Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - August 26, 2025 [scampydog]

Road between Wallowa and Troy - Oregon

Would you look at that. It's Tuesday ONT time. Big science section this evening and some other random items. Pour yourself a tall water or adult beverage.

A bit of housekeeping before we get started. My sentence (or yours) has been completed. This ONT marks the end of our regular Tuesday night adventures. A hat tip to the Horde for enduring - whether reading or scrolling past with minor confusion. Thanks to bosses for not blocking the login and letting me get away with as much as I did. A special thanks to publius, Pete Bog – Bogs Rules!, Sock Monkey - Americana, Anonymous Rogue in Kalifonistan, and nurse ratched for their content and contributions. TRex, CBD, MisHum, and yes…Doof, cheers and thanks for the backchannel fun. It’s been a genuine honor to regularly contribute to what is, and has been the best place on the internet for a couple of decades.

Let's get started.

*****

Who comes up with this wrongness? No way that Justified is only the 50th best TV series of all time.

Ranking the greatest TV shows of all time. pic.twitter.com/48UVVUWyyL
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 24, 2025

*****

Science!

A quote from Feynman to kick off the science portion of the evening. “You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing.” - Richard P. Feynman

***

Unleash the Kraken? Nope, but we are unleashing regular ONT commenter and AoSHQ contributor, publius. Whether this evening or later, highly recommended reading. Take it away, publius.

The Rotation of the Erf and its relation to the Significance of the Passage of Time:
You may have seen some stories that the earth’s rotation has been speeding up of late. Lots of click-bait articles have appeared (looking at you, Daily Mail) that sensationalize this. Of course, they don’t really know what they’re talking about. I got interested in this. Let’s unravel what’s going on. First, we need a brief history of time and its measurement. This is quite an interesting historical excursion.
From time immemorial, the notion of time has been intricately and almost inseparably linked to the motions of the earth and other celestial bodies. These cycles have been imprinted on just about every form of life on earth, plant, animal, and other. The main cycle is the diurnal one, the day/night cycle. The lunar cycle is also imprinted, through tidal action and the effect on certain marine life. And there's the cycle of seasons, the year, or more precisely the tropical year.
Life on Erf goes way back in time. The human species in modern form goes back maybe 180,000 years. However, modern human history goes back only five or six thousand years, a twinkling of the eye relative to astronomical and geological time scales. But from what we know of that history, our ancient ancestors were obsessed with observing and tracking the motions of the celestial bodies. Much superstition (think astrology as we know it today) abounded, but the basic reasons were practical, as they served as calendars and clocks, foretelling the seasonal changes, the time to sow, the time to reap, etc, etc. The ancient Egyptians, way back around 3000 BC and before were big on the heliacal rising of Sirius, and the ancient Greeks, c. 500 BC, were likewise big on the heliacal rising of the Pleiades. For the Egyptians this event heralded the annual flooding of the Nile. For the Greeks, the Pleiades rising signaled it was safe to sail the Aegean. In modern times, with our modern technology and all the time-keeping and navigational systems we have, the connection with the sky is lost. But to the ancients, observing the sky was a matter of life and death.
The main astronomical cycle is the day. 24 hours. To a first approximation, we think of that as the earth completing one revolution around its axis. This is not quite the case. One solar day is a little more than one revolution of the earth. Why? Because the earth moves around its orbit a bit in the meantime as the earth rotates. The earth must turn a little more than one revolution to line back up with the sun relative to a point on the surface. This is thus a "synodic period", known as a solar day. The actual rotational period, relative to (almost) inertial space, is known as the sidereal day. This difference resulted in the Gemini 5 mission splashing down 80 miles short of its intended location – someone not thinking naively programmed the earth’s rotation rate as 360 degrees per 24 hours, and not the correct sidereal value of ~361 degrees. The ancients knew this difference, although they had no understanding of a rotating earth or the heliocentric solar system. They thought the
sky rotated around the earth, and the “wanderers”, the planets, and the sun and moon moved in more complex ways against the background of the stars. Now, some heretics and crazy conspiracy theorists as far back as the 4th Century BC suggested the earth rotating could explain the motion of the stars, but this was rejected as crazy talk, mis- and disinformation and all that.
Thus, the synodic day, the diurnal cycle, is what has governed our notion of time of day. How did this business of dividing a day into 24 hours come about? It goes back as far as we know to the ancient Egyptians who first divided the day into 24 pieces, 12 for the day, and 12 for the night. That passed on through to the ancient Greeks and then the Romans. It was the Romans who first engrained this into mechanisms of civil society, religious, legal, and literary. The word "hour" and "horology" derive from the Latin "hora", which comes from a similar Greek word that meant roughly "period of time" or "season". The Woke lunatics who complain about rigid time schedules and demands of punctuality being "whiteness" can blame the Romans, I guess, if not the Greeks or Egyptians. They really need to blame Nature herself, as life on earth demands attention to the significance of the passage of time.
Now, where did minutes and seconds of time come from? That goes back to Ptolemy, in the 2nd Century AD, who formalized it, although he didn't invent it. He and his fellow Hellenistic astronomers adopted the Babylonian sexagesimal system. The hour, like a degree of angle, was divided into 60 smaller parts, which they called "mintua prima", the first small part, and then each of those was divided into 60 even smaller parts, dubbed "mintua secunda", or second small part. So, there you go, a second is just that, the second, smaller part of the hour.
And there we have it, the solar day is divided into 24 hours, which in term are divided into minutes and seconds, for a total of 86,400 second small parts per solar day. A second is thus defined as 1/86,400th of a solar day. But there’s a little problem there. The solar day is not constant, not uniform. Remember, the earth has to rotate a little more than one revolution to catch back up to the sun due to orbital motion. But, due to the eccentricity and the tilt of the earth’s axis relative to the orbital plane, this extra amount of rotation varies over the tropical year. Today, that varies from about 30 seconds longer to about 18 seconds less than 24 “uniform hours” over the course of the tropical year.
The ancients were aware of this as well, probably back to the Babylonians. Ptolemy and the boys were certainly aware of it and published crude tables to correct for this. But there was no understanding of the actual mechanism. Anyway, they came up with the concept of an average or mean motion of the sun. The difference between the actual position of the sun and this average position is called the Equation of Time and was used to correct sundials to “mean time”. This early understanding was crude, but they were aware of it that far back.
And that’s the way it was. Now, fast forward through the Middle Ages and to the Renaissance. There came Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, and the development of classical physics and understanding of the solar system and the mechanism of the motions of the celestial bodies. Also, we had the invention of mechanical clocks, which made using the “small parts”, minutes and seconds, practical. Mechanical clocks attempt to track “uniform time”, of course, and this made the Equation of Time notion must more apparent. Flamsteed (first Astronomer Royal) and Huygens worked out the Equation of Time precisely from Newtonian orbital mechanics and published accurate tables by the beginning of the 18th century.
And thus, the notion of “mean solar time” became theoretically defined and understood to high precision. This was very important for the development of precision navigation and the Longitude Problem and all that. But for the common man, it didn’t become that important until later. Clocks and watches were still mostly directly set by the sun, using apparent solar time to synchronize. It wasn’t until the concept of Standard Time and time zones came about that this became the standard for everyday use.
Thus, mean solar time was now the standard of timekeeping. The variable motion of the sun (more precisely, the earth’s orbital motion coupled with axial tilt) was averaged out. The length of the mean solar day and thus mean solar time depended only on the rotational speed of the earth. The earth was much more accurate over the long term than even the best mechanical clocks of the day. Precise astronomical observations were used to synchronize these clocks as needed. But then another little problem came up as astronomical observations and orbital mechanics became more and more accurate and precise. Based on Newtonian orbital mechanics, and calculations of the complex perturbations (look up the 3-body and N-body problem), the motions of the planets could be predicted to high precision. But they got to noticing some discrepancies there, which couldn’t be explained by the known perturbations. The moon, or Mars, or the Sun wouldn’t be exactly where it should be as a function of mean solar time.
They began to suspect the problem was with mean solar time, the earth as a clock. Maybe the earth’s rotation wasn’t as constant as we thought. This was strongly suspected in the late 18th century and was confirmed by the middle and late 19th centuries. The earth was not an absolutely accurate clock compared to the current precision of astronomical prediction and observation. Thus, the need for a truly uniform, or “Newtonian”, time scale was needed. It’s a bit hard to get your head wrapped around the concept, but the idea is to let the motions of the celestial bodies be your clock, and not the rotation of the earth. This is conceptually the same as that of a mechanical clock itself. We have some physical process, some motion involved, which by the laws of physics can be predicted as a precise function of time. The position of the hands on a clock are governed by this. The position of the hands tells us what time it is. And likewise, and to much higher accuracy, the positions of the planets, moon and Sun relative to the background stars can be the hands of clock that tell us what time it is.
In general, this is called a “dynamical time scale”. The astronomical version here became known as ephemeris time. This became well developed by the early 20th century, and allowed comparisons of mean solar time to this more accurate time scale. But soon thereafter, atomic clocks were invented, which were a game changer for timekeeping. The accuracy and precision became orders upon orders of magnitude greater than the most accurate mechanical clocks before. We now had a physical device to measure uniform time very precisely, far better than ephemeris time, down to the nanosecond.
The “second small part”, the second, had become our fundamental unit of time. We now got very precise in how we defined it. Previously, it was 1/86,400th of a mean solar day. With ephemeris time, it became defined as a certain fraction of the sidereal, and then tropical year. It was chosen to be as close as possible to the current solar day definition and was roughly about the length of one solar day second around 1850. Then with atomic clocks, it became defined in terms of the frequency of a particular transition of cesium atoms. IOW, it’s the period of a particular frequency of light, well microwave not visible light, waves. We now have an independent, uniform standard of time independent of astronomical processes. And thus, we can now measure to high accuracy what’s going on with the variable rotation of the earth.
Now, the accuracy of this, the estimates of the length of the mean solar day at any given time, depends on the accuracy of astronomical observations, which gets less and less as you can back in the past. Turns out, the accuracy is pretty good back to around 1830 or so, and with modern ephemerides, we have even more precise predictions of where things should be when they were observed. Timeanddate.com has a page with a graph of the mean length of the day, and hence the variation in the earth’s rotation here: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/earth-rotation.html
Since atomic clocks came into use, it’s possible to get much finer grained data and see the variation of the earth’s rotation on a day-to-day basis. IERS is the official source of all this, but a wiki article has a good graph in the link below of the LOD since 1962:

Graph Link

The green line is a yearly moving average which corresponds to the graph above, which we can call a “mean mean” solar day (one “mean” averaging out the sun, the other mean being the yearly earth rotation average). The gray line is the short-term variation in the length of day. You can see that over the course of year; the length of the day varies by around 2 – 2.5ms.
So, around 1870, the earth was spinning about 3 milliseconds (ms) faster than 24 hours of uniform SI time. And that’s a lot faster than even the speedup of today the Daily Mail and others were click-baiting about. But, by the early 1900s, it had slowed down to about 4 ms slower than 24 hours. So, it swung about 7 ms in 30 years. In another 30 years, it sped back up to around 0ms, then slowed down again. By 1972, when the UTC time scheme was put into place, the earth was about 3 ms slow. That’s the “root cause” of leap seconds, given the definition of the UTC scale. And then the earth started speeding again, with some bouncing around up until now. What’s notable is around 2020, the earth sped up enough that it was faster than 24 hours for the first time in nearly 100 years.
So, what is going on with this variation? A lot. A lot of geophysical and celestial processes are afoot there. You can see there are many cycles going on in that curve, and spectral analysis can reveal the frequencies involved. There are more than few periods there. Over the short term, the variation from day to day and month to month over the course of the year is driven by tidal friction and atmospheric and oceanic angular momentum exchanges. We’ve got fluids, air and water, sloshing around on this spinning ball. Angular momentum is exchanged between that and the solid earth below. Next are seasonal periods of the atmosphere and ocean over the course of a tropical year. Then we have periods longer than a year up to 30 years. Some of these are understood, while some are not so well understood. The 18.6 year lunar cycle comes in there for longer term tidal variation. Longer term climatic processes like El Nino and similar weather patterns are also in there. Core-mantle dynamics are in there as well, and this is one of the poorly understood ones. The 11-year solar cycle is also seen in there as well, not well understood either.
Now, what about the long term, the very long term, time scales of tens of thousands to millions of years? The main driver is the moon and tidal friction which is gradually and inexorably slowing the earth down (and, by conservation of angular momentum, causing the Moon to recede from the earth). Over geological time scales, this rate is variable, depending on how close the Moon (also the Sun, which is a secondary tidal driver, but the Moon is the main drive) is. It also depends on just how big the tidal bulges are, which depends on a lot of complex factors, including the rotation speed itself. Right now, (and this “moment” right now is probably 100,000 years or so, and certainly 10,000 years), the current rate of tidal slowing is about 2.3 ms per century. That is, absent all other factors, the length of the day should be increasing at 2.3 ms per century.
The curve on that timeanddate.com page graph goes back to 1830. It’s possible to go back even farther than that, but with less accuracy. 1623 is the limit, and below is an IERS page with yearly LOD values back to then:

IERS Link

Values over the 1700s are reasonably accurate, but the data before then is a bit sparse and scattered but nonetheless is not so bad as to be unusable. The first thing that jumps out is the earth seems to have been spinning pretty fast around 1623, 11 ms fast compared to 24-hour SI base time but slowed down pretty rapidly over the next 30 years. After that, things look more reasonable. Is that real, or just poor data? Well, it’s likely something real. The uncertainty there should be no more than 3 ms. And that time period is interesting. That was just a little before the Maunder Minimum, the little ice age. So, did the relatively fast spinning earth slowing down rapidly have any relation to that? Don’t know for sure, but it’s damned interesting.
And finally, remember the tidal slowing rate of 2.3 ms per century. While complex, that value is well known from current tidal dynamics. However, if we take that data since 1623 and calculate a linear trend line over that 400-year period, we find it was indeed slowing down, but only at 1.33 ms per century, not the 2.3 ms tidal rate. Either way, the earth was spinning about 6 to 8 ms faster than it should be relative to expected baseline in 1623.
But beyond that 1623 fast spin, something is counteracting the tidal braking at least over those 400 years. Estimates of this can go back much farther in geological time. The main driver of the difference there is thought to be GIA, global isostatic adjustment, or glacial rebound. The earth is still adjusting to the loss of the ice sheets from the last glacial period, those big ice sheets covering Canada and northern Europe and all that. The net effect, which is a gradual long-term process, is the earth becomes less oblate, and the moment of inertia decreases. This is sort of counterintuitive at first, but it has to do with how the mantle responds to the shifting weight of the ice sheets.
That’s likely one factor. Another is that elusive core-mantle coupling thing. And then something else might be going on, some unknown unknown. At any rate, over the last ~12,000 years ago, since the start of the Holocene, the long-term trend is about 1.7 ms per century. So, we’d expect the earth was spinning about 0.2 seconds faster in 10,000 BC than now – that doesn’t seem like much, but with the current definition of the UTC time scale, that would require a negative leap second every 4 days. Going back a lot farther, the day was about 23.5 hours (give or take a few minutes) about 65 million years ago, when the SMOD wiped out the dinosaurs. The dinosaur year would’ve been about 372.36 solar days per year. We could have 12 months of 31 days each and a leap year every 3 years (Feb. 32nd?). And finally, there is now good evidence that the earth’s rotation stalled at 19 hours for a period of 1 billion years, from about 1.8 billion years ago to 800 million. In a complex process, the solar atmospheric tide cancelled out the lunar tide. During this time the calendar would’ve required 461 days per year.

