giardini

AM is just OK but they spam the hell out of you. Also, too many religious stations on AM.

Meanwhile the government still throws money at NPR on FM, but sadly they've quit playing classical music all day like they once did and are instead pummeling the airwaves with leftist crap. Supposedly CPB will cease funding NPR but I'll believe it when NPR dies.

I'd like a mostly-classical right-leaning FM station, please, to listen to before my pecker falls off from the leftist shite spewing from NPR.

Well, yes, 6,600 were allowed (i.e., permitted, able) to vote. That the majority of those did NOT vote, or did not know to vote, etc. is irrelevant: they were given the opportunity and means, only the missing motive saved them from becoming potential felons.

Indeed as you say, only ~400 did vote, but that is a mere accident. The risk exposure was there for up to 6,600, more than enough to swing many elections.

One must also ask also what motive induced the 400 who did vote to commit that potentially felonious act? I would also like to know their political leanings, e.g., are they primarily Democrats, anarchists, fascistae, born-again Christians, etc.? In short, I'd like them all prosecuted.

"excatly"????wtf?

How does "tat" differ from "grot"?

Its far worse than that!

They allowed 6,600 non-citizens to vote!

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/21/politics/new-jersey-voter-rol...

They say only 400 voted but who's counting?

Relax and read the WHO fact sheet:

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/chikungunya which states (among other things):

"Severe symptoms and deaths from chikungunya are rare and usually occur in young babies or elderly people with other coexisting health problems."

FWIW the article title on HN is wrong in several ways!

That title, "CDC travel notice for outbreak deadly incurable mosquito virus reaches Americas" is nonsensical.

What DID happen: "the CDC issued a Level 2 travel advisory for Costa Rica, urging US citizens to ‘practice enhanced precautions’ as chikungunya plagues the Guanacaste Province."

The actual article title that HN links to:

"CDC issues travel notice for tropical hot spot as outbreak of deadly incurable mosquito virus reaches Americas".

is also wrong.

"The Americas" are a landmass comprising North and South America, spanning the Western Hemisphere and encompassing diverse cultures, climates, and histories.

Chikungunya traces back to (first case) Tanzania, Africa in 1952. The chikungunya virus first spread to the Americas in late 2013. The first local transmission was identified in Caribbean countries, with the first locally-acquired infections reported from St. Martin in December 2013. This outbreak led to approximately 1.1 million reported cases within a year. (It is often a painful disease.)

Anyway, to summarize, contrary to OP's title neither the CDC travel notice nor the disease chikungunya reached the Americas recently.

Furthermore, chikungunya is not considered a deadly disease. Chikungunya has been in the USA on and off for at least 14 years, though it is not endemic to the USA.

Relax! Chill! Enjoy a gin-and-tonic in the heat in celebration of man's tenuous victory(?) over malaria thanks to the cinchona tree of Peru and it's derivative quinine.

rbanffy asks: "Are you comparing NPR with Fox News and their definitions of victory." but fails to include a question mark.

Let me give you a hint:

What are the odds, a priori, that one person (e.g., myself) would be pondering any particular definition of anything whatsoever that was identical with what another particular person (e.g., you) was simultaneously pondering?

I will post the answer here after several minutes.

Answer: 0

Because, thanks to the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, NPR can define "winning" any way it wants!

The article is really a book review (i.e.,SPAM!), the title is clickbait. But also interesting, informative and worthwhile.

And that plus current global politics has me thinking that I was correct, back in '79, that I should either build an underground shelter stocked with all necessities or move to a remote location in South America (much cheaper).

It should be no surprise that the US cannot immediately overwhelm Iran, which has prepared for war with the USA since the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. Iran's new leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in November 1979, one day after 66 American diplomats and civilians were taken hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, labelled the USA "the Great Satan":

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/07/18/iran-ayat...

Consider that, since that time (46 years), much of Iran's income has been directed to preparation for surviving nuclear war with the USA. Ergo underground living and production facilities, similar to those that the Soviet Union has constructed in Russia:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=how%20many%20soviet%20%20under...

have been built and occupied in Iran.

Defeating such an entrenched enemy requires conquering surface forces, then denying each bunker access to the surface and bunker-by-bunker surrender, asphyxiation or destruction. This requires boots on the ground and/or automation beyond the current SOA.

The alternative is to allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons.

Russia does conscript men:

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-conscripts-war-combat...

"The pot calling the kettle black."

I saw someone whose doctors were misled by this "transcriptionist vs scribe" difference in an ER situation. The LLM was listening and recording as the doctor asked questions and the patient answered. PT had suffered a falling episode. ER doctor asked if pt had any warning (e.g., was dizzy, faint, or unbalanced before fall). Pt said no. Later when reading final discharge report with pt we noticed that the LLM had inserted that the pt "experienced dizziness and then fell" which completely contradicted the pt's actual words.

Since then pt has had to re-explain to multiple doctors how the ER report was incorrect, to their usual MD skepticism. So, for now, I figure LLMs are for shite. Maybe in another 15 years...

And it pays to read everything on a medical report before leaving the facility.

ProPress are a (high-quality) solution but IIRC for copper piping.

PEX water piping expands and fails less(than galvanized) in freezing temperatures. This is the current accepted replacement for galvanized water piping.

PVC piping is also used but doesn't develop the pinhole leaks that galvanized steel pipe does. However it can fatigue and develop leaks.

AFAIK all can be patched with, ta-da, pipe clamps!

