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"Inside it is one of the worst designs I've seen."

#160 | Posted by NerfHerder

Biltmore House in Asheville: www.biltmore.com

Up close it looks as well put together as a Hollywood facade.

And the most fascinating parts of the tour, even though postbellum, were all the working areas. And I don't think in the late 1800s, it was drum-circle lefties from Asheville providing the labor. Or the white Western NC inhabitants, who would scoff at such ostentation. Food was probably better at their house anyway.

What I'd like to see is Jefferson's octagonal house that originally had grass landscaped steps going up to the front door.

https://www.poplarforest.org/

Thanks, enslaved persons.

Another great tour: Montpelier: https://www.montpelier.org/.

A bit overwhelming to be in the room where Madison's books were and where he did his research for the Constitution.

__________
Trump Administration to Lower Radiation Safety Standards

Oh, noez! If it isn't one "nuclear" scare, it's another. Anything to stop or slow down the development of new, much safer SMR (small modular nuclear reactors) and catch up the current and future energy/electricity supply with energy/electricity needs.

New regs don't affect safety or dosage limits, they just provide better clarity for developers by removing legal ambiguities of ALARA ("as low as reasonably achievable"), which should significantly speed up the R&D designs and testing.

Stated even simpler it wouldn't ever affect anyone not working on or near reactors, i.e., the scientists who know better what is and isn't safe and wouldn't jeopardize their lives or health.

apnews.com - AP, 2026-07-26

|------- ... The Energy Department, which oversees national energy policies, has already stopped using ALARA. The NRC expects to finalize its radiation protection regulations in the coming months.

NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said the commission is not lowering the bar on safety.

"We're just removing the ambiguity. But the standard for exposure to workers and the public, those are not changing. We're just putting in place greater clarification."

Nieh doesn't expect major changes within the nation's existing fleet of large, traditional reactors. But companies designing and building new, smaller reactors could move faster with a clearer picture of the radiation protection requirements, he said.

The NRC said radiation exposure limits are set well below levels associated with health effects, and it expects remaining standards and industry practices to keep radiation doses far below the limits. There's incentive to do so - it's more expensive and time-consuming to work in areas with higher radiation because access must be restricted and more surveys are required.

The nuclear industry's trade association agrees with the NRC. ...

ALARA created a "moving target" for regulation, said Justin Friedman, a nuclear energy consultant who previously spent three decades at the U.S. Department of State. Getting rid of the rule would allow NRC scientists to make more rational decisions about appropriate levels of manageable risk ...
-------|

Much ado about nothing. Making mountains out of molehills whenever something "nuclear" is mentioned.

BTW, Biden's Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo (who, IMO, would be a great candidate for President/VP in 2028) emphasized the importance and promoted the collaborative development of nuclear and hydrogen energy.

Or we can keep listening to notable "climate scientists" like Jane Fonda and Greta Thunberg et al, that impeded development (and/or were pushing a phase-out) of one of the cleanest and safest energy solutions in the USA, while China, Russia and few other countries went full speed ahead with nuclear deployment.

www.realclearenergy.org - Jane Fonda's Views on Nuclear Energy Are Stuck in the 1970s - RCN, 2024-10-17

www.latimes.com - Jane Fonda's anti-nuclear arguments don't make sense - 2024-10-08
__________

Local reporting ...

Two dead and five shot at Seattle Center near the Space Needle
www.kiro7.com

... The Seattle Fire Department says two people are dead and five others are hurt, including a child, after a shooting at the Seattle Center near the Space Needle.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson says that police have arrested at least one person. She released the following statement: ...


