 |
| Oradea, Romania |
 |
| Union Square Oradea, Romania |
 |
| Oradea, Romania |
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
57 Chevy
Land of 10,000 Stories: Man drives $75 pickup to work for 38 years
KARE 11
Not everything is rotten in Minnesota. You may have heard about the ginormous Somali fraud investigation going on in Minnesota. I suspect most of the fraud is found in Minneapolis, not out in places like Prinsburg out in the western boondocks. Wikipedia has this to say about Prinsburg politics:
The last Republican candidate for president to receive less than 82% of the vote in Prinsburg was Gerald Ford in 1976.
 |
| Prinsburg Minnesota |
Cuban Rum
 |
| Havana Club Rum |
Guy I used to work with showed up at lunch today and told us this story about the time he went to Cuba ten, maybe twenty years ago. He went with a Cuban friend of his who wanted him to bring back some Cuban rum as it was really cheap, like $7 for a liter. So he stopped at the duty free shop and picked up a couple of liters and they wrapped them all up in official looking red tape and he got on the plane. He got to Miami and his flight to Dallas was delayed so much that he when he got to Dallas he found his flight to Portland had already left. The airline offered to put him up in a hotel, but what's he going to do with these two bottles of liquor? This was before the TSA, so he had just carried them on the plane in Havana. He didn't have any checked luggage, so he was kind of in a dilemma. If he left the airport, they wouldn't let him bring the liquor back in, so he's desperately trying to figure out what to do. He could buy a suitcase and send them as checked luggage, but that would have meant paying the airline $30 to check a bag, which kind of defeats the whole purpose. He asks the guy at the airline counter and he asks the cashier at the knick-knack store, but they can't help him. Then he spots the chapel. There is nobody there and there is a cupboard in the back of the room, so he stashes the bottles there. He spends the night in the hotel and when he returns the next day he finds that the bottles are still there, so he picks them up and is on his way.
As I was writing this, I realized that the only way that this story makes any sense is if he didn't leave the secure area of the airport in Miami. He would have had to clear customs there, but he might not have left the secure area. But it's also weird that Cuban security would let him on the airplane with two bottles of hooch, and he was concerned that American security wouldn't.
Drone Attack
 |
| Drone Attack Area shone is maybe 500 miles from top to bottom |
Russia claims that Ukraine launched almost 100 drones in an attack on Putin's residence in Novogrod. They also claim they destroyed all those drones before they reached their target.
I have no evidence of any of this. I will say it seems plausible, both that Ukraine launched such an attack and that they were foiled.
No, the reason I am posting this is because of the map. The map originally posted on RT is all in Russian. I couldn't make any sense of it, though I suspect that the big city in the upper right quadrant is Moscow. But I fed the link to Google and Google offered to translate it for me, so I said go ahead, and that's the image we have above. Ukraine does not appear in this map. Note the label on the big city in this translated version.
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Einstein Tile
 |
| Einstein Tile |
Discovery of Elusive ‘Einstein’ Tile Raises More Questions Than It Answers
David Smith, a math hobbyist in Yorkshire, England, has discovered a 13-sided shape that eluded mathematicians for decades. The craggy, hatlike shape is called an “einstein,” based on the German for “one stone.” If you used einstein-shaped tiles to cover your bathroom floor—or any flat surface, even if infinitely large—they would fit together perfectly but never form a repeating pattern. For decades mathematicians have been hunting for tile shapes like these that can form only nonrepeating arrangements, called aperiodic tilings. They started with sets of many different tiles: the first set, discovered in 1964, required 20,426 distinct tiles, which was later simplified to 103. By 1974 mathematician Roger Penrose had found two tile shapes that, when combined in a mosaic, never formed a repeating pattern.
Someone ought to make some jigsaw puzzles using this pattern. Shoot, someone ought to make Einstein floor tiles.
Break Einstein into two words (Ein stein) and Google says it is 'a stone'.
Via Dennis
The Star That Keeps Getting Weirder
The Star That Keeps Getting Weirder
The Science Asylum
Today's Peloton video. I've been trying to spend time on the Peloton since my left hip put a stop to long walks. I've only made 22 rides since I started in July of this year, but I've been doing better lately: 11 rides this month.
I like this video because he explains all the obscure astronomer jargon, and he also provides comprehendible scales for all the units, like mass, orbit, and time. In this case, time is the most significant one.
Monday, December 29, 2025
1921 Raleigh 700cc Flat Twin
 |
| 1921 Raleigh 700cc Flat Twin |
From the other side you can better see the layout of the engine:
 |
| Raleigh 1921 Flat twin 700 cc 2 cyl sv |
William Comery, Raleigh’s chief engineer and Works manager, developed a luxury machine that had many novel features.It had a longitudinally placed flat twin side valve engine with outside flywheel, fully enclosed all-chain transmission, Brampton Biflex front forks and leaf sprung rear frame.Between 1917 and 1919 tests were carried out with a prototype and in November 1919 the definitive model was presented to the eager public.Engine capacity was increased to 698 cc (the prototype had 654 cc) and the gearbox housing was now an integral part of the frame.Another interesting feature of this Raleigh is that it has twin springs to each valve to ensure efficient cam profile following. - Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles
Resurrecting Old Tape Recordings
How a beef jerky machine saved a lost 1980s dance music classic from oblivion!
creativeplanets
That's the problem with all this new fangled technology, it can't stand the test of time.We should be carving our records in stone, the way the ancients did it, and we have their records, don't we?
