Colbert, Stewart, and Kimmel observe January 6th

I anticipated the topic of today's post at the conclusion of PBS Terra explains 'How Scientists Solved the Mystery of a 300-Year-Old Megaquake'.

I expect the late-night talk show hosts will return from holiday break tonight, so stay tuned for their monologues tomorrow. Who knows, they might have something darkly funny to say about the anniversary of January 6th worth sharing.

They did. Watch Your Jan 6th Gift Guide, the cold open to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Every coup begins with Kay.

That definitely counts as "something darkly funny to say about the anniversary of January 6th worth sharing."

Colbert continued in his monologue, Jan 6, Trump's Day Of Love | Jeffries: We Will Fart Hard | Why Does Fun Stuff Cause Cancer?

Congress peacefully certified Donald Trump's electoral victory on January 6, 2025, while House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries made an embarrassing verbal misstep, and Stephen looks into some alarming news about alcohol.

"A day of love" — yeah, love for convicted criminal Donald Trump. His whitewashing and inversion of the attack on the Capitol is the new Big Lie, and enough people bought it that Trump got re-elected. When I called him "Hoover Cleveland — Hoover because he's the first U.S. President to have a net job loss during his term since Herbert Hoover, Cleveland because he's trying to repeat what Grover Cleveland achieved, earn a second non-consecutive term," I was going for a catchy mocking nickname, not a prediction!

While I'm not looking forward to Hoover Cleveland taking office again, I will miss Justin Trudeau. I'm rooting for Chrystia Freeland to replace him, but I'm not a Canadian. What do my Canadian readers think?

Now for Jon Stewart Unpacks The NOLA and Cybertruck Attacks & An Unusually Civil Jan. 6 | The Daily Show, which my wife and I watched last night.

Jon Stewart kicks off 2025 with an unusually civil Jan. 6 election certification, and right-wing media's desperate attempts to make the Bourbon Street attack about immigration. Plus, Jon unpacks the eerily normal digital footprints of recent terrorists and questions the internet's role in their radicalizations.

"Democracy now has pallbearers" — that also counts as "something darkly funny to say about the anniversary of January 6th worth sharing."

I might have more to say about the truck attacks by lone wolves beyond my sympathies to the victims, my worry that the connections between the two incidents are not just coincidences, and a cybertruck burning in front of a Trump building is just too on the nose for 2025 later. Instead, I'm concluding with Jimmy Kimmel's Trump Win Certified on Insurrection Anniversary, Trudeau Resigns & Guillermo vs Mario Lopez, who saved January 6th for last.

We’re back with a new show after our holiday break, people texting their holiday cards instead of mailing them, a rapper named 2 Low was on a podcast called “One on One with Mike D” and they gave us quiet a moment, Mario Lopez was handing out tequila shots on the Golden Globes red carpet and Jimmy has a bone to pick about it, the Golden Globes put up little facts about each of the presenters as they walked on stage, we have a new winner for tonight’s award for “Excellence in Reporting,” Justin Trudeau announced that he will step down as Prime Minister of Canada, Eric Trump turned 41 and Daddy Donald wrote a very heartfelt post on Truth Social, today is also the fourth anniversary of our Capitol being stormed by the Buffalo Wild Wing of the Republican party, Congress certified Donald Trump’s victory and Kamala Harris had to give the official sign off on Trump’s win as sitting VP, and Jimmy speaks to the “BlueAnon Shaman.”

"The Buffalo Wild Wing of the Republican party" — Ha! It only took four years for that joke, but I like it! On the other hand, the "BlueAnon Shaman" was just silly.

Here's to the comedians keeping us sane in the new year. We need it!

PBS Terra explains 'How Scientists Solved the Mystery of a 300-Year-Old Megaquake'

I closed PBS Terra explains 'The AMOC Might Be WAY More Unstable Than We Thought...Here's Why' with a preview of coming attractions.

I'm not the only one recycling a subject; PBS Terra's previous video is the latest in a series that began with PBS examines the risks from a major earthquake in the Pacific Northwest and continued with PBS Terra explains 'Here's EXACTLY What to Do When the Next Megaquake Hits: Cascadia Subduction Zone' and PBS Terra asks 'What's the ONE THING You Can Do To Survive a Tsunami?' I will almost certainly cover that in a future entry...Stay tuned.

