November 11, 2025

To split hairs, natural homones were *extracted* from livestock urine, ovaries/testes etc. where they were present.

Yam and soy steroids had to be subjected to ingenious chemical modifications to have the same molecular structure as the natural hormones; for commercial success, they needed to be available in quantity, and isolated fairly efficiently, both of which required considerable ingenuity, as well as considerable patience with trial-and-error results.

Chemically, there is no distinction between these particular synthetic hormones and those from natural sources (not true of all steroids in use, by any means).

For the synthesis from steroids found in yams, read up on Russel Marker: https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/progesteronesynthesis.html

For soy steroids, see the work of Percy Julian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Lavon_Julian

PBS has shown docs on both men and their work. They were working on similar projects at about the same time, but that often happens in science, as new discoveries lead to whole new fields of study, which lead to new discoveries. "Success" wasn't a one-time thing either, so "who was first" is kind of a fuzzy question -- or at least a question with a fuzzy answer.

November 9, 2025

When can we start calling him 'C. Montgomery Trump' ? He's farcically out of touch.

Yes, I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 auto-gyro?
***
Mr. Burns: If the house catches fire, call this number
Marge : Uh-huh. The fire department
Mr. Burns: Yes. They're new. But they're good.
****
Ahoy-hoy? No you have the wrong number. This is 5246. In suspect you need more practice working your telephone machine. Not at all. Ahoy.
***
Re...cy...cling? I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with that term you adorable ragamuffin.
***
"Who could forget such a monstrous visage? She has the sloping brow and cranial bumpage of the career criminal."
"Phrenology was dismissed 160 years ago "
"Of course you'd say that... you have the brainpan of a stagecoach tilter!"
***
Ooh, don't poo-poo a nickel, Lisa. A nickel will buy you a steak and kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake and a newsreel... with enough change left over to ride the trolley from Battery Park to the polo grounds.
***
Let’s have a look at my stock portfolio. Confederated Slave Holdings, how’s that doing?
It's, um, stable.
***
I’m sure the manual will indicate which lever is the velocitator and which the deceleratrix.
***
You there, fill it up with petroleum distillate. And revulcanise my tyres post-haste!
***
I’m really enjoying this so-called “iced cream”!
***
A donut? I specifically said no ethnic food.
***
So you say Batista’s gone. Did you know that?
***
Mr. Burns: Smithers do you think you could dig up Al Jolson?
Smithers: Ummm... Remember we tried that?
Mr. Burns: Oh right, he’s dead... and rather pungent.
****

November 9, 2025

I thought these pix from the cover of 'The Economist' deserved an Original Post of their own ....

... just to help those having trouble answering the question, "Are you better off than you were under Joe Biden ?" ...

October 27, 2025

Zeus, the giant Maine Coon Cat

This Giant Cat Amazes People On The Internet As He Can Reach The Countertop Like It’s No Big Deal

A giant cat recently shocked the internet by amazing people with its size. Zeus is a Maine Coon cat from Moldova who is a staggering 39 inches tall when standing on his back legs!

In an interview with Bored Panda, Daniela, Zeus’s mom, wrote: “People are always shocked when they see Zeus, both in person and online. Many don’t even know Maine Coons exist, so their reactions are priceless. Even people familiar with the breed are amazed by his size. Some of the viral comments like ‘he’s a dog,’ ‘a werewolf,’ ‘a forest spirit,’ or even ‘a toddler in a costume’ always make me smile!”

So, without further ado, we invite you to take a look at this black (almost) lion!









Same hat size ?

***
more: https://www.boredpanda.com/giant-black-cat-zeus-mainecoon-official/

September 11, 2025

Bernard Herrmann !! I have an LP with this -- "On Dangerous Ground" -- the "Death Hunt" scene --- ***EIGHT*** horns!!

The camera work is a little odd -- too many closeups, never a wide shot of all the horns at once. Looks like (at least) five in the front row, four in the back. Liner notes from the LP say it was scored for eight horn *parts*, so maybe some doubling on some stands. This can't possibly have anything to do with the fact that conductor Salonen began as a horn player.

I kind of hate linking to YouTube because it's turned into such a stinking shitpile of surplus "features" that it bogs down any browser you can throw at it. But once you get it loaded, crank up the volume and let your hair stand on end !

Herrmann was an expert at using music to trigger emotions. It's hard to imagine hearing this in a dark theater while, on the screen, an alleged murderer is run to ground at night in a remote landscape -- and falls to his death.

Here's a movie music fan discussion of the movie itself. I've never actually seen it -- it wasn't a big commercial success, and I don't know that I've ever seen it on any TV channel.

