Mildly chilly. Warming later. Fabulous afternoons… although we did have some clouds yesterday afternoon, it was clear and sunny most of the time. And very moderate, high 80sF to low 90sF in the sun. And here I was told it would just get colder until the weekend.
Did some stuff around the house in the morning, mainly office stuff like invoicing my client. That took some cross-referencing with mileage logs, card receipts, and my written notes. I am always slow invoicing him, and it’s not really fair because the result is a big check once a year rather than more manageable checks throughout. I just don’t like invoicing.
Then I did a really big loop to do pickups. Lots of traffic, and my desire to chat slowed me down. I skipped the cheapest one, that I can probably get next week anyway, without a special trip across town. There was an accident and the little freeway to get to that part of town was completely blocked (going into rush hour) and backed up for miles onto the other freeway. With the delays I might have missed it anyway.
Today I’ll do stuff around the house. I might do one pickup and meet with another auctioneer, or I might just work here. Depends on if I can get some momentum going. There is always more to do.
And sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know until you really try. So get started. Stack.
nick
Happy Friday, all. Another beautiful early winter day here. W1 and I went out for breakfast, and it was well chilly when we left the house, but not quite a frost.
I was supposed to spend this weekend in the woods with friends, but have swapped that for domestic harmony. Sometimes W1 needs attention too…
After I spent a week of my holidays installing the new Hi-Fi, I shudder to think what I would have had to pay a pro to do it. OK, they would be quicker than I, a bloody beginner, but nobody works for free.
The worker earns his wages.
Most are. Maybe 10%, maybe only 1%, are actively taking bribes, stealing from the evidence locker, planting evidence, or shaking down business owners. Most of the rest of the force knows about it, even if they don’t have direct proof. Your police force isn’t 10% corrupt, it’s 90% corrupt.
Do you want to kick off a Crusade? A Reconquista? A Purge? You retards are on track to be on the receiving end.
Probably true but it annoys me. For one thing, it stinks of the “from each…” portion of the communist slogan. Mostly, though, it’s because I’m capable and it seems that the entire world thinks that this means I’m obligated to do things for them. It took longer than it should have but I’ve pretty well gone Galt, helping people if the whim takes me but mostly letting them succeed or fail on their own, without me getting them through life. “No” has become a large part of my vocabulary.
Just last night I mentioned Winnie the Pooh to The Child. She’d been whining that she didn’t want to do whatever and would do anything else, even write bad fanfiction. I suggested a Worm-Winnie the Pooh crossover, with Piglet, Eeyore, et al in the role of the endbringers. Her response was basically “Hmm. Oh, my.” I suspect I screwed up, not only keeping her from doing whatever she was supposed to be doing but inflicting a Worm-Winnie the Pooh crossover on the world.
Big vocabulary for the win!
One bit of good news. W1 arrived at the BOL last night. She pronounced herself happy, and even impressed, with my installation of the new sound gear, including my modifying the existing furniture, so that all came off well. Happy spouse, happy house.
I came, very late, to the same realisation in my professional life. When one is generous with help and advice to colleagues, the demand for that free good becomes asymptotic, plus people develop a sense of being entitled to such largesse.
These days, I just politely point out their errors, and leave the colleagues to figure out a way to fix them, rather than showing how, or even doing it for them. It has been quite the learning experience for some.
Winnie-the-Pooh! A classic.
Yeah, Sharia. Trump tho.
Don’t help your friends. That’s one of the important takeaways from “The Wind Rises” along with an engineering career having about ten good years.
The manager prevents the main character from making the mistake of helping his friend. I learned the hard way a couple of times.
Best movie about engineers ever made IMHO.
The desire is to eventually see Trump Tower seized.
We gonna git all them Devils, starting with their Orange King.
63F this morning. Not super chilly.
Coffee is brewing. For some reason W is moving around poking at the kids. Odd.
——
WRT ublock origin and discus, I vaguely recall not being able to comment somewhere when I installed my first adblocker. I quit commenting. Quit reading them there too. Now I forget which site it was and I probably haven’t been there in 10 years.
Not sure who lost out.
It’s easy to black list site components. It looks like you can click on the icon in your browser toolbar, then when the dashboard thing opens, on the left is a list of elements from the page that have a green or red icon in front of them. After them there is a plus or minus sign, that is red when you hover on it. That plus or minus will change the element from blocked to allowed or the other way around. Gateway Pundit . com shows disqus . com with a green icon, and several things with disqus in the url as green too in my browser.
——–
Time to get some coffee in me.
n
starting with their Orange King.
– he’s a lot less orange these days. I’ve noticed it in pictures, they rarely adjust the color to emphasis it, and I don’t think he has time for the tan anymore. His hair is white now too.
