I promise, we’ll be back next week with actual links. The photo above explains why it’s going to be a week. But I’ll give you a smattering of music as background while you contemplate how badly we’ve wrecked Spud’s house.
I love the lyrics especially on this song. If Wilson had just been the God of Remastering Classic Prog Rock, it would have been enough. But he’s the musical visionary that people like Prince or Bowie or Rundgren are supposed to be but (IMO) fall somewhat short. The backstory of this band is as interesting as the music.
For a complete change of pace, a wonderful little song that was sent to me by a dear friend.
Actual pics of these people would be more entertaining.
I never get invited to the good parties. What’s up with that?
Me neither.
I was invited to Honey Harvest, and it was awesome!
Looks like good time in September, GT, all are invited, Jimbo lost his seniority but others will pick up the slack.
Obligatory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKO8z9bXKKM
So, a link! For all of you who are both engineers and audiophiles, this might be interesting: https://agnewanalog.com/blog/
I am neither, but I do love a good lathe, and most of these are a variety that I have never encountered: vinyl record cutting lathes.
Fun fact: Monty Python put out a three-sided LP.
I still own that LP. It was quite the thing back in “da day.”
Well OMWC enjoys making combination electric space heaters and tube amplifiers.
Funny, but you and he were the first two people I thought of when I found that blog. I don’t know if the music that he references is to either of your tastes, but as he mostly talks about the machines that cut into vinyl, I found it very interesting. (I found it as he restored an Hardinge super precision lathe, and I am about to start on a Logan.)
Recording lathes that cut plastics are relatively new.
George Merrill still makes world-class turntables around $10k….in Memphis.
https://www.analogplanet.com/content/merrill-williams-audio-announces-real-1013-turntable
I do love a good lathe
I saw 14 lined up at a hickory handle mill last week.
Ten were the sort where the blank is chucked up parallel to a shaft that has a complement of blades that provide the profile; the shafts rotate and are brought together, and a round handle is cranked out in short order: crude but effective for mauls and hammers.
Much more interesting is the Zuckermann Optima; they had four of those. A metal pattern (that is to say, a pure, full-size copy of the intended handle) is chucked up. Four blanks are chucked up in parallel. All five start to rotate, and a follower feels its way over the the pattern allowing the cutters to trace and cut the same shape onto the blanks.
Fun party or Jonestown? The aftermath looks similar.
Things have got too quiet here. Although Jetpack probably doesn’t help.
What’s Jetpack?
This WordPress add on thing that blocks logins.
Good. Let’s piss off China while spending lots of money.
U.S. Launches Military Command in Tokyo to Counter China
Because Japan lacks the resources and ability to defend itself. Bonus is we can have more accusations of crimes including sexual assault committed by U.S. service members.
I am OK with pissing off China if anything.
How on earth are the Chinese going to deal with Japan’s giant transforming robots?
Piloted by women in skin tight clothing?
Finally, a good use of DOD dollars.
Meh. We already have multiple three star commands in Japan. This is just moving around lines and blocks on a chart. Japanese domestic politics are forcing us to remove troops from the country. It’s not like we are looking to turn Japan into the UK circa 1944.
“Two lost cows have sparked a toxic culture war in a sleepy upstate New York town after a vegan activist allegedly held them hostage at her animal sanctuary.
The bizarre and at times comedic dispute between the local farming community and animal rights campaigners has sparked rowdy protests in Newfane, a usually quiet rural neighborhood in Niagara County.
Protesters dressed in cow costumes have taken to holding meaty barbecues outside the animal rescue to taunt its vegan owner.
Actor and renowned vegan Joaquin Phoenix has intervened in the mistaken belief that the cows were named after him.
An even legal proceedings have taken a peculiar twist, with a judge recusing himself from the case after it was revealed he had previously sent the defendant messages on dating website Match.com….
She then enlisted the mob, posting a video of her and the animals, whom she had renamed Little Willow and Ismael, letting her 22,000 followers know that law enforcement was ‘violating my civil rights’.
Murphy also posted Gregson’s home address and phone number.
