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.
Dez turned over 51,000 miles on Wednesday April 27th, exactly six weeks after she passed 50,000 miles on March 16th. That puts it right on the schedule I expected in this month's update for Pearl when I wrote I'll see how much the household is adding to the total when I update Dez at the end of the month." That means my wife and I drove her car an average of 23.81 miles per day or 726.2 miles per standard month. That's a lot more than the 9.9 miles/per day or 302.0 (301.98) miles per standard month we drove it between December and March and even more than the 16.67 miles per day or 508.33 miles per standard month we drove the car between October and December. What increased the mileage so dramatically? Simple--my wife took the car in for service, then drove to see our daughter in Chicago. As I wrote in December, "sustainability is a priority, but so is family, and driving while gas is cheap makes keeping in touch more practical."
Combined with the 17.86 miles per day or 544.6 miles per standard month I drove Pearl this month, my wife and I drove a total average of 40.48 miles per day and 1270.8 miles per month. WOW! For once, we really are contributing to the trend of increased driving by Americans, as shown by this graph from Doug Short.
"Travel on all roads and streets changed by 5.6% (12.4 billion vehicle miles) for February 2016 as compared with February 2015." The less volatile 12-month moving average was up 0.39% month-over-month and 3.0% year-over-year.
As for what the immediate future holds, expect less driving for Pearl over the summer as I have fewer meetings to attend, I drive to only the nearest campus to teach, and I walk more as the weather improves. That the sidewalk has been extended on the way to the nearest store will help, as does my having a Fitbit. Nothing like monitoring my activity to induce me to walk more.
Dez will probably be more in line with the 16.67 miles per day or 508.33 miles per standard month she logged between October and December. Consequently, the family will drive a little less next time.
Each and every day, you might be using some common items that are terrible for the environment and depleting Earth's atmosphere!
I'll get around to that retrospective later. Stay tuned for a mileage/gas price update as the last post of April followed by two entertainment entries for Sunday, and another student sustainability video on Monday.
*It really should be 54 as I duplicated a number by accident, but that's a story for another day.
I'm enjoying posting retrospectives on Throwback Thursday, so I'm continuing with the series about the top entries of the past blogging year. Today' theme uses alignment charts of characters from speculative fiction. I begin with D&D alignment charts for 'The Walking Dead', the seventh most read post of the fifth year of the blog. As of March 20, 2016, it 1287 page views according ot the raw counter and was the highest ranking post of the past year not to get on the all-time top ten.
The final honorable mention for April 2015 belongs to "D&D alignment charts for 'The Walking Dead'." Before it fell off the monthly top ten a couple days before the end of the month, it had 135 page views, 192 according to the raw counter. It earned nearly all of its page views from normal social media promotion and web search. The rest came from sharing the link in a comment at Michigan Liberal.
The entry returned to the monthly top ten several times. Here is what I wrote about it for August.
The second alignment chart entry as well as the second entry about zombies to make August's top ten was "D&D alignment charts for 'The Walking Dead'." This blast from the past, posted March 29, 2015, earned its 159 page views by being first searched for during a marathon of "The Walking Dead" to promote "Fear the Walking Dead," and then shared on the science fiction and horror groups on Facebook that same day. Nothing like striking while the iron is hot to return it to the top ten, where it placed seventh overall.
"D&D alignment charts for 'The Walking Dead'" was the first of three entries from the back catalog to make October's top ten. This entry came in eighth with 167 page views, earning them solely through search. I don't recall sharing this in time for the premiere of season 6, so I had nothing to do with its renewed success.
"D&D alignment charts for 'The Walking Dead'" posted March 29, 2015 was the next entry from the back catalog to make the top ten. It came in seventh with 133 page views, which it earned entirely from web search. Like last month, when it was the eighth most read entry, I did not promote it on communities and groups for "The Walking Dead" on Facebook and Google Plus.
Looks like I created an entry with evergreen interest. I'll be sure to promote it when "The Walking Dead" returns in October.
Follow over the jump for the other alignment chart entry to make this year's top ten.
March is a good month for this drink. Fukushima happened on March 11, 2011, and Three Mile Island happened on March 28, 1979. As for Chernobyl, that has to wait until next month, when April 26 will be the 30th anniversary of the disaster.
That was yesterday. I then concluded with this program note.
I already have an appropriate drink selected for the 30th anniversary of Chernobyl...
