Yes, it is...did I ever mention I actually created three things in college for my creativity class, advertising, and business administration classes? All three happened...sigh...pet insurance, frozen yogurt at McDonald's and a "voodoo doll kit" for fun...
Too bad I didn't know how to make them happen, or thought I couldn't...lol
We are in London, where it’s 74 degrees and will be up to 80 this afternoon. Spent yesterday in Cambridge, ending with the evensong choral service at King’s College Chapel. A show tonight.
unlocked NY Times: A new Afghan law requires girls to wait until puberty before seeking to get out of a marriage. It also requires mediation for women seeking to escape an abusive husband
1787, James Madison and Edmund Randolph propose a national government with three branches.
The Virginia Plan (James Madison and Edmund Randolph) propose a national government with three branches - legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
1849: President Lincoln says his famous quote: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
today is National Paperclip Day. Ha! Kind-a similar to the other day which celebrated scotch tape. Samuel B. Fay received the first patent for a "bent wire paper clip" in the United States in 1867. The original intention of Fay’s clip was to attach tickets to fabric. However, U.S. patent 64,088 recognized that paperclips could also hold papers together. As many as 50 others received patents for similar designs before 1899. One other notable name receiving a patent for his paperclip design in the United States was Erlman J. Wright in 1877. At that time, he advertised his clip for use in fastening newspapers. The Gem paperclip, which was most likely in production in Britain in the early 1870s by The Gem Manufacturing Company, was never patented. However, it is the most common type of wire paperclip we still use today. In 1904, Cushman & Denison registered a trademark for The "Gem" name in connection with paperclips.
Use them also to replace a zipper tab, unclog a spray bottle, unclog a single-serve coffee maker,
hem holder, emergency hooks for broken necklaces. When I was a Weight Watcher leader I gave paper clips for every lb lost, then for every 10 lbs would give one of the big paper clips. One time we had a contest to have people 'show & tell' their paper clips. One member made a tiara out of hers.
Clippy (the Microsoft mascot) could not be reached for comment...Per Microsoft orders. I guess they didn't like him losing a popularity contest to Jar Jar Binks; how rude!😡
I loved logging in here to see the tiny guy, then the end video w/ the variety.
Much better than real life here waiting for air conditioning fix-it folks & electrical fix-it folks & perhaps pest control rid-it folks cause in the evening the AC went out. Then in the middle of the night the alarm system went out. Hubs believes there's a squirrel or more in the attic feasting on wires. We have had soooooo many squirrels in the yard for about a year.
RE: "If the universe wanted to shower me with love, a tiny blue octopus is the way to do it."
True dat.
I mean, that would certainly be much better and safer than a big Blue Origin rocket showering me and the rest of us in our neck of the universe with debris...
Not feelin' the love here, Jeff. Maybe you should just stick to half-a-billion-dollar boats; they're a lot cheaper than 2 1/2-billion-dollar rockets and aren't nearly as prone to going BOOM!! in a really big way and drawing the kind of attention that goes with that...
Peter Turchin over at Cliodynamica explains why the baby bust is not the civilizational end game as insisted upon by lots of experts and similarly challenged weirdos....
I read the article. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde would disagree. He's Spanish, he is an economist at UPenn, and he writes on TFR and demography quite a bit. One of his core arguments is economically, GDP growth has an element tied to population growth. Older economies slow down their prosperity. Oldsters aren't as productive as youngsters. Innovation will slack off as well.
The big issue is not China. A majority of countries in the world have birth rates below replacement rates. It's global, not just rich WEIRD countries, but poor ones too. He estimates if it continues then "peak population" will occur by 2060, likely before 2055. So 50 years from now, you'll see more ghost towns. The good news is Gen Z will finally be able to afford a home. You'll see GDP growth flatten. As it flattens, a greater portion of the economy will be taken by caring for geezers. Katie's family grew up in what is now a ghost town. There are still residents, but no one wants to live there, and so houses sit unoccupied once the owner dies.
I've joked that colleges and universities need to convert their unused dorms to retirement centers. Just don't tell that joke around a provost, the stench from them soiling themselves is surprisngly large.
The good news is the readers of this Substack will mostly be dead by then! Maybe our children will take it over.
