48 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. thanks, Jack. here’s another intro to spring pretty much depicting what it’s been like with the storms we’ve had lately:

    Excerpt from Fantasia (1940) featuring The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky.

  3. thanks too to BiD and Anon for planting trees. as the old  Indian proverb goes 
    “Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.”

    another old saying, Anon, in re your comment “ill probably be dead before they fruit” is
    How to live forever: plant a tree, have a son, write a book

    also from How Much Oxygen Does One Tree Produce?

    The amount of oxygen produced by a tree depends on several factors, including its species, age, health, and surroundings. A tree produces a different amount of oxygen in summer compared to winter. So, there is no definitive value.

    Here are some typical calculations:

    “A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year.”

    “A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 pounds per year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support two human beings.”​

    “One acre of trees annually consumes the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to that produced by driving an average car for 26,000 miles. That same acre of trees also produces enough oxygen for 18 people to breathe for a year.”​

    “A 100-foot tree, 18 inches diameter at its base, produces 6,000 pounds of oxygen.”

    “On average, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four.”

    “Mean net annual oxygen production (after accounting for decomposition) per hectare of trees (100% tree canopy) offsets oxygen consumption of 19 people per year (8 people per acre of tree cover), but ranges from nine people per hectare of canopy cover (4 people/ac cover) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to 28 people/ha cover (12 people/ac cover) in Calgary, Alberta.”

  4. Nice, Jack. A lot going on in that one.

    Pat, sounds like the science of carbon absorption and oxygen production of trees is an inexact one that can be summed up with a conclusion that trees are good for our atmosphere.

  5. pogo, did you see any of the arkansas vs st. john battle coaches patino-calipari game yesterday?
    probably had bigger TV audience in these parts than the local cards and cats games did earlier.

    oops, forgot to login again. anon aka pat

  6. pat, yes. I watched it wire to wire. I’m an NCAA BB junkie, and that was one of the games high on my list. I’m following as many of the SEC teams as I can. With Auburn, Arkansas and Tennessee in the sweet 16 with Bama, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Florida on deck today I’m glued to the tube. March is a great month for me. The NCAA Tournament and the return of F1. Loving it.

  7. Must confess I had not heard the spring symphony, Jack. Thanks for the education, nice one

  9. At least this judge gets it, the DOJ lying to courts is out of control.
    Judge Reyes exploded at a DOJ lawyer in a hearing:

    “I am not going to abide by government officials saying one thing to the public – saying what they really mean to the public – and coming in here to the court and telling me something different like I’m an idiot.”

  10. Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the courage to brawl for the working class | Democrats | The Guardian

    Bernie and AOC brawl for the working class

    Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the courage to brawl for the working class

    The Vermont senator and the New York representative are rallying huge crowds with a message to reshape the Democratic party

    Bernie Sanders is not running for president. But he is drawing larger crowds now than he did when he was campaigning for the White House.
    The message has hardly changed. Nor has the messenger, with his shock of white hair and booming delivery. What’s different now, the senator says, is that his fears – a government captured by billionaires who exploit working people – have become an undeniable reality and people are angry.

  12. The family MAGAt is amped up about free speech not applying to everyone, and when I disagree they accuse me of not wanting to listen to their side.

    My point is that the Amendment 1 doesn’t say “citizens,” but “people.” They think “foreigners,” specifically exchange students in this case, should be grateful just to be here. There’s that MAGAtized talking point. Grateful.

    They don’t think we’re headed into authoritarianism (uh, we’re there), and it’s OK to disappear people because they surely did something, and the leopards will never eat their face.

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

  13. Bid, throw originalism at them. The guys who wrote the Bill of rights were British citizens until 1783..

  15. Cube steak is high cotton. Ain’t no flies on cube steak. Right up my alley and my cup of tea.

  16. Yep Sturg, apparently a lot of Cube Steak fans out there. I posted this yesterday and it’s already over 2,000 viewers..

  18. I just saw a bit of ‘schumer talking Dem strategy. I will summarize, let the gop/repub/magats do what they want to. Another reason he has to go.

    The gop/repub/magats are doing what they have been trying to do for many decades, destroy Social Security and everything else that the federal government does to keep people from dying of starvation, disease and misery. They are very happy because their dreams are happening and the Dems can’t do a thing about it.

    The cult does not matter because those fools will still vote for the magat. That was proven by them voting for the demented, delusional, diseased, senile old moron.

