Memes that made me laugh 319

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

A few weeks ago I put up Mike Oldfield's 2008 quasi-classical album "Music Of The Spheres".  In a comment to that post, reader Mauser said "I still need to get a copy of Tubular Bells 3".  I thought I'd save him the trouble, and give the rest of my readers a treat at the same time.  Here, from 1998, is the world premiere of "Tubular Bells III", live (in sometimes pouring rain) at the Horse Guards Parade in London.

Tubular Bells III was less popular than its two previous versions, but I like it very much.  See also "The Millennium Bell" and "Music Of The Spheres" for further development of the musical themes first encountered in earlier Tubular Bells versions.

Peter

So much for the New York City property market...

 

This news is several days old, but it only caught my eye yesterday.

Months before New York City approved a historic two-year rent freeze, Google co-founder Sergey Brin quietly exited a struggling real estate fund at a steep loss.

In December, Brin sold his stake back to A&E Real Estate, the fund's manager, for six cents on the dollar, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.

The fund holds 5,900 rent-stabilized apartments, with Brin's stake being valued at roughly $79 million, a drop in the bucket when viewed next to his $280 billion net worth.

"A&E bought out one of our long-term investors, who was willing to accept six cents on the dollar on their original equity investment to divest itself from the New York City multifamily sector," a company representative told Bloomberg in a statement.

"The simple and deeply troubling fact for renters is that institutional capital – both equity investors and lenders – are fleeing New York City’s rent-stabilized apartment sector," the A&E representative continued, according to Bloomberg. "They understand New York is in a doom loop."

There's more at the link.

Think about that for a moment.  Working backwards from "Brin's stake being valued at roughly $79 million" at the sale price - i.e. at six cents on the dollar of his original investment - that means he originally invested about $1.3 billion in the real estate fund.  He's lost almost all of that money, thanks to New York City's cratering real estate market, undermined as it is by the socialist communist policies of newly-elected Mayor Mamdami.

If a man as economically savvy as Mr. Brin walks away from a $1.3 billion investment, writing it off as unrecoverable, what are smaller investors to think?  Can they afford to follow his example?  For that matter, can they afford not to follow his example?  Makes you think, doesn't it?

If I were unfortunate enough to live in or near New York City, or have money invested there, after hearing that news I'd be taking steps (rapid ones) to move myself and/or my money somewhere (anywhere!) else . . . before I lost all my investments, too.

Peter

Some amazing aerial photography

 

Submissions for the annual International Aerial Photographer competition closed at the end of April.  A short-list of 101 best images has been compiled, and will be made into a coffee-table book in due course.  Here are just three of them to whet your appetite.  Click any image for a larger view, or click through to the competition's Archive of all 101 images to feast your eyes.  (If you click on each image there, a slightly larger version will open;  click on that and tell it to open in a new tab, and a still larger picture will be displayed.)

First, here's Azim Khan Ronnie from Bangladesh, who took first place in this year's competition.  His photograph depicts migrating Siberian seagulls arriving at Yamuna Ghat, India.

Second place winner was Chin Leong Teo from Singapore.  His "Dawn Net" shows a fisherman casting a traditional net in a circular pattern around his boat.

Craig Davis of the USA submitted "Sculpted by Time".

I wish I had space to post more of the images here.  There are some spectacular examples in the compilation.  Click over there to view them for yourself.

Peter

Not such apex predators

 

I had to laugh at this blog post from fellow South African expatriate Kim du Toit.  He and I see eye to eye on many issues (not surprising, given our similar backgrounds).

This morning he wrote about an article titled "One Super Predator in Africa Instills More Fear Than Lions".  The super predator, of course, turned out to be humans.  We use brains and tools to conquer our environment and the nasty things that we find there.  We've done it for millennia, and will doubtless go on doing it until the extinction of our species and/or the entropy death of the universe.

Kim doesn't mince his words.

We are, in the animal kingdom, like marshmallows.  Pork-flavored marshmallows, to be precise, just the thing to make lions sharpen their claws before putting on a dinner napkin.

So why do these dangerous animals think that we are the apex predators?

Because we don’t fight fair.  As though fighting for one’s life, or hunting down food requires us to be all Marquis-of-Queensbury types;  what foolishness.

**** that.  If a pride of lions wants to target a few humans for brekkie, well… say hello to an A-10 Warthog or an Apache attack helicopter, and let’s see who’s really the apex predator, Fluffy.

