Obit watch: December 5, 2025.

December 5th, 2025

Master Sergeant Charles Norman Shay (US Army – ret.) He was 101.

Mr. Shay, a member of the Penobscot Nation of Maine, was one of about 175 Native Americans among the 34,000 Allied troops who came ashore on [Omaha] beach, into the teeth of some of the bloodiest fighting of D-Day in the opening act of the liberation of France during World War II.
Mr. Shay was awarded the Silver Star for saving soldiers who had been cut down by heavy German machine-gun fire after disembarking from their landing craft into the waves. In 2007, he received France’s Legion of Honor for his actions that day.
“I saw there were many wounded men who were floundering in the water, who could not help themselves, and I knew that if nobody went to help them, they were doomed to die,” Mr. Shay recalled in a 2010 interview for the Library of Congress.
He continued: “I proceeded to get as many men as I could out of the water by turning them over on their backs and grabbing them under their shoulders. I don’t know where my strength came from, but they say once the adrenaline starts flowing in your body you can do unbelievable feats.”

…

From 2018 until his death, Mr. Shay lived in northwestern France, in the home of a caretaker, Marie-Pascale Legrand, not far from the beaches where the World War II invasion took place. Ms. Legrand, who met Mr. Shay at a commemoration ceremony in Normandy in 2016, said in an interview that he had been lonely living in Maine and was not getting adequate health care. After visiting him there, she invited him to move to Normandy.
For several years, Mr. Shay performed a sage-burning ceremony overlooking Omaha Beach in honor of the dead. He was one of a very few American veterans able to attend D-Day commemorations in Normandy in 2020 and 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Frank Gehry. THR. The Onion (by way of Lawrence). Previously on WCD.

“You go into architecture to make the world a better place,” Mr. Gehry said in 2012. “A better place to live, to work, whatever. You don’t go into it as an ego trip.”
He added: “That comes later, with the press and all that stuff. In the beginning, it’s pretty innocent.”

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, actor. Other credits include “Thunder in Paradise”, “Renegade”, “Jake and the Fatman”, and a spin-off of a minor 1960s SF TV series.

Posted in Art, Gehry, Heroism, History, Movies, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

“Toilets, toilets, toilets.”©

December 4th, 2025

© Steve Ballmer, 2024.

One of my cow orkers sent me a link to a TechCrunch story (by way of Slashdot). I don’t think the actual TechCruch story is all that interesting: does the Kohler Dekoda actually use end-to-end encryption or not? The story is based on this blog post by Simon Fondrie-Teitler, a security researcher, and the answer seems to be “no”, at least in the way end-to-end encryption is defined:

However, responses from the company make it clear that—contrary to common understanding of the term—Kohler is able to access data collected by the device and associated application. Additionally, the company states that the data collected by the device and app may be used to train AI models.

What I think is more interesting is what the Kohler Dekoda actually is. Kohler, as you know, Bob, is a large plumbing and fixtures company.

The Kohler Dekoda is a camera.

It attaches to your toilet.

Dekoda uses science now available for the first time at home to analyze your urine. It evaluates hydration levels and alerts you to changes in real time.

Dekoda’s advanced sensors analyze your waste. It passively tracks the frequency, consistency, and shape, then decodes that data into practical insights you can use to create habits for a healthy gut.

Yeah. So what it’s doing is taking pictures of your bodily waste, “analyzing” them, and sending you reports on your health.

“01. Download the Kohler Health app

Install the Kohler Health app. Then create your profile where your scores, health & wellness data, and trends are updated after every bathroom visit.”

Of course it needs an app.

02. Install Dekoda

Attach the Dekoda to the inner rim of your toilet. Dekoda is designed to fit most toilet bowls thanks to its innovative clamp. No tools required.

03. Use the bathroom

Visit the bathroom as you would normally. Dekoda uses advanced sensors to passively analyze your waste in the background.

Thank God I can use the bathroom normally!

How much would you pay for a camera on your toilet that tracks your bodily wastes and sends you reports? $50? $100? Or would someone have to pay you?

The Kohler Dekoda sells for $600. But wait, there’s more! And I bet you already know what that “more” is!

Yes, it also requires a subscription. $7 a month ($70 a year) for a single user, or $13 a month ($130 a year) for a “family plan” that’s good for up to five users.

