A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
That's a good explanation of both the history and the ideology behind the observation, which is still not a federal holiday in the same way Columbus Day is. Let's see how long that lasts.
For an explanation of another holiday's history with a lighter tone, I'm turning to Squirreled History asking and answering What Is Canadian Thanksgiving?
Today we're looking at Canadian Thanksgiving, how did it start, how is it celebrated and how is if different from its American counterpart, that's what we're here to talk about.
I might just return to Squirreled History for Wester, which I plan on celebrating this coming Sunday.
National Leif Erickson Day honors the Icelandic-born explorer, Leif Erikson. The Norse explorer earns credit for bringing the first Europeans known to have set foot in North America. Leif Erikson left the European continent in 999 and landed in North America around the year 1,000.
#LeifEriksonDay
Tour a Norwegian heritage museum. Learn about Norse heritage, their exploration, and more. Dive into the story of this exploration in books, too. We suggest Who was Leif Erikson by Nico Medina or Before Columbus: The Leif Eriksson Expedition by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel. Share your Norse heritage.
I closed The 2021 EMA Awards for World Environment Day 2022 with "I promise not to be so tardy recognizing the 2022 nominees and winners." Since the award ceremony is tonight, I need to write about the nominees today before that part of my promise turns into a pumpkin. Here are the nominees being recognized as the best in environmental storytelling in movies, television, and streaming media.
I'm glad to see two science fiction movies nominated in this category, "Don't Look Up" and "Jurassic World: Dominion." I also think these are better choices than last year's nominees. "Don't Look Up" got snubbed at the Saturn Awards while "Jurassic World: Dominion" earned two nominations, but I think "Don't Look Up" will win tonight.
On the other hand, I had not heard of any of the Documentary Film nominees before. "Eating Our Way to Extinction" has the kind of star power that might sway the EMA voters. "Fin" has a more focused subject. I like the subjects of "Youth Unstoppable," but IMDB has a 2018 date for it, so what's it doing being nominated this year? Speaking of IMDB, I can't find an entry there for "Burning." I think it's a good field, but other than all the celebrities involved with "Eating Our Way to Extinction" and the two festival awards for "Youth Unstoppable," I have no good way to handicap their prospects. Any of them could win tonight.
President Biden pardoned thousands of Americans convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana and encouraged governors to do the same. The president also directed his administration to review how marijuana is classified as a drug under federal law. Law professor and former federal prosecutor Mark Osler joined Laura Barrón-López to discuss the announcement.
Wow! That's even more bold than forgiving (some) student loan debt, which, along with lower gas prices, has contributed to Biden's higher approval ratings. It's also more than I expected from this Administration. I'm glad to be pleasantly surprised.
Trevor's point that politicians who complain about actions they claim to be morally questionable often turn out to be doing themselves reminds me of my favorite link to tweet, Projection is the Right's favorite defense mechanism. That has proven to be even more true during the past decade. Too bad their own hypocrisy doesn't seem to bother them or their voters. The flip side of that is that many times when they complain of liberal hypocrisy, they're not seeing an inconsistency between what liberals espouse and what they do, but what they think liberal ideals are. They expose that they don't really understand liberal principles at all. That deserves a good example, but that's a subject for another time.
In the Senate, tipping-point states are the states most likely to give the winning party control of the chamber. According to the Deluxe version of the FiveThirtyEight Senate forecast, the four likeliest tipping-point states in this year's midterms are Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Galen Druke uses the interactive model to go through the possible scenarios in each state.
Wow! Winning Georgia certainly makes a difference in both parties' odds of controlling the Senate! Despite Walker's issues, this contest is no laughing matter.
Can we actually kill all the spotted lanternflies?
...
Over the summer, for the first time in what feels like a while, Americans united under a single cause: to murder an invasive bug.
Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but the situation itself was a bit dramatic. Social media was flooded with people in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey striking down spotted lanternflies in the most creative ways. Videos of the plant-sucking bugs that are native to parts of Asia showed them overtaking trees. Reports from Pennsylvania said they were capable of wiping out vineyards. Researchers warned they also threaten fruit trees and the hardwoods like black walnut. The public went on high alert. The messaging was clear: Stop this bug before it decimates the fruit and timber industries and costs the US tons of money.
People struck them down all summer long, and now that it’s fall … well, they’re still here. And they’ve spread.
Is it futile? That depends. If you set out with your flyswatters and sticky traps thinking we could wipe out every lanternfly, then you were a bit misguided. But just because we can’t stop them entirely doesn’t mean we should quit.
Kristie Reddick, an entomologist and director of The Bug Chicks, put it best: “People cleaning trash out of creeks aren't going to be like, ‘Oh, I picked up, like, three bags of trash and there's still more trash. I guess there's just trash now.’” Spotted lanternflies are the trash in this metaphor.
Check out the video above to find out more about spotted lanternflies and the part humans have played in spreading them around the US.
I lecture about invasive species in two of my classes, environmental science and organismal biology, and I think this video would fit right in. So would this image from the USDA.
With just over five weeks left until the midterm elections, we look at Pennsylvania and two high-profile races expected to have a significant impact on both the state and country's political futures. Jonathan Tamari, national political reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Candy Woodall, Congress and campaigns reporter for USA Today, join Geoff Bennett to dig into the dynamics of both races.
In addition to portraying the Keystone State's contests for Governor and U.S. Senate as mirror images of each other in terms of primary vs. general election dynamics within the Democratic and Republican parties, resulting in a widening margin for Josh Shapiro over Doug Mastriano but a tightening margin between John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz, this segment pointed out the effect of outside spending. Another segment on last night's PBS NewsHour brought up outside spending as well and placed the Pennsylvania Senate contest in a national context. Watch Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on candidates and their midterm messages ahead of election.
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Laura Barrón-López to discuss the latest political news, including the politics of hurricane relief aid and lawmakers launching their final midterm messages ahead of election.
I am not the least bit surprised that the Democrats are running on protecting reproductive rights while Republicans are running on crime and immigration. Those are all classic issues for their respective parties and ones the parties consider winners. I am a bit surprised that the Republicans are running on education, which I consider to be a Democratic issue, although the GOP appears to be using it as a way to reinforce morality and socialorder, not improving students' academic achievement. That doesn't surprise me at all.
BTW, PBS NewsHour ignored a scandal involving animals in research that Jezebel covered when it reported Dr. Oz’s Scientific Experiments Killed Over 300 Dogs, Entire Litter of Puppies: "Columbia's internal investigation found that Oz's research team inflicted extensive suffering on canine test subjects in violation of the Animal Welfare Act." I wish I could say I was surprised, but I am merely appalled. Let's see if Pennsylvania voters are, too. Stay tuned.
While I told my readers to "Stay tuned as I have more Emmy Awards coverage coming up," I didn't say which Emmy Awards I'd be covering, so I feel O.K. covering the News & Documentary Emmy Awards winners today, better than how I feel physically because I'm stuck at home with COVID-19. So far, it feels like a really nasty cold, but that's probably because my wife and I are vaxxed and boosted. If we hadn't done that, we'd likely be in much worse shape. Also, my wife and I got Paxlovid today. Here's to that helping us recover.
With exclusive access inside one of New York’s hardest hit hospital systems during the terrifying first four months of the pandemic, Oscar®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning director Matthew Heineman’s THE FIRST WAVE spotlights the everyday heroes at the epicenter of COVID-19 as they come together to fight one of the greatest threats the world has ever encountered.
The National Geographic documentary "The First Wave" captures the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic as it played out in one of New York City’s hardest-hit hospital systems...
The National Geographic documentary The First Wave captures the harrowing first four months of the Covid-19 pandemic as it played out in one of New York City’s hardest-hit hospital systems.
