For Wayback Wednesday, PBS Eons asks 'What Killed All These Pterosaurs?'

Happy Wayback Wednesday! Yesterday, I told my readers to "Stay tuned to see if I post the first retrospective of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News..." I just don't have time to do that today. Instead, I'm looking at another kind of wayback by sharing PBS Eons asking What Killed All These Pterosaurs?

At the Solnhofen formation in Germany, over 500 fossils of 15 pterosaur species have been found. But it might be hiding a dark secret, one that’s been massively distorting our view of who was living and dying there, and why they left so much evidence behind.

I couldn't resist this video, not only because it exemplifies looking way back, but also because it mentioned Rancho La Brea and it promotes a book on topic for the original theme of this blog: The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization: survival & rebuilding strategies revealed. Perfect!

I'll get to the stats for the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Flashback Friday following another brief educational entry tomorrow for Throwback Thursday. In the meantime, here is Wednesday Addams, the mascot for Wayback Wednesday.

'Catacombs' and other spooky songs by the Harp Twins for Halloween

I'm continuing my celebration of spooky season with music from Camille and Kennerly, the Harp Twins. I begin with CATACOMBS (Gothic Celtic) - Harp Twins original.

CATACOMBS is from our new dark fantasy ORIGINAL album, Twin Destinies! The companion dark fantasy novel was written by New York Times Bestselling author, Debbie Viguié!
...
Book & album teaser:
When their great-grandmother Kaia, a world-famous harpist, dies, two sisters find themselves the heirs to twin harps, an ancient book of music, and a legacy that stretches back centuries.

The Harp Twins have still more songs from Twin Destinies I haven't shared yet, but I'm moving on to music from their latest collaboration with Debbie Viguié, Changeling - spooky Celtic - Harp Twins original.

CHANGELING is part of our new original epic dark fantasy album and novel collaboration with New York Times Bestselling Author, Debbie Viguié!
...
Celtic Charms book & album teaser
After arriving in Ireland to play their harps for a wedding at a mystical castle, twin Seers find themselves caught in a web of ancient feuds, family secrets, creatures of myth, and a seemingly doomed romance that only they can save.

A harpist played at my middle sister's first wedding reception. That was a story in and of itself, but not one I'll tell today. It took place on Valentines Day and I should save it for then.

I close with the Harp Twins' latest, Welcome to Your Wake - Harp Twins (Official Music Video).

"Welcome to Your Wake" is part of our new original epic Celtic fantasy album and novel collaboration with New York Times Bestselling Author, Debbie Viguié!

A wedding and a wake? How Irish! Speaking of Irish, the rest of the songs seem like they would fit better with St. Patrick's Day, so I'll be a good environmentalist and save them for then.

Since crypts share a connection to catacombs, I'm closing with The Crypt Keeper: A "Tales From The Crypt" Inspired Cocktail | 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN by Secret of the Booze.

Even though Tales from the Crypt got held up by HBO from releasing a rebooted series by M. Night we thought with the Halloween season we give you a drink from one of our favorite story tellers. Each day we are creating a new drink for 31 days of Halloween inspired by iconic characters that go bump in the night.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
3 oz. Brandy
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
½ oz. honey whiskey
Dash of Angostoria bitters

INSTRUCTIONS
Set a piece of paper on fire and place the glass over it so that it fills with smoke.
Add brandy, juices, and whisksy to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously.
Strain into smoke filled glass.
Top with a few drops of bitters.

Drink responsibly and stay tuned for more Halloween posts through the end of the month plus a bonus Day of the Dead entry. Trick or treat!

'Star Trek: Lower Decks' and 'Dune: Part Two' win Hugo Awards

Today's Sunday entertainment feature compares my predictions for dramatic presentation and game at the Hugo Awards to the actual winners.


Just like the Critics Choice Super Awards, where I predicted Dune: Part Two would win and it did, I wrote "the fans will vote for Dune: Part Two." They did and it won. Congratulations!

I completely blew the next two categories.

While Doctor Who “Dot and Bubble” and all of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 earned nominations at the Nebula Awards, since both franchises have two nominees, they might suffer from vote splitting. If so, it will open the door for either Agatha All Along or Fallout, winners of Best Superhero Television Series and Best Science Fiction Television Series at the Saturn Awards, respectively, to walk through and claim the rocket trophy. If so, I think it will be Fallout. If not, then I predict it will be the Doctor Who episode, “Dot and Bubble.”

Nope, the fans not only rallied around Star Trek: Lower Decks, they picked a favorite episode. Star Trek: Lower Decks: "The New Next Generation" may not win an Emmy Award — I still expect it will be Love, Death & Robots or Arcane, both of which have won juried Emmy Awards already — but it won a Hugo Award. This is another case where I'm glad to be wrong.


 I blew the next category by completely missing it. Comics Beat reported "Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio‘s choose-your-own-adventure book Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way won Best Graphic Story or Comic" in STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS bows out with two Hugo Awards. Congratulations!

I also blew game or interactive work.

1000xRESIST was the only game nominated at the Hugo Awards also nominated at the Nebula Awards, but I don't think that will sway the fans because they probably weren't playing it. Instead, they'll vote for a game they actually played. Based on watching streamers on Twitch, I think the most played games in this field were Dragon Age: The Veilguard and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Between those two, I'd vote for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, as popular and fun as the Zelda games are.

I was right that 1000xRESIST wouldn't win, but neither of my choices won. I may be following the wrong Twitch streamers, but I don't recall any of them playing Caves of Qud, which won. Surprise and congratulations!

I stated my preferences for one last category.

I'm making an observation on Best Related Work before I conclude this entry. I suspect r/Fantasy’s 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge will win, but I'm rooting for “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson. It's her second Hugo nomination, and it examines an experiment that apparently succeeded critically but definitely failed commercially. Since Disney is in business to make money, it closed.

