‘If you’re tossing and turning at night due to heartburn, sleep apnea, or other health issues, your sleeping position could be the culprit – or the solution.
According to Lifehacker, for heartburn sufferers, “lying on your left side means that food and digestive juices have an easier time staying inside the stomach where they’re supposed to be. If you have GERD or you get heartburn easily, sleeping on your right side can make it more likely for stomach acid to end up in the esophagus, making your heartburn worse.” So the left side may reduce nightly acid reflux.
However, the right side could benefit heart function and breathing. When you “sleep on your right side, the mediastinum keeps the heart in place. But when you lie on your left side, your heart sags and rotates slightly. For this reason, it’s thought that the heart beats more efficiently when you’re lying on your right side than on your left. This in turn may help you breathe more easily if you have sleep apnea.”…’ (Boing Boing)
‘Recent protests have not yet reached the scale of the major student protests of the late 1960s against the Vietnam War or the 1980s against South African apartheid. But on campus, they may be “the largest student movement so far” of the 21st century…’ (Vox)
‘In October 2022 a bird with the code name B6 set a new world record that few people outside the field of ornithology noticed. Over the course of 11 days, B6, a young Bar-tailed Godwit, flew from its hatching ground in Alaska to its wintering ground in Tasmania, covering 8,425 miles without taking a single break. For comparison, there is only one commercial aircraft that can fly that far nonstop, a Boeing 777 with a 213-foot wingspan and one of the most powerful jet engines in the world. During its journey, B6—an animal that could perch comfortably on your shoulder—did not land, did not eat, did not drink and did not stop flapping, sustaining an average ground speed of 30 miles per hour 24 hours a day as it winged its way to the other end of the world….’ ( Michael B. Habib via Scientific American)
‘He’ll almost certainly never truly be punished by the legal system for his myriad crimes so we have to take our small victories where we can get them….’ (Boing Boing)
Related:
The Joy of Making trump Listen to Mean Tweets About Himself
The vicious, thin-skinned ex-president was forced to endure readings of social media posts by prospective jurors that mercilessly mocked him. It was great. (Daily Beast)
‘Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could only be explained by natural selection….’ (The New York Times)
‘Mike Flynn, Mike Lindell and others to attend event on election fraud by Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association
A group of far-right sheriffs is set to meet donald trump allies in Las Vegas on Wednesday for talks with dozens of Republican state officials and candidates focused partly on potential election fraud by non-citizens, which experts say is wildly overblown….’ ( Peter Stone via The Guardian)
‘Avatars of deceased relatives are increasingly popular for consoling those in mourning, or hiding the deaths of loved ones from children….’ ( Viola Zhou via Rest of World)
‘trump envisions a presidency in which he would quite literally be above the law, immune from accountability, and free to wreak vengeance on his opponents. The trump 2.0 strategy depends on the former president and his associates bending the institutions of government—including the military and the Department of Justice—to his will. Congress, especially one controlled by the GOP, is unlikely to be either a check or a balance if the other institutions fail.
Which leaves the courts.
The pointed rhetoric from these judges is an important indicator: The federal judiciary is the one institution left standing that viscerally understands, and is willing to actively resist, the threat the former president poses….’ ( Charles Sykes via The Atlantic)
‘trump’s tone, as many have noted, is decidedly more vengeful this time around, as he seeks to reclaim the White House after a bruising loss that he insists was a steal. This alone is a cause for concern, foreshadowing what the Trump presidency redux could look like. But he’s also, quite frequently, rambling and incoherent, running off on tangents that would grab headlines for their oddness should any other candidate say them.
Journalists rightly chose not to broadcast trump’s entire speeches after 2016, believing that the free coverage helped boost the former president and spread lies unchecked. But now there’s the possibility that stories about his speeches often make his ideas appear more cogent than they are – making the case that, this time around, people should hear the full speeches to understand how trump would govern again….’ ( Rachel Leingang via The Guardian)
‘I make use of the characteristics of more than 6000 rock bands to empirically analyze if and how the stability of their members helps them to get a higher level of success. Bands cover all genres of Rock music (from Country to Punk), and their performance is assessed by having a song ranked in Billboard 100. Analyzing how the turn-over of members of a band affects their performance, it appears that the total number of musicians that left the band (compared to the actual number of musicians) – used as an indicator of instability –positively impacts the probability of a success. This may reveal that more talented musicians tend to be recruited after the departure of founding members, or that new members bring fresh ideas. The latter interpretation is supported by another result, showing that solo artists have a higher probability of success than bands. Finally, I also show that bands that come back to the stage after a split do not perform better.
‘Since 1952, the White House has allowed major-party candidates access to classified intelligence briefings so that they will be current on important issues if they win the election. trump should be denied this courtesy.
…The decision rests, as always, with the sitting president, and Joe Biden is likely to continue this practice so that he will not be accused of “politicizing” access to intelligence. Such accusations need not be taken seriously; they would only be more meaningless noise from a GOP that has already stumbled in a clumsy attempt to impeach Biden after leveling charges of corruption at both him and his son. And although denying trump access to classified briefs would produce squawks and yowls from Republicans, it would also serve as a reminder that trump cannot be trusted with classified information.
The risks of denying trump these early briefings are negligible. As we learned from his presidency, trump is fundamentally unbriefable: He doesn’t listen, and he doesn’t understand complicated national-security matters anyway. The problem with giving trump these briefings, however, isn’t that he’s ignorant. He’s also dangerous, as his record shows.
Indeed, if trump were ga federal employee, he’d have likely already been stripped of his clearances and escorted from the building…’ ( Tom Nichols via The Atlantic)
‘trump lost moderate and liberal voters to Haley by a wide margin, according to exit polls. And, according to AP VoteCast, a bit over 1 in 5 GOP primary voters said they would not vote for trump in November if he was the party’s nominee….’ (POLITICO)
‘Social-media testimonials claim that improving your “gut health” not only helps with stomach issues such as bloating and pain but also leads to benefits beyond the gastrointestinal system (easing problems including, but not limited to, itching, puffy face, slow-growing hair, low energy, acne, weight gain, and anxiety). You can now find a staggering range of products claiming to support digestive health: Joining traditionally gut-friendly fermented foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut are “probiotic” or “prebiotic” teas, cookies, gummies, supplements, powders, and even sodas…
Maintaining the health of the gastrointestinal tract, like the health of any body part, is always a good idea. But expecting certain foods and products to overhaul gut health is unrealistic, as is believing that they will guarantee greater overall well-being…’ (The Atlantic)
There is no clear definition of a healthy gut microbiome, and surely what balances the gut will differ from person to person. To sell a product because it promotes ‘gut health’ is to sell snake oil. “A lot of probiotics are unlikely to contain viable bacteria, and probably very few of them are really making it through to the colon,” Columbia gastroenterologist Daniel Freedberg said. Never mind the claimed causal relationship between gut health and overall health or mental health.
‘Last week, OpenAI released Sora, a generative AI model that produces videos based on a simple prompt. It’s not available to the public yet, but CEO Sam Altman showed off its capabilities by taking requests on X, formerly known as Twitter. Users replied with short prompts: “a monkey playing chess in a park,” or “a bicycle race on ocean with different animals as athletes.” It’s uncanny, mesmerizing, weird, beautiful — and prompting the usual cycle of commentary.
Some people are making strong claims about Sora’s negative effects, expecting a “wave of disinformation” — but while I (and experts) think future powerful AI systems pose really serious risks, claims that a specific model will bring the disinformation wave upon us have not held up so far.
Others are pointing at Sora’s many flaws as representing fundamental limitations of the technology — which was a mistake when people did it with image generator models and which, I suspect, will be a mistake again. As my colleague A.W. Ohlheiser pointed out, “just as DALL-E and ChatGPT improved over time, so could Sora.”…’ (Vox)
‘The 18th annual Santa Monica Film Festival, which held in-person screenings on Saturday, February 3 and which is running online screenings through February 28, chose to feature and then give awards to some dangerous right-wing conspiracy theories masquerading as “documentary” films.
The festival awarded “Best Documentary Feature” to The Great Awakening, the third film in anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Mikki Willis’ Plandemic series….
The films in the Plandemic series continue to be circulated online, and have been seen millions of times. They have also been thoroughly debunked…
Next, the film We Will Not Be Silenced won the film festival’s award for “Best International Documentary.” The film festival’s Instagram describes the film, which was directed by Brian Rose and Luis Solarat…
Rose continues to platform reptilian conspiracy theorist David Icke and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories and disinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines….
Finally, “Shot Dead” is another “documentary” that was screened at the film festival, although it didn’t win anything. This film, a “We the Patriots USA Original Production” features parents who believe their children were killed by COVID-19 vaccines…
Can someone please go check on the Santa Monica Film Festival and make sure they’re alright? Because these films that they’ve platformed are so full of dangerous disinformation and conspiracy theorizing, it’s a stretch—at best—to call them documentaries. It seems clear that the Santa Monica Film Festival is fully red-pilled now. I sure hope other film festivals don’t follow suit.
For more analysis of the film festival, check out Conspirituality Podcast’s episode, “Plandemic Takes the Promenade.”‘ (Boing Boing)
‘Speaking to the Black Conservatives Federation, adjudicated rapist donald J. trump gave an off-the-rails demonstration of his racism.
So many times, donald trump says things that would end any other politician’s career for good. Here, the Orange Menace claims Black people like him because he is a criminal. …trump spends this speech just saying all the Republican “quiet parts” out loud. This is crazy offensive and, once again, should invalidate him from holding any office….’ (Boing Boing)
‘In this speech, tired and struggling real estate fraud donald trump, is speaking to evangelicals and can not pronounce the word evangelical the same way twice. He made up polling numbers, told stories about baby murder, and elevated his January 6th insurrectionist mob to spirited patriots. Promises to close the Department of Education also went over big to folks who love banning books….’ (Boing Boing)
‘…It’s a quasar – the bright core of a galaxy that is powered by a gargantuan black hole some 17 billion times the mass of our Sun. Known as J0529-4351, the object’s power was confirmed in observations by the Very Large Telescope in Chile.
Scientists, reporting in the journal Nature Astronomy, say the black hole has a voracious appetite, consuming the mass equivalent to one Sun every day.
J0529-4351 was actually recorded in data many years ago but its true glory has only just been recognised.
“We have discovered an object which has previously not been recognised for what it is; it’s been staring into our eyes for many years because it’s been glowing at its brightness for longer than humankind has probably existed. But we’ve now recognised it, not as being one of the many foreground stars in our Milky Way but as a very distant object,” Christian Wolf, from the Australian National University (ANU), told BBC News.
The term quasar is used by astronomers to describe a particular type of AGN, or Active Galactic Nucleus. It’s the very energetic core of a galaxy which is being powered by an immense black hole that’s pulling matter towards itself at a prodigious rate. As this material is accelerated around the hole, it is torn apart and emits a huge amount of light, so much so that even an object as distant as J0529-4351 is still visible to us. This quasar’s emission has taken a staggering 12 billion years to reach the detectors at the VLT.
Everything about the object is astonishing.
