Author Archives: James Higham
Mon Mat one
Monday [6 to 10]
(0759) Much cloud out there but much blue too. (0859)
10. Moo corner
Enough of this street osculation if you don’t mind!
9. Lord Toby’s site and Woke lexicon
Obvious strategy for us is to have some of our own, e.g. Flip Flop Farage, Taqiyya Zia, Boris the Blob.
8. Mother and daughter
7. TPA from the weekend
The Welfare Map is a landmark tool which presents benefit spending down to constituency level across England and Wales. The interactive map allows you to look up official data, including total benefit spend and number of claimants, welfare claims by age group, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) spend and claims for selected conditions and PIP Mobility awards. The map presents the latest data and shows changes since 2021, the end of the covid pandemic, and since 2024, when Labour came to office. Check out the map here.
Breaking down the data constituency-by-constituency and council-by-council, you can see exactly what the situation is in your local area and compare it to places around you or anywhere else you fancy.
Alongside the launch of the map, we’ve released new figures detailing how much welfare spending is happening in different areas across the country. Looking at six major benefits (universal credit, personal independence payment, housing benefit, disability living allowance, carer’s allowance and employment and support allowance), we’ve calculated the total amount spent on them in each of the 575 parliamentary constituencies in England and Wales, allowing the size and growth of the local welfare bill to be compared across constituencies, regions and political parties.
6. Backwashing sewage
… a nice brekky topic from Andy…
The url is in the comments thread, this is a screenshot:
Excuse me if I fail to understand but is this not a man in the thumbnail but it looks a sort of woman in the YT? Anyway, be careful of backwashing sewage once the power fails and the sewage pumps with it. (Planned event)
Ampitheatre
Monday [1 to 5]
(0612) Morning all. Still dark. (0656)
5. J6, long after the event
4. Steve at 1509
- Trump Immigration Crackdown Drives Tenfold Surge in Somali Deportation Orders in Minnesota
- Chris Rock Compares Wokeness to the Salem Witch Trials and Says the Hunt Had to Invent Offenders
- Mother Charged With Homicide After 1- and 2-Year-Old Children Found Starved and Dehydrated to Death — Authorities Received 13 Welfare Calls as Relatives Warned of ‘Another Lindsay Clancy’ Tragedy
- Father Stabs 17-Year-Old Twins to Death Before Taking His Own Life in Orlando Home
- Airstrikes Hammer IRGC Houthis As Fighters Scramble On Russia
- 25-year study suggests high–fat cheese may guard against dementia
- Elsevier removes study published 5 years ago showing correlation between vaccines and SIDS
- Decades Of Refinery Mismanagement Are Behind $6 Per Gallon Diesel
- Much more.
3. Faux poll propaganda
2. DAD at 1509
a) France. The high school blockades and incidents of recent days reveal a deterioration in the mindset of today’s youth—more so than a mere lack of resources or any legitimate grievances. These events could spark a massive, violent movement, or prove to be nothing more than a brief spasm in the rather bleak destiny of a grim generation.
That is the first mistake. The high school students’ protests and “strike” have no legitimacy whatsoever. First, because the participants are not workers but recipients of public support; second, because their demands are highly varied and never truly substantiated—sometimes whispered in their ears by extremist teachers’ unions, at other times by *La France Insoumise* and its *indigéniste* obsessions.
[DAD – Typical French obsession with discussion and debate, rather than action.]
JH: Issue is that many are too old now to be doing 40 year old things like manning barricades … we’re just as much monitored, and are hit in other ways but obviously the front lines get it first … kudos to those warriors. Keyboard warrior? Were I 40, even 50 I’d take that as a fair charge, but I’m restricted to local events in this condition. Until of course their murders start.
b) France. The riots in France have now spread to the migrant communities who are attacking the police in train stations.
JH: Whole things organised from above, yes.
c) France. Hundreds of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to rally against continued aid to Ukraine as part of a nationwide protest organised by former MEP Florian Philippot, who is running in France’s 2027 presidential election.
d) Brazil Heads to second round after Bolsonaro upsets Lula in first round.
e) France continues to get out of control, but what can actually fix this?
[I’m not keen on the narrator, but his message is correct.]
JH: What narrator?
1. Quora is the latest newsletter into the inbox
… this was one article:
“At seventy years old, your body no longer forgives in the way it did in the past, and three specific actions in particular begin to have a very high cost which doesn’t (initially) seem evident on the surface.
The first is being sedentary since the loss of muscle mass happens rapidly in people over seventy in what is called sarcopenia, and every week that one remains idle speeds the process of losing that strength which keeps you self-reliant, stable, and able to catch yourself from falling. Resting is not a problem here, it’s just that there is an increased cost to being idle compared to when you were forty years old.
