a Spotsylvania School Board candidate with Democratic support says of the local fight over education. “So far out of hand,” agrees a county Republican leader.
Why won’t those Nazi god-botherers just go away and leave the teachers’ union alone to mold the minds of young America?
I love the attempt to whitewash the school board pretending that multiple rapes didn’t happen…. Right in the face of the father of the victim.
If that doesn’t spark a movement to change the leadership, we are lost. I really can’t think of anything more likely to inspire change
Let me guess – trannies, anal sex guides for toddlers, and anti-white race stuff that is totally only a college thing, honest.
What do I win?
A school board seat.
Nothing says democracy is under assault like voters electing people they agree with and attending public meetings to share their opinions.
It’s not democracy when you vote differently from the reporter.
Clearly democracy is all about US winning and YOU losing. What is so hard to understand about that, deplorable?
It’s a microcosm of what’s happened around the country in recent years as a growing faction on the right has targeted public education, arguing parents should have more control over what their children learn and experience at school.
Their fight to remove classroom materials they view as upsetting to children, dump equity programs and reject accommodations for transgender students has sparked a fierce backlash from parents who say supporting public education means ensuring children with different backgrounds and needs have ample opportunity to thrive.
Just the facts, Ma’am.
Stop lying.
None of the balls change color; only the lines do
https://twitter.com/jagarikin/status/1720564002508661177
That’s what Hunter said.
“There’s dirty tricks being played all over the place,” Swanson said. “This country is so divided now, and they’re pitting people against people and parties against parties. And it’s intentional. It’s really intentional. None of us accomplishes anything that we want to do, neither party.”
With school board fights nationwide pitting increasingly sophisticated social conservative groups such as Moms for Liberty against teachers unions and others on the left, it seems the old axiom that all politics is local no longer applies. Local politics now is everyone’s fray.
“Increasingly sophisticated social conservatives” is an especially terrifying concept; who knows what anti-government deviltry they might get up to?
I am impressed with how far they have managed to move the Overton window.
“Don’t teach 3rd grade students lessons about changing their gender or having gay sex” has become the Hallmark of “social conservatives”.
I kinda think that would have covered 98.5% of the population even a decade ago. Definitely when Obama was serving his first term.
Yeah, I’m fascinated by the number of progressives to whom gender identity/change is the defining issue of our time. Like the civil rights movement or Vietnam, there can be no compromise. Or for that matter, can someone even ask questions even about things like pronouns. And yet none of the progressives I know could have defined most of this stuff two or three years ago. Hell, most of the pronouns didn’t exist a few years back. But we’re still going to destroy people who are not on board.
It’s almost like the specifics don’t matter, as long as one is Revolutioning.
In Rockingham County, a network of parents is working to find safe havens for transgender teenagers, bracing for an election that could push the board farther to the right.
Have they considered home schooling? Not likely, because that would remove their power to force their beliefs on others and compel them to conform to their way of thinking (and foot the bill). Where’s the fun in that?
Also, “farther to the right” seems to include “not having sex offender boys in the girls restroom”… Which seems to be a trip not all that far towards the right.
How can there possibly be enough “parents of trans kids” to have a quorum at your parent’s network meetings? I would really like to see a size for this network.
We have a bit of the “social contagion” aspect going on down here. My daughter has 1 weird kid who claims non-binary status in her school. He is quite obviously the pudgy gay kid,a stereotype we are all familiar with. I don’t think he is doing the pronoun thing. But he plays with gender stereotypes for shock effect. This is a school with 1,000 kids. The boy has zero out of 1,300. And the other girl doesn’t know of anyone out of 1,300.
I think they have the “extreme” label on the wrong end of the spectrum.
They must be the mainstream – they have the mainstream media behind them.
I’ll throw this anecdote out there again.
Some years ago – maybe 10? – one of the contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race came out as “trans”, and it was considered shocking.
In a room full of super-gay men who playact as women for fun. This was before the “social contagion” aspect caught on fire. The real numbers are so tiny as to be irrelevant.