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/which-country-reads-most
Given the number of people who don’t really read at all, the averages seem pretty sus to me.
I’m hard pressed to read 1 hour a day, and I have the kindle app on the phone to fill up a minute here and a minute there… as well as reading before bed.
n
You Devils all love your King.
OldGuy suggested I use duck.ai to refine my search for help.
I an old guy also … so old I don’t understand what AI searches are or how one uses AI. I see all of the comment s about AI but it is like a ghost to me. I looked at chatbot once but didn’t see anything about AI.
I tired another AI (I don’t recall which one) but didn’t know what to do after it came on my screen so I closed it.
NIck suggestion on how to close uBlock on the active window solved my problem. Thanks Nick.
NVDA wants to break support again today, but someone doesn’t want that to happen.
Again.
I wonder if Luigi-ing an Nvidia exec would improve their attitude.
In Minecraft, of course. I would never suggest real-world violence as the solution to anything.
My Disney+ subscription runs out on Dec 2 (got a year for a dollar a month – that’s about what Disney is worth to me now). I deceived to give The Acolyte a try. A majority of female and non-white males, of course. The only leading white male seems to be the loose cannon. I watched the first episode last night, and I didn’t fall asleep, so I’ll continue on. It’s been out long enough so I guess no spoilers, but why have Carrie-Anne Moss for just the opening sequence?
“The Matrix” Memberberries.
Disney spent as much on “The Acolyte” as Apple spent on “F1”, roughly $230 million.
Where did the money go?
With “F1” you see where the money went.
I’m debating killing the netflix sub. We’ve had it since DVD mailers, but IDK if we actually watch it anymore.
n
“Artificial food is expensive. Nothing makes a steak as efficiently as a cow.”
Solomon Short
Watch Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” tonight then cancel.
If this Oscar year is as weird as last year, ”Frankenstein” will contend for Best Picture.
“A Matter For Men (The War Against the Chtorr, Book 1)” by David Gerrold
https://www.amazon.com/Matter-Men-Against-Chtorr-Book/dp/0553277820?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number one of a four book science fiction alien invasion series. I reread the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Bantam Spectra Books in 1989 that I bought used on Amazon. I also own a trade paperback copy published by Timescape Books in 1983 that I bought new. I own copies of the following three books and plan to reread them soon.
The book is dedicated to “for Robert and Ginny Heinlein, with love”. There is also a thank list for several people, I suspect alpha and beta readers.
This is very hard sci-fi. Do not pick up this book without having many hours available to you to finish it. Once started, the book sucks you in gradually so that you say, “just one more chapter”. When you finish the book at 5:50 am the next morning, you will be exhausted as if you had just run a 10K. This also applies to the three follow-on books.
I have read this book at least 5 times. Maybe 8. I lost count many years ago.
The book starts off with a series of plagues that devastate the human population across the Earth. Then the weird plants start growing everywhere. Then the huge one meter to five meter long alien carnivorous worms show up and starting eating people, cows, horses, etc. The worms are very difficult to destroy without a combat rated flamethrower.
Gerrold has claimed many times over the years that there will be a fifth book and a sixth book and a seventh book. I will believe it when I see it. He stated once to us on his email list that book 5 is so insane that he just could not finish several chapters in the middle of the book. However, there is a taunting preview of book 5, “A Method for Madness”, at:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060321170726/http://www.gerrold.com/chtorr-5/page.htm
I am hoping that if Gerrold does not finish the books then his son will publish the books when he passes on. Who knows ? Gerrold is very sensitive about people asking when he is going to publish the remaining books in the series.
