Hijack This Thread

[pipistrelle]

So I'm going through the estate process with my siblings, and so far the most disheartening thing to me is the Kindle. I have 810 books on my Kindle and I paid for them all, so I should be able to bequeath them to my heirs. But it turns out, when I die, my Kindle books die with me.

Yep, most digital content (books, TV, movies) is borrowed. You just think you own it.

[RTH10260]

So I'm going through the estate process with my siblings, and so far the most disheartening thing to me is the Kindle. I have 810 books on my Kindle and I paid for them all, so I should be able to bequeath them to my heirs. But it turns out, when I die, my Kindle books die with me.

Yep, most digital content (books, TV, movies) is borrowed. You just think you own it.

Didn't take the time to look up the current status of Amazon Ebooks. But I seem to remember far in the shadows of past licensing agreements that bought content can be transferrred to a different device, iirc belonging to a different user, like second hand reading. The handoff needs to be made on the Amazon website, in the account, and it will erase the copy in this account and move it to the recipient.

Hope it still works this way and Bezos does not cheat us.

[Foggy]

Happy Bastille Day, peeps. Maintenance chores in 6 minutes.

[RTH10260]

Bastille Day? Do not storm the Capitol

[Foggy]

Storm the Supreme Court.

[RTH10260]

The Supremes? Yeah - they denined Steve Bannons petition! Better even, storm the prison he is held in, Rikers Island holds todays political prisoners, Rikers Island is the Bastille of Paris New York

[Foggy]

Yeah, but remember, Bastille Day was the start of the French Revolution, just like last night was the start of the Second American Revolution - the one where we traded our democracy for a police state dick tater ship (and 4 cat's eye marbles).

[Flatpoint High]

On Authoritarianism. An essay by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/swastikanight/

[MN-Skeptic]

A painfully bad rendition of the National Anthem -



By the way, Ingrid Andress is a successful singer/song writer.

[MN-Skeptic]

I chatted with my sister-in-law this morning. Her second oldest daughter gave birth to identical twin girls three months ago. While they started out in the 5-lb range, they are now around 10 pounds. My sister-in-law watches the girls three days at week at her daughter's as her daughter now works from home those days.

My sister-in-law's youngest daughter, a 20-year old cellist, flew off to a 3-week music camp last Saturday. She's on the third floor of a dorm with no air conditioning and without a working elevator. She had to carry her cello, her backpack, and her 45-pound suitcase up to her room.

My 59-year old sister-in-law was diagnosed with a heart failure condition last year. She's quite a bit overweight, so her doctor recently prescribed an Ozempic type drug to help her lose weight which should then improve her heart issues.

When I chatted with my sister-in-law this morning, she told me that she's now lost 40 pounds. Fantastic!

I thought about that after we hung up, so I texted her later and pointed out that 40 pounds is equivalent to constantly carrying around two sets of twins. It's almost as much as what my niece's suitcase weighed. When talking about that suitcase this morning, my sister-in-law could not imagine carrying it up the steps. So I pointed out in the text message that she's no longer carrying almost that weight around all the time now, no longer carrying it up and down stairs. A 40 pound weight loss is a nebulous number until you start putting it into terms of real objects. My sister-in-law liked that comparison. It makes the weight loss more real.

Just a thought.

[Foggy]

A painfully bad rendition of the National Anthem -



By the way, Ingrid Andress is a successful singer/song writer.

She said she was drunk last night and she is checking into a rehab clinic today.

[bill_g]

"stepping down to spend more time with my family"

[northland10]

GMC Made a Motorhome That Pumped Sewage Through Its Exhaust on Purpose

The 1973 GMC Motorhome was—and still is—a sight on the road today. This groundbreaking RV was just as interesting as its sleek body, with a V8 powering the front wheels and a spectacularly 1970s interior. And because it was the early ’70s, we had a different notion of what was okay to spray into the atmosphere as you drive. Like sewage, which an obscure option allowed this GMC to do.

