How metaphorically sublime Our FreeCell game be vis-à-vis Global Economics!

ZERO SUM GAME!

Or, no?

Woody Allen is 88 years old.  Eighty-eight.

There are almost certainly some *would-be* mansplainers out there who just don't quite feel they're very capable of that noble endeavor.  (Failing at a mansplantion is really worse than not even trying, amirite?)  Well..........there is hope.  This site *may* (mileage may vary) allow you all (those to whom it would apply) to up your game.  I can't vouch for its quality, however, as it would necessarily depend on one's "starting point".  So.......I'm just putting it out there - not necessarily recommending it.  And.......methinks it's likely somewhat presumptuous.  After all, mansplaining is sort of a 'talent' cultivated and curated over a long time frame, done 'correctly'.  So this site may well almost be something akin to "remedial mansplaining", for those amateur mansplainers, or mansplainer wannabes.  Worse(?)..............it appears there is far too much emphasis on dating and such as that.  While that *can* lead to some mansplaining, I would argue that those thoughts, strategies, etc., dilute true mansplanation ideals.  After all, this is called "Mantellignece", not "Mansplaining Made Easy", or "Mansplanations for Dummies".

Mantelligence | Conversation Mastery | Dating Made Easy

(And I think we all know that there is no need for a comparable womansplaining site - for obvious reasons.)

.runs far away and hides

Can NyQuil be used as a PED?

HUGE 'news' - from last Fall.....  Denny must now expunge all losses in freecell caused by 'bad' moves.  It wasn't our fault!!

U.S. scientist Robert Sapolsky says humans have no free will - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

Normally I'd put this in one of the music threads, but since outskirts posted a real nice pic of her just a couple of weeks ago, I'll just stick it here.  I *may well* have posted it earlier on one of the music threads, but can't find it with moderate searching.  Good stuff.

Emmylou Harris moved to tears by First Aid Kit at Polar Music Prize (youtube.com)

Here's a *really* good, thoughtful, and thought-provoking essay on invasive species.  Somewhat long-ish - but not really.  I recommend it for those interested in ecological systems of all kinds.  And don't quit in the middle, without going down to the bottom and seeing the TN (not to be confused with myself) response.  One strong caveat is that this study in "Science" was limited to only large herbivore species, ignoring insects, etc. - so perhaps limited applicability, in the strict sense.

Here's the article:

Nature Doesn’t Care Where a Species Is From (msn.com)

Here's the study link:

Functional traits—not nativeness—shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities | Science

This is a fascinating topic for me, as one who's already fascinated by the movement of humans around our planet going back to the dawns of the various homo species. And.............once again, I've always seen this as another example of entropy at work.  Humans gonna move; and they're gonna drag stuff with them in multiple guises.

And all this is NOT to say I side with the denialists. 

I will give the MSN author credit for announcing their bias in writing the article. However, as soon as I read that disclaimer ("I’m on the same side as Lundgren in these debates because I think the fixation on a humanless nature is what’s wrong with environmentalism."), I stopped reading. 

This can be a problem with "science writing" -- a writer trained only in writing should stay in their lane. Report the findings of the scientists and move on. 

As for the Science article, it isn't surprising. Not all invasive species are bad, but the bad ones are off the chart.

I'm not crazy about meta analyses, but they aren't going away. We all know that statistical/numerical analyses often reflect the bias of the user. Is a statistical analysis of a statistical analysis immune to that, or simply an amplification of the problem.

For Tony & Ellie 

I wonder how good at freecell Bryan Berg would be?

House of cards

He might be decent. A good command of physical cards is the key to success for some players. 

Whoa!  Makes me feel small and insignificant....   But at least I'm important to at least ONE person!

Buzz, your reply was about exactly what I expected.  I share your (general) disdain for meta- analysis, but there are definitely nuggets in them at times.  Context, context, context, confounding, confounding, confounding.  And I also give the author significant credit for the up-front 'disclaimer'(?), but I also give her more credit for true depth of knowledge, albeit perhaps lacking in the rigors of hard science.  I haven't watched any of her TED talks, and have no real desire to (altho now I'm mildly curious), but she was on staff for Nature for several years - so she's got *some* chops.  I think she appropriately couched her comments, making it clear the limited scope of the study (altho imo that end part should have been much closer to the top). 

I'm not disagreeing with your points........but maybe being less harsh, because the ideas she puts forth are *not* in general parlance, at least in my experience. 