My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (75 reviews)
Lynn
Lynn’s six star list (or top ten list) in November 2025:
1. “Mutineer’s Moon” by David Weber
2. “Citizen Of The Galaxy” by Robert Heinlein
3. “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” by Robert Heinlein
4. “The Star Beast” by Robert Heinlein
5. “Shards Of Honor” and “Barrayar” by Lois McMaster Bujold
6. “Jumper”, “Reflex”, “Impulse”, and “Exo” by Steven Gould
7. “Dies The Fire” by S. M. Stirling
8. “Emergence” by David Palmer
9. “The Tar-Aiym Krang” by Alan Dean Foster
10. “Under A Graveyard Sky” by John Ringo
11. “Live Free Or Die” by John Ringo
12. “Footfall” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
13. “Lucifer’s Hammer” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
14. “The Zero Stone” by Andre Norton
15. “Going Home” by A. American
16. “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card
17. “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline
18. “The Martian” by Andy Weir
19. “The Postman” by David Brin
20. “We Are Legion” by Dennis E. Taylor
21. “Bitten” by Kelley Armstrong
22. “Moon Called” by Patrica Briggs
23. “Red Thunder” by John Varley
24. “Lightning” by Dean Koontz
25. “The Murderbot Diaries” by Martha Wells
26. “Friday” by Robert Heinlein
27. “Agent Of Change” by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
28. “Monster Hunter International” by Larry Correia
29. “Among Others” by Jo Walton
30. “Skinwalker” and “Blood Of The Earth” By Faith Hunter
31. “Time Enough For Love” by Robert Heinlein
32. “Methuselah’s Children” by Robert Heinlein
33. “When the Wind Blows”, “The Lake House” by James Patterson
34. “A Soldier’s Duty (Theirs Not to Reason Why)” by Jean Johnson
35. “Human by Choice” by Travis S. Taylor and Darrell Bain
36. “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir
37. “Agent To The Stars” by John Scazi
38. “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi
39. “The Inheritance (Breach Wars)” by Ilona Andrews
40. “Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy, 1)” by Ilona Andrews
41. “White Hot (Hidden Legacy, 2)” by Ilona Andrews
42. “Wildfire: A Hidden Legacy Novel (Hidden Legacy, 3)” by Ilona Andrews
43. “Diamond Fire: A Hidden Legacy Novella (4)” by Ilona Andrews
44. “Sapphire Flames: A Hidden Legacy Novel (5)” by Ilona Andrews
45. “Emerald Blaze: A Hidden Legacy Novel (6)” by Ilona Andrews
46. “Ruby Fever: A Hidden Legacy Novel (7)” by Ilona Andrews
47. “The Armageddon Inheritance” by David Weber
48. “A Matter For Men (The War Against the Chtorr, Book 1)” by David Gerrold
Somebody told me that these are a bunch of young men’s adventure stories. Being an old man, I liked that.
Lynn
Do you want to kick off a Crusade? A Reconquista? A Purge? You retards are on track to be on the receiving end.
It is coming but probably not in our lifetime. Almost certainly not in mine. I suspect that the USA will end up as the only non muslim country in the world eventually.
A lot of this hemisphere is dominated by the Catholic Church. The populations of most of the countries have a dim view of “the religion of peace” and a genetic talent for genocide.
The third world part of this hemisphere and the southern one, will be owned or controlled by the chinese. The chinese strategy of loaning the money for infrastructure, so they can bring in cheap goods, then foreclosing on the infrastructure when the host country can’t keep up the payments has been working so far…
n
https://thetacticalhermit.substack.com/p/prepper-resource-library-for-november
Might be something useful for you here.
One of the batteries for my EGO yard tools has died. I get the red light on the charger which is the death light. I have had the battery since 2016 according to EGO’s records.
I was using the battery in the blower to blow the leaves. The blower quit so I placed that battery on the charger and got another battery. After finishing and putting the blower away and the battery I used back on the charger, I noticed the flashing red light. Oh well.
A new battery is $149.00 at Lowe’s. A new blower, with battery is $149.00. I opted for a stronger blower, the second most powerful EGO makes as I had difficulty with my current blower and the pile of leaves I was blowing. That more powerful model was $300.00 with tax. 4 ampere hour batter instead of 2 ampere hour. And another charger.
I checked my shelf and I now have six chargers. From replacement products just to get a new battery, such products the same price as just the battery alone. I am throwing away two of the chargers as I don’t need them. Seems like a waste but I don’t need the chargers taking space on my shelf.
I now have two blowers, one string trimmer (auto feed, self wind, really nice), a hedge trimmer and a chain saw. All EGO. Good products. I recommend them. However, their pricing sucks and is a real waste. Yeh, I could just buy the battery and not toss the charger and the extra appliance. But why would I? I get a new product and can throw the old product away.
The new stove is ordered. I used a local company that has been in the city for 50+ years. Good folks. Their cost was $20.00 more than Home Depot or Lowe’s for the same stove. The local company delivers for free, installs for free including the power cord, and will take away the old stove for no cost. Those items at Home Depot cost extra. Delivery is $38.00, a new cord is $18.00, and disposing of the old stove is $50.00. I saved some money by going local.
I have ordered furniture from the same people before. It may take a couple of weeks to get the item unless purchasing from floor stock. Ordering allows me to get the same product on the floor, but with different fabric options.
The last items were two powered recliners for the RV. Probably the best upgrade we made to the RV. It was hard to find two recliners narrow enough to fit in the space. The local company helped us with that and the prices were not any more than the big furniture stores.
The Chinese are not fond of Muslims either.
I’ve always seen that as self-discipline rather than imposed obligation. I don’t have a lot of it.
The other version I’ve seen a lot over the years is “Who makes the hard decisions? He that can.”
