The New Coffee Room

@Tom-K said in Piano Party 7/27. Klaus is coming to visit:

Pretty freakin' nice!

You really ought to get out to one of these piano parties one of these days. I have met everyone in this thread in person except you and @taiwan_girl .

Well, I said only that he looks more jock than nerd, I didn't say he sounds more jock than nerd.

Can look forward to grand babies.

@jon-nyc said in Piano Party 7/27. Klaus is coming to visit:

Mayla set a new standard for piano party hosts.

Indeed she has! I very much enjoyed the fresh ceviche and chaufa, and pretty much everything I have tried from the spread. @jon-nyc has posted her pictures before, and if you think she's pretty in the pictures, what 'til you see her in person -- stunningly gorgeous.

I did not take any picture or make any recording with my own phone, so I will leave the posting of pictures and videos to others.

It was certainly great seeing everyone there again. (Yes, you should kick yourself for not being there.)
Great food? Yes.
Great music? At our piano parties, always!
Even greater people.

It's good to see Jon remains in good health, Klaus now looking more jock than nerd (compared to when I last saw him pre-Covid), and they being quite content with their respective new partners. Yeah, pretty much all the regulars' hair has gotten thinner and/or whiter, but we have also seen something we haven't seen at piano parties for a long time -- children! KathyK brought not only her son but also her grandchildren. And as far as I can remember, this is the first time we have three generations in one piano party, and they all play the piano.

***and don't tell KathyK this part ...***

Good job, @89th!

Astronomer's former CEO and former head of HR may have sinned but that should not tar the rest of Astronomer. Hopefully the rest of Astronomer will make it out of this OK.

Video on China’s space station program. The name 天宫 translates to Heavenly Palace, a term that is referenced in many Chinese classical literature and mythologies. As with most Internet videos like this talking about China, always beware of embedded propaganda.

Congratulations on your new piano!

Yeah, you probably could have gotten your dream piano if not for the tariffs.

Astrophotographer now with that Einstein / Emmet Brown look.

@Horace said in Maybe don't cheat on your spouse at a Coldplay concert?:

I know you didn't realize the effect your post could have.

The enormous profundity of my posts ... it's my cross to bear.

@Mik said in Maybe don't cheat on your spouse at a Coldplay concert?:

The GF is a downgrade

Is that a morality argument? Otherwise I don't see how one can make that determination given the very limited information we have in this thread about the parties involved.

Where Superman is Russian and Lex Luthor ultimately wins, low production value but a very, very good plot:

You want to stick all the way to the end.

In a low pressure environment (e.g., a vacuum), a drop of water hitting a hard surface would produce no splash.

So this is how "Operation Bring Back George" became all about Dicks.

Probably just a first world problem.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/nyregion/mingkwai-typewriter-china.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Yk8.erCr.ASI-r0OfVEOh

I didn't think one could exist, yet many apparently do. This article focuses on a specimen called the MingKwai. The inventor Lin Yutang figured out a way to mechanically use 72 keys to type out thousands of Chinese characters. (The biggest Chinese dictionary I am aware of catalogs 50k+ characters; most people believe that about 3k+ characters are enough for day-to-day use. So a typewriter would need to handle at least 3k+ characters to be practical.) The inventor bankrupted himself developing it after failing to sell it to Remington. It has recently been sold to Stanford's museum.

One of these days, I hope I will get to see and try my hands on a mechanical Chinese typewriter.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/07/22/how-much-army-spent-june-parade-trump/85324989007/

Price tag came up to $30 million, not including "the cost of the parade's significant security requirements, including for the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, FBI and local police personnel to secure a chunk of downtown Washington and monitor possible threats."

Gasp, I have been disinvited!