Without any further ado, here is that video from PBS Terra explaining How Scientists Solved the Mystery of a 300-Year-Old Megaquake.

The 1700 Cascadia earthquake and tsunami was a massive natural disaster that reshaped the Pacific Northwest. Through tree rings, soil layers, and international collaboration, scientists have pieced together the exact timing of the event. As the region braces for another quake, can we prepare in time? Find out how new models and tsunami evacuation towers are helping coastal communities face the threat.

This video shows that it took the efforts of people in multiple disciplines, geology, biology, and history, to decipher the evidence and connect it all together into a coherent reconstruction of the event in 1700. It also shows, like the previous episodes, how people are preparing for the next event. One of those preparations are escape towers. As I wrote last year, "my first instinct if I can't get away from the shore would be to climb up, so I'm relieved to see people building vertical escape structures. Now to build more than three in the U.S." If they're all as well-stocked as the Shoalwater Tribe's, then the people should be in good shape to survive the tsunami.

Follow over the jump for the comments from last year's post.

Golden Globes and Critics Choice screenplay nominees for National Screenwriters Day

Happy National Screenwriters Day! As I promised yesterday, I'm covering the Golden Globes and Critics Choice screenplay nominees as the first Sunday entertainment feature of 2025. I begin with the nominees for Best Screenplay, Motion Picture at the Golden Globes.

A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg
Anora
Sean Baker
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet
Mona Fastvold
Conclave
Peter Straughan
Emilia Pérez
Jacques Audiard
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat

Eight of Gold Derby's editors, including Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen, picked Anora, while one each chose A Real Pain, The Brutalist, and Conclave. Gold Derby's experts generally agree, with 18 of the 32 judging Anora the best, followed by eight choosing Conclave, five picking A Real Pain, and one standing out for The Substance. Seventeen of the site's top 24 users agree with Anora, followed by four for Conclave and three voting for The Substance. The users apparently don't like A Real Pain. As consolation, I'm sharing Joyce Eng eliciting Jesse Eisenberg's 'great ambivalence' about his own pain inspired 'A Real Pain'.

Jesse Eisenberg's 'great ambivalence' about his own pain inspired 'A Real Pain.' The Oscar nominee explains how he overcame writer's block, casting Kieran Culkin, and more. Gold Derby senior editor Joyce Eng hosts this webchat.

After watching this interview, I've decided I like Eisenberg better as a writer than as an actor. I think he still deserves his Razzie for playing Lex Luthor.

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was worse than Leto as Joker...My wife and I agreed he wasn't Lex Luthor, who should be colder and more openly calculating, but a more organized version of The Joker who had a goal beyond "watching the world burn."

That performance did not make my memory of Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network a happier one. Maybe A Real Pain might change that.

I'm going to agree with the prognosticators at Gold Derby that Anora will win tonight. Follow over the jump to see if they think it will repeat for Best Original Screenplay at the Critics Choice Awards next week.

Company Man asks 'The Decline of Party City...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I'm returning to the Retail Apocalypse with an update to 2023's Party City files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, Company Man asking The Decline of Party City...What Happened?

The country's biggest party store is shutting down. This video discusses the company's history while attempting to identify five main reasons behind its decline.

Once again, here's Company Man Mike's list.


I begin my reaction by being a good environmentalist and recycling what I wrote two years ago.

Party City has been in trouble for a while, which fits one of the patterns for chains that fail during the Retail Apocalypse. All of them had issues that brought them down when a crisis hit.

The improper inventory reports along with the two new owners all count as reasons why Party City was in trouble even before the pandemic, which Company Man Mike lists among the external factors, along with the helium shortage increasing the prices of balloons and decreasing their sales.* I've mentioned the role of private equity in the failure of retail chains many times before, most recently in 'Bankrupt - 99 Cents Only Stores' by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse. It took more than a decade, but the debt from the leveraged buyout finally caught up with Party City.

As for who benefits from the departure of Party City from the market, in addition to the usual suspects of Amazon and Walmart, Company Man Mike mentioned Walgreens, which is having its own issues and could use the boost, and Spirit Halloween. CNBC and Company Man have videos about both chains, which I plan on using in future Retail Apocalypse posts. Stay tuned for those after I cover Golden Globes and Critics Choice screenplay nominees to celebrate National Screenwriters Day as the first Sunday entertainment feature of 2025.

