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Crew fell six trees yesterday, and one more this morning. All about 2' diameter. I have a lot of cleanup work to do. So I bought a beefyer chainsaw. 16” 56V. I still have a tree that should be topped, but not critical.

‘I’d never heard anything like it’: the prepared piano revelations of jazz star Jessica Williams Dave Brubeck called her a great and Mary Lou Williams gave her advice. But the prodigy grew frustrated with jazz, quit and started dismantling her instrument. A superb new reissue showcases her findings https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jan/05/jessica-williams-jazz-prepared-piano-blue-abstraction

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTIw5mdDvq2/?igsh=MWRhbW02MGx3c2x3bQ== This could be amusing.

Trump would repeat that we could until you made it true.

Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, asserted on Monday that Greenland rightfully belonged to the United States and that the Trump administration could seize the semiautonomous Danish territory if it wanted. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” Mr. Miller told Jake Tapper, the CNN host, after being asked repeatedly whether he would rule out using military force. “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/politics/stephen-miller-greenland-venezuela.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/06/politics/trump-greenland-venezuela-colombia-miller-analysis

Finished Stranger Things. Now back to my first viewing of The West Wing. About to the end of S1. This will be worth it to grok an Aaron Sorkin joke in 30 Rock. Also, 93% chance I'm about to re-watch 30 Rock another couple times. Oh, also constantly have on Wednesday as background whilst I'm falling asleep as of late.

Nope, still needs a bunch of processing, especially their heavy crude. Think diesel.

Okay, but the oil is still there and ours for the taking, isn't it? @naamanf you can fly a helicopter on crude oil? I thought you said we can do that./T

Yeah, shawarma is good stuff. I've had the Wegmans pre-marinated stuff, restaurant made (today, even!), and it would have disappeared faster than light with me around, too. Yum yum yum, gnosh gnosh gnosh, yum yum yum

Interesting that he has abandoned his trademark plain black leather jacket in favor of a snakeskin (?). I wonder if he will use the word, "molt".

Yeah, he's really just a shill for Skynet our soon-to-be-bot-overlords. That said, I was still very interested in everything he said about Vera Rubin. (The hardware platform that he just introduced.) Their usual rule is only change one or two things. They threw that out with this iteration and completely redesigned everything. My theory: they == AI. I don't think they actually were directly involved with the design. Having spent most of my life working in the cleared sector, no-one in the government that I knew would let this pass muster. Additional editorial note: The only way we are going to be able to defeat Skynet AI-used-for-evil is AI-used-for-good. And we are way behind with that. We are so fucked as a planet.

Cooked yesterday in a marathon session so that dinner was a non-event (prep wise) tonight. Chicken shawarma with homemade naan. The naan was all I managed a pic of.

Reports of gunfire near Venezuela’s presidential palace. File under: Rorge; Ruh-roh.

-- Search "AI" = 210 hits comments turned off - wonder why.

Fat squirrels and fat(?) cats to follow. Possibly some dupes. Xreffing is a PITA. Squirrel tongue! These shots were taken only a month ago. When there's sufficient snow on the ground, squirrels will eat the berries. I spent new year's eve with 3 octogenarians (one of whom will be turning 90 this year) and 2 cats. Wisely(?) I brought my 85L and iPhone. Gidget vigorously investigating what's going on with Peter's trouser leg. Gidget is a gray card with legs. I've mentioned in the past that I really like the Moment app for iOS. It has great manual white balance. I need to xref what kelvin value I use it in and start using the same on the DSLR. Shot with tungsten white balance and then adjusted in Photoshop. To be fair, Gidget does have a lot of brown in her coat. Molly displaying her usual aggrievement at the presence of humans. Gidget absolutely savaging my knee with all four paws. She didn't draw blood, but it sure felt like it.

Was so last week... Justice Dept. Drops Claim That Venezuela’s ‘Cartel de los Soles’ Is an Actual Group Last year, before capturing President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration designated a Venezuelan slang term for drug corruption in the military as a terrorist organization and said he led it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/trump-venezuela-drug-cartel-de-los-soles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CVA.zRgG.g6wk2FuZKAY4&smid=url-share (gift article)

I think that is the way to go after the joys of my approach...LOL HS

Watching on Amazon requires selecting German as the language and English for the subtitles, which is a huge improvement over the trailer of dubbed crap. 👍🏻

So, funny thing...

So, funny thing. I checked the "DJ edits" folder on my server. First of all, the last edit I did was July of 2021. Sadge, as the kids say. Second of all, in there is "Hooverphonic - Mad About You (Live at Koningin Elisabethzaal 2012) (no applause).flac" which I did sometime in late 2014 apparently.

I thought it was released in English...

I want to watch this but can't stand dubbing and asynchronous visuals. Isn't there a properly subtitled version? ☹️

Paul Motian - Paul Motian box set (from the Decca digging). First CD purchase in awhile. Ex.

Death by Lightning Highly entertaining for history nerds (raises hand). I absolutely recommend this. Only four one hour episodes so commitment is low.