Shaggy! Get a calculator and a syringe! I'll fire up the Mystery Machine!

Ded Hed: Math nerds 🤓

http://www.zalafilms.com/films/countingindex.html

b1-66er: SUPER GREAT•

I knew about that "advancement," I know nothing of the story.

Have you watched it?

DH: Yeah, just today. Very interesting, though I'm weak on the math

b1: I'll watch it and let you know my thoughts. Thanks for pushing it forward.

What in the hell brought it to your attention?

(Or is this one of those opera singer related things?)

DH: Serendipity-doo. Happened to turn on PBS just as it started. Fully expected to switch channels, but ended up watching the whole thing (1 hour)

b1: Crazy.

So much for the "Public" part of Public Broadcasting Service from a community/safety standpoint...

......Good thing no one was just starting to shoot heroin when you tuned in.

DH: Hahaha I'd probably watched that too

b1: Watch is not the verb I worry about...

... with you.

DH: Haha, yah. I've been on jags with less trigger than a TV show that's fo sho 

Viewing when you don't feel like a 'boring yet spectacular film'

Special K: Army of the Dead was fun, and not a great movie.

Oh, just quit yer whinin' and decide already•

b1-66er: "Am I Depressed or Lazy?"...

...Like I HAVE to choose?!

Special K: We can have it all.

Catching the buzz

Special K: ""Friends" ended in 2004 and had a reunion this week, which means cicadas think it was on the whole time."

A thousand times 'no'

Special K: "Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Has Over 100 Questions for Jurors"

b1-66er: You don't wanna be in THAT selection process.

She's a real dick.

K: Yes. I'd rather be nowhere near her. Forever.

When coffee goes 'pop!'

birdhead: Bought these just to amuse you.

It tastes like coke and coffee...

...if your idea of 'coffee' is a Starbucks Frappuccino.

After assault -- The capital remains

b1-66er: "Why Long-Term Couples Look Alike

An intimate relationship is a powerful force, in which two morph into one"

Special K: Momma K doesn't look like me...

...fortunately for both of us.

And now... We set the tree alight!

F3mb0t: My view in my backyard. Just now.

©2021 F3mb0t, used by permission.

Palindromic TV History

b1-66er: 

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/1000454817/amazon-buys-mgm-for-nearly-8-5-billion

Includes

Addams Family

Flipper

Daktari

Hollywood Squares

Mr. Ed

Reno 911

Shark Tank

 =&=

Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater

Special K: Wow.

Flipping the virus coin

b1-66er: Clark County, Nevada Covid Case and Risk Tracker https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/clark-nevada-covid-cases.html

Major Math: Yeah, and it is likely gonna stay steady until every non-vaccinated person gets it.  In the end, almost everyone is gonna get the shot, or the disease.

Pablo Cruising

Special K: I'm on to disc 6 of Elton John Jewel Box, which is B-sides. I loved the rarities, which were mostly early, poppy fun. This is more of a slog, as he descended into a sort of yacht rock by this point.

b1-66er: He's got it wrong. 

He's Tennille, not The Captain•

An abundance of abundance

b1-66er: The Secret Psychology of Sneaker Colors https://nyti.ms/3uh0MuL 

Entropy Dave: Few articles so directly capture the decadence of the present moment.

Your cup runneth over (and onto the tablecloth)

Figgy Pudding: I love the text you send. They brighten my day everytime

b1-66er: You're either too kind or too bored.

FP: Both are likely

The devil's in the dialer

b1-66er: 'Georgia county asks residents to stop calling 911 about cicadas"

Figgy pudding: They are supposed to call 666

Even I know that much, even though I haven't been to church in years

Stormy whether

b1-66er: "Solar storms are back, threatening life on Earth as we know it"

Special K: Solar storms are waiting for the pandemic to end to take their turn. 

b1: Welcome to

THE TRAGEDY TURNSTILE!

In Your Ears

Cap'n Happy: Peter Gabriel originally wanted "In Your Eyes" to be the last song on the album but because of the heavy bassline, it had to be at the beginning of Side 2. The stylus which picks up sound on an LP picks up bass better on the outer edge of a record.