Secondly, it’s ignoring protein in favor of comfort eating, since appetite naturally goes down as people get older but the body still needs plenty of protein to retain muscle mass and immunity. So, the small plate full of carbohydrates which was enough at fifty years old, now may not be sufficient in providing energy at seventy-five.
The third action which is usually underestimated is being alone. Isolation has been connected to increased cognitive decline and mortality rate at the same level as smoking in several studies. Loneliness at this stage in life is not simply something emotional but has been found time and time again to be a significant cause of cognitive decline and an increased mortality rate comparable to smoking in some studies as both the brain and the immune system rely heavily on consistent human interaction, something science is just beginning to understand.
None of these things are dramatic bad guys; they’re simply quiet defaults turned dangerous by lack of warning.”
I would say I’m certainly not alone … but lonely? Chance would be a fine thing. The issue for us is navigating the mass of incoming and coping wi’it. Soc-med plays a part, even for sigma curmudgeons like me, as for many of us … This site Unherdables welcomes the type … independents … and I need to maintain the tavern with as light a hand as a fractious, difficult character can.
This site here is more as a meeting venue than as a vehicle for my own notions … though those views are also forcefully put … not denying that in the least, nor kidding myself over it.
Sunday [16 till close of play]
(1615) Evening all.
21. Enemies of the people
20. Via DAD at 1509
19. Moosh revisited
18. As it says
17. The corrupt judiciary, plus political clowns
16. Andy and Than Putzig
Led by PSI associate director and senior scientist Than Putzig, the selected project is the Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation, or GIMLI. PSI is partnering with Honeybee Robotics, which will build much of the equipment and instrumentation for the effort. The equipment and instrumentation will be carried on a lander and rover provided through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The PSI work will be carried out in partnership with the Norwegian Space Agency.
“GIMLI represents the type of ambitious planetary science that PSI was built to pursue,” said PSI director and CEO Amanda Hendrix. “Than and his team are taking a scientific question we’ve been studying from orbit and have developed a way to investigate it directly on the moon. We’re excited to have PSI leading this effort and to be partnering with NASA and Honeybee Robotics to learn more about the moon and its volcanic past.”
Sunday jazz
Sun Mat
It’s just turned 1500 after an unexpectedly long call, so there goes the film. However, I could call this AKH corner … I see the worthy AKH was here earlier and now here’s a Peter Gunn with him in mind, followed by some jazz, also with him in mind. Does anyone else like these too?
Sunday [11 to 15]
(1219) Afternoon all. Fine if cool day here. The main post is up at Orphans and Jstack. (1256)
15. Govt robot
14. Julia knows
13. From “Oldtimer” on X
12. Cautionary tale: don’t become like the UK
11. IYE corner
a. “Manufacturing Outrage: A Primer on Rage Farming”
https://www.wagthedog.io/p/manufacturing-outrage-a-primer-on-rage-farming
“ Rage farming is unique because it aims to spread false information and stir up strong emotions, which leads to more people sharing, commenting, or clicking on it.”
b. Just to add – both sides use it. 😉😉 Or is it one entity using it against both side so both sides claim victimhood.
c. Further reading:
When it all comes together
I’m thinking George Peppard in this: “I love it when a plan comes together.”
But even further … when the plan for the band comes together, as in the song version below … that’s nicer … but even better is when the audiennce so appreciates it … and even young reactors from today appreciate it …
… and that’s where we left it last time … a nice reaction but still feeling something might still be added in the future … and this is precisely what the guy below says at the end. He loved the studio version but this live version surpassed all. This is a couple here … my preferred reaction hosts … couples … but this pair, whom I’ve posted with Don MacLean’s song and I think Steely Dan’s … have not reacted here to the live Sultans … so here it is.
Downside of couple reactions, e.g. Brad and Lex, is that the guy is usually a dumbo, also having his finger on the stopping the song button, while the girl is getting right into it. And yes, he does stop it early below, at the wrong time, pluss he’s looking away at precisely the time the drummer does his thing (she sees it though) … I groaned at that point … how to ruin a reaction … not the first time with him either.
Besides, the viewers are there for the girl, not for him. I’m afraid we guys need to get that into our scones. However … this time … after his first interruption … he actually lets it play through, thank goodness … plus he appreciates what he has on his hands.
And what did he have on his hands? Possibly one of the greatest, if not the greatest live song rendition ever … big statement, that … you’ll doubtless think of dozens “better” … my purpose here today though is to just show an example when all elements, from performers to audience to reactors … are all on the same page, if only for a short time.
I’m also well aware that this would generally be a classical/baroque slot but this became available … so there it was.
Just listened right through again, “proofing” in a way and after the track itself ends, his comments are spot on, plus hers … this was the definitive young persons’ reaction, bringing in what the hell happened to music in the 2000s and 2010s? What went wrong, apart from just autotuning? Please listen to them until the very end.
How appropriate Jen’s comment was on X today … she feels the pulse:
