More fun with wombats and ice cream on Souther 2026

Happy Souther, the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Summer Solstice, a holiday created by John Michael Greer, who also designated the wombat as the animal mascot. Since the first Souther fell on National Ice Cream Day and usually occurs during July, National Ice Cream Month, the food for today is ice cream. Last year, I found a cartoon wombat who likes ice cream, so I'm returning to him and his friends in Work it Out Wombats Ice Cream for Breakfast Song.

Episode: Jun-Jun's Wake Up Call - From: Work It Out Wombats: PBS Kids Video

Work it Out Wombats is owned by Marcy Gunther, Robby Hoffman, Kathy Waugh, Marisa Wolsky, Pipeline Studios, GBH Kids, and PBS.

Ice cream for breakfast? I wish!

Since no actual ice cream appeared in the clip, I'm embedding National Ice Cream Month | July - National Day Calendar to make up for it.



July is National Ice Cream Month!
Ronald Reagan is associated with National Ice Cream Month but not National Jelly Bean Day? Surprising, given his love of jelly beans.

I close with Ice cream- The Wombats, the song for today.

That's a wrap for today's faux holiday. Stay tuned for something I can share in August, since the blog passed its page view goal for July yesterday.

Fun with wombats and ice cream for Souther 2025

Happy Souther, the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Summer Solstice, a holiday created by John Michael Greer, who also designated the wombat as the animal mascot. Since the first Souther fell on National Ice Cream Day and usually occurs during July, National Ice Cream Month, the food for today is ice cream. I managed to find a cartoon wombat trying to get an ice cream cone to a friend in Chutes and Ladders | Work It Out Wombats! on PBS KIDS.

Sammy is sick and in need of ice cream! Can his best friend Malik travel across the Treeborhood before the cold treat melts?

I've found a cartoon for Souther just like Grizzy & the Lemmings for Norther, another fake holiday Greer created. Yay! More relevant content!

The fake holiday even has a theme song, "Ice Cream" by The Wombats. Watch The Wombats "Ice cream" @ Le Trabendo Paris - 05/02/2019.


That concludes today's celebration of a fake holiday. The next fake holiday is Wester, which inspired Greer to create both Souther and Norther, on October 12th. In the meantime, stay tuned for Bastille Day, the third patriotic holiday I celebrate during July.

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' for First Contact Day, a holiday special

Happy First Contact Day, when I celebrate Star Trek! Like last year, I'm looking forward to an upcoming season of the latest series on the franchise, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Watch the SyFy Sistas Inc. wishing their viewers Happy First Contact Day _Season 3 Teaser Star Trek SNW.

[Paramount+] released the teaser trailer for the upcoming third season of its hit original series STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, coming this summer to the platform. Paramount+ previously announced the series has also been renewed for a fourth season, which is currently in production in Toronto.

In season three, when we reconnect with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, still under the command of Captain Pike, they face the conclusion of season two’s harrowing encounter with the Gorn. But new life and civilizations await, including a villain that will test our characters’ grit and resolve. An exciting twist on classic Star Trek, season three takes characters both new and beloved to new heights, and dives into thrilling adventures of faith, duty, romance, comedy, and mystery, with varying genres never before seen on any other Star Trek.

Other than the preview image, this is exactly the same as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Season 3 Official Teaser | Paramount+, but the preview image was exactly what I wanted for today, so SyFy Sistas win. Just the same, here is the official upload's description.

One show. Infinite Adventures. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns this summer exclusively on Paramount+!

Join the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise as they discover new civilizations, test their resolve and dive into thrilling adventures.

SyFy Sistas even have a more comprehensive description.

The trailer looks like fun, so I watched First Look | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 3.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series follows Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock, Number One and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the starship, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy. The new season is set to debut in 2025.

That's an interesting premise entertainingly executed. I'm looking forward to seeing how the crew gets out of this situation, as well as the rest of the ten episodes that will stream this summer.

It turns out that First Contact Day is only one of at least ten special Star Trek days on the calendar. Trek Culture describes them in 10 In-Universe Star Trek Holidays (And When To Celebrate Them).

Let's look at every holiday from Star Trek that we can celebrate in 2025.

Hearing that Frontier Day is April 13th reminds me that I already celebrate a space day that I declared in 2012, Apophis Day. Now I have two holidays to celebrate in eight days!

I'm not done with today's holiday celebration. Follow over the jump for a retrospective of the rest of the most read holiday entries that I didn't cover in Ig Nobel Prizes for April Fools Day 2025, a holiday special.

Colbert, Kimmel, and Lydic look at this week's 'shock and awful'

I'm returning to reality filtered through comedy as the shortest month of the year ends, beginning with Stephen Colbert's monologue from last night, MAGA Gets Buyer's Remorse | Coffee, Eggs, And Potato Chip Prices Spike | Anti-Aging Pill For Dogs.

Some Trump voters regret sending him back to the White House because he's doing nothing to lower prices on everyday items like coffee and potato chips, and there's a new medicine that might extend your dog's lifespan by years.

"Shock and awful" — that's the perfect phrase to describe the circus of tariffs, Musk taking over government computers, mass deportations, Trump's wild idea about Gaza, and his designs on Greenland and Canada, so I'm borrowing it. Add to all those the fallout from bird flu Should Have Killed One Billion People' as well as potentially mishandling seasonal flu and things could get even worse. Ugh, RFK Jr. He got an even bigger boo than the Secretary of Agriculture, who was booed just because she was in Hoover Cleveland's administration. People know who he is!

Jimmy Kimmel examined even more in Team Trump Screws Up Epstein List Release, Donald Hocks Golden Dollars & GOP Complains About Elon.

Elon Musk is still going with his Chainsaw Massacre of our federal workforce, Guillermo lists the five things he did at work this week, a group of Republican Senators met privately with the White House to complain about Elon’s impulsive and haphazard cuts, companies owned by Elon Musk have been the recipients of more than $30 billion from our government, Trump is now hocking dollar bills made of gold, and he is meeting with President Zelensky of Ukraine to discuss what is being called a “reconstruction investment fund,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that a list of Epstein clients and his flight logs would be released today (they were not), instead they released a binder full of information everyone already had, people keep forgetting that Trump and Epstein were good friends, and in honor of the Oscars we took to Hollywood Blvd for a new edition of “Breaking the News.”

"Elon Musk's...Chainsaw Massacre of our federal workforce" — that's another phrase worth stealing! Speaking of stealing, I wish I were surprised that the FAA may cancel a contract with Verizon and replace it with Starlink. That's the kind of conflict of interest having Musk involved with DOGE his critics feared. Time to recycle my comment on May 2022 Open Post at Ecosophia.net.

You pointed out four years ago that Elon Musk's fortune and the success of his companies were both built on government subsidies. American liberals may not have liked Musk for being a billionaire, but they generally quietly ignored what you pointed out as long as they thought he was on their side. Now that he is trying to buy Twitter, potentially ruining their venue for activism and entertainment, then announced that he wasn't on their side, they are all over that fact. They've also called into question the purported technological achievements of his companies and realized a lot of their value springs from faith in Musk himself. His companies' stock prices are now collapsing, which was one of the "black swan" events Lathechuck postulated in the comments four years ago. I don't suppose you are surprised by any of this, are you?

He wasn't. In fact, he joked that he was bored by it. Just the same, liberals and progressives were right about his effect on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. It's one of the main reasons we've moved to Bluesky.

Jimmy K's using Lauren Boebert's misspelling and misunderstanding of disdain to call for not eliminating the Department of Education, one of Project 2025's goals, reminds me that I haven't mentioned that Boebert has a GED, not a regular high school diploma before. It shows.

It also reminds me of what I wrote in I ask The Archdruid and his readers 'Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?' A Festivus airing of grievances.

[O]ne of the recurring themes in the comments to No More Mister Nice Blog, particularly from Yastreblyansky at The Rectification of Names, that a lot of the "working class" supporters of Trump based on their educational levels are actually small business owners, the petite bourgeoisie. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene come to mind. Both were small business owners before being elected to Congress, which adds new meaning to "petty bourgeoisie."

Speaking of Greene, she makes a cameo in Are Democrats Taking the Rizz Out of Resistance in Their Opposition to Trump? | The Daily Show.

Desi Lydic rates the Democratic Party's methods of opposing Trump on the cringe-o-meter: from off-key protest chants to interpretive dance to podcasts. Plus, with so many Dems saying "F**k Trump," Grace Kuhlenschmidt thinks that might just be a great idea.

As silly as it looks, I'm not surprised the most interesting grassroots protest was by dancers at the Kennedy Center; Silly and serious closer looks at Trump taking over the Kennedy Center was the most popular post this month. As I repeated then, "the surest way to get Americans to act is to mess with their entertainm­ent" and "America is quite clear about its screwed up priorities­." Speaking of screwed up, or just plain screwed, Grace Kuhlenschmidt might be onto something, except I don't think that will make Hoover Cleveland treat Democrats any better, just keep him busy. Besides, his supporters might get off on it.

That's a wrap for February. Stay tuned for an Oscars post to kick off March.

I ask The Archdruid and his readers 'Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?' A Festivus airing of grievances

Happy Festivus! I promised an airing of grievances yesterday for Festivus and do I ever have some grievances to air!

I begins with a regular commenter at No More Mister Nice Blog asking a rhetorical question of Trump voters, "Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?" He meant this as mockery, but I saw an opportunity.

I know exactly the group to ask this question. They'll take it seriously and give a lot of outraged responses. I'll report back next month on the results.

I followed through in the second comment to November 2024 Open Post at Ecosophia.net John Michael Greer's main blog.

A commenter on a liberal blog responded to the election results and particularly the educational levels of Trump's voters by asking "Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?" He meant it as a joke, but I think it is worth taking seriously. I know of no better forum to get answers than here, so I'm throwing it open to you and your readers.

I begin with the answer from The Archdruid himself.

Neon Vincent, I can indeed. The site of the injury was in the pocketbook. The professional-managerial class presided over, profited from, and gleefully cheered on the process by which a hundred million working class Americans were driven into poverty and misery. I’ve noted before that when I was young, a family of four could get by tolerably well on a single working class income. The collapse of working class incomes and the soaring prices of housing, health care, and most other necessities over the last fifty years didn’t happen by accident, and nearly all the benefits of that process accrued to the professional-managerial class. If the person who asked that question really wants to get into the details, my book The King in Orange covers it in quite some detail.

Greer the Archdruid certainly lived up to my expectations by taking the question seriously and giving an outraged, if still measured, answer. That written, I think he's reinforcing a scapegoating campaign that began when the upper-middle class of educated professionals, which Greer and his readers call "the professional-managerial class," began leaving the Republican Party for the Democratic Party. Before then, conservative thought leaders, who I think came up with the idea before Greer, didn't appear to care about the benefits accruing to educated professionals; as long as they were voting for Republicans, they were fine with the situation. Afterwards, they began to go after the people leaving the party, particularly once not yet convicted criminal Donald Trump took it over. I think it's a case of getting revenge on people who are now safe to attack; Republicans aren't getting their votes anyway and blaming them for the troubles of the working class helps to get their votes, which the GOP are now courting.

By the way, Greer and his readers calling educated professionals "the professional-managerial class" is both a tell and an odd phrase for a bunch of conservatives to use. The term has origins in Marxist analysis for "a social class within capitalism that, by controlling production processes through occupying a superior management position, is neither proletarian nor bourgeoisie." The working class would resent them for being their supervisors and the small business owners would resent them for being rivals to be second banana in the social-economic order; one of the recurring themes in the comments to No More Mister Nice Blog, particularly from Yastreblyansky at The Rectification of Names, that a lot of the "working class" supporters of Trump based on their educational levels are actually small business owners, the petite bourgeoisie. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene come to mind. Both were small business owners before being elected to Congress, which adds new meaning to "petty bourgeoisie."


So Greer's thesis is that the election and re-election of Trump were acts of revenge by the working class against the educated professionals. I buy that. As an attempt to improve the material situation of the American proletariat, I have my doubts. Seeing the educated professionals humiliated might improve the spirits of the working class, but I think the main material and political beneficiaries will be business owners, both stockholders in large corporations and proprietors of small local businesses. Only to the extent that the power and prosperity of business owners results in hiring more working class employees will it help the working class materially. Will it result in higher wages? Maybe, but I have my doubts. "Trickle down" hasn't worked that way for the working class over the past 40+ years. Why would it work now?


By the way, Greer's recommendation of his book The King in Orange should get the attention of fans of True Detective. "The Yellow King" was the main antagonist of that show's first season and the finale took place in Carcosa. Both of those come from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, about "a forbidden play which induces madness in those who read it," although Chambers borrowed Carcosa from An Inhabitant of Carcosa by Ambrose Bierce. Listen to The King in Orange: The Magical and Occult… by John Michael Greer · Audiobook preview to hear Greer quote Chalmers mentioning Carcosa. Since Google Play Books has disabled embedding, I'm displaying the book's cover.


Greer's premise/conceit is that Trump is like The King in Yellow and drives mad all who oppose him. I'd say he drives just about everyone mad by giving them permission to be their worst selves. Does this include Greer? If so, all of us, including Greer, should consider ourselves lucky his worst self isn't that bad, even if I think he's giving Trump way too much credit beyond his feral instincts for self-promotion, dominance, and survival.

Follow over the jump for the responses from Greer's readers.

John Oliver on UFOs for World UFO Day

Happy World UFO Day! I'm pulling a slightly fast one today, as I wrote yesterday "This concludes the string of holiday entries that began on Juneteenth. Stay tuned for an evergreen post that I can share in July." Change of plans with one more holiday post to add to the string. However, I can still share this on the second UFO Day in July, which is the one I usually observe. Without any further ado, watch John Oliver examine UFOs.

John Oliver explains why we need honest inquiry into UFO sightings, and why those inquiries should be data-driven, fact-based, and – crucially – boring as fuck.

When I wrote "UAPs are an ongoing subject of Congressional hearings and public interest, so I'm sure to return to the topic" last year, I didn't think I would do it through comedy. Surprise! Making the story funny makes it more likely that people will remember the information. That written, I agree the subject should be taken more seriously, to the point where most people would find them "boring as fuck." We might actually get closer to the truth.

Speaking of getting closer to the truth, I'm repeating what I wrote three years ago.

If many UAPs are secret weapons programs, especially foreign ones, that's a cause for concern.

John Michael Greer thinks that UAPs being secret weapons programs is the most likely possibility, stating so most recently in last month's Toward the Breaking Point. In fact, he thinks it's a cover story for U.S. weapons development. While I'm not sure about the cover story part, I do think secret weapons programs are a likely explanation for many sightings.

Reconnaissance flights aren't actually weapons, but as top secret military and intelligence projects, they come close enough.

I might return with another John Oliver video for tomorrow's post that I can share next month. Stay tuned.

Stephen Colbert returns after his illness with Liz Cheney

I opened Meyers, Kimmel, and 'The Daily Show' take closer looks at Santos being expelled with a program note and well wishes.

I closed 'Bankrupt - Ruby Tuesday' by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse by telling my readers "Stay tuned for comedy tomorrow, when I expect 'Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and especially Jimmy Kimmel will run a victory lap as they dunk on his departure while mourning the loss of a great subject for comedy.'" I got two-thirds of my wish, as both Meyers and Kimmel featured George Santos in their sketches and monologues, while Colbert is at home recovering from a ruptured appendix. Get well soon, Stephen! Your fans miss you!

Stephen returned Monday night. Yay! Welcome back! Watch Monday's monologue, If Trump Gets Unlimited Power He Won’t Be Giving It Up | George Santos Cashes In On Cameo.

The former president doubled down on his assertion that he would only be a dictator on day one if elected again, and former Congressman George Santos already has a lucrative new career.

Hearing Stephen quote others calling Trump "Julius Caesar" and "Orange Jesus" reminds me that John Michael Greer the Archdruid has been calling him "Orange Julius" since at least 2017, if not earlier. I rather like that and if my wife hadn't already likened him to The Penguin running for Mayor of Gotham City, I'd use it as his label. Instead, I want both Greer and his nickname for the 45th President to become better known among the American Left. If he becomes more widely disliked, so be it.

Stephen returned with The Story of Stephen Colbert’s Ruptured Appendix.

Stephen shares the frightening details of his emergency surgery for appendicitis, and thanks everyone for their support during his recovery.

Evie literally made the right call to get Stephen to the hospital. Thank you, Evie!

Follow over the jump for Stephen interviewing Liz Cheney and a bonus cold open.

I begin Spooky Season with the 2016 Academy's 'Drum Corpse Bride' for a drum corps Halloween

I foreshadowed today's post in a footnote to Drink to 1988 Santa Clara Vanguard playing 'The Phantom of the Opera' for a drum corps Halloween 2021.

Courtney also has a reaction video to The Academy's "Drum Corpse Bride" show. If it's still up next year and none of the 2021 or 2022 shows inspire me, I might use it.