It wasn’t long before the farmer started to receive phone calls to his house threatening to rape and kill his children, according to court documents filed by the Niagara County district attorney’s office.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13660429/cows-culture-war-new-york-town-vegan-sanctuary-farm.html
CWAC
Took long enough to get there but yeah: CWAC.
Yeah, that area is not hippy-dippy Vermont or something.
Don’t let your kids name the animals.
What she is doing is what people in sane places refer to as ‘rustling cattle’, i.e. stealing. It is a felony here and in many other places.
🎵Sunday, Slutty Sunday🎵
https://archive.is/u9aZF
👍
Steven Wilson you say? Never much got into Porcupine Tree – some times seems to meander-y/unfocused. But who doesn’t need some ‘death’ metal on a Sunday morning to wake themselves up?
In Absentia is where they really took a turn for the better – because Gavin Harrison joined the band. That guy is the bacon of drumming. Add him to any band and it gets noticeably better.
Being good or best = being “bacon?” I’ve never heard that phrase. Not in my neck of the woods nor in the drumming world, where I do know secret handshakes ‘n code.
Being the morn, my mind went to sex. I never wanna be called “the bacon” at sex.
“Chewy or crisp! Always deLISH!” <– Not my marketing. (I suppose a damn positive upside?)
I thought only Team Red was this stupid.
‘We all realize it’s unlikely.’ But Pete Buttigieg’s VP stock is rising.
TW Politico
Dude, the party is “nominating” a woman who didn’t get any votes and who is a laughingstock.
They are every bit as stupid.
“Flavor Flav hugs Jill Biden at US water polo match in wild Olympics crossover”
https://nypost.com/2024/07/27/sports/flavor-flav-hugs-jill-biden-at-us-water-polo-match-in-wild-olympics-crossover/
He should be Kamala’s VP pick.
I would vote for that, the LULZ would EPIC!
Yeahhh boyyy!
The Secret Service could be replaced by the S1Ws
“Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) ripped city officials for continuing to encourage addicts to play Russian roulette with their lives.
“Enough coddling users and giving them safe spaces to get high,” she said.
“Fentanyl and now carfentanil are wiping out a generation of young New Yorkers, and it is past time the government takes a hard line again and starts cracking down on these extremely dangerous drugs and the dealers that peddle them.””
https://nypost.com/2024/07/27/us-news/synthetic-opioid-stronger-than-fentanyl-new-deadly-animal-sedative-found-in-nyc-drug-supply/
No, the only solution is to make it legal.
Absolutely, and none of this “decriminalization” BS. It needs to have distro networks, be normally available, and treated with even lighter* hands than alcohol.
*and booze needs to have the heavy hand of the gov’t removed also.
But are there any solutions that have a chance of happening in this reality? Or just helpful efforts.
Reality can change. Up until around a hundred years ago there was no such things as drug laws.
Yay commerce clause!
Honest question for the Glibs. What do you do about the externalities? I’m in the legal camp, but when the dude ODs do you treat him? Insured versus uninsured? Leave him in the gutter? Who pays for the disposition?
We have similar issues with alcohol and DUI, but harder drugs ramp up the problems.
Well, first you need to actually enforce quality of life laws, which, I know, goes against most libertarianism, but if you don’t regulate the commons (while getting rid of as much commons as socially possible) nothing works. That said, public intoxication, selling to minors, etc. all need to be handled swiftly and surely. As far as OD’s go, better quality through being sold in public markets will end a lot of that, as with alcohol you know what you are getting when the cost discriminates, IE a $2 syrette of heroin is a lot different in terms of the actual amount of H in it vs. a $20 syrette. That alone will take care of a lot of OD’s as they mainly come from not being able to determine the potency of the product you are using.
Other than that issue, you treat OD’s no differently that someone with alcohol poisoning needing to get their stomach pumped. It is a medical issue and is treated just like that: an ambo is called, they are rushed to ER, treated, sent home with a bill. Or, in many cases, the G (meaning us) picks up the tab.
As I get older I get more conservative socially. Yeah, I know, shocker.
Govt is not the problem nor the solution. Govt involvement, like everything else it touches, makes the problem worse. Both the problem and the solution lie in our culture.
