Hey! I stayed up ‘til 9!

 Happy new year, everybody... and good night!

The tundra swans are back on Lake Mendota.

This morning at sunrise: 

"In Scottish custom, Unspoken Water was water believed to have healing properties when collected 'from under a bridge, over which the living pass and the dead are carried...'"

"'... brought in the dawn or twilight to the house of a sick person, without the bearer’s speaking, either in going or returning.'... The custom is long obsolete. The 1901 The Book of Saint Fittick by Thomas White Ogilvie contains an elderly woman's account of being 'the last wife in Torry to cure a bairn wi' unspoken water ... comin' or gaun I spak' tae naebody — for that's what mak's unspoken

Orgasms and sandwiches.

From a post at Reddit about the 1973 book "Understanding the Female Orgasm" by Dr. Seymour Fisher:something I found googling his name.... "Part of the early research leading to that book found that women who enjoyed food were likely to enjoy sex as well, and that put a twist into the Fishers' social life, Rhoda Fisher said. 'When we got to somebody's house for dinner,' she said, 'no women wanted

Precise opportunity seized.

Last midnight: "2020, 24 hours to go..." (my son John, at Facebook, embedding "I Wanna Be Sedated").

"Mr. Hawley’s challenge is not unprecedented... Democrats in both the House and Senate challenged certification of the 2004 election results..."

"... and House Democrats tried on their own to challenge the 2016 and 2000 outcomes, though without Senate support. ... Senator Barbara Boxer of California... briefly delayed the certification of George W. Bush’s victory... cit[ing] claims that Ohio election officials had improperly purged voter rolls... which Mr. Bush carried by fewer than 120,000 votes. Nancy Pelosi, then the House Democratic

At the Overnight Cafe...

 ... you can write about whatever you want.

"Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said Wednesday he will object when Congress counts the Electoral College votes next week, which will force lawmakers in both the House and Senate to vote..."

"... on whether to accept the results of President-elect Joe Biden's victory.... The objection will not change the outcome of the election, only delaying the inevitable affirmation of Biden's victory in November over President Donald Trump. Democrats will reject any objections in the House, and multiple Republican senators have argued against an objection that will provide a platform for Trump's

"A pack of young bicyclists attacked a BMW in broad daylight in Manhattan, terrorizing the man and woman inside in a terrifying ambush caught on video."

"Several assailants surrounded the luxury ride at Fifth Avenue and 21st Street around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, with some pounding the vehicle with their fists and feet, and another smashing a bike down on top of it...  One attacker got a running start, vaulted up on the hood of the BMW and jumped on top of the windshield, causing it to partly cave in... The same group similarly attacked a cab a short

Big overnight snow storm.

How it looked from our window at 6:58 a.m.:

"Russian riot police stormed into a monastery Tuesday to detain a rebel monk who has castigated the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church leadership and denied the existence of the coronavirus...."

"Authorities charged [Father Sergiy] with inciting suicidal actions through sermons in which he urged believers to 'die for Russia.'...  When the virus arrived in Russia early this year, the 65-year-old monk denied its existence and denounced government efforts to stem the pandemic as 'Satan’s electronic camp.' He has described the vaccines being developed against COVID-19 as part of a global

Andrew Sullivan detects anti-gay bigotry: "So you agree not wanting to have sex with someone because they have a vagina is a form of bigotry, right?"

So you agree not wanting to have sex with someone because they have a vagina is a form of bigotry, right?— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) December 29, 2020 It’s bigotry and sir I am one of the biggest transgender supporters period. People like you would like nothing but to drop the T from LGBT. When I sucked on my formers lovers dick since she was pre op transwoman for me was just a big

"I’ve been against the space program.... After all, we knew there were no resources we could economically bring back from [the moon], and we knew there was no atmosphere."

"Even if the whole thing were paved with diamonds, that wouldn’t help us much. So it seems like a vaudeville stunt. A lot of scientists felt it was money that might be spent in other areas of research. What it was was money spent on engineering. It might as well have been an enormous skyscraper or a huge bridge or something like that. It was publicity and show business, not science. John F.

Just so we're clear...

Just so we're clear, "Dick Cheney" is trending because people want ted Cruz to be shot. Twitter is a cesspit of sociopaths.— IMPERATOR_NASDAQ (@ImpNasdaq) December 30, 2020 Ted, I enthusiastically encourage you to go hunting with Dick Cheney next time.— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) December 29, 2020 Backstory: "Dick Cheney hunting accident" (Wikipedia).

"In what is probably the definitive word on how little exercise we can get away with, a new study finds that a mere four seconds of intense intervals, repeated until they amount to about a minute of total exertion..."

"... lead to rapid and meaningful improvements in strength, fitness and general physical performance among middle-aged and older adults.... Ed Coyle, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas in Austin, and his graduate assistant Jakob Allen suspected that even 20-second spurts, performed intensely, might exceed some exercisers’ tolerance. So, he decided to start looking for the

"The statue by Thomas Ball depicts a Black man, shirtless and on his knees, in front of a clothed and standing Abraham Lincoln."

"In one hand, Lincoln holds a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, while the other is stretched out over the Black man. Ball intended it to look as though the man were rising to freedom, but to many, it looks like he is bowing down or supplicating to Lincoln. Boston artist Tory Bullock, who started the petition, described it this way: 'I’ve been watching this man on his knees since I was a kid.