I posted Kicking off spooky season with 2014 Cavaliers 'Immortal' for a Drum corps Halloween instead last year, but I'm an environmentalist; I recycle, so watch New Zealand Girl Reacts to DRUM CORPSE BRIDE - The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps 2016.

Hi everyone welcome back to another video!!! Big thank you to Nick for sending this one through!!

I always find Courtney's naive reactions fun to watch. Besides, she's preserving shows that would otherwise disappear from YouTube.

Speaking of preserving things, I first wrote about this show in The Archdruid and I talk drum corps.

@JMG: "drum and bugle corps (corpses? How do you pluralize that?)" Both the singular and plural are spelled "corps," but the s is silent in the singular but pronounced in the plural; the word is French and the original rules sort of followed along. Coincidentally enough, a corps played on that very confusion by calling their show "The Drum Corpse Bride." The program could have been very pretentious, but it ended up being a great crowd pleaser.
...
That show was good enough to place eleventh, ahead of Boston Crusaders and Madison Scouts, who didn't even make the final show of the championships.

Drum Corps International played along, too, as it's among the first of 5 reasons “Drum Corpse Bride” is everything you need for Halloween.

The Academy's “Drum Corpse Bride” trick or treated its way into the hearts of fans as one of the most charming shows to hit the field during the 2016 Drum Corps International Tour.

LOL, "Drum Corpse International."  I'm glad to hear that the announcer has a sense of humor.

Follow over the jump for a bonus show video and a drink.

Happy National Ice Cream Day, World Emoji Day, and Souther! Souther? Yes, Souther

Happy National Ice Cream Day! HLN (formerly CNN's Headline News) celebrated the day in 2015 by telling the channel's viewers Raise a spoon: it's ice cream day!

Summertime is the perfect time for a frozen treat! President Ronald Reagan named July National Ice Cream Month back in 1984 and he established National Ice Cream Day as the third Sunday of the month. Americans eat an estimated 22 pounds of ice cream every year! Lynn, Coy and Ivan didn't eat quite that much today, but they did share their favorite flavors with us (Graeter's, Dulce de Leche and Turkey Hill Butter Pecan, respectively).

I like this video because it includes both the history of the holiday and a food fact, has engaging hosts, and is from a mainstream news source, although it is not longer the hard news outlet I watched regularly during 1989-1991 when it was Headline News. It also isn't a stealth commercial for a local ice cream store or manufacturer, as it featured three flavors from different sources.

One of my holiday traditions is to share drink recipes for the day. Fox 13 Seattle provided some in Drinks for National Ice Cream Day.

Joe McRae with Bevmo joins Good Day Seattle to prepare some fancy adult beverages to honor national ice cream day.

I'm beginning to wonder if "It's always five o'clock somewhere" means 5:00 P.M. or 5:00 A.M. to morning show anchors who drink as part of their job. I hope they have designated drivers!

Follow over the jump for the celebration of two more holidays, including one that was created for me.

'Grizzy & the Lemmings' explain social distancing and masking for a late Norther

Yesterday was the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Winter Solstice, so it was Norther, a fake holiday created by John Michael Greer the Archdruid and kept alive by me. Greer decreed the lemming the animal mascot for the holiday, which I've run with. I'm going to continue that today with some bonus pandemic content from "Grizzy & the Lemmings," Even Grizzy & the Lemmings social distance and apply protective measures.

Grizzy & the Lemmings are also applying social distancing and protective measures against COVID-19!

Ha, ha! That's one way to make protective measures funny. Also, I think I've found a source of videos for Norther from now on. Since there are currently 172 other videos on this channel, I will never run out as long as the channel is up.

For some adult content, I'm embedding Johnny English Strikes Again Exclusive Movie Clip - Olive Slip (2018) for the source of the London Lemming.


That drink sounds even more stupid and bad-tasting than in the Tipsy Bartender video that Skyy took down. Too bad we didn't see Rowan Atkinson's character actually drink it. That would have been either hilarious or disappointing.

So much for the return to reality I promised yesterday. At least it was short. Oh, and a belated happy Norther! May I not be late next year, when it falls on January 8, 2023.

Trevor Noah and 'The Daily Show' explain why gas prices are so high

I explained that CNBC's explanation of 'Why Gas Prices In The U.S. Vary' was incomplete.

That's a very good explanation of why gas prices are different from state to state and region to region in the U.S., although it captures only part of the reason. The other is increased demand in the face of lower supply, something I've worried about for a while, most recently in Oil falls below $0.00 for the first time ever, when I wrote "the collapse in oil prices will lead to oil company bankruptcies, which will decrease competition and lead to higher prices in the future." Those higher prices because of decreased competition and restrained supply have arrived and I think they will last at least until next year. Get used to them.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah focused on the reason why gas supplies are constrained in The Real Reason Gas Prices Are So Damn High | The Daily Show.

Why have gas prices increased so dramatically, and why does it seem so hard to fix this issue? Find out in another edition of Getting Back to Normal-ish.

That's pretty much it. The U.S. is unable to pump as much oil now as before the pandemic, in part because it's going to take a while to reopen the old wells that will still yield oil and drill new wells to replace those that can't. In addition, I predicted that oil production would start decreasing about now in The tax bill and the U.S. economy in 2018 and beyond.

Beginning in 2020, it's predicted to decline. That will cause oil prices to increase from 2021 to 2029 unless more oil is imported, which will reduce GDP as the money leaves the country, or Americans decrease their consumption.

Oil and gasoline prices are increasing as I predicted four years ago, more or less on schedule. Speaking of my predictions, I remarked on another in my comment to What We Can Still Accomplish at Ecosophia in July.

