BTW: neat turtles. There were two that had a route through my mom's yard that she enjoyed watching from her perch in the sunroom. She put fruit and vegetable scraps out for them.
Head of Secret Service - I don’t have a clue what the person’s name is or background is, but imo needs to go immediately. As many of you have said, having this held in a public hotel was, excuse me Cynthia for using caps - STUPID. And I could go on & on that such asinine rah-haha to the journalists who think they’re so clever stirring up the sh!t show in order to garner $$ is puke-worthy.
And now the Dems saying gun control while they, by way of their esteemed NY Times, support murder of anyone they oppose-
The problem is it isn't a WH event. it's a private event to which they invited POTUS and his merry band of misfits. The Secret Service has no control over that. It's why I think building the WH ballroom allows POTUS to require it to be held there to get his attendance.
Why should the president and other government officials attend the press's self-celebration? They're not coworkers, just people who are in the same building sometimes. (Except for those who are couples, and they can stay home together.)
Yes, it is, as are the descriptions. With this level of fail, I don't think a White House ballroom would help much. They'd let pretty much anyone with a gun in the door, as long as he had a piece of paper similar to the ticket, and he could walk right up to people and start shooting.
JD Vance got evacuated a good 10 seconds before Trump was even surrounded, then Trump trips and falls down while being escorted out. He fell and he couldn't get back up....should've had LifeAlert on board...."Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"
And on the other side saying POTUS ordered Melania & Levitt, because she’s pregnant, to be excavated first. Trump has nothing to say about who goes when - it’s all up to the secret service
Clearly, security was nonexistent. Considering the entire line of succession was present, I'd describe it as nonexistent security. There wasn't enough security for it to even melt down.
The ballroom was on a lower floor and the shooter didn't get down to the POTUS' floor. So it worked to some degree. But allowing uninspected visitors in? Dumb, dumb, and dumb.
The Mystery of the Ball Bearings on the Kitchen Floor has been resolved.
We have a pullout trash can under the sink. The telescoping pull out mechanism hides the ball bearings upon which the unit slides. Wear and tear on that mechanism exposed the ball bearings and caused some to fall out.
So they were totally unrelated to the dessicated mouse corpse in the pantry.
One morning a month or so ago, I found a desiccated mouse corpse on the pantry shelf, along with droppings behind some items that don't get used often. Obviously, this lead to a thorough deep cleaning. In the process of sweeping and mopping, I found four or five ball bearings. I had no idea where they possible could have come from, even taking into account my tendency to collect interesting pieces of scrap metal and old metal parts.
And days after the thorough cleaning, more ball bearing turned up. It was really puzzling.
uh oh, we have one of those pullout trash cans, & I love it! I'm asking hubs what to do to prevent this. He says don't use it. I say that's not a solution.
Yes. I was thinking about things that rotate, like the microwave turntable or something in the refrigerator. Although I had checked the dishwasher racks, too.
This tidbit was interesting: “Russia’s state-owned pollster recorded President Vladimir Putin’s approval rate dropping to about 65 percent—the lowest since before his invasion of Ukraine and a 12-point slide since January. This comes as Russians grow weary of the prolonged war, a cratering economy, and tightening internet restrictions.” 65%?!?! Could it be that the other 35% accidentally fell off hotel balconies?
We had a turtle as a pet for a time. Pam found it in a creek bed, trying to wander across the road. She picked it up, she fed it, cared for it. We had hardwood floors and could hear it crawl at night. clickity click, clickity click. When we moved to the country we placed the turtle back in the creek bed and he ambled off, albeit very slowly....
I actually read about it. Apparently, it was or is a big problem...people flushing pets down the toilet, causing invasive species issues, clogs, and a litany of other problems.
battle hardened against a superpower? C'mon, Russia has nukes but is otherwise a 3rd world military...
Ukraine has fought to a draw, but is still partially occupied. What is its plan? A peace deal at the current borders, or fight back to the original borders? I don't see Russia leaving on its own any time soon.
I read the article as saying that Ukraine fighting a much larger (and nuclear-armed) power to a draw was itself a testament to Ukraine's military and its use of drones in warfare, which is rewriting warfighting manuals as we speak.
Ukraine was partially occupied long before the current war, the current system of alliances supporting Ukraine, and Ukraine's use of drones. That was the starting point of the current war, not a consequence of it.
He has the problem of being a conservative writing to a mostly liberal audience. Fortunately, opposing Trump is something he and they (and us) have in common.