So if you have an average 2 1/2 bath home, and want to make sure you have coverage everywhere you “go”, you’d need to spend $1,800 on the hardware. It isn’t clear to me if the subscription covers multiple cameras, or if you need one subscription for every camera. It also isn’t clear to me how the camera would be able to distinguish between various users (husband/wife), or if you have to tell that app each time that you’re the one on the throne.

I get that there are some people with health conditions that might find this useful, though I question whether it would be $600 plus an ongoing $70 a year useful. I also get that “gut health” seems to be the next big health advance, though it seems to me that “gut health” has been a thing for a while, and what do we have to show for it?

As for hydration, you can print this and hang it above every toilet in your house for a couple of pennies worth of ink.

And if Kohler is using anonymized data to train AI models, I say: awesome! Because the last thing in the world I want is humans (outside of a specific medical context) analyzing bodily wastes, even if they are getting paid for it.

Posted in Geek, Urine | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: December 4, 2025.

December 4th, 2025

Several people sent me obits for Steve Cropper, of Booker T. and the MG’s, and the Blues Brothers.

As a member of Booker T. & the MG’s, the house rhythm section at Stax, Mr. Cropper played the snarling Fender Telecaster lick on “Green Onions,” the funky hit instrumental by the MG’s from 1962. He also contributed the ringing guitar figure that opened Sam & Dave’s gospel-steeped “Soul Man,” the 1966 single on which the singer Sam Moore shouted, “Play it, Steve!” to cue Mr. Cropper’s stinging single-string solo on the chorus. Both records were Top 10 pop hits and reached No. 1 on the R&B chart.

…

Mr. Cropper achieved further acclaim in the late 1970s for his work with the Blues Brothers, the musical side project of the “Saturday Night Live” co-stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. By then, Stax had closed, having fallen into insolvency in 1975, and Mr. Cropper had begun immersing himself in freelance session and production work with artists like Art Garfunkel and Ringo Starr.
“Briefcase Full of Blues,” the Blues Brothers’ first album, included a remake of “Soul Man,” complete with a reprise of the shout “Play it, Steve!” from Mr. Belushi on the chorus. The single reached No. 14 on the pop chart in 1979, anticipating the release of the 1980 movie “The Blues Brothers,” starring Mr. Belushi and Mr. Aykroyd and featuring Mr. Cropper as Steve “the Colonel” Cropper, who plays in a band called Murph and the Magic Tones. (Born of Mr. Cropper’s tendency to take charge of situations, the Colonel was a childhood nickname that stuck with him even after he established himself as a musician.)

Here’s a blast from the past for you: Eugene Hasenfus.

“Eugene who?”

Yeah, that’s what Ronald Reagan said.

Mr. Hasenfus emerged out of obscurity on Oct. 5, 1986, when a missile fired by troops fighting for Nicaragua’s leftist government downed his plane while it was on a run to drop arms to right-wing rebel forces, known as contras, who were seeking to overthrow the country’s leaders.
The pilot, co-pilot and radio operator of the plane — a twin-engine turboprop of 1950s vintage — died in its fiery crash in a patch of jungle in southern Nicaragua. Mr. Hasenfus, who had been responsible for packing and dropping the arms, was the lone survivor.
An experienced skydiver and the only crewman with a parachute, he had leaped from the cargo compartment, which had been blasted open by the missile, as the aircraft began plummeting to earth.

He was captured and put on trial.

While awaiting his trial, Mr. Hasenfus told the CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace for a segment of “60 Minutes” that when he joined the mission, he believed that he was working for the C.I.A. Asked what an average American would think about the shoot-down, he replied, “He’s going to make that the government is backing this 100 percent, and that’s what I believe, too.”
President Ronald Reagan’s administration initially denied any American involvement in the flight. Those denials began unraveling when it was reported that the cargo plane belonged to Southern Air Transport, a charter carrier based in Miami that was formerly owned by the C.I.A.
Mr. Hasenfus’s capture led to investigations by Congress and by an independent counsel, Lawrence E. Walsh, and ultimately to revelations that the administration, defying Congress, had illegally sold arms to Iran and used some of the proceeds to secretly support the contras. The scandal shadowed the Reagan administration and later the presidency of George H.W. Bush, who was Mr. Reagan’s vice president before succeeding him in 1989.