August 29, 2025

recorded media should be exempt from any tariffs ... (posted by Discogs.com)

Records and Other Physical Media Should Be Exempt

Vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, and other recorded media should be exempt from any tariffs under US presidential executive order.

The executive order going into effect on August 29, 2025, removes a long-standing “de minimis” tariff exemption for most goods valued under USD $800. However, this change does not apply to “informational materials” like music media, which are still exempt from tariffs under US law 50 USC 1702(b)(3).

US Customs and Border Protection confirmed the exemption on August 28, 2025, stating that the “duty-free de minimis treatment shall remain available for [sic] goods covered under 50 U.S.C. § 1702(b) – such as certain donations and informational materials.”

Simply put, music and informational media have always been exempt from tariffs and continue to be so at this time. This means neither sellers nor collectors on Discogs should be charged additional customs fees.

https://www.discogs.com/about/news/united-states-tariff-impact-music-media-2025/

August 13, 2025

I heard a rumor* that "Truth Social" was originally meant to be "Trff Social" ....

in honor of Trff Bmzklfrpz, dictator and proud of it.













*Meaning I just made it up, like it usually does.

August 2, 2025

There's a petition to get Robert A. Caro's "The Power Broker" published in its uncut, 1,050,000 word glory. Sign here.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/publish-the-powerbroker-uncut

n 1974, almost exactly 50 years ago, Robert Caro submitted the final, fully edited 1,050,000 word manuscript of The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. Only a few people have ever read that full version. A full 300,000 words were cut to fit the book into a single volume.

Says Caro,"To this day, when someone says: “There’s hardly a mention of Jane Jacobs,” I think, “but I wrote a lot about her.” Every time I’m asked about that, I have this sick feeling."

It's missing a whole chapter devoted to Jacobs, and only Caro knows how many other richly reported details we're missing from the current 1,246 page version.

This petition is a request from Caro's devoted fans and ardent readers: let us read the full, uncut version of this still relevant {an understatement}, brilliant work!

*************************



To: Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Penguin Random House LLC
From: [Your Name]

As devoted fans and ardent readers of Robert Caro, we believe we deserve a chance to read the full, uncut masterpiece that is The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York.

There are thousands of us eager to read the completed 1,050,000 manuscript that still resides in Robert Caro's papers. This is the 50th anniversary of this mighty work, a perfect time to announce the upcoming release of the director's cut.

Make it so!

August 2, 2025

Yes, the term 'parkway' was invented for that reason -- by Robert Moses, opponent of urban mass transportation.

Moses was well-off, had an almost guaranteed lifetime job, and thought of driving as a pleasant experience based on his experiences in the early decades of the century -- a drive in the country with the family kind of thing. He was opaque to the fact that it was an everyday necessity for ever-growing millions of people in urban areas, who would have been better off with good subway and bus service. Instead he built huge highway networks with cloverleaf and other, more complex, interchanges so drivers never had to stop just to turn in a different heading. Everything was sacrificed for the sake of the single-driver car, including tearing up whole neighborhoods (especially 'ethnic' ones) and building bridges too low for city buses to pass under. The result was ever more and more traffic, more pollution, more congestion, and longer drive times. Meanwhile, Moses -- who never held a driver's license -- was chauffeured wherever he wanted to go in a limousine with one of the first mobile phones, which effectively served as his office on wheels, so he never had to suffer the boredom or frustration of long trips in heavy traffic. He and his minions also consulted with planners in other cities -- notably Pittsburgh, check out those tangled overpasses! -- so that most major American cities ended up with the same problems of too much traffic and not enough mass transportation. Too late to change it, too, with possible routes for trains already rejected to build more highways.

If you've ever got a week or two to devote to reading a single book, try tackling Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker, a masterpiece of biography which reveals a great deal about how our modern world came to be, as decided by one man who never won an election.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/publish-the-powerbroker-uncut
https://shop.nyhistory.org/products/mug-power-broker

ETA: If you don't want to give up that much time (and I'm not kidding, it's 1300 pages) try reading one chapter -- titled "One Mile" -- to get a flavor of the consequences and capriciousness of Moses' "vision".

July 25, 2025

This is what I always think of when I hear about school vouchers .... *businesses* pay most of the cost of schools.

Public school costs are shared by all taxpayers, including those who don't have, and even never will have, any children. So when someone sends their kid(s) to private school, they're decreasing the costs to the public schools by an amount of which they themselves pay only a fraction. GOPers who write big vouchers to those parents for the full cost of their kids' education are stealing from all other taxpayers to do it.

Thanks for posting this info, sop.