The “drawbridge” is a cool feature of the box turtle. Tonight we’re going to see “Band of Horses” in Madison. Not a big fan of Monday night concerts but they didn’t ask me to make their tour schedule. One of my favorite songs, you’ll think the mixing is off until you get to the 1:15 mark. https://youtu.be/qqrHMl2OHEw?si=_eCoO8Zv6SidZqD-
"Trump said the attack demonstrated why the White House needed an official ballroom ..."
Gah. No, it demonstrates that government officials shouldn't participate in these performative, self-congratulatory events at the expense of the citizens. If some group of journalism persons wants to throw itself a party, fine, but that is not something that serves the common good.
We worry when government officials (or university administrators) get cut off from the regular folks; they don't see what we experience. And yet, there's enough crazies out there that allowing unfettered access to others places government officials in danger.
The problem with having places like the Hilton host dinners is that those hotel industrial complexes are designed to have guests staying there attend the functions. They're not designed to simply be safe and secure.
A new gathering spot that is designed to be more easily secure does have benefits. Someday there might be a president people like, and they'd be angry if that POTUS got gunned down in a Hilton.
"We worry when government officials (or university administrators) get cut off from the regular folks ..."
I don't think "regular folks" were represented at the event, except by the hired help.
I don't want President Trump to be murdered at the Hilton or anywhere else. This kind of thing is bad for the country and bad for the world, no matter who is president.
If a president I liked were killed while attending a meaningless, poseur event with people who hate him, I'd call it "died of stupid" and be mad at him.
I seem to have a habit of placing my daily posts as a reply to someone else. Not intended, but too hard to fix on the iPad I use first thing in the morning.
I agree that it would take more than one failed assassination attempt, one stopped well short of the President, to justify a garish ballroom addition to the White House.
You can see the line of reasoning: Protecting the president requires the highest level of security. The White House has a higher level of security than the Hilton, but it doesn't have the same indoor event space. Therefore, the facilities for large, indoor events should be at the White House.
The first premise is correct. Lots of people are trying to do harm to the president.
The second fact, in my opinion, is not accurate. The White House is protected by barrier against ramming attacks, but this wasn't a ramming attack. The security failure in this case was a failure of imagination and preparation, and that can happen at the White House, too.
And finally, the conclusion is based on an unstated and unargued premise: that the president must attend the events as part of his job. That's the one I attacked in my non-sequitur. The president's job is to be the head of the executive branch. Nothing in that job involves attending journalistical industry parties.
First, I don't see this as a significant security failure. There is a good case that the security perimeter and the metal detectors should have been farther away from the entrance to the ballroom. But the security held in the face of a fool trying the bum's rush against the checkpoint. He was stopped without loss of life (including his own) or serious injury.
Second, apart from whether the President should have attended *this* event, it's not reasonable to demand that the President either not attend events at public venues, or else completely shut down those venues for the duration of the event. This was in a functioning hotel, for Pete's sake. There is a necessary tradeoff so that the President, while protected, is not completely isolated from the public he serves. This can be done.
Good morning. 50 degrees now with a high reaching 80 this PM.
Both the mothership and the FP are covering the attack at the White House Correspondents dinner. The FP calls it an “Attack in American Democracy.” The mothership article has a good review of the debate over whether security failed or whether it worked as designed (albeit perhaps with a smaller secure perimeter than warranted). The mothership also has an interesting looking article on privacy in the age of AI.
One of the FP attendees shared his first person account while criticizing the security weaknesses and one line caught my attention: “Amid the crush of 2,500 attendees trying to find their seats, Lea and I stood in line, throwing elbows with D.C.’s media elite…” Are there really this many people who consider themselves “elite” in this one profession? I can only imagine the fierce competition to get an invite to the event. Does anyone else see the connection between what these self-important “elites” write and say on a daily basis, which has helped warp our culture, and some among us non-elites building up so much hatred for one guy that they’re willing to try and kill him? Look at yourselves and your profession, folks.
"While throngs of reporters and other guests fled the Washington Hilton ballroom, an unknown blond woman wearing posh black fur went straight for a table to stockpile booze."
I admire this, though:
"CAA agent Michael Glantz also went viral for being seen on camera casually eating his salad while other attendees were hiding under the tables due to the shooting."
As I just stated in another reply, I think it was a failure of imagination. It doesn't look like anyone asked, "What if someone checked into the hotel a day or two ago, with a bunch of weapons, and decides to try a blitz attack against the security? Are we ready for that?"
For a large hotel, that would be an immense task, given that hotel reservations don't contain sufficient information to proper background checks. That would require social security numbers, which actual attendees would have to submit. The best the SS could do would be to try to scan social media, which might help, but is far from foolproof.
There is only so much security that can surround a President who goes to public events, without turning into privacy violations of anyone unlucky enough to be close to that event.
