Snowflake's Forum

  Bunny now done with end of year cleaning.  Pretty much a huge pain, but glad it was done.  Bunny doesn’t mind heavy cleaning, but done when needed, no because the calendar says so. Bunny pretty clean.  Don’t like clutter, but not fanatical about it. What about you?

Various people said various things about stuff. Trump & MAGA stuff: “One CBS article about his immigration crackdown said Trump ‘invoked muscular presidential powers,’ which is a bit like saying Jeffrey Dahmer ‘displayed omnivorous taste.’” “There was a time when it would have been scandalous for a sitting U.S. president to use the office to serve his personal business interests, but that was back when America had attorneys general who didn’t think an emoluments clause was the disclaimer on a moisturizer.” Regarding the “Trump” to “Kennedy” name for Washington’s performing arts center: “He asks not what he can do for his country, but what his country can name for him.” “He’s in good shape because he beats so many dead horses. It keeps the arms and shoulders up.” “One of the reasons MAGA conservatives admire Putin is that they see him as an ally against their ultimate enemy — the ethnic studies program at Columbia.” Regarding Kash Patel (FBI) and Pam Bondi (DOJ) failing to substan...

  New Year’s Eve is on the way.  Is it something fun for you?  Bunny could never see the thrill of getting drunk, and then counting down the last few seconds.  Standing in Times Square, with a million other people, freezing, just to wait for the ball to drop.  No thanks. How is it with you?  Do you celebrate it in some way?  Don’t care? J. P. Bunny

A group of ladies I know, very religious, are all excited about the upcoming sermons and events at their local church. In the past, despite being an atheist, I have been invited to church Christmas celebrations and actually enjoyed them. Not for the sermons, but for the music and atmosphere. I even have a small collection of religious Christmas songs. Hark The Angel Sings and all stuff like that. My favorite Christmas band - The Trans-Siberian Orchestra - is largely Christian based. After all, Christmas is supposed to be ALL ABOUT the birth of the Christ child. Except, it isn't. Jesus was NOT born on Dec. 25 So, question is, what is Christmas REALLY about? Or another way of putting it, what has Christmas become? There are far more Santa movies than Christ movies. Ask any kid and they will say Christmas is about Santa. Ask most adults and they will say it is about time off work and family gatherings. Ask ANY cynic, and they will say it is all about the................ COMMERCIALIZAT...

Not the usual way.  Too many years, internal organs and joints giving out, but the more amusing signs.  For Bunny, it is making “that noise” when getting off the sofa or out of the car.  Or, always see railings on steps and ramps as something welcoming. Any such signs for you? J. P . Bunny  

  Great inventions or products that make life great, but not properly acknowledged.  No. 2 pencils.  Lego.  Futon heaters.  Domino sized blocks. What is on your list? J. P. Bunny

Yes, ants like these An assistant professor of bugs (entymology) at Auburn U, and his colleagues, found that ants naturally make and carry a slew of antibiotics in their bodies. That makes the little critters resistant to lots of fungi, gram positive bacteria and gram negative bacteria. The team or researchers looked at six ant species common in the southeastern US to see just what's there. They were amazed and happy to find a slew of antibiotics, including ones that kill off the human superbug Candida auris . Superbugs are human pathogens have evolved to be resistant to nearly all known antibiotic drugs used in humans, hence the 'superbug' label.  The researchers write in the abstract  of their research paper:  The evolution of sociality provides many benefits but also increases the risk of disease transmission. In response, social insects have evolved social immune defenses, including the production of antimicrobial compounds. The development of exocrine glands th...

 Why are single men called bachelors, but single women called spinsters? Why are professional women called skirts but professional men not called pants? Why is a man's laugh hardy, but a woman's laugh is a cackle? Why is a man considered assertive, but a woman is having hormonal issues? Why do men yell, but women screak? Why is a flirty man a player but a flirty woman a slut or ho? Why are men encouraged to speak up but a woman told to sit down and shut up? Why are men believed and women questioned when allegations of misconduct happen? Why are boys insulted by saying to them "don't be such a girl" but girls aren't insulted by saying to them "don't be such a boy"? Why are women always accused of nagging and bitching when you seldom hear the same of a man? And why oh why is ANY of this ok? Anyone have an answer? Or are women just highstrung, snippy, mouthy, overly emotional, and always complaining about something?  Once upon a time, according to g...

