Muse - Supermassive Black Hole

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole [Official Music Video]
Muse

I like the tune, the video is odd. It's 19 years old. Never heard it before.

Talk Talk

THE MUSIC MACHINE 📀 Talk Talk {Stereo} 1966
Smurfstools Oldies Music Time Machine

My keen insight of the day is that there are two kinds of people - those for whom what is said is more important than any real thing, and those for whom reality is more important than what people say. Since politics is just talk and has no connection to reality, it may be safely ignored.

Listen

Flip Ya Lid
Nightmares on Wax

I can only listen to people talking for an hour or two and then I need a break. But if I go too long without talking with anyone (like more than a few days) I fall into a slump where nothing much interests me.

One thing I find irritating in a recording is when you are in the middle of a tune and someone in the  recording starts speaking. I can be flowing along with the tune, and now somebody is telling me some useless information. Shut up and go away.

I tend to like original recordings, or more likely the first version I heard of a tune. Of course I most likely heard them on the car radio, and heard them multiple times because that was life back then. So once a tune got hammered into my head I always preferred that version and cover versions just didn't do it for me. Though I wonder if that might just be due to some tunes using esoteric methods (fuzz boxes for instance) and it was those tones more than the rhythm, melody, lyrics or singer's voice that did the trick. I'm thinking some kinds of songs are more readily covered and more widely accepted.

Walk

Yvonne Craig - Beautiful Walk
BatgirlAccess1

Via The Feral Irishman

Modern Life

A Quantum Mythology by Gavin Smith

I'm reading A Quantum Mythology by Gavin Smith, a book I picked up when we went to Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. We spent a day wandering around outside the hotel / casino. We stopped in a couple shops along the way but ended up at Fashion Show Las Vegas, a massive shopping complex about a mile south of the hotel. Sweetie went off to go shopping at Nordstrom's or some such while I looked around for a bookstore and, lo and behold, I found one - R. D. Talley. A small storefront, one woman at a desk, some freestanding bookshelves and some against the wall. I don't think there were more than a thousand books on display, or maybe two thousand. This was a little suspect, could this be one of those religious bookstores? Or worse yet, a front for a cult? No, it was none of that. Somebody had put together quite a selection of books. In ten minutes I had seen half a dozen books that might interest me. I go to Powell's now and again, but I can spend hours in there and come out with one book that might be worth reading. Anyway, the person who selected the books was the woman at the desk, and no, she is not R. D. Talley.

almost monday - can't slow down (official video)
almost monday

Anyway, I'm sitting outside in the sun, trying to make headway in the book and listening to an album by Almost Monday (seems they are going to be at the Crystal Ballroom this December, but the only seats available are 'obscured'. Or standing on the floor.) and I have to engage my Bluetooth speaker. 

I have the speaker sitting next to my computer display and facing the window, looking out into the backyard. When I am inside, the speaker gets the audio signal from the computer via an old fashioned stereo cable. When I want to listen to music outside, I switch the speaker to Bluetooth, open up the window and dial up YouTube Music on my Samsung (Android) smartphone.

Normally it works very well, but today for some reason, probably because I was already irritated with the toaster, I ham handed it and it got confused which necessitated cycling the power, which means I had to remember where the switch was and that one needs to hold the button down for like three seconds in order to turn it off. And now we are heading off down the 'how much worse everything is now' and 'why can't they put real switches on things anymore?' and goddamn commies.

Since we remodeled the house two years ago, half the light switches are now fancy. I've experimented with dimmers before, but I never found a situation where I was using one on a regular basis. Either the light is on or off. If it's too much, or too little, get a different light. Now it's a crap shoot what's going to happen when I hit a switch.

So now I'm thinking about electronic switches versus old time mechanical switches with real metal contacts. I went looking for a video mechanical contacts. I didn't find anything great, but I found these three short videos.

The Hidden Flaws of Relays | Contact Bounce & Arcing Explained
Engineeringness

Relay Contact Bounce — You Won’t Believe the Rattle! 😲📈
Uncle Duncan's Electronics Shack

Circuit breaker arcing in slow-mo! - shorts - slowmotion
Kishlay Patel

Like I said: So now I'm thinking about electronic switches versus old time mechanical switches with real metal contacts. When you open a mechanical switch, there is liable to be some arcing between the contacts, and amount of arcing depends on the voltage. Household voltages don't need much air to insulate them, only a fraction of a millimeter if it's clean air. When you close the switch, the contacts are liable to bounce. It may not be much, maybe a ten-thousandth of an inch, but they will separate and there will be some arcing. This is were you get the electromagnetic noise that interferes with the radio - you turn off a light or switch on the A/C compressor and you are going to hear it, like a pop on you AM radio, no matter what station you are tuned to. What I want to see is a high speed video of contacts bouncing and the corresponding noise in the electromagnetic spectrum, all in one video.