Big thank you, publius!

*****

Cookie jar can be surprisingly noisy in the middle of the night.

😬 pic.twitter.com/rNlHCUqjrO
— The Vault (@TheVault1914) August 2, 2025

*****

A bit more time related content. Watches and quartz. What makes them tick is fascinating. A good amount of science, persistence, and an attention span required to make them work properly.

Tick, tick, tick.

In theory, it works like this:
-Battery provides current to microchip circuit
-Microchip circuit makes quartz crystal (precisely cut and shaped like a tuning fork) oscillate (vibrate) 32768 times per second.
-Microchip circuit detects the crystal's oscillations and turns them into regular electric pulses, one per second.
-Electric pulses drive miniature electric stepping motor. This converts electrical energy into mechanical power.
-Electric stepping motor turns gears.
-Gears sweep hands around the clockface to keep time.

*****

Theme music this evening.

*****

Been reading and collecting a lot around Gen Z’s political attitudes and worldview. Not all of them are out of their minds.

Younger generation pushed to the right? A trend worth our attention?

***

Thompson writes for the Atlantic, so yeah.

Why are young people—in the US and around the world—shifting right?

I wrote about a phenomenon I call Generation C—the young people whose experience with COVID's health, political, and economic crises caused a strong shift right among young ppl across the developed world.

In… pic.twitter.com/ypaG2bguIF
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) February 18, 2025

***

AI and Jobs - A discussion with a Gen Z with a brain.

Had a youngin' over for dinner recently. He's in his mid-20s, has a degree in data science, and is heading into his final year of law school. His well of knowledge isn't yet deep, but his brain is impressive. He has the ability to distill ideas quickly, logically, and with the end goal in mind. I really enjoy hearing his perspective.

Young guy/oldish guy post-dinner conversation ended up mirroring many of the same themes discussed here at AoSHQ. We agreed that AI is a tool - more accurately a wrench/implement in the toolbox. Plausibly a very useful and common one, like a Phillips screwdriver or a 1/2" combo wrench. Not something obscure like a sink basin wrench.

We chatted about past "game-changing" technologies that were supposed to redefine or eliminate entire professions. We got sidetracked on how Excel was once predicted to make accountants obsolete. Obviously, that didn't happen. Instead, it created new opportunities - accountants now use it to crunch and present more data, and analyze more information to better serve their tasks.

Our next topic was that of job displacement. Yes, there will be some. But many of the roles most susceptible to automation aren't major pillars of the broader economy. That's not to dismiss the personal impact of job loss - just to say the macroeconomic effect may be limited. Think: proofreaders, entry-level bookkeeping, graphic design. And yes, coding came up.

AI can write syntactically correct code faster than humans. But that doesn't mean it replaces human coders entirely. The young man codes in Python (he hates HTML), and deploys AI for straightforward coding tasks, but builds out routines when specific logic is required - riddle solving. In his view, coding is just another tool to amplify human ability - not eliminate it. Smart kid.

Plenty of studies out there trying to predict which jobs AI will create or eliminate. Scroll through a few articles, and you'll see the same roles landing on both sides of the ledger. As usual, the alleged Smarties, simply don't know.

Which brought us to our final discussion point/topic: AI can assist, but it can't pull the mental levers that drive real value - strategy, negotiation, leadership, communication, creativity. Those remain the domain of Morons. And other humans.

Share your AI thoughts in the comments.

*****

This ONT brought to you by: An inside straight draw (Ace of Spades high) and Three Dog Night.

Lurkers, as always - join the fray.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 ONT!

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at August 26, 2025 10:00 PM (IsuMW)

2 St

Posted by: Matthew Kant Cipher at August 26, 2025 10:00 PM (KkdUn)

3 OH yeah

Posted by: haffhowershower at August 26, 2025 10:00 PM (144I4)

4 You could hide a body in those mountains up top.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:00 PM (0eaVi)

5 Hola

Posted by: Thanatopsis at August 26, 2025 10:00 PM (GYt5+)

6 argh, didn't post!

Posted by: IS ROTH at August 26, 2025 10:00 PM (qGfC5)

7 Bold!! Howdy, ScampyDog!

Posted by: Matthew Kant Cipher at August 26, 2025 10:01 PM (KkdUn)

8 I was offline most of the day today, started checking my usual bookmarks an hour ago. Seven months in & this seems like another best day for America I could imagine! But still not tired of winning.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at August 26, 2025 10:01 PM (KaHlS)

9 bold move

Posted by: IS ROTH at August 26, 2025 10:01 PM (qGfC5)

10 Oregon has a Troy? How humiliating for King Priam.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 10:01 PM (hY4dx)

11 Scampy!

TL;DR

Yet

Posted by: Zeera. I voted for ALL of this at August 26, 2025 10:01 PM (9Wc6O)

12 Th

Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:01 PM (fveCG)

13 H'm. Not debold.

Posted by: IS ROTH at August 26, 2025 10:02 PM (qGfC5)

14 Congrats, Vmom! Way to stab yourself a 1st...

Posted by: Matthew Kant Cipher at August 26, 2025 10:02 PM (KkdUn)

15 vmom with 1st and a nood! Yeah!

Posted by: haffhowershower at August 26, 2025 10:02 PM (144I4)

16 Good evening morons en bedankt Hondo

I'm going to go boldly back to the content.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 26, 2025 10:02 PM (RIvkX)

17 Am debolded?

Posted by: IS ROTH at August 26, 2025 10:02 PM (qGfC5)

18 Still bold, but way past my normal bedtime. Someone please close the Tag. Goodnight all!

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at August 26, 2025 10:02 PM (KaHlS)

19 Sneaky bold tag way up top. Fixed!

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:03 PM (41CYW)

20 Right column of the show ranking must be by Benioff and Weiss themselves, aka D&D alias Dumb and Dumber.

Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 10:03 PM (gKWVE)

21 Bold.

Posted by: Boss Moss at August 26, 2025 10:03 PM (q63c/)

22 That TV show list is wrong in so many ways.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 26, 2025 10:04 PM (RIvkX)

23 Foo the huck made that list?? The only ones I recognize are Twilight Zone and Battlestar Galactica. Must be some punk kid who doesn't know any better.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:04 PM (0eaVi)

24 And Supertramp sucked. Squeaky fairy voices all afraid that someone might call them a liberal.

Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 10:04 PM (gKWVE)

25 Good evening Horde. Thanks Doggo! Well done and thank you for all the ONT fun and games.

See you in Club ONT.

Posted by: TRex - 21 lime green dildo salute at August 26, 2025 10:04 PM (IQ6Gq)

26 I think it's my first ont first

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at August 26, 2025 10:04 PM (IsuMW)

27 Thanks for another dandy Tuesday Night ONT, scampydog!

Sorry to see your official COB duties come to an end, but I hope we see you back from time to time! You leave some mighty big shoes to fill.

Great photo up top!

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at August 26, 2025 10:05 PM (kB9dk)

28 Sorry I'm late, I was trying to arrange my heiroglyphics in alphabetical order

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:05 PM (dR8Z/)

29 26 I think it's my first ont first
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at August 26, 2025 10:04 PM (IsuMW)

----------

*counts out five bathroom tokens*

Posted by: The AoSHQ Comment Propriety Review Referee at August 26, 2025 10:05 PM (hY4dx)

30 28 Sorry I'm late, I was trying to arrange my heiroglyphics in alphabetical order
Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:05 PM (dR8Z/)
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Tank! Glad you made it.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:06 PM (41CYW)

31 Thanks Duke of Cool, we'll miss your Tues ONTs but look forward to seeing you in Club ONT!

Posted by: The Grateful at August 26, 2025 10:07 PM (IQ6Gq)

32 If scampydog isn’t a COB any longer, what happens to 3D Saturday ONT?

Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:07 PM (fveCG)

33 "Cracker Barrel says its "new logo is going away" and it's bringing back the beloved “Old Timer.” The company confirmed the news in a statement to FOX Business." Posted by: JackStraw

Maybe that is why it was up today, and after hours ... like 8%. 54.61 to 61.80. It had dipped to 48 and change.

Posted by: illiniwek at August 26, 2025 10:07 PM (vbXSk)

34 disregard, just fixing my sock... or trying to.

Posted by: IS ROTH at August 26, 2025 10:07 PM (qGfC5)

35 scampydog, thank you.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 26, 2025 10:08 PM (dxWFK)

36 Why the youths are moving right

The Silents were told that things are tough but if we work hard, we will make it
The Boomers got told that the world was screwed up but they would be OK
GenX got told the world was doomed and they were fncked
Millennials were told they were fncked
GenZ got told, "we are bringing in extra people and tasking them with fnckign you"

Posted by: Kindltot at August 26, 2025 10:08 PM (rbvCR)

37 Scampy, are you still going to participate on the Saturday Club ONT? In who's capable hands will Tuesdays be left?

Thank you for all the shenanigans. Godspeed in future endeavors.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:08 PM (dR8Z/)

38 32 If scampydog isn’t a COB any longer, what happens to 3D Saturday ONT?
Posted by: QED Texan
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The Club and the 3D's will continue. We have more bathroom tokens than casinos have chips. Plenty of time to work through those.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:09 PM (41CYW)

39
Foo the huck made that list?? The only ones I recognize are Twilight Zone and Battlestar Galactica. Must be some punk kid who doesn't know any better.
Posted by: OrangeEnt

And they probably didn't mean the original TZ and BSG.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 26, 2025 10:09 PM (63Dwl)

40 Evenin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at August 26, 2025 10:09 PM (sAmhv)

41 What would happen if 3I/Atlas were to strike Mars? If we assume a mass of 1/gm/cm^3, a diameter of 20KM, and a velocity of 151 Km/sec the kinetic energy of the object would be 4.76 x 10^25 joules or about 11.4 billion one megaton H bombs. It is doubtful Mars would survive such an impact.

Posted by: An Observation sez Trump is my President at August 26, 2025 10:09 PM (Da7Vv)

42 The Club and the 3D's will continue. We have more bathroom tokens than casinos have chips. Plenty of time to work through those.
Posted by: scampydog

Phew!

Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:09 PM (fveCG)

43 Sit Doggo, sit. Good dog!

Sad to see you depart as ONT host. You're still a D, though. Your obligations to The Club have not yet been fulfilled. Get busy!

Posted by: Doof at August 26, 2025 10:10 PM (QMAsf)

44 Thanks for the kind words LS, Grateful, and all else.

LS: up top photo is another from my dad and his collection.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:10 PM (41CYW)

45 That Derek Thompson guy:

The pandemic era didn't just demolish faith in scientific and political elites. It also strongly increased alone time, sending young men and women in highly gendered social-media spaces, where the youngest men in particular seem to have become significantly more anti-feminist and open to right-wing influencers and parties.

Yeah, that must be it.

Idiot.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:10 PM (gKDq2)

46 And they probably didn't mean the original TZ and BSG.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 26, 2025 10:09 PM (63Dwl)

Yeah. Didn't think about that. Whoever made this list hasn't watched any classic television. I'll shall dismiss this list as youthful inexperience.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:10 PM (0eaVi)

47 Scampydog! You are going to be missed. I am sad to hear this news!

Posted by: Piper at August 26, 2025 10:11 PM (p4NUW)

48 I should say thank you, scampydog for coaxing a reluctant lurker out of his shell.

Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:11 PM (fveCG)

49
Dog, therefore art.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 26, 2025 10:11 PM (kkTda)

50 Evan Sayet used Goodbye Stranger as an example of mind rot music that is destroying our culture. It's narcissistic, hedonistic, and nihilistic.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, We're Living On Land Stolen From the Dinosaur! at August 26, 2025 10:11 PM (L/fGl)

51 41 What would happen if 3I/Atlas were to strike Mars? If we assume a mass of 1/gm/cm^3, a diameter of 20KM, and a velocity of 151 Km/sec the kinetic energy of the object would be 4.76 x 10^25 joules or about 11.4 billion one megaton H bombs. It is doubtful Mars would survive such an impact.

-------

I was told there would be no math on this blog.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 10:11 PM (hY4dx)

52 Is that Wishbone playing cards as the last picture? I really need to get Pookette watching that show, it was great at introducing me to classical literature.

Posted by: pookysgirl, grateful for all the prayers today at August 26, 2025 10:12 PM (Wt5PA)

53 Hey, we have the 3D's here this evening. Good evening TRex and Doof.

Let's get to some regular comments and fun. Thanks everyone for the kind words, but there is ONT'ing to be done!

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:12 PM (41CYW)

54 I wrote a post about AI on the writer's group, A Literary Horde. Unfortunately, it's an Only Fans... I mean, a members only site.

Of course, you can join for free!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:13 PM (0eaVi)

55 Scampydog!

Nooooooooo!!!!

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 10:13 PM (mT+6a)

56 Who comes up with this wrongness? No way that Justified is only the 50th best TV series of all time.
=
That list is bullshit and full of recency bias.

Game of Thrones 2nd? Are we pretending that last season didn't happen?

Buffy and Babylon 5 aren't on the list at all?

Posted by: Methos at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (zLwRl)

57 48 I should say thank you, scampydog for coaxing a reluctant lurker out of his shell.
Posted by: QED Texan
---------
We're glad you're here, QED Texan. Many of us will never look at a minivan the same way thanks to you.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (41CYW)

58 I was offline most of the day today, started checking my usual bookmarks an hour ago. Seven months in & this seems like another best day for America I could imagine! But still not tired of winning.
Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at August 26, 2025 10:01 PM (KaHlS)

I feel sorry for little Scottish girls right about now. And angry. Very very angry.

What the hell is wrong with the British Isles?

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (gKDq2)

59 QED. The next step after delurking is to join us at the MoMe.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (dxWFK)

60 I think because of doof or dogoo, youtube is feeding me a consistent diet of Soul Train dance lines.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (RIvkX)

61 Let's get to some regular comments and fun. Thanks everyone for the kind words, but there is ONT'ing to be done!
Posted by: scampydog

That sounds like it requires reading the content or doing math.

Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:15 PM (fveCG)

62 60 I think because of doof or dogoo, youtube is feeding me a consistent diet of Soul Train dance lines.
Posted by: San Franpsycho
-----------
I'm thinking you said that as another way of saying you are smiling and dancing in your chair.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:15 PM (41CYW)

63 Time biased TV survey. No man from uncle, no tv Westerns like Bonanza,Maverick,GunSmoke, no variety shows like Nat King Cole's or Dean's.

Posted by: From about That Time at August 26, 2025 10:15 PM (n4GiU)

64
Well done your work, Scampy. You have the Horde's gratitude.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 26, 2025 10:16 PM (kkTda)

65 We're glad you're here, QED Texan. Many of us will never look at a minivan the same way thanks to you.
Posted by: scampydog

Glad to be of service.

Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:16 PM (fveCG)

66 So another squirrel rampage took down internet service, again. Going to have get into a few boxes I normally don't touch to see if I can get my stuff back to normal now that they've patched the squirrel bites in the fiber.

