WTF-Beta

wtg

@rustyfingers Yea, I never knew they needed regular pruning to keep them in top form. I just have a couple of them in pots and am trying to follow her instructions. They’re doing pretty well.

wtg

A fired Justice Department attorney has provided Congress with a trove of emails and text messages to corroborate his claims that a controversial Trump judicial nominee — top DOJ official Emil Bove — crudely discussed defying court orders.
The newly-released messages reinforce claims by whistleblower Erez Reuveni that Bove played a key role in a decision by Trump administration immigration officials to turn scores of Venezuelan immigrants over to El Salvador’s government despite a U.S. judge’s order not to do so.
The messages show increasing alarm among Justice Department lawyers that the administration had in fact defied court orders and that some officials — including a prominent DOJ lawyer brought on by the Trump administration — could face sanctions for misleading the courts..

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/10/emil-bove-whistleblower-documents-00446225

wtg

@AndyD You should be able to upload your video to YouTube if you have a gmail account. Just do a search for instructions on how to do it from whatever device you are using to take the video.

wtg

A better understanding of human smell is emerging as scientists interrogate its fundamental elements: the odor molecules that enter your nose and the individual neurons that translate them into perception in your brain.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-smell-guides-our-inner-world-20250703/?user_id=66c4c06e5d78644b3aab4472

wtg

There are lots of videos on pruning lavender. I kinda like this one:

Link to video

wtg

At 4:22 a.m. on Friday, as Texas' Hill Country began to flood, a firefighter in Ingram – just upstream from Kerrville – asked the Kerr County Sheriff's Office to alert nearby residents, according to audio obtained by ABC affiliate KSAT. But Kerr County officials took nearly six hours to heed this call.

"The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39," the firefighter said in the dispatch audio. "Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?"

"Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor," a Kerr County Sheriff's Office dispatcher replied.

The first alert didn't come through Kerr County's CodeRED system until 90 minutes later. Some messages didn't arrive until after 10 a.m. By then, hundreds of people had been swept away by the floodwaters.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/kerr-county-officials-waited-90-minutes-send-emergency/story?id=123631023

wtg

What a magnificent tree!

wtg

The Bayeux Tapestry is going to be in London next year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14ev1z6d5go

wtg

Trump’s latest letter, imposing a 50 percent tariff on Brazil, marks a new departure, and I think merits a special bulletin. After all, it’s both evil and megalomaniacal.

Notice that Trump barely even pretends that there’s an economic justification for this action. This is all about punishing Brazil for putting Jair Bolsonaro on trial.

alt text

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trumps-dictator-protection-program?publication_id=277517&post_id=167947973&isFreemail=true&r=53zo0e&triedRedirect=true

wtg

Why little Lithuania has big plans for space tech

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2ezl7xqyo

I've always wanted to be a space cadet. Maybe this is my chance.

wtg

You can also purchase a NOAA weather radio to receive alerts. It’s affordable, doesn’t rely on cell service, and will wake you up in the event of an emergency overnight.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/tuesdays-chicago-flooding-a-one-in-500-year-event-heres-what-that-means/3785773/

We had a tornado warning in the middle of the night some years ago and the alert on our phones didn't wake us up. The town didn't sound the sirens because of some screw-up. Nothing happened in our town but there was significant damage not very far away.

I think I'm going to buy a NOAA radio. Cheap insurance.

wtg

I touched base with him and he's OK. He confirmed what I thought I remembered, that they had done some major flood control projects to deal with issues that had come up in previous rain events.

wtg

Here's the 1987 event:

https://abc7chicago.com/historic-flooding-chicago-1987-floods-record-rainfall/251251/

wtg

Nothing like the Texas rain, but even urban areas like ours can be subject to some pretty good downpours.

alt text

https://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/how-much-rain-fell-in-chicago-during-flash-flood-the-staggeringly-high-totals/3785488/

All of this happened well southeast of Casa wtg; we just got some drizzle.

Hope @kluurs is ok; his house is pretty much in the area that was hardest hit.

Some areas of the city got over 5 inches of rain in 90 minutes. I saw individual reports of an inch of rain in 15 minutes. Flooded basements and viaducts in some areas.

We've lived through a couple of torrential rainstorms. One was in 1987, I think - 9 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Streets around us flooded but our house and basement were dry. One in 2008 that was close to 7 inches in 24 hours. And the really nasty one was in 2011 - almost 7 inches in 2 hours. Our basement stairwell filled up with water. The four inch drain in the stairwell couldn't take the water away fast enough. Our basement is unfinished. Water leaked in around the door but it was not a big deal to clean up. No real damage.

wtg

@AndyD - here's an overview of the situation. Explains a lot.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/09/texas-floods-growth-kerr-county-camp-mystic/

wtg

Not sure how the various law enforcement and fire protection agencies work in a rural area like this one in Texas.

It does seem like some of the government entities in that area have figured out cost effective ways to build a warning system without having to spend a million dollars.