Shared posts

08 Mar 06:09

Barbie clothes hangers

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

Oh my god


Presumably crafted in the aftermarket from discarded dolls rather than being a primary product.  Via Awful Taste but Great Execution.
08 Mar 06:06

Russian TV staff walk out after saying "No to war"

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

This bit:

>>> The station then cut to some old footage from the ballet Swan Lake, an ironic gesture to the films that Soviet state television had once routinely broadcast when news was censored...

is interesting because I had heard that they had broadcast Swan Lake, but not why.


As reported in The Guardian:
Two Sundays ago I wrote in the Observer about the last remaining Russian independent TV station, Dozhd (“TV Rain”), and the irrepressible spirit of Natalya Sindeyeva, the woman who pioneered and ran it. Keeping the station alive had cost Sindeyeva her home and her marriage and her health and her security. A dozen years ago when she launched Dozhd she had been a vivid Russian celebrity, a “dancing queen” of Moscow’s elite party circuit, now her mugshot is posted on street corners as a “foreign agent”. The defiant struggles of Dozhd to stay on air and to continue to report the truth in Russia despite years of intimidation and sanction from the Kremlin were the subject of an inspiring documentary, “F@ck This Job (Tango with Putin)”, made by London-based Vera Krichevskaya, which was released in the UK last week and broadcast on the BBC.

A few days after “F@ck this Job” came out, on Friday, the decade-long defiance of Dozhd was silenced, at least for a while, by a brutal new law, passed unanimously in the Russian parliament, which bans news organisations from reporting anything except state approved press releases (it is now illegal for any broadcaster to call events in Ukraine, for example, “a war”). The new legislation, which has also caused the BBC and most other news organisations to suspend its reporting in Russia, will see journalists and media owners who contravene it jailed for up to 15 years. BBC director general Tim Davie said the law “appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism”. Its most chilling effects have been felt among the few surviving liberal Russian media outlets like Dozhd and Novaya Gazeta, whose editor, Dmitry Muratov, winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced that the paper’s website had been forced to remove all of its material on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying “there is no doubt that the threat [of prosecution] will be realised”...

For their last broadcast Sindeyeva joined the entire news team in front of the camera to say goodbye to viewers. “No to war,” she said, as a farewell, with a bleak smile. The station then cut to some old footage from the ballet Swan Lake, an ironic gesture to the films that Soviet state television had once routinely broadcast when news was censored...

All the talk between journalists, Elovsky said, was how to effectively erase media histories from phones and computers in light of the new law. “It feels like an iron curtain is returning,” he said.
Much more at The Guardian.  Shame on Donald Trump and all U.S. politicians who support the autocratic rule in Russia.
01 Mar 21:20

MLB pushes labor-deal deadline to Tuesday for March 31 start

SpinnyNuNu

Gawdammit. I need baseball to come back.

Major League Baseball extended its deadline for reaching a labor deal to Tuesday at 5 p.m. for salvaging opening day as scheduled on March 31.

01 Mar 17:51

"Have some sunflower seeds"

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

I am not nearly as brave as the Ukrainian people.


A civilian woman confronted a heavily armed Russian soldier and offered him sunflower seeds... so that flowers will grow where he dies on Ukrainian soil.

The rest of her rant is recorded in this brief video (caution: profanity).


Relevant:  Just learned that sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine.
01 Mar 17:47

Comfy chair

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

I’m not sure how I feel about this. It’s kinda creepy


Image cropped for size from the original at the Awful Taste but Great Execution subreddit.
27 Feb 22:47

Delicious Gazpacho

by Season Liberally
SpinnyNuNu

Lol at looking for Nancy Pelosi’s recipe for gazpacho

I heart Cecil

Today we make a wonderful gazpacho. We see that it has been a hashtag this week so we wanted to share our recipe.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b26r9qruqei98p8/Gazpacho%20Recipe.pdf?dl=0
27 Feb 22:42

A semiautomatic long rifle designed for children

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

What the actual fuck

Last month, the JR-15, or Junior 15, debuted at the SHOT Show, billed as the nation’s largest annual trade show for the sport shooting, hunting, and outdoor industry. The event is organized by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a firearms industry trade association. The rifle is manufactured by WEE1 Tactical, an offshoot of Schmid Tool and Engineering, which has sold AR-15 components for 30 years. A November press release from WEE1 specifically notes the JR-15’s appeal to children: “Our vision is to develop a line of shooting platforms that will safely help adults introduce children to the shooting sports,” it reads. To do that, it’s built a gun whose “ergonomics are geared towards children”: it’s lighter than an adult version, at 2.2 pounds, 20% smaller, and with a patented safety mechanism, not standard on AR-15s, which needs to be pulled out “with some force” and rotated before it can fire. Slight tweaks aside, the company boasts that it “operates just like Mom and Dad’s gun.”...