Immigrant Song
 |
| Immigrant Song |
If this doesn't ring a bell, go to the 20 second mark:
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song (Music Video & Remix) 4K
Steve Peavey Films
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Buzkashi
Buzkashi, the sport that uses dead goats as the ball, a breakdown
Jomboy Media
Aljazeera got me started.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery - Netflix Movie
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix
Cast:
Jawa 500 OHV Rumpál
 |
| Jawa 500 OHV Rumpál |
The Jawa 500 OHV became the very first motorcycle of the new Jawa company in 1929. It is a copy of the Wanderer 500 from the German company Wanderer. The name 'Jawa' was derived from the combination of the names “Janeček” and “Wanderer”.
Features:
- shaft drive
- front leaf spring
- single cylinder but dual exhaust
- external valve springs
- drum brake mounted on the transmission
Just over a thousand units produced between 1929 and 1931.
Jawa 500 OHV rumpal 1929
motoveteran.cz
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Our best experimental mods all in one engine - what will happen?
Our best experimental mods all in one engine - what will happen?
Garage 54
These guys are always doing weird stuff, like putting wooden pistons in an engine. I have to give them credit for trying things. This one is a little more conventional, mostly just cleaning and rebuilding an engine. I'm not sure lightening the crank and flywheel really gained them anything, we aren't building a race car here, and I wonder what became of the crankshaft's balance. Whatever, it didn't seem to affect the engine that much. But the modifications to the camshaft (7:40 mark) is some real third world shit, like something you would see on MacGyver.
I can't listen to the audio, it's dubbed and it just grates. I turn off the audio and read the subtitles. There's a lot of filler, so I tend to skip ahead ten seconds at a time by using the right arrow key.
Gifted vs. Bright
A retired elementary school teacher sent me this. Schopenhauer could have used this.
Gifted vs. Bright: Understanding the DifferenceWhile bright children possess a strong foundation in academic skills and a keen interest in learning, gifted learners exhibit unique traits that extend beyond typical academic achievement.
| BRIGHT CHILD | GIFTED LEARNER |
|---|---|
| Knows the answer | Asks the questions |
| Is interested | Is highly curious |
| Is attentive | Is mentally and physically involved |
| Has good ideas | Has wild and silly ideas |
| Works hard | Plays around yet tests well |
| Answers the questions | Discusses in detail, elaborates |
| Top group | Beyond the group |
| Listens with interest | Shows strong feelings and opinions |
| Learns with ease | Already knows |
| 6-8 repetitions for mastery | 1-2 repetitions for mastery |
| Understands | Constructs abstractions |
| Enjoys peers | Prefers adults |
| Grasps meanings | Draws inferences |
| Completes projects | Initiates projects |
| Is receptive | Is intense |
| Copies accurately | Creates new designs |
| Enjoys school | Enjoys learning |
| Absorbs information | Manipulates information |
| Technician | Inventor |
| Good memorizer | Good guesser |
| Enjoys straightforward, sequential presentations | Thrives on complexity |
| Is alert | Is keenly observant |
| Is pleased with own learning | Is highly self-critical |
Kaohsiung Music Center
 |
| Kaohsiung Music Center |
The Kaohsiung Music Center is on the Ciajhen harbor in southwest Taiwan. I got onto it from this photo from Aljazeera:
 |
| Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes [File: I-Hwa Cheng/AFP] |
 |
| Taiwan |
The Asset - Netflix Series
The Asset | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix
Our girl, Tea, has been enrolled in the police academy and has been doing well when she is inexplicably booted out. Waiting for her is Folke, a grossly overweight detective from the narcotics division. He offers her a job going undercover to nab Marin, Denmark's biggest cocaine dealer. If this job goes well, he tells her, maybe she can be reinstated with the police. Oh yeah, our last agent was killed on the job. Doesn't sound promising, but she doesn't have much else going on in her life besides her attendance at an Alcoholics (or Narcotics) Anonymous weekly meetings.
The detective's plan is for our girl to worm her way into Ashley's (Miran's girlfriend) inner circle and then maybe she can pick up clues as to what the boyfriend is up to. To this end they set her up with a high end jewelry store, evidently they are really serious about this.
In short order we learn that Marin is deadly serious about his business, as you would expect, so everything our girl does with fraught with danger.
| Actor Name | Character Name | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Clara Dessau | Tea Lind | A washed-out police cadet who goes undercover as a luxury jeweler to get close to Ashley. |
| Maria Cordsen | Ashley | The girlfriend of Denmark's biggest cocaine dealer (Miran) and an unwitting informant for Tea. |
| Afshin Firouzi | Miran | Denmark's most powerful cocaine dealer and Ashley's boyfriend. |
| Nicolas Bro | Folke | The director of the special unit (PET) who recruits Tea for the undercover mission. |
| Arian Kashef | Bambi | Miran's volatile younger brother, whose violent mistakes contribute to the empire's downfall. |
| Soheil Bavi | Yasin | One of the agents involved in the surveillance and handling of Tea's mission. |
| Lara Ly Melic Skovgaard | Sofia | Ashley's young daughter. |
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