Gibson's Law: “For every PhD, there is an equal and opposite PhD.”
In matters of law & policy, anyone can find a subject-matter expert who supports their view, because having a PhD doesn't necessarily make someone right, it often just makes them more skilled at being wrong.
So, Jesús....yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
The thing where octopi are chameleonic and able to adapt to the colors of whatever they're sitting on...can these little blue guys do that? It seems like that bright blue color would attract predators.
They're probably not sufficiently researched to have any idea. However, since it's a deep water species, predators probably can't see them. That's why their (theorized) ability to muffle the light from bioluminescent species could be a thing.
The cephalopods with the crazy color-changing ability tend to be shallow-water species.
Good morning, animal fans! It's Friday here and not raining. I have a meeting this morning of the Envirothon Steering Committee, for which I am prepared with an agenda and a time limit. I am generally regarded as being good at running meetings efficiently and pleasantly.
No surprise that a woman with a large brood at home runs an efficient, productive, and congenial meeting.
Probably apocryphal, but was once told that priests in seminary are instructed that when they need to get something done (in their parish), give the task to a busy woman.
a. A written agenda in outline form (Thanks MS-Word!). Mine was 2 pages long, everyone else's was less than half a page. Mine had everything I wanted to say, theirs did not.
b. For 30 minute meetings I moved heaven and earth to finish in 22 minutes or less. I never had to ask for forgiveness for ending early, plus the attendees who averaged 10 meetings a day enjoyed having a bathroom break built into the schedule.
I have a "talking stick." I also have a genuine willingness to say, "You know what? Forget it. I could spend my days with my granddaughter and teach more English classes instead of this."
It's about 18" long, with colorful pictures painted on it, and has carved in very small print: "No Mighty Wizard's Wand Militates Elaborate Ornamentation Or Gargantuan Girth, So Long As, at Its Heart, Said Staff Remains Stout & Steady, Stalwart & True."
Opaque, you might say. I bought it at a craft show in Hot Springs, NC, from a white-haired elf-looking guy calling himself "the mystic nerd of the mountains."
I've often thought of myself as a wizard, living along a quiet country river. After all, I made a career of teaching young demons to knit steel with lightning bolts, when I wasn't thundering across the country astride a fire-breathing, two-wheeled dragon.
That blue octopus is just too cute...I want a stuffed one...lol
There's a business opportunity for a vendor!
Yes, it is...did I ever mention I actually created three things in college for my creativity class, advertising, and business administration classes? All three happened...sigh...pet insurance, frozen yogurt at McDonald's and a "voodoo doll kit" for fun...
Too bad I didn't know how to make them happen, or thought I couldn't...lol
That's quite brilliant! At least you know they were great ideas, even if you didn't hit the jackpot in the market with them.
Yeah, I was proud of them, I had to do a whole advertising campaign on the Frozen Yogurt one...my professor loved it
We are in London, where it’s 74 degrees and will be up to 80 this afternoon. Spent yesterday in Cambridge, ending with the evensong choral service at King’s College Chapel. A show tonight.
That sounds great! I hope the show is excellent.
I can't believe no one caught my Big Lebowski reference about Jesús and "it's just, like, your opinion, man."
unlocked NY Times: A new Afghan law requires girls to wait until puberty before seeking to get out of a marriage. It also requires mediation for women seeking to escape an abusive husband
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/world/asia/taliban-child-marriage-afghanistan.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kVA.Yxyy.Jm7fCKqxUf3l&smid=nytcore-android-share
in history:
1787, James Madison and Edmund Randolph propose a national government with three branches.
The Virginia Plan (James Madison and Edmund Randolph) propose a national government with three branches - legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
1849: President Lincoln says his famous quote: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
today is National Paperclip Day. Ha! Kind-a similar to the other day which celebrated scotch tape. Samuel B. Fay received the first patent for a "bent wire paper clip" in the United States in 1867. The original intention of Fay’s clip was to attach tickets to fabric. However, U.S. patent 64,088 recognized that paperclips could also hold papers together. As many as 50 others received patents for similar designs before 1899. One other notable name receiving a patent for his paperclip design in the United States was Erlman J. Wright in 1877. At that time, he advertised his clip for use in fastening newspapers. The Gem paperclip, which was most likely in production in Britain in the early 1870s by The Gem Manufacturing Company, was never patented. However, it is the most common type of wire paperclip we still use today. In 1904, Cushman & Denison registered a trademark for The "Gem" name in connection with paperclips.