The legend of the $600 toilet seat was born when a standard toilet seat would not fit a narrow on-board crapper in an airplane, and the goobermint was too cheap to run a few extra parts for inventory. When they needed another seat, the mold was pulled from storage and a limited run was made for the order, resulting in the $600 price. Today they would be 3D printed. Maybe.
Who must do the difficult things?
He who
cansold his soul for an H1B visa.“Let’s Talk About the Real Genocide of Christians in Africa”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/07/lets-talk-about-real-genocide-christians-africa/
“With so much of the legacy media’s focus spent on smearing Israel these days, you probably haven’t heard a ton about the ongoing massacres in Nigeria.”
“Islamists have murdered tens of thousands of defenseless Christians, displacing around 15 million people from their homes.”
“Medieval sexual violence and torture are regularly practiced by Islamist militants, who also recruit children into their terrorist army. Thousands of churches and schools have been burned down. Catholic priests are regularly targeted for kidnapping.”
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Arrgh, matey! I shall set sail this weekend.
The Chinese are not fond of Muslims either.
Or Christians. A friend of mine was masquerading as an English teacher in China a decade or so ago but was preaching on the side and having a church in his home. He got outed and was told to leave or go to jail.
U.S. Conducts 17th Military Strike on Narco Terrorists in the Caribbean
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/dmitri-bolt/2025/11/07/us-conducts-17th-strike-on-narco-terrorists-n2666121
Tell the Dems that they should get a small boat and offer to stop and interview these innocent Venezuelan fisherman. Better yet, team up with 60 Minutes and do the job.
Or maybe the Navy should use the new drug test I designed last week:
Board the suspected drug trafficking boat, interview the crew, prepare any mystery powders as 1-lb suppositories, and offer to release any crew that survives 60 minutes after suppository insertion. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick….
Oh, yeah, Venezuela is on the metric system? Make if a half-kilo suppository.
“Truth”
https://areaocho.com/truth-6/
“Florida Realtor of the Year, 2026”
Yup. The big question is where is Wall Street going to move to.
Longest Shutdown Ever Reveals U.S. Could Stand To Fire A Lot Of Federal Workers
https://thefederalist.com/2025/11/07/longest-shutdown-ever-reveals-u-s-could-stand-to-fire-a-lot-of-federal-workers/
Multiple studies have shown that federal government employees are overpaid compared to the private sector, and have typically been on the job longer. No sympathy for spending all the excess.
Fedgov could turn a few bucks by auctioning off tax return auditing rights. I’d be interested to know the before and after weights of the IRS lawyer, and how many Moon Pies and RC Colas got written off….
And I’ll help Ms. Steele out: 1) Forever for you. 2) No work, no pay. 3) Need a pic and a resume to tell for sure, but I’m guessing OnlyFans isn’t a viable option.
Anyone who hasn’t already taken a $15 an hour job to get some money coming in is not hungry or worried enough.
I would give furloughed and unpaid federal workers some relief, and have any student loans put on hold for the duration.
It would be most fulfilling if a 60 Minutes doosh embedded itself with a narco-boat crew and got ‘sploded.
Remember the whining when an AH-64 Apache 30mikemiked a “reporter” during the Gulf War. He probably shouldn’t have embedded with the bad guys. Sniff.
Keep ‘sploding those narco-boats, my Orange King.
“WWII Wasn’t Worth It”
https://voxday.net/2025/11/07/wwii-wasnt-worth-it/
“DOA: Republicans Reject Democrats’ One-Year ACA Extension To End Shutdown”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/thune-willing-give-democrats-all-things-they-want-friday-shutdown-vote-looms
“30 minutes after Democrats offered to reopen the government if Republicans agree to extend pandemic-era (temporary) Obamacare enhancements, Republicans rejected it outright – with one senior Senate GOP aide saying it’s ‘dead on arrival,’ Bloomberg reports.”
“Top Trump Officials Moved Into Military Housing Due To Left-Wing Political Threats”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/top-trump-officials-moved-military-housing-due-left-wing-political-threats
“A number of top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration are being housed, along with their families, on military bases, due to increasing threats of left-wing political violence.”
This needs to stop right now.
“Mamdani Moves Mayor’s Office Under Children’s Hospital”
https://babylonbee.com/news/mamdani-moves-mayors-office-under-childrens-hospital
Ok, that there is funny !! Funny I tell you !
“Starlink Tops 8M Global Subscribers As SpaceX Inks Another In-Flight Wi-Fi Deal”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlink-tops-8m-global-subscribers-as-spacex-inks-another-in-flight-wi
“International Airline Group (IAG)—which owns British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus—said it will offer Starlink Wi-Fi on 500 planes, starting in early 2026.”
So how do they keep the satellite dishes from blowing off the planes at 600 mph ?
