M Is FOR MASHUP - December 27th, 2017
DJ Useo took the week off.
By DJ Useo
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: America Is Not Yet Lost (NY Times)
Donald Trump has been every bit as horrible as one might have expected; he continues, day after day, to prove himself utterly unfit for office, morally and intellectually. And the Republican Party - including so-called moderates - turns out, if anything, to be even worse than one might have expected. At this point it's evidently composed entirely of cynical apparatchiks, willing to sell out every principle - and every shred of their own dignity - as long as their donors get big tax cuts.
Greg Miller, Greg Jaffe and Philip Rucker: Doubting the intelligence, Trump pursues Putin and leaves a Russian threat unchecked (Washington Post)
[…] the Kremlin believes it got a staggering return on an operation that by some estimates cost less than $500,000 to execute and was organized around two main objectives - destabilizing U.S. democracy and preventing Hillary Clinton, who is despised by Putin, from reaching the White House. […] "Putin has to believe this was the most successful intelligence operation in the history of Russian or Soviet intelligence," said Andrew Weiss, a former adviser on Russia in the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It has driven the American political system into a crisis that will last years."
ANOOSH CHAKELIAN: "'It's like an ordinary day, to be honest': How the cuts stole Christmas" (New Statesman)
As foodbanks stockpile and benefits are withheld, Britain faces crisis this festive season.
Gabriel H. Sanchez: 22 Pictures That Perfectly Capture Christmas In The US (Neatorama)
"Christmas is complex and at times, uncomfortable. It's awkward and sometimes bleak. But it is also sincere and celebratory, colorful and creative."
Jack Hamilton: This was a year of acute star fatigue. (Slate)
I gather I'm not alone in finding 2017 a rather bewildering year to try to take stock of, both musically and generally. For starters, it feels like we're lacking the clear-cut cultural and critical blockbuster we've seen in the recent past: there's no Lemonade, no To Pimp a Butterfly, and, maybe most conspicuously, no 1989, to draw from just the last three years.
Carl Wilson: This year marked the end of empowering diva pop and the rise of mumbling men. Could playlists of "sonic wallpaper" really be next? (Slate)
In retrospect, the mood that comes most vividly to mind is white-knuckling it. So the musical question has been what your preferred accompaniment is to clenching your teeth, clutching the wheel, and going as walleyed as the fish on the cover of Vince Staples' album.
Julia Rampen: "Why Studio Ghibli should make a film of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights" (New Statesman)
All I want for Christmas is Hayao Miyazaki's version of His Dark Materials.
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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 Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
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
PLASTIC, FANTASTIC KILLER!
WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE IMPEACH TRUMP NOW!
TWIDDLE DEE, TWIDDLE DUMB AND TWIDDLE TRUMP.
"IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION"
COVERUP AND CORRUPTION IN LAS VEGAS.
"REPUBLICANS ARE THE PARTY OF CORRUPTION."
TRUMPOCALYPSE!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Bent over to pick something up this afternoon, and all of a sudden, felt like a bolt of lightning struck my lower back.
Even saw a bright flash with my eyes.
Was able to straighten up and finish my chores, but, holy shit, my back really hurts tonight!
One-Third Of His Term
T-rump
President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) is spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, continuing a pattern that has created questions of conflicts of interest.
Trump began his day at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, then headed to his nearby golf club, according to a White House pool report. This marks his 85th day at a golf club and 111th day at a Trump-owned property since taking office, according to NBC News, which is among several news organizations that have tracked the president's time visiting his golf clubs and hotels.
Trump has spent nearly one-third of his first year in office at a Trump-owned property, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, often at Mar-a-Lago or at his golf clubs in New Jersey and Virginia.
Ethics groups have raised concerns that Trump visiting his own properties creates the appearance that he's promoting his private businesses while holding public office. Last week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from the ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which alleged that Trump's properties were in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause.
Trump has used his properties for official government business, such as hosting state dinners for world leaders at Mar-a-Lago. He also hosted a re-election fundraiser at the Trump International Hotel in Washington earlier this year, and foreign diplomats have held events there to potentially curry favor with his administration.
T-rump
Making Comeback
Starfish
Starfish are making a comeback on the West Coast, four years after a mysterious syndrome killed millions of them.
From 2013 to 2014, Sea Star Wasting Syndrome hit sea stars from British Columbia to Mexico. The starfish would develop lesions and then disintegrate, their arms turning into blobs of goo.
The cause is unclear but researchers say it may be a virus.
But now, the species is rebounding. Sea stars are being spotted in Southern California tide pools and elsewhere, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday.
Similar die-offs of starfish on the West Coast were reported in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, but the latest outbreak was far larger and more widespread, according to a report by researchers at the University of Santa Cruz.
Starfish
Sold At Public Auction In 2017
Priciest Cars
2017 saw a number of auction sales that suggest classic cars are still a good investment.
Only a few years ago, car collectors were getting their fingers burnt at auction as classic cars just weren't fetching the kind of money they once did. Some observers even predicted the bubble had burst, and that classic cars would never again be as good an investment. But the vehicles that sold at auction in 2017 - and the prices they commanded -- certainly dispute that claim. And not all the most expensive examples were as old as you might think.
Although we don't know how much RM Sotheby's estimated a 1956 Aston Martin DBR1 would bring at its Monterey auction, the US$22,550,000 it went for was quite a sum; the Aston was the most expensive vehicle sold at public auction in 2017.
Hot on the DBR1's heels were a number of vehicles that brought between 14 and 18 million dollars each. These included a 1970 Porsche 917K (US$14,080,000), a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C (US$14,520,000), and a Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione (US$17,990,000).
