Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lucy Mangan looks back on 2017 and says what we're all thinking (Stylist)
1. Best News. Not a crowded field, this one. The greatest comfort to be had was that we couldn't lose David Bowie and Victoria Wood in the same year again. But! It is also the year I discovered pink robins exist - Google them now - and that baby porcupines are called 'porcupettes'. This is all I have, darlings, along with the news that there's a nap bar opening in London called Pop & Rest, which means we can sleep throughmore of 2018 than first hoped.
Peter Bradshaw: All the Money in the World review - raucous crime thriller banishes ghost of Kevin Spacey (The Guardian)
Ridley Scott's drama about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III looked sunk after allegations were made against the actor, but Christopher Plummer excels as his last-minute replacement.
Ellen E. Jones: Brooklynn Prince of The Florida Project: 'When I heard I could swear, I was like "YeeHAW!"' (The Guardian)
The seven-year-old actor, who steals the show as the little girl in Sean Baker's realist drama, can't wait to hit the red carpet come Oscars time.
Matthew Jacobs: The 18 Best Movies Of 2017 (Huffington Post)
1. Call Me By Your Name, 2. The Florida Project
Stephanie Merritt: We need the darkest Christmas stories. These are dark times (The Guardian)
That's enough cloying schmaltz. There's a mysterious side to the season and we should embrace it, especially now.
Ben Child: Should the Last Jedi have gone over to Star Wars' dark side? (The Guardian)
Cute Disney creatures the porgs symbolise the issue that's making Rian Johnson's film a divisive episode for hardcore fans.
Caroline Lucas: "Willy Wonka to Wind in the Willows: how children's books reveal inequality" (The Guardian)
As kids, reading offers an early insight into the forces of class and poverty that can shape our adult lives. Caroline Lucas, Danny Dorling, Nikesh Shukla, Laurie Penny and Juno Dawson share the children's books that influenced them.
Peter Bradshaw: #MeToo has reached the art world. Don't think it's running out of steam (The Guardian)
Is #MeToo entering a late phase? We might be settling into a stage in which quite a lot of men in media and showbusiness - but no other area of life - are being shamed into "stepping away" from their lucrative and prestigious jobs, but without revealing their payoffs or getting their collars felt. And there is danger of a new backlash.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Kim Jong-Nam
Kim Jong-Nam & North Korea's Part
I stumbled on this article by accident today, between watching "Miracle of 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life," my favorite Christmas movies, along with "A Charlie Brown Christmas." What a frightening, fascinating read.
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
'PEACE BE UNTO YOU'
GIVE YOURSELF A CHRISTMAS PRESENT.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TRUMP.
HAVE A HAPPY AMANITA DAY. GROOVY!
"…I SEE THAT WRITTEN WHICH IS DOOM…"
SING ALONG.
"…GOD BLESS US ALL, EVERY ONE.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Running late.
Hero For Our Time
Robby Strong
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department and U.S. Secret Service investigated a mysterious package left outside the Bel Air home of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (R-Vile). Authorities eventually discovered the box was filled with horse manure.
Now, a psychologist for the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health named Robby Strong tells AL.com he is the one behind the delivery.
Strong says the prank was activism in response to the Republican tax bill passed last week.
"The fact that [Republicans] can be so brazen and act with such impunity tells me that we have to be more brazen with our activism and maybe a bit more aggressive," he told AL.com.
On Saturday, before the package arrived at Munchin's house, Strong posted this series of photos to his Facebook page, saying he needed someone to help "document my Secret Santa project" in which he would "hand deliver boxes of horse shit to Steve Mnuchin."
Robby Strong
Retweeted Photo
Twitter Reacts
On Christmas Eve, President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) retweeted an altered image of himself that appeared to show a bloody splatter covering the CNN logo on the bottom of his shoe. The photo is captioned: "Winning."
Journalists and commentators swiftly responded on Twitter, blasting the president for once again stoking violent aggression toward the media - something that has become one of Trump's favorite pastimes.
