WTF-Beta

Turntable pron for the guys.

I think many of us are fearful of Trump shenanigans and interference in the mechanics of the process.

This doesn't make me feel any better.

A few months into President Donald Trump’s second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security made an unusual request of its agency focused on cybersecurity: Secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it.

The appointees wanted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to procure the machine, examine it and report back the findings so they could be given to the White House, according to two former administration officials with knowledge of the request.

The proposition was shocking to CISA’s career staffers, according to one of the former officials. CISA typically worked to thwart hackers. Moreover, the agency had been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to its standard practices. The request made the CISA employees fear they were being asked to take part in political interference.

“My thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don’t like,” one of the former officials said. “This goes against everything CISA represents.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/cisa-election-security-donald-trump

And the mystery of her disappearance remains unsolved....

A US expedition that voyaged to a remote Pacific island in the hope of solving the mystery of what happened to pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart has said an object they suspected to be her plane was a clump of washed-up trees.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find that smoking gun,” said Steve Schultz of Purdue University, standing on the sand in front of a blue lagoon on the atoll of Nikumaroro, about halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/19/amelia-earhart-purdue-expedition-clump-of-trees-nikumaroro-kiribati

@Rontuner said:

Otherwise the Zwilling with auto bloom seems to satisfy our tastes

Duh. It never occurred to me to bloom the grounds in an electric drip. I can do that! I'll try it tomorrow.

Thanks!

Link to video

NOW

Yes it gobbles up coffee. I don’t do French press so I don’t know how it compares

The view from here.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/prime-minister-mark-carney-says-u-s-is-trying-to-break-canada-as-alberta-votes-on-separation-path

Albertans voting on the independence referendum that could result in them separating from Canada.

https://calgaryjournal.ca/2026/10/18/◉-photos-calgarians-rally-against-albertas-referendum/

The question popped up earlier this year in a Reddit discussion on dental hygiene: Anyone notice that Oral-B floss suddenly seemed different?

“It feels more plastic-like, rougher, less smooth,” the Reddit user noted. Wrote another: “It feels like I’m going to take a tooth along with it when I pull it out.”

Some dental floss manufacturers have indeed been quietly moving away from the synthetic material PTFE, which helped their product slip smoothly between teeth. Their decisions follow studies raising concerns as well as consumer worries and state regulation of consumer products containing PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/chemistry/dental-floss-is-shedding-potentially-harmful-chemicals/ar-AA2et6fD

Congratulations! Have been an Aeropress user for 20 years or more when making a cup just for myself; we use an old Melitta electric drip machine to make four cups in the morning for the two of us. On the rare occasion that I do make another cup in the afternoon for just me, I use the Aeropress. A much superior cup to electric drip.

Thanks, @steve-miller !

I didn't watch the whole freezer video yet, just the beginning....but....we have an upright freezer that's in the basement. A very undemanding environment. Had a chest freezer years ago and gave it away to a friend. I know chest freezers are much more efficient and run like tanks, but not having to unload twenty things to get to the bottom where the one you want is located is the huge advantage for us and why we switched to uprights. We had a manual defrost upright and got tired of the whole defrosting thing so replaced our old upright with a frost free. Have been really happy with it in terms of function. Reliability, not so much. The one that died is 4 1/2 years old. Abt does extended warranties. A five year costs $175. If the thing craps out again, it's cost me $175 to use it for five years. Oh, and the warranty lets you claim $200 of lost food. I hate the concept of throwaway appliances but try to make up for it in other ways. We drive our cars for 20 years!

Thanks for the info on the dryers. Between you and Claude, you've convinced me it's worth having it looked at before buying new. We do indeed have a local guy, George's Appliance CPR. Turns out he started out at Abt. My neighbor has used him and said he's great and reasonably priced. I got his number and texted him. We'll see what he says!

Thanks much. Will keep you posted!

@kluurs I hadn't considered that; thanks for the suggestion. I looked into Grand and Ferguson (I know of both but haven't bought anything from them) and learned a bunch of stuff. Grand has the unit in stock and could deliver in a day or two. Ferguson's lead time is a bit longer but shorter than what Abt quoted to me.

I might get delivery faster but Abt has some things going for it that the other two don't. Don't know if any of what follows is of any usefulness or interest to other folks, but here goes....

Grand does delivery and installation but I don't see a service department, so you're going to the manufacturer for customer service on warranty work and you're stuck with their authorized repair shops; sometimes those aren't the greatest. Don't know how Speed Queen is, but getting warranty work done on my Samsung washer I bought from Best Buy was a total nightmare. Home Depot is the same.

Ferguson seems to be drop shipping from the manufacturer. Freight delivery, no offer of installation, and no service department. I think they're more geared to projects where you have a contractor doing a remodel and the contractors do the install. No service department means the same issues with warranty work as places like Grand, Best Buy, Lowe's and Home Depot.

