COVID widows and children suffer: https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-biden-twitter-inc-technology-congress-d88e3de4b3cc095926dc133f53dc3320 .
Alleged FTX “hack” of $477 million in cryptocurrency was actually an asset seizure by the government of the Bahamas: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/investing/ftx-bahamas-seizure . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftxs-fight-with-the-bahamas-puts-customers-crypto-in-limbo-11668823471 . Still more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftx-hires-bank-to-sell-salvageable-units-11668865049 . And: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-alameda-bankruptcy-collapse-11668824201 . Please note that in the internal link at the start of this paragraph, this newsletter predicted a state actor hacked FTX. To the best of my knowledge, no one else suggested that prior to the Bahaman admission.
WSJ: Wealthier nations agree to funding for climate damage in poorer countries: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cop27-agrees-on-loss-and-damage-fund-for-vulnerable-countries-officials-say-11668866219 .
WSJ: Russia increases attacks in Donetsk : https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-redoubles-attacks-in-ukraines-east-after-retreat-from-kherson-11668859223 .
Large turkeys scarce before Thanksgiving: https://www.aol.com/news/fowl-play-large-turkeys-scarce-101514119.html . Interesting. They weren’t that scarce on Election Day.
Latest House election results: https://www.politico.com/2022-election/results/house/ . So the current count is 218 GOP, 212 Democratic, 5 undecided. Of the remaining 5, 3 lean GOP, 1 leans Democratic, and 1 still remains a toss-up. You may recall that DeMentis insisted on a gerrymandered map in Florida that gained 4 seats for the GOP. That stunt appears to have cost the Democrats the House.
Report of second leak of major US Supreme Court decision: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/19/politics/2014-supreme-court-decision-leak-hobby-lobby-samuel-alito . The person reporting the leak is a reverend, and names the source as Samuel Alito.
Musk restores Orange Julius to Twitter, but OJ refuses to rejoin: https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-biden-twitter-inc-technology-congress-d88e3de4b3cc095926dc133f53dc3320 . I dislike reporting on these two, but this outcome seems like just desserts. Musk encourages people to vote for the GOP, and invites OJ back, but OJ turns his back. So too will the MAGA-maniacs. How many accounts will be left on this “platform” when it collapses? WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-says-twitter-would-reinstate-donald-trumps-account-after-online-poll-11668906083 . Um, does anyone know if the online poll results were hacked?
WSJ: The snow in upstate New York: https://www.wsj.com/articles/snow-storms-batter-western-and-northern-new-york-11668876024 .
The media has some incorrect information on the worst New York snowstorms. Based on this weekend’s predicted event, the Bills game was moved to Detroit (!). But the national news last night (Friday) talked about various “record” storms that were not the “monster”. In 1976, I had a new large client in Buffalo and went to visit them in September. In January 1977, the “monster” hit.
On Friday, January 28, the president’s executive secretary left early to make the short drive home before the storm got worse, and was to call in when she got there. She never called, so they sent two security guards out to look for her. She had gotten lost in the parking lot (white out), so they brought her back in and management decided to lock everyone in. The plant had 7200 employees (!) and there was no kitchen (!!). They broke open the vending machines and passed out the meager results.
They let everyone out Sunday afternoon after the roads were plowed. The plowed drifts on the side of the road were apparently huge. My contact said 11 feet of snow fell at the plant (this article says “over 100 inches”, probably at the official weather station for Buffalo, with the storm dates 1/28 to 2/1): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_of_1977 ). My new policy with the client was “I’m happy to visit you anytime between May and October. Between November and April, you’re more than welcome to visit here in DC.”
What is the most borrowed book in the Brooklyn Public Library’s 125 year history? My first guess was the Bible. Actually, children’s books dominate the list (that makes some sense when you think about the library’s users). Okay, now what’s your guess? I went with Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham”. That’s Number 11 on the all-time list. Do you have another guess?
Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” is at Number 3. One more guess? The all-time number 1 book is – Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” – which I would not have come up with, even though I’ve read it many times. Here’s the complete list: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/125/most-borrowed .
New Zealand focuses on cow burps to reduce methane: https://apnews.com/article/science-technology-health-genetics-business-9158daf46020a1b1267db63413e8e8fd . So, great, congratulations! But, um, cow BURPS? Enquiring minds want to know: https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/33/which-is-a-bigger-methane-source-cow-belching-or-cow-flatulence/ . So now you (and I) know – cow flatulence is a small part of the problem. Cows belch to expel methane.