According to reports, they weren't even checking ID on people going into the banquet room. None of the people they let in tried to kill the president (or anyone else), but that's just luck.
There are those events of SS guys partying with hookers and that guy that did a back flip on the dance floor with his service weapon stuffed in his pants, it fell out and discharged in a crowded bar...it's a miracle no one was hit.
We don't really know what happened, and anyone that knows is not going to tell us. OTOH, the mopes in this administration don't inspire a single bit of confidence in their planning ability.
Secret service isn't at a "take a bullet" pay scale, and those in the service aren't necessarily brilliant. I actually had experience with them when I was consulting on big project next door to Obama, I had security clearance, etc. Some days it was air tight and military drill team precision, other days it was like I was dealing with morons playing mumblety-peg.
the turtle middle son insisted I stop for that was crossing the road at the top of a hill, was most likely a common/Eastern box turtle. It was a 2 way street, relatively busy, so it was a risky stop, but I was as interested in making the rescue as son was. Once home w/ it, son kept it for just a few days, fed it, then painted his name on its shell w/ some sort of paint & took it down to the Little Harpeth River which was near our house. Perhaps the turtle is still living, w/ the name worn off long ago.
the saved turtle was released to a much more wooded area w/ actual running water, several miles from where it was rescued. I guess it might have tried to get back to where it was originally wanting to go, in which case it would have crossed some busier roads, & unless a good Samaritan stopped to rescue, or it was a lucky duck-turtle, it didn't make it.
Happy Monday, animal friends! 52Fs, says the Weather Channel, high of 72, not going to rain.
Teengirl has an orthodontist appointment this morning, and we're working at the food warehouse in the afternoon.
The Spanish choir is doing a funeral on Wednesday, and we're struggling to get information and guidance from the parish authority superstructure. The realsies employee music director said we can practice Tuesday evening at the church - nice man, responds to messages! - so we're covered there even if we don't hear from the office.
The scooter waterfall…I’ve seen something similar, just not that large. So many scooters. Main thorofares have protected separate scooter and bike lanes. I’ve been in the middle of 100+ scooter pelotons. It’s a rush.
Am I the only one who didn’t know that robots run half marathons? Do they need to work on their fitness? Is hydration important? Deep thoughts for a Monday morning.
That's a fascinating question! The short answer is: they absolutely can, but current robots are still far less efficient and durable than humans for that specific task.
While a robot could theoretically complete a marathon distance (26.2 miles/42.2 km), several major challenges prevent them from doing it well or practically today. Let's break it down:
1. The Energy/Power Problem (The Biggest Hurdle)
Human runners are incredibly energy-efficient. We store energy in our tendons (like the Achilles) and use a passive "pendulum" swing in our legs.
· Humans: A marathon runner burns about 2,600-3,500 calories (roughly 3-4 kilowatt-hours of energy).
· Robots (like Boston Dynamics' Atlas or Honda's ASIMO): They are active systems. Every joint movement requires constant, powerful computation and high-torque motors. They waste huge amounts of energy holding themselves up and fighting their own rigidity. Most walking robots would deplete their batteries in 1-2 hours—far short of a 4-5 hour marathon time.
2. Heat Dissipation (The Melting Point)
A human sweats to cool down. A robot's electric motors and gearboxes generate intense heat, especially under continuous load. Without a massive onboard cooling system (radiators, fans, coolant), the motors would overheat, lubricants would break down, and the robot would seize up or melt long before 26.2 miles.
3. Mechanical Wear and Tear
A marathon is roughly 50,000 steps. Each step is a small impact. For a robot:
· Gears and joints experience immense cumulative fatigue.
· Screws can loosen, bearings can fail, and structural parts can crack.
· Unlike a human who can feel a blister or a sore knee and adjust their gait, a robot will simply break a part catastrophically.
4. Balance and Gait Adaptation
Humans learn to run on varied terrain (pavement, gravel, cracks, cambered roads) with incredible subconscious adjustment.
· Most robots use a "zero moment point" (ZMP) algorithm, essentially a constant controlled fall. On a perfectly flat, featureless treadmill, this works. On a real road with a 1-degree slope or a pebble, the robot must compute millions of adjustments in real time. One miscalculation at mile 20 = a face-plant and likely broken hardware.
5. The "Why Bother?" Factor
From an engineering perspective, a marathon is a benchmark for human endurance. For robots, we have more relevant benchmarks:
· Power efficiency (how long on one battery charge)
· Reliability (mean time between failures)
· Terrain navigation (over rocks, stairs, rubble)
A marathon is a very specific, long, repetitive, low-variety task that is actually harder for a machine than a human.
Has anyone tried?