Is "a statistical analysis of a statistical analysis" immune to bias?  Of course not; in fact they (as you well know), can be used as ammunition for said bias.  On the other hand........properly employed, they can sometimes filter out a lot of the noise.  In my extensive reporting here on you-know-what back 2-4 years ago, I read more review articles on any one subject than likely any time in my life.  (And as you know, there were lots to choose from.)  I actually came away with what I thought was a clear a picture as was possible of the problem(s).  I considered it a version of collective intelligence, I guess, altho I didn't think along those lines at the time.  Like statistics in general......................gotta *hope* you know what you're looking for, and scrutinize one's own biases. 

[update:  I *did* just go watch one of her TED talks, and I'm underwhelmed.  May I dare say a touch of the Oprah Winfreid-ization of the topic?  Pretty broad knowledge base, but broader than deep perhaps.  But that's a *very* limited sampling, so......]

I'll expand a bit on my original comments:

1) The author. My guess is that she is an excellent science writer. and she undoubtedly has absorbed tons of information over the years. However, in her role as a journalist, I would hope for as much objectivity as possible. So, opening a paragraph with, "I side with..." really killed my interest in reading further. 

2) The study, meta analysis, and the general conclusions. I soured a bit on meta analysis during the time frame you reference in your post above. I am sure you recall a very early "meta analysis" study by a feisty yet highly credentialed researcher who gleefully concluded, "This is nuttin'. Next!" Of course, he was horribly wrong. But, overall, I agree that meta analysis is not flawed at its heart and holds great potential in unraveling important information in mountains of data. (Human genome, anyone?)

Also, I don't disagree with the authors that human presence isn't necessarily bad, and the invasive species humans introduce aren't always harmful. With so many total disasters from invasive species, though, it's hard for me to develop the dismissive approach of "on the whole, invasive species are okay." Jackrabbits down under, kudzu down South, feral hogs spreading across the entire continent, etc, etc. Yeesh! 

I get the authors' point, and no doubt the eco-pendulum swung much too far in the name of protecting weak, vanishing species at great cost. The authors are not attempting the swing the pendulum to the "never met an invasive species I didn't like" side of things; they are simply calling for moderating the thinking. Not a bad idea. 

This is pretty cool:

Incredible Views Of SpaceX Starship Re-Entering Earth's Atmosphere | Watch (msn.com)

As you almost certainly know.............they're not really "rare" - they're just *very* difficult to refine and separate from all their brethren.  And, there *have* also been some significant new finds, including in the U.S.  So it's really a matter of throwing money at refining -- and very importantly -- trying to insure minimal environmental damage along the way.  A truly daunting task in their case.

Plastic surgeons warn ‘Ozempic face’ has taken over Hollywood

...ah, the rocky road in pursuit of beauty...

I love those "you won't recognize them today!" clickbait articles. On the left, Jessica Simpson "before". On the right... OMG! She looks horrible. Except its Sharon Osbourne. 

Horrible hippo happenstance......

Herds of hippos stranded in drying ponds as drought ravages Botswana (msn.com)

Why doesn't Stormy Daniels have her own thread here? Isn't she deserving?

It would get deleted rather promptly.

Well, it depends. If the thread was tastefully discussing her professional career, it might survive. 

Kinda funny; kinda not:

Chinese climbers stuck on cliff for more than an hour due to overcrowding | CNN

My bird friend Blue. He's gotten in the habit of hanging out under my window awning until I put out his basket of peanuts. He's sort of a packrat. My neighbor was wondering where those peanut shells showing up in his yard were coming from. He is a glutton.

Thought about putting this in one of the "Science" threads, but thought it might have more general interest, too.  Basically, there have been some huge coronal mass ejections - not 1, or 2, but FIVE, and the outflows from it are expected to hit Earth by Friday night or Saturday more likely.  What this means is that there's a decent chance that auroras can be seen at much lower latitudes than normal. 

 SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

Hopefully that link will still be pertinent for a couple more days.  They also think that one of the CMEs could overtake a previous one, resulting in this:

NASA SVS | Cannibal CME

So..............go have a look-see Friday, and especially Saturday night.  Report back here.

https://youtu.be/18Sua_QTDs0?si=h1-qKFWGO_o45pX9

Dang. Missing a sunny day in Florida 

Oh, no! Y2K all over again.

Already ongoing now - for some of you, likely:

https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/geomagnetic-solar-storm-northern-lights-05-10-24/index.html

Interesting, mysterious science......

Decoding history: 184 years in, Oxford’s mystery electric bell rings on (msn.com)

Seems like I had heard of this many, many years ago, but had completely forgotten it.

Yikes. Those batteries would be a nice replacement for the ones in my smoke detectors that require changing once per year. 

Do the bells or bead show any sign of wear? After 200 years …

Ken McPeek and his team seem so genuinely human and down-to-earth, I gotta root hard for them...GO MYSTIK DAN!!