Joining us is Matthew Heineman, an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker who directed and produced this film. The incredible footage he obtained and shaped into The First Wave represents a testimony to the strength of the human spirit and how people come together in the face of crisis.
He shares how he gained access to the hospital at the beginning of the crisis, the heroes he filmed, and the inevitable emotional toll the production had on him and his crew.
“I saw an obligation to take this issue that was so relegated to stats, headlines, and misinformation, and try to put a human face to it.” - Matthew Heineman
Again, powerful. Congratulations to Matthew Heineman and his fellow producers, cinematographers, and editors!
Another News & Documentary Emmy Award winner covered the pandemic as well, the PBS FRONTLINE episode "Yemen's COVID Cover-Up," which won Outstanding Investigative News Coverage: Long Form. The entire episode is on YouTube. Watch Yemen's COVID Cover-Up (full documentary) | FRONTLINE.
Correspondent Nawal al-Maghafi reports from inside Yemen on how the coronavirus pandemic is worsening what the UN has called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: http://www.pbs.org/donate
Following six years of war between the Houthis, a rebel group backed by Iran, and a Saudi-led coalition, an estimated 2 million children in Yemen are suffering from starvation, and 3.5 million people have been internally displaced. In “Yemen’s COVID Cover-Up,” the Yemen-born al-Maghafi returns to her home country to investigate how COVID-19 has impacted these compounding crises.
She finds evidence of a far higher death toll than Houthi authorities in the country’s north are admitting, and reveals that the Houthi suspension of doctors' salaries, international aid cuts and the Saudi blockade have had a dire impact on Yemeni doctors’ ability to treat COVID patients.
“Lack of oxygen caused most of the deaths,” one doctor tells her.
As President Biden commits to ending U.S. support for Saudi offensives in Yemen, this documentary is a powerful look at the situation on the ground.
As I promised yesterday, "Saturday Night Live" returned last night, so I'm covering its season premiere and its one Emmy Award today. I was curious about the effects of losing a lot of established cast members on the show, which ManningCast Cold Open had as a premise.
Peyton and Eli Manning (Miles Teller, Andrew Dismukes) take a break from their ManningCast to break down what's happening on the premiere of Saturday Night Live.
*Snork* And, yes, Miles Teller is the co-star of "Top Gun: Maverick," so while he's not Tom Cruise, he's big enough for the season premiere.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green's husband filing for divorce.
What has changed is the logo, which is growing on me already, the pace of the segment, which seems a lot faster and covers more stories, and the pointedness of the jokes, which sound sharper. I think Standards and Practices is letting more go though. Notice how the next segment, Weekend Update: CIA Launches New Podcast, Italy’s New Prime Minister, ends.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like the CIA launching a new podcast.
I'm not sure that exact language would have flown in past.
Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (James Austin Johnson) and Herschel Walker (Kenan Thompson) stop by Weekend Update to discuss the 2022 midterms.
It's hard for satire to be more ridiculous than reality these days, but this segment managed to do so.
John Oliver discusses Jair Bolsonaro, how he’s run Brazil as president, how far he might go to maintain power after the upcoming election, and, of course, nunchucks.
This sounds familiar and not in a good way. Here's to hoping the Brazilian presidential election has less violence than ours in 2020 and 2021.
John Oliver talks about his Emmy win for Last Week Tonight being presented by Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short; shares his reaction to the 10 days of mourning for Queen Elizabeth; and discusses turning down his offer for the Order of the British Empire.
I hadn't heard that Oliver turned down an O.B.E., but I'm not surprised. He'd then be "Sir John" and I have a feeling that would cause a lot of cognitive dissonance. Also, I think he's on to something when he called the cancellation of soccer games but not rugby or cricket matches a form of class warfare. As the snarky saying about soccer and rugby goes, "rugby is a rough game played by gentlemen, while soccer is a gentle game played by ruffians."