Yes! In 2011, a robot called PETMAN (Boston Dynamics) did a 30-minute, 5km indoor run. More recently (2021), a small, stable quadruped robot called ANYmal from ETH Zurich completed a 5km run in about an hour (a 12-minute mile pace) but needed five battery changes and multiple cooling breaks.
The Analogy
A robot is like a Formula 1 car—incredibly fast and powerful for a short sprint, but it would overheat, run out of fuel, and break down if asked to do a cross-country road trip. A human marathoner is like a Toyota Corolla—slow by comparison, but unbelievable fuel efficiency and reliability over long distances.
The bottom line: Give it 10-20 years. Once we have artificial muscles (electroactive polymers), better energy storage (solid-state batteries or small fuel cells), and self-healing materials, we will likely see a bipedal robot stumble across a marathon finish line. But for now, humans are still the kings and queens of long-distance endurance.
I liked the archer in Tokyo, Japan - I wonder if R.Rice got to see it up close?
And seeing the robot get carried off on a stretcher made me laugh!
And of course love the Icelandic horses & attempt to keep the stranded whale hydrated.
Unicorn car - haha. Should send that to youngest grandson; his favorite stuffy is a unicorn, & at some point in time, he used markers to make it more colorful.
The Japanese equestrian archer has good form. Unfortunately for those nobles, a warlord got the idea to line up his rice farmers behind a wall and give them blunderbusses.
Point of information...they were not blunderbusses. The earliest Japanese firearms were European matchlock arquebuses. They came to be called Tanegashima, after the island where they were first encountered. Japanese sword smiths and metal workers reverse engineered the design to improve it, resulting in a victory in the Battle of Nagashino where coordinated volleys of matchlocks routed repeated cavalry charges by Samurai horseman, thereby accelerating the decline of traditional Samurai sword use in battle.
BTW: neat turtles. There were two that had a route through my mom's yard that she enjoyed watching from her perch in the sunroom. She put fruit and vegetable scraps out for them.
Jeeeeezus....the video of this circus is damning.
Head of Secret Service - I don’t have a clue what the person’s name is or background is, but imo needs to go immediately. As many of you have said, having this held in a public hotel was, excuse me Cynthia for using caps - STUPID. And I could go on & on that such asinine rah-haha to the journalists who think they’re so clever stirring up the sh!t show in order to garner $$ is puke-worthy.
And now the Dems saying gun control while they, by way of their esteemed NY Times, support murder of anyone they oppose-
As Kurt says, what a circus
The problem is it isn't a WH event. it's a private event to which they invited POTUS and his merry band of misfits. The Secret Service has no control over that. It's why I think building the WH ballroom allows POTUS to require it to be held there to get his attendance.
Why should the president and other government officials attend the press's self-celebration? They're not coworkers, just people who are in the same building sometimes. (Except for those who are couples, and they can stay home together.)
I don't care if they attend or not, but many people complain when POTUS doesn't attend. It's a no-win situation, especially for the voters.
Yes, it is, as are the descriptions. With this level of fail, I don't think a White House ballroom would help much. They'd let pretty much anyone with a gun in the door, as long as he had a piece of paper similar to the ticket, and he could walk right up to people and start shooting.
The guy in this incident was fast!
JD Vance got evacuated a good 10 seconds before Trump was even surrounded, then Trump trips and falls down while being escorted out. He fell and he couldn't get back up....should've had LifeAlert on board...."Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"
The conspiracy crap is going fast both ways
Check out Dallas, Tx Crockett
And on the other side saying POTUS ordered Melania & Levitt, because she’s pregnant, to be excavated first. Trump has nothing to say about who goes when - it’s all up to the secret service
So, there's video of various craziness here...
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/video-trump-is-big-mad-at-kash-patel?r=286fkw&utm_medium=ios
Clearly, security was nonexistent. Considering the entire line of succession was present, I'd describe it as nonexistent security. There wasn't enough security for it to even melt down.
The ballroom was on a lower floor and the shooter didn't get down to the POTUS' floor. So it worked to some degree. But allowing uninspected visitors in? Dumb, dumb, and dumb.
The Mystery of the Ball Bearings on the Kitchen Floor has been resolved.
We have a pullout trash can under the sink. The telescoping pull out mechanism hides the ball bearings upon which the unit slides. Wear and tear on that mechanism exposed the ball bearings and caused some to fall out.
So they were totally unrelated to the dessicated mouse corpse in the pantry.
I missed the original story...but this made me chuckle! Glad you figured it out.
One morning a month or so ago, I found a desiccated mouse corpse on the pantry shelf, along with droppings behind some items that don't get used often. Obviously, this lead to a thorough deep cleaning. In the process of sweeping and mopping, I found four or five ball bearings. I had no idea where they possible could have come from, even taking into account my tendency to collect interesting pieces of scrap metal and old metal parts.