Click over there to read the whole thing.  It's giggle-worthy . . . and true, too, for the most part.

Of course, if one of those predators catches you alone and unarmed in the bush, you're toast, but that's your fault.  Being a successful apex predator requires remaining on the apex, so to speak.  Step off it, and there will be consequences.

Peter

A Grail Gun for collectors

 

Readers with any connection to the shooting sports and/or law enforcement will recognize the name of Bill Jordan.  His accomplishments are far too many to describe here:  one was to draw his firearm from a holster, shoot, and hit his target in 0.27 of a second!  He merits inclusion in any Top Ten list of American shooters.

Now comes the news that a special presentation Smith & Wesson Model 19 "Combat Magnum" revolver, a one-of-a-kind firearm with engraving specially developed for this weapon, is up for sale on Gunbroker.  It's almost certain to go for six figures, I think.  Feast your eyes on this (click the image for a larger view) and the other photographs available at the link.

The seller's headline for the gun is simply "GRAIL", shorthand for "grail gun", a well-known term used by firearms collectors.  The blurb reads as follows:

Presented here is a truly extraordinary and one-of-a-kind engraved revolver, meticulously crafted and personally presented to U.S. lawman, Marine, Texas resident, and renowned author Bill Jordan in recognition of his distinguished service with the United States Border Patrol, his pioneering role as the father of the K-Frame .357 Magnum Combat revolver, and his illustrious career as an exhibition shooter. This special revolver features intricate gold inlay and masterful engraving, with a high-quality design completed on April 25, 1989, never to be repeated. The work includes gold outline borders surrounding the "SMITH & WESSON" barrel marking and flowing into Jordan’s signature, also inlaid in gold, along with floral scroll engravings on the under lug. The frame boasts 75% coverage floral scrolls, a gold banner inscribed with "No Second Place Winner" from Jordan’s book, and a gold and silver Border Patrol badge on the side plate. The top of the backstrap bears the signature of Smith & Wesson Master Engraver Paul Piquette. The cylinder features floral scrolls between the flutes, all inside gold inlaid triangular borders, and the revolver is fitted with a gold bar inlaid blade front sight, an adjustable rear sight, and custom scrimshaw-Ivory inlaid grips—one medallion depicting the U.S. Border Patrol and the other a portrait of Jordan. Encased in a finely fitted walnut display case with a green interior and Border Patrol medallion on the lid, this piece is accompanied by a wealth of documentation, including a factory letter confirming its unique status, a letter from former S&W President T. Stephen Melvin expressing gratitude for Jordan’s contributions, remarks from Melvin at the NRA presentation event, and an article by Walton P. Sellers about his brief acquaintance with Jordan.

William Henry Jordan (1911–1997) was a celebrated Texas native whose over three-decade career with the U.S. Border Patrol included serving as Assistant Chief Patrol Inspector, and he was also a Marine Corps Reserve colonel during World War II and the Korean War. Jordan made significant contributions to firearms development, collaborating with Walter Roper on revolver grips, assisting Smith & Wesson in designing the .357 Magnum K-Frame, and helping Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton develop the .41 Magnum. Recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan, Jordan also served as a field representative for the NRA, demonstrating exceptional quick draw skills, teaching western actors, and authoring numerous articles and books, including his acclaimed autobiography, "No Second Place Winner," which is included with this piece. His legacy as a lawman, shooter, innovator, and author is celebrated through this extraordinary engraved revolver, a fitting tribute to his remarkable life and career.

I'm afraid that revolver would be wasted on me, because I don't have any "safe queens" that never get used.  If I have a gun, I'd like to shoot it from time to time - and shooting this one-of-a-kind presentation piece, even once, would knock thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) off its value.  I hope whoever buys it will appreciate the sheer artistry it exhibits, and enjoy looking at it - and that he/she has another Model 19 to shoot regularly, so as to appreciate it all the more!

Peter

I smell a large, hairy, stinking rat...

 

Guess what?

The woman suspected of trying to blow up a Ukrainian tycoon in Monaco has been found shot dead near Kyiv.

Anastasiia Berezovska, 39, was named as the prime suspect in the attack on Vadym Iermolaiev, a Ukrainian property magnate, at the end of last month.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said on Tuesday that her body had been found overnight near the Ukrainian capital with gunshot wounds to the head and pistol casings nearby after an international search.