Neither won. Instead, Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll did. I'm not surprised. The Hugo Awards successfully fought off the Rabid Puppies, but they have infected the rest of society. File that under winning the battle, but (so far) losing the war. Sigh.

That's a wrap for today's post. I already have educational entries planned for Monday and Tuesday, followed by World Mosquito Day on Wednesday. Stay tuned.

'Human Footprint' on PBS Terra explains 'How Supermarkets Rewired The Planet'

The Emmy-nominated Human Footprint has returned and PBS Terra is uploading videos from the show's second season, beginning with How Supermarkets Rewired The Planet.

The supermarket is one of the strangest and most powerful inventions in human history. 

Grocery shopping is often perceived as a simple, mundane activity. And for many, access to food has never been more effortless. But supermarkets hold far more power than we realize. The journey our groceries take to reach the shelves touches every part of our lives – from our health, to our culture, to the environment. In this episode of Human Footprint, Shane Campbell-Staton embarks on a global investigation into the supermarket’s origins, revealing how they transformed the world and grappling with what the future may bring. He explores how innovations in food production, packaging, transportation, advertising, and retail design revolutionized how we buy our food. 

Today, supermarkets offer endless choices and low prices, but behind the shelves lies a darker truth. In pursuit of efficiency, we’ve surrendered control of our food system to vast corporations, promoted global supply chains that hide labor and environmental abuses, and flooded our diets with ultra-processed foods. Shane travels from surreal supermarket art installations to apple orchards, commercial film sets, shrimp farms, urban food co-ops, and beyond, connecting with people whose lives are intertwined with this system. What he uncovers is a complex story of the modern grocery store, the true cost of convenience, and the urgent need to reimagine the way we feed ourselves[.]

I first encountered the story of the supermarket in Stuffed and Starved, one of the textbooks my co-instructor and I chose for Global Politics of Food, the course we taught when I started this blog. Here's what I wrote then.

[T]here is a lot wrong with the international food system, some of which is contributing to global collapse and much of which won't survive collapse, either, such as the long supply lines and heavy use of fossil fuels. In this book, Raj Patel gives a piercing critique of the way global capitalism shapes what humans grow and eat, exposing many of the flaws in the food system that contribute to collapse and what can be done about it. It's also an entertaining and informative read and Raj Patel is a charming and compelling person who knows his gin.

Yes, I know Raj Patel, and I was pleased to see that Shane Campbell-Staton interviewed him for this episode. It really wouldn't have been complete without him.

I'm also pleased that this episode told the backstory to the rivalry between Kellogg's and Post satirized in Emmy nominee and double Razzie winner Unfrosted. That movie wasn't as stupid as it first seemed.

The most appalling thing I learned from this video was about shrimp. The TED-Ed video I embedded as the second video in Whales and fish, two stories I tell my students mentioned the environmental effects of shrimp farming on mangrove swamps and other coastlines, but it didn't include how shrimp farming contributed to depleting other fisheries and resulted in enslaved fishing crews. I know I write that "it's always a good day when I learn something new," and both of those were new to me when I first watched this, but both of them are terrible facts to learn about farm-raised shrimp, enough to make me not want to eat "America's most popular seafood." The problem is that it's not just shrimp, it's throughout the supply chains of dozens of foodstuffs, including coffee. It looks like Trafficked: Underworlds with Mariana van Zeller has lots of material still to cover.*

All of the above serve as examples of two of Commoner's Laws: "There is no free lunch" and "Everything is connected to everything else." Maybe the rest of the episode goes into the waste created by the food system as an example of "Everything must go somewhere (There is no away)," the emphasis of the last time I referenced Commoner's Laws. Instead, Dr. Campbell-Staton concludes with an example of "Nature knows best" in the Detroit People's Food Co-op. I'm glad to see a happy ending from Detroit.

*Trafficked: Underworlds with Mariana van Zeller won four Emmy Awards, although not the ones I covered in 'The Dirty Business of Monkey Laundering' and 'Apes,' two nominees at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for World Rainforest Day. I plan on writing about its awards later this month. Stay tuned.

'King Coal' vs. 'Hollywood Black' and 'Madu' for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary at the News & Doc Emmy Awards

I'm continuing my coverage of the News & Doc Emmy Awards for today's Sunday entertainment feature by examining the nominees for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary. Unlike the other categories I've examined so far, there is no clear leader. On the one hand, King Coal has three nominations, including Outstanding Writing - Documentary and Outstanding Cinematography – Documentary, the most of any in the field. On the other, Hollywood Black's other nomination is for Best Documentary, which gives the film at least as much weight as King Coal's three nominations and more weight than Madu's second nomination for Outstanding Direction – Documentary. The other nominees, As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial and Butterfly in the Sky, have only this one nomination, so I'd be surprised if they could overcome the three entries with more nominations.

I begin my review of the nominee's trailers with King Coal | Official Trailer | POV | PBS.

A lyrical tapestry of a place and people, King Coal meditates on the complex history and future of the coal industry, the communities it has shaped, and the myths it has created. The film reshapes the boundaries of documentary filmmaking and transcends time and place, untangling the pain from the beauty, and illuminating the innately human capacity for imagination and change.

This definitely emphasizes the culture in "arts and culture."

Next, Hollywood Black (MGM+ 2024 Series) Official Trailer.

Inspired by the book from historian Donald Bogle, this four-part docuseries, directed by Justin Simien, chronicles a century of the Black experience in Hollywood. By unearthing personal stories from actors, writers, directors, and producers who fought for their place on the page, behind the camera, and on the screen, the series provides a critical reexamination of a quintessentially American story—in brilliant color.