And days after the thorough cleaning, more ball bearing turned up. It was really puzzling.
uh oh, we have one of those pullout trash cans, & I love it! I'm asking hubs what to do to prevent this. He says don't use it. I say that's not a solution.
Use it gently, don't overload it. Remove the containers carefully to keep from wracking the frame.
My husband has been able to keep the slides functional, just didn't realize that there were ball bearings.
What a relief to learn what's happening!
The circumstances of discovery did make it seem pretty strange.
My theory was metal-munching moon mice (from Rocky & Bullwinkle).
Fun and scary at the same time!
I knew it had to be something like that...some piece of equipment going bad.
Yes. I was thinking about things that rotate, like the microwave turntable or something in the refrigerator. Although I had checked the dishwasher racks, too.
can you easily replace it?
Yes, and it needs it. The base is starting to rust. It's probably 15 years old.
This tidbit was interesting: “Russia’s state-owned pollster recorded President Vladimir Putin’s approval rate dropping to about 65 percent—the lowest since before his invasion of Ukraine and a 12-point slide since January. This comes as Russians grow weary of the prolonged war, a cratering economy, and tightening internet restrictions.” 65%?!?! Could it be that the other 35% accidentally fell off hotel balconies?
Don't blame Dostoyevsky...
Or Tolstoy ...
They didn't design the balconies and stairwells!
I really believe statistics from "Russia's state-owned pollster."
I know...that one made me laugh. "What is your opinion of our fearless illustrious leader? Take your time, we know where you live.".
We had a turtle as a pet for a time. Pam found it in a creek bed, trying to wander across the road. She picked it up, she fed it, cared for it. We had hardwood floors and could hear it crawl at night. clickity click, clickity click. When we moved to the country we placed the turtle back in the creek bed and he ambled off, albeit very slowly....
when I was a kid, little green turtles were often given as pets. But at some point they were banned? or discouraged because of Samenella.
Salmonella, and a plethora of toilet flushed turtles.
Must be something city kids did, all we had to do was release at a local creek. Goldfish, that's another story, but they were usually dead.
I actually read about it. Apparently, it was or is a big problem...people flushing pets down the toilet, causing invasive species issues, clogs, and a litany of other problems.
I was worried as a kid about people flushing basilisks down the toilet, that they'd return, p***ed off (or actually, p***ed on), wanting revenge.
some snakes coming back up
An aspect of plumbing experience I had not considered....
Same with goldfish, snakes, and baby alligators...caimen (sp?).
"Caimen" ?
OK, it's Caiman...a relative of crocs and alligators. They look like little baby alligators/crocodiles.
For the (dwindling number of?) David French fans, courtesy of JohnM:
Worth Your Time II: ' Meet the New Leader of the Free World' -- David French
https://archive.ph/3b9Bv
battle hardened against a superpower? C'mon, Russia has nukes but is otherwise a 3rd world military...
Ukraine has fought to a draw, but is still partially occupied. What is its plan? A peace deal at the current borders, or fight back to the original borders? I don't see Russia leaving on its own any time soon.
I read the article as saying that Ukraine fighting a much larger (and nuclear-armed) power to a draw was itself a testament to Ukraine's military and its use of drones in warfare, which is rewriting warfighting manuals as we speak.
Ukraine was partially occupied long before the current war, the current system of alliances supporting Ukraine, and Ukraine's use of drones. That was the starting point of the current war, not a consequence of it.
Dwindling. One can’t do the job and not become tainted.
He has the problem of being a conservative writing to a mostly liberal audience. Fortunately, opposing Trump is something he and they (and us) have in common.
I think it's less "tainted" and more "boring."
Yes. Agree.
The “drawbridge” is a cool feature of the box turtle. Tonight we’re going to see “Band of Horses” in Madison. Not a big fan of Monday night concerts but they didn’t ask me to make their tour schedule. One of my favorite songs, you’ll think the mixing is off until you get to the 1:15 mark. https://youtu.be/qqrHMl2OHEw?si=_eCoO8Zv6SidZqD-
Good sound, message is kind of opaque.
"Trump said the attack demonstrated why the White House needed an official ballroom ..."
Gah. No, it demonstrates that government officials shouldn't participate in these performative, self-congratulatory events at the expense of the citizens. If some group of journalism persons wants to throw itself a party, fine, but that is not something that serves the common good.
I hear ya, and yet....
We worry when government officials (or university administrators) get cut off from the regular folks; they don't see what we experience. And yet, there's enough crazies out there that allowing unfettered access to others places government officials in danger.
