I’ll be in the corner, cranking the hog.
Yep, I’m out there in the yard, picking up dog shit, blowing leaves around, generally enjoying a sunny day.
So I’m sitting on the patio, enjoying the fruits of my labor, when I open up the laptop and see “are you still doing afternoon links for Tonio?”. Yeah, apparently not.
So feel free to chat amongst yourselves. I may toss in a tune here in a bit.
Whew, good news. I thought we’d gotten caught up in that TikTok ban.
Not yet. It’s probably coming though.
Can we raise enough money here to buy TikTok? I’m in for a few bucks.
If it keeps its keystroke logging capability, it will pay for itself.
blowing leaves around
You were toodling away on your sax, weren’t you.
That’s next. I’m working on this
I love Dire Straits.
My favorite version of Brothers in Arms. No sax, but still.
Here’s mine. A capella.
That is one deep voice.
He’s going to invite over a string quartet… so he can have some Sax N Violins.
I understand Spud is cleaning up the yard to make space for a temporary nursery, his next trip to visit OMWC will include a gift of 100 gums and 200 clips (from various species).
https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/02/02/trader-joes-argues-national-labor-relations-board-is-unconstitutional-and-other-labor-news/
Oooo! Didn’t see that one coming.
It would be nice to revert that whole slew of New Deal era decisions.
But I don’t seriously think it will happen. I certainly think they’re right, though… the Fed has absolutely no business messing with most things after all.
If it does get heard, chances are a narrow decision applying only to certain actions. I would still take that over nothing.
Amazon and SpaceX have jumped on the bandwagon as well.
I’ll side with TJ’s if they bring back my parsnip chips.
Schnips brand parsnip chips, “They won’t go straight from your lips to your hips!”
I like Trader Joes. Now even more so.
Me too.
Considering their client base seems heavily proggie, I wouldn’t be surprised if TJ finds itself being boycotted over this insanely sensible legal action.
Picking up where John Mackie left off when he sold out to Bezos?
That’s Whole Foods.
Yes.. which was sold to Amazon
I seem to recall that’s the same case that has Amazon and Tesla/SpaceX involved in it.
College towns split in half, mentally.
It’s hard to read between the lines of all the agitprop to get to something meaningful to a non-lawyer such as myself – surely an oversight on their part.
Gonna phone it in tonight?
https://youtu.be/GXBPW0_B5I0?si=NasqtupBRhQ1Ksf6
Random music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91iqj1kvmC4
Previously unrecognized volcano, with possible water ice glacier discovered near equator of Mars. This is the least inhospitable area of Mars where the temperature sometimes goes above 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Water ice is a raw material for drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel (the Liquid Hydrogen / Liquid Oxygen variety).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/scientists-find-long-sought-giant-volcano-hidden-in-plain-sight-on-mars/ar-BB1jTKzm
With that successful test this morning, we’ll be on Mars within a month.
And Tonio from the top rope, bringing in actual linx.
Houda thunk, on a Tursday?
While I’m on vacay, too!
Dedication.
No wonder I admire you.
We all do, Chafed. We all do.
For all those progs who argue that Venus has runaway global warming due to greenhouse gases – tow it out to the vicinity of Mars, and it would be inhospitably cold instead of inhospitably hot.
Sometimes breaks my brain when people use logic to explain to proggies some basic fact. I will hear it, and be all like “what, someone doesn’t know that?” And then I remember who they are talking to.
Tragedy
A sand dune that cost homeowners on a Massachusetts beach more than half a million dollars to construct has washed away after just three days.
An affluent group of beachfront property owners in Salisbury, Massachusetts – a coastal town 35 miles north of Boston – are mourning the loss of their investment after a safety measure they took to protect their homes failed.
The dune, made of 15,000 tons of sand, was meant to keep dangerous tides from encroaching on to the shore and damaging beach houses. The dune had just been completed in February but was gone within 72 hours.
——-
As oceans around the world get warmer, sea levels rise due to thermal expansion and weather patterns get more extreme, boosting coastal erosion.
Salisbury has suffered from rising sea levels, stronger winds and severe storms in recent months, including two in January, that have battered the area.
——-
Now, the homeowners have asked the state to step in and provide assistance.
Local news outlet Fox59 reported that the Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand.
Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures like these are not allowed on Massachusetts beaches, said: “We’re managing a natural resource that protects a lot of interests.”
I’m pretty sure that ocean has always been there. Water does whatever the fuck it wants to, in utter indifference to the wishes of puny humans.