The JR-15 is a .22 caliber rifle, meaning it takes bullets of  a .22-inch diameter; .22 caliber rifles are common as starter rifles because their shots are slightly slower than the cartridges used in an AR-15, with lower recoil—less painful for little shoulders. But, says Busse, to tout a .22 as safe is a myth. (The NRA brushes it off as never “a hard-hitter.”) It’s still a semi-automatic rifle that most would consider an assault weapon. “Believe me, you do not want to get shot with a .22,” he says. “To say that they’re nonlethal—that’s a joke.”

Specifications aside, the appeal to children is clear: WEE1’s colorful logo comprises two skulls, depicted as a little boy and girl, sucking on pacifiers, and with a gun sight over one eye. The branding “keeps the wow factor with the kids”; the logos come on glow-in-the-dark children’s baseball caps, too...

More families used to teach children to hunt; nowadays, “getting up early and sitting in duck blind” is not the norm for kids, Sugarmann says. In 1997, 33% of households had hunters, down to 17% in 2018. That also means a decline in gun ownership, of 32% in that period. So the industry has carved out other routes to drive up sales: focusing more on self-defense, protection of freedoms, and targeting youths—in an effort to secure the next generation of political pro-gun advocates.
Additional information and commentary at Fast Company.
27 Feb 22:41

Remember what Hawkeye said in a "Mash" episode

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
Hawkeye: War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.

Father Mulcahy: How do you figure that, Hawkeye?

Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?

Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe.

Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them — little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander.
Quote found in a discussion thread at Reddit that includes commentary on war crimes.
23 Feb 17:20

Brach’s has new taco-flavored jelly beans for Easter candy

SpinnyNuNu

Beef taco jellybeans?

Brach’s just introduced new Late Night Taco Truck Jelly Beans, and it includes six different flavors: Margaritas, Churro, Salsa, Guacamole, Beef Taco and Horchata.

08 Feb 20:10

How to Get Teenagers to Read Important Books? Ban Them.

SpinnyNuNu

This works on kids of all ages. When my son was little, I refused to have Barney in my house. The ridiculous purple dinosaur annoyed the hell out of me.

Apparently, he used to watch it on the down low because he figured it must be great if mama didn’t want him to watch it.

When I was a young teenager near the middle of the last century, I asked the high school librarian...
26 Jan 21:18

We're living in the "information age"

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
25 Jan 17:38

Wordle Crochet Pattern

by Sarah White
SpinnyNuNu

Wordle has even invaded the crochet arena.

If you’ve been on social media at all this year you have probably seen posts about the word game called Wordle. If you haven’t, it’s a game where you try to guess the day’s five-letter word within six guesses. When you make a guess it tells you which letters are correct.

The squares light up in gray, yellow and green as you guess to give you hints for your next guess (gray means the letter is not in the word, yellow it is in the word but you have it in the wrong place, and green is the correct letter in the correct spot).

Ham and Eggs designed a little Wordle character showing a Wordle board at the end of the game. You could make your own to commemorate one of your games, or just use the pattern suggested.

This would be a great of the moment Valentine’s Day gift for the Wordle lover in your life!

Grab the free pattern from Ravelry.

[Photo: Ham and Eggs.]

24 Dec 16:02

District confirms people wearing swastikas in social media posts are Wheatland students

SpinnyNuNu

Oh good. This is 20 minutes north of us.

A Yuba County school district confirmed Thursday that Wheatland Union High School students are those depicted in social media posts featuring swastikas that have circulated online.

20 Dec 01:01

No-Bake Birthday Cake Cheesecake

by laura
SpinnyNuNu

“No bake”

First step is to bake the crust.

Birthdays are one of the most special days we celebrate each year. So, why not do it with a bang! Celebrate this year with an easy but delicious No-Bake Birthday Cake Cheesecake.

Ingredients:

1 tube of Sugar Cookie Dough

16 oz. of Cream Cheese (softened)

1 tub of Cool Whip

1 teaspoon of Vanilla

1 tablespoon of Butter

1/2 of a cup of Sugar

1 small container of Multi-Colored Sprinkles

Directions:

Start by pressing your sugar cookie dough into the bottom of a cheesecake pan, and bake according to package instructions.

Let cool and chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese and butter until smooth.

Add in sugar and vanilla, and blend on high until smooth.

Add in cool whip and gently mix by hand until well blended.

Next, add in 3/4 of the container of sprinkles and mix by hand.

Remove cheesecake pan from fridge and fill with cheesecake filling.

