1/. Scientists are warning that this El Nino summer will be a scorcher....
Severe droughts can occur in Australia, Indonesia and parts of southern Asia during an El Niño pattern. Photograph: Outback Australia/Alamy The chance of an El Niño weather phenomenon developing in the coming months has risen, the United Nations has said, warning that it could fuel higher global temperatures and possibly new heat records.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday that it now estimated there was a 60% chance that El Niño would develop by the end of July, and an 80% chance it would do so by the end of September.
2/. Thomas Friedman with a related topic - we have unleashed two huge forces, AI technology
and climate change, and have no idea what might happen....
Merriam-Webster notes that a “Pandora’s box” can be “anything that looks ordinary but may produce unpredictable harmful results.” I’ve been thinking a lot about Pandora’s boxes lately, because we Homo sapiens are doing something we’ve never done before: lifting the lids on two giant Pandora’s boxes at the same time, without any idea of what could come flying out.
3/. Definitely different [and a little rude] SNL skit - "The Toilet Death Ejector"....
4/. Ladies - think long and hard before you spring for a designer anything.....
Once upon a time, the legend goes, Theseus slew the Minotaur and sailed triumphantly home to Athens on a wooden ship. The vessel was preserved by Athenian citizens, who continually replaced its rotting planks with strong, fresh timber so a pilgrimage to Delos could be made each year in their hero’s name. Fascinated by this mythical tale, the philosopher Plutarch found it to embody a “logical question of things that grow”: After Theseus’s ship had been stripped of all its original material, could it still be considered the same ship? His question has caromed through centuries of Western thought. What if, Thomas Hobbes wondered, someone rustled up a second boat out of the discarded planks; would you now have two original vessels? And what about our own era of machine-made duplication — does replication strip away the soul of creation?
5/. Tom Tomorrow looks into the future....
6/. An awwwww story ....charming.....dolls in a mailbox....something nice for a change!
Don Powell was sliding the usual assortment of envelopes from the mailbox outside of his home when he noticed something out of the ordinary:
A tiny doll couple was sitting on a love seat inside the mailbox. A small sticky note was also tucked inside.
“We’ve decided to live here,” the message read. It was signed from Mary and Shelley.
7/. A relatively restrained Umair with his observations on the TV Writers strike......interesting.....
8/. Yes it's May, but here's the Christmas Miracle skit from SNL......most amusing....
9/. Andrew Sullivan on our politicians who are too old to function properly....but won't retire...
I have seen the future and I do not want it. It’s a sunlit vista of the over-80s — too healthy to die, too old to fully live. They are the experiential bookend to all those “deaths of despair” among the young and middle-aged that plague America in the era of the poppy, the reason our life expectancy isn’t in free fall. Pharmaceuticals — miraculous, ever-improving, ever-more innovative — make it all possible, and the result is a healthier life in our prime but, as we age, an endless, crepuscular twilight zone of the undead. https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/americas-leaders-in-the-twilight?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=61371&post_id=113341470&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email
10/. Funny funny funny......ventriloquist Nina Conti with a classic....."Project Manager"....
Did I mention it's very funny?
11/. A very aggressive bit of Big Ag is Big Beef, mainly because they are in trouble on two fronts - dietary and climate change.
The problem is their tactics seem to be working....
The US beef industry is creating an army of influencers and citizen activists to help amplify a message that will be key to its future success: that you shouldn’t be too worried about the growing attention around the environmental impacts of its production.
In particular, it would like you not to be especially concerned about how meat consumption needs to be reduced if we are to avoid the most violently disruptive forms of planetary heating (even if all fossil fuel use ended tomorrow).
12/. Miss Anita NewJob.....
13/. Bob Lefsetz with more insightful thoughts on Tucker Carlson.....he says he's done.....
“Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight’ – The discovery of the text message contributed to a chain of events that ultimately led to Tucker Carlson’s firing.”: Free link: https://nyti.ms/3HwwAF9
The world needs someone.
But it doesn’t need you.
By time this is over, Tucker Carlson will be marginalized. Not extinguished, but marginalized. And he didn’t commit a faux pas, this is who he is. And it caught up with him.