As for the upcoming oil price spike, that's been associated with recessions in the U.S. since the country hit peak conventional production in 1971. At first, the current recession seemed to have severed that link, but now we are going to get it as a result of supply destruction because of lowered demand and prices (even negative prices for oil futures last year) followed by a spike in demand because of recovery. The causation between high oil prices and hard times may be reversed, but the correlation will survive. Now let's see if it takes another six years like it did between 2008 and 2014 for high prices to prompt more supply coming online or if supply of petroleum and natural gas liquids finally has peaked.

I suspect it may take even less time for oil prices to fall, but not to where they were during or before the pandemic. That may not happen until the next recession, which I still think will happen around 2027. As I wrote about high and increasing prices for gas and other goods, get used to them.

Reactions to the U.S. Government report on UAPs for World UFO Day

Today is the second of two World UFO Days. Why two? National Day Calendar explains.

World UFO Day commemorates two separate dates. The first, on June 24th, recognizes the first widely reported UFO sighting on this same day in 1947 by aviator Kenneth Arnold. On July 2nd, the date commemorates the incident that took place in Roswell, New Mexico, in the same year.

I can see why two different UFO Days; both are important in the early history of the phenomenon and should be recognized. National Day Calendars singled out today's observance by writing "The creators of the July 2nd event launched it to raise awareness of UFO sightings and remove speculation from them." That makes me feel better about postponing my observance from June 24 to today, which I based on reports that the House Intelligence Committee's report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) would come out later that week. It did, as CNET reported in The Pentagon UFO report explained on June 26.

Are they aliens? Spy planes? What *are* those unidentified aerial phenomena we've been seeing lately? We break down the report commissioned by Congress to get to the bottom of UAPs and the people who report them.

CNET not only presented a good summary of the findings, but also an excellent timeline of how and why this reported ended up being produced. For some reason, I'm not surprised it started off with Marco Rubio adding the request to a budget bill. His doing so adds to the ambivalence I feel about the subject.

On the one hand, I feel the same about addressing the official interest in UFOs as I do about "Fauci's emails and...the Wuhan lab-leak hypothesis, two narratives that I want to give as little attention to as possible." On the other, I have described this blog as having a "science fiction slant" on its Facebook page, so writing about the topic is on brand.

I hope this is a case of a stuck clock still being right twice a day, just as Senator Rubio is on Daylight Saving Time. On the other hand, it might end up being like his positions on gun control and Cuba, which I disagree with. Only time will tell, although the kind of supporters the report has makes me wonder and worry.

Follow over the jump for more news reactions to the report.

Wombats and ice cream for Souther on National Ice Cream Cake Day 2021

Happy Souther!

Today is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Summer Solstice, so it's Souther, a holiday created by John Michael Greer and entrusted to me. He also designated the wombat as the animal mascot for the holiday. Since the first celebration fell on National Ice Cream Day and the holiday usually happens during July, which is National Ice Cream Month, the activity to celebrate the day is eating ice cream.

Yes, wombats and ice cream! Once again, here are The Wombats singing "Ice Cream."

Love this song from the album "Beautiful people will ruin your life"

I almost couldn't believe the song being released after I paired the wombat with the activity, as I told Greer two years ago.

A belated Happy Souther to you! When you first suggested the day and its wombat mascot, I wondered what the wombat would do on its day. Well, the first Souther fell on National Ice Cream Day, so the mascot would eat ice cream. This year's fell on National Ice Cream Day as well and I found a song for it. Last year, a band called The Wombats recorded a song with the title of "Ice Cream," which is now the theme song for the holiday. I couldn't have asked for a more fortuitous piece of music.

I'd have used it last year, but the cable carrying broadband to my house came loose, so I had to post using my smartphone with text only, no links, images, or videos. Sigh.

Moving from the band to its namesake animal, Bizarre Beasts uploaded How The Wombat Poops Cubes earlier this month, which I saved for today.

Wombats are chubby, adorable Australian marsupials with a lot of great adaptations for their specific environment and lifestyle, and that includes pooping little cubes.

I couldn't resist the science lesson, even if today is about what goes into wombats, not what comes out.

Follow over the jump for a younger, if more widely known national day.

'For entertainment purposes only' — The Archdruid and his readers discuss laws regulating fortune telling

I managed to post the first comment on The Legacy of Luxor at The Archdruid's current blog Ecosophia.net.

"In 1932...Los Angeles passed an ordinance banning the teaching and practice of astrology" — How long did that last? Not past the 1970s, when the Los Angeles newspapers had astrology columns, which they labeled "for entertainment only." I even wrote a parody of one for the November 1980 UCLA Band newsletter in which I jokingly forecast that people born under my sun sign would find romantic companionship, writing "If you're a saxophone or clarinet player, you will find someone to wet your reed. If you're a trombone player, you'll find someone to grease your slide." That night, I went out with a trombonist, a date I did not have before I wrote the parody. Coincidence or wishful thinking come true? It certainly wasn't astrology, as I didn't cast a chart.

My comment started off a discussion about that law in particular and laws regulating divination in general beginning with John Michael Greer's response.

I suspect it was overturned fairly quickly. Astrology and other forms of divination faced quite a bit of this kind of harassment in the early 20th century, but none of it seems to have stuck.

That turned out not to be true, although it may as well have been. Follow over the jump, where the conversation continued between Greer the Archdruid and the rest of his readers about laws governing practices with the disclaimer "for entertainment purposes only," which is why I am posting it as a silly and serious Sunday entertainment feature.

