Random

[DeVaultSetter]

Wow, there’s a nice little video on this BBC page that describes the journey, which is unfortunately not a cosy train ride. It’s amazing how they managed to transport all the materials for construction and what have you. To lift the spirits of the visitors they are sure to provide screenings of The Descent along with graphic descriptions of other parts of the mine which have been flooded. 😛
Also came across this one from a few years back – potash from under the sea?

A million donuts a day might explain it – that’s a lot of oil and flour. Fresh donuts are far superior and there’s no sure-fire risk of Listeria which might occur in the icing or packaging. Nevertheless, given the choice, reeking of donuts beats chicken or fish but not pancakes & maple syrup, chocolate fondue or even sherbet dreamsicles! 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

There’s also the proposed Transatlantic Tunnel that, sadly, will likely never the light of day. Not so much the cost (can be ignored as the various governments can make it happen if they really want to) but the materials and potential safety concerns of such a thing. Without proper compartmentalization, you’ll have a Titanic-like situation. Would be a faster way of transporting stuff than using ships with a higher capacity and lower pollution levels than using planes and airships, though.

We do have the Channel Tunnel and this one that cuts right through the Alps.

Never had homemade doughnuts before. Need to try that at some point. Have made bagels at home, which are amazing.

I like pancakes. Don’t have them often but they’re delicious!

[Spastic Hamburger]

Public Domain Day is coming up. Here’s some of the stuff entering the public domain in the US: https://copyrightlately.com/public-domain-2026/

Quite a few good items! We got Betty Boop, As I lay Dying, All Quiet on the Western Front, Animal Crackers, some Disney shorts, and more!

[Spastic Hamburger]

Recently came across this contraption: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-90902/pbackx/automated-lego-sorting-machine/

[DeVaultSetter]

Yep, been on The Chunnel, it’s worked out very well considering the traffic volume and a few issues. Materials are the major issue deep in the ocean as the pressures are tremendous – things could easily go the way of Oceangate. 🙁
That’s an amazing collection right there, and a good chance most of the movies ending up at the IA for our viewing pleasure! Songs too like Dinah and an old Beiderbecke number revived thus:

Let’s not forget Mickey Mouse in the comics, one who has fortunately recovered from his early suicidal escapades. 😛

As it’s such an incredibuild we must keep an eye out for a video of assemblage – something for an up-and-coming Rubiks Cuber no doubt. He’s moved from Github to Codeberg interestingly, which is better? The buzzword in that thread is gravity so will the alternatives ever imbue us with enough escape velocity?
By contrast, did you know the manual for The Useless Machine is free of charge?

[Spastic Hamburger]

And the first book in the Nancy Drew series along with more Agatha Christie. 🙂

And then there was the time that Donald Duck killed Goofy:

https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/peur_evol/17297328/27908/27908_original.jpg

Think Geek used to sell an electronic useless machine. Don’t recall the details but it did stuff when you pressed the button. 😛

The ellipsograph is less useful but no less cool!

[DeVaultSetter]

Wow, the ellipsograph describes a beautiful geometric move however, and there was a couplet from Ovid that begged inclusion!
As a matter of interest regarding St. Francis and the following extract from this article:

On 24 December 1223, he organised a midnight mass that included a re-enactment of the event, with villagers playing the parts of Mary and Joseph and a rag doll as baby Jesus. St Francis even brought along an ox and a donkey to complete the image of Jesus being born in a barn. The aim was to educate and inspire the villagers of Greccio about the celebration of Christmas – not just as a historical event, but as something real they could imagine and believe in.

There’s some debate as to the actual circumstance of birth, many think it was a house, most likely a well tenanted one.
Went ahead and purchased two of these Elevated Trampoline Hammock Beds – the young dog is sure to appreciate the Oxford fabric, the old dog, well, he may not like the idea of having to climb into one. 😛

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yeah, the dogs here love the hammock beds. The lab I used to have used to eat them, though! 😛

These days, my dog mostly ignores the beds and either uses the couch or the beanbag chairs. When she uses the couch, she has a habit of hogging all of the blankets. The other day, she claimed all four of them and piled them all up into a cushion! 😛

Really need to read more Ovid. Most of those old works are on Archive.org. Gutenberg doesn’t have them for whatever reason (at least, they didn’t) but they do have Plato’s Republic! It was a bit of a dry read, if you ask me 😛

Actually, it looks like Gutenberg has added a lot since I last looked for them: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/27

That category is pretty slim as it looks like things aren’t fully categorized but more come up in this query: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Legends

[DeVaultSetter]

A healthy looking database, as it seemed last night, today got a 504 Gateway Time-out for both links. Makes sense for the search, not for the subject – home page is fine. 🙂
What’s faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?
As well your favourite Kryptonian, also descriptive of an Australian bushfire. After 6 months drought, things did get rather hairy, especially just over the border in Victoria:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Australian_bushfire_season
Right now, rain has come to the rescue! 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

