1/. Some good advice from a Turkish journalist......don't panic - organise!
Trump will overplay his hand.....
American democracy is about to undergo a serious stress test. I know how it feels, in part because I lived through the slow and steady march of state capture as a journalist working in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey.
Over a decade as a high-profile journalist, I covered Turkey’s descent into illiberalism, having to engage in the daily push and pull with the government. I know how self-censorship starts in small ways but then creeps into operations on a daily basis. I am familiar with the rhythms of the battle to reshape the media, state institutions and the judiciary.
2/. A decision you have never heard of may decide the future of this country - who will lead the DNC is that important......
I don’t recall the year (think it was 2008?), but I remember well Louise and I meeting Ben Wikler over snacks and drinks at a small party at John Nichols’ home in Madison, Wisconsin. As we left, Louise remarked to me, “That kid’s going places. Keep an eye on him!”
Ben has more than fulfilled her prediction, leading Wisconsin Democrats to victory after victory; this weekend he announced he’s running for head of the DNC. This is a truly big deal.
3/. An ER of the future from Tom Tomorrow......don't laugh, this is coming!
4/. Democracy and Power....an excellent and intelligent story detailing what has gone wrong in America, and
why Trump got elected again......
The paragraph below got to me.....
If money can buy political power and the distribution of money is highly unequal, the rich will have a hugely unequal share of power, and consequently our government will tend to serve the interests of the rich and their associate businesses instead of serving the interests of the majority of people, and that is exactly where America is today. The economic inequality crisis isthe political crisis.
6/. Even though we haven't flown Southwest for a while, it still had a good vibe.....but remember the meltdown last year with their obsolete HR systems and the cancellation of thousands of flights? Wall Street has moved in and Southwest is going to change to the nickel and diming model.....like Allegiant.....
Three years ago, Southwest Airlines started flying out of Bellingham, Wash., a growing city near the Canadian border, aiming to do what it had done in dozens of smaller airports — sell lots of tickets to people who have few other travel options.
Officials and residents in Bellingham, which sits between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, were thrilled as the airline added new nonstop service to cities on the West Coast at affordable prices.
“The community embraced them, and we loved having them,” said Rob Fix, the executive director of the Port of Bellingham, which oversees the airport.
But the expansion didn’t work as planned. This year, facing unexpected costs and challenges, Southwest left Bellingham and a handful of other cities it had started serving during an ambitious period of growth early in the recovery from the pandemic — markets that it said were underperforming.
7/. Back in the day......
8/. How close are we to climate tipping points? No one knows, but it's damn near on us and with our new
dictator in charge it's going to accelerate....
P
icture a bucket that has a hole in the bottom and is fed by a tap. If the outflow of water from the hole matches the inflow of water from the tap, the level of water in the bucket stays constant.
9/. Don't believe the article above? Here's what happened last week alone......
BTW - MENA means the whole Middle East region, and AMOC is the Atlantic ocean currents including the Gulf Stream.....
A study in JGR Atmospheres found that “the regional warming over some MENA sub-regions is three times faster than the global average….The summer hotspot over the Arabian Peninsula has already warmed by more than 2°C and can potentially warm to approximately 9°C under the high-emission scenario…” The MENA region is expected to reach the 2 °C, 3 °C, and other temperature milestones at least 20 years before most of the rest of the world.
10/. Waiting for January 20th......
11/. Interesting story on how cruise lines are destroying the Bahamas....
Joseph Darville has fond memories of swimming with his young son off the south coast of Grand Bahama island, and watching together as scores of dolphins frolicked offshore. A lifelong environmentalist now aged 82, Darville has always valued the rich marine habitat and turquoise blue seas of the Bahamas, which have lured locals and tourists alike for generations.
The dolphins are now mostly gone, he says, as human encroachment proliferated and the environment deteriorated. “You don’t see them now; the jetskis go by and frighten them off.
“There’s a lot going on. It’s a tragedy – and continues to be a tragedy,” says Darville.
12/. We're still baffled......
13/. The most expensive property in the US is on sale for $295M - it's in Naples, and is guaranteed to flood very soon......
But the billionaire that buys it won't care.......
Asprawling Florida mansion set beside a powdery white sand beach overlooking the azure Gulf of Mexico is currently the most expensive property listed for sale in the United States, yours for a mere $295m.
It is also in one of the most vulnerable places in the country to climate-driven disasters, and faces an almost inevitable flooding event in the coming years.
The nine-acre gated retreat in Naples – styled as “Florida’s most exclusive compound” and complete with two vast guest houses, a dock, a yacht berth and facing water on three sides – stands as an extravagant symbol of how the desire for a balmy Florida lifestyle is colliding with the climate crisis.
“It’s almost a certainty this property will experience a flood,” said Jeremy Porter, climate risk researcher at First Street Foundation, a non-profit flood analysis group.
14/. This might be of interest.....especially for the next four years. How to blur your house on Google Maps....
Lost? Open up Google Maps on your smartphone. Chances are, it can get you where you need to go in a hurry. Its app-based Street View, a first-person perspective option that uses photos taken by Google itself, is an invaluable tool as well. Not only can it help you figure out where you are, but it can assist you in mapping out where you still need to go.
In fact, you've probably seen Google's camera cars rolling by at some point, taking these very images. They can be accessed by typing in any address, which will give you a 360-degree street view of homes and businesses in any given area on a map. But as useful as this view can be, it's also an invitation for scammers to use your home to try and intimidate you. Especially if you happen to have your home visible in on eof the photos. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/stay-anonymous-how-to-blur-out-your-house-on-google-maps/
15/. Vanity Fair lists the best 22 TV shows of 2024......some good ones in this list I'd never heard of!