I recommended 'Spaceship Earth,' a documentary about Biosphere 2, to my students

I changed my mind since I told my readers "I may return to examine "The Social Dilemma" as I promised in 'Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution' at the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards" at the end of Samantha Bee, CNBC, and Vox examine tech companies suspending Trump from social media. I'm still planning on doing that but I decided to write about another movie nominated at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards that I recommended to my students this week, "Spaceship Earth," which IMDB describes as "a look at the group of people who built the Biosphere 2, a giant replica of the earth's ecosystem, in 1991." Watch SPACESHIP EARTH Trailer (2021) Biosphere 2 Documentary.

Spaceship Earth is the true, stranger-than-fiction, adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world.

I use the story of Biosphere 2 as an example of a failure to exercise humility. I mentioned that in a comment to A Faint Whiff of Lemonade at Ecosophia.

"Cataloging a documentary about the Biosphere 2 project at work today" — Is it Spaceship Earth? I ran across it while blogging about the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. It was nominated for Best Archival Documentary and Best Science/Nature Documentary, but didn't win either, losing to MLK/FBI for the first and My Octopus Teacher for the second. That documentary caught my attention because I use Biosphere 2 in my lectures as an example of failing to follow the environmental principle of humility, knowing the limits of one's knowledge. When I return to in-person classes, I plan on referring my students to that movie for more.

If people don't know the limits of their knowledge, they make mistakes. In the case of Biosphere 2, the mistake was thinking that humans knew enough about how ecosystems operated in 1991 to make the experiment work. The answer turned out to be no. As the trailer shows, that failure manifested as a spike in carbon dioxide levels, which endangered the crew. Biosphere 2: A Faulty Mars Survival Test Gets a Second Act | Retro Report explored that part of the failure and more.

With dreams of one day colonizing space, eight people sealed themselves inside a giant glass biosphere in the Arizona desert in 1991. By the time they emerged two years later, they had suffocated, starved and went mad.

Retro Report mentioned another failure of human knowledge at the time, which was the inability of Biosphere 2 to produce enough food to maintain the weights of the crew, although they all survived. Both the "Spaceship Earth" trailer and Retro Report also included reports of conflict within the crew. That's a scientific failure of a different kind than either maintaining an atmosphere humans can breathe or producting enough food, but it's one that space exploration and colonization will have to solve as well.

For what it's worth, the addition of Steve Bannon, who supervised a second mission not expressly mentioned in the "Spaceship Earth" trailer, although the police raid shown briefly was likely from that time, had mixed effects. According to Wikipedia, "extensive research and system improvements were undertaken, including sealing concrete to prevent the uptake of carbon dioxide," which paradoxically contributed to the carbon dioxide spike because the concrete also absorbed oxygen and "The second crew achieved complete sufficiency in food production." Both of those showed that the people running Biosphere 2 had learned valuable lessons from the first crew. On the other hand, Bannon's takeover led members of the first crew to allegedly vandalize the project from outside, breaking windows and opening airlocks They filed "an 'abuse of process' civil lawsuit...against Space Biosphere Ventures," the company that ran Biosphere 2 at the time, that they ended up winning, although they had to pay back some of their award to compensate for the damage they caused. Those were failures beyond the science involved in making Biosphere 2 work.

Even if I thought Biosphere 2 was a complete failure, which I don't, it would still be a valuable lesson for my students. As I wrote here 10 years ago and occasionally tell my students, no one is completely useless; they can always be used as a bad example.

Trevor Noah and Jimmy Kimmel riff on Google Search for 2020 — a Norther special

At the end of Fantastic and futuristic politics and government nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards for National Science Fiction Day, I told my readers to "Stay tuned for an entertainment angle for the year in Google search that I plan on using for Norther, which I promised in Farewell to 2020 from Vox, TODAY, and CBS Sunday Morning on New Year's Eve." It's time to follow through.

I begin with the segment containing more original comedy hosted by the bigger star, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah asking What Did We Google This Year?

What did people search for in 2020? Toilet paper? New pets? Trevor dives into Google’s Year in Search.

Noah cracked me up with his aside of "Ad time!" Still, he and his writers and editors intregrated it seamlessly into his show and made great jokes about what people searched for on Google last year.

In Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel take closer looks at Trump saying he won't leave the White House I noted that "this was the last Jimmy Kimmel Live of the year." Unlike Stephen Colbert, James Corden, and Jimmy Fallon, who ran down 2020 in original fashion, Kimmel also outsourced his end of year rundown to Google and made money off it as well in Year in Search 2020 - Sponsored by Google.

Google has released their highly-anticipated Year in Search film for 2020. They make one of these every December based on the top questions and moments the world searched for that year. Google even did some special research for us too and we found out some very interesting things about Jimmy and our lives in 2020.

As usual, Kimmel had the more comprehensive video description. I think he has the most informative summaries of his videos of all the late-night talk show hosts.

Google's Year in Search 2020 took the search results and tried to make stories out of them. Marketing Charts presented the raw top ten search in the U.S. and world, which I've embedded below.



No surprise, the top searches were about the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 U.S. presidential election, followed by Chadwick Boseman and other celebrity deaths, hurricanes and fires, sports, and murder hornets. Even without COVID-19, 2020 was a busy and eventful year!

Follow over the jump for an explanation and celebration of Norther, the fake holiday I'm celebrating today.

'Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution' at the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards

At the end of 'My Octopus Teacher' wins Best Science/Nature Documentary and Best Cinematography at the 2020 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards, I wished my readers happy Thanksgiving and told them to stay tuned, as "I'm taking a break from the Critics' Choice Awards for American Thanksgiving at least. I might return with one more winner after that, 'Crip Camp.'" It's Sunday, time for the regular weekly entertainment feature, so I'm fulfilling my promise to examine the last of the documentary winners from the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.*

The Critics Choice Association listed the nominees and honors for "Crip Camp."

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, Gunda, and Mr. SOUL! lead this year’s nominations with five each.

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is nominated for Best Documentary Feature, James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham for Best Director, Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Historical/Biography Documentary. The film also received an honor for Judith Heumann for Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary.

I had high hopes for "Crip Camp," as I wrote in a comment on John Michael Greer's Dreamwidth that "'Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution' is my personal favorite among Best Documentary Feature nominees..." It ended up winning no awards beyond Judith Heumann for Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary, which I found a bit disappointing. It could be worse; "Gunda" ended up with nothing at all. At least "Mr. SOUL!" won Best First Documentary Feature, so it didn't go away empty handed.

To see the trailer for "Crip Camp" along with more clips from the movie and an interview with the directors, watch the Factual America episode Crip Camp: Cradle of the Disability Rights Movement from Alamo Pictures.

Crip Camp was a unique summer camp for disabled teens that had an incredible impact on their lives.
...
In the 1970s Camp Jened was not just any old summer camp in the Catskills. Hippy values, the Grateful Dead, and pot-smoking shaped this utopia for teens with disabilities. Before long, a generation of a summer camp for kids with disabilities became a social movement that soon changed the world. We welcome Jim Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham, co-directors of the Netflix documentary Crip Camp, to the podcast. Jim and Nicole share their experiences making a documentary about one of the most compelling, previously untold stories of our time. In the process, we find out what it is like to work with executive producers Barack and Michelle Obama. Jim and Nicole also discuss the next items on the agenda in terms of disability rights.

“I had no mental model for imagining disability communities, and I didn’t have any mental model for thinking about wild, horny teenagers listening to Bob Dylan at a summer camp. It was just joyous.” - Nicole Newnham

This is a very political movie because it's about activists, so I'm surprised it wasn't nominated for Best Political Documentary, won by "Boys State." I plan on remedying that in my own way by shortlisting it for this year's Golden Coffee Cups for movies based on its nominations here. As for future nominations, I'm sure it will get them at the Cinema Eye Honors, various craft awards, the Independent Lens Awards, and the Emmy Awards, whether Creative Arts or News and Documentary. I'm not sure about it getting one of the five nominations for Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards for the reasons I mentioned in the comment at Greer's Dreamwidth regarding "Feels Good Man."

I would be very pleasantly surprised if it earns one of the five nominations for Documentary Feature at the Oscars. That will depend very much on the mood of the Documentary Branch of the Motion Picture Academy. They deliberately do not nominate documentaries that will earn votes from the entire academy as a whole that they don't agree is the very best. They also don't like documentaries made with archive footage. They also have political axes to grind.

"Crip Camp" might fall in the first category and definitely falls under the second. The third might work for or against it. After all, Barack and Michelle Obama produced it and their production company winning another Oscar in addition to the one for "American Factory" would send a message. I don't know if that would run afoul of another issue with the Motion Picture Academy's Documentary Branch: "The Documentary Branch normally does not [nominate] films by previous winners." So long as that applies to directors, not producers, it shouldn't stand in the way of "Crip Camp" earning a nomination. Neither Lebrecht nor Newnham have even been nominated for an Oscar, although Newnham has earned a News and Documentary Emmy Award for "Collisions." I wish them both good luck with this film.

They will need it to overcome the popular sentiment behind "My Octopus Teacher," should it be nominated. My entry about it went viral through other people sharing it on Facebook. Right now, it has 93 Facebook shares and 552 default and 557 raw page views. In addition, all the comments I've seen and received about "My Octopus Teacher" have been overwhelmingly positive in a way I almost never see. If both of those accurately reflect how the general public feel about the movie, then I think it will be a strong contender if it's nominated for an Oscar. Whether it will is another matter. As I indicated above, the Documentary Branch has issues!

That's it for the Sunday entertainment feature. Stay tuned for the final entry of the month. Should I follow tradition, it will be about Cyber Monday.

'Totally Under Control' about the Trump Administration's response to the pandemic wins Best Editing at the 2020 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards

I foreshadowed my choice of film to write about today in a footnote to 'John Lewis: Good Trouble' wins Best Historical/Biographical Documentary at the 2020 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.

I wrote the following in my comment on Kek has apparently spoken at John Michael Greer's Dreamwidth.

Three years ago, the Documentary Branch nominated "Icarus," a very anti-Russian sports documentary, in the wake of Trump's victory, and it won. The academy membership didn't have an anti-Trump nominee to vote for, so they jumped on the anti-Putin one. That's why I think that "Totally Under Control" about the administration's response to the pandemic, might actually have a chance at being nominated this year. The Documentary Branch normally does not renominate films by previous winners, which Alex Gibney is, having won for "Taxi to the Dark Side," regardless of merit, as they want to spread the recognition around, but they might just do that this year to signal their anti-Trump sentiment. If they don't nominate "Totally Under Control," they would very likely nominate "John Lewis: Good Trouble" about a critic of Trump instead.

"Totally Under Control" won a Critics' Choice Documentary Award as well, so I will write about it, too.

Watch Totally Under Control - Official Trailer from Madman Films to see why I wrote that comment and have now recycled it twice.

An in-depth look at how the United States government handled the response to the #COVID19 outbreak during the early months of the pandemic.

On January 20th, 2020 the US and South Korea both discovered their first cases of COVID-19. However, 9 months later, the novel #Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 200,000 Americans and caused staggering economic damage, while in South Korea, there were no significant lockdowns and, in an urbanized population of 51 million, only 344 lives have been lost. Where did we go wrong? As the presidential election nears, Americans are increasingly enraged by a lack of clear leadership, endemic political corruption and left to wonder how did the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world manage to fail so thoroughly in its response to a global pandemic?

Academy Award-winning filmmaker #AlexGibney, directing with Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, interrogates this question and its devastating implications in Totally Under Control. With damning testimony from public health officials and hard investigative reporting, Gibney exposes a system-wide collapse caused by a profound dereliction of Presidential leadership.