The image was originally shared Saturday afternoon by a Twitter account named "oregon4TRUMP" in response to a tweet from the president bragging about the accomplishments of his first year in office.
Walter Shaub, former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, denounced the president's post, calling Trump a "wannabe autocrat."
National security lawyer Bradley Moss noted that many journalists risk their lives reporting from war-torn regions of the globe. One report by the Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that at least 42 journalists from different countries around the world were killed while reporting in 2017. Another group, Reporters Without Borders, says as many as 65 journalists have been killed this year.
Twitter Reacts
Winds Scuttle
Washington's Crossing
Despite the best efforts of some Philadelphia schoolchildren, Mother Nature blew in and scuttled the annual re-enactment of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War.
Organizers said high winds forced them to cancel Monday's planned crossing, the highlight of a historical re-enactment that draws thousands of people to the banks of the river in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, and Titusville, New Jersey.
"We were advised by the (marine patrol) out in the boats that they didn't think it was safe to cross," said Andy Smith, spokesman for Friends of Washington Crossing Park.
The National Weather Service said winds had been gusting to 45 or 50 mph or even a bit more in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The winds could have been even stronger on the water with a lack of trees and a channeling effect, meteorologist Chad Shafer said.
Other activities went on as scheduled, including Washington's rallying of his troops, historical speeches and processions.
Washington's Crossing
Fend Off Cold Spell
Baby Elephants
When a group of baby elephants needed warmth during a cold front in Southeast Asia last week, they bundled up in donated crochet and knitted blankets.
Save Elephant Foundation was in need of provisions after an unusual bout of cold weather rolled into the area, threatening the youngest of its herd. The cold front came in from China and brought dangerously low temperatures to the Winga Baw elephant sanctuary in Myanmar. Thankfully, Blankets For Baby Rhinos, a "wildlife conservation craft group," was prepared.
Save Elephants Foundation thanked the organization for the "beautiful knitting blankets" in a Facebook post on Friday.
Save Elephants Foundation, based in Thailand and with centers in Myanmar and Cambodia, is an organization that rescues and houses elephants as a part of its mission to save them from extinction. Sangdeaun Lek Chailert, the organization's founder, told The New York Times these were the coldest temperatures the region has seen in 40 years.
Blankets For Baby Rhinos was founded last year by Sue Brown and Ella Best to create handmade blankets to help animals during freezing winter months. The group consists of 1,500 knitters and crocheters scattered around the globe, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe, according to The New York Times.
Baby Elephants
Vatican Nativity Scene
Femen
A topless woman from Ukainian-French radical feminist group Femen made a run for the statue of baby Jesus in the Vatican Nativity scene on Monday but was stopped before she was able to snatch it.
The woman-wearing just pants and shoes-jumped over the guard rails protecting the creche in St. Peter's Square and bolted after the baby Jesus shouting, "God is woman." She had that same slogan painted across her bare back, Reuters reported.
A Vatican police officer managed to catch and detain her before she was able to grab the replica Christ child, according to a Reuters photographer who captured the incident.
The woman was identified on Femen's website as Alisa Vinogradova. She was described as a "sextremist."
The group says its goal is "complete victory over patriarchy."
Femen
'Boy's Club' Culture
Vice Media
The founders of Vice Media, the news company famed for its hipster style and digital savvy, have apologised for the organisation's "boy's club" culture that failed to protect women staff from sexual harassment and misconduct.
In a letter to staff, Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, said the company had not done enough by its employees and were setting in place a series of management and human resources processes to help tackle the problem.
"From the top down, we have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive," they wrote.
"Cultural elements from our past, dysfunction and mismanagement were allowed to flourish unchecked. That includes a detrimental "boy's club" culture that fostered inappropriate behaviour that permeated throughout the company."
The admission and apology from the company, which began 23 years ago as a punk magazine exploring the subversive counterculture that our writers, our readers and we were part of", came after the New York Times published a detailed investigation into sexual harassment and a patriarchal work culture at the company.