16/. A five star movie....."Conclave" with Ralph Fiennes.....
There are some gloriously showy performance flourishes to be found in Edward Berger’s gripping papacy thriller Conclave. Prising open the doors of the Vatican to reveal the rituals and cynical machinations by which a new pope is chosen, it contains the most passive-aggressive curtsey in cinema history, delivered by the all-seeing Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini). This comes just after the good sister has delivered a truth bomb to the assembled cardinals, and it is so weighted with sarcasm that you wonder that her knees don’t buckle.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/01/conclave-review-ralph-fiennes-is-almighty-in-thrilling-papal-tussle-edward-berger-robert-harris-isabella-rossellini-5-stars?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
17/. Vanity Fair lists the best books of 2024.......
Another year, another Best Books list. We’ve spent the last 12 months speaking with authors, from pop star-turned-poet Marina Diamandis, to novelist R.O. Kwon. We have dissected the memoirs of former first wives (Hillary Clinton, Melania Trump), and chronicled the literary dramas that set group chats and Slack channels aflame. (See: Honor Levy, Blake Butler.) We have excerpted brilliant books, including those penned by VF editors, contributors, and friends: Griffin Dunne’s The Friday Afternoon Club, Lili Anolik’s Didion and Babitz, Sloane Crosley's Grief Is for People, and Molly Jong-Fast’s new introduction to David Friend’s The Naughty 90samong them. In short, we have read, and read, and, read. And in addition to all of those, we just must add a few more. Here, the can’t-miss books of 2024.
18/. The Times film critics list their best movies of 2024.....
Every year, as I start the herculean (and absurd!) task of winnowing a year’s worth of movies into a top 10, I also sift through a lot of grim media coverage about the terrible, horrible, possibly salvageable state of the entertainment industry. In the movie world, things are always looking up (maybe) unless they’re catastrophically down, a cycle of boom and bust that has gripped the industry for much of its history and always convinces someone, somewhere, that the movies are dead. It’s a familiar charge with a changing cast of murder suspects: synchronized sound, television, cable, streaming and, of course, corporate idiocy.
Despite their continued decline, the big American-based studios still dominate the mainstream media coverage and what little attention an increasingly fragmented, distracted audience has remaining. To that end, nearly every week another megadollar production comes hurtling toward us, gobbles up all the media interest, rakes in fortunes or becomes just another tax write-down or write-off. Some of these movies are OK, others are bilge; a scant few are memorable. Yet as my hardworking colleagues and I eagerly share in our reviews for The New York Times, the movie world is much vaster than what these companies offer, and good, great and miraculous work often flies under the radar. Here’s a sampling of the bounty.
Today's video - one of the funniest clips from Monty Python's "Life Of Brian" is a skit called "Biggs Dickus"......
Here it is, four minutes of hilarity....
Today's wonderful husband joke
Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cellular phone on a
bench rings and a man engages the hands-free speaker function and begins to talk.
Everyone else in the room stops to listen.
MAN: "Hello"
WOMAN: "Hi Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
MAN: "Yes."
WOMAN: "I'm at the shops now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's
only $2,000; is it OK if I buy it?"
MAN: "Sure, go ahead if you like it that much."
WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Lexus dealership and saw the new models. I saw one I really liked."
MAN: "How much?"
WOMAN: "$90,000."
MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."
WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing. I was just talking to Janie and
found out that the house I wanted last year is back on the market.
They're asking $980,000 for it."
MAN: "Well, then go ahead and make an offer of $900,000. They'll
probably take it. If not, we can go the extra eighty-thousand if it's what you really want."
WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you so much!"
MAN: "Bye! I love you, too."
The man hangs up.
The other men in the locker room are staring at him in astonishment,
mouths wide open.
He turns and asks, "Anyone know whose phone this is ?"
Today's drunk joke
A man and his wife were awakened at 3:00 am by a loud pounding on the door.
The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunk stranger, standing in the pouring rain, is asking for a push.
"Not a chance," says the husband, "it is 3:00 in the morning!” He slams the door and returns to bed.
"Who was that?" asked his wife.
"Just some drunk guy asking for a push," he answers.
"Did you help him?" she asks. "No, I did not, it is 3:00 in the morning and it is pouring rain out there!"
"Well, you have a short memory," says his wife. "Can't you remember about three months ago when we broke down, and those two guys helped us?
I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself! God loves drunk people too."
The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain. He calls out into the dark, "Hello, are you still there?"
"Yes," comes back the answer.
"Do you still need a push?" calls out the husband.
"Yes, please!" comes the reply from the dark.
"Where are you?" asks the husband.
"Over here on the swing," replied the drunk.
Today's computer joke
Dear Technical Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance — particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. The new program also began making unexpected changes to the accounting modules.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1.
Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate
——————————————————–
Dear Desperate:
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.
Please enter the command: ” C:/ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME” and try to download Tears 6.2 and don’t forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.
Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources).
Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Good Luck,
Tech Support
Today's barber joke
After returning from holiday Maurice walked into his barber shop for a shave and a haircut.
He tells the barber that he can't get all the whiskers off nowadays, because his cheeks were becoming wrinkled from age.
The barber gets a little wooden ball from a cup on the shelf and tells the man to put it inside his mouth to spread out the cheeks of his skin and proceeds to shave him.
When he's finished, the man tells the barber that was the cleanest shave he has had in years, but he wanted to know what would have happened if he had accidentally swallowed that little ball. The barber replied, "Just bring it back in a couple of days like everyone else does."
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