I, for one enjoy having my city streets taken over by the zombies, who are only violent about 10 percent of the time. I enjoy walking past the park on the way to work and smelling urine and feces from the guys who defecate in the bushes. I love the boarded up businesses that left because of addicts taking shelter in their doorway. I love that guy who smelt of shit and vomit coming into the coffee shop where I took my family for a cocoa on a cold day.
Legalization without involuntary incarceration doesn’t work.
externalities
Maybe I’m confused, but aren’t their treatment questions and my quality of life unrelated?
Purely libertarian values would leave these guys rotting in a ditch unless some program saves them. I am not deeply offended by a cost-effective system that revives OD cases…that’s very different from free needles and safe heroin dens: Chevy, not Cadillac. I am not offended by samaritans wading into this unsolvable morass.
But what is safe and sweet for me is my problem. Indeed, I’m closing on new digs this month: gated neighborhood of only 50 houses over two miles from any commercially-zoned property, backing up and surrounded by nothing but bike trails, city parks, and a mile-wide swath of unbuildable, state-owned river bottom forest; nothing but hardwoods behind the place. If I see anything taking a shit in public ever again it will be a deer or a turkey.
The only thing saving me today from a downtown only a mile away is that it’s too far to walk for shelter; better for the bums to nest in a tight ring around the nice churches and their soup kitchens safely over the bridge from me. Figuring out which bodies are alive every morning is someone else’s problem.
The bums over there don’t bother me; the kids breaking into cars here at night on our island are our problem. I dare not fix that problem and risk facing a crackpot DA or twelve of my “peers.” Off we go: the market decides, and we vote with our feet and our money.
The Last American Hero – yeah, that’s my walk to work too.
Hence part of the reason for the question.
Don the externalities they create are at best imperfectly remedied with our tax dollars.
The reduction in my pocket does impact my quality of life.
“Legalization without involuntary incarceration doesn’t work.”
You can legalize drugs without legalizing taking a shit on the sidewalk.
in my pocket
yes, sir; it is fitting and proper that you are offended by taxes, particularly those that fund moral hazard
I didn’t mean to endorse government projects; they get my blood up, but I get through the day by thinking of them as merely inefficient: half the money spent by government I’d need to spend myself anyway…on church projects, taking in relatives, muh roads, stuff. I dislike the public sector immensely, but I’m not going to raid Harper’s Ferry over it. I vote against everything, and I lose gracefully.
And then there is the matter of diversity, with some Democrats fearful a ticket with a woman and a gay man may be unpalatable to some swing voters — too much change, too fast.
Some people might not want to be ruled by a pair of Joe Biden’s leftover DEI stage decorations? They’re just racist bigots.
I’m waiting for drag queen president!
Michelle Obama?
Hard 🙄
Is that how you’re getting?
/ducking
“a woman and a gay man may be unpalatable to some swing voters”
I came to vote, not eat
“I came to vote, not eat”
Too bad. In the name of democracy you will be forced to accept the body of Pete.
Harris swore Buttigieg into his Cabinet role, but they are not especially close. And yet aides to both Biden administration officials and the fellow children of academics say there is genuine affection between their spouses, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Chasten Buttigieg. Chasten and Emhoff are scheduled to headline a fundraiser in Fire Island this week. Pete, Chasten and Doug recently enjoyed drinks at one of the secretary’s regular Washington watering holes, and chemistry between the families could be a distinguishing factor.
The world is a Norman Lear sitcom. When do they run off to Tahiti together?
““I gained weight after having my son and men basically ignore me now, I have been so unmotivated to lose weight because it’s been so nice. I used to get harassed constantly, couldn’t escape it,” someone else chimed in.
“I gained a bunch of weight after having my last two kids. No men following me in the parking lot, no cat calls, etc. so I haven’t wanted to try and get my body back because honestly, I don’t want that.””
https://nypost.com/2024/07/27/lifestyle/women-on-tiktok-are-proudly-flaunting-their-ugly-privilege/
Feminism causes obesity.
“I’m going on Tiktok to tell you why I’m glad I’m not getting or seeking attention.”
Please like and subscribe!
BOOM
You should have no worries, in that case
Well, good for them.