Another approach. House a couple of soldiers or Marines in each official’s house. With battle rifle, sidearm, bayonet, and whatever else they think they need. Easy duty: just stay there, keep an eye on the security cameras, and don’t get the family dog pregnant. (Marines, I’m looking at you!) If anyone suspicious comes around, deal with it using “soldier versus terrorist” protocols, not “police in the neighborhood” protocols.
James Watson has died. As could be predicted by the worst tarot card reader who ever lived, five seconds after anyone says “great scientist; DNA”, someone else chimes in with “But we’ll never know if he stole Rosalind Franklin’s discovery.” or “But he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without Rosalind Franklin.”
I added to one of those conversations: A settler who clears land and plants three acres of crops couldn’t have done it without his mule.
I’ll leave to your imagination the nature of the shrieking which ensued.
Gorilla tape. Good stuff.
The wind is blowing my chicken run all over the place. Very annoying.
At Least 200 Terrorists Are Trapped in Tunnels Behind Israeli Lines and Guess Who Wants to Free Them?
A couple FAE blasts to create overpressure and dust plumes at the tunnel exits, seal the exits, them bring in a coupld portable phosgene gas generators and fumigate for rats.
Oh, almost forgot: Toss the U.S. delegation into the tunnels before fumigation.
GT after Flex-Seal.
Franklin was excluded from the award due to a convenient rule that limited nominees to two.
Tucker Carlson Praises Venezuelan Tyrant Nicolás Maduro As ‘Socially Conservative’
Tucker was never much on my radar, but lately it’s become obvious that he is mentally deranged. It might be organic in nature–I hope his will leaves his body to medical science. In the meantime he’s about as reasoned as a syphilitic rat. Perhaps he’d like a key or so of prime Venezuelan powder as a belated Halloween treat for his kids?
I’m open to being persuaded otherwise, but my impression is that Rosalind Franklin was skilled and she did valuable work on the imaging, but it was nothing groundbreaking. Without Watson and Crick, her images would have been curiosities. On the other hand, without Franklin, someone else would have made the images of the double helix. Watson and Crick might have been delayed a couple years, but they’d have gotten there.
The wind is being a real nuisance. I used most of my cinderblocks on a project (which I didn’t remember until I’d spent five minutes looking for them) so I had only two to put on the feet of the run. I stacked a handful of spare tire against the wall of the run to try to cut down on the movement. I’d take the tarp off, but I don’t think I can take it off by myself without the wind destroying it in the process. Stupid wind.
The Republican establishment is behind the expats currently cooling their (Prada) heels in condos on Collins Avenue in Miami. They’ve been there for 25 years waiting for someone else — namely the US — to do their dirty work restoring the old pecking order in the country.
Venezuelans are not Cubans. They need to figure out the mess for themselves.
If we splash a few narco subs, fine.
Fisherman don’t use semi-submersible boats similar to the old ride vehicles at Disney World’s “20000 Leagues” ride.
Remember the 70’s Show? The father is looking at you. And calling you names. 🙂
Tonight’s movie was Everything Everything. PG13.
Nice movie. Has a Romeo and Juliet vibe but no one dies.
https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Amandla-Stenberg/dp/B073DRL7YP?tag=ttgnet-20
Probably going onto the Thrift Shop stack. Simply because I’ve watched it, I know how it ends. <shrug>
Ah, Red Foreman. Red and Al Bundy were TV gods.
Sorry, three. There were also procedural complications from her early death.
I had a friend studying chemistry at Berkeley a few years after.
He says there was a strong rumor going about that Linus Pauling had mentioned that he was looking into a double helix solution, they overheard, did some B&E of his lab to get the deets, and the rest was history.
I suppose we will never know, unless someone has left a posthumous confession.
Well, supposedly one can install Squeeze Server or whatever it is called now on a Pi. Benefits are less power usage.
What Pi? I don’t know. A 3b (I think) is recommended as the minimum. The 4 is going away soon. So, a Pi 5. And now we gotta dick with cases and cooling fans vs heatsinks and various cables. It’s confusing.
Anyway. Thanks to the glories of Windows 11, file sharing is once again broken. I can’t toss a file from either machine onto the other’s Desktop. I don’t have any kind of log-in on my PCs and yet it seems I must. I have two PCs…..
But SlimServer works perfectly. So I know my network is good.
So….. I wonder if I can add NetBEUI to Win11? It was simple and easy.
Ordered a new b/w printer from Brother, low end, I don’t do much printing anymore but occasionally there is something. It has AirPrint built in.
The older lovely color laser printer … just doesn’t, any more. Not with wifi, not usb, not ethernet.
At 10yo+ it hasn’t been officially supported for years, but I’ll miss it.
I am up to a truckload of e-waste it feels like.
