StringJunky

1 hour ago, geordief said:

Would this prior position cramp his style or are we beyond that?

Trump says Zelensky using war as reason to not hold election

That's Trump projecting right there, as he always does when he accuses someone of wrongdoing that he intends to do himself.

The 'joke' that tickled me really was the double entendre. Usually, when someone asks for 'a second opinion to a doctor, they mean they want another doctor's opinion.

36 minutes ago, Genady said:

But how is this humor political?

If the mods think this is not a political issue, they can move it.

9 hours ago, KJW said:

I imagine part of the reluctance towards batteries is the perception that they are a fire hazard and that installing them would be tantamount to installing a bomb in their homes. This is not an unjustified view as there have been recall ads for solar batteries in recent times, as well as the numerous houses on the news that have burned down due to e-scooter batteries catching fire in garages.

I had a recent experience of seeing a lithium battery ignite whilst being solar charged. It is unstoppable and the jet is ferocious.

Sodium-ion batteries are being geared up for mass production this year; thermal runaway is much harder to induce in these, I've read.

48 minutes ago, studiot said:

What point are your trying to make ?

Yes I remember the polio vaccines, but the mid 20th century was hardly 'early' ; you have to go back another 150 years for that to Edward Jenner in 1796.

Says an old man.

20 minutes ago, ahmet said:

So, I wonder (and also should express my surprise that ) the reason why when some effective/known people says something, others follow without questioning.

Because they don't disagree with what they are saying. What they are saying is in line with the theoretical principles that are understood amongst the scientific community, at that point in time.

59 minutes ago, Otto Kretschmer said:

Classic Chinese TV series from 1994 about the Three Kingdoms. IMO it's better than the newer 2010 version.

Eng sub available:

I used to watch The 'Water Margin'. Have you seen that series? 1970's. 'Monkey', late 70's, was another.

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

Well, obviously he didn't got crowned to God-Emperor. That is quite a loss.

Worse than that: Nobel God-Emperor.

6 hours ago, Otto Kretschmer said:

Why am I so big on nostalgic stuff lately? 🤔

2 hours ago, CharonY said:

There is a lot of contradicting information in lit, and it mostly depends on what you measure. The few things where most studies agree is that digital reading is different from paper, so lessons are not easily transferable.

There are some studies on screen use, but the papers cover a lot of ground and include e.g. simulating driving and measures other than fatigue. A recent study has combined ambient lighting mode with screen color temperature and dark vs light mode. Generally speaking, they found that indicators of fatigue were higher when reading in light mode and with screen color temps in the lower (warmer) range.

Other studies have looked at alertness and onscreen tasks it seemed that blue was advantageous for folks to find stuff effectively. Whether that plays into fatigue was not tested.

Anecdotally, sample one, high temperature light is great looking for stuff or at small details, but it keeps me awake at night. I consciously choose lower temps at night to tire my eyes and brain out. I think that might be due to the increased effort the brain and/or eyes undergo trying to chromatically recorrect the warm light to neutral white. I have a mix of 3000K, 4000K, 5000K, 6000K torches that I've played around with.

Old Soviet joke:

A man goes to a news stand every day and looks at just the front pages of all the newspapers.

The guy behind the stand asks him what he's looking for.

"An obituary".

"But comrade, obituaries aren't on the front page!"

"The one I'm looking for will be."

BABY [in high chair]:

throws strained peas and carrots on floor

MRS. POLLOCK: Knock it off, Jackson.

On 1/21/2026 at 8:13 PM, sethoflagos said:

That's how to get a noise out of a Casio with one finger. Not how to become a musician.

Music is the art and can be expressed in any form. You don't have to be an artisan/craftsman with some instrument to make music. A person that can create perfect copies is not an artist, even though their skill may be immense; s/he is a technician. Skill alone does not make an artist.

