Nevada Stray Cat

Hmm. Almost noon. I should do something about food.

...something that isn't eating another handful of red vines out of the giant tub sitting by my bed.

I didn't like the way my Insta360 x4 bounced around when it was mounted to the A-arm on my Ryker, when I did the... short that hasn't dropped yet. March 19, please look forward to it! Anyway, I'm looking at alternatives, and this one looks interesting:

(www.ebay.com/itm/39599069... )

I am strangely attracted to the idea of affecting a Transatlantic accent, like old-timey media stars.

If Neil deGrasse Tyson isn't found dead with a 1/2" scale model of Pluto embedded in his heart, you will know that I do not have a Death Note.

What Red Hot Chili Peppers sound like to people who don't like Red Hot Chili Peppers YouTube video by There I Ruined It

As it happens, I do like the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Sara had their poster with the guys in the band wearing nothing but socks) but this is still funny.

And yes; I realize it was likely generated by AI, and is thus the spawn of Satan, but it's still funny.

(youtu.be/VE5JMEu5hZA )

I dunno... I get the impression there weren't a lot of sidewalk cafes or bookstores there.

I was in Germany that year, and I had the album, but I was also the only one in my circle of friends who was paying attention to Dire Straits.

Sometimes, YT video sponsorships lead to very odd transitions... as when a political vlogger goes from talking about Whiskey Peter Kegstand to talking about Bellesa's new vibrator models.

Also? If Bellesa wanted to sponsor me, I would happily talk about vibrators while rolling down rural highways.

It's important to remember that in American law, freedom /of/ religion is also freedom /from/ religion.

I made a song entirely from 50 country artists singing "cold beer" YouTube video by There I Ruined It

It is not lost on me that most of the Human race likes beer. Or that I am missing something by not. Yet here we are... I can't stand the stuff.

(youtu.be/lR2pslqKNP8 )

The UK is finally ending hereditary peers having automatic seats in the House of Lords.

The Lords barely do anything anymore... reviewing laws passed by the Commons to make sure that the language actually accomplishes what the law intends.

But now that will be done entirely by life peers.

I'm a weirdo who doesn't like beer.

I have unusual genetics which make me taste things differently than other people do, and two of the casualties of that difference are coffee and beer. 🤷‍♀️

My late mother and my late wife each had a gift for making people feel like they were paying very deep attention to people with whom they were speaking.

I miss that. Often, I feel like I have lost my interlocutor's attention before I even open my mouth.

Huh. Tennessee wasn't the name the playwright's parents gave him.

As a given name, it peaked in popularity in 1849. Today, it's even less common than my own.

If I could hire a cook / housekeeper who made excellent scones, I wouldn't care how she pronounced them.

One of the things about being a peds nurse is that you get a fair amount of exposure to kids' entertainment. I was reminded today of an episode of iCarly wherein, Carly and Sam are rich for the one episode, and Sam hires a cook who makes excellent blueberry scones, but pronounces it as "blubbery."

IF Israel or the United States were to use a nuclear weapon in Iran, OR it looks like the Islamic Republic is about to fall, I would expect to see an air-burst dirty bomb scatter a great deal of uranium in various states of refinement across Jerusalem.

In other news... I've really been enjoying the pulled pork I slow cooked in the crockpot, in apple cider vinegar. I'm now wondering if I would get good results from a beef pot roast or rump roast prepared the same way.

In twenty years, I expect the average world citizen will speak as many languages as the average American... but will have The Machine whispering translations. Literacy may disappear, because The Machine can read it and explain it to you.

And then I realized, we live in a world of increasingly fluent and reliable machine transportation. The answer can be seen at the UN -- a corps of translators whispering in the ears of hearers.

Watching a speech by Ursula von der Leyen, thinking about the possibility of Europe increasingly distancing themselves from American hegemony, I found myself wondering what it would take for another language to replace English as the language of diplomacy.

Let's go.

She's been gone for more than thirteen years now. And I still run across landmines where I find myself thinking, "Oh, Sara will like that," and then remembering.

If Sam Altman isn't found dead, with a half-empty cup of hemlock in his hand, staring at a ChatGPT screen that's encouraging him to drink, you will know that I do not have a Death Note.

The period from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama was a mistake in our foreign policy. As far back as 1821, John Quincy Adams advocated the United States being a "well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all" but a "champion and vindicator only of her own"

At least in my case, the range argument is still the winner. I literally can't make it to the towns I need to reach on the ranges electric bikes currently offer... and unlike gas, where I can carry a jerry can, I haven't seen spare batteries I can throw in a saddlebag.

100 New SETI Candidates Found in SETI@Home Data Set YouTube video by John Michael Godier

I talked the IT department at the hospital into installing SETI@home on many of the computers used by support staff. So this is interesting:

(youtu.be/zkofpcVvZDI )

I think the last time I was actually satisfied, even happy with, something I drew was first grade.

Eh. She'll just perjure herself.

Again.

This dog being happy about being a fairy is the happiest thing I've seen all week.