Jim Carroll Band - City Drops into the Night (1980)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
It's when Billy's whores are workin'
They're workin' with the skeleton crew
It's when the sky over Jersey
That sky starts to drain from view
It's when my woman pawns her voice so
So she can make her old excuses sound new

But I just want one clue

'Cause when the city drops into the night
Before the darkness there's one moment of light
When everything seems clear
The other side, it seems so near
What seemed wrong?
I think it's gonna be just about right
Before the city drops, the city drops
Into the night

It's when the door to the River
That door is like 26 miles
It's when ambitious little girls start
They start to dream about a change in style
It's when the slick boys got their fingers
They got their fingers in the telephone dial

But I think I'll just wait a while

'Cause when the city drops into the night
Before the darkness there's one moment of light
When everything seems clear
The other side, it seems so near
What seemed wrong?
I think it's gonna be just about right
Before the city drops, the city drops
Into the night ...


Oops, forgot to include the title and link for the second half of my #15 ...

Here it is ...

Do illegal immigrants have rights under the constitution?
legalknowledgebase.com

... The Constitution guarantees due process rights to all "persons," not just citizens. This means non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, are entitled to fair treatment under the law. This includes the right to defend themselves in court.

What rights do illegal immigrants have in the United States?

Although undocumented immigrants are not guaranteed all the same rights as US citizens and legal residents, they have certain protections under the Constitution. These include the right to due process, the right to be with family, the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right to education. ...


Apologies...

@#13 ... Illegal aliens have no constitutional rights. ...

I disagree.

For starters, SCOTUS has stated that they have the right to due process. A right that the Trump admin has violated.

There is also this ...

Do illegal immigrants have rights under the constitution? (January 2026)
legalknowledgebase.com

... The Constitution guarantees due process rights to all "persons," not just citizens.

This means non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, are entitled to fair treatment under the law.

This includes the right to defend themselves in court. ...



What rights do illegal immigrants have in the United States?

Although undocumented immigrants are not guaranteed all the same rights as US citizens and legal residents, they have certain protections under the Constitution. These include the right to due process, the right to be with family, the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right to education. ...


Yeah, Virginia seems to be the center on much of the traffic on the Internet. It is not a wonder why data centers want to locate there.

Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley Processes 70% of Global Internet Traffic (March 2026)
www.hstoday.us

... Failure to meet the energy and cooling needs of data centers, which will be further aggravated by AI and quantum computing, will require a throttling back of their full potential and capabilities.

Why is Northern Virginia "Data Center Alley"?

There are 570 data centers in the state of Virginia, the majority of which are in the northern portion of the state often referred to as Data Center Alley.ii

Virginia has the largest and most concentrated data center market in the world, with some estimates indicating that the region handles up to 70% of global internet traffic.iii

Several qualities make the region a prime location for data centers: a supply of reliable and affordable energy, a strong fiber network, flat land for building footprints, water for cooling, location near major national customers, educated and skilled labor force, and a state tax regime that incentivizes the development of data centers. ...




Helen Schneider with The Kick - Weekend (1983)
www.youtube.com


~ What happened to the weekend? I hope I spent it with a friend ...~


The Breakfast Club
en.wikipedia.org

... The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film tells the story of five teenagers from different high school cliques who serve a Saturday detention overseen by their authoritarian Vice Principal. ...

The film's soundtrack, The Breakfast Club (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), was produced by British pop musician Keith Forsey and released on February 19, 1985, by A&M Records. The album peaked at No. 17 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. The song "Don't You (Forget About Me)", performed by Scottish rock band Simple Minds, was released as a single on February 23, 1985, in the United States and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.[65] It was released on April 8, 1985, in the United Kingdom. ...



Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me)
www.youtube.com


From the sub-summary ...

... House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unleashed a profanity-laced outburst during a tense meeting Thursday with a handful of GOP lawmakers " one of whom had brought along their young child, NOTUS reported Friday. ...

... and then ...

Mike Johnson apologizes to child for curse-laden outburst: report
www.newsbreak.com

... House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unleashed a profanity-laced outburst during a tense meeting Thursday with a handful of GOP lawmakers " one of whom had brought along their young child, NOTUS reported Friday.

Johnson's reported outburst was prompted by disagreements among Republicans over the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, a bill that expands benefits for veterans and reshapes the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In a bid to salvage the bill, Johnson brought a handful of GOP lawmakers to a private room to hash out their differences, "multiple sources" told NOTUS.