Maybe a giant worm knocked it over.
Bless the Maker and his passing…
*points & laughs*
Salisbury, huh. I bet they thought they had a steak in this!
They did, then the water took the dune to a watery gravy.
Now they have a real beef with mother nature.
The ocean put that dune through the grinder.
Destroying a truly heroic effort of submarine hoagineering.
*narrows gaze*
Eh, I’m happy for private citizens to tackle that vs. public funds for their private benefit (which they’re looking for now).
Looks like ~ 150 owners kicked in $4k each. Good chance that storm would have done more than $4k damage to at least some of the houses.
If there had been time for the grasses to start growing and immobilize the dunes it would have worked out even better.
Completely agree. But now it’s time for a public-private partnership. I say they should pay to have John Kerry’s jaw anchored offshore to blunt the waves.
Woah, woah, woah – we don’t want to blot out the sun.
SEA SMITH NOT LIKE ARCHITECTURE. NOT MATCH NEIGHBORHOOD. SMASH WITH PEE PEE STREAM.
Are we not doing phrasing?
Structures like that only change where the erosion occurs, they won’t generally stop it in any meaningful way. So you just exacerbate the issue for your neighbors if they are close by.
SEA SMITH did put in an appearance this morning. Coincidence? I think not.
Only $1.5m tax dollars to replace $0.5m worth of sand.
Digging around, the $1.5MM is not just the sand but also the streets and sewage that have gotten jacked up by the storms in that area.
Well, as long as those cash-chuckers are getting the most for their otherpeoplesmoney.
It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.
This week I told a man I think about him e every time I take a shower
Mr. Moen?
Mr. Pfister.
So, you’re saying something is dripping?
Mr. Clean?
Johann Vesling?
Hey Culligan Man!
Alfred Hitchcock?
“Have your wife dry-cleaned.”
Alfred Hitchcock made two cameos in NxNW
And none as SxSW!
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0a9faa07-49d4-4416-bb6e-032f501ce924
NOICE!
The grocery store chain is arguing that the federal agency prosecuting it for unfair labor practices — including giving union workers worse retirement benefits and barring workers from wearing union pins at work — is unconstitutional.
I assume that means unionized workers are strictly subject to the terms of the union contract, and the non union workers get a more generous deal voluntarily arrived at by management without the assistance of union
goonsnegotiators.Trader Joes has about 530 stores, of which only four have unionized.
That’s a small enough number that making an example of them “pour encourager les autres” would make sense, however much it costs versus the profits of those particular stores. I remember some other chains that took a scorched earth approach and permanently shuttered most or all recently unionized stores.
This looks like a job for the Clinton Foundation
The Biden administration is discussing using Guantanamo Bay to process Haitian migrants if there is a mass exodus to the US amid worsening conditions in the country, according to a US official.
For years, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which is located about 200 miles from Haiti, has had a migrant center to hold and process migrants before returning them to Haiti or a third country.
The center — which is separate from where terrorist suspects are held — has been used before. In 2010, for example, the US military prepared the site in anticipation of Haitians fleeing the earthquake-stricken country.
But discussions to expand capacity at the site mark the latest sign of growing concern within the administration about people fleeing Haiti in droves as gangs attack government structures and social order is on the brink of collapse.
First, we’ll have to build a ten billion dollar headquarters/office/processing center…
They’ve done a great job there so far!
They can save money on feeding them by the Thunderdome rules: “2 will enter, one will be eaten”
The Dominican Republic is not fucking around, they’re sending anyone who crosses the border back in a rather unceremonious way. Maybe we should hire them for our border.
If only
ObamaStalin knew…But amid the uncertainty in Haiti, Biden administration officials are bracing for a mass migration event at a time when federal resources are already strapped, and key immigration agencies are low on funds.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for example, has drafted contingency plans to cut detention capacity and release thousands of migrants unless they get additional funds. They would likely have to provide personnel who have already been diverted to assist along the US southern border.
Nobody move, or the nigger gets it. That’s always a great negotiation tactic.
Haitian barbeques coming to your neighborhood.
Not authentic bbq.
Nobody move, or the nigger gets it. That’s always a great negotiation tactic.
I mean, it worked, didn’t it?
Using the N-word here seems … gratuitous. And a non sequitur.
Take it up with Mel Brooks.
For the record, I was referring to how the tactic worked in the movie, not for ICE.
Couldnt be any near-er.
The only way to protect our border is give Ukraine money and fund various unrelated woke programs.