The scientists involved say the energy emitted makes the quasar over 500 trillion times more luminous than the Sun….’ (BBC)
‘There is a Venus/Mars conjunction happening in the sky and you can see it basically any morning for the next 3 mornings. (It’s only a true conjunction on Friday 23 Australia time, but it’s probably easier to see the day before/after, the Thursday and Saturday. That’s Weds & Friday for most of the world.) Anyway this is mainly an excuse to tell you some great facts I’ve been hoarding about Venus. But first: conjunction details. It’s neat because Venus and Mars are both bright, so it’s an astronomical event you can see with the naked eye even with bad light pollution. It’s best seen 30-60 minutes before sunrise (between “astronomical twilight” and “nautical twilight” if your weather app gives you those times). Look for Venus in the east (it’s the brightest ‘star’ in the sky) and then see Mars next to it, smaller and redder. If you have a lot of obstacles on your horizon, you’ll want to look closer to sunrise, when Venus and Mars are higher in the sky – but not so close to sunrise that the sky’s too bright to see stars…’ ((The Whippet )
‘John Oliver, like a couple of hundred million Americans, wants wantonly corrupt Clarence Thomas to “get the f*ck off the Supreme Court.” Thomas has been a sleazy embarrassment to the U.S. judicial system since 1991, when Anita Hill, a lawyer and law professor, accused him of repeated sexual harassment. Since then, Thomas has reportedly accepted undisclosed luxury trips and lavish gifts from a Republican mega-donor, which he allegedly failed to report on his annual financial disclosure reports, as required by law. He also allegedly failed to report over $686,000 in income that his wife earned while working at a far-right think tank and did not recuse himself from cases related to the Affordable Care Act despite his wife’s involvement in efforts to repeal the act.
Oliver’s proposal is to appeal to Thomas’s self-interest by offering him a new $2.4 million RV (complete “with a f*cking fireplace”) and $1 million a year in exchange for his retirement from the Supreme Court….’ (Boing Boing)
‘The universe is expanding faster and faster, but not all scientists agree that dark energy is the cause. Perhaps, instead, our universe keeps colliding with and absorbing smaller ‘baby universes,’ a new theoretical study suggests….’ (Space)
‘…[A]mong the top line takeaways is, i think we have to look at the trajectory that donald trump’s civil trials have been on,” he replied. “He started by losing a $5 million judgment, then he lost an $83 million judgment. Now he’s lost more than $450 million judgment and, as you say, he is barred from doing business in New York for a number of years.”
“Here is the thing,” he elaborated. “As bad as all of that is, Lady Justice is just getting warmed up because next up for donald trump is his first criminal trial, then he has four criminal trials stacked up.”…’ (Former Federal Prosecutor Glenn Kirschner via Raw Story)
‘There has been much speculation in the media and also on this site about how trump can survive financially in view of the verdicts that have been handed down so far. If he himself is unable to raise the sum he has to put up as bail, then he will not be able to appeal. But then he would have to pay in any case. So he needs to either have to borrow the money or sell something valuable.
But what could be more valuable than the prospect of a future president making any decision he wants for the person who helped him out of his financial jam? Anyone who thinks TfG hasn’t made provisions for this rainy day is underestimating the criminal instinct of the orange charlatan. It can be assumed that Friday’s verdict will have been the starting signal for the most exciting auction of the century, in which all the world’s arch-villains will take part and bid like hell. When has it ever been so cheap to buy a potential future president?…’ (Daily Koz)
‘After sending his wife a Valentine’s Day message and appearing on camera on February 15th, Navalny reportedly “felt sick after a walk and lost consciousness.” Only a fool would take the Russia’s announcement at face value – it is clear that Alexei Navalny’s death was an assassination by the murderous regime of Vladimir Putin.
Like Boris Nemtsov before him, Navalny was a challenge to a political system that marginalizes its opposition and crushes all dissent. His bravery should be seen as an inspiration for Russian civil society and his memory will endure beyond the regime that killed him. As we mourn his death, we should also mourn the Russia that could-have-been. Even though Putin would never have allowed his victory, Navaly’s 2018 presidential campaign was the last opportunity to bring political change via the electoral process in Russia.
In a speech this morning at the Munich Security Conference, his widow Yulia Navalnaya called upon the international community to hold Putin accountable. With this in mind, we should turn our attention to the Americans that have enabled and encouraged Putin every step of the way. Tucker Carlson gushes over Moscow’s subway stations and potemkin McDonalds as Putin murders his chief political opponent. donald trump openly invites Russia to attack NATO members while personally torpedoing military aid to Ukraine. These useful idiots should be seen as accessories to murder….’ ( Alexander Vindman via Why It Matters)
‘Two recent verdicts have now left donald trump on the hook for nearly half a billion dollars.
On Friday, a New York judge handed the former president a $355 million penalty, and banned him from serving in a leadership position in any business in New York for three years, for fraudulently inflating his net worth to lenders in order to receive more favorable loan agreements. And in January, a Manhattan jury ordered trump to pay the writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her after she accused him of raping her. (A separate jury in May had found trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s.)
Together, the damages from these two lawsuits are worth more than the amount of cash trump claimed to have on hand last April, potentially putting him in a financial bind as he also faces debt repayments and mounting legal fees. Even if he appeals these decisions, as he is expected to do, he still likely will have to front the money while that process runs its course, or secure a bond, which would come with its own conditions.
For a well-connected billionaire, that might usually amount to nothing more than a temporary inconvenience; after all, trump could always liquidate some of his assets or borrow even more money to cover his short-term obligations.
But trump isn’t just one of the country’s richest men, with an estimated net worth in the low billions; he’s also running to serve a second term as president of the United States. And for any candidate for public office — let alone the presidency — being cash-strapped while owing such significant amounts of money could be a serious liability.
“It’s pretty scary from an ethics perspective,” said Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group that has chronicled trump’s abuses of power and filed lawsuits against him….’ (Vox)
‘Brian Wilson’s family is seeking a conservatorship for the Beach Boys star, saying in a filing that he is “unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter” due to a neurocognitive disorder similar to dementia. The family said in a statement, shared on Wilson’s Instagram, that it took the decision “to ensure that there will be no extreme changes to the household” after the death last month of Wilson’s wife, Melinda, who had been caring for him. A conservatorship, the statement added, would allow Wilson to “work on current projects as well as participate in any activities he chooses.”
The court document, filed in Los Angeles and reported by The Blast and People, quoted a doctor’s description of Wilson as “easily distracted, often even when aware of surroundings.” The doctor added that Wilson “often makes spontaneous irrelevant or incoherent utterances” and struggles “to maintain decorum appropriate to the situation.” …’ (via Pitchfork)
‘Alexei Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died Friday in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence, Russia’s prison agency said. He was 47…’ ( via AP News)
‘I have been teaching in small liberal arts colleges for over 15 years now, and in the past five years, it’s as though someone flipped a switch. For most of my career, I assigned around 30 pages of reading per class meeting as a baseline expectation—sometimes scaling up for purely expository readings or pulling back for more difficult texts. (No human being can read 30 pages of Hegel in one sitting, for example.) Now students are intimidated by anything over 10 pages and seem to walk away from readings of as little as 20 pages with no real understanding. Even smart and motivated students struggle to do more with written texts than extract decontextualized take-aways. Considerable class time is taken up simply establishing what happened in a story or the basic steps of an argument—skills I used to be able to take for granted.
Since this development very directly affects my ability to do my job as I understand it, I talk about it a lot. And when I talk about it with nonacademics, certain predictable responses inevitably arise, all questioning the reality of the trend I describe. Hasn’t every generation felt that the younger cohort is going to hell in a handbasket? Haven’t professors always complained that educators at earlier levels are not adequately equipping their students? And haven’t students from time immemorial skipped the readings?
The response of my fellow academics, however, reassures me that I’m not simply indulging in intergenerational grousing. Anecdotally, I have literally never met a professor who did not share my experience. Professors are also discussing the issue in academic trade publications, from a variety of perspectives. What we almost all seem to agree on is that we are facing new obstacles in structuring and delivering our courses, requiring us to ratchet down expectations in the face of a ratcheting down of preparation. Yes, there were always students who skipped the readings, but we are in new territory when even highly motivated honors students struggle to grasp the basic argument of a 20-page article. Yes, professors never feel satisfied that high school teachers have done enough, but not every generation of professors has had to deal with the fallout of No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Finally, yes, every generation thinks the younger generation is failing to make the grade—except for the current cohort of professors, who are by and large more invested in their students’ success and mental health and more responsive to student needs than any group of educators in human history. We are not complaining about our students. We are complaining about what has been taken from them….’ ( Adam Kotsko via Slate)
‘A vague warning by the chair of the House Intelligence Committee about a “serious national security threat” Wednesday is related to Russia’s attempts to develop an antisatellite nuclear weapon for use in space, according to two people familiar with the matter.
While the people did not provide further details on the intel, one of them noted the U.S. has for more than a year been concerned about Russia’s potentially creating and deploying an antisatellite nuclear weapon — a weapon the U.S. and other countries would be unable to adequately defend against….’ ( via POLITICO)
‘Whether we create consciousness in our brains as a function of our neurons firing, or consciousness exists independently of us, there’s no universally accepted scientific explanation for where it comes from or where it lives. However, new research on the physics, anatomy, and geometry of consciousness has begun to reveal its possible form.
In other words, we may soon be able to identify a true architecture of consciousness.
The new work builds upon a theory Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose, Ph.D., and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff, M.D., first posited in the 1990s: the Orchestrated Objective Reduction theory (Orch OR). Broadly, it claims that consciousness is a quantum process facilitated by microtubules in the brain’s nerve cells.
Penrose and Hameroff suggested that consciousness is a quantum wave that passes through these microtubules. And that, like every quantum wave, it has properties like superposition (the ability to be in many places at the same time) and entanglement (the potential for two particles that are very far away to be connected).
Plenty of experts have questioned the validity of the Orch OR theory. This is the story of the scientists working to revive it….’ ( via Popular Mechanics)
‘Judges will face choices that affect when, and whether, trump stands trial.
In trump’s New York case, a judge is slated to finalize the timetable for his trial on charges that he falsified business records to cover up an affair with a porn star in the closing weeks of the 2016 election.
In his Washington, D.C., case, the Supreme Court may signal whether it will quickly resolve trump’s claim that he is “immune” from federal charges stemming from his effort to subvert the 2020 election.
In his Georgia case, where trump is also facing state charges related to the 2020 election, a judge has scheduled a Thursday hearing to examine an effort by trump and several co-defendants to disqualify the prosecutors.
And in his Florida case, a judge is weighing trump’s latest motion to postpone key deadlines — a likely precursor to delaying the May 20 trial on charges of hoarding classified records at his mar-a-lago home.
Here’s a look at each of the cases and what to expect this week…’ ( via POLITICO)
‘In 1944, the US Office of Strategic Services—now the CIA—published the “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” a top secret guide teaching the average citizen-saboteur how to fuck shit up without specialized tools or equipment or association with an “organized group.” Declassified in 2008, the guide encourages clogging up toilets, letting “cutting tools grow dull,” and dumping rice into gasoline engines. My favorite though are the tips for “General Interference with Organizations and Production:” Here are some about sabotaging meetings:
Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committee as large as possible — never less than five.
Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable”and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on….’ (
‘The proportion of buildings destroyed in Gaza now approaches that of Guernica, Hamburg or Hiroshima, cities synonymous with the worst wartime devastation. Israel’s declared objective to ‘destroy Hamas’ has no relation to its tactic towards the general population, which has been to kill them or drive them towards Egypt. It appears no longer to want to run Gaza as a cordoned-off prison camp. But its plans are unclear. Negotiations with Hamas have been taking place through Egypt and Qatar. Some reports suggest that Israel offered a two-month ‘pause’ in exchange for the release of all the remaining hostages; Hamas countered that further releases of hostages would come only when Israel agrees to stop the attack and withdraw. Yoav Gallant has said that Gaza should return to ‘Palestinian administration’ guaranteed by the US. But on 30 December Netanyahu suggested that Israeli forces should also take control of the Philadelphi corridor, the 14-kilometre border between Gaza and Egypt. Israel continues to reject any political framework in favour of looking for ‘security’ in a pile of bones. Both Netanyahu and his chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, say the war will continue for many months. Who in Gaza has that sort of time?…’
‘As the US military begins integrating AI technology, simulated wargames show how chatbots behave unpredictably and risk nuclear escalation…’ (New Scientist)
‘Whether donald trump faces trial this year for seeking to subvert the 2020 election appears increasingly certain to rest with the nine justices of the Supreme Court — three of whom he nominated himself.
trump is expected to ask the high court to stave off the trial following Tuesday’s ruling from a federal appeals court that emphatically rejected his bid for “presidential immunity” from the criminal charges.
The former president now faces a key deadline of next Monday to ask the Supreme Court to step in — and once he does, the justices will face a set of options with obvious ramifications for the presidential campaign.
They could hear trump’s appeal on an accelerated schedule. They could take their time — and in doing so, essentially guarantee that the federal election-subversion trial could not occur before November. Or they could simply decline to hear trump’s appeal at all — a move that would allow the trial proceedings, which have been stalled for nearly two months, to resume quickly.
And as if the choice weren’t fraught enough, the high court is grappling simultaneously with a separate trump question of historic proportions: whether the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause disqualifies him from running for president again. The court will hear arguments in that case on Thursday after putting it on an unusually fast track…’ ( via POLITICO)
‘…high definition footage captured by NASA’s three Mars rovers – Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. The footage (also contributed by JPL-Cal tech, MSSS, Cornell University and ASU) was stitched together by Elder Fox Documentaries, creating what they call the most life like experience of being on Mars….’ (Open Culture)
As someone who has done his share of traveling around western US landscapes but who is not geologically sophisticated, what struck me about this was not how otherworldly it felt to travel around Mars but, to the contrary, how familiar it seemed. In a way there is something comforting about that. As a science fiction reader, I used to feel that many attempts to describe extraterrestrial landscapes felt disappointingly lame and prosaic (off the top of my head, think of Arthur C. Clarke’s “A Walk in the Dark”), but that turns out to be just right. Actually, the skies of these scenes felt much more alien than the terrain.
‘Naming cancers solely by the organs they originate in is getting a bit old, according to Fabrice André, a medical oncologist at Gustave Roussy in France and the president-elect of the European Society of Medical Oncology. Instead, André hopes to push for a new naming system that emphasizes the molecular characteristics of a cancer, regardless of its tissue of origin.
That’s because, in the last several decades, science has uncovered the ways genetic alterations can drive the growth and development of cancers — and how those alterations can be targeted with medicines to melt tumors away. In many cases, these mutations aren’t limited to cancers of a single organ, nor do all cancers from an organ share the same mutations. Two patients may both have breast cancer, but if one is a triple-negative cancer and another is packed with HER2 proteins, the treatment will look very different, André said. That can cause confusion for patients….’ (StatNews)
Columnist Nick Bolton wants to have a unique take on Apple Vision Pro, so he essentially likens it to crack cocaine:
‘I know deep down that the Apple Vision Pro is too immersive, and yet all I want to do is see the world through it. “I’m sure the technology is terrific. I still think and hope it fails,” one Silicon Valley investor said to me. “Apple feels more and more like a tech fentanyl dealer that poses as a rehab provider.” Harsh words, but he feels what we all feel, a slave to our smartphone, and he’s seen this play before and he knows what the first act is like, and the second act, and he knows how it ends….’ ( via Vanity Fair)
Today is Groundhog Day . What hangs in the balance is whether spring is coming early. In the Pagan calendar, it is Imbolc (or Imbolg), which has marked the beginning of spring since ancient times, coming at the midpoint between the astronomical winter solstice (“Yule”) and the spring equinox (“Ostara”) in the northern hemisphere. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals that fall at the ‘quarter cross points’ between the equinoxes and the solstices, along with Beltane, Lugnasadh, and Samhain.
Imbolc was a time to celebrate Brigid (Brigit, Brighid, Bride, Bridget, Bridgit, Brighde, Bríd), the Celtic Goddess of inspiration, healing, and smithcraft with associations to fire, the hearth and poetry. When Ireland was Christianized in the 5th century, the festival of Brigid became Saint Brigid’s Day, although the chronology of the transmigration from the Celtic goddess to the Christian saint is not universally accepted. Imbolc derives from the Old Irish imbolg meaning in the belly, a time when sheep began to lactate and their udders filled and the grass began to grow.It thus coincided with the beginning of the lambing season, the spring sowing, and some of the earliest blooming plants. The gentle curve of a ‘just-showing’ pregnancy embodies the promise of renewal, expectancy and hope.
Evidence indicates that Imbolc has been an important date in the Irish, Scottish and Manx calendar since ancient times. The holiday was a festival of hearth and home with celebrations often embodying hearth fires, feasting, divination for omens of good fortune, and candles or bonfires representing the return of warmth and light. The point of many rituals seemed to be to invite Brigid, and the good fortune she would bring, into the home. Activities included:
— Brigid crosses, consisting of reeds or willows woven in a four-armed equilateral cross, often hung over doors, windows, or stables for protection
— making Bridey (Brideog, Breedhoge, or ‘Biddy’) dolls, representing Brigid, which were paraded from house to house. People would make a bed for her and leave her food and drink.
— visiting of holy wells, which are circled ‘sunwise’ and offerings left. Water from the well was used to bless home, family members, livestock and fields.
— a “spring cleaning” was customary
— Imbolc was traditionally a time of weather divination. Old traditions of watching to see if various animals returned from their winter dens seem to be forerunners of Groundhog Day.
Although many of the customary observances of Imbolc died out during the 20th century, it is still observed and in some places has been revived as a cultural event.Brigid’s Day parades have been revived in the town of Killorglin, County Kerry, which holds a yearly “Biddy’s Day Festival”. Men and women wearing elaborate straw hats and masks visit public houses carrying a Brídeóg to bring good luck for the coming year. They play folk music, dance and sing. The highlight of this festival is a torchlight parade through the town followed by a song and dance contest. Most recently, neopagans and Wiccans have observed Imbolc as a religious holiday.
’…It is the festival of the Maiden, for from this day to March 21st, it is her season to prepare for growth and renewal. Brighid’s snake emerges from the womb of the Earth Mother to test the weather, (the origin of Ground Hog Day), and in many places the first Crocus flowers began to spring forth from the frozen earth. The Maiden is honored, as the Bride, on this Sabbat. Straw Brideo’gas (corn dollies) are created from oat or wheat straw and placed in baskets with white flower bedding. Young girls then carry the Brideo’gas door to door, and gifts are bestowed upon the image from each household. Afterwards at the traditional feast, the older women make special acorn wands for the dollies to hold, and in the morning the ashes in the hearth are examined to see if the magic wands left marks as a good omen. Brighid’s Crosses are fashioned from wheat stalks and exchanged as symbols of protection and prosperity in the coming year. Home hearth fires are put out and re-lit, and a besom is place by the front door to symbolize sweeping out the old and welcoming the new. Candles are lit and placed in each room of the house to honor the re-birth of the Sun. Another traditional symbol of Imbolc is the plough. In some areas, this is the first day of ploughing in preparation of the first planting of crops. A decorated plough is dragged from door to door, with costumed children following asking for food, drinks, or money. Should they be refused, the household is paid back by having its front garden ploughed up. In other areas, the plough is decorated and then Whiskey, the “water of life” is poured over it. Pieces of cheese and bread are left by the plough and in the newly turned furrows as offerings to the nature spirits. It is considered taboo to cut or pick plants during this time. Various other names for this Greater Sabbat are Imbolgc Brigantia (Caledonni), Imbolic (Celtic), Disting (Teutonic, Feb 14th), Lupercus (Strega), St. Bridget’s Day (Christian), Candlemas, Candlelaria (Mexican), the Snowdrop Festival. The Festival of Lights, or the Feast of the Virgin. All Virgin and Maiden Goddesses are honored at this time…’
Imbolc also corresponds with Candlemas, the Christian observance of the baby Jesus’ presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem to officially induct him into Judaism when he was forty days old. It was originally described in the Gospel of Luke as a purification ritual. On Candlemas, a priest traditionally blesses candles which are distributed to the faithful for use throughout the year. In some places, they are placed in windows during storms to ward off damage.
Interestingly, in Scotland, along with Michaelmas, Lammas and Whitsun, Candlemas is one of the four term and quarter days, the four divisions of the legal year, historically used as the days when contracts and leases would begin and end, servants would be hired or dismissed, and rent, interest on loans, and ministers’ stipends would become due. Although they were later fixed by law as falling on the 28th day every three months, they originally occurred on holy days, corresponding roughly to old quarter days used in both Scotland and Ireland.
Some foreign observances:
In France and Belgium, Candlemas (French: La Chandeleur) is celebrated with crêpes. In Italy, traditionally, it (Italian: La Candelora) is considered the last cold day of winter. Tenerife (Spain), Is the day of the Virgin of Candelaria (Saint Patron of the Canary Islands). 2 February. In Southern and Central Mexico, and Guatemala City, Candlemas (Spanish: Día de La Candelaria) is celebrated with tamales. Tradition indicates that on 5 January, the night before Three Kings Day (the Epiphany), whoever gets one or more of the few plastic or metal dolls (originally coins) buried within the Rosca de Reyes must pay for the tamales and throw a party on Candlemas. In certain regions of Mexico, this is the day in which the baby Jesus of each household is taken up from the nativity scene and dressed up in various colorful, whimsical outfits. In Luxembourg, Liichtmëss sees children carrying lighted sticks visiting neighbors and singing a traditional song in exchange for sweets. Sailors are often reluctant to set sail on Candlemas Day, believing that any voyage begun then will end in disaster—given the frequency of severe storms in February, this is not entirely without sense.
‘The penalties are adding up for serial loser donald j. trump and may force a fire sale of his cherished real estate empire and expose the overleveraged clown as broke.
Should the judgment in trump’s NY fraud case reflect the Attorney General’s ask of nearly $400 million, donald trump will almost surely be forced to start selling off parts of his real estate “empire.” The loans and mountains of fake paper moving between his companies, already coming to light in his court-ordered financial monitor’s reports, may be fully exposed….’ (Boing Boing)
‘In a paper published Thursday in the journal Cell, researchers present new evidence that a molecule called Xist — pronounced like the word “exist” and found only in women — is a major culprit in these diseases.
Better understanding of this molecule could lead to new tests that catch autoimmune diseases sooner and, in the longer term, to new and more effective treatments, researchers said.
Women typically have two X chromosomes, while men usually have an X and a Y. Chromosomes are tight bundles of genetic material that carry instructions for making proteins. Xist plays a crucial role by inactivating one of the X chromosomes in women, averting what would otherwise be a disastrous overproduction of proteins.
However, the research team found that, in the process, Xist also generates strange molecular complexes linked to many autoimmune diseases.