The Brave Little Toaster (1987) - VHS
Brian Emerick

The Brave Little Toaster

Evil screws and my solution

Meanwhile, the toaster. I bought it a three years ago from Amazon for $25 and it's been a great little toaster until the latch quit working. It's an electromagnetic latch, not a mechanical one, so no mechanical components to wear out. I rattled it around in case there were some crumbs blocking the magnet, but no luck. I found that I could keep it down by wedging a sharpening steel between the lever and the microwave shelf just above it. Set the microwave timer for two minutes thirty seconds and I have toast. Not the most elegant solution, so I put it on the workbench with intention of opening it up and seeing if I could remedy the problem. I look at the bottom and I see ten little screws apparently holding the plastic base to the sheet metal shell. Cool, it's put together with screws, they didn't weld it shut or use some invisbile snap fasteners. Screws I can deal with, until I look at the heads and realize I need a screwdriver with triangular bit to turn them. 

34pcs Security Bit Set

I ain't got one of those, but wait! Iowa Man gave me a pack-of-bits for dealing with security screws, surely there is a triangular bit in there. Unfortunately, that pack-of-bits is with my new Makita Drill and the drill is at older son's place. So I had to wait a week until he and I could get together and I could get the drill. That happened Saturday. Today got the notion to look at the toaster and what do you know? No triangular bit in the pack of security screw bits. Bah, double bah and humbug. What else have we got? I ended up using a small plastic screwdriver that likely came with some household do-dad and a small jeweler's screwdriver. The two together would just fit in the slot and I could turn the screw. I had to use a pair of pliers to turn them, some were very tight. Righteous pain in the tush. Got it open, didn't find anything that might be causing the problem, put it back together using Phillips head screws I found in my bin of sheet metal / wood screws. At first I found a nice set of black Torx screws that looked to be perfect for the job, they would not tighten up. I had to go up at least one full size, maybe two to get screws that would tighten up. And now it seems to be working.

P. S. When I started writing this I thought I bought the toaster a year ago for $7. Me memory is getting sloppy.

P. P. S. The book has at least three plot lines, some out of this world science fiction, some extreme magic and il y a beaucoup de violence. Probably going to take me a while.

Houses

A castle-style residence in Al Khadeb, West Bank, featuring sharply pitched tiled roofs, arched windows and distinctive stone detailing. (Regavim)

From a story on the Daily Wire:

Pimp My Palestinian Palace: West Bank Mansions Decked Out With Gaudy Marble Staircases, Private Pools

Evidently you don't have to live like a refugee. Cue Tom Petty:

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Refugee
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

A large Arab-owned mansion in Khirbet Zif, West Bank (Regavim)

A modern palace-style villa in Dir Samet in the Har Hebron region, West Bank. (Regavim)

A six-story, 19-balcony residence in Husan, West Bank, with marble columns, soaring ceilings, polished floors, and a grand marble staircase. (Regavim)

Arab-owned mansion in Shukba, West Bank (Regavim)

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

September 25, 2026

With Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq, unable to transport its oil, opened its doors to Syria. Thousands of oil tankers are now being sent to world markets via Syria by land.

Syrian Tankers en route to Iraq - Reuters/Orhan Qereman

The Cradle has the story:

Syria Opens Overland Fuel Transit Route To Iraq Amid Hormuz Closure

The video at top looks suspiciously like it was generated by AI, the photo looks real enough.

It seems they are shipping gasoline from Syria to Iraq and crude oil from Iraq to Syria. I wonder if they are using the same tanks for both.

Via Zerohedge

All of which is just an excuse to post this:

The Blues Brothers (1980) - Rawhide Scene (5/9) | Movieclips
Movieclips

Trouble Again

Northern Ireland Protestor

Aljazeera reports:

Northern Ireland protesters block Orange Order march into Catholic area

Thousands of protesters blocked a road leading into a Catholic area of Northern Ireland ahead of an Orange Order march permitted for the first time in 28 years, reviving a bitter marching dispute that was a major flashpoint during the Troubles.

The linked story is supposed to have a video, but it no worky. No matter, the blurb pretty much covers it all. Apparently nobody involved has learned anything. Or maybe hate is an essential family value. I'm beginning to think the two sides really deserve each other. At least the trouble is confined to a small area of Ireland so all the meatheads can concentrate there and leave the rest of country alone.