Posted by: Blanco Basura -Z28.310 at August 26, 2025 10:16 PM (6eK0E)

67 A Song of Ice and Fire is the best epic fantasy ever, in my head, and it's too bad none of you "tea baggers" will ever get to read it.

Posted by: George RRM at August 26, 2025 10:17 PM (gKWVE)

68 scampydog, I have not been to or through Troy, Oregon, but I have traveled I-84 from Utah, through the incredibly rich farmland of southeast Oregon, and then along the Columbia River Gorge. There is a lot of pretty in Oregon with varied landscapes and lots to see!

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at August 26, 2025 10:17 PM (kB9dk)

69 QED. The next step after delurking is to join us at the MoMe.
Posted by: Ben Had

Thanks. I hope to make it sometime.

Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:17 PM (fveCG)

70 Supertramp turned to 11, a cigar and drink. How it’s done.

Posted by: Eromero at August 26, 2025 10:17 PM (LHPAg)

71 A Song of Ice and Fire is the best epic fantasy ever, in my head, and it's too bad none of you "tea baggers" will ever get to read it.
Posted by: George RRM at August 26, 2025 10:17 PM (gKWVE)

I read somewhere that he's already written it, but wants it to come out after he's gone.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:18 PM (0eaVi)

72
You come for the smart military blog, you get 'Babylonian sexagesimal system'

[Tips hat to Publius. Hell of a nice write-up]

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:18 PM (XeU6L)

73 Happy-ish Tuesday Evening, all y'all ...

Posted by: Adriane the By That Definition, I am a Worm Critic . . . at August 26, 2025 10:19 PM (3ZUWJ)

74
Sorry I'm late, I was trying to arrange my heiroglyphics in alphabetical order
Posted by: tankdemon

=============

Good evening. I'll respond more fully when I finish ironing my shoe laces.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:19 PM (cPNCv)

75 [Tips hat to Publius. Hell of a nice write-up]
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025
-------------
Seconded. I have read it several times. Very well done, publius.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:19 PM (41CYW)

76 QED. The next step after delurking is to join us at the MoMe.
Posted by: Ben Had

Thanks. I hope to make it sometime.
Posted by: QED Texan at August 26, 2025 10:17 PM (fveCG)

Do as Ben Had says. You will not disobey!

Posted by: Doof at August 26, 2025 10:20 PM (QMAsf)

77 I'll respond more fully when I finish ironing my shoe laces.
Posted by: Blonde Morticia

I think I had a high school crush give me that reason once.

Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 10:20 PM (gKWVE)

78 Thank you scampydog I've enjoyed our adventures

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 26, 2025 10:20 PM (RIvkX)

79
3I/ATLAS size estimates are going downwards with the latest observations. The nucleus is down to 3.5 miles. Some still disagree with that however.

It's very different, which you'd expect for 7 billion year old or better relic from the ancient days of the Milky Way. What's interesting is it putting out a lot of CO2 and little water vapor.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:21 PM (w6EFb)

80 68 scampydog, I have not been to or through Troy, Oregon, but I have traveled I-84 from Utah, through the incredibly rich farmland of southeast Oregon, and then along the Columbia River Gorge. There is a lot of pretty in Oregon with varied landscapes and lots to see!
Posted by: Legally Sufficient
-----------
There really is some interesting and varied road trips in the PNW. A bit south of the PNW, Pete Bog turned scampywife and I on to some WY and Utah roads recently that were super cool too.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:21 PM (41CYW)

81 Pour me an effin' drink and I'll tell you about the damn passage of time...

Posted by: Old Lady Emhoff at August 26, 2025 10:21 PM (XQo4F)

82 Gunsmoke and Perry Mason should be in the top 5 all time TV shows.

Posted by: joemarine at August 26, 2025 10:21 PM (y171U)

83 "Cracker Barrel says its "new logo is going away" and it's bringing back the beloved “Old Timer.” The company confirmed the news in a statement to FOX Business." Posted by: JackStraw
---

The problem isn't the logo. But the CEO doesn't get that, naturally.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:21 PM (XeU6L)

84
I feel sorry for little Scottish girls right about now. And angry. Very very angry.

What the hell is wrong with the British Isles?
Posted by: RickZ

==============

RickZ, I read this today on X:

"Sinéad Watson
@ImWatson91
·
4h
I wasn't going to comment on this, but after seeing some reactions, I'm going to.

When I was her age, I carried a knife. Never had to use it. Working-class Scottish girls are never protected. They're judged as neds, bams, scum.

Some of you have no idea what it's like. At all."

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:22 PM (cPNCv)

85 Thank you for the ONTs scampydog

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at August 26, 2025 10:22 PM (IsuMW)

86 I'm thinking you said that as another way of saying you are smiling and dancing in your chair.
Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:15 PM (41CYW)
====
In the shower.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 26, 2025 10:23 PM (RIvkX)

87 No Magnum, PI. No Rockford Files. No Playhouse 90. No Your Show of Shows. No Star Trek. No Dick Van Dyke. No Mary Tyler Moore. No Cheers. No Frasier. No Flintstones. No Lovejoy. No Masterpiece Theater. No Mystery. No Honeymooners. No I Love Lucy. The guy needs to scrap his list and start over. There's more, but you all can name shows that should be on the list.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:23 PM (0eaVi)

88 Wow that's a lot of content Scampydog! Between that and Gutfeld I don't know if I'll have any time to post my usual witty, urbane, deeply-introspective comments. (Unbuttons shirt, starts staring at navel).

I see somewheres a headline that Cracker Barrel relented on the logo already. If true it's a step in the right direction. Now if seating numbers fall off a cliff maybe they'll repent. (HA!)

It's been a little warm here lately and that combined with low-down laziness has kept me off the hiking trails. I've been walking four miles each morning in preparation for cooler weather so more to come.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 26, 2025 10:24 PM (QGaXH)

89 The problem isn't the logo. But the CEO doesn't get that, naturally.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:21 PM (XeU6L)

Who are you? That She EO is smahtuh than any mere mortal.

"Peasant.

Eat the microwaved slop we serve.

And be thankful."

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:24 PM (gKDq2)

90 What would happen if 3I/Atlas were to strike Mars? If we assume a mass of 1/gm/cm^3, a diameter of 20KM, and a velocity of 151 Km/sec the kinetic energy of the object would be 4.76 x 10^25 joules or about 11.4 billion one megaton H bombs. It is doubtful Mars would survive such an impact.
Posted by: An Observation sez Trump is my President
===

Run it through Grok and have it make an animation.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 26, 2025 10:25 PM (/lPRQ)

91
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:23 PM (0eaVi)

============

You hit 2 of my waaaats?

Frasier
I Love Lucy

How could I Love Lucy be omitted from greatest t.v. shows ever?

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:25 PM (cPNCv)

92
Miss Rosalind should be heading back to her home in California but instead, for reasons not worth going into, will be returning to Schloss Hadrian for the near future.

I love her because she's a silly goof like her sister Diana but I know she's someone else's girl now and that's where she belongs.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 26, 2025 10:25 PM (kkTda)

93 ace having to to take a night shift ain't gonna be pretty. Gird your loins.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 26, 2025 10:25 PM (dxWFK)

94 Thank you scampydog I've enjoyed our adventures
Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 26, 2025 10:20 PM (RIvkX)

You had adventures? Hell, bring out the slides!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:26 PM (0eaVi)

95 Gunsmoke and Perry Mason should be in the top 5 all time TV shows.
Posted by: joemarine
------

++ on Gunsmoke.

I've never even heard of half of those shows, maybe more, and curiously, I do not care.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:26 PM (XeU6L)

96 I started reading publius' essay, got scared and turned back.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 26, 2025 10:26 PM (RIvkX)

97 >> [Tips hat to Publius. Hell of a nice write-up]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

DUT1 is now at +80.98 ms. That is, the earth is ahead of UTC by that much, and that's entirely due to the mean fast days since 2020. We won't need a leap second for several more years, and in fact, may need a negative leap second around 2029. Having never been done before, that would likely be a mess.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:26 PM (w6EFb)

98 It's been a little warm here lately and that combined with low-down laziness has kept me off the hiking trails. I've been walking four miles each morning in preparation for cooler weather so more to come.
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 26, 2025 10:24 PM (QGaXH)
-------------
Evening, ARiK. Glad you're getting some walking in. I need to start that - golf season winding down here. We got our first batch of leaves beginning to change color last week.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:26 PM (41CYW)

99 I think young people are moving Right because their parents are setting an example. I don’t think it’s a rebellion against them as was the conventional wisdom in the past.

Posted by: polynikes at August 26, 2025 10:27 PM (EYmYM)

100 >>> 79
3I/ATLAS size estimates are going downwards with the latest observations. The nucleus is down to 3.5 miles. Some still disagree with that however.

It's very different, which you'd expect for 7 billion year old or better relic from the ancient days of the Milky Way. What's interesting is it putting out a lot of CO2 and little water vapor.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:21 PM (w6EFb)

That's a little more than half the estimate for the Chicxulub rock, so any impact would still be noticeable.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 26, 2025 10:28 PM (ULPxl)

101 Why are there 8 diamonds on that 10 of diamonds?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 10:29 PM (Ptkiu)

102 You hit 2 of my waaaats?

Frasier
I Love Lucy

How could I Love Lucy be omitted from greatest t.v. shows ever?
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:25 PM (cPNCv)

Whippersnapper needs to get off our lawns.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:29 PM (0eaVi)

103 Who are you? That She EO is smahtuh than any mere mortal.

"Peasant.

Eat the microwaved slop we serve.

And be thankful."
Posted by: RickZ
----------

She is also unburdened by what has been...you know, appealing to your custmer base.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:29 PM (XeU6L)

104
Here's a 3D map of the trajectory of the thing:
https://tinyurl.com/2ckzwubc

Drag that around to see the 3D picture of the hyperbola relative to the orbits of the planets. It makes a close approach by Mars and Jupiter. "Close" is relative, 0.2 au for Mars.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:30 PM (w6EFb)

105 I’ve only watched 4 shows on that list. And two of the four I thought were over rated.

Posted by: polynikes at August 26, 2025 10:30 PM (EYmYM)

106 Having never been done before, that would likely be a mess.
Posted by: publius
-------

Shades of Y2K panic.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:31 PM (XeU6L)

107 101 Why are there 8 diamonds on that 10 of diamonds?
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit
-----------
So funny. I counted fingers. Verified: cigar, Ace of Spades, and inside straight. Missed the diamonds. *turns in detective card*

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:31 PM (41CYW)

108 I started reading publius' essay, got scared and turned back.
Posted by: San Franpsycho
-----

Trying to save time?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:31 PM (XeU6L)

109 It’s not even clearly marked as a 10 of diamonds but rather as 20 of diamonds! Time to pull out the derringer!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 10:32 PM (Ptkiu)

110 99 I think young people are moving Right because their parents are setting an example. I don’t think it’s a rebellion against them as was the conventional wisdom in the past.
Posted by: polynikes at August 26, 2025 10:27 PM (EYmYM)

I also think its a bit of... they hear that things used to be much better... and gee, maybe, just maybe, some of those old beliefs were why.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 10:33 PM (mP0Kj)

111 "Sinéad Watson
@ImWatson91
·
4h
I wasn't going to comment on this, but after seeing some reactions, I'm going to.

When I was her age, I carried a knife. Never had to use it. Working-class Scottish girls are never protected. They're judged as neds, bams, scum.

Some of you have no idea what it's like. At all."
Posted by: Blonde Morticia
===

neds, bams, scum - And that's just friends and family.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 26, 2025 10:33 PM (/lPRQ)

112 108 I started reading publius' essay, got scared and turned back.
Posted by: San Franpsycho
-----

Trying to save time?
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:31
----------
LOL. Well played.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:33 PM (41CYW)

113 Blonde Morticia,

The weirdest thing to me is on X so many women seem to not be defending the girl. Some, like Sinead there, talk about gangs and being low-income slags. But it seems to be guys who are infuriated that a 14-year-old had to brandish a knife and a hatchet to save her 12-year-old sister from a muzzie pedo, there with his wife hunting for underage girls!

I can't believe how sick it is over there.

Rupert Lowe was kicked out of Reform by Farage for wanting mass deportations of illegals, families of rapists, the lot. I don't think Farage is going to be the English hero many seem to think.

So it's up to little girls.

Like I said, I'm pissed.

This story hit a nerve or something with me.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:34 PM (gKDq2)

114 >> hat's a little more than half the estimate for the Chicxulub rock, so any impact would still be noticeable.

Given the much higher velocity, I think it would be greater than the dino-killer by a good bit. This thing is a bat out of hell, with hyperbolic excess velocity of ~60 km/s. Speed at perihelion will be around 68 km/s.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:35 PM (w6EFb)

115 No Magnum, PI. No Rockford Files. No Playhouse 90. No Your Show of Shows. No Star Trek. No Dick Van Dyke. No Mary Tyler Moore. No Cheers. No Frasier. No Flintstones. No Lovejoy. No Masterpiece Theater. No Mystery. No Honeymooners. No I Love Lucy. The guy needs to scrap his list and start over. There's more, but you all can name shows that should be on the list.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:23 PM (0eaVi)

He needs a date with a volcano.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:35 PM (snZF9)

116 Any list that has Friends higher than Seinfeld is worthless.

Posted by: Sharps45 at August 26, 2025 10:35 PM (jiPFw)

117 How could I Love Lucy be omitted from greatest t.v. shows ever?

---------

Too white.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 10:36 PM (hY4dx)

118 Why are there 8 diamonds on that 10 of diamonds?
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit
-----------

Count again.

Posted by: polynikes at August 26, 2025 10:36 PM (EYmYM)

119 24 And Supertramp sucked. Squeaky fairy voices all afraid that someone might call them a liberal.
Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 10:04 PM (gKWVE)

Well ... that's just like ... your opinion, man ...

( and terribly wrong )

Posted by: The Dude at August 26, 2025 10:36 PM (TTAGa)

120 Interesting article Publius. Thanks.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:37 PM (dR8Z/)

121 1 AU is roughly the mean orbital radius of Earth about the Sun:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 10:37 PM (Ptkiu)

122 Negative leap second sounds very scary, but I'm OK with it as long as I don't have to go back and repeat third grade.

Posted by: Barely Made It Last Time at August 26, 2025 10:37 PM (G5+As)

123 Rupert Lowe was indeed talking about deporting only the pedos and criminals, not all the foreigners. The BBC of course took that as ISLAMOPHOBIA and WAYCISM. Farage instead of calling out the BBC for being fake news (and by the way enablers of Saville until the end) chickened out.

Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 10:38 PM (gKWVE)

124 That card is marked as the 10 of diamonds, but there are onlyb8 diamonds on it. Leads me to believe the picture is AI.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:38 PM (dR8Z/)

125 ""But from what we know of that history, our ancient ancestors were obsessed with observing and tracking the motions of the celestial bodies""
-----------------

I've sure spent a significant portion of my time since the age of thirteen or so obsessed with and tracking 'heavenly bodies....'

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 26, 2025 10:38 PM (QGaXH)

126 I can't believe how sick it is over there.

Rupert Lowe was kicked out of Reform by Farage for wanting mass deportations of illegals, families of rapists, the lot. I don't think Farage is going to be the English hero many seem to think.