At the Sunrise Cafe

... you can talk about whatever you want.

"I loathe domestic life.... I don’t want anyone in my house that I don’t know when they are leaving, so I don’t want there to be anyone else in the house."

"So you’ve never had a live-in relationship?"/"Never! That’s what I’m saying, never! Never. I never did it. I never would do it. I don’t want to do it. I have no interest in it. I don’t like domestic life like that. I am not that share-y a person; I’m not accommodating in that way, in any real way. I have zero ability or desire — the only monogamous relationship I have had in my life is with my

"Like Nietzsche’s Socrates, Trump was 'the buffoon who got himself taken seriously.' Unlike a Socratic buffoon, however..."

"... Trump never overcame himself. Bereft of the wider critique that once confounded political elites, his personality cult is no longer compelling even as a vessel for ressentiment. Its chief acolytes today are the legacy media operations whose fortunes his nonstop controversies helped revive, opportunistic scribblers hoping to cash in on one more #Maga or #Resistance potboiler, and those who

William Gibson — deploying the old "grocer's apostrophe" — says something inscrutable about Nazis and the Space Force.

How was it, given fascism's theoretical predilection for kitsch, that the Nazi's generally had such strongly stylin' uniforms? Could it all have been Hugo Boss? https://t.co/C9Su69H1Nb— William Gibson (@GreatDismal) December 29, 2020

"One of the more unexpected character arcs of the Trump era is the emergence of 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams as a pro-Trump political commentator."

"Adams, a 'trained hypnotist' with a self-proclaimed expertise in the rhetorical dark arts, has made any number of dazzlingly confident predictions over the last four years. But few are quite as grim as his March 12 tweet predicting that before November 3, Sanders, Biden and Trump would all contract Covid-19 — and one of them would die from it. It’s December, the election is over, and all three

Our wild year.

"This is the best gift idea I've ever had."

@kylescheele This is the best gift idea I’ve ever had. #greenscreen #photoshop #christmas #gift #family #familypictures #funny ♬ original sound - kylescheele

"We're told Biden doesn't have a 'vision.' He doesn't. We’re told he doesn’t have an ideology. He doesn’t. But he has a public image..."

"... which is that he’s a middle-class guy in the center who knows what he doesn't like — and he doesn’t like departures from common sense. In this initial, breath-gathering post-Trump moment, that might do as a Vision Substitute. It’s not asking not what your country can do for you or having a dream or a shining city on a hill or 'as Americans that is not enough we must be equal in the eyes of

Sunrise with snow.

"Successfully making art requires accepting yourself, in Mr. Koons’s philosophy, so that you can pursue your interests without shame."

"'Everything about your past is perfect,' he says. 'Everything up to this moment about you is spectacular.' ... I found myself mindlessly nodding along, as he compares an ashtray that he remembers loving as a child, with a reclining woman holding her legs aloft, to Michelangelo’s 'Pietà.' 'How can that be any less than this masterpiece by Michelangelo?' he says. 'It’s equal.'... He asks himself,

"Oakland’s Ceramic Bust Of Breonna Taylor Smashed In Brazen Act Of Vandalism."

CBS Local reports.Who would do such a thing?

If you've been having trouble with the "Dr. Jill" nomenclature, just see it as a stage name... a sobriquet... a nom de guerre...

This is a solution I'd been thinking about ever since the controversy broke a couple weeks ago (or whenever that was), but I felt pushed over the edge to blog about it when I was driving in my car, listening to the "Bridge" channel on the satellite radio, and this came on: Dr. Hook. That's a stage name. The "Hook" name was inspired by Sawyer's eyepatch and a reference to Captain Hook of the Peter

I feel lured into talking about Hilaria Baldwin, but what do I want to say? What did I say about Rachel Dolezal... and is this the same... or worse... or better?

I thought I could get away with dropping this one seemingly juicy sentence from The Washington Examiner....But while, say, the New York Times decided that Hilaria's cosplaying as a Latina stereotype was off-limits — even as they wrote growing profiles of her as well, including uncritically her "slight Spanish accent" — the paper of record has celebrated children having their college admissions

It's not the strict adherence to a plan... it's also the strict avoidance of trying to do it very well — 4 decades of rigorous anti-perfectionism.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The New Yorker (@newyorkermag) ADDED: Here's the New Yorker article. Excerpt: "Her strain of snapshot conceptualism, profoundly personal and eminently personable, could have been overwhelmed with minutiae or weighed down by retrospective insight. Instead, with its light touch and searching, unsmiling star, the book breathes with

"Trump reverses on coronavirus stimulus deal, signs package he called a 'disgrace.'"

 USA Today headline.Is that a "reversal"? After weeks of negotiation and bipartisan votes of approval in the House and Senate, Trump on Tuesday unexpectedly slammed the COVID stimulus legislation but stopped short of saying he would veto it. The message upended Washington, drew bipartisan condemnation and threatened to end a chaotic year with a government shutdown. Unexpectedly? But after a

At the Sunday Night Café...

 ... you can talk about whatever you want.

When you're alone and 5G is making you paranoid, you can always go... downtown....