Although scientists conducted much of their work in mice, they made an intriguing discovery involving human patients: The Xist complexes ― long strands of RNA entangled with DNA and proteins ― trigger a chemical response in people that is a hallmark of autoimmune diseases…’ ( via Washington Post)
‘Have we just lived through one of the best years in human history? As we look at 2023 through the rearview mirror, I think that’s a defensible claim. In fact, the same thing could have been said at the end of pretty much every year since the beginning of the millennium (with the exception of the disastrous pandemic years of 2020 and 2021). Never before have so many people lived in affluence, safety, and good health.
And yet, it doesn’t feel that way. There’s so much horror and misery in the world—look at the situations in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and Yemen alone—that it is hard to believe that, on average, this past year was probably the best year ever. So, if life is better than ever before, why does the world seem so depressing?…
…there are more fundamental reasons why almost all news outlets display a negativity bias. To understand why news is almost invariably depressing—and why Rolf Dobelli is right that you probably shouldn’t read it—I’ve drawn up a list of Seven Laws of Pessimism. Some of the underlying principles will be familiar to anyone who has read the work of progress thinkers like Steven Pinker, Hans Rosling, Hannah Ritchie, and Johan Norberg, while others are more obscure. Hopefully, this list will work as an antidote whenever excessive news consumption makes you feel despondent:
1. The Law of the Invisibility of Good News: Progress happens gradually and imperceptibly, while regress happens all at once and immediately grabs our attention…
2. The Law of The Velocity of Bad News: Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, except bad news…
3. The Law of Rubbernecking: The more gruesome the news, the more we lap it up…
4. The Law of Conservation of Outrage: No matter how much progress the world is achieving, the total amount of outrage remains constant…
5. The Law of Awful Attraction: If you don’t find bad news, bad news will find you…
6. The Law of Self-Effacing Solutions: Once a solution has been achieved, people forget about the original problem (and only see further problems)…
7. The Law of Disinfecting Sunlight: The freer a society, the more ugly things will surface…’ (Maarten Boudry via quillette.com)
‘Tension has been growing between the two candidates since the New Hampshire primary, in which trump won 54.3 percent of the vote. But Haley kept it to about an 11-point gap, closer than most polling predicted.
But in the speeches that followed, Haley treated the night like a victory, calling the primary “far from over,” while trump attacked his opponent by mocking her clothing, and saying she had “a very bad night.” trump has been ramping up his personal attacks on Haley, bringing back his “birdbrain” nickname from earlier in the primary and even using an incorrect version of Haley’s first name, “Nimrada.” (Her first name is Nimarata.)
In the days that followed the primary, the back-and-forth between the two has been an increasingly sharp series of barbs — with Haley building on a new strategy of going directly after a candidate she has avoided criticizing too harshly until now….’ (POLITICO)
Related: George Conway tells Nikki Haley how to beat “deteriorating” trump at his own game
‘After George Conway pointed out the obvious on MSNBC — that donald trump “is deteriorating under pressure” — he explained how Nikki Haley could beat him at his own sadistic game.
“Point out the crazy,” the never-trump Republican told host Willie Geist.
“People like donald trump know that they are not what they pretend to be,” Conway said, after calling trump out for his pathological narcissism. “He talks about being a stable genius because he knows he is neither stable nor a genius, and he’s been doing that for years.”
Conway, one of the founding members of the Lincoln Project, then pinpointed the reasons for trump’s glaring deterioration, being “the pressure of the legal cases” and “his advanced age.”
So if Haley wants to take advantage of trump’s many fears and weaknesses, Conway suggests she continually push his frazzled buttons. “You need to needle him,” he said. “The campaign has to be as much a psychological operation against donald trump’s empty brain as it must be an attempt to persuade voters, because the two go hand in hand.”…’ (Boing Boing)
Related: ‘Not a good night for donald trump’: Why never-trumpers think he’s really losing
‘Polls and exit surveys from Iowa and New Hampshire show swaths of the Republican electorate cast ballots specifically against trump — and would refuse to vote for him in November. Independents who helped hand trump a general election loss in 2020 helped fuel record turnout in New Hampshire’s GOP primary. And trump didn’t make major strides in either state in the highly educated areas where he was weakest in 2016….’ (POLITICO)
‘A controversial Alabama execution took place on Thursday, reigniting scrutiny of the death penalty and highlighting the enduring nature of the practice despite attempts to end it.
Physicians and human rights experts have condemned the execution — which relied on an untested method known as nitrogen hypoxia — due to concerns that it would be painful and inhumane. Alabama ultimately used this method to execute a man named Kenneth Eugene Smith, after the state botched his first scheduled execution in 2022 when it couldn’t find an accessible vein for a lethal injection. Smith was sentenced to the death penalty following a capital murder conviction in 1988….’ (Vox)
‘The American Museum of Natural History will close two major halls exhibiting Native American objects, its leaders said on Friday, in a dramatic response to new federal regulations that require museums to obtain consent from tribes before displaying or performing research on cultural items…
The museum is closing galleries dedicated to the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains this weekend, and covering a number of other display cases featuring Native American cultural items as it goes through its enormous collection to make sure it is in compliance with the new federal rules, which took effect this month….’ (New York Times)
‘Researchers at Saitama University in Japan discovered that plants employ a systemic emergency broadcast system in response to unsafe situations. Microbiologists Yuri Aratani and Takuya Uemura used fluorescence imaging to show that injured plants used calcium signaling to warn healthy plants of imminent danger….’ (Laughing Squid)
‘Of his recent gaffes, his comments about the Vietnam War are particularly alarming.
The video of his confused speech begins mid-sentence: “…fields and jungles of Vietnam. They delivered a swift and swippy… and you know that sweeping. It was swift and it was sweeping like nobody’s ever seen anything happen. A victory in Operation Desert Storm. A lot of you were involved in that. A lot of you were involved. That was a quick one.”…’ (Boing Boing)
‘donald trump continues to slide after mixing up Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi, confusing Vietnam with Desert Storm, and forgetting that Obama is no longer the president. In fact, yesterday in New Hampshire he resorted to garbled speech, incoherent sentences, and nonsensical sounds.
“Which is incapable of salvin’ even the swollest, smallest problem,” he slurred at a rally hours before the the Granite State’s polls would open. “We are an institute in a powerful death penalty. We will put this on.” (See video below, posted by Biden-Harris HQ.)
trump also described the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system with sound effects. “And they calmly walk to us see, and ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,” the GOP frontrunner said. “They’ve only got 17 seconds to figure this whole thing out. Bomp. Okay. Missile launch, psheem, pfoom.” (See second video below, posted by Acyn.)…’ (Boing Boing)
‘Earlier this year, mathematicians discovered a unique shape. Now do-it-yourselfers have found ingenious ways to put it to use….’ ( via The New York Times)
‘It sure looks like donald trump has decided Nikki Haley will beat him in New Hampshire. To preserve his fragile ego and the story his cult-like adherents cling to — that trump is some sort of a winner — the loser is lying about voting rules. If voters chose to register as a Republican, they can participate in the NH Republican primary. It is a normal cause of action that passionate voters may change party to vote against someone in the primary. This is very common in my home state of California. trump is claiming this is Democrats stealing the election for Haley… (Boing Boing)
‘Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck’s eye-opening and disturbing new documentary, Eternal You, has a word of caution for everyone who plans on staying dead after they die: It may soon no longer be up to you.
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Saturday night as part of the World Cinema documentary competition, Eternal You does a deep dive into the digital afterlife industry and AI companies that peddle virtual immortality….’ (MovieMaker)
‘This spring, two different broods of cicadas — one that lives on a 13-year cycle and the other that lives on a 17-year cycle — will emerge at the same time from underground in a rare, synchronized event that last occurred in 1803.
Billions of the winged insects will make an appearance across the Midwest and the Southeast, beginning in some places in late April, for a raucous mating ritual that tends to inspire fascination and annoyance in equal measure.
This year’s dual emergence is a once-in-a-lifetime event. While any given 13-year brood and 17-year brood can occasionally emerge at the same time, each specific pair will see their cycles aligned only once every 221 years. What’s more, this year’s cicada groups, known as Brood XIII and Brood XIX, happened to make their homes adjacent to one another, with a narrow overlap in central Illinois….’ (NBC News)
‘As the justices confront a historic case with enormous political stakes, they might seek a narrow way out….’ (POLITICO)
Here are the suggestions, whose merits are discussed in the article:
— POTUS isn’t an ‘officer’: The 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause” lists various positions that cannot be held by anyone who “engaged in insurrection” after taking an oath to “support the Constitution.” Those positions include senators, representatives, and presidential and vice-presidential electors. Conspicuously, the clause does not explicitly list the presidency itself as a covered position — but it does contain a catch-all provision barring insurrectionists from holding “any office, civil or military, under the United States.” …
— Maybe there ought to be a law, but there isn’t: Another major ambiguity in the insurrection clause is that the text is silent about who decides whether a person is an insurrectionist. (It does say Congress can restore an individual’s eligibility by a two-thirds vote of both chambers, but not who decides someone is ineligible in the first place.) In legal terms, the question is whether the disqualification provision is “self-executing” or whether Congress has to pass a law for it to apply…
— This isn’t fair to trump: While there are several variations of this argument, the basic thrust is that the trial that led the Colorado Supreme Court to rule that trump should be kicked off the ballot there didn’t do enough to safeguard trump’s rights and allow him to contest the allegations that he led an insurrection. An aggressive version of this claim asserts that the only way to knock trump out of the election would be for him to be convicted of the specific federal crime of leading a “rebellion or insurrection.” While trump is facing four federal felony counts related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, none is that particular charge, even though the House Jan. 6 committee urged the Justice Department to charge him with it. (And, of course, he hasn’t been convicted.) A more modest iteration of the argument was put forward by one of the Colorado Supreme Court’s dissenting justices, who derided as “substandard” the procedures used for trump’s trial in Colorado — which was a civil suit proceeding under the state’s election law, not a criminal trial…
— It’s too soon to declare trump ineligible: The justices might conclude that it’s simply too early to weigh in on trump’s eligibility. Perhaps the 14th Amendment’s bar kicks in only during the general election that picks the office-holder, not during primaries that determine party nominations. Or perhaps the amendment merely bars insurrectionists from taking office and cannot actually be used to prevent them from running for office…
— The case is too hot to handle: When thorny, politically charged issues arise in court, judges sometimes simply declare the cases too political for the legal system to resolve — effectively sending them back to other branches of government. The justices could invoke this principle, known as the “political question doctrine,” to bow out of the issue of trump’s disqualification, but doing so would likely leave the Colorado Supreme Court decision in place…
‘A new discovery could help scientists to understand “strange metals,” a class of materials that are related to high-temperature superconductors and share fundamental quantum attributes with black holes….’ (Brown University)
‘EnviroFlash sends air quality messages right to your inbox. Know your air quality so you and your family can know when it’s a good time to be active outside.
To start getting air quality messages today, or to update your EnviroFlash account, enter your email here:
EnviroFlash is a partnership between the US EPA and your state or local air quality agency….’
‘Matt Barta captured the very unusual event of an articulated robotic arm sliding back on the table to reach its own power source and unplug itself during an event of some sort. Barta found the incident rather amusing….’ (Reddit)
As a child I had a toy which was a box with lid and power switch. When you turned on the power, a hand came out of the box and turned it off. Ooh, just found it: Wikipedia calls these “useless machines”.