The other thing is the de-transitioners weren’t going through the transition in the last couple of years, but 5 to 10 years ago. It is the de-transition that has started more recently, so shit was happening under the radar for a while.
The detransitioners are mostly the girls when they find out being a tomboy/lesbian/unsnazzy dresser was perfectly okay and didn’t make them boys.
I watched that for a while. It seemed to me there was a vague undercurrent of despair/loneliness/depression/hopelessness amongst the contestants.
In my kids school (about 1800 kids) there are enough to have a club on campus. But I live in cloud cookoo land, and in a posh neighborhood, the only way for a privileged white girl to get any victimhood credits is to be a rape victim or claim to be transgender. Guess which one is more popular.
STEVE SMITH MAKE TRANS CLAIM LESS POPULAR
I, of course, grew up in the ancient times before victim cred was hot, but I wonder how many of the supposedly trans kids just have no particular highly-valued attributes/accomplishments – academic, athletic, good looks, creative talent, etc. – and see claiming transgender/nonbinary identity as the only way they can get attention. Don’t know if the trend has been going on long enough for any serious study…which would probably be smacked down anyway if it questioned these kids’ real motivation.
School board members “are just going to focus on these hot button political partisan issues and not look at really the successful operation of schools,” he said. “I want voters to look at the whole picture and not just narrow little slivers that fire people up.”
Like, you know, teaching the students basic skills like reading and math? Teaching them the fundamental scientific concepts which enable the modern world? Coaching them to be able to analyze an argument? Successful educational stuff like that?
“We need more civic engagement”
…
“Not that kind of engagement!”
What’s happening today? Looks like I am putting away Halloween decorations.
There’s a new streaming Universal Monsters channel. I am loving it now, it will probably get old quick.
Football!
After that, dunno.
I’m working on my NSF Seed Fund Pitch. Here’s what I have so far:
***
The required Project Pitch allows startups to learn if their proposed project is a good fit for funding from America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF. See four key questions you’ll be asked to answer.
1. The Technology Innovation. (Up to 500 words)
Describe the technical innovation that would be the focus of a Phase I project, including a brief discussion of the origins of the innovation as well as explanation as to why it meets the program’s mandate to focus on supporting research and development (R&D) of unproven, high-impact innovations.
2. The Technical Objectives and Challenges. (Up to 500 words)
Describe the R&D or technical work to be done in a Phase I project, including a discussion of how and why the proposed work will help prove that the product or service is technically feasible and/or will significantly reduce technical risk. Discuss how, ultimately, this work could contribute to making the new product, service, or process commercially viable and impactful. This section should also convey that the proposed work meets the definition of R&D, rather than straightforward engineering or incremental product development tasks.
3. The Market Opportunity. (Up to 250 words)
Describe the customer profile and pain point(s) that will be the near-term commercial focus related to this technical project.
4. The Company and Team. (Up to 250 words)
Describe the background and current status of the applicant small business, including key team members who will lead the technical and/or commercial efforts discussed in this Project Pitch.
1. The goal of this project is to build a compact cluster-type supercomputer capable of 1 TFLOPS for less than $20,000, suitable for universities and corporations. A similar device was built 13 years ago in Nagasaki, Japan, and has since been used successfully for complex calculations in astrophysics. This proposal is for a cluster device that uses Raspberry-Pi 4 single-board computers rather than GPUs. The aforementioned Japanese computer was air-cooled and cost about $420,000. I believe it is possible to get similar performance for a small fraction of that cost. While it is difficult to directly determine the performance of a computer without a benchmark test, a good rule of thumb is that one floating point operation per second requires about 10 cycles (measured in Hz). Thus, a 1.75 GHz computer with a four-core CPU (such as a Raspberry-Pi 4) can execute about 0.7 GFLOPS (700 million FLOPS per second). Scaling up, about 1500 similar computers working in parallel as a cluster would be required to reach 1 TFLOPS. Another advantage of such a system would be the flexibility it would have from being based on CPUs rather than GPUs.
