WTF-Beta

Easter

That looks delicious!

(that's a @dougg or @piano-dad joke....)

Buzz Aldrin's favorite dish, Bourbon Pot Roast.

https://www.allrecipes.com/buzz-aldrin-pot-roast-recipe-12228599

President Donald Trump offered UFC president and CEO Dana White the job of press secretary on Saturday.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States.”

“We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left,” Trump wrote. “Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!”

CNN, citing a source, reported White had declined the president’s offer.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/07/trump-ufc-dana-white-press-secretary-offer.html

Several Republican lawmakers are fuming over President Donald Trump’s elevation of Stephen Miller to be his chief of staff.

"Horrible decision," Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital Friday after Trump announced his decision.

A Republican lawmaker who was granted anonymity to speak candidly described being in "utter disbelief."

Tensions were rising against Miller in the wake of Republicans’ terrible performance in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Multiple House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital just moments before his promotion said Miller, who spearheads Trump’s immigration policy, should be fired.

When later asked about his promotion, one House Republican who said Miller should be fired replied simply with a facepalm emoji.

The second GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital that Miller ignored multiple warnings from House Republicans in the past, arguing that Trump’s immigration crackdown is what voters asked for.

"I've been in several group meetings where a lot of us have told him, ‘Your immigration enforcement policies are backfiring back home. Our people are mad, our businesses are mad — even in deep red districts — and it is impacting not just the voters, but the donors, and everybody top to bottom," that GOP lawmaker said.

"But it looked to me like Stephen Miller was only after numbers. … He would not listen to us."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-gop-erupts-stephen-miller-trump-elevates-him-after-midterm-massacre-megalomaniac

muffins

The right-wing activist Laura Loomer has been paid by private clients to make political posts on social media without publicly disclosing the payments, according to a former campaign aide to President Donald Trump and three others familiar with the arrangements, shedding light on what they say is a business practice of one of the Trump administration's most influential online firebrands.

The allegations were made by Alex Bruesewitz, an adviser to Trump's 2024 campaign, and three other people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Two of the three people said they had paid Loomer directly to post political messages on her X account, where she has 1.9 million followers. The third said they had overseen clients who paid her to post on the account. The three spoke on the condition of anonymity.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-ally-loomer-paid-thousands-164702283.html

Sony revives the original Walkman headphones, adds USB-C

Orange ear cushions included.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/11/sony-adds-usb-c-to-its-70s-era-mdr-3-walkman-headphones/

@ShiroKuro

***=Spoiler test***

Peru airport officials discover 3,000 tarantulas smuggled inside dirty socks

Three suitcases’ worth of the spiders were on their way to Germany, where they could fetch an estimated €1.5m

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/06/3000-tarantulas-smuggled-inside-dirty-socks-peru

wtg said:

the cold-sensitive impatiens are blooming like crazy

I think that ends tonight. We didn't get out of the upper 40s today; we're going to be at or below 32 tonight.

But it will be back in the 60s by Sunday!

The agentic web is here

With the rise of personal AI assistants, the internet isn't just for humans anymore.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/11/02/1147846/the-agentic-web-is-here/

President Donald Trump announced Friday that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will step down this week, with Stephen Miller replacing her.

“I am pleased to announce that Mr. Stephen Miller, the current Deputy Chief of Staff of the Trump Administration, and one of my most trusted advisors, will become the Chief of Staff starting Monday, November 9, 2026,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump said Wiles has “done an outstanding job” and “will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation. I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!”

Moments later, Wiles wrote in a post on X that Friday would be her last day as chief of staff.

“Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime. I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First,” she wrote. “While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-stephen-miller-susie-wiles-white-house-chief-of-staff-rcna607892

@CHAS It's the large appliances (washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves) that we're avoiding.

OTOH, we've had good luck with Samsung TVs and phones. Our large TV is quite old and when I've looked at the TVs on display at Costco (where we buy this kind of stuff), I do like the picture on the LGs. When any of our TVs dies, I'll definitely consider an LG as a replacement.

It will be interesting to see how the Oxford Street initiative works out. Any number of cities, including Chicago, have tried various flavors of shutting down a major thoroughfare to vehicle traffic. They've met with varying degrees of success.

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2013/03/11/why-was-the-state-street-pedestrian-mall-a-failure

From Linux to Wikipedia: How Volunteers Build the Internet

Peer production is responsible for some of the most valuable online resources, challenging the authority of firms, markets, and government bureaucracies.

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/from-linux-to-wikipedia-how-volunteers-build-the-internet/