The SBU added that an acting officer from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) had confessed to killing Ms Berezovska with the assistance of a former law enforcement officer, and that he had acted on his own initiative without informing superiors.

There's more at the link.

So . . . the "official" story is that the alleged perpetrator of a bomb attack on a self-exiled Ukrainian oligarch (who appears to have a great deal of money at his disposal, suggesting possible probable underworld activity) is herself dead under mysterious circumstances, with "an acting officer from Ukraine's military intelligence agency" confessing to her murder.

Translation:  Ukraine was known as (and probably still is) one of the most corrupt countries in Europe.  I'm betting that the oligarch in question wasn't sharing enough of his profits with his intelligence agency partners;  or, possibly, they wanted in on his criminal network and he wouldn't let them.  They decided to rub him out in retaliation.  Their chosen emissary wasn't efficient enough to accomplish that, although her bomb did severely injure him.  When she was identified in the news media, somebody decided to close her mouth permanently so that she wouldn't give away incriminating (and possibly lucrative) secrets.  A "fall guy" is going to take the blame for her murder, probably because he, too, wasn't sharing enough of the profits from his own illicit activities.

I suspect my impromptu translation is far more accurate than all the news reports now spreading about the incident.  Watch to see which (if any) of the oligarch's activities are taken over by "new" Ukrainian bosses, and figure out to whom they are loyal, if not to him.  I strongly suspect a takeover bid by corrupt Ukrainian intelligence people is under way.

Peter

More thoughts on America's 250th birthday

 

I was reminded recently of William J. H. Boetcker (1873-1962).  He's perhaps best known for his 1916 pamphlet, "The Ten Cannots".  In summary:

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
• You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
• You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
• You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
• You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
• You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
• And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

He also authored this list of "Seven National Crimes":

• I don't think.
• I don't know.
• I don't care.
• I am too busy.
• I leave well enough alone.
• I have no time to read and find out.
• I am not interested.

Both lists bear thinking about as we celebrate our nation's quarter-millennium anniversary.  May our descendants still remember them when the half-millennial anniversary rolls around!

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 318

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past couple of weeks, as and when I could take time off traveling.  Click any image for a larger view.

In preparation for July 4th, and the USA's 250th anniversary

 

I don't publish this blog on Saturday, so there won't be a post tomorrow either.  However, the 250th anniversary of our Republic is worth celebrating all year long!

Here's what the Congressional Research Service says about the first celebrations of July 4th.

On July 4, 1777, the first anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence was marked by a nearly spontaneous celebration in Philadelphia, as described in a letter by John Adams to his daughter, Abigail “Nabby” Adams. Although officially adopted on July 4, 1776, the vote by the Continental Congress to approve the Declaration of Independence occurred two days prior, on July 2, 1776. Adams originally predicted that celebrations would occur annually on this earlier date, as noted in a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, in 1776:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. —I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

After that initial celebration in 1777, the traditional observance of Independence Day on the Fourth of July took hold, becoming commonplace after the War of 1812.

Congress declared July 4 an official holiday in the District of Columbia in 1870 (16 Stat. 168) and a paid holiday for federal employees in 1938 (52 Stat. 1246).

I'm particularly pleased and proud to be an American on this 250th anniversary of our nation's emergence from colonialism to independence.  May we live up to the example and courage of our Founding Fathers for the next 250 years as well!

Peter

The growing relationship between sound and healing

 

For thousands of years, shamanistic medicine has included music (usually in fairly primitive forms, such as drumming or a shuffling dance rhythm) in its repertoire of healing techniques.  It now appears that perhaps music - or, rather, sound waves - may indeed have an integral role to play in healing.  Ted Gioia tells us more.

Every month, some remarkable new property of sonic healing gets validated by research or clinical practice. And the developments of the last few days are especially exciting.

Consider the recent news from MIT, where researchers eliminated 50% of the brain plaque associated with Alzheimer’s. And they did it with 40 Hz soundwaves—no surgery or drugs were necessary. The procedure is completely non-invasive.

And look at this brand new study, which reveals the potential to counter inflammation and reduce joint pain with low-intensity ultrasound. Body tissue magically starts to repair itself—with potential for use in everything from treating arthritis to recovering from injuries.