The star power alone would push this over the top at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, but that Television Academy isn't the one voting. The television academy containing the journalists and documentarians is. They might do so based on their own criteria. Remember, electorates matter.

Moving on to Madu | Official Trailer | Disney+.

Madu follows 12-year-old Anthony Madu as he leaves his family and community in Nigeria to study at one of the most prestigious ballet schools in the world in England. Having never left his home outside of Lagos, Anthony finds himself thrust into a new world where his wildest dreams are suddenly within reach. His courageous journey is a story of extraordinary obstacles as he searches for belonging and acceptance, a family far away, and unexpected challenges that could impact his future. Forming a rich and immersive tapestry told on multiple continents, MADU introduces the world to a boy chasing a dream of inspiration that will resonate with us all.

This looks positive and inspiring in a way that neither King Coal nor Hollywood Black are. It might upset both on that basis alone.

Now for the nominees in this category alone, beginning with As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial | Official Trailer | Paramount+.

An exploration of the weaponization of rap lyrics in the US criminal justice system. The documentary follows rap artist Kemba as he journeys through meccas of hip-hop, building the case for rap lyrics and black artist protection via intimate conversations with rappers, academics, politicians, legal experts, and music industry executives.

This could easily have been a nominee for Outstanding Crime and Justice Documentary. Since that category covers both Love Canal and Alex Jones, I plan on blogging about it. Also, this is an MTV documentary. I've learned never to underestimate MTV documentaries.

I close out the trailers with BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY | Official HD Trailer (2024) | DOCUMENTARY | Film Threat Trailers.

For 26 seasons, Reading Rainbow met young viewers in their living rooms, whisking them away on far-off adventures into the boundless world of books. Inspiring and nostalgic, Butterfly in the Sky takes audiences behind the scenes of this beloved PBS children’s series and tells the story of its iconic host LeVar Burton, giving an inside look at the challenges he and the show's creators faced in cultivating a love of reading through television. Reliving the show’s legacy is a refreshing return to the written page. But you don’t have to take our word for it.

Featuring LeVar Burton, (Reading Rainbow Host), Whoopi Goldberg (Guest Star), Jason Reynolds (Former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature), Twila Liggett (Reading Rainbow Co-creator), Larry Lancit & Cecily Truett Lancit (Reading Rainbow Co-Creators), Tony Buttino (Reading Rainbow Co-creator), Steve Horelick (Reading Rainbow Composer), Ed & Orly Wiseman (Reading Rainbow Director / Producer) and also staff who worked on Reading Rainbow and kids who were featured on the show during the it’s illustrious 26-year run.

This looks just as positive and uplifting as Madu and even more relevant to an American electorate. That might pull votes away from Madu, but not enough for Butterfly in the Sky to win.


For the first time in this series, I'm examining the nominees for Best Documentary. I've been holding off because the category has nine nominees this year. The Grab leads with four nominations, followed by American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders and Mammals with three each, Hollywood Black, The Sixth, and The Truth vs. Alex Jones, all with two, and The Commandant's Shadow, Queendom, and The Sing Sing Chronicles with just this one. The Grab and American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders are facing off for Outstanding Investigative Documentary, The Sixth leads the nominees for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary, The Truth vs. Alex Jones is contending with Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal for Outstanding Crime and Justice Documentary, and Mammals leads the rest of the field without a subject area nomination. That's four more opportunities to examine the nominees, after which I'll make my call.

Follow over the jump for the craft categories for King Coal and Madu I've covered already.

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.

The History Guy remembers 'Fact, Fiction, and Frankenstein's Monster' for a late Frankenstein Friday

Yesterday was National Frankenstein Friday, the last Friday in October, which reminds me that I should have celebrated it instead of Drink to 2000 Empire Statesmen playing 'The Phantom of the Opera' for a drum corps Halloween 2024. In the spirit of better late than never, I'm celebrating it today. Watch as The History Guy remembers Fact, Fiction, and Frankenstein's Monster.

“Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” created what has become one of the most recognized icons of horror fiction, but behind fiction there is always a bit of fact, and Frankenstein’s monster was truly a creature of its time.

I'm familiar with the story of how Mary Shelley created the story of Frankenstein and his creature. An ex-girlfriend of mine — not the one I usually mention — and I watched the movie Gothic on a date. It told the tale of the Shelleys, Lord Byron, and Dr. Polidori telling their "ghost stories." My take is that it was worth watching once, as I think the topic worth exploring, but I found it a bit too silly in spots to be taken seriously as an art film. Pity.

Crediting Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus as the first science fiction story reminds me of what I wrote in PBS Voices explores 'The Evolution of Science Fiction' for Throwback Thursday.

That Frankenstein is considered to be the first work of science fiction means that horror is its sister genre, not fantasy, as the movie and television versions of Frankenstein are portrayed as horror...Just the same, this video is very much about how science fiction reflects the anxieties of its time...

That Polidori's The Vampyre is considered the first piece of vampire fiction and shares a "birthday" with Frankenstein just cements the sibling relationship between science fiction and horror.

I close this entry with a drink recipe, Secret of the Booze's Frankenstein's Monster.

Splash of blue lightning (blue raspberry mix) 1 cup lemonade
1 oz vodka
2 oz. Pineapple rum
2 oz. melon liqueur
Muddle ¼ orange

I found the laboratory glassware, lab coat, and dry ice to be the perfect details to convey the scientific inspiration for the story. Also, drink responsibly!

Today's topic reminds me of last year's Monstrum on 'The Golden Age of Movie Monsters' for Halloween, which features Frankenstein's monster. I plan on sharing this year's Halloween episode tomorrow for the Sunday entertainment feature. Stay tuned for that and more Halloween posts through the end of the month plus a bonus Day of the Dead entry. Trick or treat!