‘On January 6 trump fully revealed himself to be as someone who had the will to destroy the democratic republic even if he didn’t have the means . He attempted to subvert the republic’s constitution and laws and he defied the democracy’s will as expressed in the vote. He lost both constitutionally and popularly. In terms of the American form of government, he had no leg to stand on: neither legality nor legitimacy. But he attempted to remain in office. That he failed is immaterial. The simple fact is that he wanted to put an end to this country as we know it.
The people who celebrate it admit as much: they openly talk about “Caesarism.” So, they want a Caesar not a President. That is just not the American form of government. Also un-American is the notion that trump, as he himself declared on January 6th, represents some force of history that must be obeyed, or some deeper essence of the American volk that must be expressed, that he is the avatar of the “Real People” no matter what the laws and votes might say, and that frustrating him is in effect frustrating “the greatest movement in history,’ to use Trump’s words. That is not a democratic or a republican idea: it is quite simply fascist. Mussolini said and thought the same sorts of things, as did Hitler. And it does not matter if you clamor for it or ruefully reflect that is may just be our fate in this benighted era, it comes down to the the acceptance of a fascist mentality, even if adopted in a tragic or nihilistic key.
From a certain perspective, the critics who say that talking about fascism takes trump too seriously are correct: it involves too much hocus-pocus, it cloaks him in a certain dark grandeur, and gives everything a Spenglerian gloom that makes him seem bigger than he is. After all, he’s just a crook and a conman, an idiot. But the phoniness, that bombast, and the ridiculousness was a part of the original thing, too. There has always been a deeply moronic side to fascism. Fascism is perhaps most fundamentally a moron putting on world-historical airs. “Morons trying to make history” — what better way to describe January 6? The second biggest mistake is to take it too seriously. But the first biggest mistake is to not take it seriously enough….’ ( John Ganz via Unpopular Front)
‘Hawaii hardest hit by loss of eight birds, with an Ohio catfish, a Pacific fruit bat and eight freshwater mussels also disappearing…’ ( Maanvi Singh via The Guardian)
‘Thirty-two-year-old Kelsey Hatcher welcomed two beautiful baby girls into the world last week, delivering fraternal twins at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. But unlike typical twins, the newborns came from two separate wombs.
Hatcher vaginally delivered her first baby, Roxi, at 7:45 p.m. on Dec. 19, followed by Rebel, who was delivered by c-section about 10 hours later on Dec. 20….’ (NPR)
Thanks to Richard, who replied “Rabbit, rabbit” to the reprise of my annual ‘New Year’s Customs and Traditions’ post below.
I was not acquainted with the quirky British and American tradition that, if you say these words before anything else on the first day of the month, it will bring good luck for the month to come. Appropriately, it led me down a rabbit hole, exploring the origins, variations, and some of the ramifications of the belief.
Because of their legendary fecundity, rabbits are associated with flourishing and good luck in many cultures. As the fourth sign in the Chinese zodiac, the rabbit is particularly auspicious. In various Native American cultures, the rabbit is a trickster valued for cleverness, problem-solving ability, and capacity to escape predators. The ancient Celts reportedly believed that rabbits’ advantages related to the fact that they could communicate with spirits because they burrowed underground.
According to this piece in the Farmer’s Almanac, the first written reference to the use of the particular phrase “Rabbit, Rabbit” to bring good fortune was a 1909 report in an English periodical of a parent who noted that his children uttered the phrase up the chimney on the first of the month in hopes of getting a gift. The writer commented that they knew other children to share the custom.
A Wikipedia article about the custom notes several 20th century literary depictions. FDR claimed to say “Rabbits” on the first of each month and also carried a rabbit’s foot during the 1932 presidential election he won by a landslide.
Also, a rabbit’s foot, especially the back-left one, has long been thought to be a good luck charm. In African-American folk spirituality, it was thought that rabbits’ feet would increase fertility since rabbits themselves are so fertile. But there were some rather eerie stipulations about those feet: the rabbit must be captured or killed in a cemetery, and the foot must be cut off on a certain day of the week under specific circumstances.
WWII British fighter pilots “opted for even greater luck by using the phrase daily”. Gilda Radner’s version was “Bunny bunny” and journalist Simon Winchester claimed that he had recited “White rabbits” for 696 consecutive months beginning at age four. The custom may be related to another folkloric practice of invoking rabbit-related phrases to avoid smoke being blown into one’s face when gathered around a campfire. Some speculate that it may originate with a North American First Nation story about smoke resembling rabbit fur.
Many who entered comments to the Farmer’s Almanac piece wrote that they thought their families were the only ones with this odd practice. One commenter taught the practice by his mother thought it was a Jamaican custom until his 20’s when he learned it was common in New England. In fact, there do appear to be a disproportionate number of comments originating in Maine. Folklorists have collected numerous variations on this superstition from areas of rural England and areas of North America rich in English immigrants.
During the 1990’s the US children’s cable TV channel Nickelodeon would, during commercial breaks in its programming, promote the last day of each month as “Rabbit Rabbit Day” and remind its young viewers to say the phrase the next morning.
Numerous variations on the tradition have been described. Triple repetition appears to be common. One reader was taught to say “Jack rabbit” and a significant number say “White rabbits” (or text it). One wrote in to
…say “HARES” as the last word on last day of month before going to sleep. Say “RABBITS” first thing the following morning, or “WHITE RABBITS” if you forgot HARES the previous night.
In another’s family, they yell “Bunny bunny” at midnight instead of “Happy New Year.” Some make a competition of being the first to say it and complain that foreign exchange students to whom they have taught the custom have a competitive advantage because of the time difference.
Staying awake on the last night of the month and uttering the phrase at 12:01 am or, if one goes to sleep earlier, saying it first thing upon waking are both suggested. If the phrase brings good luck, does forgetting to say it foretell a less fortunate month? According to one source, when you realize you have forgotten you can be in the clear by saying “Tibbar Tibbar” (the phrase backwards) as soon as you can, or “Black rabbit” before you go to sleep that night.
There are some beliefs contradicting the luck brought by rabbits. 19th century seamen would reportedly not use the word at sea. And seeing a white rabbit in one’s village in South Devon was a sure sign that a seriously ill person was likely to die.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that we need to perform ritual in order to call fortune into our lives. But I do believe I should honor my family and maybe this is how I do it. At this late date in the family history, it would seem sacrilegious to abandon this tradition. And so I keep on. And delight when I find another soul who has carried this old superstition into the 21st century. And to all, I say, Rabbit!
‘…a trivia card game of superstitions, myths, and folklore for 1-10 players, providing a peek into the stories told and passed down through the ages to make sense of a complicated world and to help us feel in control of our own destiny.
‘…is a circular motif appearing in sacred sites from East Asia, the Middle East and to the churches of Devon, England (as the “Tinners’ Rabbits”), and historical synagogues in Europe. It is used as an architectural ornament, a religious symbol, and in other modern works of art or a logo for adornment (including tattoos), jewelry, and a coat of arms on an escutcheon. It is viewed as a puzzle, a topology problem or a visual challenge, and has been rendered as sculpture, drawing, and painting.
The symbol features three hares or rabbits chasing each other in a circle. Like the triskelion, the triquetra, and their antecedents (e.g., the triple spiral), the symbol of the three hares has a threefold rotational symmetry. Each of the ears is shared by two hares, so that only three ears are shown. Although its meaning is apparently not explained in contemporary written sources from any of the medieval cultures where it is found, it is thought to have a range of symbolic or mystical associations with fertility and the lunar cycle. When used in Christian churches, it is presumed to be a symbol of the Trinity. Its origins and original significance are uncertain, as are the reasons why it appears in such diverse locations.
‘For a season that’s supposed to bring joy and good cheer to people, there is an awful lot of horrific beasts and creatures associated with Christmas.
Some are terrifying like the Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn) of Iceland which is said to prowl around in the night in search of naughty children to feast on, unless they’re wearing new clothes, in which case, they’re safe.
Another frightening creature which should probably be part of the Halloween canon instead is Krampus, the folkloric devilish creature who accompanies St. Nicholas, and gives naughty children lumps of coal and a bit of a scare. Countries whose lore features Krampus include those in the Central and Eastern Europe regions like Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania.
Poland, on the other hand, has a merry beast in Turoń, who is an auroch-like creature which dances around in festivals and is said to bring blessings of a good harvest, being a symbol of fertility, virility, and abundance to the people of the land. Turoń is probably the least monstrous on this list as it doesn’t punish anybody for being naughty, although it did chase children around.
And then, there’s the French and their Père Fouettard, literally Father Whipper. Much like Krampus, this old miser of a character tags along with Old St. Nick and gives children lumps of coal or beatings when they have been naughty. Sometimes, they get both, which is what earned him the nickname.
Then, going back to Iceland, we have Grýla the witch or ogress, and her 13 sons called the Yule Lads. Grýla, much like Jólakötturinn, likes to eat naughty children, whom she boils in a pot. Her 13 sons, on the other hand, are naughty pranksters who go gallivanting around town, stealing and harassing people. They also give obedient children gifts and naughty children rotten potatoes.
From these, we can infer that most of these monsters were created simply as deterrents for children’s misbehavior. However, apparently, the Yule Cat also encouraged people to work harder. Since children needed new clothing to protect themselves from the clutches of the 12-foot black cat, this prompted many farms working on wool to increase their productivity.
Nowadays, these monsters have simply become part of some Christmas traditions like Krampuslauf, not necessarily as a means of scaring children during Christmas….’ (Neatorama)
‘Longtime Grateful Dead producer/engineer John Cutler died at age 73 on Christmas Eve after a long illness as per his brother, Bill Cutler. John Cutler’s numerous credits include co-producing the Grateful Dead’s final two studio albums — 1987’s In The Dark and 1989’s Built To Last — with Jerry Garcia…
John Cutler began doing odd jobs for the Grateful Dead in the early ’70s including the repair of amps. Cutler served as the band’s advance man before their famed September 1978 trip to Egypt for a series of concerts by the pyramids of Giza. After that, he signed on full time as an employee of the Grateful Dead. Among his duties was making a mix used by local radio stations or for television broadcasts, while FOH engineer Dan Healy would do the house mix…
Following Garcia’s death, John Cutler produced and engineered Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia live and studio archival releases. Rob Wasserman, Sanjay Mishra, Backbone, Gov’t Mule, New Grass Revival and Warren Zevon were among other artists Cutler worked with in production or engineering capacities…’ (Jambase)
‘Comedian Jared Ewy, who is the founder of Green AF, took it upon himself to fix the universe by realigning one manhole cover at a time. His very first effort centered around a particular cover on a street in Beaumar, Colorado that didn’t align with the painted traffic line….’ (Laughing Squid)
‘Towards the end of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis had just ended, it was still a year-and-a-day until the first episode of Doctor Who would air, and a remarkable book was published. It was not the content of the book that was so astonishing; Bernard Shaw’s play Androcles and the Lion was fifty years old by this stage. This edition of Androcles and the Lion witnessed the birth of an entirely new alphabet, and its publication was a close-run thing.
The Shaw alphabet, which came to be more commonly known by the latinised name of “Shavian”, represented the culmination of a lifetime of advocacy by Irish playwright, writer and wit, Bernard Shaw. It was perhaps the subject on which Shaw wrote most earnestly, often—but not always—casting aside his love of levity to argue on purely rational grounds about the economic inefficiencies of silent letters and absurd spellings, and the failure of traditional orthography to offer any instruction to children (or adults, for that matter) on how to speak English….’
This is the annual update of my New Year post, a longstanding FmH tradition. Please let me know if you find any dead links:
I once ran across a January 1st Boston Globe article compiling folkloric beliefs about what to do, what to eat, etc. on New Year’s Day to bring good fortune for the year to come. I’ve regretted since — I usually think of it around once a year (grin) — not clipping out and saving the article. Especially since we’ve had children, I’m interested in enduring traditions that go beyond getting drunk [although some comment that this is a profound enactment of the interdigitation of chaos and order appropriate to the New Year’s celebration — FmH], watching the bowl games and making resolutions.
A web search brought me this, less elaborate than what I recall from the Globe but to the same point. It is weighted toward eating traditions, which is odd because, unlike most other major holidays, the celebration of New Year’s in 21st century America does not seem to be centered at all around thinking about what we eat (except in the sense of the traditional weight-loss resolutions!) and certainly not around a festive meal. But…
Traditionally, it was thought that one could affect the luck they would have throughout the coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year. For that reason, it has become common for folks to celebrate the first few minutes of a brand new year in the company of family and friends. Parties often last into the middle of the night after the ringing in of a new year. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year’s Day would bring either good luck or bad luck the rest of the year. It was particularly lucky if that visitor happened to be a tall dark-haired man.
“Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring luck. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes “coming full circle,” completing a year’s cycle. For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year’s Day will bring good fortune.
Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the new year by consuming black-eyed peas. These legumes are typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another ‘good luck’ vegetable that is consumed on New Year’s Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year’s Day.”
The further north one travels in the British Isles, the more the year-end festivities focus on New Year’s. The Scottish observance of Hogmanay has many elements of warming heart and hearth, welcoming strangers and making a good beginning:
“Three cornered biscuits called hogmanays are eaten. Other special foods are: wine, ginger cordial, cheese, bread, shortbread, oatcake, carol or carl cake, currant loaf, and a pastry called scones. After sunset people collect juniper and water to purify the home. Divining rituals are done according to the directions of the winds, which are assigned their own colors.
First Footing: The first person who comes to the door on midnight
should be a dark-haired or dark-complected man with gifts for luck. Seeing a cat, dog, woman, red-head or beggar is unlucky. The person brings a gift (handsel) of coal or whiskey to ensure prosperity in the New Year. Mummer’s Plays are also performed. The actors called the White Boys of Yule are all dressed in white, except for one dressed as the devil in black. It is bad luck to engage in marriage proposals, break glass, spin flax, sweep or carry out rubbish on New Year’s Eve.”
Here’s why we clink our glasses when we drink our New Year’s toasts, no matter where we are. Of course, sometimes the midnight cacophony is louder than just clinking glassware, to create a ‘devil-chasing din’.
In Georgia, eat black eyed peas and turnip greens on New Year’s Day for luck and prosperity in the year to come, supposedly because they symbolize coppers and currency. Hoppin’ John, a concoction of peas, onion, bacon and rice, is also a southern New Year’s tradition, as is wearing yellow to find true love (in Peru and elsewhere in South America, yellow underwear, apparently!) or carrying silver for prosperity. In some instances, a dollar bill is thrown in with the other ingredients of the New Year’s meal to bring prosperity. In Greece, there is a traditional New Year’s Day sweetbread with a silver coin baked into it. All guests get a slice of the bread and whoever receives the slice with the coin is destined for good fortune for the year. At Italian tables, lentils, oranges and olives are served. The lentils, looking like coins, will bring prosperity; the oranges are for love; and the olives, symbolic of the wealth of the land, represent good fortune for the year to come.
A New Year’s meal in Norway also includes dried cod, “lutefisk.” The Pennsylvania Dutch make sure to include sauerkraut in their holiday meal, also for prosperity.
In Spain, you would cram twelve grapes in your mouth at midnight, one each time the clock chimed, for good luck for the twelve months to come. (If any of the grapes happens to be sour, the corresponding month will not be one of your most fortunate in the coming year.) The U. S. version of this custom, for some reason, involves standing on a chair as you pop the grapes. In Denmark, jumping off a chair at the stroke of midnight signifies leaping into the New Year. In Rio,
The crescent-shaped Copacabana beach… is the scene of an unusual New Year’s Eve ritual: mass public blessings by the mother-saints of the Macumba and Candomble sects. More than 1 million people gather to watch colorful fireworks displays before plunging into the ocean at midnight after receiving the blessing from the mother-saints, who set up mini-temples on the beach.
When taking the plunge, revelers are supposed to jump over seven waves, one for each day of the week.
This is all meant to honor Lamanjá, known as the “Mother of Waters” or “Goddess of the Sea.” Lamanjá protects fishermen and survivors of shipwrecks. Believers also like to throw rice, jewelry and other gifts into the water, or float them out into the sea in intimately crafted miniature boats, to please Lamanjá in the new year.
Ecuadorian families make scarecrows stuffed with newspaper and firecrackers and place them outside their homes. The dummies represent misfortunes of the prior year, which are then burned in effigy at the stroke of midnight to forget the old year. Bolivian families make beautiful little wood or straw dolls to hang outside their homes on New Year’s Eve to bring good luck.
In China, homes are cleaned spotless to appease the Kitchen God, and papercuttings of red paper are hung in the windows to scare away evil spirits who might enter the house and bring misfortune. Large papier mache dragon heads with long fabric bodies are maneuvered through the streets during the Dragon Dance festival, and families open their front doors to let the dragon bring good luck into their homes.
The Indian Diwali, or Dipawali, festival, welcoming in the autumnal season, also involves attracting good fortune with lights. Children make small clay lamps, dipas, thousands of which might adorn a given home. In Thailand, one pours fragrant water over the hands of elders on New Year’s Day to show them respect.
a stack of pancakes for the New Year’s breakfast in France.
banging on friends’ doors in Denmark to “smash in” the New Year, where it is also a good sign to find your doorstep heaped with broken dishes on New Year’s morning. Old dishes are saved all years to throw at your friends’ homes on New Year’s Eve. The more broken pieces you have, the greater the number of new friends you will have in the forthcoming twelve months.
going in the front door and out the back door at midnight in Ireland.
making sure the First Footer, the first person through your door in the New Year in Scotland, is a tall dark haired visitor.
water out the window at midnight in Puerto Rico rids the home of evil spirits.
cleanse your soul in Japan at the New Year by listening to a gong tolling 108 times, one for every sin
it is Swiss good luck to let a drop of cream fall on the floor on New Year’s Day.
Belgian farmers wish their animals a Happy New Year for blessings.
In Germany and Austria, lead pouring” (das Bleigießen) is an old divining practice using molten lead like tea leaves. A small amount of lead is melted in a tablespoon (by holding a flame under the spoon) and then poured into a bowl or bucket of water. The resulting pattern is interpreted to predict the coming year. For instance, if the lead forms a ball (der Ball), that means luck will roll your way. The shape of an anchor (der Anker) means help in need. But a cross (das Kreuz) signifies death. This is also a practice in parts of Finland, apparently.
El Salvadoreans crack an egg in a glass at midnight and leave it on the windowsill overnight; whatever figure it has made in the morning is indicative of one’s fortune for the year.
Some Italians like to take part in throwing pots, pans, and old furniture from their windows when the clock strikes midnight. This is done as a way for residents to rid of the old and welcome in the new. It also allows them to let go of negativity. This custom is also practiced in parts of South Africa, the Houston Press adds.
In Colombia, walk around with an empty suitcase on New Year’s Day for a year full of travel.
In the Philippines, all the lights in the house are turned on at midnight, and previously opened windows, doors and cabinets throughout the house are suddenly slammed shut, to ward off evil spirits for the new year.
In Russia a wish is written down on a piece of paper. It is burned and the ash dissolved in a glass of champagne, which should be downed before 12:01 am if the wish is to come true.
Romanians celebrate the new year by wearing bear costumes and dancing around to ward off evil
In Turkey, pomegranates are thrown down from the balconies at midnight for good luck.
is a famous cult classic in Germany and several other European countries, it is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, including Britain, its birthplace.” (Watch on Youtube, 11 min.)
Some history; documentation of observance of the new year dates back at least 4000 years to the Babylonians, who also made the first new year’s resolutions (reportedly voews to return borrowed farm equipment were very popular), although their holiday was observed at the vernal equinox. The Babylonian festivities lasted eleven days, each day with its own particular mode of celebration. The traditional Persian Norouz festival of spring continues to be considered the advent of the new year among Persians, Kurds and other peoples throughout Central Asia, and dates back at least 3000 years, deeply rooted in Zooastrian traditions.Modern Bahá’í’s celebrate Norouz (”Naw Ruz”) as the end of a Nineteen Day Fast. Rosh Hashanah (”head of the year”), the Jewish New Year, the first day of the lunar month of Tishri, falls between September and early October. Muslim New Year is the first day of Muharram, and Chinese New Year falls between Jan. 10th and Feb. 19th of the Gregorian calendar.
The classical Roman New Year’s celebration was also in the spring although the calendar went out of synchrony with the sun. January 1st became the first day of the year by proclamation of the Roman Senate in 153 BC, reinforced even more strongly when Julius Caesar established what came to be known as the Julian calendar in 46 BC. The early Christian Church condemned new year’s festivities as pagan but created parallel festivities concurrently. New Year’s Day is still observed as the Feast of Christ’s Circumcision in some denominations. Church opposition to a new year’s observance reasserted itself during the Middle Ages, and Western nations have only celebrated January 1 as a holidy for about the last 400 years. The custom of New Year’s gift exchange among Druidic pagans in 7th century Flanders was deplored by Saint Eligius, who warned them, “[Do not] make vetulas, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another Yule custom].” (Wikipedia)
The tradition of the New Year’s Baby signifying the new year began with the Greek tradition of parading a baby in a basket during the Dionysian rites celebrating the annual rebirth of that god as a symbol of fertility. The baby was also a symbol of rebirth among early Egyptians. Again, the Church was forced to modify its denunciation of the practice as pagan because of the popularity of the rebirth symbolism, finally allowing its members to cellebrate the new year with a baby although assimilating it to a celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus. The addition of Father Time (the “Old Year”) wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year on it, and the banner carried or worn by the New Year’s Baby, immigrated from Germany. Interestingly, January 1st is not a legal holiday in Israel, officially because of its historic origins as a Christian feast day.
Auld Lang Syne (literally ‘old long ago’ in the Scottish dialect) is sung or played at the stroke of midnight throughout the English-speaking world (and then there is George Harrison’s “Ring Out the Old”). Versions of the song have been part of the New Year’s festivities since the 17th century but Robert Burns was inspired to compose a modern rendition, which was published after his death in 1796. (It took Guy Lombardo, however, to make it popular…)
Brazilian: Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo means “Good Parties and Happy New Year”
Chinese: Chu Shen Tan Xin Nian Kuai Le (thanks, Jeff)
Czechoslavakia: Scastny Novy Rok
Dutch: Gullukkig Niuw Jaar
Finnish: Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
French: Bonne Annee
German: Prosit Neujahr
Greek: Eftecheezmaenos o Kaenooryos hronos
Hebrew: L’Shannah Tovah Tikatevu
Hindi: Niya Saa Moobaarak
Irish (Gaelic): Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
Italian: Buon Capodanno
Khmer: Sua Sdei tfnam tmei
Laotian: Sabai dee pee mai
Polish: Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese: Feliz Ano Novo
Russian: S Novim Godom
Serbo-Croatian: Scecna nova godina
Spanish: Feliz Ano Nuevo
Swedish: Ha ett gott nytt år
Turkish: Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Vietnamese: Cung-Chuc Tan-Xuan
[If you are a native speaker, please feel free to offer any corrections or additions!]
Which of these customs appeal to you? Are they done in your family, or will you try to adopt any of them? However you’re going to celebrate, my warmest wishes for the year to come… and eat hearty!
[thanks to Bruce Umbaugh (here or here) for original assistance]
A damaged skyscraper in a Moscow business district after a reported drone attack in August.
‘Buoyed by Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive and flagging Western support, Mr. Putin says that Russia’s war goals have not changed. Addressing his generals on Tuesday, he boasted that Ukraine was so beleaguered that Russia’s invading troops were doing “what we want.”
“We won’t give up what’s ours,” he pledged, adding dismissively, “If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.”
But in a recent push of back-channel diplomacy, Mr. Putin has been sending a different message: He is ready to make a deal.
Mr. Putin has been signaling through intermediaries since at least September that he is open to a cease-fire that freezes the fighting along the current lines, far short of his ambitions to dominate Ukraine, two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin and American and international officials who have received the message from Mr. Putin’s envoys say….’ (The New York Times)
‘at least five times, a biological catastrophe has engulfed the planet, killing off the vast majority of species from water and land over a relatively short geological interval.
New analysis identifies largest threat to thousands of species facing extinction
The most famous of these mass extinction events — when an asteroid slammed into Earth 66 million years ago, dooming the dinosaurs and many other species — is also the most recent. But scientists say it won’t be the last.
Many researchers argue we’re in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, caused not by a city-size space rock but by the overgrowth and transformative behavior of a single species — Homo sapiens. Humans have destroyed habitats and unleashed a climate crisis.
Calculations in a September study published in the journal PNAS have suggested that groups of related animal species are disappearing at a rate 35% times higher than the normally expected rate.
And while every mass extinction has winners and losers, there is no reason to assume that human beings in this case would be among the survivors.
In fact, study coauthor Gerardo Ceballos thinks the opposite could come to pass, with the sixth mass extinction transforming the whole biosphere, or the area of the world hospitable to life — possibly into a state in which it may be impossible for humanity to persist unless dramatic action is taken.
“Biodiversity will recover but the winners (are) very difficult to predict. Many of the losers in these past mass extinctions were incredibly successful groups,” said Ceballos, a senior researcher at the Institute of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
While the causes of the “big five” mass extinctions varied, understanding what happened during these dramatic chapters in Earth’s history — and what emerged in the aftermath of these cataclysms — can be instructive….’ (CNN)
‘As of November 2023, the “reaction area” in one of the L.A. dumps “had grown by 30 to 35 acres, according to the agency [CalRecycle]. Already, the heat has melted or deformed the landfill’s gas collection system, which consists mostly of polyvinyl chloride well casings. The damage has hindered the facility’s efforts to collect toxic pollutants.” This seems to imply it will get worse, and nearby residents have begun reporting chemical smells.
“The bad news,” L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger told the paper, “is we’ve never seen anything like this, and if we don’t understand what triggered it, it could happen at other landfills that are dormant. So it’s important for us to get a handle on it.” The earth, riddled with dormant landfills, attaining enigmatic chemical vigor in the darkness…’ (Geoff Manaugh via BLDGBLOG)
‘The advent of the war triggered fears of outright nuclear conflict between the West and Russia. That period of somewhat frenzied speculation has passed. The war has since settled into a grinding—but conventional—stalemate. To be sure, U.S. officials are still concerned that Russia may use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. “I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in June. The risk, he continued, is “real.” But officials do not appear to believe that the war in Ukraine could lead Russia to use its nuclear arsenal against a NATO state, however furious it is at the West for supporting Ukraine.
That is a mistake. U.S. officials have it backward. It is actually quite unlikely that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use a nuclear weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine, but it is very possible that he will move toward using one against NATO. Unlike the West, Putin may not fear a nuclear standoff: he is well versed in Russia’s nuclear arsenal and the tenets of nuclear deterrence, and possibly sees himself as uniquely suited to navigating a nuclear crisis. And Putin has been remarkably consistent that Russia is willing to use nuclear weapons against NATO to defend its interests in Ukraine. Even eight years ago, in a television interview done a year after Russia invaded Crimea, Putin declared that he had been ready to place Russian nuclear forces on alert to prevent Western forces from interfering in Moscow’s takeover of the peninsula.
Russian nuclear weapons use is not imminent. But if Putin does escalate the war, for instance by attacking NATO with conventional weapons, he will likely move very swiftly, so as not to give the United States a chance to maneuver away from a crisis. Washington will struggle to deter a Kremlin so emboldened. Ukraine is too central to the Kremlin’s ambitions—and too secondary to the United States’—for Putin to believe any American threats. Ultimately, Putin will expect the United States to back down before fighting a nuclear conflict over land so far from home….’ ( By Peter Schroeder via Foreign Affairs)
‘In an influential article published last April, Andrew Krepinevich argued that we are entering a new nuclear age. China, he said, is ‘upending the bipolar nuclear power system’. That world was dangerous enough, but a world of three major thermonuclear powers could be much worse. ‘In a tripolar system,’ Krepinevich argued, ‘it is simply not possible for each state to maintain nuclear parity with the combined arsenals of its two rivals.’ Any attempt to do so would likely result in an uncontrolled arms race, increasing the chances of a catastrophic war.
Think of the three body problem in classical mechanics. The interactions of two masses are relatively easy to calculate, but three are unstable and chaotic: there is no easy equilibrium. Nuclear armed states create a similar dynamic, a three bomb problem….’ ( Tom Stevenson via The London Review of Books)
‘For travelers unfamiliar with Iceland’s stories and mythical legends, the idea of a 12-foot-tall, bloodthirsty cat may not seem to have the most natural tie with Christmas good cheer. But in a country where a third of residents report a belief in hidden people and an entire school devoted to studying elves, Jólakötturinn starts to make sense….’ (Atlas Obscura)
I just became acquainted with Pierre Bourdieu’s 1979 Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, published by of all people MIT Press. While I no longer have much patience for the tortuous language of a certain genre of postmodern French intellectuals, Bourdieu’s observations, drawn from the empirical study of 1960’s French society, are intriguing.
Our preferences regarding cultural phenomena — art, music, clothing styles, other consumer goods — are not simply matters of personal preference but are shaped by, and become signifiers of, our social position. Class status and social inequality are maintained by generational transmission of one’s cultural capital. Cultural institutions such as museums and schools perpetuate inequalities by favoring certain forms of cultural capital over others. Your sense that you are a person of good taste is reinforced by, and becomes a powerful reinforcer of, your sense of social belonging, largely unconsciously.
This wonderful article draws out the implications to the succeeding decades’ more modern culture through the author’s introspection on their own tastes, while skewering the obfuscating complexity of the discourse (itself a cultural signifier) and recasting the argument in plain English.
‘…[A] new AI project has just emerged that can pinpoint the location of where almost any photo was taken – and it has the potential to become a privacy nightmare.
The project, dubbed Predicting Image Geolocations (or PIGEON for short) was created by three students at Stanford University and was designed to help find where images from Google Street View were taken. But when fed personal photos it had never seen before, it was even able to accurately find their locations, usually with a high degree of accuracy….’ (TechRadar)
I signed a petition on Action Network telling Monica M. Bertagnolli, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health to Support the Continuation of the Dog Aging Project.
The Dog Aging Project represents a pioneering effort in the scientific community. It engages nearly 50,000 Americans in research, and drives significant advancements in aging biology. Despite its remarkable success, the project now faces uncertainty. Your voice is crucial to secure its future. Initiated with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2018, this project aims to understand aging in dogs, and to ultimately help us extend healthy lifespan of both humans and pets. It has surpassed all expectations, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic’s challenges, with substantial achievements such as:
Creating the largest longitudinal study of aging in the world
Publishing over 50 influential peer-reviewed papers
Developing a free, open-access database with more than 36.5 million data points
Initiating the first-ever randomized clinical trial for longevity
These efforts have sparked global research and inspired biotechnology companies to seek new life-extending treatments.
Now, we stand at a crossroads. The Dog Aging Project has become a symbol of hope, demonstrating the power of science in a period of skepticism. Its loss would not only hinder advancements in health but also diminish the public’s engagement with science and their faith in NIH.
We urge the NIH to reaffirm their commitment to this vital work. This isn’t merely about scientific inquiry; it’s about improving lives. Join us in advocating for the Dog Aging Project. Together, we can secure a future where the health and vitality of our beloved dogs shed light on our own paths to healthy long lives.
Act now. Lend your voice to champion the Dog Aging Project and contribute to a healthier tomorrow.
‘If your idea of festive joy is being haunted by past memories or driven insane by mysterious specters, have we got the tradition for you….’ (The New York Times)
‘The invention of digital bioacoustics is analogous to the invention of the microscope. When Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek started looking through his microscopes, he discovered the microbial world, and that laid the foundation for countless future breakthroughs. So the microscope enabled humans to see anew with both our eyes and our imaginations.
The analogy here is that digital bioacoustics, combined with artificial intelligence, is like a planetary-scale hearing aid that enables us to listen anew with both our prosthetically enhanced ears and our imagination. This is slowly opening our minds not only to the wonderful sounds that nonhumans make but to a fundamental set of questions about the so-called divide between humans and nonhumans, our relationship to other species.
It’s also opening up new ways to think about conservation and our relationship to the planet. It’s pretty profound….’ ( Sophie Bushwick via Scientific American)
‘Henry Kissinger, who died on Nov. 29, 2023 at the age of 100, stood as a colossus of U.S. foreign policy. His influence on American politics lasted long beyond his eight-year stint guiding the Nixon and Ford administrations as national security adviser and secretary of state, with successive presidents, presidential candidates and top diplomats seeking his advice and approval ever since.
But his mark extends beyond the United States. Kissinger’s policies in the 1970s had immediate impact on countries, governments and people across South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Sometimes the fallout – and it was that – lasted decades; in some places it continues to be felt today. Nowhere is that more true than Cambodia.
Poet-musician of dereliction who became a mythic figure:
‘The former Pogues frontman created, for a brief period, songs of incisive beauty before addiction led to his ejection from the band, although his genius shone once more with the Popes…’ ( via The Guardian)
‘In 2024, if all goes to plan, a spacecraft named the Europa Clipper will embark on a journey to an icy, gray moon of Jupiter covered in rust-colored gashes. It will swim along the Jovian satellite’s gravitational tides, half facing the orb from orbit, half exposed to the airless ocean of space. And alongside its high-tech spectrometer, radar system, optical imager and other instruments built to search for proof of alien habitats, the Europa Clipper will be bringing my name. It can bring yours, too.
You just have to sign up for NASA’s free “Message in a Bottle program” here. The campaign closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on Dec. 31 (0459 GMT on Jan. 1); at the time I’m writing this, almost 900,000 names have been entered….’ (Space)
‘The transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, almost all of it from cars and trucks. Yet the nation is starkly divided on the solution. An overlay placed on the states most hostile to electric vehicle policies would dovetail almost perfectly with those that voted for Donald Trump in 2020. According to a trade association quarterly report, deep red Wyoming, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, and North Dakota have the nation’s lowest rates of EV sales. And good luck finding a public charging station in the Deep South or the Great Plains….’ ( By Renée Loth via Boston Globe)
Almost every values-based difference in American society dovetails neatly with the Red-Blue divide. The only way to avoid being brutalized by the culture wars is to retreat to your corner. Incontrovertible to me that we don’t live in one country… and probably shouldn’t.
‘trump isn’t hiding it any more, nor are his people. The Republican “frontrunner” is openly campaigning on creating a fascist state, praising dictators, and now trying to sound like one…
The New York Times’ Peter Baker summed up… : “Spokesman denies that trump rhetoric echoes that of dictators like Hitler and Mussolini and declares that those who say it does will find ‘their entire existence will be crushed when president trump returns to the White House.'”
Also responding to The Post’s report was author and MSNBC analyst Jonathan Alter, who wrote: “As we learned from Mein Kampf, when a demagogue tells you what he is going to do, believe him.”.’ (Boing Boing)
‘After sending his wife a Valentine’s Day message and appearing on camera on February 15th, Navalny reportedly “felt sick after a walk and lost consciousness.” Only a fool would take the Russia’s announcement at face value – it is clear that Alexei Navalny’s death was an assassination by the murderous regime of Vladimir Putin.
‘I have been teaching in small liberal arts colleges for over 15 years now, and in the past five years, it’s as though someone flipped a switch. For most of my career, I assigned around 30 pages of reading per class meeting as a baseline expectation—sometimes scaling up for purely expository readings or pulling back for more difficult texts. (No human being can read 30 pages of Hegel in one sitting, for example.) Now students are intimidated by anything over 10 pages and seem to walk away from readings of as little as 20 pages with no real understanding. Even smart and motivated students struggle to do more with written texts than extract decontextualized take-aways. Considerable class time is taken up simply establishing what happened in a story or the basic steps of an argument—skills I used to be able to take for granted.
‘It weaponizes the practice in a new way….’ ( Li Zhou via Vox )
‘A vague warning by the chair of the House Intelligence Committee about a “serious national security threat” Wednesday is related to Russia’s attempts to develop an antisatellite nuclear weapon for use in space, according to two people familiar with the matter.
‘Whether we create consciousness in our brains as a function of our neurons firing, or consciousness exists independently of us, there’s no universally accepted scientific explanation for where it comes from or where it lives. However, new research on the physics, anatomy, and geometry of consciousness has begun to reveal its possible form.
‘Judges will face choices that affect when, and whether, trump stands trial.
‘Whether donald trump faces trial this year for seeking to subvert the 2020 election appears increasingly certain to rest with the nine justices of the Supreme Court — three of whom he nominated himself.
‘I know deep down that the Apple Vision Pro is too immersive, and yet all I want to do is see the world through it. “I’m sure the technology is terrific. I still think and hope it fails,” one Silicon Valley investor said to me. “Apple feels more and more like a tech fentanyl dealer that poses as a rehab provider.” Harsh words, but he feels what we all feel, a slave to our smartphone, and he’s seen this play before and he knows what the first act is like, and the second act, and he knows how it ends….’ ( via Vanity Fair )
Today is Groundhog Day . What hangs in the balance is whether spring is coming early. In the Pagan calendar, it is Imbolc (or Imbolg), which has marked the beginning of spring since ancient times, coming at the midpoint between the astronomical winter solstice (“Yule”) and the spring equinox (“Ostara”) in the northern hemisphere. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals that fall at the ‘quarter cross points’ between the equinoxes and the solstices, along with Beltane, Lugnasadh, and Samhain.
Another traditional symbol of Imbolc is the plough. In some areas, this is the first day of ploughing in preparation of the first planting of crops. A decorated plough is dragged from door to door, with costumed children following asking for food, drinks, or money. Should they be refused, the household is paid back by having its front garden ploughed up. In other areas, the plough is decorated and then Whiskey, the “water of life” is poured over it. Pieces of cheese and bread are left by the plough and in the newly turned furrows as offerings to the nature spirits. It is considered taboo to cut or pick plants during this time. Various other names for this Greater Sabbat are Imbolgc Brigantia (Caledonni), Imbolic (Celtic), Disting (Teutonic, Feb 14th), Lupercus (Strega), St. Bridget’s Day (Christian), Candlemas, Candlelaria (Mexican), the Snowdrop Festival. The Festival of Lights, or the Feast of the Virgin. All Virgin and Maiden Goddesses are honored at this time…’
‘In a paper published Thursday in the journal Cell, researchers present new evidence that a molecule called Xist — pronounced like the word “exist” and found only in women — is a major culprit in these diseases.
‘We’ve learned a lot in the years since Jan. 6. But so have democracy’s opponents….’ ( Sam Adams via Slate )
Thanks to Richard, who replied “Rabbit, rabbit” to the reprise of my annual ‘New Year’s Customs and Traditions’ post below. 
‘Towards the end of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis had just ended, it was still a year-and-a-day until the first episode of Doctor Who would air, and a remarkable book was published. It was not the content of the book that was so astonishing; Bernard Shaw’s play Androcles and the Lion was fifty years old by this stage. This edition of Androcles and the Lion witnessed the birth of an entirely new alphabet, and its publication was a close-run thing.
This is the annual update of my New Year post, a longstanding FmH tradition. Please let me know if you find any dead links:
Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the new year by consuming black-eyed peas. These legumes are typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another ‘good luck’ vegetable that is consumed on New Year’s Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year’s Day.”
Here’s why we clink our glasses when we drink our New Year’s toasts, no matter where we are. Of course, sometimes the midnight cacophony is louder than just clinking glassware, to create a ‘devil-chasing din’.
In Georgia, eat black eyed peas and turnip greens on New Year’s Day for luck and prosperity in the year to come, supposedly because they symbolize coppers and currency. Hoppin’ John, a concoction of peas, onion, bacon and rice, is also a southern New Year’s tradition, as is wearing yellow to find true love (in Peru and elsewhere in South America, yellow underwear, apparently!) or carrying silver for prosperity. In some instances, a dollar bill is thrown in with the other ingredients of the New Year’s meal to bring prosperity. In Greece, there is a traditional New Year’s Day sweetbread with a silver coin baked into it. All guests get a slice of the bread and whoever receives the slice with the coin is destined for good fortune for the year. At Italian tables, lentils, oranges and olives are served. The lentils, looking like coins, will bring prosperity; the oranges are for love; and the olives, symbolic of the wealth of the land, represent good fortune for the year to come.
When taking the plunge, revelers are supposed to jump over seven waves, one for each day of the week.
In China, homes are cleaned spotless to appease the Kitchen God, and papercuttings of red paper are hung in the windows to scare away evil spirits who might enter the house and bring misfortune. Large papier mache dragon heads with long fabric bodies are maneuvered through the streets during the Dragon Dance festival, and families open their front doors to let the dragon bring good luck into their homes.
In Germany and Austria, lead pouring” (das Bleigießen) is an old divining practice using molten lead like tea leaves. A small amount of lead is melted in a tablespoon (by holding a flame under the spoon) and then poured into a bowl or bucket of water. The resulting pattern is interpreted to predict the coming year. For instance, if the lead forms a ball (der Ball), that means luck will roll your way. The shape of an anchor (der Anker) means help in need. But a cross (das Kreuz) signifies death. This is also a practice in parts of Finland, apparently.
Romanians celebrate the new year by wearing bear costumes and dancing around to ward off evil
The classical Roman New Year’s celebration was also in the spring although the calendar went out of synchrony with the sun. January 1st became the first day of the year by proclamation of the Roman Senate in 153 BC, reinforced even more strongly when Julius Caesar established what came to be known as the Julian calendar in 46 BC. The early Christian Church condemned new year’s festivities as pagan but created parallel festivities concurrently. New Year’s Day is still observed as the Feast of Christ’s Circumcision in some denominations. Church opposition to a new year’s observance reasserted itself during the Middle Ages, and Western nations have only celebrated January 1 as a holidy for about the last 400 years. The custom of New Year’s gift exchange among Druidic pagans in 7th century Flanders was deplored by Saint Eligius, who warned them, “[Do not] make vetulas, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another Yule custom].” (Wikipedia)
The tradition of the New Year’s Baby signifying the new year began with the Greek tradition of parading a baby in a basket during the Dionysian rites celebrating the annual rebirth of that god as a symbol of fertility. The baby was also a symbol of rebirth among early Egyptians. Again, the Church was forced to modify its denunciation of the practice as pagan because of the popularity of the rebirth symbolism, finally allowing its members to cellebrate the new year with a baby although assimilating it to a celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus. The addition of Father Time (the “Old Year”) wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year on it, and the banner carried or worn by the New Year’s Baby, immigrated from Germany. Interestingly, January 1st is not a legal holiday in Israel, officially because of its historic origins as a Christian feast day.
‘As of November 2023, the “reaction area” in one of the L.A. dumps “had grown by 30 to 35 acres, according to the agency [CalRecycle]. Already, the heat has melted or deformed the landfill’s gas collection system, which consists mostly of polyvinyl chloride well casings. The damage has hindered the facility’s efforts to collect toxic pollutants.” This seems to imply it will get worse, and nearby residents have begun reporting chemical smells.
‘The advent of the war triggered fears of outright nuclear conflict between the West and Russia. That period of somewhat frenzied speculation has passed. The war has since settled into a grinding—but conventional—stalemate. To be sure, U.S. officials are still concerned that Russia may use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. “I worry about Putin using tactical nuclear weapons,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in June. The risk, he continued, is “real.” But officials do not appear to believe that the war in Ukraine could lead Russia to use its nuclear arsenal against a NATO state, however furious it is at the West for supporting Ukraine.
‘In an influential article published last April, Andrew Krepinevich argued that we are entering a new nuclear age. China, he said, is ‘upending the bipolar nuclear power system’. That world was dangerous enough, but a world of three major thermonuclear powers could be much worse. ‘In a tripolar system,’ Krepinevich argued, ‘it is simply not possible for each state to maintain nuclear parity with the combined arsenals of its two rivals.’ Any attempt to do so would likely result in an uncontrolled arms race, increasing the chances of a catastrophic war.
‘Places that are usually hot or cold developed languages differently….’ ( via Atlas Obscura )
‘The invention of digital bioacoustics is analogous to the invention of the microscope. When Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek started looking through his microscopes, he discovered the microbial world, and that laid the foundation for countless future breakthroughs. So the microscope enabled humans to see anew with both our eyes and our imaginations.
‘Henry Kissinger, who died on Nov. 29, 2023 at the age of 100, stood as a colossus of U.S. foreign policy. His influence on American politics lasted long beyond his eight-year stint guiding the Nixon and Ford administrations as national security adviser and secretary of state, with successive presidents, presidential candidates and top diplomats seeking his advice and approval ever since.
‘What his victory in America’s election would mean…’ ( via The Economist )
‘The transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, almost all of it from cars and trucks. Yet the nation is starkly divided on the solution. An overlay placed on the states most hostile to electric vehicle policies would dovetail almost perfectly with those that voted for Donald Trump in 2020. According to a trade association quarterly report, deep red Wyoming, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, and North Dakota have the nation’s lowest rates of EV sales. And good luck finding a public charging station in the Deep South or the Great Plains….’ ( By Renée Loth via Boston Globe )
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