War movies

Retired general Mark Hertling discusses war movies. Strange though it may seem, I have some past posts about war movies, like Ten for the 4th. It's interesting to hear a military person's opinion of some of the films.

AI Chatbots

Mother's Day

Happy #MothersDay 🦦🦊🦝🐐💕

From fluffy kits to tiny pups to miniature hatchlings, the spring season is a time when these adorable newborns steal the spotlight (or sunlight).☀️

How well do you know wildlife species and their offspring? Take our quiz 📲: https://t.co/Ectwj8m0Kq pic.twitter.com/BArnKhCCOk

— National Wildlife Federation (@NWF) May 10, 2026

California

Hosted by Ezra Klein, a discussion between Democrats running for governor of California. It was on one subject .... how to affect the affordability of housing in the state.

At first I found it kind of boring, but towards the end they started talking about homelessness ... a big concern in CA ... and it helped me zero in on who I might vote for (voting has already started).

I mentioned before that I thought I would vote for Tom Steyer, and I still like him best, I think, but I also liked what Katie Porter and Matt Mahan had to say.

One thing mentioned during the talk was the scary California Forever project. It's creepy that a guy from the Czech Republic, former Goldman Sachs employee in the UK, wh has been here just over 10 years, thinks he knows what's best for this stste....

Ezra Klein on GLP-1 drugs

I'm interested in this as I did take one of these drugs for about a year.

If I had to choose

You can bring ONLY 1 back to life! 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/HzPDEOaF2B

— 🎸 Rock History 🎸 (@historyrock_) May 7, 2026

David Bowie :)



The Man Who Sold the World, at the BBC Radio Theatre in London on June 27, 2000.

Dark Matter

The latest science fiction book I'm reading from the library is Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

Here's a bit about it from Wikipedia ...

Dark Matter is a thriller science fiction novel by American writer Blake Crouch .... The story is about a physicist who is kidnapped and sent to a parallel universe in which another version of his life unfolds because of a different choice he made fifteen years prior. The book draws on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics which posits that every possible outcome of every event creates a new universe or world that runs parallel to our own ...

The book has been made into a tv series at Apple TV+. I haven't seen it, but here is a trailer of the show ...



I'm only a little ways into the book but it seems good so far.

Now it's $1 billion

Senate GOP eyes $1 billion for Trump ballroom security as part of ICE, border patrol package

Senate Republicans are looking to give the US Secret Service $1 billion to shore up security for President Donald Trump’s future White House ballroom, as part of a broader immigration enforcement package.

Two GOP-led Senate committees unveiled late Monday their roughly $70 billion package to fund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol, which they plan to pass with only Republican votes

The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are aiming to spend roughly $38 billion for ICE and around $26 billion for US Customs and Border Patrol functions and upgrades, according to legislative text released by the panels. The funding would run through the end of September 2029.

The Judiciary Committee also tucked in the additional $1 billion in Secret Service funding that could go toward Trump’s ballroom project ...

People are losing health care benefits, food assistance, and gas is through the roof, but ... the ballroom!

Tom Steyer

It's almost time to vote in the primary election for governor of California. It's a nonpartisan or "jungle" primary and the fear is that we will end up with two Republicans to choose between.

I still haven't decided for sure who to vote for. I probably would have voted for Eric Swallwell before all the bad stuff came out about him.

I think I'll end up voting for Tom Steyer, mainly bevcause he cares about the environment, and has been endorsed by organizations like the Center for Biological Diversity.

So anyway, let's find out more about him ...

Forever war

But but but ... I thought the war with Iran had been "terminated"?

SNAP

FACT FOCUS: Why nearly 4.3 million people are no longer receiving food stamps

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins this week attributed a multimillion-person drop in the number of participants receiving food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the tamping down of fraud and an improved economy. But experts discount those factors, saying the primary driver of the decrease was more likely new legislation that changed how the program runs ...

This would be millionaire Brooke Rollins, who has said that the only people who should be on food stamps are those who would starve to death otherwise.

How much does a person living where I do need every month for gtoceries and sundry items? According to the Google bot ...

A single person with pets in California can expect to spend approximately $150 to $250+ per week on groceries and pet supplies. While general food costs for one in CA average around $177/week, pet food, litter, and household items, plus higher costs in metro areas, often push this closer to $200-$250.

So that would mean spending about $800 to $1000 a month.

Oh dearie me - no wonder SNAP has to dump so many people off the rolls, when they must get soooo much taxpayer cash every month.

Guess how much money a person like me (elderly disabled homeowner living on social security) gets from SNAP to help pay for one month of food. $27. Yes, twenty-seven dollars.

The jewel in the crown

In the news ... Mamdani says King Charles III should give India back its diamond

What diamond, you ask? The Koh-i-Noor, which sits in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother ...

The crown is decorated with about 2,800 diamonds, most notably the 105-carat (21.0 g) Koh-i-Noor in the middle of the front cross, which was acquired by the East India Company after the Anglo-Sikh Wars and presented to Queen Victoria in 1851 ... The Koh-i-Noor became a part of the Crown Jewels when it was left to the Crown upon Victoria's death in 1901. It had been successively mounted in the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary before it was transferred to the Queen Mother's crown.

It would be nice if they would give it back, along with the Elgin Marbles and whatever other booty their empire "liberated" back in the day.

AI Data Centers

In the news today ... The $25 Billion Bill: The Hidden Environmental Cost of America’s Data Center Boom

And this from Business Insider ...

Mowing

Out mowing today. My corded electric mower died and my sister gave me her old battery operated one. It's nice to not have the cord to drag around, but the battery doesn't last very long, so I'm mowing for less time but more often. It takes about three times to mow the whole yard. Took some photos while I was out.

This golden lump is a sleeping Prince Wendell ...

Here are some of the wild grape vines. My parents planted them after we moved here - we had a garden of veggies and fruit trees - but most of that is dead now, or gone wild like the grapes ...

Here is Lucy. I tried to get her to stay still for a photo but she was always on the move ...

Behind these trees was the garden. Only the orange tree and some plums trees are left. The apricots died years ago. Now it's mostly oaks and privet trees there. And the weeds ;) ...

Here's Hansel. I think I woke her up ...

We laugh ...

Pathetic

Pathetic overcompensation for his obvious powerlessness in the Iran war. Republicans, you must be so proud.

Us and the Roman Empire

It used to be theorized that the problem of lead pipes/lead in drinking water ultimately caused the fall of the Roman Empire. It was more complex than that, of course, but that's what comes to mind when I think of modern society and microplastics. It's especially disturbing to me, as I have been drinking all my water from plastic bottles for years now. Gulp :(

Priorities

Lawrence O'Donnell speaks with Nicholas Enrich about his new book, Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID.

“Propulsive….When the full history of this moment is ready to be written, Into the Wood Chipper will be a vivid source.” —The New York Times

Trump's priorities: take food and medicine away from the poorest of the poor, while asking the US taxpayers to fund his oh-so-wonderful ballroom/bunker ... Republicans now plan for taxpayers to fund Trump’s $400 million ballroom which he promised to cover with private donations.