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.
I'm running behind on grading papers and not feeling like writing the next installment of the Critics Choice Super Awards today, so change of plans, I'm embedding SciShow's Ontario is Getting Taller instead.
Tens of thousands of years ago, large portions of North America and Europe were blanketed in ice. Although these glaciers have been gone a long time, they continue to shape our landscapes in some surprising ways.
There is also an AI summary.
Tom Lum explores how ancient glaciers fundamentally reshaped the Earth's landscape. From the formation of majestic fjords and the fertile soil of the American Midwest to ongoing geological shifts like isostatic rebound, this episode examines the enduring, transformative impact these massive ice sheets continue to have on our planet today.
I just finished lecturing and testing on glaciers and glacial features or I'd show this to my geology students. Maybe next semester, which should be my last.
I'm still going to blog about the Super Awards, so stay tuned.
This video chronicles the Top 12-scoring percussion sections of junior drum & bugle corps hailing from CANADA under the “tick” system (1983 and prior).
Ranking is by average score of DCI Finals Week, in order to take into account all end-of-season performances.
The scope of this video covers only DCI competition, as access to Canadian contest recaps is limited.
I thanked the uploader.
Good work, Tumour! I'm planning on featuring this video for my Canada Day post next week, so thanks for putting it together. Are you going to make a top 12 Canadian corps under the build up system after you finish the top 12 most legendary drumlines series? If so, I'll feature in next year's Canada Day post!
He answered he would, so I expect to feature his second video about Canadian drumlines next year.
Follow over the jump for corps representing the pre-DCI era, and the decades from the 1980s to today.
It's considered to be one of only two inland temperate rainforests in the world. This forest contains a diversity of rare species and ancient trees. The Weather Network's Mia Gordon shares five facts about this rare ecosystem.
Take a walk through BC's ancient, globally unique Inland Temperate Rainforest with veteran conservationist Craig Pettitt of the Valhalla Wilderness Society. These forests and the mountain caribou they support are endangered by clearcut logging, which continues despite the urging of a recent provincial commission to protect what remains of our old growth. Pettitt describes Valhalla's thoughtful plan to do just that, through the formation of three new provincial parks which would link up with existing protected areas to create intact wildlife corridors and ecological connectivity. Learn how you can take action now to save the Inland Temperate Rainforest and mountain caribou at VWS.org
This video is about preserving the remnants of the ecosystem in British Columbia. I'm not a resident of that province or of Canada, but those of my readers who are can act as Craig Pettitt requests. Now I feel like I should see what, if anything, is being done to preserve the U.S. portion of the inland rainforest. Next year.
Before Canada was even a country, some might say it was a company. That company was the iconic, Hudson's Bay Company, a brand which started as a fur trading post in 1670, then to a big box, department store retailer by the 20th century. But after 3 and a half centuries in business, the cornerstone brand has met it's end. Join me in this special episode of Bankrupt to find out how such a notable and beloved retailer ultimately filed for bankruptcy.
I have fond memories of shopping at The Bay, first when my family went to Canada on vacation during the early 1970s and then with my ex-girlfriend and her kids, who was living in Canada while I was dating her. In fact, my family was in Canada for the Hudson Bay Company's 300th birthday and ten-year-old me was impressed that any institution in North America was that old. News of Hudson's Bay going out of business after 355 years saddened me, almost as much as it did Jake. Of course, private equity played a big part in the demise of the company. If anything could kill something this venerable, private equity could. Combined with aggressive over-expansion, selling off a key asset (Zeller's, which is a story of its own), the COVID-19 pandemic, competition from Walmart and Amazon, and changing consumer habits, and the result was deadly.
After more than 350 years in business, Canada's oldest company is teetering on the brink of collapse — but who’s to blame? CBC’s Eli Glasner puts three key suspects under the department store interrogation light.