The Daily Mail reports: Speculation is growing that the AT&T building was intentionally targeted in the Nashville Christmas Day bombing as the FBI probes rumors that the main suspect in the attack harbored deep paranoia about 5G technology.  Police on Sunday confirmed that Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, is a person of interest in the investigation launched when an RV exploded outside Nashville's AT&

"Although Westerners date the origins of restaurants (those independent of inns) to post-revolutionary France, when chefs were suddenly freed..."

"... from the kitchens of the aristocracy, in Japan restaurants began more than one hundred and seventy years earlier, after the Tokugawa Shogunate instituted the system of alternate attendance (sankin kotai) to prevent its feudal lords (daimyo) from overthrowing it. Because after 1615 daimyo were required to divide their time between their fiefs and Edo, leaving their wives and children in the

"It is with a heavy heart we say goodbye to one of the most iconic voices and musicians in bluegrass. David Anthony ‘Tony’ Rice passed away yesterday, Dec. 25, at his home in Reidsville, NC. Few will ever match his skill and influence."

Said the International Bluegrass Association, quoted in Variety. Rice was “the single most influential acoustic guitar player in the last 50 years,” said Ricky Skaggs, who played alongside Rice in the group the New South in the 1970s and later rejoined him for a classic duets album, “Skaggs/Rice.”... “Sometime during Christmas morning while making his coffee, our dear friend and guitar hero Tony

"You have, then, the calm conservatism of George H. W. Bush and the fevered conservatism of Patrick Buchanan; the balm of Jeb Bush and..."

"... the bluntness of Donald Trump; the moderation of Theresa May and the flamboyance of Boris Johnson; of Angela Merkel, perhaps the most properly conservative of our contemporary leaders, against the radical outliers of reactionary German nationalism. Fawcett sees this as the core conflict within the right, always present, forever waxing or waning, and central to the future of Western democracy

"Ms. Petro said she and her husband still make time for sex, even if it’s just, say, every third Sunday. 'I shove thoughts of chores undone out of my mind...'"

"'... and just try to relax into my body and be present for my partner,' she said.... 'People get very wrapped up in the idea of spontaneously desiring sex,' Dr. Nagoski said, but, especially in women, it’s fairly rare. Based on a wide body of research on gender and sexual desire, Dr. Nagoski estimates that roughly 15 percent of women experience spontaneous desire, whereas most experience

Cardi B shows lavish Christmas decorations: It’s a ‘dream come true’

It’s a Cardi Christmas dream.Cardi B showed off her lavish Christmas decorations in her Atlanta mansion that included five trees heavily adorned with twinkly lights and pastel roses.“So I haven’t seen my home decoration because I’ve been in LA and I just got here from New York,” the 28-year-old rapper said in a video posted to Instagram on Thursday. “I can’t believe that’s my home.”The “WAP”

Legend King's pop Elvis lives again — in songs, sales and birthday bash

 Elvis Presley would’ve turned 86 on Jan. 8, and the King is having a bit of a moment again.Graceland is celebrating the rock legend in Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 7 to 9, and Page Six reported that the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum just commemorated the 50th anniversary of the mind-bending meeting between Presley and the president at the White House.Adding to it all, Jon Bon Jovi just

Wild ice morning.

"As retro as a shelf of books might seem in an era of flat-panel screens, Books by the Foot has thrived through Democratic and Republican administrations..."

"... including that of the book-averse Donald Trump. And this year, the company has seen a twist: When the coronavirus pandemic arrived, Books by the Foot had to adapt to a downturn in office- and hotel-decor business—and an uptick in home-office Zoom backdrops for the talking-head class.... If an order were to come in for, say, 12 feet of books about politics, specifically with a progressive or

"All of a sudden, Ms. Duke, a vocal critic of 'mommy wine culture' and a member of the Sober Mom Squad, a virtual community created during the pandemic, was fielding questions..."

"... about alcohol from friends and acquaintances. Was two bottles of wine a night a bit over the top? How much was too much?... 'No one is talking about glasses of wine anymore,' said Ms. Duke, who works for a dog grooming app and lives in Manhattan with her two teenage sons. 'People are measuring by the bottle,' she continued. 'That scares me. I know too many women who went from one or two

How the word "how" has become the most deceptive word in the history of headlines.

I'm sure some "how" headlines sit atop articles that really explain how to do something, but I must cry out against the infestation of "how" in headlines. I'm seeing headline after headline that would be more accurate if you just crossed out the "how," because the article isn't really going to tell you how X happened. It's only going to tell you that X happened.I've been meaning to rail about

"At French Resorts, Skiing Has Become an Uphill Sport/The government closed ski lifts, fearing they might spread the coronavirus. The skiers came anyway."

The NYT reports. “When you go out skiing in the cold, the first thing that happens is your nose starts to run,” said Miles Bright, an English mountain guide based in Chamonix. “And what do you do? You wipe your nose. So your gloves are covered in snot, you join in the lift queue, you touch things.” “I just can’t see how it can be hygienic, getting in and out of the ski lifts,” he added. “But for

"Every day these people would wake us up. At first, I was polite and asked them to please be quiet. Then after a few days I was shouting, and my husband was like: 'Stop it! You can’t do that.'"