One of the options available for the GMC Motorhome was a system called Thermasan, which promised to improve on one of the worst parts of RV ownership: Black water. That’s a euphemism for the raw sewage, which accumulates in an onboard tank and has to be disposed of at dumping stations. It’s as gross as it sounds, and it’s why someone at RV accessory manufacturer Thetford Corporation thought there had to be a better way. And so, the Thermasan was born.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/culture/g ... on-purpose

Evacuating your tank in the comfort of your seat? Perfect for Ruprecht.

[RTH10260]

Neo-Nazi leader charged with plotting to have Santa give poisoned candy to US Jewish children
Georgian Michail Chkhikvishvili, 21, indicted on charges including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence

Associated Press
Wed 17 Jul 2024 02.10 CEST

The leader of a neo-Nazi extremist group based in eastern Europe has been charged with plotting to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children in New York City to sow terror, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old man from the Republic of Georgia, was indicted on four charges including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence, according to a statement from the US justice department. It was not known if he has an attorney.

Chkhikvishvili, who has various nicknames including Commander Butcher, allegedly leads the Maniacs Murder Cult, which prosecutors said is an international extremist group that adheres to a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables’”.

The group’s goal is to upset social order and governments via terrorism and violent acts that promote fear and chaos, the statement said.

Chkhikvishvili was arrested after he tried to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join his group and commit violent crimes such as bombings and arsons, according to court documents.

In November, Chkhikvishvili began planning a “mass casualty event” for New York on New Year’s Eve, prosecutors said.

“The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn,” the justice department statement said.

He “drafted step-by-step instructions to carry out the scheme” and shared with the undercover officer “detailed manuals on creating and mixing lethal poisons and gases”, the statement said.

Prosecutors said since September 2021, Chkhikvishvili has distributed a manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook” in which he states that he has “murdered for the white race” and encourages others to do the same.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... d-new-york

[AndyinPA]

Not the sharpest pencil in the box.

[sugar magnolia]

Not the sharpest pencil in the box.

He's not even the sharpest rock in a box of rocks.

[Kendra]

https://komonews.com/news/local/3-young ... 911-caller#

KENT, Wash. — Three 11-year-old girls are being hailed heroes as they helped save a 6-year-old girl from an attempted kidnapping in Kent Tuesday.

Kent police said around 8:18 p.m. multiple officers responded to an East Hill apartment complex on Kent Kangley Road. They said they had received calls of a man attempting to take a young girl.

Witnesses told police that an ice cream truck had entered the complex which caused many children to come outside. The three girls were walking towards the truck when they noticed the man holding the young girl's wrist. Witnesses also said that the girl’s brother was close by and tried to call her over, but the man was forcibly pulling her away. They could hear her telling the man to let her go.


Without hesitation, the three girls approached the man and told him to let the girl go. They took their phones out and started recording the incident. The three girls asked the man if he knew the girl and he said yes.

“At this point he put the victim down on the ground and they grabbed her away from the suspect, who then fled on foot. They took her back to the safety of her apartment,” Kent police said. “The parents later confirmed that the suspect was a stranger.”

[northland10]

Recognize, Resist, Report

[RTH10260]

Own your pal the dinosaur, preachers not delivered with it

Largest, most intact stegosaurus fossil ever found sells for $44.6m
The dinosaur remains, which measure 3.4 metres tall and 8.2 metres long, show evidence that it had arthritis

Nadeem Badshah
Thu 18 Jul 2024 00.29 CEST

The largest and most complete stegosaurus fossil ever discovered sold for $44.6m at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday to become the most valuable fossil sold at auction.

The dinosaur remains, nicknamed “Apex”, exceeded its pre-sale low estimate by more than 11 times.

It was discovered on privately owned land in Moffat County, Colorado, fittingly near the town of Dinosaur, by commercial palaeontologist Jason Cooper at his property in 2022.