CBC didn't actually assign blame, but I'll agree with Jake; the owners, responding to incentives that are indifferent to the success of the business, just like they were indifferent to the cultural and historical significance of the company, were most at fault. I wish I were surprised; I've seen this before, beginning with KB Toys and Toys R Us. Ugh.
Desi Lydic recaps Trump's oblivious reaction to getting friend-zoned by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and prepares for a summer of s***ty air travel as the Real ID deadline approaches and Newark Airport spirals into more chaos.
"You never met her, because she lives up in Canada — oh, that excuse doesn't work." That sounds familiar — "my girlfriend goes to another school/was in summer camp with me/lives in Canada, so you don't know her. I resemble that last remark; the ex-girlfriend I write about the most was living in Canada while we were dating." As for the rest of the segment, I'm glad I got Real ID two years ago and the crash in January was only the beginning of problems with air travel.
The stars came out for the annual Met Gala last night and there were many creatively-preposterous outfits on display, Jimmy has thoughts on people using the word “giving,” Trump met with new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House, he is planning to slap a 100% on any movies filmed outside the United States, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent might need to be unplugged and plugged back in, Trump had a press conference to announce that the 2027 NFL Draft will take place on the National Mall in DC, he signed an executive order aimed raising awareness for mental health, Skype is now in internet heaven, and in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day we give Americans the chance to apologize to their teachers.
Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump's proposal to assess 100% tariffs on movies produced overseas will hurt Canada, especially Vancouver, who benefits from American studios shooting films and TV shows there, as I described in Vox explains 'Why your favorite movies fake their locations' plus the Leo Awards. That might not work out the way Hoover Cleveland thinks it will. I might get to that later. In the meantime, follow over the jump for a retrospective of last year's most read comedy posts about the 2024 election where Hoover Cleveland was not the focus, just to remind my readers of the alternative.
Jon Stewart takes a look at Trump’s first 100 days: from plummeting approval ratings to unfulfilled promises on immigration, health, and the economy, to destroying his reputation as a shrewd negotiator with China and Ukraine[.]
"Suck it, Herbert Hoover!" That's yet another reason for me to call him Hoover Cleveland, although Hoover wasn't unpopular until after the Great Depression hit. That took a year; we're not waiting that long.
Hoover Cleveland claiming things are going great because he's making bank while posting record low poll numbers is enough to repeat what I wrote in George Santos sues Jimmy Kimmel and Trump sells sneakers, "[H]e has long had a very bad case of 'L'État, c'est moi.' As far as he's concerned, he is the country. He's also the worst president..." I may have more opportunities to connect those two thoughts.
I'm letting davidarcherd9868's comment on the video speak for me about what the economy.
Donald Trump promised that if I voted for Kamala Harris, I would experience the worst economy in recent American history. Turns out, he was right. I voted for Kamala Harris and am experiencing the worst economy in recent American History.
I voted for Harris, so I can say it's not my fault. On the other hand, I'm repurposing what I wrote at the end of John Oliver examines RFK Jr. & HHS, "Trump supporters like the Archdruid and his readers actually approve of what he's doing. I have another post planned about them."
This may be the last time I blog about Party City until I run into reports of its last company-owned closing next month (the ones owned by franchisees will keep their doors open — for now) or Bright Sun Films uploads a video about the chain as part of his Bankrupt series. That may take a while, especially since he's Canadian and his country's Party City stores will remain open.
It took less than two full months, as Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films uploaded Bankrupt - Party City on Pi Day.
After growing to become the premier party supply store in America with nearly 1,000 stores and tens of thousands of employees, Party City was a force to be reckoned with in it's retail niche. However, as the years went on, the company began to struggle, ultimately filing for bankruptcy twice with it's most recent filing marking the end for the storied retailer. Join me today to find out what happened here.