But most water leaks, especially in winter freezing, arise in old rusting galvanized steel piping. I'm not a plumber but I was a condominium association officer and president and so got to choose, watch and pay for repairs.

We had only copper, PVC and galvanized water lines. The copper was well underground and so failed only once in 20 years due to age and a nearby tree shifting the pipes. The PVC never failed but we had almost none. The galvanized pipe was a guaranteed failure every winter unless we took serious precautions when temperatures dropped.

That's very nice but I doubt it will replace pipe clamps in ease of installation and cost in a real-world repair environment. Many leaks in say steel galvanized water pipes are the result of corrosion. Pinhole leaks form, then more and then enough water leaks to be noticed on either exterior or interior wall. Jose the Plumber will leave his radial welder in the shop (b/c power is out anyway in the affected area and he doesn't carry a generator on his truck) and reach for his box of pipe clamps. Problem solved and on to the next job.

Softalker is right-on in his warning:

We usually have a few freezes in the winter and some homes' pipes freeze. I was surprised, in speaking to a plumber, to find that pipe clamp installation had come to dominate the repair market (as opposed to repairing/replacing the leaky pipe).

In his first year this plumber had arrived at the plumbing supply house to find all pipe clamp orders backlogged two weeks! He thus determined to, during the warmer months, stockpile a cache of pipe clamps for the coming winter.

Furthermore, as SofTalker states, the fitting is usually left in-place instead of being replaced! Yet one more reason to have a prospective home inspected by someone who is very knowledgeable.

blooalien says "People like you who actively go out of your way to make the world a far worse place than the shit-hole you've already turned it into are the "source of my pessimism"."

You're like Otto in his final scene in "Repo Man":

"Society made me what I am. I blame society!"

And I rebut: "Bullshit! You're a white suburban punk just like me."

Otto's death in "Repo Man":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3b5Q7b8YXo

Sad!

blooalien says "My own personal "pet peeve" cliche phrase is anything that is "literally" (except it's really figurative) something. So many people for so very long have used "literally" to mean the literal opposite of it's actual meaning. "

That is called "illiteracy". Unfortunately it can be eliminated only by the tedious but necessary process of someone literate (you) politely instructing the illiterate about the proper use of each misused word, e.g., "literally". Takes time, human speed, worthwhile.

AlexeyBelov says "Why is this user still not banned?"

Perhaps b/c my history is not "full of this."?

But I have recently begun to use the term "TDS" b/c it describes handily a commonly recognized aberrant behavior. Also b/c it has gained some credence toward becoming a word in the English language. I expect "TDS" to be promoted soon into various dictionaries. Unfortunately that very acronym is already in use in medical scripts (prescriptions) for the Latin phrase "ter die sumendum," meaning "to be taken three times a day."

Which might cause some confusion, such as:

- Must TDS occur 3 times a day to be diagnosed properly?

- Must every good cultist practice TDS 3 times a day?

- etc.

That is something specific to shopping in a fabricated environment (e.g., a mall) I fail to see how that applies to buying a house/home.

blooalien says 2 days ago "I hate all you politics worshippers equally. You're the reason humanity has no future but extinction. Left, right, doesn't matter. You worship the cult leaders that only care about burning the Earth to the ground for money and power. Using the term "TDS" on people as you do remains a "useful tag" to easily identify you as a literal cultist. Grow another braincell to keep that other one company you cultist fucking clown. Fuck you very much."

Well, there you go. I couldn't have found a better example. Nice turn of phrase, that "cultist fucking clown". But your pessimism will likely motivate few listeners and your anger will drive them away. Perhaps you might examine the underpinnings of your beliefs to determine the source of your pessimism.

FWIW I don't worship anybody and, while I admire the gracefulness of your offer, especially given your anger, I must reply "No, thank you!". Perhaps you can find another, more willing recipient for your furious hard-on.

"high concentration vinegar"? You mean acetic acid? You'd have to be nuts to carry balloons of concentrated acetic acid.

This is a nonsensical, stupid and fruitless symbolic act. Why should someone be crippled, blinded or killed by their foolishness?

paywall.

Peter Zeihan predicts Germany will disappear by then:

https://zeihan.com/the-end-of-germany-as-a-modern-economy/

FTFA:

"Three unsolvable problems will lead to Germany’s collapse as a modern economy over 20 – 30 years."

blooalien says "Every single time someone mentions "TDS" all I can think is how much you sound like a literal cult member worshiping "Dear Leader".

And your post brings to mind how you sound like a literal leftist cult member worshiping brainless ideology and hate, i.e., spewing even more TDS.

As for the term "TDS": although a trigger for your cranial meltdown (such as it is), "TDS" remains a useful tag for a common behavior in liberals in everyday conversation.

Furthermore here you show how TDS arises and how TDS impairs your thought. Perhaps you should let go of the hate, exercise what little intellect remains engaged, plow through and attempt to digest others' statements, rather than insulting their mere words. After all, we have to read yours too.

Paywall.

Sorry Tom, but you definitely look older than your age!8-))

I've had two shingles shots: Zostavax and Shingrix. There's no reason you couldn't take either shot again. You might have to pay but no big deal.

I know people who've had shingles and it is not only a major PITA but can be life-threatening, can blind you, etc., just bad stuff. Don't delay taking advised precautions, including injections.

Regardless of price why buy junk?

You say "these companies don't have to compete anymore". How can you justify that statement? Do you have a reference/statistic/URL?

MOFs (Metal-Oxide-Frameworks) have been around since early 1990s, supposedly promise radical improvements (e.g., literally water in the desert) yet we see little implementation. Why?