Said Kyle Luker, whose window — on Manhattan's Upper West Side — is just above where people line up for an hours-long wait to get into Trader Joe’s. He's quoted in "Anything You Say in This Trader Joe’s Line May Be Used Against You/These neighbors’ signs respond to loud shoppers: 'We are so sorry your wife is leaving you,' one read. 'And we are SURE the "Everything but the Bagel" Seasoning will

"It would be nice if the wall-to-wall marathon showings of A Christmas Story on TBS and TNT led to a rediscovery of Jean Shepherd's other work..."

"... and even to a revival of the radio arts, but given that people have so many other things to occupy themselves nowadays, that it's unlikely." Said Lurker21, in the comments to the Christmas Café.I've never seen "A Christmas Story," though I am one of Jean Shepherd's biggest fans. For years, in the 1960s, I used to get in bed in time to hear the "Call to Post" — which, today, sounds like

At the Christmas Café...

 ... you can write about whatever you want. And I hope you got whatever you wanted.  ADDED: These are photographs that I originally blogged in 2006, in "Things made by children for Christmas long ago." The objects, which I still have, were made more than 60 years ago. I see that in the comments here and back in 2006, someone asks if my name is really Jo Ann. No. Jo Ann was a doll's name — and I

"Our vaunted capacity for abstract thought often gets us (or others) into trouble. We may be the only species to pursue scientific inquiry..."

"... but we’re also the only species that has consciously perpetrated genocides. Cats, unlike humans, don’t trick themselves into believing they are saviors, wreaking havoc in the process. 'When cats are not hunting or mating, eating or playing, they sleep,' Gray writes. 'There is no inner anguish that forces them into constant activity.'...We are human supremacists whose vanity and moralism and

Christmas TV.

Instead we are now watching the Twilight Zone where Art Carney is the drunk Santa.— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) December 25, 2020 ADDED: Speaking of British TV: Ok I’m deeply curious about this, how often do you use subtitles on your TV?— caitie delaney (@caitiedelaney) December 25, 2020 My answer is always when it's British TV.

Except most of those things we can't do right now, Bob....

A Christmas Message from Bob Dylan:"If you got the holiday blues, I feel for you. I know life is hard. But you don't need anyone to tell you how to feel better. ... What you gotta do is go out and help someone more unfortunate than you." pic.twitter.com/2szVpc147Y— HarryHew (@harryhew) December 24, 2020

Happy Christmas!

pic.twitter.com/3XlcA2czny— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) December 25, 2020 ADDED: From Craig Brown's "150 Glimpses of the Beatles":Alone of all the Beatles, Ringo possessed no talent for composing. But one day, in a sudden flash of inspiration, the germs of a song entered his head, as if from nowhere. He worked on the song for three hours, and presented it to the other three the next day. After

At the Christmas Eve Café...

... you can talk about anything you want.

"Now Ann has baited me into promiscuously spiking my anxiety stew with carnalized onions..."

Ha ha ha. My favorite kind of comment — taking an ingredient from an old post and adding it to the material in the post under discussion. It's fusion commenting, like fusion cooking... and the metaphor in the comment is cooking. And I love that I've got a tag for "onions," though I see various posts with onions that did not get the tag, including posts with the tag "onion rings," onion rings

"I’ve honestly started wondering if this is just how men’s minds actually work in real life and now instead of being uncomfortable about passages like these, I’m uncomfortable about life."

 A comment at the subreddit menwritingwomen.The commenter is reacting in general to snippets of writing that have been posted in that group and specifically to this one:

Of course, the NYT "loves" this... if love includes loving the virality of something so clickable and sharable.

The New York Times loves this comment— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) December 22, 2020 Click and reclick the image to read the full comment that begins "It all depends on your attitude."Now, Joe Gabriel Simonson withholds a link to the NYT, so he's onto their game and refusing to play... and he himself is using a woman's sex tale about her daughter to get links for himself... including

At the Sunrise Café...

 ... you can write about whatever you want.

"The combination of half-listening and overdramatization of the facts by the media creates an anxiety-driven stew."

Said Gale Ridge, an entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, quoted in "Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated" (ScienceNews). "Suddenly, overlooked local wasp and hornet species… hanging around in corners of people’s backyards for millennia become the subjects of panic-driven calls," she said. The solution, she says, is: "One

"Rough Old-Time Mountain Folk Make The Best Music."

"I was 12 years old in the 9th grade - younger than my classmates, and (as you may possibly be able to imagine) pretty awkward, shy and nerdy.

"And I had a crush on Patrice Y., the girl who sat directly in front of me in math class (because the seats were all arranged in alphabetical order for some arbitrary reason)...."A very cheerful story from Weird Al Yankovic (at Facebook). Go read it and be heartwarmed.

John McWhorter calls bullshit on civility.

Overall, the social media universe must hear this. I am no longer a whipper-snapper. I am a jaded 55, and if you diss me where I can hear it, it's your ass. I will no longer be polite.— John McWhorter (@JohnHMcWhorter) December 23, 2020

A perfect storm of gender privilege + celebrity privilege.

We just saw Pete Davidson on the highway and my daughter and I stalked up until we could sidle up next to his car and screamed we love u Pete!! He obliged with a slightly strained smile- Pete hope someone tells u that the crazy lady was only me and we meant it! @nbcsnl— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) December 23, 2020 1. Celebrity privilege — Sorvino openly states the belief that she is different

Credit/blame for saying the right/wrong number.