I feel like no bankrupt company's story is fully told until both Company Man Mike and Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films have weighed in. Jake identified all the same issues Company Man did in his video, although Jake went into more narrative detail, such as better identifying the private equity firms, while using fewer graphs. In particular, he did the best job among all the sources I've featured of examining the helium shortage, which especially plagued Party City, but still deserves a post of its own. Being Canadian, Jake couldn't resist pointing out that the Canadian Party City stores remain open, just like he couldn't resist saying "the party is over for Party City." Sadly, it is.
Stay tuned for another Retail Apocalypse post tomorrow.
This video is presented by Destination Vancouver. Learn more about Vancouver at findyourrefresh.com. Our sponsor has no editorial influence over how we report our stories, but their support makes videos like these possible.
Movie magic is what makes our favorite films so good: Actors flawlessly inhabiting the personalities of totally made-up characters, visual effects transforming a green screen to an otherworldly setting, musical scores making us feel every emotion under the sun. But there’s another kind of magic we don’t talk about as much: one physical location masquerading as another. And it happens all the time.
When filmmakers are trying to make a movie, deciding where to shoot isn’t as straightforward as choosing the location described in the script. They need to find a place with cooperative weather, a few landscapes to choose from, a big enough workforce, and — perhaps most importantly — one that fits their budget.
All these factors mean that locations with downtowns, country landscapes, mountain ranges, and water features within a drivable distance are highly sought after, especially when they also have good tax credits. While Hollywood might be the legendary film capital of the world, places like Vancouver are becoming more and more popular thanks to the flexible landscapes and tax breaks.
This is especially true for holiday movies — many of which are filmed in Canada. In this video, we talk to a prolific Christmas movie producer — who has worked on films like 2024’s Netflix hit Hot Frosty — about shooting movies in Canada.
Jesse Prupas isn't just joking when he says Santa Claus is Canadian; I wrote Canada claims North Pole so Santa is Canadian nearly a dozen years ago. That's not why so much television production occurs in and around Vancouver. Vox mentioned the variety of locations in and around the city, the generally good weather, the welcoming locals, the skilled cast and crew members, and the tax incentives. Vox did a good job explaining all of those, but I have an anecdote about the weather/climate to add.
Nearly 40 years ago, when I was working on my M.S. in Geology at CSUN, I had a conversation at the campus pub with a drinking buddy who had just finished taking a final exam in The Geography of Canada. He mentioned one of the blue book exam questions: "Where would you live in Canada?" I responded, "That's easy. British Columbia, especially around Vancouver. It has the best weather in Canada. It's also in the west, so it has the fewest cultural differences with California and some of the best scenery." He shook his head and said, "Man, you should have taken my final exam for me." Ha — not that I would have done anything so academically dishonest.
So much movie and television production takes place in British Columbia that the province has its own film and TV awards, the Leo Awards. Follow over the jump for my remarks about them.
President Trump wants to ditch the penny, a move that some experts say is long overdue. Advocates of the least-valuable coin say it should stick around. WSJ examines the question of whether or not it makes sense to get rid of the penny.
The penny has always been assigned a hardness of around 3. But we have conducted tests and found this is not true.
The penny has changed in composition over the years since 1909 when the first Lincoln cent was issued. Its composition was specified as 95 percent copper and 5 percent tin plus zinc, an alloy classified as bronze. Except for the wartime year of 1943, pennies were bronze from 1909 until 1962. Pennies for the following 20 years were copper and zinc, technically brass rather than bronze. And in 1982 the proportions were reversed so that pennies today are 97.5 percent zinc surrounded by a thin, thin copper shell.
...
The Indian head penny had the same nominal composition as the Lincoln penny, with zinc and tin combined making up 5 percent, but we suspect that the older penny had a little more tin. Maybe one penny isn't a fair test.
Each of these changes made pennies cheaper to produce. To make them even cheaper, the U.S. would have to make them out of steel, like we did in 1943. Those became collectors items, but I don't know if most Americans would accept such a different looking coin when we're not in a world war. It might be easier to stop minting them.