The problem with having places like the Hilton host dinners is that those hotel industrial complexes are designed to have guests staying there attend the functions. They're not designed to simply be safe and secure.
A new gathering spot that is designed to be more easily secure does have benefits. Someday there might be a president people like, and they'd be angry if that POTUS got gunned down in a Hilton.
It's a good argument for facial recognition.
"We worry when government officials (or university administrators) get cut off from the regular folks ..."
I don't think "regular folks" were represented at the event, except by the hired help.
I don't want President Trump to be murdered at the Hilton or anywhere else. This kind of thing is bad for the country and bad for the world, no matter who is president.
If a president I liked were killed while attending a meaningless, poseur event with people who hate him, I'd call it "died of stupid" and be mad at him.
Right. It's nothing but an aspirational circus of wannabe cretins.
As much as I despise Trump and the damage he's doing, an assassination would be catastrophic.
I agree 100%.
OTOH government employees would get the day off....
I seem to have a habit of placing my daily posts as a reply to someone else. Not intended, but too hard to fix on the iPad I use first thing in the morning.
I agree that it would take more than one failed assassination attempt, one stopped well short of the President, to justify a garish ballroom addition to the White House.
You can see the line of reasoning: Protecting the president requires the highest level of security. The White House has a higher level of security than the Hilton, but it doesn't have the same indoor event space. Therefore, the facilities for large, indoor events should be at the White House.
The first premise is correct. Lots of people are trying to do harm to the president.
The second fact, in my opinion, is not accurate. The White House is protected by barrier against ramming attacks, but this wasn't a ramming attack. The security failure in this case was a failure of imagination and preparation, and that can happen at the White House, too.
And finally, the conclusion is based on an unstated and unargued premise: that the president must attend the events as part of his job. That's the one I attacked in my non-sequitur. The president's job is to be the head of the executive branch. Nothing in that job involves attending journalistical industry parties.
Brian's quote, again "Look at yourselves and your profession, folks."
what if the party was given, & no one came?
First, I don't see this as a significant security failure. There is a good case that the security perimeter and the metal detectors should have been farther away from the entrance to the ballroom. But the security held in the face of a fool trying the bum's rush against the checkpoint. He was stopped without loss of life (including his own) or serious injury.
Second, apart from whether the President should have attended *this* event, it's not reasonable to demand that the President either not attend events at public venues, or else completely shut down those venues for the duration of the event. This was in a functioning hotel, for Pete's sake. There is a necessary tradeoff so that the President, while protected, is not completely isolated from the public he serves. This can be done.
Good morning. 50 degrees now with a high reaching 80 this PM.
Both the mothership and the FP are covering the attack at the White House Correspondents dinner. The FP calls it an “Attack in American Democracy.” The mothership article has a good review of the debate over whether security failed or whether it worked as designed (albeit perhaps with a smaller secure perimeter than warranted). The mothership also has an interesting looking article on privacy in the age of AI.
One of the FP attendees shared his first person account while criticizing the security weaknesses and one line caught my attention: “Amid the crush of 2,500 attendees trying to find their seats, Lea and I stood in line, throwing elbows with D.C.’s media elite…” Are there really this many people who consider themselves “elite” in this one profession? I can only imagine the fierce competition to get an invite to the event. Does anyone else see the connection between what these self-important “elites” write and say on a daily basis, which has helped warp our culture, and some among us non-elites building up so much hatred for one guy that they’re willing to try and kill him? Look at yourselves and your profession, folks.
Bingo.
D.C.'s media elite in action:
https://nypost.com/2026/04/26/us-news/woman-seen-snatching-wine-bottles-in-aftermath-of-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting/
"While throngs of reporters and other guests fled the Washington Hilton ballroom, an unknown blond woman wearing posh black fur went straight for a table to stockpile booze."
I admire this, though:
"CAA agent Michael Glantz also went viral for being seen on camera casually eating his salad while other attendees were hiding under the tables due to the shooting."
*wild arm wave* Over here! Over here! *wave wave*
I've been saying since the beginning of the Trump phenomenon that he and the journalistical industry were all in it together.
"You hate journalists."
No, I wish them good things in their lives. I just think that, as an industry group, they tend to be self-serving midwits.
They love Trump because they don't have to think...they have an endless firehose supply of attention grabbing headlines and uber clickbait commentary.
Exactly: no work, just turn the camera (figuratively) on Trump and let the garbage gush.
but it can be repeated/quoted by Brian "Look at yourselves and your profession, folks."
The oversupply of morons insisting it was a security failure is disgusting.
As I just stated in another reply, I think it was a failure of imagination. It doesn't look like anyone asked, "What if someone checked into the hotel a day or two ago, with a bunch of weapons, and decides to try a blitz attack against the security? Are we ready for that?"
