Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 5:23:59 AM

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From yesterday: an article that points out Putin probably has enough on Biden to prevent any action to prevent him from taking over Ukraine

Give Hunter Biden's dealings, Xi probably has enough to prevent Biden from doing anything to prevent China from taking over Taiwan, too.

One interesting note is the article suggests the Steele dossier was originally aimed at getting Biden to drop out of the 2016 primary; some of it (like the "golden showers") makes more sense if it is about Hunter than Trump.

Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 5:30:05 AM

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Athens, Greece; the Buffalo of the Mediterranean.

https://elpais.com/internacional/2022-01-25/la-nieve-colapsa-atenas-donde-solo-permanecen-abiertos-supermercados-gasolineras-y-farmacias.html

(Play the video)

lucius septimius 1/26/2022 6:08:36 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 2:

I'll go home and pack a parka

You'll get your thermal hose and away we'll wend

Off we're gonna shuffle-uffle-uffle off to cold Athens

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 6:42:19 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 2:

So that's the global warming I've been hearing so much about...

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 7:04:55 AM

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NPR was babbling this morning about likely power-grid outages due to heat/"climate change" in Tofu Tempeh, Arizona, and that city's anticipatory preparations for same.  The city is planning to build communal "coolilng areas," where people can go to beat the heat.

Several problems with an idea like that.  First, wouldn't such "cooling areas" require the same power that the city is expecting to fail---which would mean that the cooling mechanisms of these facilities would also fail?  Wouldn't it be better to spend the same money strengthening and expanding the power grid and its reliability?  Furthermore, wouldn't it make sense, if one were going to build such communal-relief centers, to make them as low-tech as possible---i.e., to have shade and fans and air circulation, but not air conditioning?  After all, the human race survived for hundreds of thousands of years without air conditioning, even in harsh heat.  

It seems to me that, like the "green buildings" where you have to do jumping jacks to make sure the motion sensors keep the lights on, but the windows don't open, this entire plan for heat alleviation has been ill thought out.

vxbush 1/26/2022 7:14:25 AM

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In #5 buzzsawmonkey said: Furthermore, wouldn't it make sense, if one were going to build such communal-relief centers, to make them as low-tech as possible---i.e., to have shade and fans and air circulation, but not air conditioning?  After all, the human race survived for hundreds of thousands of years without air conditioning, even in harsh heat.  

I'm getting to the point where I can't help but think that the people planning and building these areas have never even spent one minute trying to stay cool without air conditioning and aren't curious at all about how people stayed cool before air conditioning. All your wonderful explanations of transom windows and high ceilings wouldn't even make it into their ears to come out the other side. 

Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 7:15:50 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 5:

None of the "green building" stuff has been well thought out.

I worked in one where you HAD to use the elevators. The stairs were a fire escape only.

I had never found the stairs entrance on the first floor until once I used the restrooms on the 2nd floor (ones in the first floor were being cleaned), and I found and took the stairs down - to find myself outside the building.

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 7:27:10 AM

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In #6 vxbush said: All your wonderful explanations of transom windows and high ceilings wouldn't even make it into their ears to come out the other side. 

Aw, shucks (blushes crimson).  Let's not forget such things as window awnings (look at old photos of New York apartment buildings; all the windows were shaded by awnings during the summer on many of these buildings back in the pre-air-conditioning days.  The same thing was done with broad verandahs and overhangs (most of the older buildings in Florida have roofs with broad overhangs or verandahs, or both).  Also, "Florida rooms" in the older Florida buildings not only were largely open, to catch the breezes, and screened in, to keep out the bugs and snakes, but had marble floors---because marble is naturally 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding atmosphere.  A marble floor will act as a "natural" air conditioner.

Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 7:28:45 AM

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Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 7:30:28 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 7:31:26 AM

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In #9 Occasional Reader said: I am very firmly pro air conditioning, believing it synonymous with modern civilization.

I don't entirely disagree; I'm merely saying that if one is trying to "plan for emergencies" the way they're doing it in Tofu, Arizona, they're doing it ass-backward and wrongly.

doppelganglander 1/26/2022 7:32:26 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 5:

Some amusement parks have that. They have large canopies for shade with fans and devices that spray a very light mist of water. I've sen them marathons and outdoor concerts too. They're portable and quick to set up - ideal for something you might only need a few times a year.

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 7:37:25 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 12:

That sounds far too sensible and low-cost for it to be attractive to politicians.

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 8:10:46 AM

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Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 8:24:08 AM

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In #14 buzzsawmonkey said: Over at Insty they're reporting that Washington DC is requiring strippers to be masked, regardless of whatever else they do not choose to wear.

DAMMIT THIS TIME THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 9:05:55 AM

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Over at PJM they're cooing over a ditty by Kid Rock which is apparently trending on Spotify.  It's a miserable, profane mess.

Here's some brain bleach.

Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 9:07:02 AM

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Biden Considers Starting World War III To Distract From Domestic Failures

JCM 1/26/2022 9:15:45 AM

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Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire

Let the games begin!

Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 9:22:46 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 16:

I would really, truly like to hear some sort of music composed and performed within the last, say, 10 years, that isn't garbage.  

Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 9:23:26 AM

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Reply to JCM in 18:

I nominate me. 

lucius septimius 1/26/2022 9:24:25 AM

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Reply to JCM in 18:

So Hillary?  Or Stacey Abrams?  

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 9:24:25 AM

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Reply to JCM in 18:

Gee, wouldn't it be fun if for once---just once---a justice with a Left-leaning reputation were confirmed and s/he turned out to actually be more conservative?

Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 9:49:37 AM

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In #22 buzzsawmonkey said: Gee, wouldn't it be fun if for once---just once---a justice with a Left-leaning reputation were confirmed and s/he turned out to actually be more conservative?

An interesting theory is that this is to clear Kamala out of the way, so that she can be replaced as VPOTUS with someone politically palatable to replace Senile Joe in '24. 

Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 10:08:19 AM

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In #19 Occasional Reader said: I would really, truly like to hear some sort of music composed and performed within the last, say, 10 years, that isn't garbage.  

Everything I've linked to by Passenger is recent, and not garbage. Also, Leonard Cohen's last CD and a posthumous one.

But the stuff that gets played a lot? Where's the trash can?

Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 11:44:18 AM

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Psaki struggles to explain Biden's empty schedule for yesterday; turns out, he was wandering around knick-knack shops, and, yes... getting ice cream.

Boy, it's a good thing there's nothing important happening in the world, right? 

vxbush 1/26/2022 11:46:58 AM

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In #8 buzzsawmonkey said: Let's not forget such things as window awnings

You see some houses here with awnings, but usually it's only to avoid direct sunlight and thus fading the carpets inside. As for commercial buildings, I never see awnings here except perhaps at entrances where there wasn't any sort of protection from the elements otherwise with a special overhang.

JCM 1/26/2022 11:55:30 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 25:

Jen tweeted the hashtag.

That solved the Ukraine problem.

Now Joe can relax get ice cream and find a girls hair to snif.

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 1:37:47 PM

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Reply to vxbush in 26:

"We," as a society, have all-but-entirely forgotten the basics of keeping cool, living "green," etc., which were common default behaviors not so very long ago.  Not just such simple things as shade (awnings), functional windows, fans, and cross-ventilation; I think back to the "Cable Building" at the corner of Houston and Broadway in Manhattan, where the building was built around several courtyards to get as much light and as much air circulation as possible.  Not only that; the interior hallway partitions were all ground-glass from about 8 feet up to the 12-foot ceiling, so that the daylight coming into the offices from the courtyards and the artificial light from the offices would both help to illuminate the public hallways---after all, when the building was built, electricity and light bulbs were both quite expensive.

The realization that the belvederes incorrectly called "widows' walks" were actually climate-control devices was a revelation to me; these little structures acted as ventilation to draw off hot air in the summer, and to provide a "pad" of sun-heated air at the top of the house during the winter.  What partly made me realize this was having seen a skylight in an old industrial building that had not---at that time---been renovated.  The skylight had glass upright walls supporting the slanted skylight "roof," and the upright panels were attached to ratchet gears; they were designed to be opened, so that the skylight could catch breezes and act as a chimney for hot air rather than a trap for it---something I've not seen in most other buildings that still have their skylights.

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 2:09:16 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 2:33:13 PM

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In #30 buzzsawmonkey said: Let's all go to the Covid Derby at beautiful Lock Downs!

And the winner is..... Fauci Bomb!

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 2:48:20 PM

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In #31 Kosh's Shadow said: And the winner is..... Fauci Bomb!

Here you go...

buzzsawmonkey 1/26/2022 4:21:56 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 6:08:17 PM

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So, if the Iran talks fail (they have, but the Bidumb administration hasn't realized it), what will the US do for other options?

Strongly worded letter?

Hashtag #NoNukesForIran?

Occasional Reader 1/26/2022 6:33:58 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 34:

Joe will offer them free ice cream.

Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 6:44:52 PM

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In #35 Occasional Reader said: Joe will offer them free ice cream.

Ben and Jerry's will be glad to help (unless the mullahs go to "occupied Palestine")

Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 6:51:36 PM

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As for "occupied Palestinian territories", the last entity that was known as Palestine was the British Mandate for Palestine, which was mandated to be the homeland for Jews. The perfidious Brits gave away over 75% to the Arabs, but we'll concentrate on the remaining 25%.\

So, ""occupied Palestine" is the area occupied by ARABS. That is the area illegally occupied under international law. The Jewish part is legal.

Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 8:03:06 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 1/26/2022 8:09:08 PM

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