  19. nothing you say to your trumpists will make them not hate minorities, BiD

    nothing they say is capable of obscuring that

  20. honestly the ardent magas in all of your lives might just be shitty irredeemable people and if you’re related to them, then yes i empathize with the fear of “is that shitiness in me too?”

    if you ask yourself that question, it’s not, but only because you make an effort

  21. if, despite that, you still want some kind of loving relationship with aforementioned maga associations, i think you just have to treat them intellectually like children, because that’s how they treat themselves

    this is where i’d say “have a great day” if those people weren’t enabling the destruction of what was something flawed but beautiful

  22. you could likely bait these people into expressing their true motivations (zealous bigotry), but all that will serve to do is sow discord and confirm what you already knew to be true

    New strategies let’s go hooray

  23. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-mental-health-psychiatry-professor-1467425

    Trump’s ‘Mental Impairment Means He Cannot Think Strategically or in Abstract Terms,’ Claims Professor of Psychiatry
    Trump has no policy on any issue because his mental impairment means he cannot think strategically or in abstract terms,” tweeted John M. Talmadge, MD, a physician and clinical professor of psychiatry at U.T. Southwestern Medical Center.

    “He cannot weigh options, assess risk, or foresee consequences. Concepts like fairness, justice, honor, and integrity quite literally do not register. You can see this in every interview or press encounter. He never states an abstract thought or idea.”

    “Instead he falls back on simple adjectives: disgraceful, horrible, low-intelligence, perfect, innocent, nasty, stupid, fake, etc. He’s driven by negative emotion, often paranoid and often insulting, vulgar, vitriolic.”

    UT Southwestern said Talmadge was speaking in a personal capacity.

    *Sn oldie, but a goodie.

  24. Huh. Taxpayer advocacy is going away. Free, direct file is going away – so you’ll have to pay to file taxes.
    Tax levies on April 1st, and since DOGE access the ACH system, they can just suck money out of your bank account. WTF?!?

  25. https://www.newsweek.com/jessica-aber-death-2049234

    Ex-US Attorney Jessica Aber Investigated Russia, CIA Leaker Before Death

    Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jessica Aber, who was found dead at the age of 43 by Virginia authorities on Saturday, was at the helm of high-profile investigations into intelligence leaks, allegations of war crimes against Russian-linked individuals and people suspected of providing sensitive U.S. technology to Moscow before she stepped down at the start of the year.

    The Justice Department said in late September that it had, along with the State and Treasury Departments and law enforcement, unsealed an indictment that charged a Russian national, named as Sergey Ivanov, with involvement in “multiple money laundering services that catered to cybercriminals, as well as the seizure of websites associated with three illicit cryptocurrency exchanges.”

    Another Russian national, Timur Shakhmametov, was charged in the same indictment with conspiracy to commit and aid and abet bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
    “Every step cybercriminals take in their pursuit of money leaves another track that leads us to their doorstep,” Aber said in a statement at the time. “And if you follow them on their path of greed, they will lead us to you. We will not stop, because while domains can always be seized, justice is unyielding.”

    In November 2024, a Virginia-based company and two of its senior executives, were accused of running “three different schemes to illegally transship sensitive American technology to Russia,” including sending equipment to a Russian telecommunications company linked to the Kremlin and Russia’s notorious FSB security agency.

    In late 2023, Aber was also involved in an indictment against four Russia-affiliated individuals charged with torture, inhuman treatment, and unlawful confinement of a U.S. national in Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
    The accused were named as Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan and Dmitry Budnik, along with two individuals identified only by their first names, Valerii and Nazar. “We are proud to be at the forefront of the Justice Department’s effort to hold perpetrators of war crimes violations accountable in Ukraine and will continue to pursue them,” Aber said.

    *Is that borscht I smell?

  26. I’m starting to feel as if I’ve suddenly given entrance to the conspiracy club. I keep waiting for some powerful crew to scream “STOP!” and they all just flop over with barely a murmur as every essential American virtue I’ve always believed in ceases to exist.

    We have a damaged, corrupt individual as President with his totally unelected equally damaged sidekick laying waste to the whole of government in such a way as to deprive thousands of their jobs while risking death to millions globally as they steal anything and everything not nailed down for their own wealth.

    I’ve disagreed with the far right and far left politically but never suspected that they would willfully destroy the United States without seeming to realize what they are doing.

  27. I’m still floored that anyone is still in the tRUMPsky cult. Would it all fall apart if Adolf got 25thed, and JD was the spokesmodel for MAGAts?

  28. BiD, any word yet on what the cause of death was? they might never know since Novichok was designed to be almost undetectable.

  29. Now that krasnov is accepting bids to “host” the annual White House Easter Egg Hunt and bets on whether twitter is the top bid?

