1932 Comments

I tried one of those, also in the 80s. I knew a guy who built them and had a business in Stockholm to use them. Easy enough to build, but maybe a bit finicky to maintain. I'm surprised it hasn't become more of a thing, permanently.

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Carter was human (allegedly) and imperfect, but the more I read about him and the things he achieved the more amazed I am. I’m sure MLK Jr had terrible farts if he ate too much chili and Mother Teresa could be a real pill, but whatever Carter’s faults, he saved lives, improved lives, and did much of it decades after leaving public office, unlike our Congresspeople who like to stay until they are 90 to thumbs up or down bills to keep trans people from using the bathroom.

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Did Carter's account of practicing the maneuver inspire the climactic sequence in LOKI's final season? It seems far too similar to be coincidence. And not just similar, but seemingly inflected with an allusive energy. What better allusion than this?

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It is winter. So therefore, it is winter.

(pre) Sunrise during a snow storm is kinda haunted looking

https://substack.com/@wonkjen/note/c-84688689?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=3rfyy

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Gothic. Like "Nosferatu" atmosphere.

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oh good, they have updated us from 3-5 inches of snow, to 5-8 inches of snow and ice.

So glad the work place decided to play hooky today. Was surprised they called it so early, usually they do not until like 5 or 6, when the long haulers are already on the dang road.

But then, the new top dude is a long hauler, so maybe he was all...I ain't driving in that shit, fuck that.

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In other News Senate GOP is balking at Trump's demand to do everything they want in reconciliation with ONE bill, instead of the two they were planning (one of tax cuts, one for immigration). This could MASSIVELY over-complicate and slow down the process. House has ALSO agreed with Senate they need to do two bills (especially the Freedumb Caucus who consider more complicated bills automatically bad, regardless of content).

What the Lege wanted was to do immigration stuff first, since it is the more popular of their priorities (some reports say they hoped to have it done by February's end). This is especially important due to various special elections in the next few months--if they go too unpopular too fast, they might hurt themselves. So they planned to punt the tax cuts til the last minute, then shove them through.

Now they're having to deploy their Trump Whisperers to explain why Two Bills makes more sense than One Bill.

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"Trump Whisperers" ... cash or blow jobs?

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Bow and scrape to our toddler in chief, Orange Mussolini. If y'all KNEW he was going to be bad for business, WHY DID YOU LET YOUR BILLIONAIRE BUDDIES GET HIM ELECTED??

𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀

Being more diplomatic than the politicians makes sense amid fear of upsetting the next US President

https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/03/tech_titans_hide_in_shadows/?td=rt-3a

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both sides!

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑐 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑈𝑆 𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝'𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦, ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠.

𝐻𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛-𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐾𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑥 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝'𝑠 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑠.

.

𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡, "𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 200 𝐶𝐸𝑂𝑠, 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑥, 𝑅& 𝐷 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒."

Bless your heart..

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They don't care about tariffs, but OMG give us our tax breaks and work arounds.

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yeah but see, corp taxes would hurt their own billion dollar piggy banks. Tariffs just get passed to consumers

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Corporate taxes also get passed on to consumers. Remember what Leona Helmsley said about it:

"We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes"

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or "waaah waahh my money!"

;)

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tarifs might hurt a company, but these fuckers have long since proved they really do not give a flying fuck for the companies they head

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Everyone seems to have forgotten what happened to Doctor Frankenstein after his magnificent monster mutated into a menace.

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Say, you know who else the oligarchs thought they could control?

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Taytay?

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𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘆 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳𝗳

https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/05/this-tiny-robot-cat-will-blow-on-your-coffee-to-cool-it-off/

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At least it is too small to swipe the cup or bowl off the table. But how much of a spoiled brat do you have to be to get a machine to do this task for you?

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"we were promised flying cars"

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Also, "robot" is doing a shit-ton of work there!

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It's cute. That's about it.

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Ha!

My kid will be entertained by that, they like their coffee a little cooler than just brewed. However, they also know about the awesome new hydroengineered product, "ice".

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paul is snoring like an old bull snug in the stable and there is no way in Hades anyone can sleep through that.I would wake myself up if that kind of noise was echoing inside of my head.