Vice Media
Distance Restrictions Haven't Hurt Tourism
Orcas
Restrictions limiting boats from getting too close to endangered southern resident killer whales have not harmed the whale-watching industry, according to a new federal study.
The study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated that whale-watching tourism continues to grow even with the federal restrictions that require vessels to stay at least 200 yards (182 meters) from the orcas in Washington's Puget Sound, The Seattle Times reported .
Lack of food, environmental contamination and boat noise are the primary threats to the survival of Puget Sound orcas, according to the agency. The population of southern resident whales is down to 76 - the lowest in 30 years.
Noise from boats can disturb orcas, causing them to spend less time looking for food and more time traveling, according to researchers. The restrictions enacted in 2011 were aimed at reducing the stress placed on the orcas from noise.
When boats enforcing the restrictions are on the water, the study found the federal rules to be more effective with fewer violations by recreational vessels.
Orcas
Lingering Drought
Holy Land
As Israel heads into its fifth consecutive year of drought, the Sea of Galilee stands at a century low, much of the Jordan River is a fetid trickle and the Dead Sea is rapidly shrinking.
The biblical bodies of waters - pilgrimage sites for baptisms and beach parties alike - are crucial to the survival and stability of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians. But more and more of the river the ancient Israelites crossed to enter the Holy Land is drying up - the result of climate change, growing populations and the increasing use of its water for agriculture.
The water basin is dotted with sacred sites for Jews, Muslims and Christians. Jesus, who was baptized in the Jordan, is said to have walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee and multiplied loaves and fishes on its shores. The medieval Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides is buried by the lakeshore, and companions of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad are buried on the eastern banks of the Jordan.
Israeli meteorologists predicted in early December that the coming months would be drier than an average winter, prolonging an already troubling drought. As of the last reckoning, the water level in the Sea of Galilee stood at 703 feet (214 meters) below sea level, several feet (about a meter) below the point at which ecologists predict damage to the ecosystem and water quality.
Holy Land
An Order To Find Immortality
Emperor Qin Shihuang
New archeological research has shed fresh light on China's first emperor -- creator of the world-famous terracotta army -- and his quest for eternal life, state media reported.
A set of wooden slips found in the central province of Hunan contain an executive order from emperor Qin Shihuang for a nationwide search for the elixir of life, along with replies from local governments, according to Xinhua news agency on Sunday.
It cited Zhang Chunlong, a researcher at the provincial institute of archaeology, as saying the emperor's decree reached even frontier regions and remote villages.
Qin Shihuang's obsession with eternal life was well-known: he was responsible for the massive underground mausoleum in the northern province of Shaanxi filled with nearly 8,000 terracotta soldiers built to protect him in the afterlife.
By studying the 36,000 wooden slips -- found in 2002 at the bottom of a well in Hunan -- archaeologists have uncovered not only the imperial order to find an "elixir of life", but also the often embarrassed responses from local authorities who struggled to meet his demands.
Emperor Qin Shihuang
In Memory
Heather Menzies-Urich
Actress Heather Menzies-Urich, who played one of the singing von Trapp children in the hit 1965 film, "The Sound of Music," has died. She was 68.
Her son, actor Ryan Urich, told Variety that his mother died late Sunday in Frankford, Ontario. She recently had been diagnosed with brain cancer.
Menzies-Urich played Louisa von Trapp, the third-oldest of the seven von Trapp children, in the film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
"The Sound of Music" captured five Academy Awards, including best picture.
A Toronto native, Menzies-Urich's other film credits include "Hawaii" and "Piranha." On television, she appeared as a fugitive in "Logan's Run" and had guest spots on "Dragnet," ''Bonanza," ''Marcus Welby, M.D." and other series.
Variety reports that Menzies-Urich is survived by two other children, several grandchildren and a great grandchild.
Her husband, actor Robert Urich, died in 2002. After his death, Menzies-Urich established the Robert Urich Foundation to raise funds for cancer research.
Heather Menzies-Urich
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