The New Coffee Room

Hat tip, improv. [image: 1746714471920-img_4913.jpeg]

Big holiday week throughout Russia this week celebrating 9 May, Victory Day. I doubt whether the mayhem will be sustained much past the weekend.

[image: 1746754805206-40e2b2a0-886a-46ca-860d-28256643f54c-image.png] When Johanna “Jo” van Gogh married Theo van Gogh, she couldn’t have imagined she’d change art history. Within two years, both her husband and his brother Vincent were gone—one to illness, the other to despair. Left a widow at 28 with an infant son and hundreds of unsold paintings by a little-known artist, Jo could’ve walked away. Vincent had sold almost nothing during his lifetime. Critics had dismissed him. To most, the paintings were worthless. But Jo saw more than just canvas and paint—she saw Vincent’s soul in every brushstroke. She read his letters, filled with hope, suffering, and passion, and knew his story had to be told. She moved back to the Netherlands, ran a boarding house to survive, and began quietly organizing exhibitions. More importantly, she shared the letters between Vincent and Theo—revealing a mind full of brilliance, not madness. Slowly, the world began to listen. In 1905, Jo curated the first major Van Gogh retrospective in Amsterdam. It changed everything. Critics reevaluated him. Museums began acquiring his work. His name spread far beyond Europe. Today, Vincent van Gogh is one of the most celebrated artists in history. But it was Jo who made that possible. Her quiet resolve turned obscurity into immortality. Without her, the world may have never seen Starry Night or Sunflowers. Her story reminds us: legacies are often built not just by those who create—but by those who believe. #WomenInHistory #ArtThatEndures ~Old Photo Club

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Gazans are starving. . . . . . . . . . . But he’ll fix it tomorrow. https://x.com/imshin/status/1919796209536897200?s=46

The only time I ever get asked for sex is on medical forms.

[image: 1741715631741-12bee9b1-1150-4eea-9f71-3ac4ae136d16-image.png] I belong to a University Club and we have monthly books we read and then discuss--this book is in the "classic" area. We also have reading groups for modern fiction, historical fiction and non-fiction and maybe other things too. It introduces me to books I normally would not think of reading for myself. Following the dialogue in this book is more difficult than reading Chaucer.

For my view, I think that we could find alternatives for the rare earth minerals, etc. For me, the more concern is that China is moving in to our traditional allies. The US has lost some of its trusted status, which is a bigger long term problem.

@LuFins-Dad said in What are you watching now?: @Doctor-Phibes said in What are you watching now?: @George-K said in What are you watching now?: The Silo books were written by Hugh Howey. Read the books - they're great. I loved the books, too - I read the whole series very quickly I just watched the first episode of the TV Series. Should I stop and go read the books? I haven't seen the TV series as I don't have Apple TV, but yes!

Yeah he’s going to ‘fix’ community notes so it doesn’t question the wrong people. Meet the new boss…..

McCarthy: All search warrants involve the possibility of forced entry. All of them involve police seizures of property, which can subject the personnel involved to legal risks as well as safety risks. The cops or federal agents usually do a good job of identifying themselves during the process of seeking or forcing entry; yet there are tragic instances in which people inside the premises mistakenly believe violent criminals, rather than cops, are trying to get in, resulting in physical confrontations including, sometimes, exchanges of gunfire. As a result, and as a matter of common sense, the FBI always has an operational plan for carrying out a court-authorized search. That plan customarily involves reminding the search teams of the FBI’s use-of-force policies. Those policies, of course, include a refresher on the conditions under which lethal force may be used. This is to prepare law-enforcement officials for contingencies that are all too familiar, and to protect the agency and agents in the event of later legal claims. If you don’t instantly grasp why police agencies would perform these prudential steps, you must have been living under a rock for the last decade or so, which has featured no shortage of instances in which allegations of excessive police force have been made (and a thankfully small percentage of instances when excessive force was actually used), with intense scrutiny and occasional rioting in the aftermath. It would have been surprising if the Mar-a-Lago search hadn’t been conducted in accordance with an operational plan of which use-of-force policies were a component. It was important to do this search by the book — more on that momentarily. But there was never anticipation that force, much less lethal force, would be used, and there was never any threat to the former president. My understanding is that the FBI was reluctant to do the search — it was Justice Department officials who ran out of patience with Trump’s intransigence. The bureau intentionally carried out the search when it was known that Trump was not on the premises.

Excellent. When Lucas started getting his sense of smell back it was fairly rapid progress. Hopefully it will be the same for her!

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On a fish kick this week as Janet is out in the evenings supporting the high school musical. Last night was grilled mahi mahi with grilled sweet peppers and sugar snap peas. A big plate of very healthy food for 300 calories. Tonight is, from one of my favorite recipe sites: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/grilled-cod-with-pistachio-herb-salsa/#wprm-recipe-video-container-86282

@Tom-K said in Forum Issues: Hey Klaus, we don't chat a lot but thank you for everything you do here. Much appreciated. Yes, for sure!!!

@taiwan_girl said in Canadian Tariff situation gets its own thread: Because I am lazy, I will ask here. 555 Why did the New Democratic Party reduce so much? What is their "platform"? Same reason that workers in the US were attracted to the populist messaging of the MAGA movement Republicans. Progressive policies are, for the most part, disdainful to the enlightened urban proletariat. Likewise, the more centre left NDP voters cast the ballots for the Carney Liberals in order to fend off the more populist Poilievre Conservatives. The NDP essentially had no coherent platform other than tax, spend and cater to populist identity politics. Even with only seven seats in Parliament, the NDP can continue to hold the balance of power to prop up the Liberal minority which has largely abandoned the progressive policies of the Trudeau era. If anything, last night’s election spelt the end of the more radical Progressivist domestic politics that have characterised much the last decade in Canada. I expected Liberal majority and the decimation of the NDP. I am however pleased to see a Liberal minority - although ballots in some Ridings still being counted and the results could end with a razor thin Liberal majority. Most of all I am very pleased to see a resounding rejection of Progressivist populism on the left and a reining in of reactionary populism masquerading as conservatism on the right. Overall, a big win for Canada from coast to coast, north and south.

Interesting and not sure I understood all of it. LOL What is the benefit - just getting a higher gear ratio in a more "compact" gear? As the guy said, a lot of stress on the whole system

@Horace said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss: @jon-nyc said in Whither the GOP post Trump 2020 election loss: If someone tried to forcefully take over your property and the state forced a settlement on you that ceded 25% of it to the aggressor, would you consider that a loss? I refer you to the second half of my one-sentence post. "as compared to <whatever the hell anybody expected if Kamala had won>." What hypothetical outcome, in a Harris regime, are you comparing Trump's "handing Putin a W" to? She would not hand him a W? If your point is ‘Putin might still be successful even with us helping Ukraine rather than coercing their surrender’ that’s true as far as it goes, but that’s very different than the US formally recognizing the land grab and lifting sanctions and encouraging Europe to do the same.

Nah. What the world needs is a lot fewer pussy males like you.

Yes, from what I understand, the transaction costs are going to become more and more important until they become the single source of income for miners (namely when the maximum number of bitcoins has been reached). In any case, I believe the protocol is self-adjusting in the sense that the situation above - mining more expensive than reward - self-corrects quickly.