The Dems need a new strategy. We're losing the battle. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/16/democrats-losing-trump-doge-information-battle-00204522

I think he may win much but not all he’s asking for in the realm of ‘unitary executive’ but I think he’s fucked on the impoundment cases.

What do you do when a) immigration cases in the courts are backlogged and b) you're promising aggressive immingration sweeps? You fire some immigration judges, just for kicks and grins!! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/15/trump-administration-fires-immigration-judges

@pique said in JD schools Europe: If you haven't already, look into whether your ancestry entitles you to citizenship in another country. I'm pretty sure mine does, but I don't think Lithuania is a very good choice right now.... eta: I checked and I qualify for Lithuanian citizenship. I hadn't considered the EU aspect of being a Lithuanian citizen. Definitely something to consider. Thanks for the heads up!

Too many people flooding in to take advantage of our NHS and benefit system. Imagine if Turkey joined and their millions could enter our job market. We'd already had an influx of Albanians and Roumanians. And we are already a very multi ethnic society. We knew all the money supposedly to be saved by not being a member was rubbish. We knew that businesses would suffer. We knew there was and still is no clear plan.

The new job is going well. I actually like it as I am working a hybrid schedule with 2 or 3 days at the office and the rest is WFH. Everyone is really cool at the office and we even have an office dog that is there most days. The owner is engaged and is down in the support trenches with his team, as he loves helping people with computer issues and he is also very good at it. While I do well enough in that realm, support was never my main focus, nor do I "love it". Software development has always been my primary focus. We are working on a proposal for a customer to replace his very much outdated and unsupported custom software package with one based on the framework that I have built over the past 40 years. If we get this job it will be a job that I will be doing for the next several years. I am working on finding a younger person to train, who wants to take the torch from me sometime in the next 5-10 years. We have a couple of candidates internally but we might hire someone outside of the company for this role. I am also still engaged in my own company. We just release an update to the 9-1-1 centers last week. Yet another update is getting ready to be pushed out next week.

@Cindysphinx Saw this info on the Federal News Network website. Don't know if there's any info you and your colleagues are not already aware of, but FWIW... There is help for probationary employees who were terminated Federal employment attorneys say probationary employees who were fired can apply for unemployment insurance and have other options for appeal. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-retention/2025/02/there-is-help-for-probationary-employees-who-were-terminated/

Oy vey.

Here's the Novavax vaccine finder. Like they say, always check first to see if they have it in stock. https://us.novavaxcovidvaccine.com/vaccine-finder

@Bernard said in My latest piano recording: I do notice a big difference in the tone of the piano when the humidity drops below 30%, which it does occasionally if it's really, really cold, the humidifier ran out of water, or something else. I also notice this.

We are screwed. Seriously.

It's next door to a house I posted about last summer, 925 S Burton. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/925-S-Burton-Pl_Arlington-Heights_IL_60005_M72519-77360 I thought 925 had sold, but it was taken off the market in December after having been up for sale for six months, apparently no buyers. The side yard of 925 is on a busy street. 901 is much nicer, IMHO....

Pickled beets and cottage cheese. Safie's pickled beets from Costco, to be exact. Delish!

Republicans defend USAID work. https://rollcall.com/2025/02/13/republicans-defend-usaid-in-hearing-to-criticize-waste/

We have a clay cooker called a Römertopf. Don’t know how it would be for baking bread, but now I’m tempted to try it. I think most people use it to bake a whole chicken. I do a combo of root vegetables in there, one of John Cage’s recipes.

I didn't do the powdered sugar, but here's what I got: [image: 20250213-162024.jpg] As I checked a number of recipes for Scandinavian almond cake it seemed like the ratio of sugar to other ingredients was quite high. The end product was very tasty but a bit too sweet for me. Mr Sweet Tooth thought it was great. I slathered some raspberry jam on my slice of cake and it was perfect. The tart raspberries balanced the sweetness of of the cake. Lingonberries would be equally good. Super easy recipe. I think next time I’ll add some cardamom .

From the article, Rogue AI typically refers to artificial intelligence systems that develop a degree of self-awareness or autonomy and then work counter to human interests. Well, I needed a good laugh. "Self-awareness"!? In their fantasies only. "Autonomy"? To some degree maybe, but also in the article: The study explored two specific scenarios: "shutdown avoidance" and "chain of replication." In the first, the AI model was programmed to detect whether it was about to be shut down and to replicate itself before it could be terminated. In the other, the AI was instructed to clone itself and then program its replica to do the same — setting up a cycle that could continue indefinitely. That says it all. Above this in the article, it stated, "Successful self-replication under no human assistance..." That was a lie.