*As I wrote about the helium shortage two years ago, "That's something I haven't blogged about but should."

'NASA 2025: To the Moon, Mars, and Beyond' and 'ESA 2025: A fifty-years legacy of building the future'

I closed My preferences and predictions for the Saturn Awards on Science Fiction Day 2025 with "Enough holidays. Stay tuned for this year's edition of 'NASA 2024: Onward and Upward' and 'ESA’s future of space travel'." I'm following through by sharing NASA 2025: To the Moon, Mars, and Beyond, which sounds a bit like Buzz Lightyear.

Preparing to orbit and do science on the Moon, investigating how solar wind interacts with Mars, and demonstrating quiet supersonic flight are just a FEW of the milestones we have planned for 2025.

Much of this continues what NASA did in 2024, but that's a good thing. It's also what I'm least worried about with the incoming administration. As I wrote in 2016, "space policy is the one area where Trump might actually be good for the country." I also wrote "It's like hoping for the alternative history in The Man in the High Castle to happen just so there could be commercial SSTs by the early 1960s...The cost would be too high." I fear the cost might be higher this time.

Now for ESA 2025: A fifty-years legacy of building the future.

In 1975, 10 European countries came together with a vision to collaborate on key space activities: science and astronomy, launch capabilities and space applications: the European Space Agency, ESA, was born.

In 2025, we mark half a century of joint European achievement – filled with firsts and breakthroughs in science, exploration and technology, and the space infrastructure and economy that power Europe today.

During the past five decades ESA has grown, developing ever bolder and bigger projects and adding more Member States, with Slovenia joining as the latest full Member State in January.

We’ll also celebrate the 50th anniversary of ESA’s Estrack network, 30 years of satellite navigation in Europe and 20 years since ESA launched the first demonstration satellite Giove-A which laid the foundation for the EU’s own satnav constellation Galileo. Other notable celebrations are the 20th anniversary of ESA’s Business Incubation Centres, or BICs, and the 30th year in space for SOHO, the joint ESA and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

"In 2025, ESA looks ahead to a busy and exciting year." So do I. To paraphrase what I wrote last year and the year before, here's to 2025 being another great year in space.

My preferences and predictions for the Saturn Awards on Science Fiction Day 2025

I closed 'House of the Dragon' and 'Monarch: Legacy of Monsters' lead fantasy and adventure TV nominees at the Saturn Awards with a promise that turned into a pumpkin even before I wrote it: "I'm definitely posting my votes on National Science Fiction Day next month. Now off to cast my votes!" I based that on the website, which said voting would close December 15th. Nope, it closed on December 14th and the email I received said so. Ugh. I had a feeling I should have voted on the 14th just in case something like this happened. So, no votes to report. Phooey!

That's not stopping me from posting would have been my votes, so here goes, beginning with the movie nominees.

Best Science Fiction Film: Dune: Part Two
Best Fantasy Film: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Best Horror Film: Alien: Romulus
Best Thriller Film: Strange Darling
Best Action / Adventure Film: Deadpool & Wolverine
Best Independent Film: The Substance
Best International Film: Godzilla Minus One (Japan)
Best Animated Film: Inside Out 2
Best Actor in a Film: Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool & Wolverine)
Best Actress in a Film: Demi Moore (The Substance)
Best Supporting Actor in a Film: Hugh Jackman (Deadpool & Wolverine)
Best Supporting Actress in a Film: Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
Best Younger Performer in a Film: McKenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire)
Best Film Direction: Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two)
Best Film Screenwriting: Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve Jon Spaihts)
Best Film Visual / Special Effects: Godzilla Minus One (Masaki Takahashi, Tatsuiji Nojima, Kiyokk Shubuya, Takashi Yamazaki)
Best Film Music: Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer)
Best Film Production Design: Dune: Part Two (Patrice Vermette)
Best Film Make Up: The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin)
Best Film Editing: Dune: Part Two (Joe Walker)
Best Film Costume Design: Dune: Part Two (Jacqueline West)

My predictions of winners different from my should-have-been votes:

I decided to go with the professional opinion and vote for Margaret Qualley as Best Supporting Actress in a Film, but I think Emmy-nominee Emma Corrin is just as good an actress and chewed more scenery as the villain of Deadpool & Wolverine, so she could upset.
I think McKenna Grace is a better actress and displayed more range in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire than Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but Ortega is a bigger star, so she's likely to win Best Younger Performer in a Film.
While I decided the makeup was integral to telling the story of The Substance, both Dune: Part Two and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice earned Critics' Choice Award nominations for their makeup, so either of them could win, particularly Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Dune: Part Two also earned a nomination for costume design at the Critics' Choice Awards, but I wouldn't be surprised if the superhero cosplayers who are on the Saturn Awards costumes committee would be able to sway the vote to Deadpool & Wolverine.

