Josh Marshall: Very Dangerous (TPM)
… states that don't want to go to war usually find ways not to. So the idea that the US and Russia will get into an actual military military conflict is I think remote. But the stakes, obviously, are quite high. Managing our relationship with Russia requires sobriety and a steady hand. Everything in our government at the moment is pushing in the opposite direction.
Josh Marshall: This Isn't Going Away (TPM)
Corporate boardrooms are looking for regulatory and tax relief and a pliant White House and currying favor to get it. This is especially the case in the manufacturing sector for non-consumer goods. But consumer brands increasingly recognize Trump as toxic to their future. Things get dicey when one corporation is operating on both channels at one time.
Stuart Heritage: Why Netflix cheating is the ultimate breakdown in marital trust (The Guardian)
We know how wrong Netflix cheating is. We would never stoop to the depths of setting up a new account for our son - ostensibly because we don't want our finely curated viewing algorithm to be upset by a rainy afternoon Timmy Time session - purely so we can use it to watch The Crown without the other one ever finding out. Well, my wife wouldn't. Sorry, wife. I didn't want you to find out this way.
The Brannock Device is a measuring instrument invented by Charles F. Brannock for measuring a person's shoe size. The son of a shoe industry entrepreneur, Brannock attended Syracuse University, New York. Brannock spent two years developing a simple means of measuring the length, width, and arch length of the human foot. He eventually improved on the wooden RITZ Stick, the industry standard of the day, and patented his first prototype in 1925. The device has both left and right heel cups and is rotated through 180 degrees to measure the second foot. Brannock later formed the Brannock Device Company to manufacture and sell the product, and headed the company until 1992 when he died at age 89. Today, the Brannock Device is an international standard of the footwear industry, and the Smithsonian Institution houses samples of some of the first Brannock Devices.
The Brannock Device Company was headquartered in Syracuse, New York, until shortly after Charles Brannock's death. Salvatore Leonardi purchased the company from the Brannock Estate in 1993, and moved manufacturing to a small factory in Liverpool, New York. The company continues to manufacture several models of the device for determining the shoe sizes of men, women, and children; they also produce specialized models for fitting other types of footwear.
Source
mj was first and correct with:
Don't know the technical name
But that gadget was used to determine foot size. Some stores even had
X-ray machines to determine if there were arch problems, especially for
kids. What would the anti-vaxxers say about dosing kids with radiation?
Randall wrote:
Oh yeah, I remember those...
That's a foot-measuring tool
there used to be these places called "Shoe Stores" where they sold shoes
and they used to use that device to measure your foot in order to determine what size shoe would fit your foot best
ahhh... those were the days, hunh?
Of course, that's before the robots took over...
Alan J said:
Measure shoe size.
Stephen F responded:
The device measures foot size.
Kevin K. in Washington, DC (by way of Syracuse) replied:
Ha! I knew it.
It measures shoe size; length and width.
So I blew that pic up, and sure enough, it's a "Genuine Brannock Device"
manufactured in Syracuse, NY, where I grew up. Syracuse has a very rich
history in manufacturing, and I grew up taking for granted many interesting
things that are unique to that place, or are universal but had their origins
there. Carrier Air Conditioning started there, Crouse-Hinds made traffic
signals that were sold all over the country, Marcellus Caskets (Ronald and
Nancy Reagan are buried in them), all kinds of stuff. Now I know the
Brannock Device (an example is in the Smithsonian Museum in DC) can be added
to the list.
When I was little, in the 60's, and my mother took me to the store to buy
shoes, they all had those devices. I'm sure I still see them around.
Adam answered:
It is to measure the size of your foot
Jim from CA, retired to ID, said:
That device was used to determine the size and width of your foot.
David of Moon Valley wrote:
shoe size...and for my 12s or 12&1/2s or 13s, wide or extra wide..was, and still are, Never accurate....
Deborah replied:
That device is used to measure the length and width the human foot, to determine what size shoe one needs to wear. I don't know what it's called (does it have a name?), and my local Fleet Feet store still uses it.
More rain has moved in, whee.
John I from Hawai`i says,
"Measure shoe size."
Dave in Tucson responded:
That device measures shoe size.
Billy in Cypress answered:
The device is used to measure the human foot to determine the correct shoe size needed.
And, I still remember the old fluoroscope machine that were used to look at the feet inside the new shoes.
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norcali wrote:
To measure shoe length and width. Just watched President Queeg's news conference. The Strawberries were taken by Jake Tapper!
Thanks, Deborah!
Hasn't been much on the TV news about anything but the coming weather.