Anyway, it's an excuse to post this tune:

Grateful Dead - Casey Jones (Winterland 12/31/78)
Grateful Dead

Chicago Concert

Chicago - Saturday In The Park (1973)
MTVArchives

Went to the Chicago concert at the Hillsboro ballpark last night. A fine show. The crowd surprised me, though it shouldn't have, this is Oregon after all. In any case it seemed to have pulled all the old hippies out of the woodwork. Very different from what we saw in Las Vegas. Next time I go to a concert I need to remember to take the day off and rest up in advance of the evening festivities. I didn't and now I'm going to be resting up for days before I recover.

We bought tickets from StubHub and for the second time they failed to deliver. We ended up buying tickets at the gate. We should get a refund from Stubby brains. We shall see.

P. S. They sang 25 or 6 to 4. I recognized the tune, but that's all, so I'm trying to figure out what's going on with the numbers. I'm hearing 25 oh 6 2 4 and that's only six numbers. Is it because he forgot the last one, or maybe he didn't hear it? Or maybe it was the first one. That, at least, seems plausible. Wouldn't think he would miss a number in the middle, but I suppose if someone's drunk and it's late at night and they're in a hurry, it's basically a miracle he got six numbers. You only have to try each of the ten digits in seven places - 7 times 10 is 70. That's all, he just has to try 70 different numbers. Just hope she isn't using a satellite phone that has like 25 digits, that would change the situation. Anyway, those are my idle thoughts on matter. When I finally looked it up I found this:

". . . Lamm's dynamic but cryptic "25 or 6 to 4" (Chicago's first Top 5 hit), which is a reference to a songwriter trying to write at 25 or 26 minutes before 4 o'clock in the morning"

America

America Greatest Hits (Full Album) [Official Video]
RHINO

We flew to Las Vegas last weekend to see an America concert. The concert was fine, but Las Vegas is nuts. We stayed in a room on the 39th floor of the Resort Worlds Hilton. The room was pretty nice, but finding a place to eat at 9PM was a bit of a pain. There are probably a dozen restaurants on the main floor, but it's a long walk from one end to the other and we were already beat. There was a food court that looked like it might have some decent food, but you need to order off of touch screen that wants your name, your number, and a laundry list of bullshit. Or you could use the app on your phone. Fuck that. We already tried using the phone to check in and that did not work at all. We ended up at the Dawg House where giant burgers were $20 and beers were $15. There was a giant (30 feet wide?) TV screen showing a football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Detroit Lions. What the heck is this? I am used to people watching sporting events involving teams the people care about. Did we have a big influx of people from the midwest? No, dummy, nobody here cares about the teams, all they care about it whether they can beat the odds and win some money. And of course, most of them won't. The only winner is the house, but they still manage to suck in a zillion fools every day.

Modern Day Typographer - Elle Cordova

Modern Day Typographer - Elle Cordova
Elle Cordova

The world of typography is full of crazy people. Fortunately they are mostly harmless. I just use the default font except when I am writing code, then I use Courier, which seems to be only fixed pitch font that is generally available. I've never heard of Consolas.

Tree Top Flyer

Tree Top Flyer OEF 11-13 C Troop 6-6 Cavalry
Dick Beaters

Money

Not even Pink Floyd performed this intro live
sina-drums

Cool tune. I especially like the intro.

All Hail The Algorithm

Leningrad Cowboys - These Boots by Aki Kaurismäki [High Quality]
Leningrad Cowboys

I don't know what caused this to popup on YouTube, but I'm glad it did. Aki Olavi Kaurismäki is a Finnish filmmaker.

The Decemberists

When The War Came
TheDecemberists

I'm reading a story about a new Russian play about The Decemberists. Okay, but who are the Decemberists? Google knows:

A Decembrist refers to one of the liberal Russian noblemen and military officers who led an unsuccessful uprising against Emperor Nicholas I in December 1825. Inspired by Enlightenment ideals and Western European reforms, these revolutionaries sought to abolish serfdom and establish a constitutional government in Russia.

The term has expanded over time into a metaphor for someone willing to sacrifice personal comfort, privilege, or status for a greater political or social cause.