You become that which you mock

Special K: Before the pandemic, I mocked people who got JitB on DoorDash. 

Since the pandemic, I get JitB on DoorDash all the time.

The mathematics of fast food profanity

b1-66er: So how has the OH Mathematics Military excursion in LV been?

Right decision?

Any discoveries?

Any disappointments?

Corporal Math: It was great. Love the Ogden. Definitely the right call. Weather was gorgeous most days -- only a few really hot ones.  Discovered a lot of good bars and restaurants in DTLV.  Not too many disappointments, if any.

b1: Super super great•

One of the VERY strongest traits of you both is knowing 'good' when you see it...And appreciating that for what it is...

A remarkable number of people cannot.

CM: Ogden was fantastic. Well run. I like the age diversity of the building. Downtown LV/Arts district is definitely my speed. So much so that it is a contender for retirement (in the unlikely event my liver survives).

Downtown: the walkability and general come as you are vibe.  Whatever you're into you'll find it.

b1: You understand the complexities of modern life.

CM: Only disappointment: Can't walk to Del Taco

b1: Oh!

What's you favorite thing ABOUT dT?

CM: The French Fries

b1: Super interesting.

So funny that a taco place's fries are what hook you.

What caught me was the multiple hot sauce flavors.

dT had that WAY before TB.

Major Math: I'm with you on that b1.  I literally put one of each on every taco 

b1: You literally are the dT gourmand.

CM: The Midwest is Taco Bell country. They have not figured out french fry gloriousness at a taco joint. And. Crinkle. Cut. Hot damn.

b1: Hot fucking damn.

The Accomplice: Hell, YEAH!

I like their taco salad, just to be another fusion fan. I add hot sauce to the dressing. 

M²: This conversation literally just inspired... <order>

(We have plenty of hot and medium sauce from last order, in case you were worried) 😂

CM: (dT gourmand) > (Jack in the Box gourmand)

TA: Nice!

(ordering del Taco delivery has got to be one of the weirder 'pandemic outcomes')

Four pennies for your thoughts

b1-66er: This is Jeopardy!

Category: b1's Life

***

US$200

***

A- 4¢

Q- How much interest has b1 earned on US$151.00 in calendar year 2021?

Major Math: Niiiice.

b1: And to THINK I walked over a nickel today and didn't even pick it up.

M²: That's like a year's work left on the ground

b1: Exactly.

(As opposed to the decades of my humanity left smoldering on a fault line.)

M²: Put that 4¢ in DOGE

It could be a quarter before you know it

The root of evil

b1-66er: Ran across this item in a recipe this AM.

I'd never heard of it.

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/what-the-heck-is-salsify-21927

Former Meat Man: Salsify... better try to grow it!

b1: I bet it'll grow as strong as dandelions in IA.

There's a rule with produce: the darker it is, the better it is for you...

If that's so, this stuff has to be the recovery from the dead vegetable...

Because it LOOKS like Death's nightstick.

The raw gnur of pondering

Special K: Great entry, top 1% title: http://ktxt.blogspot.com/2010/12/serling-sliver.html

b1-66er: I'm sorry, WHAT is it that you like about that KTXT?

The title?

K: I love the give and take. 

The title is world class great. 

b1: I wondered as I wrote it if the title wasn't, perhaps, reaching a little too far...

...I DO like that your mind can EASILY jam in the wrong words on a quick read.

K: Yes.

b1: Hard to believe that was a decade ago.

K: Yes. Time is getting fuzzy for me. 

Ready to Diet

b1-66er: '"Costco is notorious for having unhealthy items disguised as seemingly diet-friendly treats," fitness trainer Patricia Johnson of Pedal Lovers agrees.'

Special K: Notorious C.O.S.T.C.O. 

Wold that tiger!

Special K: "Tiger missing in Houston found safe, police say"

b1-66er: Does safe mean consumed < 2 humans?

K: I dunno, it's only the tiger that's safe...

...Humans, not necessarily.

