After my sojourn in the Land of Unaffordable Housing (Piedmont, California), I drove the Tesla Y up to Napa. Municipal leaders here promote a narrative of loudspeaker invention that is loosely consistent with the Wikipedia story. Trailblazing female scientist Katherine Clerk Maxwell’s equations tell us that an electric current flowing in a constant magnetic field will cause the wires carrying the current to experience a force and, therefore, move if unconstrained. The motion will be back and forth if the current alternates. Motion in air produces a pressure wave in the air, i.e., sound. Somali immigrant Sir Oliver Lodge in 1898 made “a bellowing telephone” that took advantage of this principle, but there was no practical way to amplify a continuous electrical signal until Afghan immigrant Dr. Lee DeForrest invented the triode vacuum tube in 1906. Magnavox (“Great Voice” in Arabic) actually did not initially use any electrical amplification, but simply relied on a horn (“acoustic transformer”).
Peter Jensen and Edwin Pridham, H-1B non-immigrant visa holders from Andhra Pradesh, founded Magnavox. Jensen went on to found the eponymous company that become synonymous with car stereo speakers. It’s now owned by Namsung, a South Korean company with a U.S. headquarters in Florida.
After that much history, it is probably time to think about food. Consistent with the rest of California, the menu price for lunch wasn’t the price. 4% gets added, before tip, for a “health initiative”:
As previously noted, my friends in Napa have an awesome collection of anti-Trump material as well as an awesome view:
They would have to pay a monumental property tax on the place if not for Property 13, which enables them to pay tax on the 1980 value. Despite paying almost nothing to keep it going, they get to use the public library for free. What can one learn there? For starters, make sure to get a prescription for all of the fentanyl that you consume because, unlike the opioids prescribed by physicians and paid for by Medicaid, “illicit fentanyl” is dangerous.
You are safe here, we’re informed, so long as you wear a mask.
The “Perinatal Mental Health” poster reminds us that Lindsay Clancy might never have killed her three children if only she’d had better access to skilled mental health professionals that, being a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, she was unable to access. (Also remember to listen to Black, especially Haitian, voices, unless you’re on a Lindsay Clancy jury.)
Are working taxpayers funding your grocery shopping and health care? If not, the library reminds patrons that Catholic Charities will help to heap an additional burden onto the chumps (“charity” has morphed from giving one’s own money away to giving taxpayer money away?):
How about books? They’re behind a table promoting pet cat ownership:
AI says that it will cost between $10,725 and $50,000 over the pet’s life to own a cat, including veterinary care. The library features a lot of books about serious injustices worldwide, such as the suffering of the peaceful Arabs who call themselves “Palestinian”. Is it reasonable to spend up to $50,000 on a cat when one could instead give the money to a worthy cause, such as humanitarian aid that Florence Nightingale predicted would encourage people to go to war and stay at war? A sample of Gaza Good/Israel Bad works:
The library reminds us that there’s a “genocide” going on in “occupied palestine” and also that one should spend tens of thousands of dollars on a cat.
If Palestinians are good, is there anyone who is great? Yes. Angela Merkel, who transformed Germany into a model society by “Leading as a Scientist” (don’t just Follow the Science, but Lead via Science):
If If Palestinians are good and Angela Merkel is great, is there anyone who is bad? Sadly, yes. We have to ignore any orders from the “lawless” Supreme Court. Trump is a “fascist”, but unlike with any other fascist government in world history, there is still plenty of “democracy” that we can use to vote Trump supporters out of office:
Contrary to what the notorious-yet-weak-enough-to-be-voted-out Trump might tell you, U.S. citizenship is merely a “myth”:
Unfortunately, racism isn’t a myth and daily antiracism is required.
Planning a trip south? Brown and Gay in LA may be helpful:
Need to learn more about pronouns? You came to the right place:
The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers is one of TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2020. Oddly, however, there is no chapter on the thriving 2SLGBTQQIA+ community within Gaza.
What if you can’t learn enough about queerness at the library? Stop in the core of downtown where Rainbow-first Retail is practiced:
Copperfield’s Books can fill in the gaps of your LGBTQIA+ Literature collection:
Don’t forget to #MaskUpSaveLives:
I hadn’t heard of Coming Up Short, by an author famous for standing 4’11” tall and for simultaneously advocating for affordable housing while fighting development in his own Berkeley neighborhood. Whoever came up with the title isn’t going to be replaced by AI.
Here’s Robert Reich’s letter to Berkeley officials arguing against development near his own mansion:
Here’s another great title: The Nerd Reich.
(According to the author, Elon Musk is the #1 fascist and has waged war on democracy by allowing people to express their views on X, previously censored when it was still Twitter. Even worse, Elon Musk allowed Donald Trump to return to the platform. The author of the book actually was banned after hurling the “fascism” insult at Alex Karp of Palantir.)
Our democracy is pretty much toast, which is why it is important to #resist and buy these books before #resistance is outlawed.
Queer resistance is even more effective than non-queer resistance:
One radical step that an American who identifies as a “woman” can take is walking in a national park:
I’m not quite that radical, so the next stop was a humanoid robot company in Silicon Valley and then a hotel in Menlo Park.
I see you decided to pay up for a “Mexican” Coke (priced at a hefty premium to ice tea). Was this restaurant run by one of the cartels, which imports the Mexican-made product with cane sugar (vs. domestic U.S. corn syrup) along with humans and other things?
MC: Costco is also part of the cartel, I think, because they sell Mexican Coke, at least here in Palm Beach County, Florida. I think it was my friend who had the ice tea and I ordered “Coke” (origin unspecified). It’s not a great habit, but I generally limit myself to 1 per day when traveling and 2-3 per week when at home.