So it's up to little girls.

Like I said, I'm pissed.

This story hit a nerve or something with me.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:34 PM (gKDq2)

Farage is a brit. He has landing gear testicles. When push comes to shove they retract into the fuselage and vanish.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:38 PM (snZF9)

127 The list of the greatest TV shows of all time is heavily biased to recent times.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 10:39 PM (Ptkiu)

128 It is doubtful Mars would survive such an impact.
=
How do we define 'survive'?

Like, what percentage of Mars gaining escape velocity are we talking?

Posted by: Methos at August 26, 2025 10:39 PM (zLwRl)

129 That card is marked as the 10 of diamonds, but there are onlyb8 diamonds on it. Leads me to believe the picture is AI.
Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:38 PM (dR8Z/)

There are 10 diamonds. You guys are missing the diamonds under each number.

Posted by: polynikes at August 26, 2025 10:40 PM (EYmYM)

130 Gunsmoke and Perry Mason should be in the top 5 all time TV shows.

Perry Mason was produced with a budget of $100,000 nineteen fifty's dollars per episode. Gold was $32 / oz then, it is 100 times that expensive today, so call that $100,000 equal to about $10,000,000 per episode in today's dollars.

Posted by: An Observation sez Trump is my President at August 26, 2025 10:40 PM (Da7Vv)

131 Berserker, couldn't be any more well said

Posted by: Ben Had at August 26, 2025 10:40 PM (dxWFK)

132 Why isn't My Mother the Car on that list?

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:40 PM (dR8Z/)

133 What the hell is wrong with the British Isles?
Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (gKDq2)

Way too much of the good male breeding stock got killed in WWI and WWII. See also the wreck that is now Germany.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:41 PM (l8IGe)

134 124 That card is marked as the 10 of diamonds, but there are onlyb8 diamonds on it. Leads me to believe the picture is AI.
Posted by: tankdemon
-------
AI? That picture is an important piece of doggo canon. The Smithsonian keeps calling, but they cannot have it.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:42 PM (41CYW)

135 She is also unburdened by what has been...you know, appealing to your custmer base.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 26, 2025 10:29 PM (XeU6L)

Easier to sell the land if you have buildings with no business.

To me, these changes just smell. And I mean legally. Like they want to tank the company, that SHE EO's happy talk aside. How could someone not know the 'tanking of Bud Lite' story? Like I said, fishy. Months-old fish.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:42 PM (gKDq2)

136 List is heavily weighted to the last twenty five years.
Big no: Lost. I'd rather watch "My Mothetbthe Car".

Posted by: JM in Illinois at August 26, 2025 10:42 PM (BApkF)

137
The international time lords have agreed to eliminate leap seconds by 2035, but they haven't come up with any concrete proposal yet.

If a negative leap second looms, I figure they'll be so scared of the havoc that might wreak that they'll just let UTC run free until they agree on something.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:42 PM (w6EFb)

138 What the hell is wrong with the British Isles?
Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (gKDq2)

Way too much of the good male breeding stock got killed in WWI and WWII. See also the wreck that is now Germany.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:41 PM (l8IGe)

The lesson is clear. If you're gonna wage war, you'd better win.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 10:43 PM (2WIwB)

139 Those plastic covered trays definitely give firecrackers a run for their money. Want to hit the chocolate cake a 2am? Nope, you're busted, even your neighbors know what you're doing. If your better half is a frigging food nazi you better open the damn thing in the garage.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:43 PM (snZF9)

140 Yeah, don't be fooled by the innocent act of that Muslim with the cam in Scotland. It is a documented fact that a small group of Muslims will, actually, set up cams right outside the entrance to local schools to document the students.

Now, there's no other reason for doing that other than someone going "shopping." It's blatant.

Posted by: Orson at August 26, 2025 10:43 PM (dIske)

141 Little girls should never have to be afraid of anything.

That’s what fathers, big brothers, uncles and dogs are for.

Shame on cultures who don’t protect them.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 10:44 PM (mT+6a)

142 The lesson is clear. If you're gonna wage war, you'd better win.
Posted by: Diogenes
---------
Iron in the words of Diogenes. On a lighter subject, did you fleece the Geezers today?

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:45 PM (41CYW)

143
Blonde Morticia,

The weirdest thing to me is on X so many women seem to not be defending the girl. Some, like Sinead there, talk about gangs and being low-income slags. But it seems to be guys who are infuriated that a 14-year-old had to brandish a knife and a hatchet to save her 12-year-old sister from a muzzie pedo, there with his wife hunting for underage girls!

I can't believe how sick it is over there.

Posted by: RickZ

=============

It is up-side down over there. They'd be tossing little girls off the Titanic so the murderers and rapists they were transporting in the brig could get into the lifeboats.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:45 PM (ny95y)

144 Anyone old enough to remember how Object Oriented Programming was going to change the world forever? Because Users (regular people) would be able to access Objects (small program modules designed for a specific task) and link them together to produce a desired output. And it failed because Users are incapable of thinking like programmers. Which is the direction AI will take. GIGO. That’s just one of the problems. There are others which are equally fatal to the idea that Users can become programmers.

Posted by: JackWayne at August 26, 2025 10:45 PM (PcEmA)

145
That card is marked as the 10 of diamonds, but there are onlyb8 diamonds on it. Leads me to believe the picture is AI.
Posted by: tankdemon

The dog has human hands!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 26, 2025 10:45 PM (63Dwl)

146 Not going to give the TV list the click it was built to collect, but I bet "Lost in Space" and "Land of the Giants" isn't on it either.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:46 PM (l8IGe)

147 There are 10 diamonds. You guys are missing the diamonds under each number.

Are you counting the suit indicators in the corners? They aren’t counted! Also the Hindu numerals in the corners are 10 and 20!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 10:46 PM (Ptkiu)

148 Girthy content. Took me almost 100 comments to read it.

Posted by: From about That Time at August 26, 2025 10:47 PM (n4GiU)

149 Not going to give the TV list the click it was built to collect, but I bet "Lost in Space" and "Land of the Giants" isn't on it either.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:46 PM (l8IGe)

Or SG-1

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:47 PM (snZF9)

150 74 Good evening. I'll respond more fully when I finish ironing my shoe laces.
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:19 PM (cPNCv)

That's a good one.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 10:48 PM (dR8Z/)

151 The lesson is clear. If you're gonna wage war, you'd better win.
Posted by: Diogenes
---------
Iron in the words of Diogenes. On a lighter subject, did you fleece the Geezers today?
Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:45 PM (41CYW)

***

I recovered nicely from the disaster last week in the first round and finished 10th. I did not win the coveted Geezer Golf trophy but did grab a couple skins for a few bucks.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (2WIwB)

152 Berserker, couldn't be any more well said

Posted by: Ben Had at August 26, 2025 10:40 PM (dxWFK)

The volcano, or the testicles comment?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (0eaVi)

153 The dog has human hands!

Well, yes, but we expect a poker playing dog might have human hands. The question is: will we let a poker playing dog with human hands cheat?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (Ptkiu)

154 "No Magnum, PI. No Rockford Files. No Playhouse 90. No Your Show of Shows. No Star Trek. No Dick Van Dyke. No Mary Tyler Moore. No Cheers. No Frasier. No Flintstones. No Lovejoy. No Masterpiece Theater. No Mystery. No Honeymooners. No I Love Lucy. The guy needs to scrap his list and start over. There's more, but you all can name shows that should be on the list."

No "All in the Family". No "Firefly" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Posted by: Nemo at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (4RPgu)

155 The number of days in a year is also accurately recorded in some fossils.

Some rugose corals show an annual growth pattern, but also record a microscopic record of the daily growth bands within the year.

400 million year old Devonian corals show that there were about 400 days in the year at that time.

https://tinyurl.com/4skt8rkf

Although even if we keep losing 35 days every 400 million years, then only the 29 y.o. Morons will still be around when the Earth finally quits spinning.

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (HlyYF)

156
Little girls should never have to be afraid of anything.

That’s what fathers, big brothers, uncles and dogs are for.

Shame on cultures who don’t protect them.
Posted by: nurse ratched

===============

100%, Nurse!

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (ny95y)

157 I just watched the first movie that Barbara Hale (Della Street) ever made. She was 21 in "Gildersleeve's Bad Day" (1943). She was very cute, played The Great Gildersleeve's niece.

Posted by: RKO Contract Player at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (G5+As)

158
Wot, no Ernie Kovacs? Man was a genius.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (kkTda)

159 Like, what percentage of Mars gaining escape velocity are we talking?

Scaling for Mars reduced gravity, and using 10 megaton meteor crater in AZ as a standard, the diameter of the crater would be 3000 km across. Mars has a radius of 3300 KM so about half the diameter of mars would be the size of the impact crater.

Posted by: An Observation sez Trump is my President at August 26, 2025 10:50 PM (Da7Vv)

160 133 What the hell is wrong with the British Isles?
Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:14 PM (gKDq2)

Way too much of the good male breeding stock got killed in WWI and WWII. See also the wreck that is now Germany.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:41 PM (l8IGe)

----

What the hell is wrong with japan? The birth rate in this advanced country is down to 1.15. That's almost suicidal. I wonder if the trauma of losing World War II affected the entire population for generations.

Posted by: JM in Illinois at August 26, 2025 10:50 PM (TGB/n)

161 This story hit a nerve or something with me.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:34 PM (gKDq2)

You see savages and you want to destroy them. You see the savage's enablers tossing the little girl to the wolves and you want to torture them, set them on fire, and cut them in half with a .50 BMG.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:50 PM (snZF9)

162 What the hell is wrong with japan? The birth rate in this advanced country is down to 1.15. That's almost suicidal. I wonder if the trauma of losing World War II affected the entire population for generations.

Posted by: JM in Illinois at August 26, 2025 10:50 PM (TGB/n)

Too much playstation, not enough sucky fucky.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:51 PM (snZF9)

163 141 Little girls should never have to be afraid of anything.

That’s what fathers, big brothers, uncles and dogs are for.

Shame on cultures who don’t protect them.
Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 10:44 PM (mT+6a)

---------

The UK is a dumpster fire. England has a proud heritage of standing up to tyranny. The modern class should be ashamed.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 10:51 PM (hY4dx)

164 I want Topper on the list.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 10:52 PM (2WIwB)

165
Naked City
Route 66

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 26, 2025 10:52 PM (63Dwl)

166 What would happen if 3I/Atlas were to strike Mars?

For starters, Elon would be bummed.

Posted by: From about That Time at August 26, 2025 10:52 PM (n4GiU)

167
Way too much of the good male breeding stock got killed in WWI and WWII. See also the wreck that is now Germany.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:41 PM (l8IGe)

__________

Lack of national identity and pride, collapse of Christian belief, loss of 90% of the Jews.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 26, 2025 10:53 PM (kkTda)

168 No Highway Patrol on that list either. Weasel would not be impressed.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:54 PM (41CYW)

169 The UK is a dumpster fire. England has a proud heritage of standing up to tyranny. The modern class should be ashamed.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 10:51 PM (hY4dx)

Had...had. Eventually birds will fly upside down there because there won't be a frigging thing worth shitting on.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:55 PM (snZF9)

170 Little girls should never have to be afraid of anything.

That’s what fathers, big brothers, uncles and dogs are for.

Shame on cultures who don’t protect them.
Posted by: nurse ratched

This. Absolutely this.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 10:55 PM (2WIwB)

171 The barn in the photo up top looks like it might be like the barn the protagonist couple in Twister wandered into: you know, the one with all the hanging implements of destruction?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 10:55 PM (Ptkiu)

172 Not going to give the TV list the click it was built to collect, but I bet "Lost in Space" and "Land of the Giants" isn't on it either.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:46 PM (l8IGe)

Nope. And no The Secrets of Isis, either. Mmmm. Joanna Cameron in that Isis get up.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 10:55 PM (0eaVi)

173 You see savages and you want to destroy them. You see the savage's enablers tossing the little girl to the wolves and you want to torture them, set them on fire, and cut them in half with a .50 BMG.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 10:50 PM (snZF9)

A .22, but yeah.

Why rush it?

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 10:55 PM (gKDq2)

174
The little girl's name is apparently Mayah, from what I saw on X, although Sophie was mentioned.

Anyway, Mayah, Queen of Scots? Sophie would work too.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:55 PM (w6EFb)

175 Troy, Oregon is a wide spot in the road that sits in the bottom of a canyon. It used to have some decent turkey hunting nearby, before the National Forest it was surrounded by burned several years ago.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:56 PM (l8IGe)

176
What the hell is wrong with japan? The birth rate in this advanced country is down to 1.15. That's almost suicidal. I wonder if the trauma of losing World War II affected the entire population for generations.
Posted by: JM in Illinois

==============

If I get rich off my latest project, I might take a crash course in anthropological methods and fly on over there and do a study. I'm curious, too, and I don't know of anyone who's making a serious effort to find out about Japan and South Korea, which is also going off a demographic cliff.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at August 26, 2025 10:56 PM (ny95y)

177 Why are there 8 diamonds on that 10 of diamonds?

Shrinkflation.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - Z28.310 at August 26, 2025 10:57 PM (lUFok)

178 175 Troy, Oregon is a wide spot in the road that sits in the bottom of a canyon. It used to have some decent turkey hunting nearby, before the National Forest it was surrounded by burned several years ago.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy
----------
Yep. Narrow, dirt road. I hunted it two years after the big fire. Not much wildlife. There's also someone that owns a crazy amount of private property on both sides of the road just south of Troy. Cameras, signs, etc.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 10:58 PM (41CYW)

179 Scampydog we hardly knew ye’

Good luck in your new gig as a highly paid NYT fashion and lifestyle editor.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 26, 2025 10:58 PM (nedAL)

180 Enjoy those Tuesday nights off, Doggo!

Glad you're still in the Club 3D.

Today's adventure:

Replaced the starter-rope on my freebie lawnmower. No start

But it was cranking!

Um, I think I flooded it before realizing I'd forgotten to reconnect the plug wire. Ooops. Will try it again later.

Posted by: JQ at August 26, 2025 10:59 PM (rdVOm)

181 Time being the subject: In the year 1966, both Frank Aletter and his wife, Lee Meriwether, starred in 2 different TV shows about Time. Aletter was in "It's About Time" and Lee starred in "The Time Tunnel.

Posted by: Time is Tight at August 26, 2025 10:59 PM (G5+As)

182 181 Time being the subject: In the year 1966, both Frank Aletter and his wife, Lee Meriwether, starred in 2 different TV shows about Time. Aletter was in "It's About Time" and Lee starred in "The Time Tunnel.

--------

Oof. I get chills!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:00 PM (hY4dx)

183 I want Topper on the list.
Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 10:52 PM (2WIwB)

I'd rate it number fifty.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:00 PM (0eaVi)

184
🎸🎶
Well I've never been to Heavener
But it's a town in Oklahoma

…and it's pronounced heave'-nur.

Posted by: mindful webworker - then there's Miami (muh-am'-uh) at August 26, 2025 11:00 PM (9Ckxf)

185 Good luck in your new gig as a highly paid NYT fashion and lifestyle editor.
Posted by: Pete Bog
-----------
Angling for that football player / pop star engagement and marriage story. Kindly put a good word in for me.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:01 PM (41CYW)

186 141 Little girls should never have to be afraid of anything.