I wish I had access to all the data in the Library of Alexandria.

The entire country is starting to grip...it's obvious.

I'm guessing the only people not sick of seeing Patrick Mahomes doing non-football ads are rabid KC fans (and possibly his own mother).

I'm guessing Mahomes's wife enjoys getting him out of the house during the off season, and seeing him selling sandwiches, shampoo, and insurance 24/7 is part of that package. Are you really telling me that you don't like Tiny Troy in a woman's scalp chasing dandruff flakes and bacteria? 

Get a DVR, record everything you normally watch, and view the shows after an hour delay (or more). Fast forward through the commercials. Or, watch with the sound down. Or both. 

Wow - very cool:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/15/us/george-washington-mount-vernon-cherries-berries-trnd/index.html

Has a competitive eater ever fasted for a cause?

Why don't they sell mouse flavoured catfood?

Saw a bumper sticker today:   "What would Dolly Do?", with a daisy in place of each "o".  Thought that was fairly cool, and since we've discussed her here several times, thought I'd pass that tidbit along.  But turns out that there's a radio series she did by that title, and even a book someone else wrote.  Still............it's actually a nice gedankenexperiment to contemplate.

oilers oilers oilers

7x5 17981-12

1620 Elo,my azz...

The Top World War 2 Missions That Should Have Failed | Narrow Escapes (Full Series)

Detailed, as if one were in an Axis or Allied war room...

I remember as a kid, it was always ice milk. I always used to wonder what ice cream tasted like. It's probably still around masquerading as low-fat ice cream.

Myself has wondered that same thing so I asked google and this is the ai overview

Ice milk didn't stop being made, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changed the definition of the product in 1994, allowing it to be labeled as "low-fat," "light," or "non-fat" ice cream instead. The new definition specifies that ice cream must contain at least 10% butterfat, while ice milk can contain less. The rule went into effect in grocery stores on September 14, 1995. 

DQ was always(?) ice milk - and still is - except for the rule change noted by outskirts above.  So it's now just (legally) low-fat ice cream.  I'm pretty sure the same holds true for other fast food places that serve "ice cream" in the form of shakes, cones, etc. 

As an aside...................the best ice cream I've ever had was at the Court of Two Sisters in N.O.  They make it there, and I believe it's 20% butterfat.  Don't quote me on that but I believe I asked and that's what they told me. They could legitimately call it "beyond ice cream".  And since this is "random posts"...............it's expensive but worthwhile to get the jazz brunch there, which is a buffet of N.O./cajun food like you'd imagine - except moreso.  It's kinda ridiculous.  [Not that it's overly 'elegant' and high-level upscale like the usual suspects there, but it's still very much worth doing to experience a nice panoply of N.O. cuisine.] And finishing it off with some of that ice cream made me fuller than at any other point I've ever been in my life.  Fact. My stomach was actually visibly protruding and it wasn't easy to walk for a couple of hours.  Don't think that's ever happened on any other occasion, and I used to be known as quite the garbage disposal, as far as eating enormous quantities goes.  There are stories...............

Donanemab

Newly approved Alzheimer's medication...possibly a very very big deal for many...let's hope!

I came up with some punny jokes last night for no good reason other than I was bored. Because of the nature of punny jokes, a few of these may already exist in some form or another, but I can assure you I didn’t steal them nor do I know of their existence if so. I was just bored and it was a pretty random act. But whatevs, here ya go. A few or maybe all of these should be original (not existing in another form) so I may submit em for something geeky like a themed crossword puzzle one day, but even posting these here copyrights em so I can prob still do it. 

1. What did the postcard yell to the photo when the man ordered they be hanged?

2. What did Treebeard tell Frodo is the reason he dreads his saplings at naptime?

3. What did the Beaver tell Bambi when asked why he’d never sell his home?

4. What happened when William Shatner first shook hands with Leonard Nimoy?

5. What did the mule farmer shout when he couldn’t find the hoof salve? 

6. Why did the French lion sue Victorias Secret for False Advertising?

7. What mythological figure would’ve made a fiery candidate in American politics with his aptly named campaign slogan? 

8. Why did a Mrs. Terri get annoyed when I misspelled her name?

9. Why was the athlete so upset when his girlfriend wouldn’t make out under the bleachers? 

10.What did the father say to his daughter when she threw her dreidel out the window?

11. What did the rapper’s girlfriend exclaim when he dedicated a song to her on her birthday? 

12. What size pants did the baker order?

13. Why did the umpire hate going to work parties? 

14. Why did the spice vendor never take inventory? 

15. What would Frodo say whenever Samwise smoked his pipe?

Er, not sure if it’s more fun I don’t post answers yet? I’ll see if anyone cares?