With that introduction, I'll leave the serious observations of yesterday's anniversary over the jump and begin with the drink humor from Tipsy Bartender: How to make the Nuclear Rainbow.
It's a beautiful drink and it's very potent....THE NUCLEAR RAINBOW! This is a layered cocktail with a gorgeous array of colors. This drink is all about presentation and perfect for impressing your friends with your awesome bartending skills! The layering effect takes some practice so watch and learn how to do it successfully. Layering is a great skill to have in your repertoire and if you can master it you'll be able to make all kinds of badass cocktails like this one! ... NUCLEAR RAINBOW 1oz Melon Liqueur 1oz Sweet & Sour 1oz Grenadine 1oz Blue Curacao 1oz Bacardi 151
A shimmering plume of rainbow-colored light shot straight up, lighting the sky for miles. According to our guide, some residents rushed closer to watch the exploding reactor — unaware of the danger — later claiming it was the most beautiful thing they’d ever seen.
On that note, follow over the jump for more serious videos about the disaster.
I wrote "The next installment of this series should be next Tuesday, when I'll feature corps from Connecticut and Pennsylvania" in the conclusion to Drum corps for the New York primary. It's "next Tuesday," so it's time to follow through on that promise.
I expected Trump and Clinton to win their primaries last week in New York and both did by convincing margins, Trump winning 60% and Clinton winning 58%, ending the streak of Sanders and Cruz victories in Utah, Idaho, Wisconsin, and other states ending in Wyoming. New York didn't turn out to be another Michigan. As I wrote, "As a Sanders supporter, I'd say I would be disappointed, if not surprised, but I don't even have high enough hopes for Sanders to really be disappointed." Instead, I had my low expectations for his performance confirmed.
Enough about the politics. Time for my readers to enjoy the drum corps while they are waiting for the results. I begin with The Cadets, who have hailed from Allentown, Pennsylvania since 2003.* Here's a clip from their 2015 show, The Power of 10.
"The Power of 10" turned every yard line into a 10-yard line, and if you count up each of the number sequences in the corps’ “Mulholland Drive” ballad, you’ll come up with the number 10. Check out the Periodic Table of Elements to learn why the color guard was clad in neon colors. And any Romans in the audience had to be giddy every time there was an “X” prominently displayed in the drill formations. The entire production was goose bump inducing to the factor of … well, you know.
An experimental plane flying around the world without a single drop of fuel landed in California after a two-and-a-half day flight across the Pacific. Video footage from KGO.
An experimental plane flying around the world without a single drop of fuel landed in California after a two-and-a-half day flight across the Pacific.
Piloted by Swiss explorer and psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse 2 touched down in Mountain View just before midnight (3 a.m. ET).
...
The plane took off from Hawaii on Thursday, resuming a journey that had stalled on the island of Oahu for almost 10 months.
HONOLULU — Solar Impulse 2, an aircraft that is attempting to make the first round-the-world solar-powered flight, is set to resume its journey in late April.
Solar Impulse 2 left Abu Dhabi on March 9, 2015 and had flown to Muscat, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Mandalay, Chongqing, Nanjing, Nagoya and Hawaii, where it has been grounded since July after its batteries were damaged on the trip from Japan.
The plane's batteries became overheated after a quick ascent on the first day during the flight from Nagoya to Hawaii. The batteries had to be replaced before the plane could resume flying.
"The first half of the adventure was already a success, because we showed that solar energy made it possible to fly five days and five nights, and remaining airborne longer than any plane in history," Bertrand Piccard, one of the two pilots of the plane told The Billionaire.
The plane is ready to depart in late April, depending on the weather. It will continue the remaining half of its journey from Hawaii to North America, southern Europe before returning to Abu Dhabi this summer.
As soon as I watched the video last week, I had a feeling the plane would be flying on Earth Day. I was right.
Stay tuned for more updates on the plane's circumnavigation of the planet, including its stops in the U.S. and eventual return to Abu Dhabi.
J. J. Abrams – Star Wars: The Force Awakens Guillermo del Toro – Crimson Peak Alex Garland – Ex Machina George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road Peyton Reed – Ant-Man Ridley Scott – The Martian Colin Trevorrow – Jurassic World
Out of this distinguished group, I'd vote for George Miller. He was able to tell a great story with lots of visuals and very little dialog. My second choice would be Ridley Scott and the third would be Alex Garland. As for who will win, I expect this electorate might give the award to J. J. Abrams, who is my fourth choice.