That’s what fathers, big brothers, uncles and dogs are for.

Shame on cultures who don’t protect them.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 10:44 PM

I got a call from my youngest daughter last night asking if she could stay out a little bit late ... because one of her friends just got cheated on by her boyfriend.

I said I was currently with her uncle (280#) and one of her cousins (a welder), and asked if she wanted us to get three pieces of heavy rebar and go take care of the problem.

I didn't realize I was on speaker phone, until I heard some high-pitched laughter in the background. I did get a "Thanks Dad, she needed that" from my daughter.

My daughter knows I have her back, but she is still working on her shooting skills in case I can't get there in time.

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at August 26, 2025 11:01 PM (HlyYF)

187 "Cookie jar can be surprisingly noisy in the middle of the night."
-------
By the time I was 10 or so I had perfected the silent cookie jar incursion. It took a little longer, but I made sure no human ear could hear it

Posted by: 496 at August 26, 2025 11:02 PM (vOlV0)

188 Anyone old enough to remember how Object Oriented Programming was going to change the world forever? .. . . . .
Posted by: JackWayne

Ooo! Ooo! And Structured Programing and then Ada, and 4GL, then CASE Tools, SOAP, XML for everything, NOSQL, Agile methodologies. They were all going to give us George Jetson cars, Rosie and Developers were going to be masters of the universe!!

Posted by: Tonypete at August 26, 2025 11:02 PM (cYBz/)

189 I want Topper on the list.
Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 10:52 PM (2WIwB)

I'd rate it number fifty.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:00 PM (0eaVi)

That's ok. As long as it's on the list. It was a great show.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 11:03 PM (2WIwB)

190 Today's adventure:

Replaced the starter-rope on my freebie lawnmower. No start But it was cranking!

Um, I think I flooded it before realizing I'd forgotten to reconnect the plug wire. Ooops. Will try it again later.

Posted by: JQ at August 26, 2025 10:59 PM (rdVOm)

I'm going to say yes on that. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 11:03 PM (snZF9)

191 The lesson is clear. If you're gonna wage war, you'd better win.[

Britain did win both WWI and WWII, but at what price?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:03 PM (Ptkiu)

192
Something interesting I stumbled onto last night about 3I/ATLAS. There's the Juno probe currently in orbit around Jupiter. There's a chance it could be repurposed to make a flyby of 3I/ATLAS during the close approach to Jupiter.

If it has a enough fuel, that is. It would be a tricky maneuver, and involve a precisely timed slingshot maneuver, and require just 2.4 km/s delta-v.

Juno's main engine hasn't been lit since 2016, so 9 years, and it may not have enough fuel. But they are looking at it.

The window is closing, and the maneuver would have to be done in Sept within weeks.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 11:04 PM (w6EFb)

193 I liked structured programming. It made sense!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (Ptkiu)

194 Birthdates are down across most of tbe 1st world.

Japan is simply the canary in the coal mine.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (XV/Pl)

195 The top picture might be the thriving metropolis of Flora, Oregon. Last time I rolled through there on the way to turkey camp it was a ghost town with just a few falling down hay barns.

Standing Dad Joke at turkey camp was, "After dinner, let's get cleaned up and go dance with the girls at Flora!"

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (l8IGe)

196 Posted by: Pillage Idiot at August 26, 2025 11:01 PM (HlyYF)
-------
Nobody uses open manhole covers anymore. Needs to make a comeback.

Posted by: 496 at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (mn8NH)

197 Britain did win both WWI and WWII, but at what price?

---------

They really should have sat WWI out.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (JkO4W)

198 154 No "All in the Family". No "Firefly" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
Posted by: Nemo at August 26, 2025 10:49 PM (4RPgu)

As much as I love Firefly, I don't think a show that only has one season should really be considered, though the mist does include Band of Brothers, which was only a miniseries.

Including The Last of Us is ridiculous. I haven't watched the show, but from the accounts I have heard, the second season is rubbish.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 11:06 PM (dR8Z/)

199 That's ok. As long as it's on the list. It was a great show.
Posted by: Diogenes at August 26, 2025 11:03 PM (2WIwB)

Missed it by thaaat much.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:07 PM (0eaVi)

200 175 Troy, Oregon is a wide spot in the road that sits in the bottom of a canyon. It used to have some decent turkey hunting nearby, before the National Forest it was surrounded by burned several years ago.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:56 PM

My wild turkeys love my burned patches. They warm up first in the spring and the bugs hatch a few weeks early. With almost no cover, the bugs are easy turkey snacks.

Of course, I only burn 5-10 acre patches at a time. Unlike the Democrat "environmentalists" that cause a couple hundred thousand acres at a time to burn!

Posted by: Pillage Idiot at August 26, 2025 11:08 PM (HlyYF)

201 You know Egypt divides the day
To twenty-four pieces
Twelve for the day
Twelve for the night
Passed on through to the ancient Greeks
Passed on through to the ancient Greeks
Passed on through to the ancient Greeks, yeah

Posted by: Dark Litigator at August 26, 2025 11:08 PM (KAi1n)

202 Little girls should never have to be afraid of anything.
That’s what fathers, big brothers, uncles and dogs are for.
Shame on cultures who don’t protect them.
Posted by: nurse ratched
====

They will be back.

Useful information if someone was in the mood to hit and run.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (/lPRQ)

203 Barney Miller, and no Dallas?

Posted by: Lirio100 at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (ky7/T)

204 Young guy/oldish guy post-dinner conversation ended up mirroring many of the same themes discussed here at AoSHQ. We agreed that AI is a tool - more accurately a wrench/implement in the toolbox. Plausibly a very useful and common one, like a Phillips screwdriver or a 1/2" combo wrench. Not something obscure like a sink basin wrench.

Share your AI thoughts in the comments.

A brief history of the transistor:

1955: Computers are a fad.
1995: Computers are everywhere.
1995: The Internet is a fad.
2005: The Internet is everywhere.
2005: Smartphones are a fad.
2025: Smartphones are everywhere.
2025: AI is a fad.

No, I don't see it doing the big things. General-purpose self-driving cars? Nuh-uh. Too much processing power needed, and that's just for the lawyers.

But if you told me 20 years ago that you'd be able to type "Draw a turquoise 57 Chevy parked in front of a period-appropriate diner, with a young gentleman holding the passenger door open for his date. Create it in the style of a Botticelli painting." and get just that in a matter of minutes? Ida said you were nuts.

So..... writing a TV show to displace one of those top 50? Maybe someday. Maybe soon?

Posted by: mikeski at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (DgGvY)

205 >>> 194 Birthdates are down across most of tbe 1st world.

Japan is simply the canary in the coal mine.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (XV/Pl)

*tee hee*

Posted by: WEF and friends at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (ULPxl)

206 The idea that Breaking Bad is the best show of all time is both hysterical and sad at the same time.

Chernobyl was a mini-series, and is probably the best episodic produced in the last 25 years.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (XV/Pl)

207
Juno's end of mission, unless it got extended with additional funding was supposed to be the end of this Sept. anyway. They were planning on crashing it into Jupiter.

So, if there's a chance this could work, they should go for it. It's instruments would be more than enough to get a hell of a lot of data on 3I/Atlas. The chance to probe a 7 billion year old relic is once in many lifetimes.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (w6EFb)

208 Jack Benny. Maverick. Have Gun, Will Travel. See, there's a lot more that belongs on that list than what's on there.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:10 PM (0eaVi)

209 Anyway, Mayah, Queen of Scots? Sophie would work too.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 10:55 PM (w6EFb)

This guy's pinned post on X, a Yank no less, made a statement picture.

https://tinyurl.com/2nbe3kcz

As Beserker says, men over here see the evil and it pisses them off. But over there, enablers. Telling the police to ignore the rapes.

'Mustn't offend the rapists with the inconvenience of an arrest. That's humiliating and will cause racial upset in the immigrant community (of rapists). They're only little girls anyway. Nothing happened.

Hip-hip. Cheerio.'

D.C. police has better crime stats.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 11:10 PM (gKDq2)

210 Interesting...

ACLU sues Texas over their redistricting, which was actually Court ordered...

But does NOT sue Calif for redistricting even though it is a blatant Political Move (they flat out admit it) which is also against California Law.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:10 PM (mP0Kj)

211 Angling for that football player / pop star engagement and marriage story. Kindly put a good word in for me.
Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:01 PM (41CYW)

Ah yes, OJ and Nicole. Cute couple.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 26, 2025 11:10 PM (nedAL)

212 Breaking Bad was a pretty great show, you gotta admit.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:10 PM (JkO4W)

213 195 The top picture might be the thriving metropolis of Flora, Oregon. Last time I rolled through there on the way to turkey camp it was a ghost town with just a few falling down hay barns.

Standing Dad Joke at turkey camp was, "After dinner, let's get cleaned up and go dance with the girls at Flora!"
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (l8IGe)
-----------
You are absolutely in the neighborhood. You can get to Troy (10 and 2 on steering wheel type of road) from Flora, off of 3.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:11 PM (41CYW)

214 I wonder how the dog-human would do in a poker match against the Mannix monkey.

Posted by: far cry at August 26, 2025 11:12 PM (vKDOE)

215 Chernobyl was a mini-series, and is probably the best episodic produced in the last 25 years.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (XV/Pl)

Glad you said twenty-five years, pardner.

Posted by: Lonesome Dove at August 26, 2025 11:12 PM (0eaVi)

216 Britain did win both WWI and WWII, but at what price?
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:03 PM (Ptkiu)

I’m going to guess losing would have cost more.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 26, 2025 11:13 PM (nedAL)

217 Are you leaving us, Scampydog? Say it isn't so.

I don't think quartz crystals are shaped like tiny tuning forks. Mostly just tiny rectangular wafers. I have a 100 kHz standard crystal around here somewhere, and it is wafer about an inch square, and about 1/8" thick. Probably cut from natural Brazilian quartz, because it is 1940's vintage.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 26, 2025 11:13 PM (a9R6a)

218 Second that on Structured Programming. You gotta replace those awful GOTOs with something.
OOP also isn't terrible, although misused. Design Patterns help.

Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 11:13 PM (gKWVE)

219 146 Not going to give the TV list the click it was built to collect, but I bet "Lost in Space" and "Land of the Giants" isn't on it either.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:46 PM (l8IGe)

No Irwin Allen productions on the list...bwah!

Posted by: joemarine at August 26, 2025 11:14 PM (y171U)

220 194 Birthdates are down across most of tbe 1st world.

Japan is simply the canary in the coal mine.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:05 PM (XV/Pl)

I guess the question then becomes, when do we have enough people?

Me? I think 350 million in the US is plenty, we don't need more. More just takes more resources, water, room... Hell... we hit 200 Million in the 1960s... and I would premise life was better then.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:14 PM (mP0Kj)

221 @212

>>Breaking Bad was a pretty great show, you gotta admit.

Never got into Breaking Bad, couldn't care less about those characters.

Vince Gillian had done far better with The Night Stalker and The X-Files.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:14 PM (XV/Pl)

222 Ah yes, OJ and Nicole. Cute couple.
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 26, 2025 11:10 PM (nedAL)

----------

Right up until he gutted her like a catfish.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:14 PM (JkO4W)

223 Scaling for Mars reduced gravity, and using 10 megaton meteor crater in AZ as a standard, the diameter of the crater would be 3000 km across. Mars has a radius of 3300 KM so about half the diameter of mars would be the size of the impact crater.
---
I'm trying to picture that, and coming up with Pac Man.

I don't think we're talking about Alderaan blown up by the Death Star where Mars becomes an ever expanding cloud of debris (which would eventually be a high probability problem for us), though some of the crater's interior would get away.

I do wonder what that would do to Mars' orbit, though.

Posted by: Methos at August 26, 2025 11:15 PM (zLwRl)

224 The lesson is clear. If you're gonna wage war, you'd better win.[

Britain did win both WWI and WWII, but at what price?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:03 PM (Ptkiu)

Well, one of the first things they did was throw Churchill under the bus. Flaccidus Shlungus disease was already spreading.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 11:15 PM (snZF9)

225 194 Birthdates are down across most of tbe 1st world.

Everyone getting born near January 1st? All kidding aside, you should come by my church, the choir director just had her third child, and many couples have 4 or more children. If you want to have a say about the future, it’s important to show up!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:15 PM (Ptkiu)

226 I don't think quartz crystals are shaped like tiny tuning forks. Mostly just tiny rectangular wafers. I have a 100 kHz standard crystal around here somewhere, and it is wafer about an inch square, and about 1/8" thick. Probably cut from natural Brazilian quartz, because it is 1940's vintage.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon
-----------
Good evening, AOP. I have 5 or 6 articles linked on those damned crystals. It's really interesting reading. Yes, I'm done with Tuesdays. Will be around for pinch hitting if called on. Dino and Disco have agreed to keep me on for Saturdays - bastards wouldn't fire me!

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:16 PM (41CYW)

227 @220

>>I guess the question then becomes, when do we have enough people?

The problem is the entire western governmental and economic system is predicated on unending growth, can't have unending growth without unending people.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:17 PM (XV/Pl)

228 Who comes up with this wrongness? No way that Justified is only the 50th best TV series of all time.
=
That list is bullshit and full of recency bias.
Game of Thrones 2nd? Are we pretending that last season didn't happen?
Buffy and Babylon 5 aren't on the list at all?
Posted by: Methos

The first line tells you everything you need to know about the list.

No, not "Breaking Bad" in first place. The line above that.

All the online review sites they used to create their "overall" ratings. Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, JustWatch.....

Posted by: mikeski at August 26, 2025 11:17 PM (DgGvY)

229 I liked structured programming. It made sense!
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit

BASIC spaghetti code is the future.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 26, 2025 11:17 PM (/lPRQ)

230
I'm a "procedural programmer" and OOP just gave me mental indigestion. I was reading some overview of this whole thing a while back. The conclusion was, and I'll agree that OOP worked pretty well for the event-driven nature of GUI user interfaces and OSes, which became the rage.

But it's piss poor for many other tasks.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 11:18 PM (w6EFb)

231 I just heard Phoenix is covered in boobs! Can't understand why they keep laughing, Ha.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:19 PM (0eaVi)

232 214 I wonder how the dog-human would do in a poker match against the Mannix monkey.
Posted by: far cry at August 26, 2025 11:12 PM (vKDOE)
----------
I'm gonna go with the doggo would leave with money and missing an arm or leg (or both) after catching that inside straight.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:19 PM (41CYW)

233 What the hell is wrong with japan? The birth rate in this advanced country is down to 1.15. That's almost suicidal. I wonder if the trauma of losing World War II affected the entire population for generations.
Posted by: JM in Illinois
--------
It's the result of the US occupation destroying what was an extremely patriarchal society. The ladies, without in your face feminism, have refused to have children as a quiet way to oppose the traditional patriarchal family.
There may be a small silver lining to this, assuming that it turns around before the entire concept of "Japan" disappears. It may reduce the population density to something that allows for family apartments larger than 600 sq ft.

Posted by: buddhaha at August 26, 2025 11:19 PM (dWdRv)

234 The problem is the entire western governmental and economic system is predicated on unending growth, can't have unending growth without unending people.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:17 PM (XV/Pl)

But when a large portion of your population is just taking in each others laundry, instead of actually creating things... you end up with a Yuge class of consumers who do nothing BUT consume.