OTOH, I don't say 'fuck you' to the TV as much as when they don't talk about t-rump.
Concerning yesterday's post about South Dakota's current consideration
of an 'anti-corruption' law...well, that was actually voted in last Fall as
Initiated Measure 22! Then, when the SD Legislature reconvened in January, they
threw the law out, in an "emergency repeal! I must admit the one thing that had
stuck in my craw about the law was that there was a rider that also would create a
public fund for those running for office. I.e., the citizens of the state would be
helping to pay for the politicians campaigns.
The current news stories, reporting that the state legislatures are now
considering an anti-corruption law makes the majority/Repubs look so
forward-thinking, when in fact it's basically to appease the voters, who are now
understandably pissed off that the law that was voted in could so easily be thrown
out! The premises they used to repeal the law were 1) the riders that were
attached and 2) they said that it should have never been on the ballot in the
first place, since it only takes 20,000 signatures in this state to get something
on the ballot!
Last Fall's election was very confusing here - there were 10 different Initiated
Measures on the ballot, each more confusing than the one before. Half the people I
spoke with had no idea what the measures would do or what they meant.
Anyway, here's a link to a page from the Mitchell Daily Republic that has several
stories about the repeal, etc., if anyone wants to see true corruption in action:
P.S. To Joe S., concerning his comment in today's page that the Black Hills are "the
center of the world", I must agree wholeheartedly! It's where I went to college and
it is gorgeous!
Patriot Act NSA Spying Unconstitutional Section 215 National Security Letters Must End
My name is Marc Perkel and I have decided to announce that I will not comply with the so called "Patriot Act" laws requiring me to disclose information about my customers. If I receive a national security letter I will immediately photograph it, post it online everywhere I can, and then make a video of me burning it. I will then await my arrest. If you want to put me in jail then come get me mother fucker.
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'MacGyver', followed by a FRESH'Hawaii Five-0', then a FRESH'Blue Bloods'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Julie Andrews, Christina Hendricks, and the Umbilical Brothers.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 1/10/17) are Mark Wahlberg, Jeremy Renner, Joel Edgerton, and Gabriel Iglesias.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'Grimm', followed by a FRESH'Emerald City', then 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Joel McHale, Zoe Kravitz, and Ryan Adams.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 2/6/17) are Tracee Ellis Ross, Dan Stevens, and Electric Guest.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 11/1/16) are John C. McGinley, Wild Nothing, and Andy Puddicombe.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'Last Man Standing', followed by a FRESH'Dr. Ken', then a FRESH'Shark Tank', followed by '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 2/6/17) are Emma Stone, Danny Amendola, Matt Damon as "Tom Brady", and MUNA.
The CW offers a FRESH'The Vampire Diaries', followed by a FRESH'Reign'.
Faux has a FRESH'Rosewood', followed by a FRESH'Sleepy Hollow'.
MY recycles an old 'American Ninja Warrior', followed by another old 'American Ninja Warrior'.
A&E has 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'The First 48: Shocking Twists', then a FRESH'Live PD'.
AMC offers the movie 'Man On Fire', followed by the movie 'Con Air'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 3-Interface.
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 4-Gambit (Part 1)
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 5-Gambit (Part 2)
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 6-Phantasms
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 7-Dark Page
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 8-Attached
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 9-Force of Nature
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 10-Inheritance
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 11-Parallels
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 12-The Pegasus
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 23-A Taste of Armageddon
[5:10PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 24-This Side of Paradise
[6:20PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 25-The Devil in the Dark
[7:30PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 26-Errand of Mercy
[8:40PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 27-The Alternative Factor
[9:50PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 28-The City on the Edge of Forever
[11:00PM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 23-A Taste of Armageddon
[12:10AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 24-This Side of Paradise
[1:20AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 25-The Devil in the Dark
[2:30AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 26-Errand of Mercy
[3:40AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 27-The Alternative Factor
[4:50AM] STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 28-The City on the Edge of Forever (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Married To Medicine', followed by a (F) 'Married To Medicine', another 'Married To Medicine', and 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta'.
Comedy Central has 'Futurama', another 'Futurama', 2 hours of old 'South Park', and 'Trevor Noah: African American'.
FX has the movie 'Kung Fu Panda 2', followed by the movie 'Penguins Of Madagascar'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] TOP SECRET!