And check out this article, published just yesterday, which describes a significant improvement in motor skills among Parkinson’s patients—all because of ultrasound.

But I’m especially excited by the recent announcement from San Francisco research lab Midjourney. They have developed a new scanning technology involving ultrasound—and it sounds like science fiction. “We’re building a bold new kind of machine to reimagine the foundations of healthcare and our relationships to our bodies,” the company boasts.

It doesn’t even feel like a medical procedure—more like a visit to the health spa. In fact, that’s what the company will call its diagnostic centers: Spas.

It starts by stepping into a shallow pool of golden light. You then begin to descend into the water. Your body passes through a ring of underwater sensors, each acting like a dolphin, using its echolocation. The sensors send ultrasonic sound waves through your body from every angle. With enough waves, and enough angles, we form an image of what’s happening inside your body.

The goal is for this process to take no more than 60 seconds.

You go into the water, you come out of the water, and you’re done.

The result is “a 3D map of your body, down to a fraction of a millimeter.” But here’s the payoff:

We think it's completely possible that with enough early imaging in the future, the world could avoid 30% of all deaths and 50% of all healthcare costs.

There's more at the link.

As a musician, Ted is particularly excited by the potential mingling of his field and that of medicine.  He goes into a lot of background detail about it, which should be of particular interest to other musicians, but also to us less tuneful folk who merely want to get better in health terms.  I was particularly intrigued to learn that Midjourney, previously known as an AI-assisted graphics program, was now moving in an entirely new and (as far as I know) unrelated direction.

Recommended reading.

Peter

Stories that developed during my absence

 

I've been following a number of stories in recent days, and some others popped up during my absence at LibertyCon.  I thought I'd put them all into a single post here, so you can decide which ones you'd like to investigate further.  Click the title to be taken to the post/article concerned.

1.  The Commies Mount An Across the Board Push: DSA targets local elections around the nation in a well-planned strategy.

Instapundit author Glenn Reynolds points out that "The DSA and its allies have targeted local elections because they can mobilize a small but decisive number of voters in low-turnout elections".  This thinly-disguised extreme Socialist/Communist movement is trying to take over the Democratic Party from the inside, working its way upward through the ranks.  It's a timely warning, IMHO.

2.  Income needed to afford a median-priced home has nearly doubled since 2020, report finds.

It's no wonder younger people today complain that they simply can't afford a home of their own.  The cost of the latter has almost doubled in six years, but salaries certainly haven't followed suit.  I'd hoped for a "price dividend" as illegal aliens were deported (or deported themselves), but their absence from the housing market hasn't yet made much of a difference.  Can things find a new balance?

3.  Everest hospital scrambles for antivenom as snakes migrate to high ground.

"Experts said venomous snakes, including king cobras, were heading up the mountains as the climate warmed, threatening tourists and climbers."  That's a new and unexpected danger in the Himalayas, which have been relatively snake-free until now due to their extremely cold ambient temperature.

4.  Try Not to Crack a Rib Laughing.

"Police say 41-year-old Leonard “Lil Riblet” Barksdale allegedly hopped a privacy fence in Southeast Memphis around 2:13 AM after spotting what he reportedly described as '“a lightly supervised gas grill'. According to neighbors, Lil Riblet moved through the backyard 'with the confidence of a man who’s never once considered consequences.' That confidence lasted approximately four seconds. Because waiting in the yard was Memphiszilla… a pit bull described by witnesses as 'Built like a refrigerator with childhood trauma'."

5.  AI helped diagnose 18 children whose rare diseases had stumped doctors.

"OpenAI’s o3 Deep Research model helped clarify 18 diagnoses for children who had struggled to find causes for their illnesses and symptoms. 'It’s a total game changer,' said one of the study’s lead researchers, Catherine Brownstein, the scientific director of the genetic investigations arm of the Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research at Boston Children’s Hospital."

6.  Pokémon Go Scans Quietly Trained the Navigation Tech Now Headed Into Military Drones.

"Hundreds of millions of Pokémon Go players spent years filming the streets, parks, and buildings around them to earn in-game rewards. Those roughly 30 billion environmental scans are now owned by Niantic Spatial, and they helped train a camera-based navigation model that a U.S. defense contractor is preparing to put into drones and other military robots. Most of the players had no idea."

I hope you found them as interesting as I did.

Peter