…

He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison but was freed in December 1986 in what Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader who is now the country’s autocratic president, called an act of good will toward the United States.

Posted in History, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

Art, damn it, art! watch (#63 in a series)

December 4th, 2025

Actual headline in the NYPost:

Art Basel show by Beeple has realistic Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg robot dogs pooping NFTs

“Realistic”. As Mike the Musicologist put it to me:

Famed artist Beeple’s…

Who?

Famed artist Beeple’s latest spectacle, “Regular Animals,” has billionaire-tech-titan robot dogs pooping out NFTs, and stopping onlookers at Art Basel Miami Beach in their tracks at the fair’s VIP preview.
The animatronic canines sport nightmarishly realistic masks of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg — plus famed artists Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, plus two Beeple (aka Mike Winkelmann) lookalikes — all crafted by famed mask-maker Landon Meier.
As the robo-mutts trot around, they continuously snap photos, squatting to take a digital dump of an art print in accordance with its corresponding style.
Zuckerberg’s for example, looks like the Metaverse, Musk’s is a black and white robot take, while Picasso is cubist and Warhol is pop art.

“Beeple” has some sort of incoherent point about how Musk and Zuckerberg influence “how we see the world” “because they control these very powerful algorithms”.

We hear all of the robot dogs have already been snapped up by private collectors — for $100,000 each — but the owners have let them “go on tour.”
However, fairgoers still have a chance to take home a piece of the chaos: The dogs will “eliminate” 1,028 prints, each stamped “Excrement Sample,” along with a warning label noting that the item may be “disgusting to most patrons of the arts,” and could cause, “uncontrollable erections in degenerate art collectors.”

Of those prints, 256 include a “scan to claim” barcode in the corner, marking them as actual NFTs.

This is the part that bothers me the most:

Given that Beeple’s blockbuster NFT, “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” sold for $69.3 million at Christie’s in 2021, the latest drops might end up as yet another gold mine.

That was 2021. I wonder what his NFT would go for in today’s market. If it went up for auction, I would bid a batch of homemade Chex Mix. If I needed to up my bid, I’d throw in a batch of homemade onion dip. Beyond that, I’d have to pass, much like the robot dogs do.

(Thank you. I’ll be here all week.)

Posted in Art | Comments Closed

Yet another flaming hyena update.

December 3rd, 2025

President Donald Trump pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case on Wednesday, citing what he called a “weaponized” justice system.

Previously on WCD.

Federal authorities had charged Cuellar and his wife with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the congressman advancing the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar is accused of agreeing to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the U.S. House.

Posted in Law, Politics | 2 Comments »

Flaming hyena update.

December 2nd, 2025

There’s been a major shakeup at a Houston-based hospitality company…

“hospitality company”. RCI Hospitality Holdings owns various businesses, including Bombshells Restaurant & Bar, Rick’s Cabaret, Chicas Locas, and Club Onyx.

Two weeks ago, the company announced a “strategic partnership” with Jonathan Joseph, owner of Yellow Rose Cabaret and Red Rose Nightclub in Austin. Joseph acquired a 49 percent interest in Rick’s Cabaret Austin for $1.8 million as part of the partnership.

Anyway:

RCI Hospitality Holdings Inc. announced Friday that Eric Langan and Bradley Chhay have stepped down as president and CEO and CFO, respectively.

The HouChron says it is “unclear” why they stepped down, but suggests it might be related to their criminal indictments for bribing a tax auditor.

And if that rings a bell with you now, yes, I covered this back in September. Remember “dance dollars”?

…accused of supplying a former New York Department of Taxation and Finance auditor with “at least 13 complimentary multi-day trips to Florida where he was given up to $5,000 per day for private dances at RCI-owned strip clubs, including Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami,” plus other forms of alleged favorable treatment over a 14-year period.

Still no evidence of cocaine being involved in this case, though, alas.

Posted in Law, Politics | 2 Comments »

Firings watch.

December 1st, 2025

Mark Stoops out as head coach of the University of Kentucky.

Stoops, 58, went 72-80 during his time in Lexington (82-80 if including the 10-win 2021 season that was later vacated) and leaves as the winningest coach in school history. Bear Bryant is No. 2.