President Donald Trump wants the U.S. Mint to stop making new pennies, but is the one-cent coin really more trouble than it's worth? Andrew Chang explains.
Based on the Canadian experience, ceasing to mint pennies might actually be a good idea. Chalk that up to a stuck clock being right twice a day, and Hoover Cleveland is definitely a stuck clock. The other issue he might be right on? Ending Daylight Saving Time, which will be a subject for next month. In the meantime, stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature. Awards season, anyone?
Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump threatening a trade war with multiple countries and plunging the United States into a constitutional crisis.
The good news is that Trump delayed imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The bad news is that Elon Musk has his flunkies messing around with government computers that disburse money and contain employment records. As someone who has worked for the federal government and hopes to start collecting Social Security next year, that's terrifying.
Buckle up as Stephen Colbert goes through the laundry list of disastrous moves made over the weekend by President Trump, which included slapping tariffs on Mexico and Canada and giving Elon Musk access to the Treasury Department's payments system.
Stephen is right; the horse loose in the hospital again is doing so many terrible things at once that it's hard to pick one to focus on. My wife listened to Stephen's list and asked "is this real?" Sorry, darling, they all are. She also observed that Trump has no friends; otherwise he wouldn't treat our friend Canada that way. He also treats his relatives badly; ask Mary Trump.
Jon Stewart examines Trump's attacks on trans people, Canada, and DEI as his first presidential orders of business and asks: How is that making America great again? Plus, the Best F**kin' News Team debate on where they rank in the DEI hierarchy.
Hoover Cleveland's offer to make Canada the 51st state reminds me of what I wrote last month, "I'd only be in favor of that if each Canadian province were admitted as the 53rd through 62nd states after Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico." Well, maybe not Prince Edward Island; they might have to rejoin Nova Scotia first.
As for Sean Duffy — what a step down from Pete Buttigieg — and Pete Hegseth talking about meritocracy, I have only one thing to say: "Only the best people." Yeah, right.
Punxsatawny Phil emerged and declared six more weeks of winter, Kanye West showed up on the Grammys red carpet despite not being invited, Will Smith was in attendance to honor Quincy Jones, NBA Star Luka Doncic somehow got traded to LA in maybe the most shocking move ever, Donald Trump is still posting about all of the water he sent us, the White House is continuing to double down on his nonsensical assumption that DEI caused the tragic air crash last week in Washington, on Saturday Trump issued tariff’s on Canada and Mexico before un-issuing them today, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial saying his tariff’s would cause the dumbest trade war in history, and a brand new declassified files edition of Lie Witness News.
Jimmy K took a while to get to Hoover Cleveland's stunts with water and the now-postponed "dumbest trade war in history," but now I don't feel bad about giving Groundhog Day and the GRAMMYAwards short shrift. Seth, Jimmy, and Stephen had both covered.
Trump’s tariffs against the United States’ three largest trading partners, Canada, Mexico, and China are now in effect. These taxes levied on imported goods are not paid by the exporting country, but rather a cost that is passed on to the American consumer. Now, products like electronics, cars, denim, home goods, and food could see an increase in price.
Velshi presented a lot of statistics, especially about energy, including oil, and food. A dozen years ago, I found energy and food were among the top two labels on this blog, so of course I found them interesting. I might find them useful. Welcome to blogging as professional development.
A second judge is blocking Trump's federal aid funding freeze. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., joins Way Too Early to react to this news and to Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
Stevens represents the district literally across the street from me and is a friend of mine on Facebook. She's someone I listen to and I think my readers should, too.
I'm sure I'll revisit this topic and other current events tomorrow through comedy. Stay tuned.
*Hoover Cleveland's threats to buy Greenland, invade Panama to seize the canal, and subjugate Canada and Mexico remind me of a proposal Elon Musk's grandfather supported, the North American Technate. I don't think that's a coincidence. I also think this is a topic for another time.