Use them also to replace a zipper tab, unclog a spray bottle, unclog a single-serve coffee maker,
hem holder, emergency hooks for broken necklaces. When I was a Weight Watcher leader I gave paper clips for every lb lost, then for every 10 lbs would give one of the big paper clips. One time we had a contest to have people 'show & tell' their paper clips. One member made a tiara out of hers.
I like paperclips.
Clippy (the Microsoft mascot) could not be reached for comment...Per Microsoft orders. I guess they didn't like him losing a popularity contest to Jar Jar Binks; how rude!😡
perhaps for your viewing 'interest' - I wouldn't say 'pleasure'; a time lapse of how 25-35 yr olds spend their time since 1920 to present:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzzGtlG-zU
That was interesting. It tracks roughly aligned with what I figured it did.
I loved logging in here to see the tiny guy, then the end video w/ the variety.
Much better than real life here waiting for air conditioning fix-it folks & electrical fix-it folks & perhaps pest control rid-it folks cause in the evening the AC went out. Then in the middle of the night the alarm system went out. Hubs believes there's a squirrel or more in the attic feasting on wires. We have had soooooo many squirrels in the yard for about a year.
Ugh. This puts my incapacitated washing machine in perspective.
(Parts should arrive Monday. Today I will introduce my children to the laundramat...which is housed in a former bank building...with pillars...)
I love laundromats. Ours is not in a pillared bank building.
They have changed a great deal since I last used one! The people were very friendly and helpful, though.
Speaking of octopuses (octopi?) I watched Remarkably Bright Creatures on Netflix and it was very good. The star was an old octopus.
Surely this crowd knows this documentary? It is very engaging.
MY OCTOPUS TEACHER Trailer (2020) Netflix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-lbIJHlmbE
RE: "If the universe wanted to shower me with love, a tiny blue octopus is the way to do it."
True dat.
I mean, that would certainly be much better and safer than a big Blue Origin rocket showering me and the rest of us in our neck of the universe with debris...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/watch-blue-origin-rocket-explodes-032726211.html
Not feelin' the love here, Jeff. Maybe you should just stick to half-a-billion-dollar boats; they're a lot cheaper than 2 1/2-billion-dollar rockets and aren't nearly as prone to going BOOM!! in a really big way and drawing the kind of attention that goes with that...
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/jeff-bezos-selling-500m-superyacht-145711101.html
He's shopping the boat to see if he can unload it. The dweeb just figured out it's too big to get into any of the luxe harbors.
Peter Turchin over at Cliodynamica explains why the baby bust is not the civilizational end game as insisted upon by lots of experts and similarly challenged weirdos....
https://peterturchin.substack.com/p/the-silver-lining-of-the-baby-bust?r=286fkw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I read the article. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde would disagree. He's Spanish, he is an economist at UPenn, and he writes on TFR and demography quite a bit. One of his core arguments is economically, GDP growth has an element tied to population growth. Older economies slow down their prosperity. Oldsters aren't as productive as youngsters. Innovation will slack off as well.
The big issue is not China. A majority of countries in the world have birth rates below replacement rates. It's global, not just rich WEIRD countries, but poor ones too. He estimates if it continues then "peak population" will occur by 2060, likely before 2055. So 50 years from now, you'll see more ghost towns. The good news is Gen Z will finally be able to afford a home. You'll see GDP growth flatten. As it flattens, a greater portion of the economy will be taken by caring for geezers. Katie's family grew up in what is now a ghost town. There are still residents, but no one wants to live there, and so houses sit unoccupied once the owner dies.
I've joked that colleges and universities need to convert their unused dorms to retirement centers. Just don't tell that joke around a provost, the stench from them soiling themselves is surprisngly large.
The good news is the readers of this Substack will mostly be dead by then! Maybe our children will take it over.
Recapping what most already know:
Total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is commonly approximated as the sum of population growth and productivity (output-per-worker) growth.