22 minutes ago, TheVat said:

I wondered if you were thinking in that context. I find it hard to read the current military mood. While it's true that Turnip has gotten some support from the rank and file, there's also been some alienation over some of his talk about fighting NATO, and over recent actions violating Geneva convention. (I've heard Air Force guys around here refer to him as Pres. Bone Spurs, so the level of respect is not all it could be) All soldiers do take an oath to defend the Constitution, so there's a question there as to how far they can watch it get crumpled up.

One would hope that there are pro-Constitution military insiders creating networks as we post for them to share intelligence and mutual help within the lower ranks. I think it is imperative that doubters don't feel isolated and have recourse to support and advice. Remember, the regime went nuts when the ranks were advised by Kelly et al not to follow illegal orders. I'm sure Trump's mob will be looking out feverishly for dissent within the ranks

18 minutes ago, CharonY said:

On the practical end, the issue is that it might give an opening to invoking more extreme measures (such as the insurrection act). I highly doubt that the the 2nd amendment was viable in the face of modern military and weapons.

Won't it depend on how many military members actually support the government?

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

Not sure our right to arm bears will help us. 25A, maybe. Pens are mightier than the peashooters the 2A allows us. Also, what @exchemist said - SCROTUS hasn't herded all its cats in single file behind Mucilini yet.

Maybe it won't help materially, but, philosophically, once its conditions are met for tyranny by the sitting government, bearing arms against that government is within the law. The moral position lies on the side of those who uphold the Constitution. Pro-Constitutionalists can have peace of mind knowing they are on the right side of the law. That can give people the inner strength and moral fortitude to meet the moment.

2 hours ago, Phi for All said:

With all the bullshit his whole cabinet commits on the daily, we need to use Article II, Section 4 to impeach, remove, and convict the whole lot of them for high crimes & misdemeanors. We know there's been bribery, and there is evidence TFG passed NATO secrets to Putin, so treason at the highest level is also there. We don't want Vance, we don't want Johnson. The rest of the succession list is equally horrific, so we need ALL of them booted and sentenced, including that walking anal polyp Stephen Miller. We need to hold them all up to future generations as abominations to humanity.

Nobody on the side of democracy and the Constitution has any real recourse to the law anymore. I think the only thing left is the 2A.

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

Ha!

"That's one very small step for a man, one giant leap of illogic for all magakind."

LOL. That was posted by Adam Kinzinger on Bluesky. Here's two more:

2 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

Useful to know. Beginning to suspect my 'inconvenience' may be down to brief fever and course of strong antibiotics over Marxmas. I've never really done allergies and the like (touch wood).

Antibiotics wreck my gut behaviour for quite some time after the course. I hate taking them.

10 hours ago, Markus Hanke said:

You need to remember though that just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it’s not useful or doesn’t work. It evidently does, because we are using those findings in practical applications.

I myself do not understand in detail how a mobile phone is constructed, since electrical engineering is not my area of expertise. But it still works.

The average person in any math or physics department at a university isn’t a genius, with very few exceptions - they’ve just decided to put in the work necessary to learn the concepts. In-depth mastery of any subject requires time and effort, that’s just how it is.

I agree. Anyone with great skill in some endeavour has usually put in a lot of time and effort, probably decades, into being where they are. We should admire their perseverance to get where they are, and not dismiss them as likely wrong because we don't personally understand.

On 1/14/2026 at 8:22 PM, sethoflagos said:

Such people don't last very long here.

Darwin rules?

3 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

Do you simmer the milk first? I've seen kefir recipes that omit this stage and am wondering if I need to bother with it. The whole point of UHT is that it's already been heat treated and is pretty sterile anyway.

No, I didn't, using pasteurised, it was fine. I think the culture soon overwhelms any other strains in there. I wouldn't bother heating with uht.

13 minutes ago, studiot said:

Pretty useless dam if it only lasts 50 years with at 30% chance of flooding.

Must have been designed by a university maths dept.

😀

Yeah, you need to know how the theory will stand up to reality, and that's what engineers are for.