I’m not saying white nationalists won’t continue to like Carlson, but I’m saying the mainstream, and it’s always about the mainstream in the end, elections are mainstream, never forget that, will back away from him.
14/. If you have watched "What The Health", you will appreciate this story about processed
food affecting your brain.....
Roughly 60 percent of the calories in the average American dietcome from highly processed foods. We’ve known for decades that eating such packaged products — like some breakfast cereals, snack bars, frozen meals and virtually all packaged sweets, among many other things — is linked to unwelcome health outcomes, like an increased risk of diabetes, obesity and even cancer. But more recent studies point to another major downside to these often delicious, always convenient foods: They appear to have a significant impact on our minds, too.
15/. The corruption of the Supreme Court is blatant - Maureen Dowd with an excellent column....
And BTW the graft includes John Roberts....
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is still great.
It’s the greatest gathering of grievances we’ve ever seen on the high court. The woe-is-me bloc of conservative male justices is obsessed with who has wronged them.
It might be an opportune time to hire a Supreme shrink so these resentful men can get some much-needed therapy and stop working out their issues from the bench.
Neil Gorsuch is settling a score for his mother.
In her memoir, Anne Gorsuch Burford wrote that when she was forced out as Ronald Reagan’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator in 1983, her 15-year-old son, Neil, “was really upset.” He told her: “You should never have resigned. You didn’t do anything wrong. You only did what the president ordered. You raised me not to be a quitter. Why are you a quitter?”
17/. Just like Republicans with conspiracy theories, we get food myths in our heads and they
won't go away...here is the Times with some truths....
Soy milk can raise the risk of breast cancer. Fat-free foods are healthier than high-fat foods. Vegans and vegetarians are deficient in protein. Some false ideas about nutrition seem to linger in American culture like a terrible song stuck in your head.
So to set the record straight, we asked 10 of the top nutrition experts in the United States a simple question: What is one nutrition myth you wish would go away — and why? Here’s what they said.
18/. The Times lists the best movies on Amazon Prime.....
Save this one.....some really good movies listed, including a few you've forgotten about....
As Netflix pours more of its resources into original content, Amazon Prime Video is picking up the slack, adding new movies for its subscribers each month. Its catalog has grown so impressive, in fact, that it’s a bit overwhelming — and at the same time, movies that are included with a Prime subscription regularly change status, becoming available only for rental or purchase. It’s a lot to sift through, so we’ve plucked out 100 of the absolute best movies included with a Prime subscription right now, to be updated as new information is made available.
19/. Vanity Fair lists summer movies to look forward to......especially if you like franchises....
If you want to really get wild and start the summer movies 2023 season with an April release, things are already off to an excellent start—Universal’s Super Mario Bros. has become just the fifth movie to cross the global $1 billion mark since the pandemic, continuing what looks like a real trend of moviegoing coming back in force. So what summer movies are all these returning moviegoers going to watch next? Well, we’ve got superheroes, a book club, a handful of animated characters, and one very famous doll that would like some attention.
Ahead, we’ve selected 26 movies coming out this summer that are worth anticipating, from films that have become critical darlings to some mysterious tentpoles we were already looking forward to before the year even began. Heavy hitters like Marvel, DC, and Tom Cruise are all back, but there’s still room for surprises, with indie-darling filmmakers and even some teen turtles entering into the summer box office fray. Get your popcorn ready and join us at the movies.
20/. We mentioned this series "The Diplomat" a few weeks ago, and Mary and I have just finished
every episode......and recommend it highly! The Guardian likes it too....
Dramatic, intelligent and well acted.....
Keri Russell as ambassador Kate Wyler in The Diplomat. Photograph: AP Diplomacy never works,” a character complains in the new Netflix series The Diplomat. “Diplomacy doesn’t open doors with a twist of the wrist.”
“Diplomacy is 40 days and nights in a Vienna hotel room, listening to the same empty talking points, getting trashed at the minibar,” the character continues. “It’s getting to ‘no’ over, and over, and over. Diplomacy never works. Until it does.”