So population declines can be mitigated by productivity growing to offset it. Better hope this AI stuff pays off!
Another way to state it is that GDP will decline with a decline in population growth, absent additional productivity growth.
It's why Europe is farther ahead of us in decline, they began sooner.
Gibson's Law: “For every PhD, there is an equal and opposite PhD.”
In matters of law & policy, anyone can find a subject-matter expert who supports their view, because having a PhD doesn't necessarily make someone right, it often just makes them more skilled at being wrong.
So, Jesús....yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
The law, probably by another name, applies to law, civil engineering, and medicine also.
The thing where octopi are chameleonic and able to adapt to the colors of whatever they're sitting on...can these little blue guys do that? It seems like that bright blue color would attract predators.
Perhaps one of their defenses are deals with companies who make cutesy plush toys?
They got a licensing deal with the Smurfs.
They're probably not sufficiently researched to have any idea. However, since it's a deep water species, predators probably can't see them. That's why their (theorized) ability to muffle the light from bioluminescent species could be a thing.
The cephalopods with the crazy color-changing ability tend to be shallow-water species.
“…including among crew members of the research vessel which collected it.” That’s code for “killed it.” Poor baby blue octopus.
Yes, that's true.
Good morning. 50 degrees here and sunny, with a high in the upper 70s (probably reaching 80).
Apropos of summer, the mothership is reporting what it describes as “Tick Season’s Record Start”. FP’s TGIF headlines the proposed Trump $250 bill.
Perhaps Trump wants to rename the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to "Bureau of Graven Images"?
Ouch.
In Chinese, 二百五 = 250 and it's been slang for halfwit, dumby, or moron...basically, an idiot...for several centuries. That tracks.
Yes, yes I do love it. Octopuses are remarkable, and some years ago made my “do not eat” list.
most of what is ordered in restaurants is squid, if that helps?
tbf many people are squiddish about eating octopus.
Good morning, animal fans! It's Friday here and not raining. I have a meeting this morning of the Envirothon Steering Committee, for which I am prepared with an agenda and a time limit. I am generally regarded as being good at running meetings efficiently and pleasantly.
No surprise that a woman with a large brood at home runs an efficient, productive, and congenial meeting.
Probably apocryphal, but was once told that priests in seminary are instructed that when they need to get something done (in their parish), give the task to a busy woman.
It’s probably happened at least once.
"have an agenda" is a polysemic phrase. What is your big goal for the meeting?
No screaming.
A rabbi friend said his criteria for a good meeting was no blood.
Those are very important skills, writing as someone who worked in the corporate world and suffered through many a poorly run meeting.
In my corporate days, I followed two rules
a. A written agenda in outline form (Thanks MS-Word!). Mine was 2 pages long, everyone else's was less than half a page. Mine had everything I wanted to say, theirs did not.
b. For 30 minute meetings I moved heaven and earth to finish in 22 minutes or less. I never had to ask for forgiveness for ending early, plus the attendees who averaged 10 meetings a day enjoyed having a bathroom break built into the schedule.
Our Friday movable feast, Trash Day, got bumped to Monday, thanks to the Memorial Day holiday, where it will remain until Juneteenth.
Oy. We had our Tuesday pickup on Tuesday, so I guess the town didn't shift the schedule.
Do you have a cattle prod within reach?
Even a really big gavel?
I have a "talking stick." I also have a genuine willingness to say, "You know what? Forget it. I could spend my days with my granddaughter and teach more English classes instead of this."
What does your talking stick look like?
It's about 18" long, with colorful pictures painted on it, and has carved in very small print: "No Mighty Wizard's Wand Militates Elaborate Ornamentation Or Gargantuan Girth, So Long As, at Its Heart, Said Staff Remains Stout & Steady, Stalwart & True."
Opaque, you might say. I bought it at a craft show in Hot Springs, NC, from a white-haired elf-looking guy calling himself "the mystic nerd of the mountains."
I've often thought of myself as a wizard, living along a quiet country river. After all, I made a career of teaching young demons to knit steel with lightning bolts, when I wasn't thundering across the country astride a fire-breathing, two-wheeled dragon.
I will be happy to consider you a wizard.
Mystic Nerd credentials seal the deal.
Sounds like a Uriah Heep tribute band.