“Apex” measures 3.4 metres (11ft) tall and 8.2 metres (27ft) long from nose to tail, more than 30% larger than “Sophie”, the previously most intact stegosaurus specimen, which was on display in London’s Natural History Museum.

It was sold to an anonymous buyer who intends to explore loaning the specimen to a US institution. After the sale, the buyer remarked: “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America!”



https://www.theguardian.com/science/art ... s-for-446m

[Flatpoint High]

10frkcflybdd1.jpeg (282.69 KiB) Viewed 389 times

[Flatpoint High]

Own your pal the dinosaur, preachers not delivered with it

Largest, most intact stegosaurus fossil ever found sells for $44.6m
The dinosaur remains, which measure 3.4 metres tall and 8.2 metres long, show evidence that it had arthritis

Nadeem Badshah
Thu 18 Jul 2024 00.29 CEST

The largest and most complete stegosaurus fossil ever discovered sold for $44.6m at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday to become the most valuable fossil sold at auction.

The dinosaur remains, nicknamed “Apex”, exceeded its pre-sale low estimate by more than 11 times.

It was discovered on privately owned land in Moffat County, Colorado, fittingly near the town of Dinosaur, by commercial palaeontologist Jason Cooper at his property in 2022.

“Apex” measures 3.4 metres (11ft) tall and 8.2 metres (27ft) long from nose to tail, more than 30% larger than “Sophie”, the previously most intact stegosaurus specimen, which was on display in London’s Natural History Museum.

It was sold to an anonymous buyer who intends to explore loaning the specimen to a US institution. After the sale, the buyer remarked: “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America!”



https://www.theguardian.com/science/art ... s-for-446m

this is so cool!!!!

[Rolodex]

They should loan it to the Noah's Ark "museum." But with the rule that they have to place a paragraph about evolution with it.

[RTH10260]

Seeking Answers, Lawmakers From Both Parties Ask Secret Service Chief to Quit
In a hearing on Capitol Hill, Director Kimberly A. Cheatle declined to answer questions about the lapses in protection that allowed a gunman to fire at former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pa.

Luke Broadwater and David A. Fahrenthold reported from Washington.

Published July 22, 2024 Updated July 23, 2024, 7:09 a.m. ET

The Secret Service director, Kimberly A. Cheatle, faced bipartisan calls for her resignation on Monday, after a disastrous hourslong congressional hearing in which she declined to answer basic questions about the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump.

Ms. Cheatle declined to say how many agents were protecting Mr. Trump when a gunman shot at him at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, or who decided to leave a nearby rooftop out of the event’s security perimeter. Nor would she tell members of the House Oversight Committee why Secret Service agents were not aware until the last seconds that people in the crowd had seen a gunman on that roof.

At times, Ms. Cheatle seemed less informed than the lawmakers quizzing her. When Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, asked for a detailed timeline of events, Ms. Cheatle said she did not have one.

“I have a timeline that does not have specifics,” she said, eliciting laughter from the room.

By the hearing’s end, many of the committee’s Democrats — usually defensive of their party’s appointees — had also swung sharply against Ms. Cheatle.

Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the committee’s top Democrat, said he “didn’t see any daylight between the members of the two parties today at the hearing, in terms of our bafflement and outrage.”

Mr. Raskin joined the committee’s Republican chairman, Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, in calling for her resignation. “The director has lost the confidence of Congress, at a very urgent and tender moment in the history of the country,” Mr. Raskin said.


https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/22/us/p ... aring.html

[RTH10260]

15m ago 16.37 CEST
Secret Service director resigns amid criticism of Trump security handling

The Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, has resigned, the Associated Press reports, following a bipartisan furor over whether her agency had adequately protected Donald Trump in the lead-up to the assassination attempt against him.

Cheatle stepped down one day after making a disastrous appearance before the House oversight committee, where lawmakers from both parties signaled frustration with her inability to answer many questions about the shooting that wounded Trump, killed an attender at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and wounded two others.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... 00a0085411

[p0rtia]

Amen. She has been awful from the first time she opened her mouth the day after the shooting.