Meyers, Colbert, Kimmel, and 'The Daily Show' take closer looks at Stormy Daniels testimony and Kristi Noem's book appearances

Happy Throwback Thursday! I know I suggested "a serious look back at Trump's hush money trial so far" yesterday, but I couldn't resist examining the proceedings through comedy, just like last week. Laughter helps me digest the news better.

Without any further ado, I begin with Seth Meyers examining Trump Humiliated in Court by Stormy Testimony; Kristi Noem’s Disastrous Book Tour: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump coming face to face with Stormy Daniels in his criminal trial while his top VP contender Kristi Noem is grilled about lying in her book.

Seth is right; how will we teach today's events to tomorrow's children as history? Seth isn't the only comedian wondering about that. Stephen Colbert did as well in Trump To Stormy: You Remind Me Of My Daughter | Met Gala Looks | Dogs Dyed To Look Like Pandas.

Stormy Daniels testified about her one-night stand with Donald Trump, Stephen broke down his favorite looks from the Met Gala, and a Chinese zoo got caught trying to pass off dogs as pandas.

Unlike SNL, which made Kristi Noem a running joke in 'SNL' covers protests, Kristi Noem, and hush money trial with Dua Lipa doing double duty, Stephen couldn't bring himself to mention her in the video description, even though he included her media appearances in his monologue. Instead, he closed with two light topics, the Met Gala and the dogs as fake pandas. At least those dogs were cute and made even cuter by dying them like giant pandas.

Jimmy Kimmel remarked that his show was entered as an exhibit for the trial in Stormy Daniels Details Sex with Trump, Jimmy Mentioned AGAIN & Puppy Killer Noem's Disastrous Book.

Today the prosecution called Stormy Daniels to the stand in Trump’s hush money case, Jimmy was mentioned AGAIN in reference to an interview she did on our show, she revealed some details about her sexual encounter with Trump, after hearing the first half of her testimony he took to Truth social begging for a mistrial, after making a huge deal about missing his son Barron’s graduation - Donny is set to headline an event in Minnesota, Governor Kristi Noem is now distancing herself from her own autobiography after admitting to shooting her puppy and lying about meeting Kim Jong Un, the Met Gala took place in New York last night, and the monologue gets interrupted by a man named Von Schitzenpantz, who bares the same name that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen came up with for him.

All of these clips have mentioned that there would be no description of genitalia, but Kimmel told his viewers where to look for one. This manipulated photo gives a hint.


Too bad it's fake. The real dress was plain royal blue without any orange mushrooms. Darn.

The Daily Show had its own take on Stormy's testimony in Stormy Daniels's NSFW Testimony & Vladimir Putin Wins “Democratic” Election.

Jordan Klepper recaps his favorite Met Gala looks, Putin puts on his own night of dictator opulence at his inauguration, and Troy Iwata weighs in on the disturbingly dirty details of Stormy Daniels's testimony during Trump's criminal hush money trial.

At least The Daily Show didn't talk about Noem, her dog, and Kim Jong Un. That was getting painful.

I close by returning to The Late Show with the relevant cold open, Porn Hub’s New Legal Series.

"Court Hub" is a new series of adult legal films released to celebrate Stormy Daniels testifying in the Trump hush money trial.

*Snork!*

Stay tuned for more coverage tomorrow.

NOVA warns of 'The Next Pompeii' for the Ides of March

Beware the Ides of March! After three years of Roman-themed drum corps shows, I'm returning to the theme of death and destruction in the Roman world and other dire warnings with The Next Pompeii from NOVA on PBS.

In the shadow of Vesuvius and Pompeii, a lesser-known volcano puts the city of Naples at risk. (Aired February 20, 2019)
...
In the shadow of Italy’s Vesuvius, a lesser-known volcano rumbles: Campi Flegrei. An eruption could endanger the millions of residents of the city of Naples. Scientists gain new insights into what happened in nearby Pompeii, and dig into the unique geology of Campi Flegrei. How will they know if the ever-shifting ground is reaching a breaking point? And can an innovative eruption warning system prevent Naples becoming the next Pompeii?

This episode contains several stories I tell my students, although I learned new things about nearly every one of them to update my lessons. The first one I describe to my geology students is the principle volcanologist Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo states, that processes that happened in the past are likely to repeat in the future, so understanding the past is essential for preparation. This is a key takeaway from uniformitarianism, the concept that everything we see in nature is the result of everyday processes occurring over sufficient time, which is boiled down to "the present is the key to the past." It also means that the past is the key to the future.*

The second story I show is of the Macellum of Pozzuoli, the Roman marketplace with the three columns containing holes from boring clams showing that they had been submerged and then lifted out of the sea. These appear in the frontispiece of Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell, the first geology textbook, as examples of processes acting over sufficient time lowering and then raising the ground the pillars stood on. I had never seen photographs of them, but I recognized them instantly from the illustration.

Both of the above appear in the second lecture of my geology course. The rest appear three lectures later, when I discuss volcanoes, beginning with my describing calderas. I use Mount St. Helens, Crater Lake, and Yellowstone as examples, but Campi Flegrei works just as well for explaining the mechanism of caldera formation. I also describe pyroclastic flows and Plinian eruptions, employing Mount Pinatubo and Mount Pelée as examples. In fact, I recognized some of the clips of vehicles fleeing pyroclastic flows as videos of Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1992. I also recognized the cause of the earliest deaths in Pompeii from Mount Pinatubo, as the roofs collapsed at U.S. military bases nearby from the weight of the ash. At least there, the Navy and Air Force had evacuated everyone.

Finally, using seismic waves to map the interior of the planet is a topic I include in my lecture about earthquakes. Using the sound of crashing waves to do so is something I may have encountered before, but it didn't stick. I'm sure it stuck this time, meaning I learned something new. It's always a good day when I learn something new, especially when I can share it with my students. Speaking of which, I will recommend this video to them. I hope they, along with my readers, find it as fascinating as I did.