[8:00AM] THE MIST
[10:45AM] SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D
[12:45PM] CONSTANTINE
[3:30PM] THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
[6:00PM] COMMANDO
[8:00PM] LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE
[10:30PM] WATCHMEN
[2:00AM] COMMANDO
[4:00AM] BRAKE (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:30AM] The Bob Newhart Show-Grand Delusion
[7:05AM] The Bob Newhart Show-'Twas the Pie Before Christmas
[7:40AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-Ted and the Kid
[8:15AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-Mary Midwife
[8:50AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-Mary, the Writer
[9:25AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-Sue Ann's Sister
[10:00AM] The Mary Tyler Moore Show-What's Wrong With Swimming?
[10:35AM] The Art of Getting By
[12:30PM] The Kids Are All Right
[3:00PM] Law & Order-By Hooker, by Crook
[4:00PM] Law & Order-Poison Ivy
[5:00PM] Law & Order-Indifference
[6:00PM] Law & Order-Prisoner of Love
[7:00PM] Law & Order-Out of the Half-Light
[8:00PM] Law & Order-Narcosis
[9:00PM] Law & Order-High & Low
[10:00PM] Law & Order-Stiff
[11:00PM] Law & Order-Vaya con Dios
[12:00AM] Law & Order-Whose Monkey Is It Anyway
[12:59AM] Law & Order-Sunday in the Park With Jorge
[1:58AM] Hap and Leonard-Savage Season
[2:59AM] Hap and Leonard-The Bottoms
[4:00AM] The Art of Getting By (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Red 2', followed by the movie 'Captain America: The First Avenger'.
A pedestrian passes a new piece of art by street artist Bambi in London. in London, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. The work, entitled Lie Lie Land, features a dancing British Prime Minister Theresa May and President Donald Trump (R-Grifter) in the pose made famous by the movie La La Land.
Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is suing the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Interior Department for delaying placing a bee on the Endangered Species List.
The suit, filed in the southern district of New York on Tuesday, takes issue with the decision of the Trump administration for an executive order that effectively delayed the listing of the rusty patched bumblebee as an endangered species.
The delay was the result of an memorandum issued by White House chief of staff Reince Priebus that placed a temporary freeze on any regulations passed by the previous administration that have not yet taken effect.
The NDRC called the delay "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion," and illegal. The non-profit conservation advocacy group is seeking an order vacating the delay in order to finally update the status of the bee.
A newly unearthed essay by Winston Churchill shows Britain's wartime leader was uncannily prescient about the possibility of alien life on planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.
The 11-page article was drafted on the eve of World War Two in 1939 and updated in the 1950s, decades before astronomers discovered the first extrasolar planets in the 1990s.
Yet Churchill pinpointed issues dominating today's debate about extraterrestrial life, proving that the former prime minister "reasoned like a scientist", according to an analysis of his work published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
The hunt for life on other worlds has taken off in the last 20 years as observations have suggested the Milky Way alone may contain more than a billion Earth-size planets that could be habitable.
Churchill was already thinking along similar lines nearly 80 years ago, writing that "with hundreds of thousands of nebulae, each containing thousands of millions of suns, the odds are enormous that there must be immense numbers which possess planets whose circumstances would not render life impossible".
New versions of Monopoly will no longer give players the option of using a tiny silver-colored thimble as their pawn on the board, after fans voted to drop the piece that had featured in the game since its introduction in 1935.
The thimble -- a tool used in sewing to prevent pricking one's thumb with a needle -- was the second of the games' original pieces to be dropped after players gave a thumbs-down to the iron in 2013, Providence, Rhode Island-based game maker Hasbro Inc said on Thursday.
The surviving pieces that trace their roots back to the Great Depression include a battleship, boot and Scottie dog.
Players also had the option to vote online on a new pawn to replace the thimble, with choices including monster trucks and flip-flops. Hasbro plans to reveal their choice next month.
Exhibition assistant Monique Ricketts puts finishing touches on a display by Egyptian fashion designers at Somerset House in London, Feb. 16, 2017. The designs from 26 countries are displayed at the International Fashion Showcase 2017.
Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth
A life-size bronze sculpture of the Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez was unveiled Thursday in Havana, an homage to the writer and to Cuba for its support of the peace accord with leftist FARC rebels.
The sculpture portrays the writer holding books and a rose, dressed in the traditional suit known as a liqui liqui that he wore to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.
"We want to pay homage to Gabo who is so intimately linked to Havana, the Caribbean and Cuba," Colombian ambassador to Cuba Gustavo Bell told AFP, using a nickname for the late author.
Havana hosted four years of peace talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acronym FARC.
The statue stands 1.80 meters (5 feet and 9 inches) tall and is a "living sculpture" that shows Garcia Marquez descending a staircase.