On Friday, Michigan State University served sustainable tea for Earth Day, capping off an Earth Week full of environmental news from Michigan's Land Grant University. On Wednesday, MSU reported on two other environmental stories, growing algae for fuel and using grassroots tactics to reduce poaching of endangered lemurs in Madagascar. All three stories show that MSU is green for reasons other than its school colors.
MSU students grew the herbs for the "green" tea in the greenhouse outside of Bailey Hall, then dried, processed, blended, and packaged the tea before selling it to the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center and other students around campus. The student enterprise, known as the Bailey Tea Project, is part of the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment (RISE) program, a living-learning program focused on sustainability and environmental stewardship. The Bailey Tea Project, run by what the students call the "Tea Team," demonstrates student commitment to sustainability and serves as a constant reminder of MSU’s agricultural history.
...
Earlier in the week, MSU reported that an algae photo bioreactor could capture carbon dioxide(CO2) emissions from MSU’s T.B. Simon Power Plant and turn those greenhouse gas emissions into algae. This was the first time that such technology was able to capture CO2 and promote the growth of algae in an environment without sunlight, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This finding is important because many believe that algae is the renewable, alternative energy source of the future and the technology could also help keep CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere.
...
The same day, MSU publicized the results of a study documenting the attitudes of people in Madagascar toward the risks of breaking laws and the value of preserving their environment. The study found that if local residents don’t perceive actions such as hunting lemurs or burning forests for charcoal as crimes or they believe there’s a low risk of getting caught, then poaching and deforestation will continue.
I posted the above because I needed to maintain my ability to publish at Examiner.com as much as to publicize local environmental education, research, and outreach. Stay tuned for Entertainment Sunday, which should be last installment about this year's SaturnAwardsnominees.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks at the signing ceremony of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the United Nations in New York on April 22, 2016.
The pattern continued with "Doctors to Congress: Fund gun violence research at the CDC and NIH" from December 3rd, which was the second most popular entry shared at the Coffee Party USA's Facebook page and the second most read for December. It earned 1261 page views by the end of the month, 1274 according to the raw counter. It ended the fifth year of the blog as sixth most read entry for that blogging year and ninth in the history of the blog with 1266 page views, 1309 from the raw counter. It's now in 10th all time.
Celebrate this 420 with our super potent MARIJUANA JUNGLE JUICE BOWL with Banana Leaf Straws!
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MARIJUANA JUNGLE JUICE BOWL
Kiwi Slices
Pineapple Slices (shaped like marijuana leaves)
3 oz. (90ml) Bacardi 151
3 oz. (90ml) Everclear
4 oz. (120ml) Coconut Rum
4 oz. (120ml) Melon Liqueur
4 oz. (120ml) Captain Morgan 100
10 oz. (300ml) Pineapple Juice
Normally, Skyy uses Nickey, who is an adult film model, for drinks about sex, which is why I usually don't post videos with her here. Today, he's using her for a video about drugs because she's from Colorado, where pot is legal. Sex and drugs--now all she has to do is host a video for a drink about rock'n'roll.
What better way to start your 420 party that with marijuana leaf shaped jello shots! We also used the Liquid Marijuana Shot recipe.
...
420 MARIJUANA LEAF SHAPED JELLO SHOTS
*Marijuana Cookie Cutter: http://amzn.to/1FZhBKk
White Layer:
1 Cup Water
2 Packets Gelatin
1 Can Condensed Milk
1 Cup Coconut Rum
Green Layer:
1 Cup Pineapple Juice
2 Packets Gelatin
1/3 Cup Spiced Rum
1/3 Cup Midori Melon Liqueur
1/3 Cup Blue Curacao
Today is the primary in the home state of three of the candidates, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders.* According to FiveThirtyEight, Clinton and Trump each have a 99% chance of winning the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively. If true, this should end the streak of Sanders and Cruz victories in Utah, Idaho, Wisconsin, and other states ending in Wyoming. As a Sanders supporter, I'd say I would be disappointed, if not surprised, but I don't even have high enough hopes for Sanders to really be disappointed. Then again, New York could be like Michigan, which Sanders won in a shocker. Honestly, I don't think the polls in New York will be that off.
While my readers are awaiting the results, I present three New York drum corps to watch and listen. As I promised two weeks ago, today is "a senior corps spectacular." I begin with the 2015 Long Island Sunrisers.