I close with Garbage's cover of Siouxie and the Banshees song about the eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii I embedded in Two songs about Pompeii and a volcano drink for the Ides of March six years ago, Cities in Dust.

The official video for Garbage's cover of “Cities in Dust” by Siouxsie and the Banshees, off their ‘Witness To Your Love’ EP.

One of the comments reads "Garbage covering Siouxsie and the Banshees is essentially a life-long dream come true." I agree. As soon as I heard this, I penciled it in for today's post.

Stay tuned for a non-holiday entry tomorrow, followed by St. Patrick's Day on Sunday, the Vernal Equinox on Tuesday, Happy International Day of Nowruz and the 13th birthday of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Thursday, World Water Day on Friday, and Purim followed by Holi on Saturday and Monday. Busy, busy, busy!

*This reminds me of "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past" from 1984. Now I wonder if George Orwell had taken a science course that mentioned uniformitarianism and that later inspired him. File that under things that make me go "hmm."

'20 Days in Mariupol' and 'The ABCs of Book Banning' leading documentary nominees according to Gold Derby

I told my readers "Gold Derby hasn't made any predictions for the Razzies or the Oscars yet. When they do, I'll return with their odds. Stay tuned" to conclude 'Exorcist: Believer' and 'Expend4bles' tie for most Razzie nominations as the Golden Raspberry Awards' poor math skills strike again! Gold Derby's editors and experts have made their Oscar predictions, so I'm making good on my promise for today's Sunday entertainment feature, beginning with the nominees for documentaries.

Both the editors and experts are picking 20 Days in Mariupol to win, with eleven editors ranking it first and the twelfth choosing Four Daughters. Eighteen experts have also made 20 Days in Mariupol their first choice, while two have picked The Eternal Memory and one choosing Four Daughters. I'm with them on this, for the same reasons that helped Icarus and Navalny win this category before, the quality of the films and the importance of their subject matter, which made a political points at Putin's expense. The bulk of entertainment professionals in Hollywood have neither forgotten nor forgiven Putin for his role in the 2016 election and what he's done in Ukraine has only incensed the members of the Motion Picture Academy even more.

Speaking of what has happened in Ukraine, watch 20 Days In Mariupol (trailer) | FRONTLINE.

Ukrainian filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov offers a window into the practices of conflict zone reporters and an unflinching, anguishing account of the 20 days he and colleagues spent covering Mariupol. "20 Days in Mariupol" is a @frontline and @AssociatedPress collaboration. The documentary premieres in select theaters this summer and comes to PBS this fall.

Seeing that this is a Frontline documentary makes me sorry that there is a rule prohibiting Oscar nominees from being eligible for Emmy Awards: "programs that have received an Oscar® nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) are ineligible for submission to any Emmy® award contest administered by NATAS." This includes the News & Documentary Emmys. Darn. Otherwise, I would have expected 20 Days in Mariupol to earn multiple nominations later this year. Not happening, not that Frontline is lacking in potential documentary nominees.

Gold Derby interviewed '20 Days in Mariupol' filmmakers Mstyslav Chernov and Raney Aronson: 'This is a symbolic story'.

'20 Days in Mariupol' filmmakers Mstyslav Chernov and Raney Aronson: 'This is a symbolic story.' The director and producer are nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. Gold Derby editor Denton Davidson hosts this webchat.

In addition to winning the DGA Award, which Denton Davidson mentioned, 20 Days in Mariupol won 24 other awards, including two Critics Choice Documentary Awards, two Cinema Eye Honors Awards, one Online Film Critics Society Award, one Cinema for Peace Award, one of the Top Five Documentaries by the National Board of Review, and a number of film festival and local critics groups awards, including the Audience Award at the Sundance Film festival. Wow!

As for the Oscar and other awards, including today's BAFTA Award for Documentary, which all eighteen Gold Derby experts and eleven Gold Derby editors have predicted will go to 20 Days in Mariupol, bringing more visibility to the film, I believe they will, but the film has plenty of viewers already, with the upload of the entire documentary already having 1,582,039 views on Frontline's YouTube channel. Again, wow!

I'll get to the rest of the nominees later, especially after Gold Derby and Factual America upload more interviews with their creators. Until then, follow over the jump for the trailer for The ABCs of Book Banning, a report from MSNBC, and an interview of its director.

Company Man asks 'The Decline of Barnes & Noble...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse

'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' returns after winning two Emmy Awards with 'A History of Chuck E. Cheese,' a tale of the Retail Apocalypse was such a success with Steve in Manhattan linking to it at Crooks and Liars, earning 800+ page views, that I decided to return to the well with Company Man asking The Decline of Barnes & Noble...What Happened?

Barnes & Noble has had some tough years lately. This video talks about the history of the company while highlighting what I believe to be some of the biggest reasons behind its decline.

It was about time that Company Man Mike covered Barnes & Noble, the flip side of the story he told in Company Man asks 'The Decline of Borders...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Flashback Friday. Borders died while Barnes & Noble lived. When I was first writing this blog, I would have said the wrong chain went under. Just the same, I'm not happy about the decline of Barnes & Noble. When I moved to my current location, there was a Barnes & Noble 2.5 miles away. It closed within a year and the property is being redeveloped. The nearest store is now 13 miles away. It's easier to go to Books-A-Million, which took over a closed Borders location six miles away more-or-less on my route to and from work. It's not the same. Sigh.

As for the lessons from the video, blaming Amazon for the loss of brick-and-mortar retail is a popular but slightly lazy reason, but in this case it might be justified. I first became aware of Amazon in the 1990s, when it sold books online.

Another cause I've written about in the past was of private equity buying public companies, which I wrote about most recently in 'Bankrupt - Ruby Tuesday' by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.