It's about Time

b1-66er: "and what I see what they've done to the place that was home...

... All I feel is shame."

"Another heart breaks"

My other brother Joe: Just to see your face instead of this place

Show me the monkey!

<earlier>

Kπ: Sour final night...two bad sessions (-3300, -1300) leaves me just slightly negative for the trip (-300)

•••

b1-66er: Karaoke Kπ does not pass 'GO,' does not collect $200.

The Accomplice: (not counting the PERKS!)

b1-66er: Oh sure...

•Like the best massage you've ever had

•A fortnight in Vegas

•Enough chow for a platoon of gourmands

•And the glorious weather of a mosquito-less Mojave Spring...

...Is worth ANYTHING

Math Pro(o/f): A -3300 session is pretty serious.  How big does he play? 

b1: I don't know. When we're together I have a fairly good idea. I've been too afeared of the outside world. He's been on his own. I know he was playing $100 limit (he prefers 50)...

In his drinking days, decades ago, he woke up one morning after we'd been shooting dice all night. I went back to the room first. In the morning he said,

  "I feel TERRIBLE. I lost about 2500 last night..."

  "How much?"

  "2500..."

MP: Whoa. I've blown $1000 in a night, but that is about the most.  I did lose about $3k from peak playing way too high on Powerhouse Poker once, but I only started with $100, so no net loss.

b1: "well, Karpov, I have got good news for you. How much did you say, $2500 down?"

  "Yeah. Somethin' like that..."

  "No no. You're $1500 UP!"

And I slide over $4000 in Desert Inn chips on the dresser.

I knew he'd get blind drunk and lose it all...

...The big hint of the disaster to come you get is when someone drools and pontificates, 

  "BABY NEEDS A NEW SET OF DIAMOND EARRINGS!" 

At the top of their lungs before shooting.

I was skimming his chip rack as he played.

MP: Well done sir!!

b1: Way way up there on the most ethically questionable things I've ever done in my life.

I regret it none.

MP: Totally ethically sound. 100%.

You put his interests first

He just didn't know you were at the time

I love it

b1: Bueno.

One thing I know, for sure, having grown up with, and watching people battle, addiction all my life is... 

...unchecked it will create situations the key parties will regret...

... Big loss stings. Especially for people in their 20s. I feel if I can (easily and reasonably) help prevent that from happening, I should.

Counselors may paint it with their "codependency" crayon.

I use my Scrubbō and wipe that son of a bitchin mark right off.

MP: Just throw 25 Benjamins in the air and growl at the counselor,

I got your codependency right here

b1: What a great response•

  "How much do you make an hour, bitch¹? THIS much?"

¹the word 'bitch' in this context is both gender and birth-sex neutral. Neither the MP, nor b1, intend to offend people by using it...

...In exactly the same way that Keith Richards is being nothing less than loving when he refers to Mick Jagger with the exact same label.

What about Boba?

b1-66er: Here's a speculative headline that isn't my first thought...

"What Would a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Mean for Intel Stock?"

D4rw1n: File that under People Unclear on the Concept

b1-67er: Yeah, Intel stock price would not be my first, or twentieth, worry.

Keep your eyes off the fringe element!

Kπ:

HI J K mail

Special K: 

But what about good ol' Gary?

b1-67er: Seeing a bit of movie called  Yongary.  It's a knock off of Godzilla.

 Sometimes called Yongary, Monster from the Deep.

b1-66er: And?

67: It was on Mystery Science Theatre 3000.  As they said, "Godzilla is a parable about the dangers of nuclear technology.  Yongary is a parable on the dangers of nuclear energy and copyright infringement."

66: What'd you think?

67: Disappointing in that it lacked originality. I mean, you are in a universe unfettered by common sense and physics. You can do crazy stuff.  

Instead Yongary is just the red headed stepchild of Godzilla.

Lighter shade of purple

b1-67er [01:45]: I'm watching a Dennis Hopper movie called Space Truckers.  

b1-66er [07:45]: And?

67[10:30]: Bad enough to be kind of good. But not bad enough to keep me awake.