@SteveF
“I’m open to being persuaded otherwise, but my impression is that Rosalind Franklin was skilled and she did valuable work on the imaging, but it was nothing groundbreaking. Without Watson and Crick, her images would have been curiosities. On the other hand, without Franklin, someone else would have made the images of the double helix. Watson and Crick might have been delayed a couple years, but they’d have gotten there.”
Franklin did ground-breaking work on the imaging and the interpretation of those images that identified the structure as a 2-or 3-helix before anyone else, and then refined it to the 2-helix, disproving Watson and Crick’s 3-helix model.
from wiki
Watson suggested that Franklin would have ideally been awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry , along with Wilkins but it was not possible because the pre-1974 rule dictated that a Nobel prize could not be awarded posthumously unless the nomination had been made for a then-alive candidate before 1 February of the award year and Franklin died a few years before 1962 when the discovery of the structure of DNA was recognized by the Nobel committee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin
The timeline is pretty clear:
Watson and Crick, and elsewhere, Pauling, started with an incorrect model.
Franklin’s work identified the helix and set Watson and Crick on the correct path, whereas Pauling did not have access to Franklin’s work.
“without Franklin, someone else would have made the images of the double helix. Watson and Crick might have been delayed a couple years, but they’d have gotten there.”
Or would Pauling have beat them to it? Due to visa problems with the State Department he did not attend a 1952 conference which Corey attended in his place and saw some of Franklin’s work. It was his own choice not to visit Franklin’s lab some weeks later. Pauling later lamented his lack of XRD data–it’s not clear what informed his decisions at the time.
Franklin was first to identify the double helix structure, which alone should have required her inclusion. It was almost certainly university politics and her own lack of a personable nature that elevated Watson and Crick in publication.
@EdH
Good story, but apparently not one with any evidence, and appears to be contradicted by Pauling’s own remarks.
History is rife with conflicting claims of discovery. In the 1960’s the popular press put Bell Labs forward as the home of the “inventors” of the laser. The reality was much more divided, and one of the most interesting bits is that the publication of Maiman’s photo with his flashlamp breakthrough led others to order that same flashlamp to advance their own work. One has to wonder if he had been more devious and had a misleading prop to feature in his photo.
Remember the 70’s Show? The father is looking at you. And calling you names.
I was just making a joke. Of course, Red would still call me a dumbass. And threaten to stick his foot in my ass.
The Brother laser printers without BR-Script (PostScript) can be challenging to make work with Mac and Linux.
I have a HL-L6210DW which works well with all of our operating systems, but I plug it into the home network using Ethernet.
Up at the polls on Tuesday, the county election workers had the same model to print ballots on demand.
I brought home a Brother multifunction ink jet that my buddy left behind. I put new ink in it but I’m not getting any ink on paper.
I looked and it has TUBES to connect the ink carts to the printhead. Can’t see the print head. I hate any printer with tubes. They WILL block up if left unused.
I’ve been running the cleaning cycle, which should be dumping gallons of ink but nope. I used a syringe to squirt down the tubes. Inky water was moving, so I think the printheads must be clogged.
If I could get to them, I’d clean them.
I might break down and buy a new printer. The canon I’ve been using jams every two or three pages now. Once that paper train wears out, I’m pretty sure it’s done.
I need the MFC because I often use the copy function, and I want color as an option.
Back to HP?
n
I tried HP before buying the Brother laser. The HP was junk, cost $150 more, and had a fan that wouldn’t stop spinning even when the printer was idle.
I stayed with HP for a recent all-in-one replacement, but I got a steep discount on the unit thanks to the Gecko’s shareholder pricing event at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Dallas in May.
UPDATED: Supreme Court Issues Stay in Response to Trump Admin Emergency Appeal of SNAP Case
https://redstate.com/beccalower/2025/11/07/trump-admin-appeals-the-snap-case-in-emergency-petition-at-scotus-n2195989
It’s too much to hope that the administration starts turning off utilities to court buildings this weekend do to lack of funds. Has the slush pot of fine-based monies run out for the judicial branch yet? If not, can Treasury force those funds to be remitted to the general fund, where the Executive can decide disbursement based on priorities?
Screw these judges and their games.
It’s past time for the DOJ to get some friendly entity in a deep blue jurisdiction to issue TRO. How about one enjoining all other District Courts from issuing TRO’s?
I still mourn the loss of my HP LaserJet 4M (ca 1993). I still see one once in a while with 200-300,000 on the copy counter.
I standardized on Brother multifunction b/w lasers fifteen years ago.
Better to have the cranky color printer as a single-function device.