Why should it have mattered what the president said he wanted? What should have mattered is what the Democrats demanded.— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) December 23, 2020

At the Sunrise Café...

... you can talk about whatever you like.

"We've been educated, we've got liberated/And had complicating matters with men.../Oh we burned our bras and we burned our dinners/And we burned our candles at both ends..."

 "K.T. Oslin... has died, according to a statement from the Country Music Association. She was 78. Oslin became the first woman to win the CMA Award for song of the year... for '80 Ladies.'" (CNN). She won the award in 1988.You can read the full lyrics here. 

"The man and woman never did settle in, and as Flight 462 began to taxi out to a runway, the man stood up, ignoring a flight attendant’s order to sit, saying that he had post-traumatic stress disorder..."

"A short time later... the plane shudder[ed] to a stop.... The man had forced open a cabin door, activating an emergency slide, and then he, his female companion and their [large service] dog slid their way out of the plane, officials said.... This was not the first time a panicky passenger has pulled such a maneuver at a New York-area airport, but neither Delta, the F.A.A. nor the Port Authority

"I wish I could make it so that people were more thoughtful and kind toward each other. It’s something that I think about a lot as I move through life."

"In Japan, for example, we have priority seating on train carriages, for people who are elderly or people with a disability. If the train is relatively empty, sometimes you’ll see young people sit in these seats. If I were to say something, they’d probably tell me: 'But the train is empty, what’s the issue?' But if I were a person with a disability and I saw people sitting there, I might not want

"I thought it was delicious. Is that because I love McDonald’s too deeply? Or is something wrong with my taste?"

Wrote someone identified as Feifei Mao Enthusiast on the Sina Weibo microblog service, quoted in "In China, McDonald’s serving Spam burger topped with Oreo crumbs...." In the Chicago Tribune, which observes, "Global brands from restaurants to automakers sometimes roll out offbeat products to appeal to Chinese tastes in the populous and intensely competitive market."How deep is your love for

3 hours and 24 minutes after the solstice....

 ... the darkness had resolved into this.

"Across the United States, many areas with large populations of Latinos and residents of Asian descent, including ones with the highest numbers of immigrants, had... a surge in turnout and a shift to the right, often a sizable one."

"The pattern was evident in big cities like Chicago and New York, in California and Florida, and along the Texas border with Mexico, according to a New York Times analysis of voting in 28,000 precincts in more than 20 cities..... [T]he red shifts, along with a wave of blue shifts in Republican and white areas, have scrambled the conventional wisdom of American politics and could presage a new

"Undercutting Trump, Barr says there’s no basis for seizing voting machines, using special counsels for election fraud, Hunter Biden."

 WaPo reports.

"What item of clothing was the emphasis on? What is the most risky piece of clothing?"/"Underpants... The insides, the crotch."

From "Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny dupes spy into revealing how he was poisoned" (CNN).Toxicologists consulted by CNN say that if applied in granular form to clothes, the [lethal nerve agent] Novichok would be absorbed through the skin when the victim begins to sweat....

"The standard does not appear necessary to ensure that the product meets consumer expectations, and the F.D.A. has tentatively concluded that it is no longer necessary to promote honesty and fair dealing in the interest of consumers and may limit flexibility for innovation."

Announced the FDA, quoted in "F.D.A. Wants to Stop Regulating French Dressing/The federal agency said it was seeking to revoke its definition for the carrot-colored dressing, effectively erasing a government-required list of ingredients at the request of an industry group" (NYT). Marion Nestle — "a professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University" — called

"Among jurists I have encountered in the United States and abroad, Shirley Abrahamson is the very best."

"As lawyer, law teacher and judge, she has inspired legions to follow in her way, to strive constantly to make the legal system genuinely equal and accessible to all who dwell in our fair land."Said Ruth Bader Ginsburg, quoted in "Shirley Abrahamson, longest-serving member of Wisconsin Supreme Court, dies at 87" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Goodbye to Shirley Abrahamson.

Maybe just do the same thing but with a pseudonym.

Ok it’s a long story but I need a pseudonym. Which one of these is your fave?— Tom Rosenthal (@tomrosenthal) October 11, 2020 Comedy story. @adrianbliss asked me to do a cover of ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe for a video in 2015. My cover went viral on TikTok last week. Many asked me to release it on Spotify but don’t want covers on my Spotify so say hello to @EdithWhiskers my pseudonym. Song out

At the Sunday Night Cafe...

... you can write about whatever you want. 

"Have you ever heard of 'pronoid'?" — I ask.

Meade says: "I've heard of 'noid.'"I say: "What is that, some R. Crumb thing?"Meade says, yes, and I look it up. I'm surprised. How could we both independently think "Noid" was an R. Crumb character and it not be true? "No, 'The Noid' was a character in old Domino's Pizza ads" — I say.The slogan was "Avoid the Noid." In 1989, a man named Kenneth Lamar Noid, who believed the character had to do

"I grew up in the former Soviet Union and in a late, flaccid, totalitarian state, the idea that 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' was particularly obvious."

"For seventy years, the rhetoric of the Soviet state was always about happiness for all, a better future for all, equality for all—bullshit rhetoric that was like a paper bag thrown over a bomb. But apart from learning about how the genocidal state operates, you also learn instantly to recognize this idea, in whatever guise it comes at you, that someone else knows what you need to be 'happy,' and

"Once You Get The COVID-19 Vaccine, Can You Still Infect Others?"