2. The system will be cooled with a combination of mineral oil, copper BBs, and water evaporation. I have experimented successfully with this method myself. The mineral oil is cheap, non-toxic, does not evaporate, and does not conduct electricity. It’s the same oil used to cool high-voltage transformers. This will allow it to be overclocked to about three times the default configuration. Scaling up the cooling system for a cluster with hundreds or thousands of computers and switches will be the greatest challenge. Given the spatial limitations I have at the moment, the initial system may only be a cluster of a few dozen to a few hundred computers. There is also the problem of networking with switches and having an adequate power supply.
3. A typical customer for this system would be any college, corporation, or even a private individual. The market niche would be similar to a 3D printer. Rather than sell complete units, which would be difficult to transport and install, the customer would buy plans and technical support to build it themselves. The eventual goal of the enterprise would be to get bought out by a larger company capable of taking it to the next level. The founder of the project (me) would then use his money and free time to investigate the effects of prolonged leisure on happiness.
4. This project is a one-man show, literally. I don’t even have a registered business, just an empty apartment and plenty of free time. I do have some friends and relatives with experience in computer and software engineering. I live close to the University of Florida in Gainesville and will seek the help of their computer science department as well. As for myself, I have a degree in chemical engineering, was a Peace Corps math teacher in Africa, and served in the Army as an Arabic linguist. I have been unemployed since May 2023 and have been living off my savings. I am not interested in having another job again if I can avoid it. Details of the experimental computer I built may be seen at this link to my personal blog. It attracted the interest of the FBI. If I am awarded seed money, I will document my progress there and on YouTube. On a side note, I’m a failed stand-up comedian, I worked for NSA, and one time I dug up a dinosaur bone in Wyoming. I’ve done many things and most of them turned out well.
***
One suggestion, pulled from the current zeitgeist:
Put a chick in it. Make her gay.
+1 Cartman
***
Lavrov criticized the United States, highlighting that the nation’s international interventions since the 1950s have seldom yielded positive outcomes for the regions or countries it sought to influence. He argued that Washington’s primary aim appears to be to sow discord and upheaval, with the expectation that these troubled regions will eventually turn to the United States for assistance, often in the form of printed dollars.
He warned countries seeking help from the USA to recall the experiences of past leaders who pinned their hopes on American support. Lavrov asserted that as soon as the political landscape shifted, the USA would readily discard these leaders, unburdened by remorse, and proceed with its self-serving agenda.
***
Hard to argue with his analysis…
The only addition being that we have turned this methodology on our own population.
And how did all the USSR/Russian international interventions work out?
Yeah, they did lots of destabilizing and normalizing too.
When the KGB archives were released, it was discovered that they had active plans for overthrowing the governments of many countries, including India. When India found out, their reaction was basically “meh, nobody’s perfect”.
***
The KGB ties of Indira Gandhi: How India became a puppet of USSR during the Cold War
Mitrokhin reveals that Indira Gandhi was given 20 million rupees in exchange for crucial information, and to the surprise of Soviet chiefs, didn’t even return the bag in which she received the money
***
They butt-fucked Eastern Europe for 50 years and didn’t seem to pay much of a price for that.
Getting surrounded by NATO and losing their empire?
Any consequences ever determined for Hungarian Uprising or Prague Spring, etc, etc, etc?
Given that our current foreign policy traces back to the original Progressives – the damn the results, it is the intentions that matter and do it again, harder kind of outcome isn’t at all surprising.
Nothing says democracy is under assault like voters electing people they agree with and attending public meetings to share their opinions.
But everything was so cozy and collegial in the past. Everyone knew what was best for the little bastards. There was no need for messy debate, no listening to tedious wrongthink from people who aren’t even degreed educators.
This again cuts to the contradiction at the core of Progressive belief – experts must rule, while democracy must accept those results. When democracy fails to do it’s part, it isn’t because the experts were ever wrong.