I hate inkjets. Laserjets are only way to go. I’ve got five laserjets at the moment, a 4100DTN that I am going to fix the pickup roller some day, a 2025DN that I have changed the pickup roller, two 1415 MFCs, and a M454dw.
Yeah, the Dell 1700N sitting next to me needs the pickup roller fixed. I can hand feed single sheets… I think there might be less than 1000 prints on it. There is a known defect that only takes a minute to fix with super glue, but I haven’t done it yet.
n
So, The White Stripes are being inducted in the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow by Conan O’Brien. Wild.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/arts/music/meg-white-white-stripes-rock-hall-fame.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
21 Pilots is going to perform their Seven Nation Army song at the induction because Meg White cannot play the drums anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY
I’ve been seeing a lot of mounting options for the Starlink Mini in the returns auctions lately. Especially mobile mount options. I guess this is why–
n
I bought a Brother laser multifunction maybe 10 years ago. I don’t use it often but it has worked every time I do. I’ve only replace one toner cartridge, which gives a scale for my usage.
W and the two Ds are headed up to the BOL. I’ll probably have a little tiny fire and read while waiting to hear that they arrived safely. I’d rather go to bed, but I think I need to get that text…
n
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng has unveiled a new humanoid robot with such lifelike movements that company representatives felt compelled to slice it open onstage to prove a human wasn’t hiding inside.
Fortunately for the audience, there wasn’t. Instead, the robot, named “IRON,” features a flexible, humanlike spine, articulated joints and artificial muscles that allow it to move with a model-like swagger.
(link to original story, which has the video of the robot walking after they expose the lower leg to prove there wasn’t a person inside)
(@nick – several previously posted comments about the robot story are in ‘comment jail’ due to excessive links in the quoted text that I missed. Those extra ones can be deleted. Thanks.)
(@nick – several previously posted comments about the robot story are in ‘comment jail’ due to excessive links in the quoted text that I missed. Those extra ones can be deleted. Thanks.)
Huh, I looked at the jailed postings and the number of links were not excessive. Not by my standards. There was no explanation that I saw for the jailings.
Do you want me to delete all of the jailed postings ?
>>The desire is to eventually see Trump Tower seized.
We gonna git all them Devils, starting with their Orange King.
The NJ Devils?? Maybe they could play on the Wollman ice rink…
Trump will tell you he still owns it, even though that’s no longer the case.
Btw, still here, punchin’ away at the keys…neither rain nor snow, illness and so on, keeps me away…sometime though it cuts down on my capacity to comment…tally ho nonetheless.
Now off to overdue bed! No reading tonight.
There’s a one link that is actually two or three, and that (with the others) got it over the limit. Go ahead and delete all of the jailed comments. Thanks.
https://americansongwriter.com/heres-every-presenter-and-performer-for-the-2025-rock-roll-hall-of-fame-induction-ceremony/
https://americansongwriter.com/heres-every-presenter-and-performer-for-the-2025-rock-roll-hall-of-fame-induction-ceremony/
“Preparing for a night full of celebration, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will welcome Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes as the official inductee class of 2025.”
“Aside from the inductees listed above, the Rock Hall will also honor Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon with the Music Influence Award.”
Wow, Warren Zevon has been gone for a long time and they are just now inducting him. And Bad Company has MANY popular songs including their self named song, a little late for them too. The first cassette that I bought in 1973 was the self titled Bad Company album.
https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Company/dp/B000002JSL?tag=ttgnet-20
There’s a one link that is actually two or three, and that (with the others) got it over the limit. Go ahead and delete all of the jailed comments. Thanks.
Done. There was five postings in jail.
Sat out and read for a while. It got kinda damp and chilly at the end. Only saw one big fuzzy black cat with a bottle brush of a tail. It did not like seeing me sitting there.
No word from the females of the pack, but they have a bit more time before they are overdue.
House is very quiet.
n
Salt-N-Peppa were huge in their day, and were in fact influential. Then they vanished. Their impact was short lived and very limited. I was working as a carpenter on MTV’s Spring Break and they were on my stage. The skinny one was using a fake french accent and being a diva…
I wouldn’t have picked them over some others who have still not been honored.
n
There’s a very long list of artists missing, here are just some of them: .38 Special; 10cc; Alan Parsons Project; Atlanta Rhythm Section; B-52s; Bachman-Turner Overdrive; Badfinger; Bangles; Billy Squier; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Blue Öyster Cult; Boston; Carpenters; Devo [2021; 2022 nominee]; Eddie Money; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Foghat; Foreigner; Gerry and the Pacemakers; Golden Earring; Grand Funk Railroad; Grass Roots; Guess Who; Herman’s Hermits; Huey Lewis and the News; INXS; Iron Maiden [2021 nominee]; J. Geils Band; Jan & Dean; Jefferson Starship; Jethro Tull; Jim Croce; Kansas; Loverboy; Marshall Tucker Band; Meat Loaf; Mötley Crüe; Motörhead [2020 nominee]; Peter Frampton; Rainbow; Raspberries; REO Speedwagon; Robert Palmer; Runaways; Scorpions; Steppenwolf; Steve Winwood; Stray Cats; Styx; Supertramp; Sweet; Thin Lizzy [2020 nominee]; Three Dog Night; Toto; and Turtles.