They were 5-7 this season, and 4-8 last season.

Stoops is owed 75% of his remaining salary, which is approximately $37.7 million. That falls within the top five buyouts in college football history, four of which have come this year (the first three were Brian Kelly, $54 million; James Franklin, $49 million, though that was reduced when he took the job at Virginia Tech; and Jonathan Smith, $33 million).

Before Stoops’ tenure, Kentucky had not won 10 games in a season since 1977. Stoops ended that streak with a Citrus Bowl victory over Penn State in 2018. He added a second 10-win season in 2021 with a Citrus Bowl win over Iowa, but the NCAA later vacated the victories from that season due to a scandal involving football players being paid for hours they did not work in university hospital patient transport jobs. The investigation found no evidence Stoops knew of the rules violations.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 1, 2025.

December 1st, 2025

Daniel Woodrell, author.

He’s one of those guys who I’ve wanted to read, but haven’t yet. I’ve heard good things about Winter’s Bone. I’ve also heard the movie is great, but I haven’t seen it yet.

I also haven’t read Woe to Live On, but I have seen the Ang Lee Ride With the Devil and thought that was an interesting movie.

Mr. Woodrell took a somewhat fatalistic attitude. He told the magazine that the Ozarks were a place to mind your own business, go off the grid, avoid the law, hide. Even meth, he saw, had its use, giving families a profitable line of work in a place with few of them.

He was 72. Pancreatic cancer got him.

Fuzzy Zoeller, golfer.

Posted in Books, Movies, Obits, Sports | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: November 30, 2025.

November 30th, 2025

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

So is Sir Tom Stoppard. THR.

Stoppard received his first Academy Award nomination for co-writing Brazil (1985) with director Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown, adapted John le Carre‘s novel for The Russia House (1990) and did an uncredited revision on the screenplay for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), with director Steven Spielberg noting that “Tom is pretty much responsible for every line of dialogue.”

Colleen Jones, curler and curling commentator.

As a curling skip, or captain, Jones directed her teammates and devised strategies in a sport that is sometimes referred to as chess on ice. So adroit was she at gracefully sliding a granite stone weighing around 40 pounds with decisive precision that she was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2016 and named the second greatest athlete from Nova Scotia, behind only the hockey star Sidney Crosby, by the province’s sports hall of fame in 2017.

She won two world titles and six Canadian national championships.

In 1986, she joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as the first female sports anchor in Halifax, Nova Scotia’s capital. Over her nearly 40 years with the network, she also worked as a reporter, commentator and weather presenter. In 2022, Jones was named a member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors.

…

Although Jones never qualified to compete in the Olympics for Canada — the most decorated nation in curling, with six gold medals and 12 in total — she served as a commentator and analyst for nearly a dozen Winter and Summer Games for the CBC.

Posted in Movies, Obits, Sports, Theatre | Comments Closed

Happy Thanksgiving! Have some short random gun crankery!

November 27th, 2025

Over at the GT Distributors web site, they have a historical look at two very rare revolvers.

Two rare Smith and Western revolvers. That’s not a typo.

On a totally unrelated note, the latest video in the Smith and Wesson “Tales From the Vault” series is up: “Project Spitfire 9mm Carbine”.

Posted in Guns, Smith and Wesson | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: November 26, 2025.

November 26th, 2025

NYT obit for Udo Kier.

Michael DeLano, actor. Other credits include “Cover Up“, “Hardcastle and McCormick”, and “Banacek”.

Posted in 1970s, Movies, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

Flaming hyenas update.

November 24th, 2025

The charges against James Comey and Tish James have been dismissed.

The reason is pretty much the usual one:

… interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed to her position and “had no lawful authority” to secure indictments of either of President Trump’s longtime adversaries.

The charges were dismissed “without prejudice”, meaning they can be re-filed. I assume they will be if Judge Cameron Currie is overruled in this matter.

However, the ruling by senior US District Judge Cameron Currie comes after the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations against Comey, meaning the case against him cannot be reopened.

It would seem to me that, if the charges were filed before the statute of limitations expired, and the judge’s ruling is held to be in error, the charges should be able to be reinstated. But I Am Not A Lawyer.

Posted in IANAL, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

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