From FiveThirtyEight: There’s a hypothetical mechanism that could allow this to happen biologically, said Deepta Bhattacharya, a professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona. And that mechanism is … well … it’s boogers and phlegm.  “So, the virus enters in through the upper respiratory tracts, either through your nose or your throat. And those are protected by a mucous layer. And so

"Where and by whom 'Latinx' is used has helped spur the complaints that it may alienate working-class Latino communities (especially those that speak Spanish)..."

"... or at least fail to reflect their preferences. 'I keep thinking, people who are watching this, do they identify with that term?' asks Richard T. Rodríguez, an associate professor at the University of California at Riverside, of political messaging during the pandemic that has used 'Latinx.' 'The x is jarring, kind of like biting in glass.' (Rodríguez also pointed out that even though 'Latinx

At the Saturday Night Café...

... you can write about whatever you want.

"I don’t hate art. But I don’t know what the hell that was."

Said building owner Nate Comte, quoted in "Cookie Monster Mural Puzzles Artist and Enrages Property Owner/A man claiming to be a property owner in Peoria, Ill., wanted a Soviet-style mural of Cookie Monster. The artist who did the job now says he was tricked (and paid) by an impostor" (NYT). [The artist, Joshua] Hawkins, who apologized to Mr. Comte on his Facebook page, said he was still trying

Jim Carrey's "SNL" performance as Joe Biden "brought a lot of attention to the show, but it ultimately garnered mixed reviews..."

"... with some critics saying that, despite Carrey's comedic talents, his Biden was missing the mark. 'It sounded like a great get at first. Here was a big-time star that could balance out the heft of Alec Baldwin's Trump. But after three episodes, Carrey still hasn't managed to break through,' Vanity Fair wrote in October. 'Maybe he's too physical a performer, or too needy a showman, to capture

Gentle morning.

"The Answer."

Meade directed my attention to William James Chidley (c.1860 – 21 December 1916) — "an Australian philosopher with unconventional theories on sex, diet and clothing" (Wikipedia):In 1911, Chidley published The Answer in Melbourne.... Chidley sold copies to curious passers-by on the footpath. In 1912, Chidley moved to Sydney, where he became a familiar bearded figure dressed in a Grecian-style

Christmas in Japan.

Japan is still trying to figure out Christmas from r/nextfuckinglevel

"DON’T waste time preparing stuff. People aren’t tuning in to hear what you’ve prepped, they’re tuning in to hear what comes naturally."

"Again, I have no idea why. People are idiots. Especially people who listen to podcasts. But it’s great because it means you don’t have to do any work. And work, as you two know full well, is for losers.... DO be vile to each other. People love that.... DON’T worry if everything you say feels boring and irrelevant. All podcasts are boring and irrelevant. They’re meant to be. DON’T get all

Pandas "sniff out fresh horse droppings, lay themselves down and roll their bulky bodies in the muck, using their paws to really make sure they are covered..."

"... from the tip of their fuzzy ears to the bottom of their tails, until their black and white fur is another shade entirely.... A team of researchers led by Fuwen Wei, a biologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, first noticed a panda luxuriating in a pile of horse excrement in 2007. Unsure of whether it was a fluke, they spent years tracking the bears with dozens of camera traps, eventually

"'I am Charlie' gave birth to 'I am not Charlie,' giving rise to a question that demands picking camps: Are you or are you not Charlie?"

"The answer puts people on either side of France’s major fault lines, including freedom of speech, secularism, race, national identity and, of course, Islam... Today, someone who is Charlie is likely to be white and supporter of the caricatures’ publication. At its extreme, the person may back a strict secularism that at times is a cover for anti-Islam. Someone who’s not Charlie is often nonwhite

"Looking back, it can seem like Zuckerberg’s path to world domination was inevitable."

"There’s the computerized version of Risk he coded in ninth grade; his long-standing interest in the Roman empire; his obsession with information flow and human psychology. There’s the story of his first bona fide internet scandal, when he hacked into Harvard’s directory and lifted photos of students without their permission to make the hot-or-not-style website FaceMash. ('Child’s play' was how

"Even if you are strongly supportive of vaccines, and we are, even if you recognize how many millions of lives have been saved over the past 50 years by vaccines, and we do, it all seems a bit much."

"It feels false, because it is, it’s too slick. The Gandalf guy was euphoric because he got a shot? It wasn’t heroin, it was the corona vaccine. The lady who couldn’t breathe is enthusiastic as she was rushed to the emergency room? Come on. This is patronizing. Stop with the slogans." Crabbed Tucker Carlson, quoted in a Mediaite article with the scary headline "Tucker Carlson’s Ominous Monologue

"Casting itself as the protector of small businesses... Facebook is criticizing Apple for planning to give users of its popular devices like the iPhone more control..."

"... over the data they share with third-party apps. Starting next year, Apple will ask mobile users to 'opt in' to accept third-party tracking of their digital activity (right now, the system defaults to tracking and requires users to 'opt out' if they don’t want to be followed). Facebook relies on tracking to target ads at customers. Facebook declared in the newspaper ads that it was 'standing

Freezing up.