I listed a who's who of retail chains gutted by private equity in CNN Business explains retail bankruptcies and how private equity is gutting retail, tales of the Retail Apocalypse and again in Business Insider and CNBC explain the rise and fall of Chuck E. Cheese, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic. In this case, private equity seems to have saved the chain, for now.

The same could be said of private equity saving Barnes & Noble; the chain appears to be recovering under its new ownership and management. One can only hope.

That's it for today's brief post, which I promised yesterday. Stay tuned for a more elaborate entry tomorrow. On what, I don't know yet, but that's an adventure for later. Right now, it's time for me to go to my meeting. See you!

The authors of 'The Big Fail' interviewed, a pandemic post-mortem and update

I haven't written an entry focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic since Mehdi Hasan takes a deep dive into 'The truth about DeSantis’ awful record on covid', a pandemic and primary election update last May, although I've mentioned it it passing since. That means it's time to return to the topic, especially since a book on the subject just came out. Watch Midday Fix - THE BIG FAIL: What the Pandemic Revealed about Who America Saves and Who It Leaves Behind from WGN News, an interview of Bethany McLean, who wrote the book along with Joe Nocera.


That's just a brief taste of the issues the authors raise in the book. MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle explored some of them as she interviewed both McLean and Nocera on 'The 11th Hour' in Authors of 'The Big Fail' on what the U.S. learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly four years after the start of the pandemic, the U.S. is still learning about what went wrong. Stephanie Ruhle sits down with Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean to talk about their book on the virus, our response, and whether the U.S. can do better in the future.

McLean and Nocera are probably the best people to write this book from an economic perspective, since McLean co-wrote Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and got writing credit for the documentary, and she and Nocera co-wrote All the Devils Are Here about the 2008 Financial Crisis. From a scientific perspective, I'm not so sure. McLean and Nocera are very critical of school lockdowns, which weren't good for K-12 students' educations. I'm still dealing with all the effects of them on my students as a community college instructor. However, while the students didn't need them as protection, their teachers certainly did. I glad I was able to conduct classes over Zoom and built up the ability to run lectures and "labs" remotely. As I half-jokingly tell my students, that was probably the last new trick this old dog will learn in his teaching career.

I close with Forbes interviewing Nocera in 'The Big Fail': How America Failed To Manage The COVID Pandemic.

Joe Nocerra, co-author of "The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind," speaks to "Forbes Talks" about his new book, what the U.S. did wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic, former President Trump's role in the failures, and more.

All this talk about fraud, inflation, supply chain issues, and labor shortages and activism reminds me of my analysis in Vox asks 'Why is everything getting so expensive?'

The traditional explanation for inflation is "too much money chasing too few goods." The people who give this answer, like Larry Summers, are usually arguing for less money. Summers thought the U.S. and other industrial democracies were pumping too much money into the economy to keep it on life support during the pandemic. While I think that money could have been better targeted to consumers and workers and not so much to business owners — I should write at least one entry about business owners being prosecuted for fraudulent use of these funds — that money helped end that recession almost as soon as it began. The alternative would have been much worse, especially since peak unemployment was the highest since the Great Depression. As much as it could be an example of "everything is connected to everything else and there is no free lunch," I'll take a temporary surge in inflation as the price to pay for preventing more suffering while people were staying safe at home.

In addition to being callous, the advocates of "too much money chasing too few goods" usually aren't as vocal about making more goods, which leads directly to supply shocks, the second explanation for inflation. I've written about supply shocks to explain the causes and effects of the chip shortage, baby formula shortage, and gas prices. That works very well as an explanation for why specific goods increase in price, but other than energy prices, which affect the prices of everything else, it doesn't work as a general explanation.

By the way, it's not just goods that are in short supply relative to demand; services and labor are in short supply as well. That means that the full version of the first explanation should be "too much money chasing too few goods, services, and employees." Increasing interest rates, which is inverting the yield curve, would be counterproductive on the supply side of the equation. Instead, it works by reducing demand. I'm an environmentalist who thinks over-consumption is a problem, but deliberately increasing suffering to destroy demand is not the way I want to do this. I'd prefer greater efficiency to reduce waste and a more educated populace who will choose to consume more responsibly and sustainably. Inflation while keeping people employed might actually help that goal.

Companies investing in their factories or other facilities and hiring more employees and paying them better would also help with increasing supply of goods and services, as well as induce more people to join the labor force.

As the MSNBC interview pointed out, a lot of companies have returned to their pre-pandemic ways. They haven't really learned anything. Sigh.

Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature, which probably won't be highlights of tonight's Saturday Night Live. Instead, I'm thinking of covering awards shows.

'SNL' satirizes Jim Jordan's losing bid for Speaker

Saturday Night Live began last night by satirizing Jim Jordan's 'Groundhog Day' of losing votes in Jim Jordan Cold Open - SNL.

Jim Jordan (Mikey Day) hears from George Santos (Bowen Yang), Lauren Boebert (Chloe Fineman) and Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) after losing the House Speaker vote again.

Yay, a good political skit. That's what I've been waiting for since April 8th, when James Austin Johnson's 'Trump' hijacked the Last Supper on 'SNL' for Easter. Pete Davidson's cold open last week was moving and the right thing to do, but it wasn't it.

Jordan's woes continued to be the topic in the opening segment of Weekend Update: Jim Jordan Dropped as Speaker Nominee, Trump Gag Order - SNL.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Netflix planning to open brick and mortar stores and Ron DeSantis spending $1.5 million on private jets.

As I wrote last week, "Weekend Update...opened with jokes about the reactions to the crisis, not the conflict itself. Those are worth ridiculing." This includes President Biden telling Israel's adveraries "don't." I just hope it's more effective than telling his dogs not to bite Secret Service agents.