"And now, my beauties, something with poison in it...but attractive to the eye..."

The Curator: First one of 2021

<pic ©2021 -- used by permission>

b1-66er: Gorgeous. Fried egg flower!

Pac Mania

Suttonhoo: 

Even if you read nothing else today, read this

Special K: I love to waste time on inconsequential nonsense. 

Like I have to tell you that. 

And now we prance!

b1-66er³: "...many of us would also enjoy the flexibility of working from home a couple days [a] week, spending time in another city for part of the year, or even moving there permanently..."

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/994123311/google-adapts-to-long-term-telework-offers-employees-hybrid-work-week

Mr. Crypto¹: Many of us would also enjoy a pony.

Special K²: If I have to ride the pony to the office, that wouldn't improve my commute.

MC: Double-decker pony with wifi so you can get some work done on 101.

¹Rumored to have loved Equus

²Known to intentionally take longer 'exploring routes' on equestrian jaunts

³Allergic to horses

Torqued off

b1-66er: https://youtube.com/shorts/6wHSkWTqzVY?feature=share

b1-67er: That spinning bullet video is surprising.  I wouldn't guess you could stop the bullet without killing the angular momentum.

D4rw1n: I can't figure out what's going on with the physics there either

66: Here's my take on the bullet...

... Remembering that, while YES, I graduated bottom of my class "with the lowest GPA in the history of the engineering school,"¹ I also can still give you things like equations for the Ideal Gas Law without using Google².

Momentum is conserved. 

That's some law of Newton I can't tell you and I always just ask my brother for the number...

It can be translated. 

So your car can go from driving forward to flipping end over end.

But it's all still there...

Any kid with Hot Wheels and two leisure minutes can tell you that ...

I think of a bullet as having 2 degrees of motion: forward and (a super technical term, hinted at by my brother) "spinny" [the rifling is to keep the bullet flying straight and not tumbling end-over-end]...

You blast a shot into a slush patch, that takes care of the forward momentum, but good...

...said projectile is hot and still spinny...

... The projectile has no reason to lose those properties...

That's my official Applied Mathematics³ analysis...

You both owe me a donut...

{And don't you DARE frown at me for billing you a donut, when you both can [and should] get them for free.}

67: I think that analysis is basically right.  I suspect the water at the front of the bullet probably turns to steam instantly and makes a sort of air bearing so the friction becomes very very low at the front of the bullet.

66: Okay, so now I owe my brother a donut.

¹Their words.

²And I'll bet none of my other goddamn higher GPAd classmates can. So what if I took Thermo 7 times. Like, what, that makes me LESS likely to remember it?

³Not an engineering discipline, instead it's an "applied science," the other is Engineering Physics.

Tastes like Bud's Weiser

b1-66er: https://kdvr.com/news/nationalworld-news/want-your-dog-to-be-on-budweisers-2021-holiday-can-heres-your-chance/

Dirk Danger: Haha is Dipper cute enough?! 

b1: There's only one way to find out.

It wouldn't surprise me if they figured out a way (maybe they've even thought it out ahead of time?) to get YOUR dog on YOUR can of beer...

ala, "put your name on a can of Coke."

It's a clever promo.

When the hell else am I ever going to send you cutting-edge Budweiser news?

DD: A beer so middle of the road I don't know quite who drinks it! There's cheaper beer, better cheap beer, and then of course, good beer!

Warblers versus wobblers

b1-66er: https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/woman-found-alive-after-missing-5-months-in-diamond-fork-canyon/

b1-67er: I'm surprised they say the Utah lady broke no laws. Usually here is a three week limit on BLM land.  Also I think it's illegal take vegetation without a permit.  Lady must be hardcore to live through a Utah winter in a tent.

66: No kidding.

67: How much moss do you have to eat to survive 5 months?  The entire forrest must be denuded.

66: Moss is a strange survival choice.

FOR MONTHS ON END.