"And, he's a grown man, he is the smartest man I know, I mean from a pure intellectual capacity."

That's the most inane line in Joe Biden's answer to Stephen Colbert's ludicrously leading question, reported at CBS News: "What are you going to do and how will you sustain each other for the attacks you know are coming your way?" Colbert asked. "Case in point, I know you want to be as bipartisan and reach across the aisle, but as much as you don't want it to happen, you know that the people who

"Trump Bows to Reality, Asks Confidants: Should I Do ‘The Apprentice’ Again?"

A headline at The Daily Beast. “I received a call from President Trump last week. We chatted about the election briefly [and] he made it clear that he wasn’t giving up on fighting for a second term,” said Eric Bolling, a Sinclair host and friend of the Trump family who appeared on Trump’s reality TV show years ago. “I mentioned to him that I believe whatever happens with the legal fights, he

"New York Times Admits Its ‘Caliphate’ Podcast Fell for ISIS Hoaxer’s Bullshit/HOOK, LINE, SINKER."

"The newspaper says it didn’t properly scrutinize the claims of Shehroze Chaudhry, who has since been charged with making up his terrorism past." Headline at The Daily Beast. The New York Times on Friday released the findings of its internal investigation into star reporter Rukmini Callimachi’s reporting on ISIS and extremism in the Middle East.... Callimachi came under intense scrutiny after the

At the Sunrise Café...

...you can talk about whatever you like.

"At the start of this pandemic, I recall feeling both horror at the unfolding calamity, and also a small sense of hope..."

"... that as in other times of hardship, people would find ways to change the world for the better. There was talk of community support, mutual aid and the rediscovery of the positive powers of the state to protect its citizens. Much of that has dimmed now, and it often seems that we simply want relief — to go back to the way the world was before, and as soon as possible. We have to get back to

"When Paul visited Moscow in May 2003, to perform a concert in Red Square, he had an audience with President Putin, who told him that hearing the Beatles as a boy growing up in the Soviet Union..."

"... was 'like a gulp of freedom.' On the same visit, former president Gorbachev told Paul: 'I do believe the music of the Beatles taught the young people of the Soviet Union that there is another life.'"From Craig Brown's "150 Glimpses of the Beatles." Also:Mikhail Safonov was a schoolboy in Leningrad when Soviet radio played ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ as an example of a capitalist song about the

White man news.

1973: that was the last time a Democratic president chose a White man for attorney general. It is peculiar 2 White men are now the ONLY ones reportedly in contention.— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) December 17, 2020 Peculiar?! With white men excluded for so long — nearly half a century — it's almost as if you could celebrate it as another first, right up there with first openly gay

I don't think we'd watched a movie all year — not any nondocumentary — but then we watched a movie 2 nights in a row.

The first movie was something that I'd seen a few times, had not watched in decades, but wanted to watch to show it to Meade, who had never seen it. It's something that's especially fun to watch another person experience for the first time. I was reminded of it when we happened upon an interview with the star, who was quite charming talking about it.The second was a recent movie that was

"God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks—his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to him to substitute artificial metal forks for them when eating."

Said a member of the clergy after in Maria Argyropoulina, in 1004, showed up from Greece for her wedding in Venice with forks (according to a post at Culinaria). Argyropoulina died of the plague 2 years later, and — what do you have to do to be a saint?! — Saint Peter Damian said: “Nor did she deign to touch her food with her fingers, but would command her eunuchs to cut it up into small pieces,

"We may imagine specific unlived lives for ourselves, as artists, or teachers, or tech bros; I have a lawyer friend whose alternate self owns a bar in Red Hook."

"Or we may just be drawn to possibility itself, as in the poem 'The Road Not Taken': when Robert Frost tells us that choosing one path over the other made 'all the difference,' it doesn’t matter what the difference is... In the Iliad, Achilles chooses between two clearly defined fates, designed by the gods and foretold in advance: he can either fight and die at Troy or live a long, boring life...

This is actually not the slightest bit like moonlight through the pines.

 I noticed that because of "Broadway stars rally behind Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight ahead of Georgia elections" (L.A. Times). I wonder how people in Georgia feel about having the whole country sucking up to them right now and if it pleases them to hear this one song aimed at them over and over. This is a song about a man remembering a lost love, a woman named Georgia. It's not about the state,

"When the new House convenes at noon on Jan. 3, all members will have to be physically present to be sworn in, and they will have to re-pass the rule that allowed the House to vote remotely."

"If, let’s say, five Democrats have covid-19 and are quarantined or hospitalized, or can’t make it to Washington, while all the Republicans can be present, the majority could rest temporarily with the GOP. What would then happen on Jan. 6, when Congress meets in joint session to affirm the electoral college results, is anyone’s guess.... The House has not had a margin this close since after the

At the Sunrise Café...

 ... you can talk about whatever you want. And please think of supporting this blog by doing your shopping through the Althouse portal to Amazon, which is always right there in the sidebar. Thanks!

Using everything you've got.

Click here for a phenomenal Rube Goldberg device.

Biden might not be a competent President. But America might not need one.