It has always amazed me that snorers could sleep so soundly with all of that noise echoing against their own pillows.

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At times I would wake myself up talking in my sleep. And sometimes sleep right through loud yelling. When I yell Hubby wakes me up to make sure I am ok and not really in pain.

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Snores AND the grinding of the teeth

How on earth he still has teeth with all that grinding I do not know

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That would drive me crazy.

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oh it does.

He has a mouth guard, cause what he really has is sleep apnea, but he refuses to wear a cpac, and the oral appliance also too. It is worse on footballing nights because he gets all good and not at all sober and then "forgets" to wear the thing. Once a month I have to inform him that he can wear it, or sleep else where. Guess it is that time again

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Hubby and I have separate bedrooms.

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I've given it some thought, for sure.

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[sighs heavily]

I sleep in a recliner in the living room. It is not ideal.

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Suboptimal, ESPECIALLY with your sleep deprivation.

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paul won't wear his CPAP and would almost certainly spit out a mouth guard.

How in the hell do we put up with these lunkheads?

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lol yeah he does spit it out during the night sometimes XD the oral appliance thing he could not spit out, it locked around the teeth, but he said it hurt his teeth so out it went.

Which is a damn shame cause that solved the grinding, the snoring AND the not breathing at random intervals that also wakes me up because I do not want to be in bed next to a corpse, so I wake up to poke him and make him breathe again.

All I can figure is that they are mondo cute cause otherwise we'd have smothered them by now

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Morning (afternoon for some of us) all. I present to you, a little ditty I ran up set to lyrics provided by Racoon of Vengeance regarding one Rudy Giuliani. I'd have gotten it out earlier but I had to re-learn how to use Ableton. Consider it demo quality.

https://substack.com/profile/156014256-whale-chowder/note/c-84684588

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Very nice. Weirdly satisfying.

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Replying to self because I'm thirsty that way...Can't seem to send a DM to RoV to let them know they've been immortalized. If you see them please share.

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I want my toilet to talk to me.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗘𝗦 [𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄] 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

Expect plenty of laptops, TVs, and smart home gadgets — and a lot of new places to stuff AI.

https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/4/24335163/ces-2025-what-to-expect-tvs-smart-home-auto

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"Car, ask the toilet how many eggs are in the fridge."

Count me out.

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And what is getting jammed into the TV sets is just .... GAH! Online TVs are the easiest hacks in the known world.

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I've avoided the TVs, but now that you mention it, the Roku may not be much better.

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Snow not as deep as it seemed, yet at least. Still had to get little packed ice balls out of my dog's toes (he has very good insulating fur down there, but that also catches chunks sometimes). Knocked the stairs and railings clean too. Looks like no plowing has started yet outside maybe the main road down the hill (tho that might just be so highly traveled it looks plowed). Local gov is closed for the day, all services online only.

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What about our brave, intrepid Federal elected officials? Will they brave the weather to anoint King Orange the First?

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Executive branch is closed, with maximum telework. IIRC the Rs forced the Legislative Branch to not telework. 😁

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Yeah, my coworkers and I sometimes complain about how, being the Lege branch, we're sometimes the only thing open. Exec closures are not our closures.

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Gonna guess the critters themselves are comfy in bed though

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Yeah, you'd think issues getting into town would affect everyone. I feel for you, not so much the elected officials.

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According to the operations line of my work, ceremony is going on, 2-hours delay to allow for safer travel for my coworkers asked to work it. We'll see so that goes in a few more hours tho.

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Each one will be assigned a personal snowplow to clear the road for them. They live differently than you or I.

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According to Margie not everyone was in town before the storm so she's PISSED they might have to delay. She says she's WALKING to the Capitol if she has to. Good luck with that! There's hills.

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maybe she'll fall off a bridge into the icy clutches of the Potamic

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"What's she doing down there?"

"Mimicking Flight 90."

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GAH! Think of the pollution!

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If any river can handle a little more of that, it is the ol pot.

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A new year's resolution I can get behind. [Pearls Before Swine]

https://assets.amuniversal.com/ae6342c0a9d8013d8650005056a9545d

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