Yeah, since I started balding, got a beer belly and walk with a cane, chick aren’t jumping all over me anymore.
Then again, I haven’t gone through peri-menopause, and still think about sex constantly.
Yeah, that’s the thing about men, isn’t it.
Pablo Picasso announced that he was no longer interested in women….when he turned 90.
*sighs and starts counting on fingers*
Just a regular cane, or a pimp cane? Some dudes can pull off the cane, just sayin.
I would never opine on your situation or choices; Godspeed
but, for the rest of you, believe me: everyone is waiting for you to tell them what to think of you, even chicks
it is a huge mistake for any man of any age to leave the space of opinion about him: fill it with your truth
carry yourself with pride, assert what you know is true, and deliver kindness and patience from a place of strength
I also assert: dress like an adult; chicks are especially judging your shoes; suits and ties win whether you like it or not
I’m old and bald and flabby and it has never mattered nary a bit; the girls still look, they know I still think about sex constantly, and they do not mind
I love the Patrice O’Neal line about how nature turned his horniness into creepiness LOL
Hah, that’s a great line, gdragon!
I don’t think that I even have to say that it was much funnier when he said it! Loved Patrice so much.
I miss Tough Crowd
Me too. When I was living in NYC my now ex-wife and I used to frequently go to the Comedy Cellar and it was always a great time.
Maybe you should have gotten a husband first, honey.
Today, on Who’s Killing Planet Earth?
Scientists spent seven months in 2020 sampling emissions coming off the dried saline lake bed. Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum published the study on Thursday in the journal One Earth.
“Human-caused desiccation of Great Salt Lake is exposing huge areas of lake bed and releasing massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” said Soren Brothers, the museum’s climate change curator who led the study.
“The significance of lake desiccation as a driver of climate change needs to be addressed in greater detail and considered in climate change mitigation and watershed planning,” Brothers added.
The researchers found that the drying lake bed emitted 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which would translate to a 7% increase in Utah’s human-caused emissions. According to scientists, 4 million tons of CO2 is roughly equivalent to the total annual emissions of 140 commercial planes.
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saline lake left in the Western Hemisphere. The study occurred during one of the most notorious dry stretches of the West’s mega drought, which had lasted two decades at the time of the study.
This planet would be so much better without people. A good dose of nuclear winter is just what the place needs.
How many lakes out west are drying up or long since dried up (salt flats)?
They keep telling the same lies: This natural thing that is happening, has been happening for hundreds/thousands of years or millions in some cases, is the result of human caused global warming (also natural phenomena) and we demand your money/freedom be surrendered. They are constantly shoveling this mendacious horseshit.
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the large increase in population in the area which consumes more water that doesn’t reach the lake.
Scientists say the West is as dry as it’s been in 1,200 years. The prolonged drought has been made worse by climate change.
Agriculture has also played a huge role in the lake’s decline. Upstream water diversions for expanding alfalfa farms and dairies has resulted in less flows into the lake. Utah’s rapid population growth has also been to blame.
Call me crazy, but government “ownership” setting the value of water at essentially zero for two hundred years or so may have played a role.
A spirit of calm is over the house. The cousin finally finished moving out at 9:30 last night. We are officially empty nesters. Namaste to you all.
Enjoy the much needed quiet.
Mazel tov! 😃
Heh. When my son moved out, the quiet and calm (he is my wife’s step son, and the two of them are the most obstinate people I have ever met) was quite nice. And then, when he finished college, the financial tide that swept over us in not having that payment was glorious!
Congrats to you!
Yup. My daughter graduated in May. But since we were in separate states, the kids haven’t lived with us except for summers in years. You do get used to the quiet, but I also miss bullshitting with them at the table, though.
Enjoy, Kevin. Change the locks.
Dont worry Tundra, when you have grandchildren you get to play and bullshit with them then hand them off to their parents and wave goodbye in the driveway…walk back into the house to that glorious peace and quiet. Best of both worlds.
When you have great grand children, grand children and children and can put them all back on the plane…
Congratulations!
So about $26 a pound!
A Fully Loaded 2025 BMW M5 Sedan Will Set You Back $141,375
If they only made it even heavier it would be a better buy.