Erik also mentioned "the helium shortage increasing the prices of balloons and decreasing their sales." That reminds me of the footnote from earlier this month: "As I wrote about the helium shortage two years ago, 'That's something I haven't blogged about but should.'"
By the way, Erik's remark about American Smarties confusing his Canadian viewers refers to Canadian Smarties being different from American Smarties. In Canada, the candies called Smarties in the U.S. are called Rockets, while Canadian Smarties have no exact analog in the U.S.
I think I may have learned this while I was dating my ex-girlfriend when she was living in Canada, but it's been nearly 20 years since then and I have forgotten it. Speaking of which, I'm glad to hear that Canada's Party City stores are owned by Canadian Tire, one of the chains we shopped at, and will remain open.
This may be the last time I blog about Party City until I run into reports of its last company-owned closing next month (the ones owned by franchisees will keep their doors open — for now) or Bright Sun Films uploads a video about the chain as part of his Bankrupt series. That may take a while, especially since he's Canadian and his country's Party City stores will remain open.
In the meantime, stay tuned for this year's Razzie nominations. The Golden Raspberry Awards' poor math skills strike again!
Seth takes a closer look at President-elect Trump starting off the new year by threatening to take over a bunch of foreign countries right before getting sentenced for a felony conviction and holding an insane press conference to complain about it.
"[J]ail to the chief" is a great line, but it's going to be a while. I expect he'll be sentenced to house arrest in Trump Tower with the Secret Service as his guards, at least for this set of crimes.
I stand by that prediction with the possible addition of $170,000 in fines, $5,000 for each conviction, although Jimmy K's desire for community service to be part of the sentence would work for me, too.
Maybe Judge Merchan will sentence Hoover Cleveland to community service and consider his serving as President to be community service. That would be creative. Unfortunately, Hoover Cleveland is more likely to receive an unconditional release. Sigh.
Desi Lydic discusses Trump's imperialist push ahead of his inauguration, including making Canada the 51st state, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and possibly invading Greenland. Plus, Jordan Klepper is hyped about colonialism's apparent comeback.
On paper, admitting Puerto Rico as a counterweight to Washington, D.C. looks like it might work. The problem is that the Republican Party has become Trump's party and the former guy dislikes Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans enough that he reportedly wanted to swap the island commonwealth for Greenland.* As long as he's the party leader, his prejudices and those of his followers will stand in the way of statehood.
...
*This reminds me of a stunt I pulled in a games of Pax Britannica 30-35 years ago when I played the United Kingdom/Great Britain. I called it "Aristotle is not a Belgian." When Belgium, a minor power that runs by automatic rules, made a move that resulted in a Casus Belli, I would call for a Congress of Europe and propose a deal that would give Belgium the U.K's possessions in Newfoundland and Guiana (if I could convince the French player, France's possession in Guiana as well) along with a codominion in whichever territory Belgium had established a protectorate or possession, usually the Congo. That would get get rid of two low-value colonies for the U.K. and one for France, freeing those counters to be deployed in more high-value territories, and use up all of Belgium's counters for protectorates and possessions, eliminating it as a obstacle to the players who had plans for Africa.
What TFG is alleged to have proposed would not have been possible in Pax Brittanica and would have been a stupid deal even if it were. First, Denmark was not one of the minor powers in the game (Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal were) and Greenland was not one of the available territories, so there would be nothing to swap for. Even if it had, I expect Greenland would have had an economic value of 1 or 2, while Puerto Rico, which is in the game, has a value of 5. This would have been a bad economic deal. Then again, if he actually did want to do this, it would have been for irrational reasons. That doesn't surprise me.