Follow over the jump for the television categories.

Some of my favorite bands at the 2025 Rose Parade for New Year's Day

Happy New Year! I'm sharing my favorite bands in the Rose Parade for New Year's Day, courtesy of Luis at Music213. I begin, like last year, with the official band of the Rose Parade, 2025 PCC Tournament of Roses Honor Band & Herald Trumpets (Day 1) - 2025 Pasadena Bandfest.

The 2025 Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band & Herald Trumpets performing their musical selections at the 44th Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Sunday, December 29, 2024.

That was worth it just to hear the percussion play Espresso, which will probably be the Record of the Year at the GRAMMYs.

Next, a band I may end up recycling for the 2028 version of Marching music for the Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio Presidential Primaries on the Vernal Equinox, Lincoln-Way High School Marching Band - 2025 Pasadena Bandfest.

From Frankfort, Illinois Lincoln-Way High School Marching Band performing their field show at the 44th Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Monday, December 30, 2024.

I couldn't resist leaving this comment on the video.

Here is the music for the field show:
0:32 Music from "El Cid"
2:20 "The Death Hunt" from the movie "On Dangerous Ground"
4:00 "The Magnificent Seven"
6:00 "Gone with the Wind"
8:45 Reprise of "El Cid"
8:56 "Hurray for Hollywood"

The song for the pass in review at 13:12 is "Land of Make Believe."

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any time knows that I love movie music, so of course I'd know. Also, drum corps have played every single song in this repertoire, just to reinforce my familiarity with them.

Now, my favorite marching band from Japan, Kyoto Tachibana High School Green Band - 2025 Pasadena Bandfest.

From Kyoto, Japan, the Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School Green Band performing at the 44th Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Monday, December 30, 2024. This exceptional group will also be performing in the 136th Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on Wednesday, January 1, 2024.

As in 2011 and 2018, they were the ONLY band to receive a full standing ovation during the two-day festival. Their performance was truly spectacular! A huge THANK YOU to Kyoto Tachibana!

Field Show:
00:07 - Introduction
04:04 - Johnny B. Goode
05:16 - We Are Your Dream Girls
07:50 - Happy Birthday (Tournament President Ed Morales Birthday)
08:55 - Memory (from Cats)
11:58 - Sing Sing Sing
18:00 - Photos

Pass in Review:
18:41 - Fantasmic!
20:16 - High School Musical (High School Musical 3)

Wow! In case they look familiar, I featured them in Two Rose Parade marching bands playing 'Thriller' for Halloween and Two drum corps and some of my favorite bands marching in the New Year for 2018. Welcome back!

Follow over the jump for more of my favorite bands.

2024 in review from ABC, NBC, Vox, Google, and Time for New Year's Eve

Happy New Year's Eve! I say my farewells to 2024 beginning with ABC News summarizing The biggest news stories of the year: ABC News' 2024 year in review.

ABC News recaps the biggest headlines and moments of the year.

This video won out over the next one, 2024 Year in Review: Presidential election, Trump, drones, severe weather, brat summer, and more from NBC News because I liked the preview image more.

Rewinding 2024 with the ultimate mashup of the year’s major events.

The main omission the ABC News viewers noted was their video not mentioning the earthquake in New Jersey and New York. NBC News made up for it. Both videos also exemplified "It's not just news value that's driving it," which I shared most recently in Local news coverage of marching bands in the 2024 Macy's Parade for Thanksgiving. Both videos showcased Disney animated features, Moana 2 for ABC News and Inside Out 2 for NBC News. Inside Out 2 is the number one movie of the year, so NBC News would have been remiss in not mentioning it, but Moana 2 is still in theaters. Since ABC is a subsidiary of Disney, it's in the parent company's interest to promote it. The same is true of Wicked, an NBCUniversal production. Ah, capitalism and media consolidation!

