• Commonplaces
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sergneri

Commonplaces

Aide-Memoire

Faits Divers

Things that happen

General Electric J-105

August 15, 2019 by sergneri 11 Comments

I’ve finished refurbishing this GE J-105 antique tube radio and am 99% happy with the results. My wife and I decided to leave the finish as it was and just clean it up. It did require a new grille cloth but other than some “Restor-a-Finish” and some wax, the exterior is original. The electronics were … [Read more…]

Posted in: Antique Radio, Faits Divers Tagged: 10 Tube, 1940, Antique Radio, Beam-A-Scopes, GE J-105, General Electric, Golden Tone, Restoration, Tube Radio, Vacuum Tube

Russian nuclear agency confirms role in rocket test explosion

August 10, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

From the Guardian, Andrew Roth in Moscow, Sat 10 Aug 2019: Rosatom says five staff died in accident that caused radiation levels to spike in Arkhangelsk. Russia’s nuclear energy agency has said an explosion that caused radiation levels to spike in the Arkhangelsk region was caused by an accident during a test of an “isotope … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, Nuclear Industry, Politics, Science, Thinking about, This Day in History Tagged: Arkhangelsk, botched tes, Burevestnik, cruise missile, iodine, Nuclear, nuclear-powered, nuclear-powered cruise missile, radiation, Rosatom, Russia

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power” ? Benito Mussolini

August 8, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power” ? Benito Mussolini

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Politics, Thinking about Tagged: Benito Mussolini, Corporatism, Fascism

What P. T. Barnum Understood About America

August 7, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

In a New Yorker book review, Elizabeth Kolbert tells us about “Barnum: An American Life” by Robert Wilson. Her review is very interesting in that it brings to the surface the similarities between Barnum and Donald Trump, even if she never actually makes the leap. Embedded in the review are some fascinating details making it … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, Politics, Racism, Sea Stories, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: Donald Trump, P. T. Barnum, Prince of Humbugs

Real Americans by Joseph O’Neill

August 6, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

In the New York Review of Books, this essay Real Americans by Joseph O’Neill is noteworthy. O’Neill reviews two books, This America: The Case for the Nation by Jill Lepore and This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto by Suketu Mehta. O’Neill delivers a fine essay covering many points of the current state in … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Finanace, Politics, Racism, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: authoritarianism, Congress, diseased body politic, Jill Lepore, Joseph O’Neill, Propaganda, Real Americans, Suketu Mehta, Supreme Court, the Deep State

Why you should KILL YOUR TELEVISION

July 23, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Yet another reason why you should turn off the TV, it makes you stupid. How trashy TV made children dumber and enabled a wave of populist leaders, Washington Post, Andrew Van Dam July 20. By 1990, 49 out of 50 Italians could watch Mediaset — half of the country had gained access in just five … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about Tagged: cartoons, light entertainment, Mediaset, movies, RAI, Silvio Berlusconi, soap operas, sports, Television, TV, vapid programming

Letters to the Editor – Press Democrat

July 22, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

From July 20, 2019:

Posted in: Faits Divers, Finanace, Politics, Thinking about Tagged: drought, Earthquake, Sonoma County, Sonoma County grand jury, Water

Fernando Corbató Dies at 93

July 16, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Fernando Corbató, whose work on computer time-sharing in the 1960s helped pave the way for the personal computer, as well as the computer password, died on Friday at a nursing home in Newburyport, Mass. He was 93.

Posted in: Faits Divers, Obituaries, Science, Thinking about Tagged: A. M. Turing Award, Bell Laboratories, computer, Fernando Corbató, M.I.T., personal computer, time-sharing

COSO VOLCANIC FIELD VOLCANO

July 6, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

600+ Earthquakes recorded in the 24 hours ending 07/06/19 at 14:00 PDT CALIFORNIA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT U.S. Geological Survey Saturday, July 6, 2019, 10:42 AM PDT (Saturday, July 6, 2019, 17:42 UTC) COSO VOLCANIC FIELD VOLCANO (VNUM #323180) 36°1’48” N 117°49’12” W, Summit Elevation 7874 ft (2400 m) Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL Current … [Read more…]

Posted in: California History, Faits Divers, Science, Thinking about, This Day in History Tagged: California, California Volcano Observatory, China Lake, Earthquake, earthquake swarm, Inyo County, Mojave Desert, Ridgecrest, Sierra Nevada, Sierra Nevada mountains, swarm, U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, Volcano

What could go wrong? The U.S. put nuclear waste under a dome on a Pacific island.

May 21, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

The Washington Post published an engaging essay about a nuclear waste depository on the Marshall Islands. Some good background and discussion of the meeting of two critical issues, climate change and nuclear waste. Beyond the comments from a shill or two from the pro-nuclear camp, the concerns of us common folk is quite clear in … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Nuclear Industry, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: Atomic Heritage Foundation, Bikini Atoll, Castle Bravo, Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands, nuclear waste, plutonium-239, Radioactive, radioactive material, Runit Island, toxic substance
« Previous 1 … 20 21 22 … 42 Next »

Copyright © 2026 Commonplaces.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall