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00:05
> The human brain:
—had 7-30 times more accumulation of microparticles (MPs) than the liver or kidney (organs with previously documented high propensity)
—from people with dementia had 5X accumulation of MPs compared with non-dementia
—there was a marked increase of accumulation over recent years
This is your brain on microplastics
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Manually reported answer (94): Illness and plants‭ by Gissel Claus‭ on english.SE
Maybe we will evolve an organ to deal with microplastic? Future humans will regularly poop out tiny plastic toys, for instance.
00:26
@Robusto Welcome to oligarchy
An old caricature on Putin comes to mind, with him as a child wrecking internal policy, then economy, then foreign policy as a child might wreck toys
Pretty sure that every time Trump thinks about anything he filters it through a "What Would Putin Do?" and does whatever the special hotline tells him to do.
00:40
@tchrist Good luck with that. Trump's minions will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, which, being a Trump wholly owned subsidiary, will find once again that the President (if Republican) can do no wrong.
00:56
@Robusto I know. I have conditioned myself to expecting nothing but the worst possible outcomes. I stops me from being constantly disappointed with my powers of prediction.
@tchrist Dontcha hate always being right about how low Trump will stoop? I sure do.
@Robusto Yes, of course. But I can't handle having my stupid hopes for any other outcome dashed again and again and again and again and again. It's just too much.
I hear ya.
01:46
Connections
Puzzle #604
🟩🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
Strands #338
“Elf-centered”
🔵💡🔵🔵
💡🔵🔵🟡
🔵
Wordle 1,326 6/6

⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@MetaEd The wire services used to use -30- as an end of story or end of file signal.
-30- has been traditionally used by journalists in North America to indicate the end of a story or article that is submitted for editing and typesetting. It is commonly employed when writing on deadline and sending bits of the story at a time, via telegraphy, teletype, electronic transmission, or paper copy, as a necessary way to indicate the end of the article. It is also found at the end of press releases. The origin of the term is unknown. One theory is that the journalistic employment of -30- originated from the number's use during the American Civil War era in the 92 Code of telegraph...
03:04
@Xanne Oh I remember that now, and I bet Ed will, too.
In telecommunications, an End-of-Transmission character (EOT) is a transmission control character. Its intended use is to indicate the conclusion of a transmission that may have included one or more texts and any associated message headings. An EOT is often used to initiate other functions, such as releasing circuits, disconnecting terminals, or placing receive terminals in a standby condition. Its most common use today is to cause a Unix terminal driver to signal end of file and thus exit programs that are awaiting input. In ASCII and Unicode, the character is encoded at U+0004 <control-0004>...
03:19
> tell me, do you like walking about and asking one another: "Is there any news?" Why, could there be greater news than a man of Macedonia subduing Athenians, and directing the affairs of Greece?
> what difference does it make to you? If anything happens to him, you will soon create another Philip, if this is how you manage your affairs. For even he has been exalted not so much by his own strength as by our negligence.
04:13
@Cerberus Thera threatens. Do her tourists take the portents sufficiently seriously to save themselves from harm?
@tchrist Oh, when did she do that?
I mean I know about the the time she made good on her threats the last time.
04:44
> Volgens experts zijn de recente trillingen echter niet het gevolg van vulkanische activiteit.
That is something.
05:09
Connections
Puzzle #604
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟦🟦🟪
🟪🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟦🟪🟦
🟪🟦🟦🟦
Blue and purple I had absolutely no idea of.
05:21
@alphabet Ah, Demosthenes. We haven't seen an orator like him in quite a while.
 
8 hours later…
13:03
As a follow-up to my message here, because deep down I want to be fair (and also an insurance against TaySwiPo 🙂), found a plausible explanation of TS's Blank Space:
> “Blank Space” isn’t about one person – it’s Swift’s satire of media portrayals of her as a crazy serial dater obsessed with relationships.
so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
@Cerberus Today.
@Cerberus Yeah, again both are domain specific
Connections
Puzzle #604
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟪🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
13:24
I guess that means bloods are backing Trump if he's going after crips.
13:56
It is raining here off and on, and there are threats of flash floods and high winds.
#WhenTaken #343 (04.02.2025)

I scored 919/1000👑

1️⃣📍78.4 m - 🗓️7 yrs - 🥇191/200
2️⃣📍184 km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥇191/200
3️⃣📍1.0 km - 🗓️4 yrs - 🥇196/200
4️⃣📍624 km - 🗓️4 yrs - 🥇177/200
5️⃣📍133 km - 🗓️15 yrs - 🥈164/200

