Behind the scenes in Indiana, why they rejected Trump's demand to redraw the map. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/trump-gop-redistricting-push-indiana-backfired-rcna247832

The farmer who farms most of my land is very anti-Trump. The other two are morons politically. I asked one whether he was mad at Trump yet. The answer was "huh". The third reminds me of Putin.

@CHAS said in What news media do you pay for/subscribe to?: Ground News, but I have quit reading it I had forgotten about Ground News. Interesting concept. Why did it drop off your reading radar?

How did I miss this? Sorry, @realplayer ! Great minds and all that....

@Steve-Miller Oooh I love the wainscoting. Very nice! I also love the pumpkin color paint. Looking good!

@wtg said in Let’s not get him started on Wordle scores…: We could use some new members, but he doesn't sound like a good candidate for WTF. Good call!!!

@Bernard I think he's claiming that it was carrying oil to Iran, defying sanctions. He claims a lot of things but I don't believe much of any of it.

Here's their website. https://forte3d.com/ Their YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/@forte3d

Looking like more good news, this time from Georgia. Democrat Eric Gisler claimed an upset victory Tuesday in a special election in a historically Republican Georgia state House district. Gisler said he was the winner of the contest, in which he was leading Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest by about 200 votes out of more than 11,000 in final unofficial returns. Robert Sinners, a spokesperson with the secretary of state’s office, said there could be a few provisional ballots left before the tally is finalized. “I think we had the right message for the time,” Gisler told The Associated Press in a phone interview. He credited his win to Democratic enthusiasm but also said some Republicans were looking for a change. “A lot of what I would call traditional conservatives held their nose and voted Republican last year on the promise of low prices and whatever else they were selling,” Gisler said. “But they hadn’t received that.” https://apnews.com/article/georgia-house-special-election-gisler-guest-046d2fe14eab0cbe4ce10afd66827020

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2025/dec/10/parents-react-to-australias-under-16s-social-media-ban-interactive It's only been two days, so polling so soon seems a bit ridiculous. But anyway, there are some interesting responses. The one comment that stood out to me: They (and I) would rather see regulation of the social media companies than the children. Yeah, this. I think it's a shame that they had to include Youtube in the mix. There is so much really, really good stuff on YT. IMO, YT should be responsible for ensuring a safe platform so that everyone can enjoy its real benefits. I can't comment on snapchat or instagram because I've never used them. It seems to be 'profits at all costs' for these companies. If they'd taken their responsibility seriously to begin with, perhaps a ban would never have been necessary.

Beautiful!

[image: p0mlb99m.jpg] An area of Mount Zao's Jizōdake summit in 2010 (top left), 2013 (top right), 2020 (lower left) and 2025 (lower right) (Credit: Yanagisawa Fumitaka/ Tohoku Regional Forest Office)

I think the concept much like the concept of hyper-surveillance is very unpleasant.

Capitalism is the worst form of economic organization. Except for all the rest that have ever been tried. This is probably a good messaging bill for the Dems though.

@bernard It's Neo-Gothic. I love Neo-Gothic.

@jon-nyc I am so sorry to hear that! Air travel is so awful these days. Hopefully your new itinerary with UA wasn't too expensive, and suits your travel plans etc.

@wtg said in My "final exam" for piano class this semester: oh wait, you must mean links embedded in the posts in the thread... Yep! I was curious about the other arrangement I had linked, I might have it somewhere but I don't recall. But I'm pretty sure the Kaneyasu one I mentioned is (was) a piano recording of the exact arrangement that I have (and play in the video at the top of this thread). I got it from a Japanese music magazine and they had links to performances of the scores. But that link appears to be broken as well.