It's like, what does Los Angelas actually produce now? TV, some Movies... they used to make Trains and Airplanes, and had a LOT of agriculture in Orange County. Now I would premise they consume much more than they produce...

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:21 PM (mP0Kj)

235 Or, you know, Japan could just import a few hundred million Indians.

Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 11:21 PM (gKWVE)

236
So..... writing a TV show to displace one of those top 50? Maybe someday. Maybe soon?
Posted by: mikeski at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (DgGvY)

Did you look at that list? ?
I think using an Atari 2600 processor an AI could beat half the titles.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at August 26, 2025 11:21 PM (KaHlS)

237 No Columbo
No X-Files
No Star Trek
No Deep Space Nine
No Babylon-5
No Farscape
No Cheers

List is lacking

Posted by: Darth Randall at August 26, 2025 11:22 PM (f1kZG)

238 The first line tells you everything you need to know about the list.

No, not "Breaking Bad" in first place. The line above that.

All the online review sites they used to create their "overall" ratings. Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, JustWatch.....
Posted by: mikeski
------------
Yep. First line and my brain went to: What are the shittiest TV series of all time?

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:23 PM (41CYW)

239 235 Or, you know, Japan could just import a few hundred million Indians.
Posted by: gKWVE at August 26, 2025 11:21 PM (gKWVE)

----------

Not a good idea.

Posted by: Gen. Custer at August 26, 2025 11:23 PM (hY4dx)

240 I did not see Star Trek TOS, Hill Street Blues, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Lost or The Mary Tyler Moore Show so it's a stupid list.

Posted by: Norrin Radd at August 26, 2025 11:23 PM (tRYqg)

241 165
Naked City
Route 66
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 26, 2025 10:52 PM (63Dwl)

Another thumbs up for Naked City...great show!

Posted by: joemarine at August 26, 2025 11:23 PM (y171U)

242 237 No Columbo
No X-Files
No Star Trek
No Deep Space Nine
No Babylon-5
No Farscape
No Cheers

List is lacking
Posted by: Darth Randall at August 26, 2025 11:22 PM (f1kZG)

NO Blacklist
No Chuck?
No Warehouse 13?

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:23 PM (mP0Kj)

243 Did Doggo mention Big Science?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTHiN6Qwdgs

Posted by: Pikov Andropov at August 26, 2025 11:25 PM (y7zkd)

244 "Birthrates are down across most of tbe 1st world. Japan is simply the canary in the coal mine."

"The future will be about finding a way to reduce the population. We start with the old, because as soon as they exceed 60-65 years, people live longer than they produce, and that costs society dearly. Then the weak, then the useless, they do not help society because there will always be more of them, and above all, ultimately, the stupid...
...
...We will find, or cause something; a pandemic targeting certain people, a real or fake economic crisis, a virus affecting the old or the fat, it won't matter, the weak will succumb to it, the fearful and stupid will believe in it, and seek treatment. We will have made sure that treatment is in place, and the treatment will be, 'The Solution.'

The selection of idiots then takes care of itself: You go to the slaughter by yourself."

The Future of Life – Jacques Attali, 1981

Posted by: ju at August 26, 2025 11:25 PM (vgX6l)

245 Cosby Show
Twilight Zone
Monty Pythons Flying Circus
Frasier
Aadams Family

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:28 PM (mT+6a)

246 Hijacking the publius/doggo thread. This ticks me off. Peoples Republic of MN. Somali thievery. https://tinyurl.com/32wf7nj7
No math rules be damned. There are about 87K Somalis in MN. $400M to a theft scheme directly attached to them. When do people say, enough?

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:28 PM (41CYW)

247 Maury Povich!!!!

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:29 PM (mT+6a)

248 that Publius thing hurt my brain.

Posted by: steven at August 26, 2025 11:30 PM (AY3ny)

249 When do people say, enough?
Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:28 PM (41CYW)

Never. They're too nice, I've been told.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:30 PM (0eaVi)

250 No F-Troop?

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 11:32 PM (gKDq2)

251 Well then...

Posted by: Nightwatch at August 26, 2025 11:33 PM (25kuG)

252 IT IZZZZ...

BALLLOOOOOOON

Posted by: Chief Wild Eagle at August 26, 2025 11:33 PM (hY4dx)

253 When do people say, enough?
Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:28 PM (41CYW)
----

Never. They're too nice, I've been told.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:30 PM (0eaVi)

Having a ponce for a governor doesn't help.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 11:33 PM (gKDq2)

254 The Avengers. The real ones, Steed and Peel. Not those others. Batman. Hawaii Five-O, the one with Jack Lord. It Takes a Thief: in fact, all of the Mystery Movies. Streets of San Francisco.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:33 PM (0eaVi)

255 Having a ponce for a governor doesn't help.
Posted by: RickZ
---------
I wonder how much he has given away/wasted.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:34 PM (41CYW)

256 >> When do people say, enough?

What's that old saying, the market can stay irrational longer than you can remain solvent.

Something similar applies here.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 11:35 PM (w6EFb)

257 Adam West and Burt Ward

BATMAN!

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:35 PM (mT+6a)

258 Having a ponce for a governor doesn't help.
Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 11:33 PM (gKDq2)

If he smoked cigars, I'm sure they'd be Swisher Sweets.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:36 PM (0eaVi)

259 BATMAN!
Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:35 PM (mT+6a)

Best villain?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:37 PM (0eaVi)

260 259 BATMAN!
Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:35 PM (mT+6a)

Best villain?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:37 PM (0eaVi)

How they got soooo many great actors to play the various villains in that show floors me.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:39 PM (mP0Kj)

261 259 BATMAN!
Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:35 PM (mT+6a)

Best villain?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:37 PM (0eaVi)
----------
Best? Catwoman (all of them)

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:40 PM (41CYW)

262 259 BATMAN!
Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:35 PM (mT+6a)

Best villain?

-------

The competition is ova.

Its Egghead.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:41 PM (hY4dx)

263 Best villain?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:37 PM (0eaVi)

A Julie Newmar Catwoman.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 11:41 PM (gKDq2)

264 Best villain?
Posted by: OrangeEnt

Burgess Merideth.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:41 PM (mT+6a)

265 259 BATMAN!
Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:35 PM (mT+6a)

Best villain?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:37 PM (0eaVi)

Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt

Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 11:41 PM (dR8Z/)

266 Tuning forks make sense for acoustic oscillators: not needed for quartz crystal oscillators that work on the piezoelectric effect. The original Bulova Accutron watch from 1960 used an acoustic oscillator that vibrated at 360 Hz. This was stepped down with a series of presumably sexagesimal gears to eventually move the second hand once per second, etc. You could actually put the watch to your ear and faintly hear the 360 Hz “note”. The Bulova Accutron was the first wrist watch certified for use on the railroads in the US. Previously you had to use pocket watches carried in vertical pockets: too much watch rotation, as with a wristwatch, would throw a mechanical movement off by applying torques to the movement. The Accutron’s acoustic oscillator regulated the movement well enough that that didn’t matter anymore.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:42 PM (Ptkiu)

267 How they got soooo many great actors to play the various villains in that show floors me.

Probably just told the first one to ham it up. He would have told his friends how much fun he had, and got paid for it.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - Z28.310 at August 26, 2025 11:42 PM (lUFok)

268 How they got soooo many great actors to play the various villains in that show floors me.
Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:39 PM (mP0Kj)

Because playing the villain in the old Batman series was huge fun romp for the actors, who got to chew the scenery in lavish style.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 26, 2025 11:43 PM (E50Nb)

269 Sammy Davis Jr. wasn't even a villain. He just stuck his head out the window.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:44 PM (hY4dx)

270 266 Tuning forks make sense for acoustic oscillators: not needed for quartz crystal oscillators that work on the piezoelectric effect. The original Bulova Accutron watch from 1960 used an acoustic oscillator that vibrated at 360 Hz. This was stepped down with a series of presumably sexagesimal gears to eventually move the second hand once per second, etc. You could actually put the watch to your ear and faintly hear the 360 Hz “note”. The Bulova Accutron was the first wrist watch certified for use on the railroads in the US. Previously you had to use pocket watches carried in vertical pockets: too much watch rotation, as with a wristwatch, would throw a mechanical movement off by applying torques to the movement. The Accutron’s acoustic oscillator regulated the movement well enough that that didn’t matter anymore.
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:42 PM (Ptkiu)
---------
As mentioned in the content, this is the best place on the internet. Thanks, Nemo - more good homework.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:45 PM (41CYW)

271 Evening all :-)

Starship test today was great.

Posted by: Joyenz at August 26, 2025 11:45 PM (qzEbd)

272 Because playing the villain in the old Batman series was huge fun romp for the actors, who got to chew the scenery in lavish style.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

I would love to see some of the takes that were cut. I bet it was hysterical.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:45 PM (mT+6a)

273 I’m really surprised no one has mentioned “The Benny Hill Show”. Or Top Gear

Or the longest running series the soap operas.

Or in no particular order Carol Burnett, Jackie Gleason or Hee Haw/Laugh In as they were the same show with different audiences

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 26, 2025 11:45 PM (nedAL)

274
The greatest TV show of all time is "No Soap, Radio"

Posted by: Dark Litigator at August 26, 2025 11:46 PM (KAi1n)

275 The Accutron’s acoustic oscillator regulated the movement well enough that that didn’t matter anymore.
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:42 PM (Ptkiu)

quartz crystals are found as a time base in damned near everything now. Phones, video cards, appliances, you name it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 26, 2025 11:46 PM (E50Nb)

276 Steed and Peel Avengers has my vote!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:46 PM (Ptkiu)

277 No love for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea?

I had the lunchbox and everything.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:47 PM (hY4dx)

278 Benny Hill was a creepy old pervert.

Nothing funny about him

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:47 PM (mT+6a)

279 How they got soooo many great actors to play the various villains in that show floors me.
-----

Probably just told the first one to ham it up. He would have told his friends how much fun he had, and got paid for it.
Posted by: Blanco Basura - Z28.310 at August 26, 2025 11:42 PM (lUFok)

That's probably true but also going from the Big Screen to the little screen was a major step down in the '60s. At that point in their careers, what did the actors have to lose?

Some recovered and got back on The Big Screen, like Burgess Meredith.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 11:48 PM (gKDq2)

280 278 Benny Hill was a creepy old pervert.

Nothing funny about him

--------

How do you feel about Mr. Bean?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:48 PM (hY4dx)

281 Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom had me and my brother interested, horrified and entertained every Sunday night.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:49 PM (mT+6a)

282 146 Not going to give the TV list the click it was built to collect, but I bet "Lost in Space" and "Land of the Giants" isn't on it either.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 26, 2025 10:46 PM (l8IGe)

If it ain't got Green Acres it ain't got s***!

No F-Troop ? Invaders? Welcome Back Kotter? CHEERS? Andy Griffith?

The score column on the LHS under the star must include some factor that biases it toward recent programs.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 26, 2025 11:49 PM (QGaXH)

283 That "Top 50 Best TV shows of all times" is....
Not.

It's like having a Top 10 of best presidents list that doesn't list Washington or Lincoln, but does include both Clinton and Obama - obviously wrong.

Where is....
johny carson
Lucile ball
Babylon 5
Heck - not even a single kids show like Captain K?

It's more like the top 50 shows that a 20-year-old remembers liking.

Posted by: BobM at August 26, 2025 11:49 PM (BfGkp)

284 Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt
Posted by: tankdemon at August 26, 2025 11:41 PM (dR8Z/)

Julie was the Bestest Catwoman... but Anne Hathaway was pretty smokin hawt as well... and the Michelle Pfifer one? had crazy down pat... which is scary.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:49 PM (mP0Kj)

285 Oh boy, I am going to miss my scampydog Tuesdays, thank you for keeping us entertained, it was always fun. I hope that I see you at the Club once in a while. Good luck, scampydog.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at August 26, 2025 11:50 PM (0nHVk)

286 Cesar Romero seemed to enjoy playing the Joker.

Posted by: Lirio100 at August 26, 2025 11:50 PM (ky7/T)

287 Best villain?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:37 PM (0eaVi)

A Julie Newmar Catwoman.

Posted by: RickZ at August 26, 2025 11:41 PM (gKDq2

She is best anything. Its funny though. I remember batman when I was really young. You see catwoman and you think get her batman. Decades later I saw it for the first time since I was a kid, and I thought damn this show is frigging corny, then catwoman walks in and first thing I blurted out was Fuckin' titties!! I still laugh when I think of that.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 11:50 PM (snZF9)

288 3I/ATLAS size estimates are going downwards with the latest observations. The nucleus is down to 3.5 miles. Some still disagree with that however.

It's very different, which you'd expect for 7 billion year old or better relic from the ancient days of the Milky Way. What's interesting is it putting out a lot of CO2 and little water vapor.
Posted by: publius,

This may be because all the water is gone, it was shedding water vapor heavily very early on, out past the frost line (very strange).

Posted by: Pikov Andropov at August 26, 2025 11:51 PM (y7zkd)

289 The score column on the LHS under the star must include some factor that biases it toward recent programs.
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 26, 2025 11:49 PM (QGaXH)

Most of those shows are not even on anymore, so won't get into the system to be looked at...

Like just found the TV show It Takes a Thief... full episodes on U Tube.... but the quality is not great.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 26, 2025 11:51 PM (mP0Kj)

290 Since I’m on a roll. Buck Rogers in the 21st Century. For no other reason than Colonel Wilma Deering.

Or maybe you’ll Get Smart.

Posted by: Pete Bog at August 26, 2025 11:51 PM (nedAL)

291 I would love to see some of the takes that were cut. I bet it was hysterical.
Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:45 PM (mT+6a)

Cesar Romero refused to shave his mustache for the role. Frank Sinatra was thinking about playing the Joker.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 26, 2025 11:52 PM (0eaVi)

292 Those girls in England and Scotland need to be given LifeCard pistols. A folding .22LR single shot that weighs 7 ounces and folds to a rectangular package about the size of 5 stacked credit cards.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 26, 2025 11:52 PM (E50Nb)

293 Thanks, ScampyDog!

Impressive, publius!

Posted by: KT at August 26, 2025 11:52 PM (7vIsy)

294 292 Those girls in England and Scotland need to be given LifeCard pistols. A folding .22LR single shot that weighs 7 ounces and folds to a rectangular package about the size of 5 stacked credit cards.

---------

Also, a visa to a free country.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:53 PM (hY4dx)

295 290 Since I’m on a roll. Buck Rogers in the 21st Century. For no other reason than Colonel Wilma Deering.

Or maybe you’ll Get Smart.
Posted by: Pete Bog at August 26, 2025 11:51 PM (nedAL)
-----------
*raises hand* Princess Ardala. And whoever Markie Post character was.

Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:54 PM (41CYW)

296
There's a device called a timegrapher used to analyze watch movement behavior, using the acoustic beat of the oscillator. They even make some timegrapher apps for smart phones, and I downloaded one.

You place the watch on a wooden table, to act as a sounding board, and it uses the phone's microphone. It plots a graph showing the error and behavior of the thing. I forget the details, but I used it for several of my mechanical watches.

One thing you do is turn the watch in different orientations with respect to gravity and see how it changes. Face up, face down, and then sideways, rotating 90 degrees for that.