https://whentaken.com
Wordle 1,326 5/6

🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Connections
Puzzle #604
🟩🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
Syntactically odd sentence of the day, from Reddit: "This seems illegal for them to do that."
Is the extra that a resumptive pronoun in a hollow clause, or is this just using the adjective illegal with a pattern of complementation it doesn't allow?
Strands #338
“Elf-centered”
🟡🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🔵
@alphabet I see no fault in this or that.
@Robusto The inspiration for all my political rants about people sitting on their hands and not doing anything.
14:14
@tchrist "crips"?
A new word, I should look it up
Noun: crip (plural crips)
  1. (offensive) A cripple.
  2. (rehabilitation, generally self-referential) A person with a disability.
Verb: crip (third-person singular simple present crips, present participle cripping, simple past and past participle cripped)
  1. (dance) To do a Crip Walk.
  2. (disability studies) To apply a disability justice perspective to something.
14:45
The warmest February that I've experienced.
These days usually see temps of minus 10 to minus 15 C
This January, Yekaterinburg's averate temperature was 6 degrees higher than average gismeteo.ru/news/weather/…
That of Novosibirsk, a full 8 degrees higher
15:11
@alphabet What would you have me do?
Daily Octordle #1107
6️⃣7️⃣
9️⃣🔟
8️⃣4️⃣
3️⃣5️⃣
Score: 52

Daily Sequence Octordle #1107
5️⃣6️⃣
7️⃣8️⃣
9️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
Score: 68

Daily Extreme Octordle #1107
3️⃣4️⃣
6️⃣🕚
7️⃣8️⃣
🔟9️⃣
Score: 58
"It says right there in the constitution
It's really A ok to have a revolution
When the leaders that you choose
Really don't fit the shoes"
@CowperKettle Sounds like you might take some of your own medicine.
It says right there in the constitution
It's really A ok to have a special operation
LOL
It's really A-OK to have a Pugachev's Rebellion
Pugachev's Rebellion (Russian: Восстание Пугачёва, romanized: Vosstaniye Pugachyova; also called the Peasants' War 1773–1775 or Cossack Rebellion) of 1773–1775 was the principal revolt in a series of popular rebellions that took place in the Russian Empire after Catherine II seized power in 1762. It began as an organized insurrection of Yaik Cossacks headed by Yemelyan Pugachev, a disaffected ex-lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Army, against a background of profound peasant unrest and war with the Ottoman Empire. After initial success, Pugachev assumed leadership of an alternative government...
15:33
#WhenTaken #343 (04.02.2025)

I scored 875/1000🏆

1️⃣📍4.4 km - 🗓️7 yrs - 🥇191/200
2️⃣📍185 km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥇191/200
3️⃣📍767 km - 🗓️11 yrs - 🥈159/200
4️⃣📍560 km - 🗓️5 yrs - 🥇178/200
5️⃣📍1.5K km - 🗓️5 yrs - 🥈156/200

https://whentaken.com
@CowperKettle It's merely an apocope for crippleds. Because we so adore monosyllabic demonyms this same thing happens constantly in English, but many eventually become contemptuous despectives, derogatives, pejoratives, taboos, and slurs; some arguably started out that way. Consider Brits, Yanks, Nips, Japs, Swedes, krauts, chinks, wops, wogs, kikes, yibs, heebs, micks, honks.
Wordle 1,326 5/6

⬛🟩⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Note also that Minx is not the feminine for some putatively masculine Manx. :)
Also, please don't use midge for the little people.
@tchrist I guess the "N" word doesn't fit your listing.
One syllable too many.
Someday blax will be taboo.
Tracing the provenance of the names of the two street gangs, Crips and Bloods, I leave to others.
@CowperKettle Yup, I'd forgotten that one, as it's mainly a Commonwealth slur.
Daily Octordle #1107
3️⃣6️⃣
🔟🕚
9️⃣8️⃣
5️⃣4️⃣
Score: 56
Daily Sequence Octordle #1107
4️⃣5️⃣
6️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣9️⃣
🔟🕚
Score: 60
Daily Extreme Octordle #1107
🕛🟥
🔟🕚
🟥7️⃣
9️⃣8️⃣
Score: 83
Connections
Puzzle #604
🟩🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟩🟪🟩
🟪🟪🟦🟪
 