Heavier than an F-150? Man they sure have strayed from their old mission statement.
Almost 5,400 lbs.
“Almost 5,400 lbs.”
That’s retarded.
I blame the government.
I have a better idea.
It’s even recognizably a BMW.
Yep. I test drove a 545i manual way back when, which means I can only imagine how much fun the M5 was. The dealer didn’t think we were for real so shoed us away. I bought my S4 instead.
The article talks like $20k in options is a lot. Have they ever looked at a Porsche?
“Oh, you wanted tires, too?”
Also, how many monthly subscriptions do you have to buy to make it functional?
In recent years, the state legislature invested roughly a billion dollars into water conservation programs, most geared to farmers.
Ban commercial agriculture.
*I remember driving across Utah in the ’80s when the Salt Lake was practically up to the shoulder of the interstate, before there were a million California refugees in St George.
We are officially empty nesters.
Bar the doors.
via Wki:
BMW Bavaria-
Wheelbase
2,692 mm (106.0 in) (sedan)
Length
4,700 mm (185.0 in) (sedan)
Width
1,750 mm (68.9 in) (sedan
Curb weight
1,334 kg (2,941 lb) (sedan)
I bet the Bavaria had a lot more usable interior room than the new car.
The new three series is the same size as the first five series.
But I bet all the safety steel means it lacks the same interior volume. Wouldn’t be surprised if it lost 25%.
What was that old saying in the VW community back in the day? No Fat Chicks?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZxqtqzznOo&ab_channel=DescendentsMusic
My carbureted 1972 Bavaria was roomy and comfortable and would do 85-90mph all the doo dah day. I believe the claimed horsepower was somewhere in the 180-190 range. I’d buy another one today before I’d buy any BMW made in the last 25 years. I’m sure that has the boys in Munich shaking in their boots.
I always lusted after an early ’80s Quattro. I should have bought one then, because they are like hen’s teeth now.
Actually, they are quite easy to come by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-cW36Jw6wI
Lol. Nice car.
“Polish journalist suspended for calling ‘Imagine’ a ‘vision of communism’ during Olympic opening”
https://apnews.com/article/poland-olympics-john-lennon-imagine-media-b57994d7dfe1436a68d75957c23f6a86
Uh….it is. Hopefully Lennon is roasting in hell with Lenin right now.
This Lennon?
Possibly the most cynical song ever written. It actually makes me like the guy a little more.
The whole Lennon family
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IhC_VcdQEQ
I guess tranny Last Supper wasn’t bad enough.
He’s right.
“Imagine there’s no countries”
At an event where people represent their countries.
Dammit, Tundra
Wow. But I gotta believe that’s gonna go for a lot more. Nice car.
I’m not certain, but the “Rover” K series might be a Honda K series in drag.
Did some quick research and it looks like they’re their own thing.
I gotta believe that’s gonna go for a lot more. Nice car.
No kidding. I think we can safely assume there will be a frenzy of bidding in about 2 1/2 hours. I’m gonna have to check back on this one.
I found this.
Looks like they should have just stuck with Honda.
Our green energy future is now
The northbound side of the heavily traveled 15 Freeway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas has been closed since early Friday morning, when a big rig carrying lithium batteries overturned, caught fire and created a chemical hazard — and a traffic nightmare stretching for miles in the desert heat.
As of Saturday night, the California Highway Patrol had not estimated when the northbound lanes would reopen. Earlier in the evening, the truck was still smoldering, but by night the fire had been put out, according to the CHP.
“Once hazmat personnel have deemed the area safe, reopening of the northbound lanes will be discussed, with the goal of opening all lanes as soon as possible,” the CHP said in a Facebook post.
——-
“Just hit my 6th hour stuck in this I-40 traffic grid lock. my thermometer has read 105-115 and people are stranded on both sides of the road running out of gas, no food or water for miles,” X user @travislaine wrote.
That never would have happened if we had bullet trains.
running out of gas, no food or water for miles
the googlemaps tribe deserves everything it gets
How so?
Use the AC and run out of fuel or deplete the Tesla’s battery, vs. heat stroke.
What to do, what to do?