Hey look where we just discovered we could save a bunch of money in ICE!!!
Release them where?
Martha’s Vineyard, Bryn Mawr, Malibu.
I was thinking more along the lines of “on the other side of our border” but sanctuary destinations have a certain appeal, too.
morning thread’s: “It’s one of the first U.S. hospital systems to offer modesty gowns specifically designed for Muslim children.”
ISTR that burkas and hijabs aren’t for children anyway, just for post-pubescent women.
If the patient is insured, they’re children upto Age 26.
Put burlap sacks on them.
As someone who’s landed in the hospital a handful of times thanks to ketoacidosis, I’d have definitely preferred a nice, warm, one-piece burlap sack. Wtf, hospitalgowns, “Here’s a bib to wear for a few days.”
Weird. Most religions are big fans of the traditional hospital gowns where your butt shows.
Christian Scientists hardest hit!
Especially Greek Orthodox.
Just put it on backwards. There, now your butt is covered.
Trust a lawyer to CYA.
*snortlaugh*
Anti-trade xenophobe
President Biden pushed back against the potential sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan on Thursday, calling it “vital” for the company to remain domestically owned.
“It is important that we maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers,” Biden said in a statement obtained by The Hill. “I told our steel workers I have their backs, and I meant it. U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.”
Biden’s comments are the first time he has publicly weighed in on the topic since Nippon Steel first announced in December that it planned to buy U.S. Steel for roughly $14 billion. The planned transaction raised alarms among Pennsylvania lawmakers and steelworkers about what it could mean for outsourcing jobs, for union workers and for U.S. supply chains.
Those sneaky Japs are stealing our industrial base.
Which the U.S. incentivized by subsidizing domestic production.
“outsourcing jobs, for union workers and for U.S. supply chains”
You can’t outsource anything but laptopper jobs without closing the plant.
New ownership doesn’t affect union contracts at all. The contract is with the company, not its owners.
As long as the plant is still open, it’s still part of the U.S. supply chain, isn’t it?
What moron at Autodesk decided that in order to keep track of the current shape of an object, I can’t delete the object used in previous cut operations to create holes in it?
I need it to not have the cylinder used for creating the holes, but every time I delete it, the main object errors into nonexistance.
I shouldn’t have to figure out a way to hide the shape inside the main object.
I erased it by merging into a solid part of the main object.
I should be able to just delete it.
I’m generally pretty unsatisfied by the usability of procedural objects in most modelers. 3ds ain’t bad, SolidWorks is the king.
“I shouldn’t have to figure out a way to hide the shape inside the main object.”
Paging Q…
Q to the white courtesy phone…
(-.-)
Maybe the only shape it will give you is the shaft, and you just have to shut yo mouth…
SCIENCE!
An 80-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two felony wildlife crimes connected to his years-long efforts to create giant hybrid sheep using cloning and illegal insemination, federal prosecutors said.
Arthur “Jack” Schubarth was creating the hybrid sheep as a target for hunters at private facilities, officials said. He violated both international and federal law, Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said.
——-
“Schubarth sent genetic material from the argali parts to a lab to create cloned embryos,” prosecutors said.
Schubarth provided a deposit of $4,200 for the cloning in 2015, according to the indictment, and received 165 cloned Marco Polo embryos on Nov. 22, 2016.
“Schubarth then implanted the embryos in ewes on his ranch, resulting in a single, pure genetic male Marco Polo argali that he named ‘Montana Mountain King’ or MMK,” prosecutors said.
Montana Mountain King’s semen was used to artificially impregnate various other sheep and create hybrid animals, all with the goal of creating larger, more valuable sheep for hunting, officials said.
The guy should get an award.
“illegal insemination”
Sheep rape?
Sheep lie.
Gotta keep everything sheep shape in case the government comes poking around…
That’s true. Allegedly there’s a lost episode of Clarkson’s Farm where the livestock inspector comes around. He asks to speak with the animals to see how they are doing.
“Speak?”
“Yes, I can communicate with the animals.”
Clarkson figures it’s BS so he lets the inspector roam the farm. A while later the inspector comes back. “So far so good. The pigs are happy. They are really like the food. The chickens were satisfied with the feed and shelter. The cow is happy with the grass it’s being fed. One last thing, I need to speak with the sheep.”
Clarkson gets nervous and blurts, “Sheep lie!”
Isn’t that shaming the semen?
I thought that was shouting at sailors.