  Sports and activities, mainly watching them.  Racing your car around a track may be exciting if you are doing the driving, but sitting and watching cars go around and around in a circle?   Zzzz.  American football?  A one hour game stretched out to over six hours.  This is interesting? What spectator activities do you find it amazing that people enjoy sitting and watching them? J. P. Bunny

It's not clear that this will make major in roads against non-biodegradable plastics without a carbon tax or some other form of help. It will likely stay a niche product if it can be scaled up for widespread commercial use.  EurekAlert! reports about the new plastic in an article,  The perfect plastic? Plant-based, fully saltwater degradable, zero microplastics . Researchers led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan published the discovery of their new plastic in the Journal of the American Chemical Society . The plastic is made from two polymers, charged polyethylene‑imine guanidinium ions and carboxymethyl cellulose or plant cellulose. Cellulose the world’s most abundant organic compound. Nature makes about a trillion tons of it per year in all kinds of plants. The new plastic is strong, flexible, and it rapidly decomposes in natural environments. No other "biodegradable" plastic so far has this property. A compatible secon...

  When a marathon isn’t extreme enough, the only logical move is to turn around and run the other way. Stranded at Union Glacier camp while waiting for a flight back to Punta Arenas, a group of marathon runners decided to kill time the hard way—by staging the first-ever Antarctica Backwards Mile Race. Set just 600 miles from the South Pole, Union Glacier became the unlikely venue for a race that flipped convention on its head. The challenge: one mile, run entirely backwards, on the coldest continent on the planet. Backwards running—also known as retro or reverse running—might sound like a modern gimmick, but it dates back to the Victorians in the 1880s, who found it both entertaining and beneficial. Today, it’s praised for improving balance, coordination and strength, while reducing joint impact. That said, it comes with one major drawback: you can’t see where you’re going. In Antarctica’s razor-sharp air, speed meant little without control. The fastest forward runners quickly le...

Nothing serious.  Just the weird things you sometimes think about.  When Bunny walking through the neighborhood, he sometimes wonders what the place would look like if the houses and furniture were invisible.  Bunny would see people wandering around in small areas, wandering around in mid-air, if the second floor. Any weird thoughts you tend to have? J. P. Bunny  

 AND....... I am hoping to get some insightful, thoughtful, and sagacious replies to a question that has plagued mankind for a generation at Christmas Time. IF YOU know the answer, please be forthcoming, this is a very very important question that NEEDS to be answered. Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?  AND never mind what the pundits or critics say, it's YOUR assessment that counts here. 

Children and advertising.  Many times they go together well, especially if trying for cute or humorous.  If you are selling laundry detergent, a kid who has been rolling around in spaghetti sauce works well. But, are you going to be swayed to buy something just because some kid says so?   Little Timmy says this brand of meat is the best.  Well, little Timmy also enjoys eating dirt and nasal excavations.  In Japan, this is extremely popular.  Some little girl, dressed up in a business suit, coming into your bathroom, extolling the virtues of this tub cleaner.  Sorry, but that isn’t going to convince Bunny. What are your thoughts on kids pushing products? J. P. Bunny  

What are YOUR plans? Shop till you drop? Decorate and prepare? Avoid crowds, avoid mention of Christmas (or whatever Holiday you celebrate)? Get the eggnog out and listen to lots of Christmas music? Continue on more or less as you do the rest of the year? Hibernate? Attend pre-Christmas parties or concerts or gatherings? Just curious. 60+ Ideas To Enjoy The Days Before Christmas https://www.stonegableblog.com/60-ideas-to-enjoy-the-days-before-christmas/#google_vignette 60 ?  Forget that!!

  Medical abilities are advancing rapidly.  Soon, may come the day when you can design your body the way you want.  Bunny wouldn’t mind two opposable thumbs on each hand.  What about you?  Eyes on the end of your fingers?  Extra limbs?  Eternal teeth?  What would you 2.0 look like? J. P. Bunny

In 1970 researchers isolated the fungal compound (+)-verticillin A. They tested it and found it to be active against some cancer cell lines in vitro . However, chemists could not figure out a way to synthesize the compound. Chemically, it is a real stinker to synthesize. It was never moved into human clinical trials. There just wasn't enough of the compound to do clinical trials. In mouse cancer testing using nanoparticle-encapsulated verticillin A, tumor burden was significantly reduced in high-grade serous ovarian cancer xenograft models.  As one can easily see from its chemical structure, this beast isn't easy to synthesize.  As we can all imagine, the chemists were stumped for 55 years at how to form that nasty C3-C3' carbon-carbon covalent bond that links the two 4-ring monomers into the dimer. Obviously, the disulfide bonds (-S-S-) are not stable under conditions needed to form the C3-C3' bond. But chemists at MIT finally figured a way to do it. A complicated wa...