The Jerusalem Artichoke – not an artichoke and not from Jerusalem, but a wonderful tuber nonetheless
I’ve seen it recommended as an easy-to-grow survival food.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_artichoke
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The tubers can be eaten raw, cooked, or pickled.[9]
Before the arrival of Europeans, indigenous peoples cultivated H. tuberosus as a food source. The tubers persist for years after being planted, so the species expanded its range from central North America to the eastern and western regions.[citation needed] Early European colonists learned of this and sent tubers back to Europe, where they became a popular crop and naturalized there. It later gradually fell into obscurity in North America, but attempts to market it commercially were successful in the late 1900s and early 2000s.[7][10]
The tuber contains about 2% protein, no oil, and little starch. It is rich in the carbohydrate inulin (8 to 13%[11]), which is a polymer of the monosaccharide fructose. Tubers stored for any length of time convert their inulin into its component, fructose. Jerusalem artichokes have an underlying sweet taste because of the fructose, which is about one and a half times as sweet as sucrose.[10]
It has also been reported as a folk remedy for diabetes:[10] since inulin is not assimilated in the intestine, it doesn’t cause a glycemic spike as potatoes would. Temperature variances have been shown to affect the amount of inulin the Jerusalem artichoke can produce. It makes less inulin in a colder region than when it is in a warmer region.[12]
***
<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-farmers-lose-income-more-053026358.html'. Good news, everyone!
Afghan farmers have lost income of more than $1 billion from opium sales after the Taliban outlawed poppy cultivation, according to a report from the U.N. drugs agency published Sunday.
Afghanistan was the world’s biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia when the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
They pledged to wipe out the country’s drug cultivation industry and imposed a formal ban in April 2022, dealing a heavy blow to hundreds of thousands of farmers and day laborers who relied on proceeds from the crop to survive. Opium cultivation crashed by 95% after the ban, the report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said.
The UN will need another billion dollars to set up and administer a program to compensate the farmers for lost income.
This is an opportune time for them to establish businesses that rely on cheap labor. They are about to have about 2 million of their countrymen rejoin them when Iran and Pakistan are done expelling them.
I cut up the last batch of peppers today to dehydrate.
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/PHCw3ojnSS-gb5uhcS4vZA.MKRjt_NNxnS_z18dIPmKvE
You could smell them upstairs. 😯
Did you have sufficient PPE? You clearly didn’t ventillate properly.
Afghans need urgent humanitarian assistance to meet their most immediate needs, absorb the shock of lost income and save lives, said UNODC executive director, Ghada Waly.
“Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investment in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghans with opportunities away from opium,” she said.
Send money. We must ensure their continued dependency.
I don’t see any problem sending the Taliban money. It worked fine with Hamas.
Sorry, not sorry, Taliban. You own the place it’s your responsibility. The US already left many billions of $ in your country. Deal with it.
Lower incomes along the opiate supply chain could stimulate other illegal activities like the trafficking of arms, people or synthetic drugs, the most recent UNODC report said.
Whycome them hates innovative adaptation?
Like they wouldn’t traffic in arms anyways?
This is like the bullshit that says that relaxing US drug laws caused the cartels to expand their coyote or prostitution operations. Sure. Like the cartels are looking at this huge demand and saying, “No thanks, our business is just the right size as it is. Oh, what’s that, the US legalized weed on the West Coast, we should reconsider.”
Would it make any difference at this point to note that Afghanistan survived for centuries without foreign aid? In the words of Winston Churchill:
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The inhabitants of these wild but wealthy valleys are of many tribes, but of similar character and condition. The abundant crops which a warm sun and copious rains raise from a fertile soil, support a numerous population in a state of warlike leisure. Except at the times of sowing and of harvest, a continual state of feud and strife prevails throughout the land. Tribe wars with tribe. The people of one valley fight with those of the next. To the quarrels of communities are added the combats of individuals. Khan assails khan, each supported by his retainers. Every tribesman has a blood feud with his neighbor. Every man’s hand is against the other, and all against the stranger.
***
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9404/9404-h/9404-h.htm
***
Elon Musk’s frequent warnings about declining birth rates globally underscore a growing movement among Silicon Valley tech billionaires.
Musk, who has fathered 10 children with three women, has repeatedly voiced his concerns about the threat posed by a declining population, often advocating for policies that encourage childbearing.
***
Well, that’s…interesting.