Sandwiched between the two Ferraris was a more modern 1995 McLaren F1 that saw the hammer come down at an impressive US$15,620,000 at Bonhams Quail Lodge auction.
Priciest Cars
New Book
Brigitte Bardot
French screen icon Brigitte Bardot will next month publish a book on her decades-long campaign for animal rights, she told AFP on Tuesday, taking a swipe at President Emmanuel Macron on the issue.
The 83-year-old star of "And God Created Woman" said the book, titled "Larmes de Combat" (Tears of Combat), will come out on January 25.
It will be "the record of my existence, of my fight on behalf of animals and the deep expression of my disgust".
"It will be the full record of my view of things, of society, of the way we are governed, of the way we treat animals in my country," said Bardot, known in France by her initials "BB".
Crusading against bullfights, hunting, and all forms of cruelty to animals, she is rarely seen in public except to press home her campaigns.
Brigitte Bardot
Northeast States Sue
EPA
Eight northeastern states said on Tuesday they sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force it to impose more stringent controls on a group of mostly Midwestern states whose air pollution they claim is being blown in their direction.
In the latest development of a legal saga that began during Barack Obama's presidency, the lawsuit by New York and seven other states challenges a Trump administration decision to allow nine upwind states to escape tighter smog pollution controls.
"Millions of New Yorkers are breathing unhealthy air as smog pollution continues to pour in from other states," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who led the coalition of states that filed the lawsuit dated Friday.
The coalition urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn the EPA's decision not to add the nine upwind states to the congressionally created "Ozone Transport Region," which requires stricter pollution controls.
Northeast and mid-Atlantic states have long contended that emissions from coal-fired power plants and other air pollution in the Midwest is carried eastward by prevailing air currents.
EPA
Record-Setting Christmas Storm
Erie, PA
Lake-effect snow buried Pennsylvania's fourth largest city under more than four feet of snow over Christmas, smashing both local and state snowfall records while hampering holiday travel around the Great Lakes.
With snow falling at a rate of up to three inches per hour, the National Weather Service reported Erie, Pa., picked up 53 inches in a 30-hour period ending Tuesday morning.
Erie officials have declared a state of emergency and are pleading with motorists to stay off city streets and nearby highways, including Interstates 90 and 79.
According to the National Weather Service, Erie received 34 inches on Christmas Day, easily topping its previous 24-hour snowfall record. After another 19 inches piled up from midnight through 7 a.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said Erie had broken Pennsylvania's previous all-time two-day state snowfall record, set in 1958 when Morgantown received 44 inches.
So far, Erie has received 93 inches of snow in December, making it the snowiest month in the city's history. The city averages about 100 inches of snow in an entire season.
Erie, PA
Fictional Region Wants To Leave Catalonia
Tabarnia
A satirical petition proposing that Tabarnia, a non-existant part of independence-minded Catalonia, break away from the region and remain part of Spain went viral on Tuesday.
The Change.org petition, which has gathered over 21,000 signatures in just three days, was a trending topic on Twitter with over 150,000 users of the social media platform discussing it, including Catalan politicians.
Its backers mirror the language of Catalan separatists to argue that Tabarnia -- a word formed from Barcelona and Tarragona, the names of Catalonia's two main cities on the Mediterranean coast -- "is a region that differs in many aspects from the rest of the region it belongs to."
Pro-independence parties won a slim majority of 70 seats in the 135-seat Catalan parliament in a regional election on December 21, even though they did not get over half the ballots cast due to a quirk in Catalonia's electoral system which awards more seats to rural areas where support for independence is higher.
The fictitious petition was launched by a movement which calls itself "Barcelona is not Catalonia", a play on the separatist slogan of "Catalonia is not Spain".
Tabarnia
Lose Way After Ride Downstream
California Salmon
A desperate decision to truck California's native baby salmon toward the Pacific Ocean during the state's drought may have resulted in generations of lost young salmon now hard-pressed to find their way back to their reproductive grounds.
With fewer native fall-run Chinook salmon able to make their way back home to the leading salmon hatchery in the state, that hatchery could have only about half as many young salmon as usual to release next spring, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday.
Native salmon historically anchored food chains and habitats on both land and in the water in California. Salmon still boost the state's economy by $1.4 billion annually, the salmon industry says.
California's drought, declared over just last spring, included some of the driest spells ever recorded in the state. In 2014 and 2015, hatchery managers resorted to sucking baby salmon into tanker trucks for their 280-mile migration toward the ocean, biologists say. Chinook salmon spend two or three years in the ocean before heading back upstream to reproduce.
Since the 2014 class of salmon didn't learn the route by swimming it on their own power, many have gone astray as they head back upstream now.
California Salmon
Tips Worth $10M
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
A hot tip could still earn you a cool $10 million from a Boston museum desperate to recover a trove of missing masterpieces. But you'd better hurry.
Midnight Dec. 31 is the deadline to collect a doubled reward being offered for information leading to the recovery of 13 works worth an estimated $500 million - including paintings by Degas, Manet, Rembrandt and Vermeer - stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
So far, no takers.
That's a big disappointment to the museum and the FBI, which still hasn't managed to solve the largest art heist in U.S. history. Both had hoped the enhanced reward would spur a flurry of fresh leads. Instead, it's been like watching paint dry.
"Right now we're laser-focused on this deadline," said museum spokeswoman Kathy Sharpless. "Clearly there's a sense of urgency on our part. We want our paintings back."
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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