Follow over the jump for two more New York senior corps.
Americans are a nation of procrastinators. Our tax returns prove it.
Last year, 21.5 million Americans1 waited until the last minute – or at least the last week – to submit their tax returns. That’s roughly one in seven filers, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service.
If anything, that count probably understates the number of people leaving it to the last minute.
However, it's not just the taxpayers who deserve our sympathy and support today, it's also the tax collectors. John Oliver makes that surprising argument very effectively in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The IRS (HBO).
Nobody likes the IRS. But recent budget and staff cuts have made it increasingly difficult for the department to do its very important job. Don’t take our word for it. Ask Michael Bolton.
Oliver makes the point that Tax Day combines two of Americans' least favorite things, taking money away from them and math. Follow over the jump for a proposal to minimize the math.
Last Sunday and Monday, I listed the films nominated for this year's Saturn Awards along with my opinions of the nominees and which of them I was likely to vote for. Today, as I complete the schedule I planned out in that same post, I do the same for the people on the set, the actors and actresses.
John Boyega – Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Finn
Matt Damon – The Martian as Mark Watney
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant as Hugh Glass
Taron Egerton – Kingsman: The Secret Service as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
Harrison Ford – Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Han Solo
Domhnall Gleeson – Ex Machina as Caleb Smith
Samuel L. Jackson – The Hateful Eight as Major Marquis Warren
Paul Rudd – Ant-Man as Scott Lang / Ant-Man
I know Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and its equivalent at the Oscars and a whole bunch of other award shows, but I'm not voting for him. Instead, I'm voting for Matt Damon. Not only did I enjoy his performance more and think "The Martian" is the much better entertainment experience, but the main argument for DiCaprio, that he was due an Oscar, works even more strongly for Damon, as demonstrated by Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight.
But here’s what’s absolutely crazy about this year and the narrative that’s built up around the best actor race. Let’s say DiCaprio deserves an Oscar. You know who deserves one more? Matt Damon, a guy who’s also nominated for best actor this year!
Not only is DiCaprio not the actor most overdue for an Oscar, he’s not even the most overdue among this year’s nominees.
With this electorate, he might not get the award. Instead, I suspect they'll vote in Harrison Ford for his final turn and best performance as Han Solo.
Best Actress
Emily Blunt – Sicario as Kate Macer
Jessica Chastain – The Martian as Melissa Lewis
Blake Lively – The Age of Adaline as Adaline Bowman
Daisy Ridley – Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Rey
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road as Imperator Furiosa
Mia Wasikowska – Crimson Peak as Edith Cushing
I noted that "Pearl turned over another 1000 miles yesterday, so a post about that is still on tap for Saturday" in Climate for the fifth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. It's now Saturday, so it's time to update my driving diary, which is one of the ways I monitor my consumption.
Pearl the Prius turned over 26,000 miles on Wednesday the 13th, exactly eight weeks or 56 days since she passed 25,000 miles on Wednesday February 17th. That translates into 17.86 miles per day or 544.6 miles per standard month. That's more than the 15.87 miles/day and 484.13 miles/month I drove her between December and February, but more in line with the 17.54 miles/day and 535.09 miles/standard month I drove her between October and December. Again, I returned to work, complete with all the driving to meetings. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't drive much more, as I now have two more meetings per month to attend.* Even so, I'm still adding to the increase in miles driven as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation as quoted by Calculated Risk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven increased 2.0% year-over-year in January.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported today:
Travel on all roads and streets changed by 2.0% (4.8 billion vehicle miles) for January 2016 as compared with January 2015.
Travel for the month is estimated to be 240.7 billion vehicle miles.
The seasonally adjusted vehicle miles traveled for January 2016 is 264.3 billion miles, a 2.7% (7.0 billion vehicle miles) increase over January 2015. It also represents a -0.8% change (-2.1 billion vehicle miles) compared with December 2015.
The following graph shows the rolling 12 month total vehicle miles driven to remove the seasonal factors.
The rolling 12 month total is moving up - mostly due to lower gasoline prices - after moving sideways for several years.
I'll see how much the household is adding to the total when I update Dez at the end of the month.
Speaking of lower gas prices, follow over the jump for the latest on them.