3 hours later…
19:20
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer, no whitespace in answer (186): What are the differences between "shameless" and "shameful"? ✏️‭ by Goal‭ on english.SE
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Manually reported answer (94): Comparative adverb‭ by Clean‭ on english.SE
20:15
@Robusto Depends on where you live. I'm planning on calling state legislators to get them to pass a series of policies the ACLU is pushing and spreading the word about this as widely as I can.
The likelihood of success isn't great and the benefits are limited. But there are no excuses for doing nothing.
@alphabet Yeah, but MA is as blue as you can get. I'd be more impressed if you were doing that in Texas, or Alabama, or even New Hampshire.
How blue is MA? In 1972 it was the only state to vote for McGovern. All the others backed Nixon. Even South Dakota, for which McGovern had served as senator, went for Nixon.
@Robusto Well, yeah, but I care more about ensuring that things go well in the state I live in, for reasons that should be obvious.
If you're in one of those worse other parts of the country, the laziest option is to donate to the organizations filing lawsuits against the administration.
@alphabet Well, I don't go around virtue signaling. And I don't need to submit my résumé to join the conversation here. If you don't approve, then there must be little I can do for you in this regard.
20:28
@Robusto That wasn't an insult directed at you personally, to be clear.
@alphabet That explanation was kinda necessary, don't ya know?
@Robusto Yeah, my apologies. I meant the generic you and shoulda been clearer.
@alphabet NP
I would note, though, that the term virtue signalling generally describes people who care more about appearing virtuous through words than about actually doing anything.
If you are, in fact, focused on doing things, then the term doesn't really apply.
21:13
@Robusto maybe I'm being too literal but I don't get the problem with 'meritocracy'. I mean the alternative is cronyism, right?
@Mitch Did you watch the video?
To be clear, I didn't watch the video.
OK. Then I rest my case.
Why didn't you laugh at the comedy? Because you didn't view it.
Ah, OK. Problem solved.
I think @alphabet can rest his case. I'm doi g less than nothing, not even watching the video.
@Robusto I stopped watching all these undeniably very funny late night shows at the beginning of 2017. It was just too much every single day.
You had me at "I didn't watch the video."
21:17
I'm stocking up on toilet paper, iodine tablets, and reconstitutable egg powder.
@Robusto You had me at 'OK'.
@Mitch Speaking of toilet papers, what's that stuck to your shoe?
@Robusto Oh. That's my shit. I put it there.
takes notes
That probably accounts for the smell too.
Word of 02:20 am: dub (slang, meaning "win"). Example: "It's a large dub for them".
21:21
We (as in not you, but me and some others not here) were discussing the pros and cons of self-immolation.
I mean yeah totally not a good for the person doing it.
I mean we came to that conclusion after some deliberation.
But we're still not sure about it's effect on the state of mankind.
I mean does it really convince bad people to stop doing bad things?
"Wow, that guy burned himself alive... that is -so- kick-ass... I think maybe he had a point. We really should try to examine our motives and maybe consider changing our ways, for the good of mankind. Will think more about it tomorrow."
> Artificial intelligence systems capable of feelings or self-awareness are at risk of being harmed if the technology is developed irresponsibly, according to an open letter signed by AI practitioners and thinkers including Sir Stephen Fry.
21:50
And don't even get me started on politicians refusing to prioritize the cause of raccoon liberation.
We have a platform:
1. Increase food waste
2. Sentence all exterminators to death
3. End legal vehicular raccoonicide
It really is that simple.
I shall call Sen. Warren and demand she support it.
22:13
The veve of Ogun, war god of the Yoruba and totem of both the emperors and kings that have followed Abiodun and the various members of the Bashorun chieftaincy family that have served the state throughout its history
@CowperKettle that just sounds scary ridiculous. How can people take these things seriously
@Mitch People are strange
I've been noticing that ever since about 1982
@alphabet there's going to be some problems with this one.
We're already trying as hard as we can.
@CowperKettle I think it started in the 70's
The dad of Malcolm X was "nearly cut in half" by a streetcar.
"Ten children survive"
I'm listening to his autobiography
I've downloaded 2 versions of it, ane one lasts for 8 hours, another for only 4 hours.
Dunno why.
@CowperKettle also -the- children? That's a lot of work
@CowperKettle it's a good autobiography
Alex Haley was the ghost writer for it (he wrote his ancestors biography, from Africa to slavery to emancipation, in 'Roots')
Which was made into a big TV movie in the 1970's and had all the great black actors of the time.
LeVar Burton was Kunta Kinte the main character.
(OJ Simpson played his dad)
22:27
Thank you! I'll download that too!
I should learn how to use Youtube-dl's options to mass-download all audio from such videos that were uploaded to YouTube in chunks and not in a single piece
youtube-dl is a free and open source software tool for downloading video and audio from YouTube and over 1,000 other video hosting websites. It is released under the Unlicense software license. As of September 2021, youtube-dl is one of the most starred projects on GitHub, with over 100,000 stars. According to libraries.io, 308 other packages and 1.43k repositories depend on it. Numerous forks exist of the project. == History == youtube-dl was created in 2006 by Ricardo Garcia. Initially, only YouTube was supported, but as the project grew, it began supporting other video sharing websites. Ricardo...
22:41
@Mitch He also wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an autobiography written by American minister Malcolm X, who collaborated with American journalist Alex Haley. It was released posthumously on October 29, 1965, nine months after his assassination. Haley coauthored the autobiography based on a series of in-depth interviews he conducted between 1963 and 1965. The Autobiography is a spiritual conversion narrative that outlines Malcolm X's philosophy of black pride, black nationalism, and pan-Africanism. After the leader was killed, Haley wrote the book's epilogue. He described their collaborative process and the...
With help from Malcolm X himself, of course.
@Robusto yes, that's what Cowperkettle is reading and I was replying to
Not exactly 'ghost' written just 'written with'
> Though Haley is ostensibly a ghostwriter on the Autobiography, modern scholars tend to treat him as an essential and core collaborator who acted as an invisible figure in the composition of the work.
@Mitch Setting the stage for Spike Lee to come in and strut his stuff. A fantastic collaboration with Denzel Washington.

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