***
Amish people are one of the most prominent proponents of procreation, averaging 6.8 children per family, according to research.
Simone, a venture capitalist, has said that proponents of their “subculture” believe the “pathway to immortality” is through having more children.
The couple, who has three kids, wants to have up to 13 children together. To accomplish this, Simone has stored as many embryos as possible in a freezer.
***
I found the first problem with your plan.
***
While conceiving one of their children, Titan Invictus, Malcolm and Simone used embryo selection and genetic testing to rule out obesity and anxiety disorders in their offspring.
The Collins’ have also said their bloodline will dominate the human population after 11 generations, assuming their calculations pan out correctly.
However, some have expressed concern the family’s viewpoint is a form of eugenics, a term that the Collins couple rejects.
***
Somehow, I think the Amish will end up with a larger population after 11 generations. Also, Titan Invictus? Really?
Re Amish, lots of kids just could be a product of Farm Economics 101.
An Indian friend in college told me the saying there is “a child has 2 hands and 1 mouth”, meaning that more kids = free labor.
Yeup. It was a plot point in my pirate novel. Pirate who wants to be a farmer falls in love with a woman who (probably) can’t have kids.
So, did we ever find out if she could?
Yes, and the answer is yes because she is the several-greats grandmother of the characters of my universe.
Her problem is that she has an incompetent cervix, so she gets pregnant easily enough, but can’t carry to term. Fortunately, she has an Arab physician who learned his trade in a harem. Fortunately also, said physician has for years been looking for a way to fix this. Also fortunately also, he has a sojourn in Amsterdam and spends time at the medical school there where he figures it out hopefully.
Re: Amish, also what happens with bad animal husbandry and too narrow of a gene pool.
Which is a problem of non-proselyting religions/lifestyles.
Re: Amish, also what happens with bad animal husbandry and too narrow of a gene pool.
There are stories possibly not ALL apocryphal, about the Hutterite colonies in Montana introducing new strains into the gene pool by selective outbreeding. Maybe that’s part of what rumspringa is for.
Hoping their girls come back pregnant?
Marginally related, one of my favorite books, The Gate to Women’s Country, is a fiction treatise on selective breeding. Where does selective breeding end and eugenics begin?
Eugenics is more about preventing “undesirables” from breeding, which requires various forms of coercion.
***
Margaret Sanger was a birth control activist and eugenicist. She wrote in support of eugenics, the now-discredited movement to improve the overall health and fitness of humankind through selective breeding. In an article titled “A Better Race Through Birth Control,” she wrote, “Given Birth Control, the unfit will voluntarily eliminate their kind.” She also made some deeply disturbing statements in support of eugenics. One of her quotes reads, “We want fewer and better children who can be reared up to their full possibilities in unencumbered homes”.
***
“Given Birth Control, the unfit will voluntarily eliminate their kind.”
Boy, was she wrong about that. The people who. Think about the consequences of their actions (a good feature in a parent) are more likely to use birth control, whereas the people who would not make the best parents tend not to plan much in advance.
(Of course I’m talking about behavioral suitability, whereas Sanger thought it was genetic/racial.)
Every man’s hand is against the other, and all against the stranger.
Fantastic.
***
The issue of AI was seemingly inescapable for Biden. At Camp David one weekend, he relaxed by watching the Tom Cruise film “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.” The film’s villain is a sentient and rogue AI known as “the Entity” that sinks a submarine and kills its crew in the movie’s opening minutes.
***
Let’s hope Biden never sees Jaws or he might declare a war on sharks.
With AI, some rogue could forge a deep fake video to make Biden look foolish! We can’t allow that!
Where does selective breeding end and eugenics begin?
Somewhere around culling the imperfect outcomes.
That KC/Miami game was getting good in the Dolphins’ next-to-last possession.
But on the final possession, Tua’s weaknesses showed up: slight panic under pressure,, and just a little slow to make observations and correct for them.
Of course, that bad snap sealed the deal, but he got his team into that predicament with his panicky throws (which he’s lucky weren’t picked off.)
Good game for Frankfurt audience.