Smooth out the top with the round side of a metal spoon.

Chill in the fridge for 3 hours, until firmly set.

Top with leftover sprinkles, and slice. Serve and enjoy!

Get the balloons, streamers, and your No-Bake Birthday Cake Cheesecake for the celebration of the year!

No-Bake Birthday Cake Cheesecake

No-Bake Birthday Cake Cheesecake
Print

A birthday only comes once a year so make sure you celebrate it to the fullest. Make this moist and super easy cheesecake for the best celebration ever. Topped with rainbow sprinkles and just set in the fridge to set, what could be easier?

Ingredients

  • 1 tube of Sugar Cookie Dough
  • 16 oz. of Cream Cheese (softened)
  • 1 tub of Cool Whip
  • 1 teaspoon of Vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon of Butter
  • 1/2 of a cup of Sugar
  • 1 small container of Multi-Colored Sprinkles

Instructions

  1. Start by pressing your sugar cookie dough into the bottom of a cheesecake pan, and bake according to package instructions.
  2. Let cool and chill in fridge after cooled while you prepare filling.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together cream cheese and butter until smooth.
  4. Add in sugar and vanilla, and blend on high until smooth.
  5. Add in cool whip and gently mix by hand until well blended.
  6. Next, add in 3/4 of the container of sprinkles and mix by hand.
  7. Remove cheesecake pan from fridge and fill with cheesecake filling.
  8. Smooth out the top with the round side of a metal spoon.
  9. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours, until firmly set.
  10. Top with left over sprinkles, and slice.
  11. Serve and enjoy!
© marta
Category: Cakes

The post No-Bake Birthday Cake Cheesecake appeared first on CheekyKitchen.

14 Dec 22:39

'Shock to the system': Dermatologist says COVID-19 can lead to excessive hair loss

SpinnyNuNu

Tangentially related, I came across this article that is relevant to me and my thinning hair:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/11/pandemic-hair-loss-treatment-products/620696/

If you're dealing with this, Dr. Jim Shehan said that stress elimination is crucial in reducing the effects.

14 Dec 21:47

Channeling "Squid Game" in South Dakota

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

I hate what this country prioritizes spending money on

Ten teachers were selected for a Dash for Cash giveaway at a junior hockey league game on Saturday night in Sioux Falls, S.D., enticed by the opportunity to make extra money for classroom improvements.

At the signal, the educators got down on their knees and frantically scooped up as much currency as they could. They stuffed the bills into their shirts as the crowd murmured.

The giveaway — organized by the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League, in conjunction with CU Mortgage Direct, a local lending company — was swiftly and widely criticized as being demeaning to teachers...

In a statement posted on the team’s website on Monday afternoon, the Stampede and CU Mortgage Direct apologized and said that they would give an additional $500 to each of the teachers who competed in the event and to the 21 educators who were not selected. In total, they pledged to contribute an additional $15,500 to area teachers.

“Although our intent was to provide a positive and fun experience for teachers, we can see how it appears to be degrading and insulting towards the participating teachers and the teaching profession as a whole,” the statement said. “We deeply regret and apologize to all teachers for any embarrassment this may have caused.”

Reynold F. Nesiba, a Democratic state senator from Sioux Falls and a professor at Augustana University, said on Monday that while the organizers of the giveaway were “well intended,” the event was ill-conceived.

“It just seems insulting and absurd to have teachers doing an event like this to raise a few hundred dollars for their classrooms,” Mr. Nesiba said. “It also seems disrespectful to the teachers. What other profession would be asked to fund-raise this way?”
The story continues at The New York Times.
14 Dec 21:44

Victorian era leather and velvet boots

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

Ooooooooh, pretty


From the Twitter thread for the Bata Shoe Museum.  Obviously handmade and bespoke, described as "Swedish or German, c1890s."
05 Dec 18:12

One person is dead after an accidental shooting at a 911 dispatch center

SpinnyNuNu

>>> They grew up together and shared the hobby of casual gun trading.

WTF is “casual gun trading”?

Also, who do you call when there’s an incident at the 911 call center? Surely not 911.

The incident occurred when two dispatchers were trading firearms and one of the weapons was accidentally discharged.

18 Nov 01:42

"Irrigation dog"

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

Dogs with jobs


The dog would make a great companion for this guy.
17 Nov 18:19

'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley sentenced to 41 months in prison for role in US Capitol riot

SpinnyNuNu

Not nearly long enough

The Justice Department had asked for Chansley to receive a harsh sentence as a way to set an example among the Jan. 6 rioters.

16 Nov 06:01

A timely quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

Nothing ever changes.