It is very windy and smoky here in Los Angeles, Jimmy got an on the scene weather report from Guillermo this morning, Cher is here on the show with us tonight, Trump gave a double-doozy of a press conference today from Mar-a-Lago where he covered all the big issues from rebranding the ocean to windmills to water pressure, he suggested that he might buy Greenland and sent his son Don Jr to check it out, Lara Trump is busy ruining Tom Petty songs, Hunter Biden and Flavor Flav hung out at a White House gathering for digital creators, the bromance between Trump and Elon Musk appears to be precarious, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a suspiciously Trump-friendly announcement today, Pornhub is no longer available in Florida, and we shine a light on all the craziness with 2025’s first edition of “This Week in Florida.”
Yikes! If he's sending Don Jr. there, then he's serious about Greenland. As I wrote yesterday, "Here's to the comedians keeping us sane in the new year. We need it!"
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."
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 convictedcriminalDonald 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 JustinTrudeau. I'm rooting for Chrystia Freeland to replace him, but I'm not a Canadian. What do my Canadian readers think?
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!
Toronto's Oakland Crusaders perform selections from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake during the 1976 DCI World Championship in [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.]
I couldn't resist an official upload from the beginning of the show to serve as a bookend to the unofficial upload of the end of the show I used eight years ago.
Follow over the jump for Canadian corps from the 1980s to the current decade.
Biden greeted surviving members one-by-one, thanking them for the service on that fateful day.
As an expatriate Californian, who loves entertainment nearly as much as my country and tells my students you can take me out of California but you can't take California out of me, I appreciated the name checks of The Longest Day and Band of Brothers. I'm only surprised he and his speechwriter(s) didn't manage to mention Saving Private Ryan as well. I guess one Tom Hanks show was enough.
I also appreciated how President Biden related D-Day to the present day, especially the domestic fight to protect democracy against authoritarianism at home and foreign aggression in Ukraine. May we be up to the task.
Follow over the jump for videos representing France, Canada, and the United Kingdom at the event.
If your choices in the upcoming federal election have you pining for candidates from a galaxy far, far away, there may be a new hope on the horizon.
Rick Di Lorenzo, a councillor from the town of Milton, is creating cheeky election lawn signs, featuring characters from Star Wars and Harry Potter, as a fundraiser for local charities.
With candidates like Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi, and featuring slogans like “Together we can rule the galaxy” and “Seriously it’s not a trap,” this campaign is meant to be more light-hearted than its federal inspiration...
“It's been very positive and like 99 per cent of people are saying it’s hilarious,” Di Lorenzo told CTV News Toronto. “Some people took the signs, because they're saying in this election they can’t support either candidate, so they’re going to put this sign out instead.”
Read the rest of the story and watch the video, which doesn't embed and which I can't find on YouTube to embed here, but which shows the rest of the signs seen below.
Both of the above were in Canada. Australia has also seen signs inspired by Star Wars, as Pulse Tasmania reported.
A series of fake election signage has been popping up on street posts and traffic light poles across Tasmania in the lead-up to the March 23 state election.
One Pulse follower reported spotting several ‘parody signs’ alongside legitimate candidate signage in Kingston over the weekend.
“I think they are pretty hilarious given the upcoming election. Someone had a lot of fun making them,’ he said.
A majority of the signs reference various niche cultures and movie characters, including Darth Vader.
A spokesperson for the Tasmanian Electoral Commission said the homemade signs are not considered “official election material”.
No kidding.
I haven't seen any news stories about Star Wars themed lawn signs in the current U.S. election, although there are plenty of them for sale. I'm not feeling like doing any unpaid advertising for them right now, so I'll skip them. Instead, I'm concluding today's entry with Mark Hamill's tweet from November 2020, which The Hollywood Reporter shared.
On Saturday, after the election was called by numerous news outlets for Biden, Hamill shared a few tweets but one, in particular, really made a splash.
Hamill posted a picture featuring three posters with the titles of the original Star Wars trilogy. The New Hope poster featured a picture of Barack Obama, the Empire Strikes Back poster featured Trump and the Return of the Jedi poster featured Biden. Hamill wrote, “#BestEpisode_EVER.”
May The Force awaken and keep The First Order out of office this year.