A good watch repairman can figure out what's wrong just from those graphs alone.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 11:54 PM (w6EFb)

297 >>> The Bulova Accutron was the first wrist watch certified for use on the railroads in the US. Previously you had to use pocket watches carried in vertical pockets: too much watch rotation, as with a wristwatch, would throw a mechanical movement off by applying torques to the movement. The Accutron’s acoustic oscillator regulated the movement well enough that that didn’t matter anymore.
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit

Flagler home/museum near Miami has some R/R items in the exhibit. A couple Regulator clocks were there.
I understood these were what the engineer's watches were set to. I should have asked the docent if regulator was the brand or what it was.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 26, 2025 11:54 PM (/lPRQ)

298 How do you feel about Mr. Bean?
Posted by: Cicero

Mr Bean was a dork not a disgusting pervert.

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 26, 2025 11:55 PM (mT+6a)

299 One thing you do is turn the watch in different orientations with respect to gravity and see how it changes. Face up, face down, and then sideways, rotating 90 degrees for that.

A good watch repairman can figure out what's wrong just from those graphs alone.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 26, 2025 11:54 PM (w6EFb)

You aren't really retired until your self-winding watch stops.
While you are wearing it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 26, 2025 11:57 PM (E50Nb)

300 Those girls in England and Scotland need to be given LifeCard pistols. A folding .22LR single shot that weighs 7 ounces and folds to a rectangular package about the size of 5 stacked credit cards.

---------

Also, a visa to a free country.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 26, 2025 11:53 PM (hY4dx)

Thats exactly who we should be importing. 1st world westerners from countries who are racing to become 3rd world shitholes. Instead we bring in 3rd world shitholers who don't give a flying a fuck about western culture, just a free ride.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 11:58 PM (snZF9)

301 'Tis time. Big thanks to publius for the content this evening. Thanks to all for the fun with the Tuesday ONT's. See you all on the "B" side, and in the Club on Saturday. Worth repeating, best place on the internet. G'night grey box people.

Posted by: scampydog at August 27, 2025 12:00 AM (41CYW)

302 181 Time being the subject: In the year 1966, both Frank Aletter and his wife, Lee Meriwether, starred in 2 different TV shows about Time. Aletter was in "It's About Time" and Lee starred in "The Time Tunnel.
Posted by: Time is Tight at August 26, 2025 10:59 PM (G5+As)

Mmmmmmmm- Lee Meriwether....smile!

I'll um err be in my bunk....laters....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 27, 2025 12:01 AM (QGaXH)

303 Thats exactly who we should be importing. 1st world westerners from countries who are racing to become 3rd world shitholes. Instead we bring in 3rd world shitholers who don't give a flying a fuck about western culture, just a free ride.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 26, 2025 11:58 PM (snZF9)

Trump should tell Rubio to fast-track asylum requests from Brit and Euro women who feel threatened by the muzzloid invaders.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:02 AM (E50Nb)

304
Up until atomic clocks, the most accurate clock was a vacuum master-slave pendulum clock. There's a name for it, I forget. That was used for some very precise astronomical timings. Eddington used them for his famous eclipse tests of light bending by the sun to test General Relativity.

The accuracy was thought to be about 1s per year. Impressive. However, it turns out the real accuracy was 10x that, 1s in 10 years.

The USNO still has a couple of those old clocks, and someone tested them against atomic clocks over the long term.

You could actually see the variation in frequency with the lunar tidal cycles. You could've then predicted and corrected for that, getting the 1s in 10 yr accuracy.

Unfortunately, they didn't know this at the time, because they didn't have a more accurate clock to compare it to.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:03 AM (w6EFb)

305 I have a Bulova pocket watch/chronograph that is regulated by a 262 kHz quartz oscillator. It is the most accurate internally regulated watch I own. It mostly hangs on a pocket watch stand on my dresser, where I use it as a bedroom clock. My current wristwatch, a Casio Wave Ceptor, cheats: it synchronizes with NIST time broadcast from Ft. Collins, Colorado, every night, starting at midnight, via radio.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:03 AM (Ptkiu)

306 All these great TV shows and sturm and drang over Cracker Barrel...

I think I see the reason for the declining birth rate problem.....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 27, 2025 12:04 AM (QGaXH)

307 >> Big thanks to publius for the content this evening

You're welcome, enjoyed it. Good night.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:04 AM (w6EFb)

308 Publius,
Whatever happened to your dad’s old watch you found that was a real keeper? Did you get it working? Do you wear it?

Posted by: nurse ratched at August 27, 2025 12:04 AM (cDxgU)

309 Trump should tell Rubio to fast-track asylum requests from Brit and Euro women who feel threatened by the muzzloid invaders.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:02 AM (E50Nb)

Not a bad idea. Let the dudes play with their muzzie pals.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 27, 2025 12:04 AM (snZF9)

310 OK, Brits have gone too far... they are in the Process of destroying the very HEART of Western Civilization!

Guy was protesting about the building of a new Mosque, and yelled 'WE LIKE BACON'... and was...

ARRESTED! It is now apparently a Hate Crime to say in public, that you like Bacon.

The end is near.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 27, 2025 12:05 AM (mP0Kj)

311 OK, Brits have gone too far... they are in the Process of destroying the very HEART of Western Civilization!

Guy was protesting about the building of a new Mosque, and yelled 'WE LIKE BACON'... and was...

ARRESTED! It is now apparently a Hate Crime to say in public, that you like Bacon.

The end is near.

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 27, 2025 12:05 AM (mP0Kj)

Maybe for the brits, not for us. We were called the new world, because there was an old world. Old, geriatric, and drooling on itself.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 27, 2025 12:09 AM (snZF9)

312 don't think quartz crystals are shaped like tiny tuning forks. Mostly just tiny rectangular wafers. I have a 100 kHz standard crystal around here somewhere, and it is wafer about an inch square, and about 1/8" thick. Probably cut from natural Brazilian quartz, because it is 1940's vintage.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon
-----------
Good evening, AOP. I have 5 or 6 articles linked on those damned crystals. It's really interesting reading. Yes, I'm done with Tuesdays. Will be around for pinch hitting if called on. Dino and Disco have agreed to keep me on for Saturdays - bastards wouldn't fire me!
Posted by: scampydog
-----
Most 32.768 "crystals" are not really a quartz crystal. They are molded and fired ceramic, and yes, they are shaped like a tiny tuning fork. I've been retired for 10 years now, so things may have changed, but I never saw a 32.768 "crystal", they were all ceramic resonators.
They are good, but if you really want accuracy, you use a temperature controlled vcxo, and nobody makes one much below 10MHz. At those oscillator frequencies, you just have a few more stages of division, which is cheap. I've done that when we had to correlate event occurrences.

Posted by: buddhaha at August 27, 2025 12:10 AM (dWdRv)

313 You aren't really retired until your self-winding watch stops.
While you are wearing it.

AOP -

That’s not retired, that’s dead!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:13 AM (Ptkiu)

314 >> Whatever happened to your dad’s old watch you found that was a real keeper? Did you get it working? Do you wear it?

That belonged to my maternal aunt, who died in 2008 -- lived in Alameda, CA. My mother got her jewelry, but didn't know it was in there. It was a Patek-Philippe c 1907, near as I can figure, and worth around $10K, near as I could figure.

It runs, but it needs repair, and that's what I was using that timegrapher app for.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:13 AM (w6EFb)

315 That’s not retired, that’s dead!
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:13 AM (Ptkiu)

Or at least given up on self-abuse.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:15 AM (E50Nb)

316
That's not a watch you want just anybody working on, either. I may actually get some authorized repair shop, but it would probably be a lot of money.

I'm trying to remember, and will probably run the timegrapher on it again, when I get back up to speed. When I was in my 20s and 30s I'd remember something like that I learned forever. Now, I can get up to speed on something, have to down pat, and then forget it in a few months.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:16 AM (w6EFb)

317 Fast track asylum requests from all “old-stock” Britons: remember, they go after little boys, too!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:16 AM (Ptkiu)

318 It was a Patek-Philippe c 1907, near as I can figure, and worth around $10K, near as I could figure.

--------

I'm surprised there's a Patek Philippe that has a price in less than six figures.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 27, 2025 12:19 AM (hY4dx)

319 Well, works proceeds on the Suburban. Got the (freshly-rebuilt) starter installed, and wires connected. Got the struts between the bottom of the bellhousing and the engine mount brackets installed, and got both sets of cooler lines installed, for engine oil and transmission fluid. Still plenty to be done. Might get to fire it on Thursday.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:19 AM (E50Nb)

320 313 AOP -

That’s not retired, that’s dead!
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:13 AM (Ptkiu)

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 27, 2025 12:20 AM (dR8Z/)

321 Fast track asylum requests from all “old-stock” Britons: remember, they go after little boys, too!
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:16 AM (Ptkiu)

Yes. Even if they don't get any takers, publicizing this might shame the Brit goobement into do something positive.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:21 AM (E50Nb)

322 >> I'm surprised there's a Patek Philippe that has a price in less than six figures.

That's the very high end, but back then, and given age and demand, it was about $10K.

There's been sort of resurgence of mechanical watches of late, but it's a very high end thing indeed. Hell one really one-off fancy one went for $31M back in 2019.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:22 AM (w6EFb)

323 There's been sort of resurgence of mechanical watches of late, but it's a very high end thing indeed. Hell one really one-off fancy one went for $31M back in 2019.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:22 AM (w6EFb)

I wonder what my South Bend and Studebaker pocket watches are worth? They both keep time.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:23 AM (E50Nb)

324 Chernobyl was a mini-series, and is probably the best episodic produced in the last 25 years.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 26, 2025 11:09 PM (XV/Pl)

Tis so.

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 12:24 AM (VoOL9)

325 Not Mr. Bean

https://tinyurl.com/ycyjknxv

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 12:24 AM (VoOL9)

326 I can’t agree with all of the TV show rankings but Breaking Bad does deserve to be at the top somewhere.

Out of the few shows I’ve watched (probably seen less than half of the series on the list) it is probably my favorite show from the late ‘00s to the ‘10s.
I’d even say it my TV favorite drama of all time.

It’s not for everybody but the story of Walter White is a fascinating look at modern America and all of the evils of drugs and greed for money and power.

If you liked Scarface or The Godfather it’s probably right up your alley.

The show is interesting from start to finish, well-paced, entertaining, funny, and brilliant in storytelling plot twists and good ol’ cliffhangers.
It ran for five seasons and 62 episodes and it seems they had the thing planned out from start to finish with everything coming to a head in one of the best finales I’ve ever seen.

The acting is also excellent and well cast.

It’s too bad Bryan Cranston is such a lefty douche, but the man worked his ass off to bring such a flawed but interesting character to life and I’ll always give him credit for that.

Highly rated, 4 out of 4 stars, easy.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 27, 2025 12:25 AM (6ydKt)

327 270. The Accutron’s acoustic oscillator regulated the movement well enough that that didn’t matter anymore.
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 26, 2025 11:42 PM (Ptkiu)
---------
As mentioned in the content, this is the best place on the internet. Thanks, Nemo - more good homework.
Posted by: scampydog at August 26, 2025 11:45 PM (41CYW)

This talk of quartz based timepieces reminds me of how, when I was a kid, the most useless, frivolous 'option' on a new car was the mechanical clock which usually lasted just long enough for the 12 month/12,000 mile warranty to run out....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 27, 2025 12:26 AM (QGaXH)

328 And I now know a lot more about time than I will tomorrow.

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 12:27 AM (VoOL9)

329 Rolex watches seem like more of a status symbol than anything else: not terrible accurate timekeepers, although the self-winding feature is neat.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:27 AM (Ptkiu)

330
Patek Philippe is for billionaires who want something to distinguish themselves from mere millionaires. Rolex is for mere millionaires.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:28 AM (w6EFb)

331 This talk of quartz based timepieces reminds me of how, when I was a kid, the most useless, frivolous 'option' on a new car was the mechanical clock which usually lasted just long enough for the 12 month/12,000 mile warranty to run out....
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 27, 2025 12:26 AM (QGaXH)

They are not hard to fix, once you understand how they work. Letting the battery go dead is what kills them. Battery gets low enough, there's not enough jam for the solenoid to wind up the spring and release the contact points, so they just sit there, faintly buzzing until the points are burned.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:32 AM (E50Nb)

332 Rolex watches seem like more of a status symbol than anything else: not terrible accurate timekeepers, although the self-winding feature is neat.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 27, 2025 12:27 AM (Ptkiu)

I have one that I got for a decent price. I don't wear watches, but I figured if I was going to I might as well wear one that will last and don't need batteries. Plus, it pisses off the stuffy rich people when they see somebody like me sporting one. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 27, 2025 12:32 AM (snZF9)

333 It is for me, and none of you tonight...though there have been times,

when it was for all of you many nights past.

Burma Shave.

Posted by: Nightwatch at August 27, 2025 12:32 AM (25kuG)

334 Patek Philippe is for billionaires who want something to distinguish themselves from mere millionaires. Rolex is for mere millionaires.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:28 AM (w6EFb)

Bingo.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 27, 2025 12:33 AM (snZF9)

335 I liked Chernobyl as well.

It actually surprised me how much I enjoyed it, as I was expecting it to be a typical middling historical HBO miniseries.

I’m glad I didn’t skip that one either.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 27, 2025 12:33 AM (6ydKt)

336 Hey javems, good to see you, how are you doing?

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at August 27, 2025 12:34 AM (0nHVk)

337 Red - Green Show!

I'll bet many here (looking NNW about 1600 miles from here) identify closely with him.....

Quando Omni Flunkys Moritati or something like that....

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 27, 2025 12:37 AM (QGaXH)

338 International Oil Field man's uniform, a Rolex and a puzzle ring, back in the 70s anyway

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 12:38 AM (8I4hW)

339
Look up the Burgess Clock B. It's the most accurate pendulum clock running in free air ever made.

See John Harrison, the greatest horologist of all time. There at the last, he threw out all the accepted design principles of the time, and came up with a design he said would be accurate to 1s in 100 days. They thought he was crazy, and ridiculed him. Old man had gone senile.

Well, some group faithfully created that design. They used modern materials and manufacturing, but faithfully built Harrison's masterpiece. They tested in at the Royal Observatory, and guess, what, it kept time to 5/8 of second over 100 days, vindicating his design after 200 years or better.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:40 AM (w6EFb)

340 Sylvester Stallone is really into watch collecting.

You’ll notice in his movies because he tended to wear his own watches or picked them out from companies who wanted to do a product placement.

He sold a Patek Philippe at auction last year for $5.4 million.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 27, 2025 12:41 AM (6ydKt)

341 Do a search for Stallone’s Watch Collection and you’ll get back a ton of hits.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 27, 2025 12:42 AM (6ydKt)

342 Patek Philippe is for billionaires who want something to distinguish themselves from mere millionaires. Rolex is for mere millionaires.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:28 AM (w6EFb)

Bingo.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 27, 2025 12:33 AM (snZF9)

Tom McCahill, the automotive writer for Mechanix Illustrated, and basically the inventor of the car road test article format, was a Patek Phillipe owner.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 12:42 AM (E50Nb)

343
The big question is, would Harrison's design have been that accurate using materials and methods available 250 years ago. Probably not.

