February rambling: We Are All Immigrants

Do Not Obey In Advance

Henry Louis Gates Jr. On The Message Of ‘Finding Your Roots’: ‘We Are All Immigrants’ | The View

Can Characters Come Alive Without People?  Hank Azaria; recommended with your sound on

A directory that connects veterans with rehab facilities and recovery services across New York

The Best Anti-Fascist Films of All Time

Tony Roberts, Woody Allen sidekick, and Broadway stalwart, Dies at 95

Fay Vincent, who served as 8th MLB Commissioner, dies at 86

Olga James, ‘Carmen Jones,’ Actress and Singer, Dies at 95

Dick Button, Icon of Olympic Figure Skating, Dies at 95

9 Fascinating Facts About Food Allergies

Now I Know: A Prankster With a Legacy of Love and When Cardboard Art Goes Sledding and The Life-Saving Power of a … Jump Rope? and Why Do Nigerian Email Scammers Still Claim to Be From Nigeria? and The Place Where You’re Not Allowed to Die

The new normal?

The Path to American Authoritarianism

Is Elon Musk Staging a Coup? Unelected Billionaire Seizes Control at Treasury Dept. & Other Agencies

The Musk-Altman Feud Is Kendrick-Drake But With a Lot More Impact on Our Lives

Elon Musk Is Hacking German Politics, and the Berlin Film Festival May Pay the Price

This is a full-frontal assault on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If the agency can no longer effectively represent the American people, FOTUS’ favorite billionaire will have much to gain personally.

The World’s Richest Men Take On the World’s Poorest Children; Shutdown of USAID ‘Would Have Deadly Consequences for Millions’

They dismiss the national archivist.

CDC Researchers Ordered to Retract Papers Submitted to All Journals — Banned terms must be scrubbed from CDC-authored manuscripts

Rubio skips G20 summit due to South African ‘DEI’

He dismisses the Kennedy Center chair and plans to make himself the head

FOTUS taps televangelist kook to run new White House ‘faith’ office.
Man who loves to build walls demolishes the wall between church and state.

Reactions to the madness

Jamil Smith, the Emancipator: Along with a copy of the 13th Amendment, I typically carry a copy of historian Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” in my satchel when I’m headed out of the door in the morning…  Snyder’s book aims to help citizens of every nation learn from history and it’s filled with needed lessons on how to resist those who seek to exploit those faults for power and profit… Snyder’s first bit of advice in the book has successfully entered the national lexicon: Do not obey in advance.

I Refuse to Be a Good German

We Are All Gazans Now

Just Security keeps a continuously updated litigation tracker to help the rest of us stay current. 

The Fagin figure leading Elon Musk’s merry band of pubescent sovereignty pickpockets

Cartoon: Tom the Dancing Bug implores you not to call them Nazis!
Don’t call that Nazi a Nazi—you’ll hurt his feelings!

Don’t Believe Him| The Ezra Klein Show; What He’s Doing

Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God– Rabbi Morris Panitz | Vaera 5785 / 1.25.2025

Music

Singer Marianne Faithfull Dies at 78; Broken English, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan; As Tears Go By (2018)

The Mynah Birds – It’s My Time w/ Rick James & Neil Young

Elizabeth Mitchell: Little Liza Jane

Wood Notes by William Grant Still

Lucy Dacus – Ankles

Coverville 1520: Billy Ocean Cover Story and Listener-Submitted Set and 1521: The INXS Cover Story III

Teddy Swims: Lose Control

Marcel Tyberg’s Piano Trio in F major

Japanese Breakfast – Orlando In Love

Indiana Jones: The Raiders March by John Williams

A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Postmodern Jukebox ft. Nathan Chester

Hamilton Leithauser – Knockin’ Heart

American Pie – Don McLean.

Frank, Dino, and Bing perform Style from their 1964 movie, Robin and the Seven Hoods

Khruangbin: May Ninth

This Magic Moment – The Drifters

Dreamgirls title song from Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon (1983)

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, Sandy Duncan (1980), and Cathy Rigby (2009) performing a number from Peter Pan

December rambling: male and female

mass clemency

Christmas 2021 Frankincense Cartoon

Text: H.R. 9218 — 118th Congress (2023-2024). This Act may be cited as the “Defining Male and Female Act of 2024”.

Why News Was So Neutral in the ’50s & ’60s

Ten Americas: a systematic analysis of life expectancy disparities in the USA

Legal Eagle is Suing the FBI & DOJ

Quackwatch: Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions

Telling The Truth in a Post-Truth World, 5:30 p.m. Friday, November 22, 2024

The U.S. Census Bureau announced the appointment of five new members to its National Advisory Committee (NAC).

Bad influence: One Amazon influencer makes a living posting content from her beige home. But after she noticed another account hawking the same minimal aesthetic, a rivalry spiraled into a first-of-its-kind lawsuit. (This is an intellectual property dispute, which has always fascinated me.)
Certain names make ChatGPT grind to a halt.
It’s Time ‘Jeopardy!’ Restores the Five-Game Win Limit (I never supported the end of the five-game limit)
Prof. Leonard Slade: “Her poetry will stand the test of time.” A former University at Albany professor remembers the late Nikki Giovanni, his longtime friend and fellow poet.

Marshall Brickman, Oscar-winning screenwriter on ‘Annie Hall,’ Dies at 85

‘Sesame Street’ Hits the Market: HBO and Max Opt Not to Renew Deal For New Episodes

You Can Barely Appear On Screen and Still Win an Oscar

Poetry Corner: Love Excels

Uncovering the names of alcoholic beverages

Now I Know: Another Brick in the Nose and The Famous Symbol with the Hidden N and D and The Temperature You Can Hear? and Let Slip the Dogs of … Reforestation? and The Man Who Raised His Hand… Forever

More pardons!

Biden Faces Pressure to Enact Mass Clemency; the 1500 he pardoned is a start. Advocates say Biden must repair the harm caused by harsh anti-drug and crime laws he championed in the 1980s and ’90s. I agree.

Additionally, there are 40 federal prisoners on death row. Not incidentally,  13 federal prisoners were executed between mid-July 2020 and mid-January 2021, when you-know-who was President.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) calls on Biden to pardon djt, saying things would be “a lot more balanced.” I’m not feeling it. I feel that he’s already been pardoned, first by the Supreme Court and then by his election, which essentially scuttled most of the prosecutions.   

MUSIC

All My Love – Coldplay, feat. Dick Van Dyke

Who’s Sorry Now – the Rhythmakers

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: The Stranglers and Dead Kennedys

Coverville 1513: The 21st Annual Beatles Thanksgiving Cover Story

Edelweiss – MonaLisa Twins
Peg – Steely Dan
Eye Know – De La Soul ft. Otis Redding
Cannonball – The Breeders
Gigantic – The Pixies
Do The Work from Prince of Broadway
Automatic – The Pointer Sisters
What A Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers
J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums of 2024

November rambling: Unmade beds

The Wonder of Stevie

Unmade beds and overdue books: Photographing the rooms of kids killed in school shootings

Preserving Culture Before It’s Lost Forever

Wildfires come for the Northeast.

TikTok Ban: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

A promising new treatment for PTSD

Remembering Ted Olson, a titan of the law

Civil War Toll Much Worse in Confederate States, New Estimates Show. An analysis of newly released 19th-century census records offers more insight into the conflict’s costs.

Census Bureau Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Updates to the Census Bureau’s Race/Ethnicity Code List

Genealogy: 8 Census Records That Hide Extra Information in Plain Sight

Share of U.S. Coupled Households With Children Declined in 2023

U.S. Volunteerism Rebounding After COVID-19 Pandemic

100 Notable Books of 2024

The New York State Education Department has released data showing outcomes from New York’s 2024 state assessment tests, taken by students in grades 3 to 8 last spring.

Psalms 3:16: The Photo

What Kind of Crier Are You?

Follow These Do’s and Don’ts of the Apostrophe

Spring Training Countdown

A series about Western Publishing and Gold Key Comics

What Happened to the Celebrity Telethon?

Jim Abrahams, ‘Airplane!,’ ‘Naked Gun’ and ‘Hot Shots!’ Master of Mirth, Dies at 80

Chuck Woolery, Host of ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Love Connection,’ Dies at 83

If your dead wife tells you to give all your property to a medium, perhaps get a second opinion.
Now I Know: Grace and Typos (I TOTALLY relate!) and The Farmer Strikes Back and The Great Geraint Woolford Coincidence and The Mystery of the Third Shaker and The Historic Connection Between TV Dinners and Diarrhea?
Kolosocracy

Kakistocracy and Kolosocracy

Expert agencies and elected legislatures. Legislatures are entitled to their own (political) opinions but not their own facts.

Top djt picks have ties to Project 2025

What to Know About Jay Bhattacharya, djt’s Potential NIH Pick— Stanford professor is most closely associated with the Great Barrington Declaration

What to know about AG pick Pam Bondi

Caligula’s Horse and Other Controversial Appointments (RIP, the Matt Gaetz choice)

Harris lost the war of “ambient information.”

The Congressional Penis Crisis

The far right grows through “disaster fantasies”

Populism, Media Revolutions, and Our Terrible Moment

How to Block djt From All Your Screens: A Guide

How to Delete an X (Formerly Twitter) Account Permanently

Four-Year Cruise Offered to Unhappy Voters Who Want to ‘Escape’

Babel

“The story of Babel is the best metaphor I have found for what happened to America in the 2010s, and for the fractured country we now inhabit,” writes social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his 2022 essay for The Atlantic. [paywall] “Trump did not destroy the tower; he merely exploited its fall. He was the first politician to master the new dynamics of the post-Babel era, in which outrage is the key to virality, stage performance crushes competence, Twitter can overpower all the newspapers in the country, and stories cannot be shared (or at least trusted) across more than a few adjacent fragments—so truth cannot achieve widespread adherence.”