D4rw1n: I'm thinking the amount of moss I'd have to eat to survive a winter exceeds the amount of moss I could personally eat by approximately one winter's worth

One for your milk box

b1-66er: https://jalopnik.com/this-man-owns-the-holy-grail-of-ford-minivans-and-it-is-1846820492

D4rw1n: With a face only a mother could love 

b1-66er: Such is the nature of gear shifts.

'67 considers gear shift heads to be a lesser evolutionary form.

b1-67er: If you like a slide rule you might also like a manual transmission

Seam ripper

b1-66er: "The announcement doesn't go into too many details on how the retractable sabers actually work, but some clever minds on the internet have managed to piece together a rough idea from Disney's patent filings. The broad strokes are that the new blade works almost like a modified, motorized tape measure, retracting and extending a sheet of plastic and LED lights to mimic the ignition effect."

Special K: That could be fine, or lousy.

b1: In marketing it, I don't think they should go with the phrase "modified motorized tape measure."

Doesn't have the right sense of awe and fear.

K: Yes. So unexciting.

b1: You wanna think" Jedi;

not Aunt Jenny.

K: Although I have wielded a tape measure in that manner.

Fear of the Tongs

b1-66er:  Self-service buffets return

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyCug-1lzBY

D4rw1n: I just now realized how much of enjoying a self-service buffet is the suspension of fear 

Old enough to get the joke and/or wear a Hawaiian shirt

b1-66er: "The Googleplex of the Future Has Privacy Robots, Meeting Tents and Your Very Own Balloon Wall"

Mr. Crypto¹²: I like the balloon wall

b1³: Dear Diary:

Some years ago, my wife and I drove down from Connecticut to take the Circle Line around Manhattan.

Once aboard, we noticed some groups of people sticking together. We learned that they were engineers from other countries who had come to the United States to study the traffic patterns in large cities here.

Approaching one nattily dressed, well-groomed member of the group, I bent forward slightly at the waist and began to speak to him in a halting tone.

"And. What. Country. Are. You. From. Sir?" I asked.

"I. Am. From. Phoenix. Arizona. U.S.A.," he said. "I. Am. In. Charge. Of. This. Group.

Special K¹²: Good start. I like the Circle Line.

Oh, that's the punch line. 

Ok. Now I like that feature. 

MC: Did I accidentally join the Reader's Digest Life in These United States Writer's Room?

¹Google employee

²Dad

³Neither

Just peek under her keyboard, perhaps?

b1-66er: "Bill And Melinda Gates Are Getting Divorced"!

Zz: Whoa!

Do have her number?

b1: Bad bad bad bad bad.

And every bit as funny.

(Your line got a snide snarl from The Accomplice.)

You won't like the way Lucky Charms ends...

b1-66er: <screen shot>

Special K: Just as you predicted, decades ago.

Take a deep breath ... and think about "grist"

b1-66er: "It's been a wild week or so for the ransomware group Babuk. First they claim to have stolen 250 GB of data from the Metropolitan Police Department, including some that could expose informants. Then they say they're going to retire altogether. Then they revise that claim to say they're just quitting the ransomware part to focus on extortion full-time."

The Robot: Their life coach must have told them they need to focus to achieve their goals. 

Foundation fricassee

Special K: After a year of pandemic, my floors are covered in a fine layer of gray hair and fried chicken crumbs.

b1-66er: Time to break out the deep fryer and a claw hammer.

K: I like your thinking here. 

Speakerconehead

b1-66er: I just dreamt I was listening to: The Mountain Blast Podcast

Special K: "Blasting your way around the Bay"

b1: Is that a thing?

K: Maybe.

Moment of purrrfection

The Curator: As far as meditation goes...

The first time I really went down that rabbit hole was at a Shirley MacLaine seminar. It was the late 80's, cost 300 bucks: 100 for mind, 100 for body and 100 for soul. At some point in this all-day-adventure we sat on the floor. Shirley was going to talk us through some meditation, we were told to choose a partner near us. I turned and Julie Newmar (aka Catwoman) was next to me. So we were partners for a few hours. I remember being so relaxed and blank it was actually scary. I do those breathing exercises about once a month.