Read Homer! Not just the Odyssey and the Iliad but the Homeric hymns are also worth a read. 🙂

Ugh! Here, on the other hand, we’re getting a lot of rain right now as part of a cold front. Really hard to stay warm when it’s freezing cold and wet! 😛

[Spastic Hamburger]

Doom now runs on an earbud: https://doombuds.com/

[DeVaultSetter]

Yes – like this one, “To Pan”, from “Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica, 1920”:

Only at evening, as he returns from the chase, he sounds his note, playing sweet and low on his pipes of reed: not even she could excel him in melody — that bird who in flower-laden spring pouring forth her lament utters honey-voiced song amid the leaves. At that hour the clear-voiced nymphs are with him and move with nimble feet, singing by some spring of dark water, while Echo wails about the mountain-top, and the god on this side or on that of the choirs, or at times sidling into the midst, plies it nimbly with his feet. On his back he wears a spotted lynx-pelt, and he delights in high-pitched songs in a soft meadow where crocuses and sweet-smelling hyacinths bloom at random in the grass.

There was another heatwave in Victoria, we were spared this time. After the last rain, there was a dry windy change, so after a few warm days had to soak the pots again! 🙁
Cool! The up and down keys got some movement in Doom, what gets the character in motion – the space/enter, or something else?
Jaffa the young Jack Russell, taken with the goat’s enthusiasm for carrots, has himself acquired the taste. Tonight he completely demolished a rather large and juicy carrot!

[Spastic Hamburger]

We just finished having an extreme cold spell over here. Wind chill of below 10F! I loved it!

Not a clue. I don’t have any earbuds (can’t stand them and use headphones instead) so I can’t really test it. 😛

Better watch him in the garden! Don’t want him raiding the carrot patch!

[DeVaultSetter]

Now the chipmunks are running the show, Bugs would have surely considered the issuance of a license for free use of the expression “What’s up Doc” in exchange for a lifetime supply of carrots. A juicy topic, along with the goofy dog-in-the-moon raining down moonrocks, calling for another cartoon that was never made. 😛
A recent subject matter ripe for more cartoonery is the actions of the Microsoft Q&A autobot, a wild untamed behemoth running rampant through all Q&A forums not bothered at all by any number of us wee defenceless chipmunk subscribers. 🙁

[Spastic Hamburger]

There are a few references to other shorts in there. The dog is a reference to one of the Marvin the Martian ones, for instance. It’s a lot of fun!

Ugh. And the AI response isn’t very helpful, either 😛

And had this come in the other day: https://phys.org/news/2026-02-reproduction-space-environment-hostile-human.html

Just one problem we’ll need to work out as we colonize space. One option would be setting up a station that spins very fast (small for safety reasons) just for reproduction purposes but that has its own problems

[DeVaultSetter]

A spaceship in the form of a phallus might also provide a boost to the desire!
Speaking of reproduction this comes to mind from Stallman:

If I’m the father of Open Source, it was conceived through artificial insemination using stolen sperm without my knowledge or consent.

😛
There was a lovely shower pf rain while asleep early this morning. Couldn’t remember whether the rain gauge was emptied from before so went to Google to find out if it had rained. Not as easy as one would suppose, finally got the latest for a nearby location which is good enough. 🙂
Submitted some more observations to inaturalist, a giant slug being an eye opener. Over your way the Burmese Python is having an impact. 🙁

[Spastic Hamburger]

Linus has some good ones, too: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds

😛

Yay! Rain! We’re still pretty dry but we’re supposed to get a storm today. Then dryness again. 😛

Yeah, the pythons are a big problem here. They’re now experimenting with robots to try and get them under control!

Had this come in the other day: https://www.earth.com/news/crows-remember-humans-and-hold-grudges-for-up-to-17-years/

The moral of the story? Don’t piss off the crows 😛

That reminds me that I need to watch The Birds.

[DeVaultSetter]

Will heed the advice! Elephants never forget either and they also exhibit altruistic behaviour.
Did post a review at Amazon of the dogs’ trampoline beds, to see reviews one has to logged in these days. There’s a comprehensive explanation of why here:
https://trustworthyshopping.aboutamazon.com/how-amazon-maintains-a-trusted-review-experience

[Spastic Hamburger]

And let’s not forget dolphins! They’ve been known to help out divers, which isn’t really mentioned on Wiki for some reason.

I’m assuming that’s for individual reviews?

Had this interesting article come in the other day. That sort of thing is always a good read 🙂

[DeVaultSetter]

Beautiful! Now showing is Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages – nice piccy as well.

On a totally unrelated note, we have been urged to watch for sign and symptoms of the flesh destroying Buruli bacillus, the effects of which are eminently irksome. 🙁

[Author]

Posts