Boston ? Really ?
Carpenters ? Foreigner ? Styx ? Sweet ?
A lot of awesome groups there.
Time for a shower and bed.
Past time really.
n
“Wendy’s announces sweeping closures of hundreds of U.S. locations”
https://ktla.com/news/consumer-business/wendys-announces-closures-at-hundreds-of-locations/
“Interim Chief Executive Ken Cook said Friday that a “mid single-digit percentage” of Wendy’s roughly 6,000 U.S. restaurants could close over the next two years — an estimated 200 to 360 locations. The closures will focus on outlets that have been “consistently underperforming” and weighing down the brand’s overall results, Cook told analysts during a quarterly earnings call.”
Is anyone not cutting back right now ? I am getting a really bad impression about the future of the USA.
Catching up…
Yup, can confirm, it’s been really nice late-Fall/early-Winter weather. Getting colder today.
I seem to go through phases: reading very little for weeks, then reading several books in a row. Where I used to read a book for hours at a time, I now find myself taking frequent breaks. I reckon the “snippets” of social media (like this site) are at least partially at fault.
Thanks for the update! Your list has been a great source of new reading material 🙂
Nah. Even in the most pessimistic scenarios I can imagine, China is not going to put up with Islam. At the rate things are going, the future will be Chinese.
I still have some hope that the West will wake up. Time will tell…
I’m still using a gas-powered blower, for one reason only: It has an option to work as a vacuum cleaner. I use it to suck up leaves on our graveled outdoor seating area. Works a treat – gravel makes it only halfway up the tube, then falls back out. AFAIK, the EGO blowers do not have this option.
Please correct me if I’m wrong!
Has anyone missed them?
I thought Trump was going to find a way to fire a lot of them. Congress may appropriate money to create a agency, but they do not dictate staffing levels. It should be possible to just eliminate any jobs that don’t actually need doing. Say 500,000 at an annual cost (including benefits) of $150k each gives a savings of $75 billion. Not nothing…
Vox is an arrogant a$$hole. I stopped reading his stuff years ago, because he is not interested in anything except adulation and absolute agreement with his opinions.
Serendipity! Before I had read this thread, I ordered a Brother MFC-L2800DW scanner/laser printer/copier device from Big River for the BOL. Less than 200 bucks.
I want it mostly for the networking ability and the photocopy function. I wanted a Lexmark multifunction device, the same as we have at base, but Big River was not offering them, though there did seem to be a couple of no-name-I-ever-heard-of Lexmark clones for sale.
We already have a little HP LJ 1005, and an ancient LJ 1100A at the BOL.
Recent updates to Linux Mint broke printing on the 1005 for me (Grr.), though it works fine if attached to a Windows machine.
The 1100A is so old, there is no scanner driver available for it any more, and it can only be networked though an additional (also ancient) network print server which goes onto the parallel port of the printer, which is all rather a nuisance. It still prints beautifully at 8ppm, however.
I am hoping the new Brother can go in a corner, get an ethernet hookup, and replace both its elder brethren. It had good reviews on Big River, and the price was right. We’ll see if it’s any good.
Anyhow, wishing you all a lovely Saturday. I will be taking a trip to Germany with W1 to pick up a new Samsung smart TV that she wants.
The sweet spot for price/size/availability for this unit is the 50″ model, but W1 insisted on a 43″, which is not available from Big River. Other online sellers think their old 43″ stock is worth hundreds more than the 50″ model costs elsewhere, but I found one of the correct model in the correct size for a reasonable price at a brick and mortar store in Koblenz, so off we go to see where Rhine and Moselle meet.
BREAKING: 86% of PCR-Positive “COVID Cases” Were Not Real Infections
A couple days ago I mentioned how “conspiracy theories” keep coming true.
69F and damp. I’m off to my meeting. Sunny day.
Wife and kids are at the BOL sleeping in. Their progress report texts didn’t go thru in a timely fashion last night. Rural Texas is rural.
n
Home. Long meeting. Trying to get web stuff hammered out and clean up some legacy accounts and bad decisions.
Ate lunch. Might nap. Then I think I will load up and head out at some point.
n
Time kept on slippin, slippin, slippin into the past, to the extent that Nick put Saturday’s comments on Friday’s post.
Next up: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again!