Colin Jost and Michael Che also examined Trump's gag order. I admit to being pleased that the former guy found it frustrating. As far as I'm concerned, that's the point.

I haven't mentioned Ron DeSantis this month, so good for SNL bringing him up. He deserves this kind of attention. As for Netflix planning on opening brick-and-mortar stores, I found that a surprising combination of the Retail Apocalypse and entertainment, to say nothing of it being a questionable business decision. That reminds me that I've embedded videos mentioning Blockbuster Video in Ten of the companies that went out of business this decade and 9,300+ stores closed this year, two tales of the Retail Apocalypse and WatchMojo's 'Top 20 Stores That Don't Exist Anymore' for Throwback Thursday, tales of the Retail Apocalypse, I've never written a post highlighting the company's rise and fall by itself. I'll keep that in mind.

Follow over the jump for the rest of last night's highlights.

'Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie' leads nominees for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the Emmy Awards

"Stay tuned for an examination of the documentary and nonfiction specials tomorrow for the Sunday entertainment feature." That's what I told my readers at the conclusion of 'Super/Natural,' 'Wildcat,' and other nature nominees at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards for International Tiger Day yesterday and that's what I'm doing today. Without any further ado, here are the nominees for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special nominees at the 2023 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special (Area)
Being Mary Tyler Moore (HBO)
Judy Blume Forever (Prime Video)
My Transparent Life (Prime Video)
Pamela, A Love Story (Netflix)
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)

First, the theme: All of these are biographies, even My Transparent Life, the only one that is not about a public figure. The rest are about people important in pop culture and three of them tell the stories of television stars. If the Television Academy had nominated Moonage Daydream instead of My Transparent Life, then the entertainment biography motif would have been complete. Next, the numbers: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie leads this field with seven nominations, followed by Pamela, A Love Story and Judy Blume Forever with two each, and Being Mary Tyler Moore and My Transparent Life with one each. I'm embedding the trailers for the nominees in that order, beginning with STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie — Official Trailer | Apple TV+.

Michael J. Fox is going back to his past and rewriting his future. Still is now streaming on Apple TV+
...
The film, which will incorporate documentary, archival and scripted elements, will recount Fox’s extraordinary story in his own words — the improbable tale of an undersized kid from a Canadian army base who rose to the heights of stardom in 1980s Hollywood. The account of Fox’s public life, full of nostalgic thrills and cinematic gloss, will unspool alongside his never-before-seen private journey, including the years that followed his diagnosis, at 29, with Parkinson’s disease. Intimate and honest, and produced with unprecedented access to Fox and his family, the film will chronicle Fox’s personal and professional triumphs and travails and will explore what happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease. With a mix of adventure and romance, comedy and drama, watching the film will feel like … well, like a Michael J. Fox movie.

Song: "More Than a Feeling" by Boston

"The sad sack story is Micheal J. Fox gets this debilitating disease and it crushes him." "Yeah, that's boring." Well, this trailer was anything but boring and if it's an accurate depiction of the show, then it won't be boring, either.

Next, Pamela, a love story | Official Trailer | Netflix.

Pamela Anderson defined a decade. Now she will define herself.
...
In her own words, through personal video and diaries, Pamela Anderson shares the story of her rise to fame, rocky romances and infamous sex tape scandal.

This documentary is very much a reaction to Pam & Tommy. I hope it works for Anderson.

Continuing on with Judy Blume Forever - Official Trailer | Prime Video.

The radical honesty of the books by trailblazing author Judy Blume changed the way millions of adolescent readers understood themselves, their sexuality, and what it meant to grow up, but also led to critical battles against book banning and censorship.

With humor, sensitivity, and a healthy dose of adolescent cringe, JUDY BLUME FOREVER tells the story of the woman whose trail-blazing books changed the way millions of readers understand themselves, their sexuality, and what it means to grow up.

This clip shows how influential Judy Blume is and why she's an important subject of a documentary. I wouldn't be surprised if she earns Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary at this fall's Critics Choice Documentary Awards. While most people think of Blume as an author, she has an IMDB page, so she fits in with Michael J. Fox, Pamela Anderson, and Mary Tyler Moore, the subject of Being Mary Tyler Moore | Official Trailer | HBO.

Being Mary Tyler Moore, an HBO Original documentary, examines the extraordinary life, career, and legacy of the actress and activist. Directed by James Adolphus with Lena Waithe and Debra Martin Chase as producers, Being Mary Tyler Moore premieres May 26 on HBO and Max.

I have one word for David Susskind after watching that clip of him interviewing Moore — oink! I'm glad Moore handled him as well as she did.

I couldn't find a trailer on YouTube for My Transparent Life, but I did find My Transparent Life Premiere from The Hollywood Gazette.

The Hollywood Gazette interviews the cast and crew of My Transparent Life at the premiere in Westwood, CA on October 4th 2022.

On the one hand, I find it a bit odd that Prime Video doesn't have a trailer for this show. That bodes poorly for its awards prospects. On the other, if The Hollywood Gazette ever uploaded more videos, I might just subscribe to the channel.

Both the number of nominations and the experts at Gold Derby agree; Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is the favorite. Every expert is picking it to win and so am I.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the categories that include documentary or nonfiction special nominees.

Company Man asks 'The Decline of Borders...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Flashback Friday

It's Flashback Friday, so I'm revisiting my thoughts about Borders Books from Ten of the companies that went out of business this decade and 9,300+ stores closed this year, two tales of the Retail Apocalypse.