The 1825 Uprising
Following the sudden death of Tsar Alexander I, there was a confusing succession crisis. Taking advantage of the chaos, a group of about 3,000 officers and soldiers gathered in Senate Square in St. Petersburg on December 26, 1825. They refused to swear allegiance to the new Tsar, Nicholas I, and instead called for the accession of his brother Constantine and the creation of a constitution.The rebellion was quickly suppressed by forces loyal to the Tsar. In the aftermath, the leaders were executed and hundreds of other conspirators were imprisoned or exiled to the harsh climates of Siberia.

Historical Impact
Despite its failure, the revolt became a foundational myth in Russian history. The martyred Decembrists became a powerful source of inspiration for succeeding generations of Russian dissidents and revolutionaries throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Cultural References
The name has since been adopted by modern entities, most notably the indie folk band The Decemberists. Frontman Colin Meloy chose the name to draw on both the historical drama of the 1825 uprising and the general melancholy associated with the month of December.

Did The Decemberists sing any songs about Russia? Yes, they did:

Yes, The Decemberists sing the song "When the War Came" (from their 2006 album The Crane Wife), which is explicitly set in Russia. The song tells the true story of the agricultural scientists and botanists at the Vavilov Institute in Leningrad during World War II. To protect a massive, priceless seed bank from being eaten by the starving, besieged population, the scientists made a pact to guard the seeds and tragically starved to death in the process.

 The Decemberists are famous (in my mind) for The Mariner's Revenge Song.

Boogie Belgique - Forever and Ever

Boogie Belgique - Forever and Ever (Official Music Video)
Boogie Belgique

Cool tune. Video appears to be San Francisco traffic circa 1970. Also cool.

Urban Hike

Maynard Ferguson - Gonna fly now - Mike Douglas Show 1977
4greatmf

The Adaptive Curmugeon has a fine story about urban hiking wherein he mentions the above tune.

The Curmudgeon’s Urban Hike: Part 2

Amerimacka - The Cosmic Game

Amerimacka - The Cosmic Game
Thievery Corporation

I really like the horns that play early on then again at the 4 minute mark.

I'm thinking that everything we have built are all devices to expand the reach of the most savage animals on the planet. Humans, shoot, all living things are almost infinitely complex. No matter how much we have learned about the human body, we have only scratched the surface. Everything we have figured out is like a cheat code to get us past some obstacle. Someday, maybe, we will understand it all, but I suspect it will be more than one person can comprehend. We might need a hive mind to be able to really understand it all. Some people might be okay with being a member of hive mind, but I suspect most people won't be. Or maybe I overestimate the desire for independent thought.

I've been hearing the argument about capitalism versus socialism since forever. It occurs to me that the big problem with capitalism is that it makes no provision for anyone but the winners. As we develop new technologies, all those who learned a trade under the old ways will find themselves out of a job. Some of the new kids will learn the new ways and be incorporated into the capitalist hive, but because they are more productive, the hive won't need as many of them, so all the excluded are going to be pushed out to the edges. Problem lately is that productivity has been improving faster so we have new waves of technology constantly rolling over the landscape. These wave went from 10,000 years (think fire and ax) to 1,000 years (stone buildings) to 100 years (sailing ships) to ten years (rockets and satellites) to one year (smart phones) to monthly (I can barely keep up) to daily (I'm swamped) to hourly (we're all swept away).

All this talk getting rid of billionaires isn't helping. Take a billion dollars from one person and distribute it to ten million people and each person gets $100, which might buy a tank of gas and, if you're lucky, a six pack of beer. And a week later, where are you? Howling for another billionaire. You would need 50 billionaires to get everyone $100 a week for a year. That ain't gonna work.

We've seen that welfare doesn't really work. Giving money to the poor has just given us a permanent underclass. The biggest problem is that it is very difficult to organize a group of people into a productive operation. The problem is not that we have a shortage of organizers. We have plenty of organizers doing non-productive things, like running scam calling centers, or defrauding the government. To build a productive organization you need an idea that is a least plausible, and someone who is willing to take the gamble that it will pay off. It might work out and it might not, but someone has to be willing to try.

But all this fussing about jobs and housing and war is just avoiding the elephant in the room - the umpteen zillion old folks on social security and Medicare. All I can see is that inflation is going to continue to increase. I suspect it might be ten years before the rate starts going up monthly. About then the rate will start going up exponentially and within months we'll be using trillion dollar bank notes to buy groceries. That's when people will start using the Chinese Yen or Crypto-bit strings.

Boston - More Than a Feeling)

Boston - More Than a Feeling (Official HD Video)
Boston

Heard this in the car this afternoon, can't remember the last time I heard it. From 1976 if you are counting.

FC Kahuna - Hayling

FC Kahuna - Hayling [Official Video]
Skint Records