  30. are they assassinating our citizens on our soil now?

    we knew that was coming

  31. Musk told employees to hold onto their TeSSla shares, and there’s been a tiny rally, but the world is against him; it’s foolish to hold onto shares or to buy low, thinking they’ll go up. Everyone is signing in the swasticar and the ketamine-addict. It’s going down. Banks will call in the loans; his wealth will go poof.

    If Hitler had a company, would you really want to own stock in it, no matter how it did?

  32. anon – the usual secrecy is covering the investigation. There must be something going on because krasnov has not had a blame President Biden episode. Also, she investigated people who were very bad people. I am sure the FBI (russian version in the US) probably have a few people pushing in the case. There is a big OBTW in this case, she was no longer a federal agent. If she had been still carrying a badge things would be much different for the investigation. Right now Virginia has the lead.

  33. Was Jessica Aber someone whose death served two purposes?

    1) Get rid of someone who had sensitive information
    2) Remind folks that they can be gotten to by Putin

  34. A sinister thought is that krasnov and muskovite were sent a warning by puttie. He does that to make sure people stay in their assigned roles. The absolute conversion of a diplomat into a spout of Kremlin propaganda last week was amazing. So many of the idiots surrounding the demented, delusional, diseased, senile orange fool becoming puttie spouts is stunning.

    You do not get compliance to a foreign ideology without some persuasion. I do not include the intelligence community (IC) or military here as a period of training is devoted to not being pulled over or flipped.

    Something to remember is that through hacks of OPM in 2014, and last year, along with traitors handing over information about US IC people, including 2017 release of information regarding MiddleEast operations from the White House, a lot of names have been given to the KGB (new version)/FSB/GRU. It is why the jerks screw around with me all the time. I do not work in IC. I am also retired. Little good that does.

  35. https://www.ems1.com/ems-training-and-education/ems-fire-officials-warn-fema-halting-national-fire-academy-training-puts-public-safety-at-risk

    EMS, fire officials warn FEMA: Halting National Fire Academy training puts public safety at risk
    National fire and EMS groups wrote a letter to HHS Secretary RFK Jr. stating that cuts to firefighter safety programs could have long-term consequences for first responder health

    In a letter addressed to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, former USFA administrators and NFA superintendents expressed deep concern over FEMA’s decision to halt training. They stressed that the NFA plays a critical role in developing fire service leadership, equipping firefighters with the skills necessary to manage disasters ranging from large-scale fires to hazardous materials incidents.

    The letter emphasized that the NFA has historically operated as the “American fire service war college,” providing vital leadership training comparable to military institutions. The signatories urged FEMA to reverse course immediately, arguing that without these programs, the fire service risks losing crucial training that enhances response capabilities nationwide.

  36. https://www.newsweek.com/steve-witkoff-ire-takes-vladimir-putin-word-2049307

    U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff drew ire online for his comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin—chiefly that he would “take him at his word” as talks for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine continue in their ongoing war.

    Witkoff sat down for two high-profile interviews that aired over the past few days—first an interview with Tucker Carlson for his podcast, and then an interview for Fox News Sunday with anchor Shannon Bream.
    Witkoff had already drawn some backlash for seeming to use Russian talking points to justify the argument that Ukraine may need to relinquish the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions—the first two taken at the start of the February 2022 invasion and the latter two taken subsequently during the war. All of this is subsequent to Moscow invading Crimea in 2014 and holding it to this day.

  37. ABC saying that tRUMP is “locked in a standoff with the court,” says a lot. You don’t have a standoff with the courts; you can appeal. A standoff?

  38. https://www.rawstory.com/pam-bondi-jasmine-crockett/

    ‘Nothing will happen to Elon’: AG Pam Bondi warns Jasmine Crockett on Tesla protests
    Bondi pledged not to go easy on people who vandalize Teslas.

    “We are looking at everything, especially if this is a concerted effort,” she vowed. “This is domestic terrorism.”

    “And Maria, now you have this congresswoman, Crockett, who is calling for attacks on Elon Musk on her birthday,” she added. “Let’s take him out on my birthday, she says. And yet she turns and says, oh, I’m not calling for violence.”

    “Well, she is an elected public official, and so she needs to tread very carefully, because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we’re going to fight to protect all of the Tesla owners throughout this country, and it’s basic safety, once again. Domestic terrorism is going to come to a stop in our country.”

    *It will only come to an end when the entire TRUMPsky administration is out of office, and the unelected ketamine-addicted and his dodgy DOGErs are gone/deported.

    Does Bondi have a vaguely Tiffany/Ivanker look?

