WTF-Beta

Piano*Dad

How much of that is elaborate kickbacks, one wonders, and inflated margins.

I suspect a restoration, done accurately, could cost double that figure.

Piano*Dad

I'm thinking some smart Democrats are going to promise to demolish the structure in 2029, and they won't bother asking any commission for permission.

In fact, a smart play is to tell the corporations that have funded this demolition of the East Wing and its replacement with this monstrosity that they will be expected to open their wallets again to fund the historical renovation of what was there. They will be told that the East Wing will be rebuilt and the grounds fully repaired. I suspect a complete and accurate replication of the East Wing will cost many times what the bombastic (but surely cheaply done) ballroom will cost. And those firms and individuals will likely agree to fully fund it, knowing that a refusal will have significant negative consequences for them. No one will need to spell out those consequences in plain language.

Piano*Dad

The final round performance. On a Fazioli

Link to video

Full NYT article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/arts/music/chopin-piano-competition-eric-lu.html

Piano*Dad

Little Williamsburg had the second largest turnout in Virginia ...

https://bsky.app/profile/dhfeldman.bsky.social/post/3m3inckcnl22i

Piano*Dad

Yeah, I saw the same thing. Tell Netanyahu not to come to a deal because that would help Harris, and now he wants credit, a year later and 40K deaths later. Yeah, peace prize worthy!

The war may restart in a few weeks when Hamas tries to reassert control over the strip.

Piano*Dad

https://bsky.app/profile/thedailyshow.com/post/3m2rydytfmc2j

Piano*Dad

She told the monarch on Thursday: "I remember when your mother crowned you in Caernarfon Castle."

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Ahem, "I" remember when his mother crowned him in Caernarfon Castle as well .....

I was in Britain at the time, though not in Wales.

Piano*Dad

Judges can throw out a grand jury indictment for serious procedural fuck-ups.

Piano*Dad

Raptured: Verb, past tense. Someone who has been captured by a raptor after it ruptures you.

Piano*Dad

I got my booster last Friday, and then started feeling slightly ill on Sunday night into Monday. Hmmm. Last night I said, "damn, did I get Covid three days after getting the vaccination??? Bummer."

Well, the test was negative.

This thing we used to call the common cold seems to have gotten into me somehow ...

Piano*Dad

Why does Bourbon not agree with you? Is that true of all liquor?

Piano*Dad

Yeah, Maher was indeed "cancelled" by ABC under fire from the Bush administration. And he was cancelled for saying something arguably correct, that the people who flew the planes into the WTC and the Pentagon may have been scum but they were not cowards.

Piano*Dad

... and then it's buried under the weight of more scandal.

"We're at the point where Trump does something worse than Watergate daily, often multiple times a day. And none of it makes news; it's just normal now."

IT'S JUST NORMAL NOW .....

https://bsky.app/profile/jlazarus.bsky.social/post/3lzcv2sczck24