That's a wrap for today's modern holiday. Stay tuned for Cinco De Mayo and highlights of tonight's Saturday Night Live as the Sunday entertainment feature. Depending on tonight's episode, I might be able to combine the two. May my readers and I be so lucky!
Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump threatening Nikki Haley in an angry speech after an underwhelming New Hampshire result where even Fox News was forced to admit that a sizable portion of Republicans might not support Trump in November.
Listening to Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump reminds me that there's one thing I dislike more than a sore loser and that's a sore winner and both of them are sore winners.
The former president lashed out at Nikki Haley for acting like she won the New Hampshire primary, a new report alleges rampant abuse of prescription drugs by staffers in the Trump White House, and Alaska Airlines is finding an alarming number of loose bolts on its planes.
Stephen is right; Trump was being catty about Nikki Haley's dress while hardly being in a position to complain. Also, I'm glad Stephen mentioned Vermin Supreme, a perpetual candidate in New Hampshire and always good for a laugh.
Donald Trump beat Nikki Haley by double digits in New Hampshire last night and she is still aiming to debate him, it was party night in MAGA land as Kellyanne Conway, Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos came out in support of Donny, more than a thousand people have been arrested in connection with the Insurrection and the good folks who were rioting are complaining now that it’s affecting their travel plans, Justin Trudeau seems to be losing sleep over Trump possibly being president again, and Jimmy releases an attack ad against a guy named Todd Cole who wants to take his Mayor of Dildo title.
George Santos — that's a name I was hoping never to write about again.
Alex Wagner discusses doing the live coverage for the New Hampshire primary and whether she thinks Nikki Haley has the votes to eventually surpass Donald Trump.
If I were in Alex's position, I'd miss the horserace, too. At least she'll get it during the general election.
That's it for the reactions to the New Hampshire Primary. Stay tuned for the Doomsday Clock.
Monday, Oct. 9 is a national holiday called Columbus Day. But in Michigan, it's also Indigenous Peoples' Day. There are 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan.
This is a Michigan-based blog, so I'm going to feature Michigan content when I can. I also occasionally feature U.S. government content when appropriate, like Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland wishing Americans Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!
At Interior, we work hard to honor our promises to Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Island communities. Today, we celebrate the rich traditions, diverse cultures, and resilience of Indigenous communities. We honor the first stewards of this land, the Indigenous people who survived through periods of brutal colonization and forced assimilation policies.
A growing number of cities, states and universities are replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, also known as Native Americans Day.
...
The second Monday of October has been a national holiday for close to a century, but this will be only the second year that Indigenous Peoples Day has held that designation.
Last October, President Joe Biden signed the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day, a commemoration-turned-holiday that began in 1977 to honor Native American history and culture. That presidential stamp of approval was the most significant boost to date of efforts refocusing a federal holiday that for decades celebrated Christopher Columbus' discovery of America.
Although few Americans are arguing with the notion of being off work come Monday, Columbus Day and Indigenous People's Day have prompted political debate in states, cities and municipalities around the U.S., especially in the past decade, with some pushing against change and others favoring Indigenous Peoples Day instead.
This is a good explanation of why I generally stopped celebrating Columbus Day on this blog years ago and replaced it with Canadian Thanksgiving. I'm still observing Canadian Thanksgiving as well. Watch Canadian Thanksgiving Explained from Squirreled History, an updated version of the video I embedded last year.
We remade and updated our video on Canadian Thanksgiving, where it came from and how it's different from the American version.
I subscribed to Squirreled History after last year, but haven't used one of the channel's videos again until now. I should rectify that omission.
Leif Erikson Day (October 9) - Why do we not celebrate Leif Erikson Day?
On October 9, Nordic communities worldwide will celebrate Leif Erikson Day – remembering the explorer credited with bringing the first Nordic people to America around the year 1000.
Good question. Too bad the woman behind the account is no longer making holiday videos.