Two lawmakers " Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and Zach Nunn (R-IA) "started yelling at each other" over disagreements regarding the veterans bill, NOTUS reported.

Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.

That's when Johnson snapped and declared, "I'm sick of this s---."

The room was stunned.

"Witnesses were shocked that the typically even-keeled Johnson had lost his cool," NOTUS' report reads. ...

Johnson appeared to regret his words "almost immediately," NOTUS reported.

"Almost immediately, he apologized to Luna for his outburst," according to the report. "He then walked over to the elementary-school-aged son of Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO), who had witnessed the interaction, and got down on one knee and apologized for cursing in front of him, the sources said." ...



David Bromberg - Mr. Bojangles (1977)
www.youtube.com

My fav version of this tune.

Lyrics excerpt ...

...

genius.com
[
Spoken by David Bromberg, "This is really a true story, ya know. A lot of people had heard the song. And well, at least Jerry Jeff has told me it was a true story.

I played guitar with Jerry Jeff Walker for about two years and we did this song every night for two years. And I never got tired of it. Jerry got a little tired of it.

At night after the clubs closed we would do horrible things to it.

It was a true story, he, this guy, Bojangles was a, he was a street dancer in New Orleans. What he do was go from bar to bar, and ah, he put-a, put money in the jukebox or get someone else to do it. And then he would either dance or pantomime the tune, right.

And for that people would buy him drinks, get him pretty drunk, and then he would go onto the next bar and, the next one until it was closing time.

And then he would do it the next night.

And after a few night of this, he would end up on the corner and the cops would pick him up and take him to the drunk-tank; which is where Jerry Jeff met him.

Ah, Jerry Jeff wasn't there on a research project, I... I mean the way I got that story, I, I may have that wrong, but the way I got that was he propositioned the right woman, at the right time, in the wrong place.

And her husband, the bartender... ah, called the cops and they, ah, they took Jerry, ah, to the parish jail. And he, he and this guy just talked for three days in the cell about, you know about what he does."
] ...


From the More soundtrack ...

Pink Floyd - Cirrus Minor
www.youtube.com

Pink Floyd - Cymbaline
www.youtube.com

Pink Floyd - The Nile Song
www.youtube.com

Pink Floyd - Green Is The Colour
www.youtube.com

etc ...


Enjoy!

From Obscured by Clouds ...

Pink Floyd - Childhood's End
www.youtube.com

(a quiet, slow, fade-in starter, so be patient ...)


Obscured by Clouds (1972)
en.wikipedia.org

... Obscured by Clouds is the seventh studio album, and second soundtrack album, by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 2 June 1972 by Harvest and Capitol Records. It serves as the soundtrack for the French film La Valle, by Barbet Schroeder. It was recorded in two sessions in France, while Pink Floyd were in the midst of touring, and produced by the band.

The album's only single was "Free Four". Obscured by Clouds has been seen as a stopgap for the band, who had started work on their next album, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). The album reached number six in the United Kingdom and number 46 in the United States; retrospective opinions from both fans and critics have been mixed, some critics noting the similarities to their later material. ...


Lyle Lovett - That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

www.youtube.com

he also covered the third song in the trilogy above, Bosque County Romance

www.youtube.com

Texas Trilogy
Back to Bosque with Steven Fromholz

www.texasobserver.org

I went up to Rogers' alma mater NTSU to see Fromholtz play one night... but he was sick and didn't show.

More (soundtrack)
en.wikipedia.org(soundtrack)

... More is the first soundtrack album and third studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd. It was released on 13 June 1969 in the United Kingdom by EMI Columbia and on 9 August 1969 in the United States by Tower Records.[3] The soundtrack is for the film of the same title, which was primarily filmed on location on Ibiza and was the directorial debut of Barbet Schroeder. It was the band's first album in which their former frontman and principal songwriter Syd Barrett had no involvement.

The album was a top ten hit in the UK, but received mixed reviews. Several songs were performed in Pink Floyd concerts over the following years. ...


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