Congress on Wednesday sent President Donald Trump legislation blocking an Obama-era rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people.
On a vote of 57-43, the Senate backed the resolution, just one of several early steps by the Republican-led Congress to undo regulations implemented by former President Barack Obama. The House had passed the measure earlier this year. The White House has signaled Trump will sign the legislation.
The Obama rule would have prevented an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from being able to purchase a firearm. It was crafted as part of Obama's efforts to strengthen the federal background check system in the wake of the 2012 massacre of 20 young students and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
But lawmakers, with the backing of the National Rifle Association and advocacy groups for the disabled, opposed the regulation and encouraged Congress to undertake a rarely successful parliamentary tool designed to void regulations that Congress takes issue with.
With a Republican ally in the White House, the GOP has moved aggressively on several fronts to rescind some of the Obama administration's final regulations on the environment, financial reporting and now guns. Under an expedited process established through the Congressional Review Act, a regulation is made invalid when a simple majority of both chambers pass a joint resolution of disapproval and the president signs it.
An RTE (Electricity Transport Network) technician works on high voltage power lines near Aix en Provence, France, Feb. 16, 2017.
Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier
The United States used depleted uranium anti-tank rounds on two occasions in 2015 during devastating air strikes against convoys of Islamic State tanker trucks, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The military prizes depleted uranium munitions for their armor-piercing capabilities as well as for protective armor for tanks and vehicles.
But they have been criticized for posing health risks to soldiers who use them and being potentially toxic to surrounding civilian populations.
The United Nations Environment Program has described them as "chemically and radiologically toxic heavy metal."
A military spokesman said A-10 attack aircraft used depleted uranium rounds on November 16 and 22, 2015 in attacks on tanker trucks carrying oil for the Islamic State group.
Climate Threat May Have Been Massively Underreported
Wildlife
More than 700 of the world's threatened and endangered animal species may be directly affected by climate change, according to a new study - vastly more than the number of animal species scientists initially thought would face risks from global warming.
Scientists had previously determined that only 7 percent of mammals and 4 percent of birds on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) "Red List" of threatened species are affected by climate change. However, a new study finds that the threat from climate change may have been massively underreported.
In a comprehensive analysis of 130 previous studies on the subject, researchers found that nearly half of the world's threatened and endangered mammals and nearly a quarter of birds are already seriously impacted - more than 700 species total.
Most climate change studies focus on impacts in the future, but the researchers said the effects of global warming are being felt "here and now." And research on present threats were focused on specific species and were spread across numerous journals, according to study co-author James Watson, director of the Science and Research Initiative at the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Once the researchers combined the studies into one analysis, Watson said the evidence of change was apparent and they could generalize trends across species. For example, the species most threatened lived in areas that have already warmed dramatically, or they had very specific survival requirements.
Sunlight reflects on the water's surface as people sit on chairs on a warm and sunny day on the Promenade Des Anglais in Nice, France, Feb. 16, 2017.
Photo by Eric Gaillard
An executive at a Beverly Hills gallery and auction house who briefly starred in a reality TV show has been charged with conspiring to facilitate the sale and exportation of 15 rhinoceros horns worth $2.4 million.
J
acob Chait, the youngest son of the founder of I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers, was charged in an indictment unsealed on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court with a single conspiracy count in connection with the wildlife trafficking scheme.
His indictment came after his older brother, Joseph Chait, was sentenced in June 2016 to one year in prison for conspiring to smuggle at least $1 million in animal products that included rhino horn and elephant ivory.
The case comes as conservationists and law enforcement officials in the United States and globally have been trying to crack down on the illegal trade in products from the two threatened species.
U.S. authorities say rhino horn-made libation cups are particularly in demand in Asia, resulting in a thriving black market. Most species of rhinoceros are extinct or on the brink of extinction as a result, prosecutors said.
US consumer prices in January rose at their fastest pace in nearly four years, a fresh sign the economy may finally see faster inflation, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
The consumer price index rose 0.6 percent, the third consecutive monthly acceleration and the largest increase since February 2013.
The CPI also posted its largest 12-month increase in nearly five years, rising 2.5 percent compared to January 2016.
Almost half of the monthly increase was driven by rising fuel prices, with gasoline prices at the pump up nearly eight percent. The energy index also saw its largest 12-month gain since November 2011, adding nearly 11 percent.
Excluding the more volatile categories of food and energy, prices were up 2.3 percent year-over-year, nearly the same as the overall rate, while there was a 0.3 percent rise for the month.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