Next, the video with the most comprehensive description, Vox recounting 2024, in 4 minutes.

Did you vote?
...
2024 saw over 60 elections worldwide, many of which were marked with controversy. It was undoubtedly a divisive year both within and along borders. The war in Ukraine is now in its third year. Syrian rebels toppled the Assad regime after years of fighting. South Korea erupted into chaos after the prime minister declared martial law and was subsequently impeached. In the United States, President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed VP Kamala Harris, who ultimately lost to Donald Trump.

Despite the tumultuous, seemingly never-ending wave of current events people still found escape and unity in the Olympics, Brat summer, and a rambunctious pygmy hippo.

2024 had much of the world voting for change. Onward, to 2025 where we will find out what it means.

Normally, the video description would have been enough for me to place this first, but I didn't want to give the re-election of convicted criminal Donald Trump and especially the assassination attempt any more attention than necessary.

I'm continuing with a retrospective that driven by the users, not filtered through professional expert news judgment, Google — Year in Search 2024, although it's still self-promotion in the corporation's interest.

This year, we're celebrating the Breakout Searches of 2024. From iconic performances, to history-making breakthroughs, see the moments that shaped our year in ways we didn't see coming.

That was uplifting in ways the other retrospectives were not, even the look back at celebrities who left us this year. Speaking of which, I'm closing out the videos with TIME's In Memoriam: A Tribute to Those We've Lost in 2024.

A tribute to some of the noteworthy people who died in 2024.

RIP, Jimmy Carter.

I conclude by linking to Jon Swift Roundup 2024, "The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves" at Vagabond Scholar.  I submitted John Oliver examines Clarence Thomas and makes him an offer on 'Last Week Tonight', the most read entry of the year, and Batocchio linked to it. It makes for a good summary of the year as recorded by liberal bloggers.

That completes 2024's blogging. Stay tuned for the 2025 version of Some of my favorite bands at the Rose Parade for New Year's Day to begin next year.

The top TV shows of 2024 from TIME, The Hollywood Reporter, and WatchMojo

I concluded '2024 becomes the world's hottest year on record, fueling extreme weather events,' the year in climate and weather with the following maybe.

It's early enough that I might post an entry about the year's best TV shows today. Stay tuned to see if I do, followed by the overall year in review for New Year's Eve.

O.K., I'm doing it. Since Grace Randolph hasn't made a definitive best streaming series of the year video yet — watch, she'll upload one while I'm writing this or, worse yet, after I post it — I'm beginning with The 10 Best TV Shows of 2024 from TIME.

One of the greatest pleasures of the Peak TV era was that an excellent series could come from almost anywhere. Lifetime could greenlight the smart, satirical thriller You (which would become a hit for Netflix after failing to attract an audience on cable). The lyrical coming-of-age saga David Makes Man could find a home on OWN. TNT could serve up madcap Floridian crime soap Claws while BBC America made Killing Eve an obsession on this side of the Atlantic.

A few years into the industry’s contraction, and in the wake of writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023, the television landscape looks a lot different.

Since TIME didn't even hint at this year's best TV shows in the video description, I'm listing them here:

1. Shogun
2. Industry
3. Say Nothing
4. Penelope
5. Fantasmas
6. Somebody Somewhere
7. Interview with the Vampire
8. The Sympathizer
9. Baby Reindeer
10. Pachinko

Not a bad list, although I hadn't heard of 3-5, Say Nothing, Penelope, and Fantasmas, before. Like TIME's top ten movies, this list reflects "reflects expert critical taste," which means it includes some obscure choices.

Next, THR Critics Pick the Best TV Shows of 2024 | THR News, which The Hollywood Reporter just uploaded this morning.

From an epic historical drama to a wild surrealist comedy, our TV screens took us on all sorts of thrilling and intriguing adventures in 2024. As we head into 2025, we're taking a look at some of The Hollywood Reporter's television critics' picks for the best TV shows of 2024.

"In no particular order," THR's picks are Shogun, Baby Reindeer, Ripley, Fantasmas, Shrinking, Hacks, Somebody Somewhere, and My Brilliant Friend. I'm much more familiar with the series on THR's list, which indicates their critics are more in tune with popular taste than TIME's.