  39. Report: The White House Easter Egg Roll Is for Sale

    The White House is offering a new corporate sponsorship opportunity-slash-potential-ethics-catastrophe: The annual Easter Egg Roll.
    According to a CNN report published Sunday, the Trump administration is soliciting sponsors for the nearly 150-year-old tradition—which is slated for April 21 and features games and activities for kids—through a production company that is helping stage the event. For sums ranging from $75,000 to $200,000, participating companies can get their logos or names slapped on Easter baskets and signage, along with an invitation to a brunch hosted by First Lady Melania Trump and a private tour of the White House, among other perks, according to a document obtained by CNN.

    The Egg Roll, which began during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration in 1878, has long been privately funded without taxpayer dollars, largely through the American Egg Board, which also provides tens of thousands of eggs for the occasion. And all money raised by [the production company] Harbinger will go to the White House Historical Association…

    Donald Sherman, the chief counsel and executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said he had “never seen anything like this before” associated with a White House.

    “I understand that there are corporate sponsors for the Easter Egg Roll,” Sherman told CNN. “What I have not seen before is sort of the outright solicitation and the use of the imprimatur of the White House to give corporate sponsorship.”
    Previous egg rolls have been a source of tension between those involved with planning and the [White House] Counsel’s Office. Multiple administrations had to tell Coca-Cola that thousands of Dasani water bottles donated for the event could not be served in Coke-branded coolers, for instance, because of the branding restrictions placed by the White House lawyers.

    CNN also quoted Richard Painter—who served as an ethics attorney in the White House counsel’s office under President George W. Bush—as saying that what Trump is planning “would have been vetoed in about 30 seconds in my day…We’re not running this like a football stadium where you get all logos all over the place for kicking in money.” On X, Painter pointed to a federal law barring the use of public office for private gain, writing, “Back in the day, the White House staff followed rules.”

    *Jesus H! It’s like the US is a furniture store that’s lost its lease. Everything must go!

  40. While Washington, DC, Burns, Trump Golfs

    It’s been 61 days since President Donald Trump promised that he would end the war in Ukraine on “day one” of his new administration, and the war is still going strong. Shadow president Elon Musk and his DOGE boys are upending Washington, laying waste to federal agencies and deploying law enforcement to break into the nonprofit Institute of Peace. Consumer confidence is in the toilet, inflation is threatening a resurgence, and the country is possibly headed for a self-inflicted recession. But never fear! The president will be hard at work this weekend, forcing taxpayers to subsidize his New Jersey golf club while he works on his backswing.

    This will be the seventh weekend, or 17th day of Trump’s second presidency, spent golfing at one of his own clubs, more than a quarter of his time in office. Earlier this month, HuffPost calculatedthat the golf outings had already cost taxpayers more than $18 million, much of which went directly into Trump’s own company coffers. The outlet also suggested Trump was on track to exceed the $151 million he spent during his first term, when he made 428 visits to a Trump Organization property and played an estimated 261 rounds of golf.

    “Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf. He throws it, boots it, and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs. At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: ‘Pelé.‘

    *All of those golf outings and not one, stinking lightning bolt.

  41. Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America from border to border and coast to coast and all the ships at sea.

  42. Sorry, but it’s the NCAA Tournament time and the SEC has tied at 6 the record for teams from one conference in the Sweet 16 and ole Miss is up 11 at the half over Iowa State. If they hold on it will be a new record of 7 teams from 1 conference in the Sweet 16. Yee haw.

    And I’m roasting pecans for snacks for the Tourney. Olive oil, Worcestershire, arribiata seasonings and of course salt ant pepper. 350 for 10, stir, 360 for ten, cool, eat. 😃

    (I am fully aware that there are hundreds, literally hundreds, of recipes for roasted pecans that have different ingredients, different temperatures, different lengths of time to cook them, and they’re all fucking awesome. However, this one is a really good twist on the old butter, salt and pepper recipe.

  44. Craig, That’s some fancy editing.

    Is it time to look to one of your books for advice on how to deal with the coup?

    House Oversight looking to make DOGE official. Do you mean it’s been acting illegally the entire time? Guess mTg kind of admitted it.

  45. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5210127-trump-demands-colorado-take-down-purposefully-distorted-painting/

    President Trump is demanding that Colorado take down it’s “purposefully distorted” painting of him hanging in the State Capitol

    “The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one [of] me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older.”

    “I am speaking on their behalf to the Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis, who is extremely weak on Crime, in particular with respect to Tren de Aragua, which practically took over Aurora (Don’t worry, we saved it!), to take it down,” Trump said. “Jared should be ashamed of himself.”

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