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Pat

Retro SciFi Movie of the Week...

The Bicentennial Man (1999)

Starring Robin Williams, this is a great science fiction film that nobody under 30 has ever heard of.

tubitv.com/movies/650102/bicen

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Pat


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Energy saving tip number 6
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Use a clothesline...

Clothes dryers that run on gas or electricity waste a lot of energy, especially in the summer when the waste heat that they generate needs to be removed in order to cool the living space.

Clotheslines can be used year-round. When the weather is nice, clothes can dry outdoors faster than they do in a mechanical clothes dryer. When drying outdoors is not possible, a clothesline still works fine indoors, it just takes a little longer, but it saves a ton of energy.

(image commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

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Pat


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Energy saving tip number 4
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Avoid driving...

During the Syrian war, I dreaded having to drive my gas-guzzler. I knew that ever time I got into that old putt-putt car and turned that key, I was partially responsible for the deaths of all those Syrian babies who were poisoned during that oil war.

Every chance you get to avoid driving, you help save the life of someone who lives in the war zone of one these oil wars.

Instead of grocery shopping every week, go every two weeks or once a month and stock up. Car pool if you can do so safely during the pandemic. Work remotely. If your boss won't let you work remotely, find a new boss.

Hitchhike, ride a bike, walk... do whatever you can to avoid burning more fuel and contributing to all those deaths.

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, CC-BY-3.0

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Pat

qoto.org/web/statuses/10792503

more at...
shakespeareandbeyond.folger.ed

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Pat

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Pat

When I die, I want a natural funeral. Take my body deep into the forest and lie me down in the cool grass surrounded by the majestic pines. The next day, as the night mist gives way to the morning sun, birds will flutter down to my side. Then they'll peck at my eyeballs as a raccoon continues to gnaw on my intestines.

image: (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil), „Dülmen, Rorup, NSG Roruper Holz -- 2021 -- 8187-91“, creativecommons.org/licenses/b

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Pat

Spell-checker is on the fritz...

Turns out there's no "k" in "gnaw".

Who gnew?

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Pat


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Energy-saving tip number 3
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Fill containers with water and keep them inside the living space for thermal mass. This will dampen the temperature swings so your heating/cooling system will use less energy.

You can use water bottles or a plant aquarium... anything with water. You can even store it inside a buffet or dresser.

It's best to have it near the center of the living space away from exterior walls, but somewhere where it can absorb the heat of the day. The amount varies, but a good estimate is about 3-6 liters per square meter of living space.
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pics mediawiki commons; File:Buffet d'angle polychrome-Musée alsacien de Strasbourg (1).jpg, File:Water bottles - Su şiseleri.jpg, File:Waterfall (2914716743).jpg (CC-BY-SA-4.0 and CC-BY-2.0)

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Pat



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Should Putin be given an "off-ramp"?
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Pat


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Energy saving tip number 9
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Slow down...

Drag increases as the square of speed increase, so when you drive faster, you use much more fuel than you may realize.

Driving slower can save up to 40% or more in fuel.

So...

Slow down and enjoy the scenery.
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video edited from:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil, creativecommons.org/licenses/b

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Pat

Marathon Man (1976)

A marathon runner, Babe (Dustin Hoffman) becomes unwittingly involved with Nazi war criminals.

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Pat

Reseachers document the first deer-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

arstechnica.com/?p=1837439

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Pat


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Energy-saving tip number 12...
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When you cover your windows at night to keep the heat in, use thick window coverings and place a mylar blanet over them on the side facing the room to reflect the heat back into the living space.

In the morning, don't uncover the windows until the space between the window and the covering is a higher temperature than your living space is.

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Pat

Retro SciFi Movie of the Week...

The Absent Minded Professor (1961)

More well-known as a comedy/fantasy, this one actually has a pretty cool scifi narrative.

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Pat

Congratulations to Ketanji Brown Jackson for being nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States.

But I'm a little perplexed as to why we're putting another Washington elite on the Court. She was literally born in Washington DC, she's on the board of Harvard, married to a Boston Brahmin and hand-picked by Justice Breyer. Right now there's only one justice on the Court who isn't from Harvard/Yale. God forbid we put someone on the Court who graduated from a state college and actually worked as a retail clerk rather than a SCOTUS clerk.

A populist, she's not.

Although she apparently adheres to the constitutional limits on executive powers, which is reassuring.

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Pat

Here's why it is so important to choose a NIOSH-approved N95 respirator.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the US government was not prepared and didn't have enough N95 respirators in its Strategic National Stockpile for everyone in the country. They didn't even have enough for all of the healthcare workers.

NIOSH was commissioned to do a study of internationally sourced KN95 masks and others, so that healthcare workers would be able to assess the efficiency of masks they were getting from non-approved sources. It was a scaled-down version of the testing that the agency does for respirators seeking NIOSH approval, and was for emergency information only -- to be used until the supply of approved respirators was sufficient.

They found that the filtering efficiency for those KN95 masks ranged from about 30-99%, with one mask showing 0% filtration! They also found that 60% of the masks sourced internationally were counterfeit.

This is why it is so important to choose a NIOSH-approved N95 respirator (or N99, N100) from a reliable source. Otherwise you are putting yourself at risk.

NIOSH-approved N95 respirators are at least 95% efficient at removing very small particles and they NEVER have ear-loops; they always use straps that go all the way around the head.

cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/respirator

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Pat

Everyone knows the refrain for this cool song, but few know the rest of the song...

youtube.com/watch?v=Qkuu0Lwb5E

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Pat



The truth is...

ROC came in second in overall medals won at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

(source: olympics.com/beijing-2022/olym)

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= A statement that is logically or literally true (or partly true), but seems to imply something that isn’t true or is just plain weird. (for rhetoric, logic or propaganda studies… or just for fun)

Pictured:
Kuo Hsing-chun, she won the Gold Medal in weightlifting in 2021, as well as multiple world championships (photo credit 總統府, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil)

Sung Ching-yang, he won two Gold Medals in roller sports at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou (photo credit 阿文, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.)

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Pat

=======================
populist: n. - a believer in the rights, wisdom, and virtues of the people.
=======================



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Pat

The star-nosed mole has tenticles on the end of its nose with a nervous system that can feel something, decide if it's edible, and eat it in a little as 120ms.

youtube.com/watch?v=hT9bwMxH_W

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