The Burgess group used the most advanced materials and precision machining techniques available.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:45 AM (w6EFb)

344 336 Hey javems, good to see you, how are you doing?

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at August 27, 2025 12:34 AM (0nHVk)

Hiya Debby! I'm doing OK. How have you been? Saw you and Snail Racer on the same thread the other day/night but it was dead by the time I got there.

Appears you and she will be at the MoMe. Really sorry I can't make it. Will really miss the ceremonies for our fallen warriors.

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 12:46 AM (8I4hW)

345
Most expensive watches at auction:
https://tinyurl.com/2jwlav2f

Patek Phillipe dominates.

There is a lone Bulova on that this. That was a Moon watch, used by David Scott.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 12:48 AM (w6EFb)

346 Americans should have been much higher. '24', House of Cards and Frasier are missing.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 12:49 AM (+JNKR)

347 Actually post 337 should read NNE, not NNW.

Good Night Everyone

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 27, 2025 12:50 AM (QGaXH)

348 Rolex watches seem like more of a status symbol than anything else: not terrible accurate timekeepers
Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit

That's true of all high-end status-symbol things. Watches, cars, hi-fi equipment..... if you want something "high-end" that does the job correctly and reliably, you don't buy Rolex or Audio Note or Rolls-Royce, you buy Citizen or Marantz or Lexus.

Going for the nosebleed brands means that not only can you afford it, you can afford the ridiculous maintenance bills, and you can afford not to have it while it's in the shop all the time.

Posted by: mikeski at August 27, 2025 12:53 AM (DgGvY)

349 No love for Quark?

Posted by: Dark Litigator at August 27, 2025 12:55 AM (KAi1n)

350 I have a Baume & Mercier. Beautiful watch. Have had it for years. Still get compliments on it.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 27, 2025 12:58 AM (2WIwB)

351 Ceramic resonators and crystals are quite different things. Tuning fork crystals are more common in time-keeping applications because of better stability than the less expensive ceramic oscillators, and much smaller size than wafer crystals.

The traditional wafer crystals are simply too large to use in, say, a wristwatch. I can't quite imagine a traditional AT cut wafer in 32KHz.

As an aside, I have seen an AT cut wafer 'tuned' by making pencil marks on it

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 27, 2025 01:00 AM (XeU6L)

352
Omega got the NASA contract for space and Moon watches, and are still used (Speemasters). Hell, I think the Russians even use them.

Bulova got a back up rating or something, and that's how David Scott's watch got into private hands -- NASA was always very strict about that, and tried to keep any such stuff from getting out on the private market.

Scott's Omega broke the crystal, and he had to switch to that Bulova back up.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 01:01 AM (w6EFb)

353 Thanks scampydog for your posts, they are always informative.

The show, “Justified”, should at least be in the top 5.

Posted by: Mark in SC at August 27, 2025 01:04 AM (gWO+I)

354 publius, thank you so much for that essay. I thought it was great. I love learning new things.

My name might have been a giveaway, though...

Posted by: Nerd Herd at August 27, 2025 01:04 AM (6nQni)

355 This guy sells clocks from airplane's cockpits, all the way back to WWI. He has some really cool stuff, assuming he is still in business. He had a booth in a big flea market in Paris. Pretty pricey.

https://tinyurl.com/caah2rme

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 01:05 AM (8I4hW)

356 I think Japan is trying to import Africans. Not sure that will help their birthrate problems...

https://tinyurl.com/3jwm65sb

Posted by: Nerd Herd at August 27, 2025 01:07 AM (6nQni)

357
That's true of all high-end status-symbol things. Watches, cars, hi-fi equipment..... if you want something "high-end" that does the job correctly and reliably, you don't buy Rolex or Audio Note or Rolls-Royce, you buy Citizen or Marantz or Lexus.

Going for the nosebleed brands means that not only can you afford it, you can afford the ridiculous maintenance bills, and you can afford not to have it while it's in the shop all the time.
Posted by: mikeski
-----

At recent gathering, two fellows were massaging their egos by comparing their $30K watches. There was discussion about service, and requiredperiodic cleaning.

I could stand it no longer, and revealed my 20 year-old Timex Ironman. " $24.95" I told them. "Have replaced the battery twice in that time, it keeps time to about 1 sec./month, and it has never needed 'service'. Neither said anything.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 27, 2025 01:07 AM (XeU6L)

358 >>>356 I think Japan is trying to import Africans. Not sure that will help their birthrate problems...

https://tinyurl.com/3jwm65sb
Posted by: Nerd Herd
--------------

A very interesting rational it must be.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 01:09 AM (+JNKR)

359 >> publius, thank you so much for that essay.

Thank you, glad you like it.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 01:09 AM (w6EFb)

360 I’ve enjoyed your Tuesday night ONTs, scampydog! Best wishes in your future endeavors!

Posted by: NCDave at August 27, 2025 01:09 AM (mAiNO)

361 javems, I will miss seeing you, I still enjoy my morning coffee in my Texas MoMe mug.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at August 27, 2025 01:10 AM (0nHVk)

362 Funeral fof a friend tomorrow.

Off to bed.

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 01:10 AM (8I4hW)

363 Scott's Omega broke the crystal, and he had to switch to that Bulova back up.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 01:01 AM (w6EFb)

I have a Bulova space view I inherited. I need to send it in for a tune up. It runs on a tuning form mechanism and needs a mercury battery

Posted by: Hatari Somewhere on Ventura Highway at August 27, 2025 01:11 AM (WF/xn)

364
I've got my network here tweaked, using NTP (chronyc for OpenWRT as well as Linux is the best NTP program there is) to 50 ms of UTC.

Windows, out of the box, is piss poor at this, but going under the hood you can tweak it. It's some pretty arcane setting. Linux is much better by default, and much easier and more well documented to improve on the default.

50 ms is about the best you can do, and that needs a low latency broadband connection.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 01:12 AM (w6EFb)

365 I read a different story about Japan. That they are settling four different rural area that suffer from depopulation with groups of Africans from four different nations or tribes (memory fails).

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 01:13 AM (+JNKR)

366 I’d like to have a Panerei watch one day.

I think they have a great look.

The huge crown guards arr the only thing I don’t like about them.

www.panerai.com

From what I understand they used to, or still do, make watches for the Italian army.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 27, 2025 01:14 AM (6ydKt)

367
Go here, https://time.gov/

and that will tell you how much your local clock is out of sync with UTC. Now, when you get down to the few hundred millisecond level, that browser based code won't be so accurate on the deviation.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 01:14 AM (w6EFb)

368 Tuning fork, damnit

Posted by: Hatari Somewhere on Ventura Highway at August 27, 2025 01:15 AM (WF/xn)

369 I could stand it no longer, and revealed my 20 year-old Timex Ironman. " $24.95" I told them. "Have replaced the battery twice in that time, it keeps time to about 1 sec./month, and it has never needed 'service'. Neither said anything.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc.
----

Peasant.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 01:16 AM (+JNKR)

370 Braenyard, I think you're referring to this:

https://tinyurl.com/rxue96rs

From that story: "The ministry however, clarified that there are no plans to introduce measures promoting immigration or to issue special visas for African residents, stressing that recent reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate."

We'll see how true that is. I have family living in Japan and they love the country and its people. I wonder if Japan (and Europe, and us) just have too many people who assume that Other People will have babies who will feel enough kinship to them to take care of them in their old age.

Posted by: Nerd Herd at August 27, 2025 01:16 AM (6nQni)

371 Timex has a cool watch out. It is GMT, tide, and compass. Looks nice

Posted by: Hatari Somewhere on Ventura Highway at August 27, 2025 01:17 AM (WF/xn)

372 I read a different story about Japan. That they are settling four different rural area that suffer from depopulation with groups of Africans from four different nations or tribes (memory fails).
Posted by: Braenyard

What the heck is wrong with depopulating rural areas? They got something against forests? The USA seems to do okay with a bunch of empty space in the middle.

Posted by: mikeski at August 27, 2025 01:18 AM (DgGvY)

373 369 I could stand it no longer, and revealed my 20 year-old Timex Ironman. " $24.95" I told them. "Have replaced the battery twice in that time, it keeps time to about 1 sec./month, and it has never needed 'service'. Neither said anything.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc.

Takes a licking and keeps on ticking

Like Pam Anderson. ( Sorry I had to )
----

Posted by: Hatari Somewhere on Ventura Highway at August 27, 2025 01:19 AM (WF/xn)

374
If you're running Windows, open an administrator command prompt and run the following command:

"w32tm /stripchart /computer:time.nist.gov /period:5 /samples:6"

That will take 6 samples at 5 second intervals off the NIST NTP servers and tell you the offset.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at August 27, 2025 01:19 AM (w6EFb)

375 Kind of interesting that "science" says the Earth is billions of years old and humans have been around for 180000 years but there is no knowledge of any human culture before how long the Bible says it has been around. Also, I would bet that modern critics don't like Justified that much for the same reason I love it..it is based more or less on traditional male values good or bad.

Posted by: azjaeger at August 27, 2025 01:19 AM (3/XaG)

376 LOL at the fireworks/container opening..so true

Posted by: a dude in MI at August 27, 2025 01:21 AM (+I6Y/)

377
https://tinyurl.com/mtyt6sby

I was wrong. Not GMT

Posted by: Hatari Somewhere on Ventura Highway at August 27, 2025 01:22 AM (WF/xn)

378 Takes a licking and keeps on ticking
--------------
John Cameron Swayze has entered the chat.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 27, 2025 01:23 AM (XeU6L)

379 @EricLDaugh
9h
A [Black] woman in Chicago's response to this CNN reporter is currently shocking Democrats, because their messaging has officially failed. Something huge is happening.

"The governor as well as the mayor should be on board with it [deploying troops], just so we can get a bit more of security in Chicago."

REPORTER: Crime dropped since last year! Do you feel safer?

WOMAN: "NO. Not at ALL. No. Especially with the police being defunded."

Omg, this is their prime voter demographic

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 01:29 AM (+JNKR)

380 This guy sells clocks from airplane's cockpits, all the way back to WWI. He has some really cool stuff, assuming he is still in business. He had a booth in a big flea market in Paris. Pretty pricey.

https://tinyurl.com/caah2rme
Posted by: javems at August 27, 2025 01:05 AM (8I4hW)

Reaches back to shelf behind me. I have here in my hand a Waltham CDIA, "Civil Date Indicator Aeronautical", handed down from my father. WWII vintage. It keeps time just fine, last time I wound it.

Similar on eBay run from a couple hundred dollars to over a thousand, leastwise asking prices.

Just wound it and set it, and the sweep second hand is doing tis thing.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 01:29 AM (E50Nb)

381 At recent gathering, two fellows were massaging their egos by comparing their $30K watches. There was discussion about service, and requiredperiodic cleaning.

I could stand it no longer, and revealed my 20 year-old Timex Ironman. " $24.95" I told them. "Have replaced the battery twice in that time, it keeps time to about 1 sec./month, and it has never needed 'service'. Neither said anything.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 27, 2025 01:07 AM (XeU6L)

No shit. The rolex I have technically is pretty long overdue for service. Rolex wants $1000 to do it. They can kiss my ass in Macy's window. I'll wait til it dies, then it will rot in a drawer.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 27, 2025 01:30 AM (snZF9)

382 No shit. The rolex I have technically is pretty long overdue for service. Rolex wants $1000 to do it. They can kiss my ass in Macy's window. I'll wait til it dies, then it will rot in a drawer.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 27, 2025 01:30 AM (snZF9)

As an Electronics guy in the Navy, I could not wear a watch, so I carried Pocket watches... became kind of a running joke around me ship...

Still have a couple from that timeframe, but when I told my Mom joked about it with my Grandfather, he gave me 4... 3 of his... and one that had belonged to Great Grandad...

You guys reminded me I've got to get a couple of them cleaned.. but my local Watch guy / Jewler died a couple years ago...

Posted by: Romeo13 at August 27, 2025 01:35 AM (mP0Kj)

383 $30k for a freaking *watch*?

I've never spent that much on a brand new *car*!

Yeah, I'm definitely a peasant.

Pfft. "The Joneses" can Fk right off with their snooty-falutin' wastefulness. My life is... uncomplicated... even if somewhat lacking in excitement.

Posted by: JQ at August 27, 2025 01:38 AM (rdVOm)

384 >>>What the heck is wrong with depopulating rural areas? They got something against forests? The USA seems to do okay with a bunch of empty space in the middle.
Posted by: mikeski
---

I don't think they were intending to carve out new areas just occupy vacated areas. They are so tecnocratic I don't get it.
One would think of them seeking out a higher educated group.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 01:47 AM (+JNKR)

385
You guys reminded me I've got to get a couple of them cleaned.. but my local Watch guy / Jewler died a couple years ago...
Posted by: Romeo13
-------

FWIW, I've had good experience with this fellow. YMMV:
https://womblewatch.com/

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 27, 2025 01:48 AM (XeU6L)

386 I don't think they were intending to carve out new areas just occupy vacated areas. They are so tecnocratic I don't get it.
One would think of them seeking out a higher educated group.
Posted by: Braenyard
--------

Maybe they need some bodies to work the rice paddies, since they aren't having so many children? No 'higher education' required.

Posted by: JQ at August 27, 2025 01:52 AM (rdVOm)

387 Musk crashed a perfectly good Starship into the Indian Ocean a while ago. Maybe next time they'll let him land it proper.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 01:58 AM (+JNKR)

388 Sweet dreams Horde, I am off to sleep. but tomorrow I'll look through my old watches. I think I will start wearing one again, easier than taking out my phone to check the time. Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at August 27, 2025 02:01 AM (0nHVk)

389 Maybe it's Mint or maybe Pixy, what ever it is in order so settle the site I have to close the old tab and start a new one.
Hopefully, one way or another it'll ironed out in the morning.
Good work Publius and Good night all.

Posted by: Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _ at August 27, 2025 02:04 AM (+JNKR)

390 What the heck is wrong with depopulating rural areas? They got something against forests? The USA seems to do okay with a bunch of empty space in the middle.
Posted by: mikeski
---
I don't think they were intending to carve out new areas just occupy vacated areas.
Posted by: Braenyard

That's what I was getting at. Let unneeded settlements go back to nature. There are abandoned frontier settlements and mining towns all over the American west.

Posted by: mikeski at August 27, 2025 02:14 AM (DgGvY)

391 Japan is a fairly mountainous country w/little open space.

Posted by: Dark Litigator at August 27, 2025 02:29 AM (KAi1n)

392 Somebody needs to put that little girl's picture on a tee shirt with the caption "No more rapes" and sell about three million to fund her defense.

I wish I could, but I don't have the knowledge or skills.

Posted by: Unbounded Rage at August 27, 2025 02:43 AM (h0xSh)

393 Well, it's close to 0100, and I am getting sleepy. The civil date on the Waltham airplane clock was supposed to advance at midnight, but it has not done so. I suspect maybe the fact that I started it around 2335 meant that the date-change pawl had already passed the point where it could pick up the tooth on the date wheel. Or else the date function is kaput. Tomorrow morning I will manually advance the date to "27" and see if it changes to "28" at midnight.

Anyway, the rack calls to me. Night, Horde.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 27, 2025 02:58 AM (E50Nb)

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