I have to confess, I assumed the security checked backgrounds on all guests staying over that night at the hotel.
For a large hotel, that would be an immense task, given that hotel reservations don't contain sufficient information to proper background checks. That would require social security numbers, which actual attendees would have to submit. The best the SS could do would be to try to scan social media, which might help, but is far from foolproof.
There is only so much security that can surround a President who goes to public events, without turning into privacy violations of anyone unlucky enough to be close to that event.
Would that guy have showed up in a security check? He doesn't read like he would have.
If they Googled his social media, they'd have seen it all, it sounds like.
According to reports, they weren't even checking ID on people going into the banquet room. None of the people they let in tried to kill the president (or anyone else), but that's just luck.
There are those events of SS guys partying with hookers and that guy that did a back flip on the dance floor with his service weapon stuffed in his pants, it fell out and discharged in a crowded bar...it's a miracle no one was hit.
We don't really know what happened, and anyone that knows is not going to tell us. OTOH, the mopes in this administration don't inspire a single bit of confidence in their planning ability.
Secret service isn't at a "take a bullet" pay scale, and those in the service aren't necessarily brilliant. I actually had experience with them when I was consulting on big project next door to Obama, I had security clearance, etc. Some days it was air tight and military drill team precision, other days it was like I was dealing with morons playing mumblety-peg.
Isn't that the ultimate non sequitur? A deranged person wanted to kill me, so the country needs an enormous ballroom in the White House.
Right.
.... . .-.. .-.. ---
Today is Morse Code Day
Sting was singing about it (one of his old Police albums)
Da da da doo Di doo doo doo
Any time I see a box turtle in the road, I stop, pick it up, and take it in the direction it was going, well into the weeds.
I wonder how closely box turtles are related (other than just being turtles) to the larger snapping turtle.
They meet up at the Suborder Cryptodira level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptodira
Is that place more secure than the Hilton watering hole?
Lame.
:-)
Of course Cryptodira are hidden!
the turtle middle son insisted I stop for that was crossing the road at the top of a hill, was most likely a common/Eastern box turtle. It was a 2 way street, relatively busy, so it was a risky stop, but I was as interested in making the rescue as son was. Once home w/ it, son kept it for just a few days, fed it, then painted his name on its shell w/ some sort of paint & took it down to the Little Harpeth River which was near our house. Perhaps the turtle is still living, w/ the name worn off long ago.
SAVE THE TURTLES!
One time my husband was backing up the truck up north and I heard an explosion. RIP turtle.
Oooof… www.savetheturtles.org
Or maybe it tried to get back to where it started.
the saved turtle was released to a much more wooded area w/ actual running water, several miles from where it was rescued. I guess it might have tried to get back to where it was originally wanting to go, in which case it would have crossed some busier roads, & unless a good Samaritan stopped to rescue, or it was a lucky duck-turtle, it didn't make it.
I can only operate on the assumption that the direction it was headed is the place it wanted to be.
Yes, that's the official guidance from turtle conservation organizations.
“Official guidance from turtle conservation organizations” …. I am heartened by knowing such organizations (plural) exist.
Some for sea turtles, some for freshwater turtles. Also tortoises.
re: Turtles who have been using the same routes to food and shelter for decades do not understand the road that has been built across their path.
Much like people on cell phones.
Excellent observation!
Gawd...exactly. Good one.
Happy Monday, animal friends! 52Fs, says the Weather Channel, high of 72, not going to rain.
Teengirl has an orthodontist appointment this morning, and we're working at the food warehouse in the afternoon.
The Spanish choir is doing a funeral on Wednesday, and we're struggling to get information and guidance from the parish authority superstructure. The realsies employee music director said we can practice Tuesday evening at the church - nice man, responds to messages! - so we're covered there even if we don't hear from the office.
THOUSAND WORDS: If it’s Monday, there are great photos from The Atlantic to enjoy: https://www.theatlantic.com/photography/2026/04/photos-week-fallen-robot-scooter-waterfall-sunrise-panorama/686915/?gift=GJ8BttuoXrtu1ZXQn6tAiW2Dd6dhm4pYTyVXPFYP2uM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share The Associated Press has some groovy shots from the Beijing auto show. Quite a few look like they should fly and some do: https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/china-autos-evs-beijing-show-photos-f5dad09ea479c7da5ed1679f616fbf10
Thank you!
You're most welcome
The scooter waterfall…I’ve seen something similar, just not that large. So many scooters. Main thorofares have protected separate scooter and bike lanes. I’ve been in the middle of 100+ scooter pelotons. It’s a rush.