The most liked entry of October with 12 pluses on Google Plus was "Clinton wins the news media while Sanders wins the Internet." Being shared at the Bernie Sanders communities of G+ did most of that. It was also the second most read entry posted during the month as well as overall with 2163 page views, 2172 according to the raw counter. This post earned 2157 page views the first week, all but 40 from being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page. The first hour of being shared, it brought 427 page views to the blog, part of 1714 that day. It's currently the third most viewed entry in the history of the blog.
I also shared the link at Greer's blog in February, four months later. This entry has managed to stay current and will continue to do so until the Democratic convention.
Stay tuned for the rest of the posts I have planned.
As for the rest of the week, Pearl turned over another 1000 miles yesterday, so a post about that is still on tap for Saturday. Next week, I should have part 2 of 2016 Saturn Awards for Movies, Tax Day on Monday, Drum Corps for the New York Primary on Tuesday, marijuana legalization news for 4/20 on Wednesday, another retrospective for Throwback Thursday, and Earth Day news on Friday. Looks like another busy week, which pleases me.
The winner of the Revenge of the Back Catalog trophy and the number one entry for all of last month was "Republicans on climate change and energy at the CNBC Debate" posted October 29, 2015. It earned its 2416 page views during the November by being shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page. It also ended up on the all-time top ten with 2486 page views, 2513 raw, during both October and November. It's currently in third place all time after knocking "Corn questions from 'Food, Inc.' worksheet" out of the top ten It's one of six posts shared at the Coffee Party Facebook page to get in the top ten so far this year.
This was the second entry to dislodge Corn questions from 'Food, Inc.' worksheet, the first being WXYZ on redistricting reform. The post climbed back on the leaderboard in between and has since returned, but that's a story for another entry. As for the Republicans who were actually talking sense about climate, as much as their ideology would allow, noneofthem are still in the contest. Why am I not surprised?
Follow over the jump for another entry about climate that made the top ten.
I opened and closed Yuri's Night 2016 by mentioning the proxity of two days about space that I celebrate on this blog.
Tomorrow is Yuri's Night followed by Apophis Day. I don't think I realized that I celebrate two space days one right after the other, the first about the promise of space and the second about its perils. Now that I do, I'm appreciating the juxtaposition.
... Stay tuned for stories about near misses and other risks from space in tomorrow's Apophis Day post.
John McKeon captured an impact on the gas giant on March 17th, 2016 (00:18:45 UT). The video was snapped using an an 11" SCT with an ASI120mm camera and Ir-pass 742nm filter. It was most likely an asteroid or comet colliding with Jupiter.
This morning a comet sped past Earth, coming closer to our planet than all but two other space objects in recorded history. It will be another 150 years before another comet comes as close. The comet was still a safe 2.2 million miles away, and was only visible through a telescope. The fly-by was an excellent opportunity for NASA scientists to work on the advancement of the study of comets. The study of comets aides in a better understanding of the universe, as well as providing information on how to handle a possible asteroid strike on Earth.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced on Tuesday that an asteroid could pass extremely close to Earth next month, much closer than the Moon.
Asteroid 2013 TX68 will make its closest pass by Earth on March 5. The asteroid, which has a diameter of 100 feet (30 meters), could pass as far out as 9 million miles (14 million kilometers) or as close as 11,000 miles (17,000 kilometers). The average distance of the Moon from the Earth, by comparison, is 238,555 miles (384,400 kilometers), according to NASA.
According to NASA, the variation in the distance depends on the trajectory of the asteroid, which scientists could not predict, since they were only able to track the asteroid for a few days after it was discovered on Oct. 6, 2013.
What NASA scientists are sure about is that there is no chance the asteroid could hit the Earth this time, although there is a 1-in-250-million chance it could hit our planet on its next pass, on Sep. 28, 2017.
Even if it does hit the Earth, it is too small to cause any real damage. It would likely break up in the atmosphere and blow apart in an explosion from an incoming asteroid called an "air burst."
Follow over the jump for a year's worth of stories from Tomonews about asteroid near misses plus a warning from Wochit about comets.
Tomorrow is Yuri's Night followed by Apophis Day. I don't think I realized that I celebrate two space days one right after the other, the first about the promise of space and the second about its perils. Now that I do, I'm appreciating the juxtaposition.
It's tomorrow, so it's time to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the first crewed space flight and the 35th anniversary of the first operational launch of the space shuttle. I begin by embedding the video I should have used last year, when I forgot Yuri's Night, instead posting a retrospective, a driving update, and an entertainment feature. I present Yuri's Night Greetings from Samantha Cristoforetti from April 2015.
Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who is on the ESA Futura mission onboard the International Space Station, sends her greetings to Yuri's Night events around the world that are planned around April 12, the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight in 1961. Yuri's Night would like to thank Samantha and our friends at the European Space Agency for sending us this video to share with events worldwide. Rock the planet!
Happy Yuri’s Night! We’re partying under Space Shuttle Endeavour in the first of two shows featuring interviews from the worldwide celebration of space. Star Trek’s Robert Picardo will talk about his new video newsletter, the Planetary Post, and we’ll visit with Samantha Cristoforetti, who returned last June from 200 days aboard the International Space Station. Emily Lakdawalla reports on the spacecraft exploring our solar system this month, while Bruce Betts tells us What’s Up.
Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts of NASA took time to send a special message to celebrators around the globe recognizing the anniversary of the first human space flight. On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft.
Space cooperation has been a hallmark of U.S.-Russia relations, including during the height of the Cold War, and most notably, in the past 14 consecutive years of continuous human presence on board the International Space Station.
since today is a celebration of space exploration, follow over the jump for the latest news, especially for crewed spaceflight.
I'm surprised, as I expected "Inside Out" would win. Well, maybe with the critics, actors, and animators voting, it will win the more prestigious awards later in the year.
It did.
Follow over the jump for the weekend box office news.
I concluded 2016 Saturn Awards for Television with "I have to say that this past year has been a very good one for speculative fiction and other genre entertainment. That is even more true with the movies, which I'll write about next week. Stay tuned." Next week has arrived and with it my post on the movie nominations.
VOTE for your favorites, become a Saturn Awards Affiliate Member... [UPDATE to NOMINATIONS] Dear Friends of the Saturn Awards:
It has been an exciting time for all genre fans with the release of this year’s Saturn Awards nominations. After careful consideration, we are making an adjustment on our nomination list. We are moving actor John Boyega to the category of Best Actor in a Film. This more correctly reflects his contributions to the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We all look forward to voting and honoring the best in genre entertainment.
Today is yet another stop on the campaign trail, the Wyoming Democratic County Caucuses, where 14 delegates are at stake. This is probably the smallest delegation from a state up for grabs, fewer than Alaska's 16, but every delegate counts.
As for who will win, there appear to have been no polls, but three of four reporters at the San Diego Union Tribune think Sanders will win. I think they're probably right; Wyoming is Sanders' kind of state and caucuses are his best type of contest. All four of them also think Clinton will win the nomination. I think they're right about that, too.
The blog earned 15,596 page views and 38 comments for 34 entries over 31 days that month. That translates to 503.1 page views per day, 458.7 page views per entry, 1.23 comments per day, and 1.12 comments per entry. It was the second best month for page views at the time and is now the third best behind October 2015 and January 2016. It was also the best December so far. For comparison, December 2014 had 13,251 page views and only 4 comments on its 41 entries, which translates to 427.5 page views per day and 323.2 page views per entry. Year-over-year, readership per day improved 17.7% and per post 41.9%. Wow!
I begin with the most liked and shared entries on social media. First, the most shared and liked entry on Pinterest during December was "Three Star Wars trailers: movie, television, and video game" with 2 pins. The most liked on was "Driving update for December: Dez" with 4 pluses on Google Plus. Those likes didn't help it much, as it only had 46 page views according to the raw counter.
At the end of Task force findings on the Flint Water Crisis, I told my readers to "Stay tuned. I'm sure I'll have more, including the effects the crisis has had on Snyder's favorability ratings." That's really the least of the state's worries, but it has been in the news lately.
As I wrote, Michigan and Snyder have worse problems resulting from the Flint Water Crisis than his sinking approval ratings. Yesterday, WXYZ reported on three of them.
Congress continues to look into the Flint water crisis, Rep. Elijah Cummings is questioning some of the answers provided by Governor Rick Snyder.
Another Congressional committee hearing into the Flint Water Crisis that is sure to feature attacks on the EPA from the Republicans and attacks on Snyder and the Emergency Manager Law from the Democrats--that should produce a lot of heat and smoke. I'll pass along all of that, along with any light it manages to shed, when it happens.
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, who has managed to stay out of the scandal, got sucked into it the same day. Follow over the jump for that.
The ongoing Flint water crisis has taken a huge political toll on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. That’s the finding of a brand new EPIC MRA Poll released first to WXYZ/Channel 7 and their statewide media partners in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Lansing.