“We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know we know they are lying too, they of course know that we certainly know they know we know they are lying too as well, but they are still lying. In our country, the lie has become not just moral category, but the pillar industry of this country.”
Timely when Solzhenitsyn was quoted in The Observer in 1974.  And timely now.
12 Nov 21:30

A Taiwanese blue magpie

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

Pretty


No useful info at the via, but I like to end my blogging day with an awesome photo (cropped for size).
05 Nov 17:32

Stone mask

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

This thing is horrifying and it’s going to haunt my dreams.

"With their vacant eyes and enigmatic, toothy expressions, the 9,000-year-old stone masks from the area around the southern Judean desert are among the region’s most compelling and distinctive artefacts. Adding to that is their rarity: only 15 examples are known to exist. So, when the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) recently announced the discovery of a 16th stone mask, it grabbed the attention of archaeologists and the public alike—but also revived a simmering discussion on the authenticity of these unique objects.

The newly discovered mask shares many characteristics of the others found to date. These include a human-size face of soft, carved limestone with large openings for eyes, a defined mouth, and holes drilled around its circumference. The holes lead some researchers to suggest that the masks were designed to be tied to a face or an object."
01 Nov 18:17

Twins from the Gaza strip

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

The last paragraph broke my fucking heart.


Posted as a reminder of how trivial the role of melanin production should be in the overall scheme of human relationships.

I found the image on Reddit without a source, so I suspected it might be spurious, but a TinEye reverse image search yielded the primary article from 2016, which has numerous photos of the girls.  Here is part of the source text translated:
As you stand in front of two small angels, you are drawn to the beautiful and even extravagant features of the beauty of the divine creation, and you do not believe when you learn the relationship between them.

The twins, Baraa and Israa, from the Gaza Strip, suffered from people's looks and questions, due to the different color of their skin.

The father of the twins, Etaf Al-Habal, said that the difference in the color of their skin was shocking to him, so he thought that Esraa had been replaced in the delivery room, until his memory came back to his dark-skinned brother as his uncle, who is blond as his mother, adding that the family carries genetic genes for brunettes. And blondes.

He added, "When I saw them for the first time, I thought that they were not sisters, and that they were switched in the delivery room until I was sure that my wife was the only one to give birth on that day, and there is no one else in the hospital."

Al-Habl stressed that the difference in the skin color of both Baraa and Israa is mainly caused by the genetics of their ancestors, in addition to the fact that they were in two separate sacs inside their mother’s womb, and that the percentage of blonde skin is high in their family compared to brown skin.

The two girls, Esraa and Baraa, emphasized that despite their different skin color, they are related to each other, and they behave in the same manner and wear the same clothes, even as they are similar in the way they sleep and walk.

Al-Habl said that the difference remains in academic achievement, as the twins are among the top achievers in school. However, Israa was a year behind Baraa because she was hit by three shrapnel in her head, neck and foot, and although she has recovered, she still suffers from foot pain as she is receiving treatment. periodically.
01 Nov 14:27

A vampire overslept on this bench this morning

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

Too bad he wasn’t the sparkly variety


Image cropped for size from the original hereReposted from 2018 for Halloween 2021.
29 Oct 18:03

PETA calls on MLB to change the term ‘bullpen’ to ‘arm barn’

The nonprofit organization changed its name on Twitter to Arm Barn.

29 Oct 17:58

Poll: 27% of surveyed parents plan to immediately vaccinate their young children

SpinnyNuNu

27%?!? That’s really depressing

>>> while 66% cited concerns over the vaccine impacting their child's future fertility

*bangs head on desk*

As California prepares to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 through 11, a new survey shows notable hesitancy among parents to get their kids the shot.

29 Oct 17:42

A glass shortage could impact your access to wine

SpinnyNuNu

Not if I drink Bota Box or Kirkland box wine. I’m not fancy.

It may be harder to find your favorite adult beverage.

19 Oct 19:04

Slow-motion moth flight

by noreply@blogger.com (Minnesotastan)
SpinnyNuNu

Where do I get these pretty moths? All we have here are boring white and brown moths.


Fascinating to watch.  It always amazes me how a creature that has spent its entire life crawling around on a plant can then come out of a cocoon and know how to do this.

I have previously featured life cycles of two of these moths in TYWKIWDBI: the Polyphemus in 2012, and the Virginia Tiger Moth in 2010.

Via Kottke, who notes that "the rest of Smith’s AntLab videos are worth looking through ."
15 Oct 17:31

WHOA! Nearly 100 rattlesnakes found in den underneath California home

SpinnyNuNu

Nuke it from orbit

An expert said droughts were likely to blame, as rattlesnakes will seek out areas where there's water as they look for lizards and rodents.