Am I the only one who didn’t know that robots run half marathons? Do they need to work on their fitness? Is hydration important? Deep thoughts for a Monday morning.
From DeepSeek…
That's a fascinating question! The short answer is: they absolutely can, but current robots are still far less efficient and durable than humans for that specific task.
While a robot could theoretically complete a marathon distance (26.2 miles/42.2 km), several major challenges prevent them from doing it well or practically today. Let's break it down:
1. The Energy/Power Problem (The Biggest Hurdle)
Human runners are incredibly energy-efficient. We store energy in our tendons (like the Achilles) and use a passive "pendulum" swing in our legs.
· Humans: A marathon runner burns about 2,600-3,500 calories (roughly 3-4 kilowatt-hours of energy).
· Robots (like Boston Dynamics' Atlas or Honda's ASIMO): They are active systems. Every joint movement requires constant, powerful computation and high-torque motors. They waste huge amounts of energy holding themselves up and fighting their own rigidity. Most walking robots would deplete their batteries in 1-2 hours—far short of a 4-5 hour marathon time.
2. Heat Dissipation (The Melting Point)
A human sweats to cool down. A robot's electric motors and gearboxes generate intense heat, especially under continuous load. Without a massive onboard cooling system (radiators, fans, coolant), the motors would overheat, lubricants would break down, and the robot would seize up or melt long before 26.2 miles.
3. Mechanical Wear and Tear
A marathon is roughly 50,000 steps. Each step is a small impact. For a robot:
· Gears and joints experience immense cumulative fatigue.
· Screws can loosen, bearings can fail, and structural parts can crack.
· Unlike a human who can feel a blister or a sore knee and adjust their gait, a robot will simply break a part catastrophically.
4. Balance and Gait Adaptation
Humans learn to run on varied terrain (pavement, gravel, cracks, cambered roads) with incredible subconscious adjustment.
· Most robots use a "zero moment point" (ZMP) algorithm, essentially a constant controlled fall. On a perfectly flat, featureless treadmill, this works. On a real road with a 1-degree slope or a pebble, the robot must compute millions of adjustments in real time. One miscalculation at mile 20 = a face-plant and likely broken hardware.
5. The "Why Bother?" Factor
From an engineering perspective, a marathon is a benchmark for human endurance. For robots, we have more relevant benchmarks:
· Power efficiency (how long on one battery charge)
· Reliability (mean time between failures)
· Terrain navigation (over rocks, stairs, rubble)
A marathon is a very specific, long, repetitive, low-variety task that is actually harder for a machine than a human.
Has anyone tried?
Yes! In 2011, a robot called PETMAN (Boston Dynamics) did a 30-minute, 5km indoor run. More recently (2021), a small, stable quadruped robot called ANYmal from ETH Zurich completed a 5km run in about an hour (a 12-minute mile pace) but needed five battery changes and multiple cooling breaks.
The Analogy
A robot is like a Formula 1 car—incredibly fast and powerful for a short sprint, but it would overheat, run out of fuel, and break down if asked to do a cross-country road trip. A human marathoner is like a Toyota Corolla—slow by comparison, but unbelievable fuel efficiency and reliability over long distances.
The bottom line: Give it 10-20 years. Once we have artificial muscles (electroactive polymers), better energy storage (solid-state batteries or small fuel cells), and self-healing materials, we will likely see a bipedal robot stumble across a marathon finish line. But for now, humans are still the kings and queens of long-distance endurance.
TY!
I liked the archer in Tokyo, Japan - I wonder if R.Rice got to see it up close?
And seeing the robot get carried off on a stretcher made me laugh!
And of course love the Icelandic horses & attempt to keep the stranded whale hydrated.
Unicorn car - haha. Should send that to youngest grandson; his favorite stuffy is a unicorn, & at some point in time, he used markers to make it more colorful.
You're most welcome. Have a good day!
The My Little Pony car is just crazy ... and also, look at all those people with good cleaning supplies!
The Japanese equestrian archer has good form. Unfortunately for those nobles, a warlord got the idea to line up his rice farmers behind a wall and give them blunderbusses.
Nice photos of flowers and stuff.
Point of information...they were not blunderbusses. The earliest Japanese firearms were European matchlock arquebuses. They came to be called Tanegashima, after the island where they were first encountered. Japanese sword smiths and metal workers reverse engineered the design to improve it, resulting in a victory in the Battle of Nagashino where coordinated volleys of matchlocks routed repeated cavalry charges by Samurai horseman, thereby accelerating the decline of traditional Samurai sword use in battle.
I think I got that right.
Thank you for the extra information. It's been a while since I reviewed my "great moments in social leveling ... I mean, archery ..." presentation.