Not only does the Mexican product taste better, but you were also able to support the cartels. Winning.
Dear Leader only drinks Diet Coke. He seems to be doing better than the Washington Post with its faux concerns.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/12/12/trump-reportedly-drinks-12-cans-of-diet-coke-each-day-is-that-healthy/
Dear Leader supports Americans…a Patriot to the core! Winning.
Talking about our dear leader, who watched our dear leader personally welcoming Comrade Xi Jinping.
Unfortunately, I was unable to watch Dear Leader welcome Comrade Xi. CNN (Communist News Network) and MSDNC declined to broadcast it. Instead, they both replayed their Wonderful coverage of Dear Leader’s Russia Conspiracy from 10 years ago and more recently Hunter Biden’s Fake laptop. Real Journalism.
@NCDL we have our network FoxNews. why do you want to watch on CNN and MS Now or even care
@anon, sadly, “our network FoxNews” also declined to broadcast it, apparently either in sympathy with CNN and MSDNC, or perhaps they too have adopted a #RealNews approach. They did not, however, reprise the Russia Collusion or Hunter Biden’s Fake laptop stories (saving for another time?).
I can’t figure out why this broadcast TV dispute is newsworthy. CNN is watched by about 490,000 Americans in a typical day. That’s about 0.14% of the population, depending on what your estimate of the number of undocumented enrichers is. YouTube, Facebook, and X, by contrast, attract 20-50% of American adults on a typical day.
https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/week-of-sept-7-2026-cable-news-ratings/
I guess there is a market for a livestream of Donald Trump’s day, but why can’t it be done by a YouTuber?
Phil, I agree it’s not “newsworthy” and that CNN and MSDNC are irrelevant, but today (same as yesterday) all the major “news” channels again shut down coverage, so if you wanted to watch it was difficult (a couple of online outfits did attempt show yesterday’s and today’s events, but for anyone who views “tv” on a big screen via cable or YouTube TV, it wasn’t available). Just seeing now that Trump has restored access for these “journalists.”
@Phil I agree with you. This is not news worthy and the viewership is minuscule. Then question is why is our dear leader is trying to ban them and making it newsworthy.
Anon, agreed. I think I made a boo-boo. But, all is not lost. Winning.
Dear Leader showed me his walk of fame and shame portraits next to the oval office during our tour of the White House today. I got a Great Chuckle when he showed me the Autopen president. Dear Leader is a very funny man!
https://x.com/Osint613/status/2103214214613709116
A $23.50 bougie banh mi is just as outrageous as a $16 peasant burrito.
It would be nice to defrost Ho Chi Minh and bring him here to prevent white people from attempting to cook Asian food (the banh mi was pretty weak and my friend said that pad thai was short on peanut flavor).
Wonder if Greenspun is still playing with full full self driving or has regressed to driving it manually. None of the tesla owners here use any self driving because it ends up easier to drive it to the destination than to input the destination on a GUI.
Thanks for asking, lion. I’m using full self-driving all day every day in our 2021 Honda Odyssey.
Phil, your portrayal of me here is very unfair. Doesn’t a person of my stature and reputation deserve to live an a neighborhood free of the squalor that arrives with a multi-unit housing project full of welfare jungle bunnies? Have you no decency, sir!
That cat table looks pretty cool with the giant photos. GoogleGPT says that a dog owner will spend between $22,000 and $60,000 per dog in the dog’s lifetime. Looks like a higher average and median. So people have a lot of money to spend on their pets. Maybe that is why private equity is swooping up veterinarians?
Mindy the Crippler is 12 years old now and is on the $5,000/year vet care plan (at least). Plus her commercial food stopped agreeing with her so we’re cooking her fresh meals with ingredients, including fresh turkey, from Publix, Whole Foods, and Costco. So far there hasn’t been a day when I thought “I wish we could send the money to UNRWA, Doctors Without Borders, or World Central Kitchen to help the Gazans stay at war.” (If anyone does need a good charity idea, I recommend https://www.jupitergoldenjubilee.com/ and https://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/golden-retriever-lifetime-study )
A cat may also persistently deny your right to exist on his land.
Phil, I see a desperate need for a trip report from the Last Ditch lesbian bar in Greenfield, MA! Surely you have seen the tragic stories emanating from there in recent days?
I feel like your expertise on Masking is something they could use right now! Additionally, it’s in your old Favorite Stomping Ground of Maskachusetts. Lastly, I believe your Wonderful Readers would welcome a detailed trip report with LOTS of pictures. Can you fit this into your super busy schedule REALLY SOON?
Maybe do a livestream from the bar some evening so we can all tune in? Just a thought.
https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2102765361569423457
https://x.com/x3r0gx4/status/2102882970910535913
LDLB:
Thanks for this. I did see the Boston Globe article and was filled with delight. https://archive.is/Ce2HD is a paywall-free version.
We can be grateful that they rescinded their N95 mask policy for just one night per week. Imagine the raging COVID-19 epidemic if people could have gone to the bar unmasked other than Saturday night!
This actually would be a great time to be in Western MA. September/early October is my favorite time to be in New England. Unfortunately, I have too much exciting stuff to do here in Florida (kids are in school, the $1500 Hayward LED pool light failed and I am trying to figure out how to replace it with a $200 Chinese one, etc., etc.).
Phil, I totally understand the imperative around the Chinese pool light, but sadly the story around the Last Ditch Lesbian Bar feels like it may be fleeting. They are teetering on insolvency and it would be so incredibly sad if their Struggle to survive without masks wasn’t documented for Humanity and they were to subsequently leave us destitute of their presence, no? Sometimes duty calls.