“Seymour Hersh: Obama and Kamala threatened to invoke the 25th Amendment on Biden before he dropped out”
https://thepostmillennial.com/seymour-hersh-obama-and-kamala-threatened-to-invoke-the-25th-amendment-on-biden-before-he-dropped-out
His substack is paywalled, so idea what his sources were.
Very good question. Everything I read is all unnamed ‘sources.’ Often ‘deep within Democratic circles’ or similar. I’m pretty sure I saw it last night in both pro and anti-Biden leaning publications.
I do not doubt it. But, yeah. Preconceptions ‘confirming’ internal thoughts is inherent. Instinct must be watched. My addition: Obama, after Chicago, time in the WH in office, and his pushes towards Biden-Harris camps… I suppose nothing Open ‘would’ come up. Kinda Deep Throat territory. Add the Clintons. Honestly, I know they DID exist, but I can’t think of any openly Powerful Team Red Dynasties. The Bushes are long gone.
Of course that is what happened. I think we all knew that. Of course Kamala was always going to be the nominee, fuck the voters.
All of this court intrigue means jack shit anyway. Democratic sock puppet party’s policies will not change one whit. I see they are going in on the court reform now.
The recent, fierce pushes on SCOTUS’ Power: I’ve passed my first, but SHOULD be clear, direct Red Flag territory for the rest of The People. The further attempts to fundamentally unravel the Constitution are beyond insanity. Could my eyes explode, they would’ve when I read ’bout it. Yikesy pikesy. Surprised, I am not. Impotent to stop it, I am.
“His substack is paywalled, so idea what his sources were.
I’d bet they’re unnamed, so they could be the voices in his head.
More of Joe Biden’s legacy
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the United States’ and Germany’s decision to deploy US long-range missiles in Germany from 2026 is “reminiscent of the events of the Cold War” and could see Russia station similar missiles in response.
“If the United States of America implements such plans, we will consider ourselves free from the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of medium and shorter-range strike weapons, including increasing the capabilities of the coastal forces of our Navy,” said Putin, speaking at Russia’s annual Navy Day in St. Petersburg.
Putin said that the US and Germany’s decision to begin “episodic deployments” of the long-range missile capabilities from its Multi-Domain Task Force in Germany starting in 2026 would put Russian infrastructure within the reach of the to-be-deployed missiles.
Don’t worry. We’re the good guys, and the adults are in charge.
What could go wrong?
Nothing. When I think of a deep strategic thinker, I envision Joe Biden.
No fair
Former President Donald Trump spent much of his Minnesota rally dinging President Joe Biden — even though he’s no longer Trump’s 2024 opponent.
The rally often mirrored his campaign events from before the assassination attempt and the start of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
In front of an enthusiastic crowd, Trump mocked Biden’s golf game, cognitive ability and performance at events. He criticized his former opponent’s son Hunter Biden and called the president names. Trump ridiculed how Biden walked, meandering about the stage in an effort to depict Biden being unable to exit an event.
You can’t talk about Biden anymore, because he’s not the candidate.
He better start to pivot and talk about her. She has a shitty track record. This race is close. Now would be a good time to bring it up.
Plenty of time to talk about Kamala. Let her gibber and beclown herself for a while.
The Trump campaign conflated Biden’s and Harris’ campaigns in a statement, arguing that “Biden’s record is Kamala’s record.”
She fought tooth and nail against everything Joe did, behind the scenes.
Popped into Zoom last night but I’m sorry my audio was clanking out. Certainly looked like much rowdiness was occurring. I saw ’em while they were outside and quite in the throes of much, much consumption and merriment.
Our internet’s been a bit fishy recently but not THAT wobbly. I DO need to figure out how to turn off the goddamn light when using Chromebook’s own camera. Cursory search says you’re stuck w it, but I highly doubt that. Hrm. Wizarding Hat on for another time. ‘Twas good to see y’all.
My hopeful partner is up in MN and was gonna see the Trump event in St Cloud last night. Her ‘friends’ fucked up the schedule and she wasn’t able to go. She was really bummed out. She’s not a Trump acolyte, but sees him as being necessary to stop the absolute bullshit Team Blue is piling on to remain. I’ll try to cheer from afar.