Get used to headlines like this: "Pete Buttigieg Isn’t a Transit Visionary. But Biden Might Not Need One" (New York Magazine).I was wondering why it made any sense that Buttigieg should run the Department of Transportation, but I think questions like that will be answered with a brush off. Oh, what difference does it make?! Let go of your anxiety. Biden is here. And everything's going to be all

"Sachsalber... sought to literally find a needle hidden in a haystack by the museum’s curators, taking a common idiom at face value and enacting it as a work."

"In the end, Sachsalber was successful in locating the needle.... ... Sachsalber undertook a project called Hands, for which he and his father attempted to complete a 13,200-piece puzzle of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. ... Sachsalber produced 222 drawings based on Galerie Bruno Bischofberger ads that appeared on the back of Artforum. Other performances involved eating a poisonous mushroom and

Government gives the go-ahead for a super-spreader Christmas.

Here in Madison, Wisconsin, the Wisconsin State Journal reports: Less than two weeks before Christmas and with the number of new daily COVID-19 cases declining and local health providers getting the first shots of vaccine, the Madison and Dane County public health department issued a new order on Tuesday allowing indoor gatherings of up to 10 people.... Outdoor gatherings, previously limited to

"He lied to people in his advertising; he had more money to spend because he represented corporate interests; states changed their voting laws and let illegal people vote; the Russians intervened..."

"... they suppressed turnout; the press was biased against him; He was wrongly blamed for [insert here]; some people voted twice; etc."That's what people whose candidate lost have said about why the winner won after every election since 1996, according to University of Pennsylvania polisci prof Diana Mutz, who's been taking surveys on this question. Quoted in "America, We Have a Problem/The rise

Menopause stories,

At the Snow Forest Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

"Slightly salty deep bite."

It's a podcast — about the Person of the Year, calling Jill “Dr.”, the deep and the shallow, who cares that Elvis died, writing to annoy, and "Earthlings." Listen here (or go wherever you go for podcasts and subscribe!): 

"I think 27 years of superb reporting and commitment to The New Yorker should have been weighed against an incident that horribly embarrassed the magazine but mostly embarrassed himself."

Said Tina Brown, the former editor of The New Yorker, quoted in "The Undoing of Jeffrey Toobin How a leading man of legal journalism lost his sweetest gig" (NYT). Malcolm Gladwell, an important New Yorker writer, said: "I read the Condé Nast news release, and I was puzzled because I couldn’t find any intellectual justification for what they were doing. They just assumed he had done something

"His job, like everyone on MSNBC, was so to spread disinformation to help Dems & keep the MSNBC audience addicted to endorphins & fear."

In a separate tweet, Dr. Redlener claims he was "wrong" about this. He wasn't "wrong." That implies a good faith effort to get it right. His job, like everyone on MSNBC, was so to spread disinformation to help Dems & keep the MSNBC audience addicted to endorphins & fear. 👇 pic.twitter.com/cZ4MrXI0ZE— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 15, 2020 That screenshot of the NYT is from this article,

Remember when the village people — the Village People?! — drank vegetable soup from your cupped hands?

Tala Schlossberg remembers. Schlossberg is the daughter of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and yet I am not making fun of her. This video is actually really good! The story and the animation are credited to Scholossberg, and it's a funny journey into nostalgia and what we're really missing from pre-COVID times:

"In the two weeks since commercial flights began between Tel Aviv and the Emirati cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Israelis have caused a remarkable tourism boomlet in the Gulf nation."

"Suddenly, Hebrew can be heard throughout the markets, malls and beaches of a destination that was strictly off-limits until the two countries achieved a diplomatic breakthrough in August and established normal relations. More than 50,000 Israelis have brushed aside covid-19 concerns, a terrorism warning and decades of tension to make the three-hour flight across the Arab Peninsula.... The first

"Boko Haram asserted responsibility on Tuesday for laying siege to a secondary school in northwest Nigeria and abducting more than 300 boys..."

"Hundreds of gunmen on motorbikes surrounded the boarding school in Katsina state Friday night and opened fire on police, witnesses said, before rounding up students and dragging them into the woods. Abubakar Shekau, the group’s leader, said in an audio message released in the early hours of the morning that fighters stormed the school to discourage 'Western education'...""Boko Haram" means "

"The Pinterest Paradox: Cupcakes and Toxicity."

Great title for a fascinating exposé — by Francoise Brougher — of the inner workings of Pinterest. This was written last August, but I'm reading it now because it was linked in a new NYT article, "Pinterest Settles Gender Discrimination Suit for $22.5 Million/The suit had been brought by Françoise Brougher, Pinterest’s former chief operating officer, who said she was fired after speaking up about

Chelsea Clinton has an etiquette question.

Just found out one of my closest childhood friends didn’t receive the wedding present I sent because I foolishly sent it to her old address. And the new occupant just kept it?! What’s the etiquette here? Serious question.— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) December 15, 2020 Question? I'd say questions. First of all, are you lying? This better not be a cover for not sending a present. How long ago

"Every single avenue was made available to President Trump to contest the results.... President Trump was denied no course of action he wanted to take...."

"You know, respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy, even we find those results hard to accept. But that’s the obligation of those who’ve taken on a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Four years ago, when I was a sitting Vice President of the United States, it was my responsibility to announce the tally of the Electoral College votes of the joint session of Congress,

At the Frosted Trees Café...

... you can talk all night. AND: I changed the time on this post to put it on top of the William Barr post. I like the open thread closing the day.