It will be a generation before we know the full extent of the damage wrought by this pandemic, but Totally Under Control will stand as the definitive account of the Trump administration’s incompetence, corruption and denial in the face of this global pandemic.

Wow! Even though I've seen the news footage in real time, putting it all together along with the interviews gave it a extra impact that it didn't have when I first watched it. I can see why it earned two awards and three other nominations at the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.

Speaking of which, watch BEST EDITING - Lindy Jankura, Alexis Johnson and Alex Keipper, Totally Under Control for the editors' acceptance speeches.

Winner of the 5th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Editing: Lindy Jankura, Alexis Johnson and Alex Keipper, TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL.

Now I'm wondering who was behind the coronavirus Minnie Mouse. That written, congratulations on winning this award and Dr. Rick Bright being named one of this year's Most Compelling Living Subjects of a Documentary and earning nominations for Best Score, Best Narration, and Best Political Documentary. I think "Totally Under Control" has more nominations and awards coming, even if the Documentary Branch of the Motion Picture Academy has issues that might prevent it from nominating the film for an Oscar. Both the Cinema Eye Honors and Independent Lens are likely to nominate it as a movie. Also, since it was available on Apple TV and is now streaming on Hulu, it should be a lock for one or more Emmy nominations, either at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards or the News and Documentary Emmy Awards. I'm looking forward to them.

I'm not done with this movie. Follow over the jump for two interviews of Gibney and the other directors.

'John Lewis: Good Trouble' wins Best Historical/Biographical Documentary at the 2020 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards

I closed 'Boys State' wins Best Political Documentary at the 2020 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards with my plan for today.

"John Lewis: Good Trouble"...lost to "Boys State" for Best Political Documentary, but won Best Historical/Biographical Documentary. I plan on writing about it tomorrow. Stay tuned.

I had been looking forward to this award since July, when I wrote "I'm looking forward to its nominations at the Critics' Choice Documentary Awards and Academy Awards." The first part came true, as "John Lewis: Good Trouble" earned nominations for Best Director and Best Political Documentary, which I thought it would win, in addition to its award for Best Historical/Biographical Documentary. Watch BEST HISTORICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY - John Lewis: Good Trouble for the acceptance speech.

Winner of the 5th Annual Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Historical/Biographical Documentary: JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE.

Congratulations on your movie's first award. May it be the first of many to come!

I was prescient when I wrote "it's already on my shortlist for the Golden Coffee Cups." Because of this win and its other nominations, it officially qualifies according to the criteria I announced in April, being nominated at either or both of the Academy Awards and Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.* It joins "Boys State" and a list of other winners and nominees that have now qualified for the shortlist that I plan on covering over the weekend and early next week. Stay tuned.

*I should probably also add Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US to that list of shortlist-qualifying awards. As for the documentary's chances at the Oscars, I wrote the following in my comment on Kek has apparently spoken at John Michael Greer's Dreamwidth.

Three years ago, the Documentary Branch nominated "Icarus," a very anti-Russian sports documentary, in the wake of Trump's victory, and it won. The academy membership didn't have an anti-Trump nominee to vote for, so they jumped on the anti-Putin one. That's why I think that "Totally Under Control" about the administration's response to the pandemic, might actually have a chance at being nominated this year. The Documentary Branch normally does not renominate films by previous winners, which Alex Gibney is, having won for "Taxi to the Dark Side," regardless of merit, as they want to spread the recognition around, but they might just do that this year to signal their anti-Trump sentiment. If they don't nominate "Totally Under Control," they would very likely nominate "John Lewis: Good Trouble" about a critic of Trump instead.

"Totally Under Control" won a Critics' Choice Documentary Award as well, so I will write about it, too.

The plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from NBC News, MSNBC, and CBS News

I was planning on writing an update to Tropical Storm Beta is the ninth named storm to make landfall in the U.S., tying a century-old record, plus 'zombie' Tropical Storm Paulette returns today, but circumstances intervened, so I plan to get to Hurricane Delta and a progress report on the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season tomorrow. Instead, I'm posting a follow-up of sorts to Trump tweets 'Liberate Michigan' after Operation Gridlock protest in Lansing in response to yesterday's news. What news? Watch Militia Members Arrested In Plot To Kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer | TODAY.

In Michigan, the FBI and local police say they’ve disrupted a plot to kidnap the state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer. At least six people have been arrested, and Whitmer is pointing a finger at President Trump, saying he is complicit. NBC justice correspondent Pete Williams reports for TODAY.

First, yikes! Second, "Today" was being a bit euphemistic. The participants were charged with being gang members, not militia members, although I don't think that's a bad thing. Engaging in criminal activity is what gangs do.

Katy Tur interviewed Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who offered background and analysis on the case in Michigan AG On Foiled Militia Plot: This May Very Well Be The Tip Of The Iceberg | Katy Tur | MSNBC.

The FBI says it has foiled a militia plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, target law enforcement, and instigate a Civil War. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joins Katy Tur to discuss. Aired on 10/08/2020.

"The tip of the iceberg" — again, yikes! On a more intellectual level, Nessel made an important point about the apparent contradiction of militias both targeting and supporting law enforcement. It depends on which level of government the law enforcement officers and agents are working for. Federal and state law enforcement would be the targets, while municipal law enforcement agencies such as county sheriffs and police departments in rural areas would provide some of the supporters. That resolves the contradiction on a practical level, if not a conceptual one.

Nessel also made a good point about supporting safe voting and protecting the count being the best defense against unrest during what should be a peaceful transfer of power. I hope she succeeds in Michigan. She can't help what happens elsewhere.

Follow over the jump for more videos and views about the case.