Heh….Shepherd’s pie
Last time I was out west, I saw the cutest little sheep. Just an absolute Dall.
Oh, ewe!
Likely my favorite Dire Straits.
*with girls on wheels
What is it about girls on roller skates?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi4pzKvuEQM
Maneuvering the skates results in a lot of optimal calf poses.
I would have been disappointed by any other link.
That video is hypnotic (and I liked the song before I ever saw it).
Ice Cream thighs.
*pops a lactase tablet, or three*
This one is decent too.
(about half through)
FloridaGeorgia Man, times two.Two men accused of bombing a woman’s dream home in Georgia also plotted to have a “python eat the victim’s daughter,” according to prosecutors.
While a motive is unclear, NBC News reported that one of the men “had a prior relationship” with the woman, though the extent of that relationship was not disclosed.
Some dudes just have trouble letting go, I reckon.
“and I’ll be… Wrapped around your daugh-ter”
Not to freak anybody out or anything, but the movie for tonight is still pending.
Is it ready to go? 1855 server time?
Sorry, 1755.
It’s set.
I am overcome with joy!
My hair’s on fire.
Meh.
“I sensed a disturbance in the Force, as if a movie post cried out, and then was silenced.”
Or maybe it was just Chuck Norris’ birthday.
The Passover Plot is currently still up on Youtube for an Easter week movie.
Not to freak anybody out or anything, but the movie for tonight is still pending.
I’m not suggesting it as a glibflick, but I watched an excellent movie last night called “The Detective”.
Not Frank Sinatra.
Alec Guinness
I just found it on IMDB.
Heinous
Six juveniles in Massachusetts were charged in a racial online bullying incident that involved “heinous” language, threats of “violence toward people of color” and a mock slave auction, the district attorney for Hampden County said.
Students from Southwick, about 104 miles southwest of Boston, allegedly participated in a “hateful, racist online” Snapchat discussion between Feb. 8 and Feb. 9, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said in a statement on Facebook.
Gulluni said he became aware of the incident on Feb. 15 and immediately called on the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit to investigate.
Needs more Truth and Reconciliation commission. Neckties optional.
Should have called people “stupid white bastards” and the media would be defending them.
I await more information. The color of the offending kids was not mentioned.
Nagger, please. Only some kids are suitable for prosecuting double-plus ungood speech.
I was referring to this story, which I’m enjoying for how the media is twisting themselves into pretzels to defend the behavior.
The only thing better is if a black man had called someone a “stupid white bastard”, because you’d have half the sportswriters talking about toxic masculinity and the other half would be playing the race card.
Also, a lot of the news stories don’t mention that Kerr is alleged to have vomited in the back seat of the taxi, just calling it a dispute.
I saw Snow Roaches the other day. That was nice.
JFC this is so tedious.
It’s so ridiculous.
And yet… if this shit is really happening, I find it more likely to be happening in [current year] than at any time in the last 40 years or so.
The district attorney initiated forward-looking steps to “prevent future harm, encourage empathy, and build stronger communities free of hate.”
They include a curriculum around hate and bullying being delivered to the Southwick school community and a partnership with the attorney general’s office to create a program that addresses and remediates the harmful forces of bigotry, racism and bullying in schools.
Destroy those kids. Make certain they have no future.
That should help.
@UCS
Inspired by your stablediffusion article, I got myself a copy of ComfyUI running with sdxl-turbo and now perusing various other models on huggingface. We’re gonna need a bigger boat, git is rapidly filling up my 2TB drive. The full orangemixs repo is over a hundred gb, sheesh.
@KK – listening to Ryan Hall, Y’all right now, as there’s apparently a tornado three counties north of us. Love Ryan, but he doesn’t know how to pronounce the names of towns in west central OH. 🙄
There’s one a few miles away to the West right now. And baseball sized hail. I am hoping it all misses the house.
Don’t know if hail is coming here, but this will be a good test of our one-day-old roof.
Oh, yeah – and then there’s the cars, neither of which can be put in the garage because it’s a big storage locker. 😟
That is my #1. Garage stays clean. I work on it weekly to prevent such an issue. North Texas you have hail every year, guaranteed.
Honey, you’re my neighbor and I love you.
Clean that shit out- your subbies will be happy. And someday I may need a place to stay.
Yep – on his livestream! Be careful all y’all!!
Reed Timmer said he was going to livestream today but he’s not as far as I can tell. But he is Tweeting.
Heh. Watch this:
“REED TIMMER!”
*Wife swoons