Abt is the whole enchilada. I'll get a 10% discount on price, and they are an authorized servicer for Speed Queen. Their service department is not the cheapest by any stretch but it’s a huge part of their business. They're a 15 minute drive from my house, so an easy hop to go look at the SQ and any others I might consider. They're very old school with respect to customer service and will bend over backwards to make things right if there's a problem. Plus they have the really cool attractions in the showroom. Like this thing:

https://foursixty.com/abt-electronics/261058640/

Some of the others:

https://www.abt.com/help/attractions

A month is a longish time, but our laundry is in the basement and we already air dry a lot of things on a routine basis. Towels and sheets are the exception, but my friend Susan lives a block away and I can take those over to her house for a few weeks if the lead time on delivery is really out a month. Not ideal, but doable.

Anyway, I appreciate the suggestions! I learned a lot about those other major appliance retailers in our area. Definitely good choices but their services don't quite match my needs.

@Daniel said:

@wtg Google AI this to double check but I've read that there are appliance stores who will sell commercial Speed Queen washers and dryers to residential customers.

I checked with Claude about whether I can buy the "true" commercial dryer:

My question to Claude:

Saw Speed Queen LDG30RGS113TW01 on abt.com . I looked up this model on the SQ website and it says it is commercial and can't be installed in a residential setting. Abt listing: https://www.abt.com/Speed-Queen-White-Commercial-Gas-Dryer-LDG30RGS113TW01/p/90490.html

Claude's response:

Read a page, searched the web

You’re reading it correctly. Speed Queen’s own site says its commercial appliances are not approved for residential installation, and this model’s page carries that notice. A. J. Madison’s listing says the same for this model, and also marks it as no longer available there. Abt files it under Commercial Dryers, and its page says to call for availability ($1,058, against a Speed Queen MSRP of $1,649).

For Commercial Use Only

+4

Why that matters (general knowledge, not from those pages):

Installation approval is a safety and code question for a gas appliance. Homeowners insurance, a home inspection at resale, or a gas fitter could each object to an unapproved unit in a house.

Warranty coverage could also be affected, since Abt’s listing links a commercial warranty document. I haven’t read it, so check it before buying anything.

One discrepancy on the listing: Abt lists 25,000 Btu and a cCSAus certification, while Speed Queen’s page for the same model number shows 22,500 Btu and a cULus approval. That’s a good reason not to rely on either page without confirming with Speed Queen or the dealer.

speedqueen

Where this leaves you:

Speed Queen sells a separate residential dryer line, and that is the version approved for a home. It costs more than this model, and I haven’t checked current gas models or prices.

There two other dryer lines that SQ sells, the DC and the DR. The DC is more basic and the DR has more bells and whistles.

Claude is convincing with its arguments but I'd like to hear what @steve-miller has to say about the implications of a homeowner installing a commercial model. He has real world experience and probably knows the answer.

Steve is WTF's AI on a lot of subjects, top of the list are appliances!

Claude keeps telling me I should have someone look at the dryer, that it's probably a roller, idler, or belt fix and could be repaired.

Abt charges $199 for a home diagnostics visit, will refund half toward purchase price of new if you decide not to do repair. Problem is they are backed up till end of October for appointments.

A neighbor has used a local repair guy; I could try him, likely could be here much sooner.

Our many decades old Maytag greeted me with screeches and groans when I turned it on to dry my first load of laundry. If I had more time and energy I might look into getting it repaired or finding a good used unit, but sadly I have little time and less energy. So am buying new.

CR rates Speed Queen and LG as the top two for reliability. Speed Queen is a four week delivery time; LG could be here in a few days.

edit: Forget this SQ model. Says it's not approved for residential installation.

There's a Speed Queen commercial version that is a bit cheaper than their others. I need to do a comparison to see what the functional differences are.

https://www.abt.com/Speed-Queen-White-Commercial-Gas-Dryer-LDG30RGS113TW01/p/90490.html

Oh, and this came up just a few hours after I discovered the freezer went south late yesterday afternoon and into the night. It's the Bermuda Triangle of appliances here.

@steve-miller , appliance and electricial guru, what say ye?

I'm not surprised. The orthopedic surgeon who did Mr wtg's knee replacement said it was likely that the meniscus surgery he had fifteen years prior probably caused the knee to eventually fail. And he used to take aspirin or ibuprofen on a regular basis for arthritis pain.

New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is leaving her job after just five days in the face of criticism over her performance, a White House official confirmed to CNBC on Friday.

Earlier Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump told reporters that he had just suggested to Zacharia that she quit.

“I just spoke to her about it. I said, ‘Katie, is this for you?’” Trump said outside the White House.

″‘If I were you, I’d reconsider,’ ” the president said he told Zacharia.

The White House official, who spoke condition of anonymity to discuss the staffing shake-up, confirmed Fox News’ report that Zacharia is “transitioning” out of the press secretary role.

Zacharia’s five-day tenure in the Trump administration is shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci, who in 2017 served as White House communications director for less than 11 days. That length of time became jokingly referred to as a “Scaramucci” and was used to measure the durations of other short-serving officials.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/16/trump-katie-zacharia-white-house.html

@mark As always, your performance reflects your love of music and it brings me great joy to listen to you making music! Thanks for sharing with us.

@Mark Yea, I was surprised, too. Didn't see anything on the local news here. But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a story:

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/environment/2026/10/15/gale-force-winds-could-whip-up-25-foot-waves-on-lake-michigan-friday/92254009007/