This mixture of ennui and stubborn hope is instantly recognisable to real-life diplomats, former and current, American and British, who have watched the series with a mix of familiarity, amusement and incredulity.
Today's school joke....
A smart-arsed teenager at the back of the room raised his hand and asked.
"What would happen if I came in tomorrow suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?"
The entire class was reduced to laughter and sniggering.
When silence was restored, the teacher smiled at the student, shook her head and sweetly said, "Well, I would expect you to write the exam with your other hand."
Today's joke for the guys.....
A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband is not in bed.
She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him.
She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of him.
He appears to be in deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee.
'What's the matter, dear' she whispers as she steps into the room, 'Why are you down here at this time of night?
The husband looks up from his coffee, 'It's the 20th Anniversary of the day we met'. She can't believe he has remembered and starts to tear up.
The husband continues, 'Do you remember 20 years ago when we started dating, I was 18 and you were only 16,' he says solemnly.
Once again, the wife is touched to tears. 'Yes, I do' she replies.
The husband pauses. The words were not coming easily. 'Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car'
'Yes, I remember' said the wife, lowering herself into the chair beside him.
The husband continued. 'Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my face and said, "Either you marry my daughter or I will send you to prison for 20 years'
'I remember that, too' she replied softly.
He wiped another tear from his cheek and said "I would have gotten out today."
Today's bar joke
Two men are sitting at the bar at the top of the Empire State Building drinking, when the first man turns to the other one and says: "You know, last week I discovered that if you jump from the top of this building, by the time you fall to the 10th floor, the wind around the building is so intense that it carries you around the building and back into the window."
The bartender just shakes his head in disapproval while wiping the bar, but says nothing.
The second guy says, "What? Are you insane? There's no way in heck that could happen!"
"No, no... it's true..." said the first man, "let me prove it to you."
He gets up from the bar, jumps over the balcony and plummets toward the street below. When he passes the 10th floor, the high wind whips him around the building and back into the 10th floor window. He takes the elevator back up to the bar.
He meets the second man, who is astonished. "Oh my God, I saw that with my own eyes! But that must've been a one-time fluke. That was scientifically impossible!"
"No, I'll prove it again," says the first man as he jumps.
Again, just as his body hurtles towards the street, the 10th floor wind gently carries him around the building and into the window. He takes the elevator ! back to the bar. Once upstairs, he successfully convinces his dubious fellow drinker to try it.
"Well, what the heck," the second guy says, "I've seen that it works, so I'll try it!"
He immediately jumps over the balcony - plunges downward - rapidly passes the 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th floors... His body hits the
sidewalk...Splat !!!!
Back upstairs, the bartender who had been silent the whole time turns to the first drinker, and shakes his head "You know, Superman, you're a real asshole when you're drunk."
Todays redneck joke
A small zoo in Georgia obtained a very rare species of gorilla.
Within a few weeks the gorilla, a female, became very difficult to handle.
Upon examination, the veterinarian determined the problem. The gorilla was
in heat. To make matters worse, there was no male gorilla available.
Thinking about their problem, the Zoo Keeper thought of Bobby Lee Walton, a redneck part-time worker responsible for cleaning the animal cages.
Bobby Lee, like most rednecks, had little sense but possessed ample ability to satisfy a female of any species.
The Zoo Keeper thought they might have a solution. Bobby Lee was
approached with a proposition. Would he be willing to mate with the gorilla for $500.00?
Bobby Lee showed some interest, but said he would have to think the matter
over carefully. The following day, he announced that he would accept their offer, but only under five conditions:
"First", Bobby Lee said, "I ain't gonna kiss her on the lips."
The Keeper quickly agreed to this condition.
"Second", he said, "She must wear a 'Dale Earnhardt Forever' T-Shirt."
The keeper again readily agreed to this condition.
"Third", he said, "you can't never tell no one about this."
The keeper again readily agreed to this condition.
"Fourth", Bobby Lee said, "I want all the children raised Southern Baptist.
Once again it was agreed.
And last, Bobby Lee said, "I'll need another week to come up with the $500.00.