  The Xmas season is here.  Nothing before December 1st counts.  Most of us are pretty much over the hill and down the other side.  Our attitudes towards the season may change as we get older.  Bunny has absolutely nothing against it, but now, it just doesn’t mean all that much.  Haven’t done decorating in decades.  Japan does excellent outdoor illumination, but no need to make a special trip. Of course, with the remaining family in the U.S., the looking forward dinner and time together isn’t there.  For Bunny, it is now a time when some presents are given, and not much else. How goes it with you?  Guessing those with family nearby have a different outlook. J. P.  Bunny

Border collie Arya, lives in Italy Owners can't say "pizza" out loud because she  understands the category food, loves pizza and goes nuts A SciAm article discusses the finding that dogs recognize categories of objects, which human toddlers do. These dogs extend words to new objects based on function the way children do in early language learning. In a study published in Current Biology , owners of 10 talented dogs  taught their talented dogs words for objects in two categories: tug toys, called “pulls,” and fetch toys, called “throws.” All toys were different in size, shape and color so appearance could not guide learning. The article comments: After four weeks of training, brand-new toys with a variety of designs were introduced. This time the dogs only experienced each toy’s function, either tugging or fetching, during play; they were not taught words for any of them. After a week of play, when asked to fetch a pull or a throw, the seven dogs that completed all e...

  You have a time machine to play with.  Your mission is to play pranks on the present.  No killing people or altering the timeline, but do something to make the people in the present scratch their heads. Leave some coins with Charles III in a sealed Egyptian tomb?  Have Shakespeare insert the names of Star Wars characters into his plays?  Make sure that Richard III was buried with a book of Garfield comics? What mischievous things can you think of? J. P. Bunny

 I think we lost Susan. Sighs. No, not "lost" in THAT way, just she has decided to forget about us. A lot of our other regulars have similarly either found other interests or have simply tired of our mundane, mostly non-political, boring threads. Still a couple of my other authors - especial thanks to Bunny - have kept busy on here. Even I just peek in now once in a while rather than engage in long conversations. Besides, we all seem to be on different schedules and not on at the same time. I have contemplated moving over to my other forum.......... https://snowflakesplace.boards.net/      ........... as there anyone joining that forum can author a thread and there are more subjects to pick from. But I suspect most of my regulars on here are just comfy with what we have here and would be hesitant to move there. I did mention once that if Disqus ever discontinues that you should all make note of that forum so you can follow me over there. Other than that, any ideas ho...

I retired a few months ago, and though I have continued to work part time as a consultant, that work has dropped off as we completed a big project. So I recently had six days completely off, which in the past would have meant taking PTO. But this time, it just sort of happened. OK, the holiday had something to do with it. But still.  I’ve been reflecting on how much easier my life has become since I retired. It’s disorienting!  Compared with most human beings, my life has always been a cakewalk. To give you a little flavor: My parents were loving, were never abusive, and lived well into my adulthood. I have never gone hungry or faced homelessness. I have never personally experienced war or interpersonal violence. And so on. And yet, I have never experienced life as easy. I lived a good portion of my life with depression. With depression, everything is hard. And even with that well managed, there was always work, dealing with people (a constant challenge for an introvert), tryi...

  AI Overview The portrayal of men, particularly white men, as incompetent or foolish has been a recurring and much-discussed theme in television commercials, a phenomenon often referred to as the " moronic male trope ".   It's generally accepted that men and women are, on average, of equal intellect. But there's a trend in advertising toward showing men as idiots. TV ads often portray men as dumb or weak to appeal to women, who drive most household purchases, using humor and stereotypes. This depiction can harm men’s self-esteem, ego, and sense of masculinity, leading to feelings of inadequacy, emasculation, and decision-making doubts. Critics argue it perpetuates harmful stereotypes, while recent trends show a shift toward positive portrayals, which may mitigate these effects. Here comes the stupid husband, boyfriend, tradesman, etc. in a commercial. He is almost always white. Why? 'Dumb men' the latest punching bag in advertising: Ad Guy Men depicted as slo...