The article on WXYZ's website quoted Bernie Porn, President & CEO of EPIC MRA, who said, “In all measurements for the Governor, he has taken a serious hit because of the Flint water crisis!” The Detroit Free Press quoted Porn again. "I think the slow drip, drip of it -- the e-mails, the hearings ... I don't think any public relations firm in the world was going to change the direction that this has gone."
That's just from Michigan media. Follow over the jump for Fortune Magazine listing Snyder among the most disappointing leaders of the past year.
Gas prices in metro Detroit are on the rise, with some stations having prices at more than $2 per gallon.
That would have been the perfect video to use with my blog entry. Oh, well, better late than never.
The irony is that GasBuddy lists the prices as unchanged or even down for the stations in my old neighborhood. The corner station dropped its price from $2.15, like the one in the video, to $1.93, while the two stations down the street held steady at $1.90. So much for that charge into No Mans Land! Even more ironic, the Detroit average for regular has also gone sideways at $1.97. So has the national average, which is still at $2.05. Rising gas prices? April Fools!
I gave a hint this might happen during my last report.
While the retail environment is pushing the price a the pump up, the wholesale environment is not. Oil-Price.Net shows yesterday's closes for WTI at $38.28 and Brent at $39.14, about $2 less than the $40.20 and $41.54 of two weeks ago. Also, RBOB fell more than a penny to $1.45. Those trends should moderate the rate of increase.
Oil has continued to fall. Oil-Price.Net lists yesterday's closes for WTI at $35.89 and Brent at $37.87, another drop of about $2. Also, it shows RBOB at $1.38. As long as these trends continue, prices at the pump will rise little if at all, and may even drop for a bit.
Classic MGM movies staring Gene Kelly influenced "78th & Madison," the title referencing Manhattan and the corps' 78th anniversary year. Listen for the roar of the MGM lion and look for the travel stickers on the prop suitcases that featured cities along the DCI Tour. Be on the lookout for the aspiring Broadway performer who made a performing troupe on his third audition and became smitten with a starlet he saw on a billboard, fantasizing about her while dancing with her silhouette.
In "Sideshow," the color guard section gradually transitioned from being rural members of a circus audience to become circus performers on various sideshow stages. Among those under the big top seen rising in the opener were clowns, a contortionist, a juggler, a unicyclist, a sword-swallower, conjoined twins, a tightrope walker walking over members of the horn line, and a fortuneteller reading the palm of a flugelhorn soloist.
Math geeks and those who love them are probably still in withdrawal: Pi Day, the holiday that commemorates everyone’s favorite irrational number, has come and gone, and the next one won’t happen until March 14, 2017—an agonizing 11-plus months in the future.
But wait, you say. Isn’t today another major math-related holiday? Four times four, or 42, is 16, and since today’s date is 4/4/16, this is—wait for it—square root day! It happens every time this sort of configuration rolls around: the last square root day was March 3, 2009, or 3/3/09, and the next will happen on May 5, 2025, or 5/5/25.
Before you get too excited, though, you need to face a sad truth: square root day is a second-rate math holiday at best—it’s like trying to get your pulse pounding over Arbor Day, compared with, say, Christmas or Thanksgiving or any other self-respecting festival. ... But if you think there’s no such thing as too many math celebrations, Square Root Day is by definition something to celebrate. While you’re at it, you might as well gear up for Fibonacci Day (11/23), Pythagorean Theorem Day (the date varies), and Math Storytelling Day (9/25).
When it comes to math holidays, in short, the fun—such as it is—never stops.
I'm all in favor of geeky fun holidays, even fake ones.
More than a week ago, I promised "entries about the second most read post of the past year, the Sunday entertainment entry, a humorous take on nuclear meltdowns, and an update on the Flint Water Crisis." I've taken care of all of those except the very last, a follow-up of sorts to Snyder testifies before Congress about the Flint Water Crisis. It's well past time to follow through.
As fans and devotees of the genre, we invite you to go to our website: www.SaturnAwards.org where we are offering a special membership for the next few months which will allow you to VOTE for your favorite actors, actresses, movies and TV shows, so please join, tell your friends & fans and spread the word -- !!!
The Saturn Awards (and Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror) was founded in 1972 by noted film historian Dr. Donald A. Reed to honor and recognize films often overlooked by mainstream awards. These are the Films and TV shows that we all know and love -- and its our mission to honor and acknowledge the many talents that entertain and enlighten us!