While I didn't realize it at the time, the first Retail Apocalypse story I wrote about on this blog was the demise of Borders Books. I thought it was like the bankruptcies of Jacobson's, whose space in Ann Arbor Borders occupied after Jacobson's moved out to Briarwood Mall, and Montgomery Ward's, which was the first anchor to abandon Northland Mall, the second Retail Apocalypse story I covered here. Both of those were weak companies that went under during a recession, which is when I expect businesses would fail. I thought much the same of Borders at the time, in addition to it being a personal loss. In retrospect, the failure of Borders was much bigger than that and turned out to be a taste of things to come.

At the time, I concentrated on what the store meant to me and outsourced my analysis of why it failed to a LiveJournal account where the analysis is now unavailable. I can relate; I stopped posting there years ago because I didn't want to agree to the Putin-friendly terms of service on a Russian-owned site. Still, the disappearance of that analysis was a big loss, one that Company Man Mike remedied when he asked The Decline of Borders...What Happened?

Borders was one of the country's most popular bookstores when it filed for bankruptcy in 2011. This video attempts to explain why they failed while many others, including Barnes & [Noble], live on.

Note: This video was completed in April 2020, and is being released today as part of the channel's 6-year anniversary celebration.

Here's Company Man Mike's list of reasons for Borders failing.


This seems like a fairly comprehensive list. I would add a mismatch in corporate culture between the employees, who really believed in the way company had been run, and the top executives, who I think caught something bad when KMart owned the company, the same thing that eventually caught up with both KMart and Sears. Sigh.

All that survives is the Borders.com domain, which Barnes & Noble bought. That's like Toys R Us buying KB Toys — ironic. It's also a sign that the rest of the company's intellectual property wasn't worth saving. Even Hostess had a better fate.

FiveThirtyEight examines 'How Climate Change Will Reshape Where Americans Live'

I'm returning to climate change today with a follow-up to PBS Terra revealed 'the Safest Place to Live as the Climate Changes' and PBS Terra asks 'What is the RISKIEST Region in the US as the Climate Changes?' I concluded the second post with "I just wish that the economics were such that people would move here instead of into harm's way. That would make a great subject for another post. Stay tuned." The FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast tackled that topic in How Climate Change Will Reshape Where Americans Live.

For decades, Americans have been moving south and west. That migration pattern become apparent in American politics, when seven congressional districts moved states after the 2020 census, and it continues to be visible in the booming construction and job markets in cities across the Sun Belt.

In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, Galen speaks with author Jake Bittle, who argues that it’s only a matter of time before those trends reverse, or at least shift. Although, this time, he writes in his new book "The Great Displacement," it won’t be cheap housing, low taxes and plentiful jobs that attract people to new places. It will be a worsening climate that pushes them away.

On a local level, the result will look like the climate gentrification Miami is already experiencing.

Some climate refugees will only have to move a few miles, but in the process, they will raise prices for the people who already live there and in turn make them into internal economic migrants and indirect climate refugees as well. Not only does everything must go somewhere, but so does everyone. Without development that accommodate both the original and new residents, the lower income members of the community will have to move. That will just result in them being someone else's problem.

That will be an issue in places the climate migrants/refugees move to as well, climate havens like Michigan. I see this as both a crisis and an opportunity.

I'm in favor of getting people to move here, both because it's a safer place to live (but not immune from the extreme weather associated with climate change as the second video mentioned) and because the state has room. Detroit alone lost more than one million people since its 1950 peak and other Michigan cities have lost people as well, so they alone could take up the slack — that is, if they can become better places to live and work. People moved out of Michigan to seek work, so state and local governments need to work with businesses to promote and create sustainable industries to employ the people who move here and rebuild infrastructure to support them in a warmer and, for Michigan, wetter world. Infrastructure and housing construction to accommodate people moving here will provide a lot of jobs by themselves, but that only lasts so long. Ask Las Vegas, for example.

This might happen sooner than many people expect, as the U.S. is warming faster than the global average, so Michigan and other climate havens need to be prepared for it.

Mentioning Las Vegas reminded me that I should follow up on the water situation in the American West, including Great Salt Lake and Las Vegas. Stay tuned.

John Oliver discusses Ron DeSantis

I had something else planned today, but then I saw the notification for Ron DeSantis: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). Change of plans!

John Oliver discusses Ron DeSantis, his track record as the governor of Florida, the pitfalls of comparing him to Donald Trump, and the supposed dangers of “woke math.”

While I can think of several people as deserving of the "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" treatment, I can't think of anyone more deserving than Ron DeSantis.

Stay tuned for a combined celebration of Purim, which begins at sundown tonight, and Holi, which is Wednesday, but I'm celebrating it early because of International Women's Day.

'Fox & Friends' won't say anything about the Dominion lawsuit, so 'SNL' says it for them in its cold open

I telegraphed the subject of this post at the conclusion of 'The Martha Mitchell Effect,' 'Stranger at the Gate,' and 'How Do You Measure a Year?' — three Oscar-nominated short documentaries.

That's part one of the Sunday entertainment feature. Stay tuned for the highlights of last night's "Saturday Night Live" episode, which will serve as part two.

I begin, like the show, with Fox & Friends Cold Open: Dominion Lawsuit.

The hosts of Fox & Friends (Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Bowen Yang) discuss the news that Fox News is being sued for lying to viewers about the 2020 election.

This is the fourth comedic take on the Fox News-Dominion lawsuit, including Rupert Murdoch's deposition. I suppose I should write something serious about it, but like George Santos, as long as the story is in the news, it will be an inspiration for comedy.

Speaking of Representative Santos, his name came up in Weekend Update: Tennessee Bans Public Drag Shows, Trump Lashes Out at DeSantis.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like the House Ethics Committee opening an investigation into George Santos.

I think The Former Guy attacking Ron DeSantis over Social Security and Medicare is an example of a stuck clock (and is TFG ever a stuck clock!) being right twice a day. Other than that, I'll let the following meme express my opinion of the spat.


Weekend Update had more about Scott Adams and Dilbert, which I'll get to over the jump.