Speaking of popular taste, I can't resist WatchMojo, which I've called "high-quality, well-researched clickbait," so I conclude with their Top 24 Best TV Shows of 2024.

From gripping dramas to hilarious comedies, 2024 was a stellar year for television. Join us as we count down the most captivating and innovative series that kept us glued to our screens. Whether you're into sci-fi, crime thrillers, or heartwarming stories, there's something for everyone on this list! Our countdown includes shows like "Industry," "Hazbin Hotel," "Dead Boy Detectives," "Heartstopper," "Ripley," and many more. We'll explore why these series stood out and what made them the best of 2024. Which show was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

I knew a lot more of WatchMojo's list and even the one I didn't, Bad Monkey, looks like one I should know. In addition, TIME's and THR's choices Industry, Ripley, and The Sympathizer made WatchMojo's list below tenth. Speaking of which, here's WatchMojo's top ten.

1. Shogun
2. X-Men '97
3. Fallout
4. Arcane
5. The Penguin
6. Hacks
7. The Boys
8. Baby Reindeer
9. English Teacher
10. Agatha All Along

Looks like everyone agrees on Shogun and Baby Reindeer, making them favorites of both critics and the people. Who am I to disagree?

Stay tuned for a final year-end retrospectives through New Year's Eve.

'2024 becomes the world's hottest year on record, fueling extreme weather events,' the year in climate and weather

As I promised yesterday, it's time to review the year in climate and weather beginning with France 24 English reporting 2024 becomes the world's hottest year on record, fueling extreme weather events.

In 2024, billions of people across the world faced climatic conditions that broke record after record: logging ever more highs for heat, floods, storms, fire and drought. As the year drew to a close, the conclusion was both blatant and bleak: 2024 was the hottest year since records began, according to European climate scientists. Story by Alice Brogat, Axelle Simon and Eliza Herbert.

Seeing this reminds me of the first two questions I ask my students while watching Chasing Ice.

1. Chasing Ice opens with a montage of natural disasters. Name three of them.

The three that come to mind are floods, fires, and droughts. All of those, along with dangerous heatwaves and stronger hurricanes and tropical cyclones, appear in this report. For what it's worth, those are also among the possible answers to a question I ask about Treasures of the Earth: Power: "What are the expected effects of global warming? List three examples." Back to Chasing Ice.

2. How many of the past 20 years, as of 2012, were the hottest on record?

As of 2012, 16 were the hottest on record. According to the image below, it looks like it's now 17, as 1998, 2002, and 2003 fall outside the past 20 years, although the past ten years remain the hottest decade on record.


Yikes!

First, welcome to the 400 ppm world. Second, are you scared enough by climate change? My readers should be.

Firstpost from India has more, including some good news, in Greening Antarctica, Flooded Sahara: 2024 - Year of Climate Change | Firstpost Earth Year Ender.

2024 has been a landmark year for climate change, with record-breaking heat and extreme weather events dominating the globe. From the Sahara’s rare floods to the Arctic’s rapid melting, the planet is feeling the heat. But there’s hope too—renewable energy is booming, and conservation efforts are gaining momentum. Join us as we reflect on the highs and lows of a tumultuous year.

Good news that I can share with my students, but not nearly enough to inspire me to post Professor Farnsworth. Still, welcome to blogging as professional development.

I conclude with ABC News reporting on the Billion-dollar disasters of 2024.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the total cost of disasters this year was $61.6 billion.

I'm recycling my reaction from 'Weathered: Earth's Extremes' asks 'What Happens When the Land Runs Out?'

I close by recycling another program note from 'The "dirty side" of a hurricane, explained' by Vox.

So far, this season's 18 named storms, including 11 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes, have borne out NOAA's 'Most Aggressive Hurricane Season Forecast On Record' for 2024, which predicted 17–25 named storms, 8–13 hurricanes, and 4–7 major hurricanes. I might revisit this and other forecasts next month. Stay tuned.

I have two more weeks to do this, so stay tuned for this year's version of 2023 is the hottest year on record and other climate and weather stories. That's when I plan on posting the follow up.

There's been no change since I wrote this, so I think ABC News's report suffices.

It's early enough that I might post an entry about the year's best TV shows today. Stay tuned to see if I do, followed by the overall year in review for New Year's Eve.