Yes, I will be paying the $40 so that I can vote for my favorite among all nominees. After all, that was one of my New Year's resolutions.
Follow over the jump for my opinions of the nominees and which ones I currently intend to vote for.
Monday's prompt reads "Have you ever had another blogger write about you? How did you feel reading the post?" I mentioned this in passing as part of STORY is the theme for April 2016.
Also, I like the idea of writing about what other bloggers have to say about me. I can think of two who have been complimentary, Paul Wartenberg and Infidel 753, and one who has been not necessarily critical but not friendly either, John Michael Greerthe Archdruid. I've mentioned the first two writing about me before, including in two of the recentretrospectives, but I've never passed along what Greer thinks of me when he's not responding to me directly. Time for that to change.
I rather enjoy when Paul and Infidel write about me, which usually include links to my blog. Here's an example from Paul Wartenberg that I quoted in Super Bowl drinks from Tipsy Bartender.
So I need to point out, as this is the Internet, LINKS are everything around here. They link to me, I link to them, people can follow through those links to new and exciting places that offer up drink recipes and NSFW comments about crazy Republicans.
Super Bowl drink recipes it is.
I took it as useful feedback about what he most values in my blogging, so I chose my topic for that day accordingly.
The same is true of Infidel 753, who regularly includes me in his Sunday linkspams. For example, this past Sunday's referenced me in the sentence "A week ago it was Nowrûz (Persian new year), and Obama once again took stock of our relations with Iran." The first one of last month linked to me twice, beginning with "It's Springtime for Trump!" He paid me the favor again by writing "here's what genuine popular anger looks like." My response was to comment "You linked to me twice! That's an honor usually reserved for the likes of Rosa Rubicondior! I'm not worthy! /WayneandGarth." Infidel753 was quite complementary in return, writing "Pinku: Hey, they're good posts." I'm glad he thinks so!
The Archdruid, on the other hand, was less positive. Follow over the jump for what he wrote in response to another commenter at his blog.
I told my readers to "Stay tuned to see what pranks I find on the web today" in last night's STORY is the theme for April 2016. I found a good collection of them from Vox--one-stop shopping!
April Fools' Day is always a good reminder of how much time someone spent to come up with and market products that will almost certainly never exist, all while trying to be funny.
So far, Google fared worst: Its Mic Drop button infuriated users so much that they had to apologize. But buyer beware: If you thought about purchasing any of these new products announced today, the good (or bad) news is that they don't exist.
Along with the hoaxes, there are also products and services intended to be jokes that actually exist, including the following.
This Zumba-Roomba collaboration on a vacuum that also plays music was already invented by Tom Haverford, Aziz Ansari's character on Parks and Rec.
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Horrifyingly, preschool student loans, an April Fools' Day joke from CommonBond, actually already exist in New York.
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And you actually can search the Google Photos service by emoji.
So what is the BlogHer Writing Lab theme this month?
STORY
Hamilton ends the play with an important question: "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?" Is it you? If it isn't you, is there someone you trust shaping the narrative? Is your story fated to be lost to time? And what becomes of all those ideas floating around inside your brain?
The beauty of the Internet age is that everyone has the ability to get their story out there. You can write a blog, Tweet your world, or photograph the whole thing for Instagram. Doing so not only records the important moments in your life but tells the rest of the world who you are, what is important to you, and what you believe.
This month, we're talking stories over at the BlogHer Writing Lab. We're looking at who owns a story, how you write about other people who are characters in your story, and how you set some firm blogging boundaries.
... So join the April BlogHer Writing Lab and tell your story.
The prompts for this month actually look interesting, especially the first two and a few others. I might use them. After all, I almost alwaysobserveAprilFoolsDay on this blog, even if I sometimes observe it a day late. Stay tuned to see what pranks I find on the web today.
Also, I like the idea of writing about what other bloggers have to say about me. I can think of two who have been complimentary, Paul Wartenberg and Infidel 753, and one who has been not necessarily critical but not friendly either, John Michael Greerthe Archdruid. I've mentioned the first two writing about me before, including in two of the recentretrospectives, but I've never passed along what Greer thinks of me when he's not responding to me directly. Time for that to change.
As for the rest, I have lots of my story, the story of Detroit and Michigan, and stories about and from speculative fiction media to pass along. I expect it will be as fun for my readers aa it will be for me!