Haidt explains how social media, once widely viewed as a boon for democracy, devolved to a force that has exacerbated the dysfunction of American politics—and suggests three reforms that can help democracy remain viable in the digital age.

MUSIC

 

Young Lion – Sade Adu

Dance With Everybody – Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

Coverville 1511: The Tim Rice Cover Story and 1512: The Bruce Hornsby Cover Story

Naturally Stoned – The Avant-Garde, written by group member Chuck Woolery, #40 pop in 1968

Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, sometimes called the “Jupiter”.

Graucha Max– DARKSIDE

K-Chuck Radio: Someone’s Covering the Will-O-Bees

Vocalise by Rachmaninoff

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: Joy Division, New Order and Killdozer

Fist City– Loretta Lynn

Time After Time – Hiroshi Yoshimura 

Gemini – Haley Heynderickx

Bethlehem (Glimpse) – Laraaji

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go – Wham!

Open Flair Gänsekapelle

The Wonder of Stevie is a new limited podcast series.

October rambling: tax billionaires

everythingistb.com

State Street in ALB between Lark and Willett, 20 Oct 2024

Of course, we can tax billionaires. They disguise their demands (“don’t tax billionaires”) as observations (“it is technically impossible to tax billionaires”).

Find Out Who Funds Political Action Committees

Six Lies Elon Musk Believed (in a 24-hour period)

‘Serious Risk’ of Vital Ocean Current Collapse by 2100, Warn Scientists

One in three tree species at risk of extinction: report

Mifepristone, round 2

Order Your 4 Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests: Every U.S. household is eligible to order 4 free at-home tests.

Traffic Stops: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Will Arthur’s ballot be counted?

Democracy Succumbs in Silence

The Trouble With Tradwives. TikTok’s old-school housewives paint a rosy picture of their lives. Ex-tradwives and Influencer moms tell a vastly different story.

The US Copyright Office Frees the McFlurry

City On Fire: The night during the Civil War that violent anti-government conspirators sowed chaos in the heart of Manhattan.

The game
Wordle 1,214 was the third-hardest ever and the hardest for two years, and people are angry—here’s why. (I got a 6.)
Why Not Shake Up the Olympics?

Field of Dreams: Sometimes Myth and Reality Coincide

Obituary: pitcher Luis Tiant (1940-2024)

Trailblazing pitcher Fernando Valenzuela passes away at 63

Teri Garr died at 79. I saw her in Tootsie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Oh God! and many TV appearances. Oh, and Young Frankenstein (1974) – Put the candle back!

Singer Jack Jones, RIP

Ron Ely, RIP

Tim Urban: Why I Brought My Toddler to Watch SpaceX’s Flying Skyscraper. I can’t shield my daughter from negativity. But I can continually redirect her attention to the rocket—showing her all the ways our species is incredible.

John Green’s new book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, is coming out March 18, 2025

What Really Happens When We Unfriend Someone On Facebook?

The language we speak can change our perception of time.

Mark Evanier’s links to several full-length movies such as Naked Gun, American Graffiti, and Hannah and Her Sisters

Bob and Ray in “The Hobby Hut”

Kelly’s a little stealing on Sunday

Now I Know: The Identity Theft That Went Backward and Is It Illegal To Not Wish Someone Farewell? and Where Everybody Knows Your 6E 61 6D 65 and The Fish That Glow… As a Warning?

Security Updates for the Internet Archive

Starting earlier this month, the Internet Archive faced a DDoS attack. After temporarily taking the site offline to enhance security, they have resumed services to Archive.org, Open Library, Wayback Machine and Archive-It. For ongoing updates, please follow their blog and official social media channels on X/Twitter, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

FAST COMPANY: The Internet Archive is even more essential than I realized

WASHINGTON POST: The world’s largest internet archive is under siege — and fighting back

WORDPRESS FOUNDATION: WordPress Foundation Donates $100,000 to Internet Archive

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW: The organization that safeguards the internet’s history is under attack

SF GATE: The random Bay Area warehouse that houses one of humanity’s greatest archives

MUSIC

Mitzi Gaynor sings I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair from South Pacific; she died at the age of 93

Vale Alan Mansfield of the band Dragon died

Dancing In The Street – Dick Carpenter Trio

Suite from Camelot, original music by Frederick Loewe, and arranged by Robert Russell Bennett

I’m Yours and  Puttin’ On The Ritz – Herb Alpert

The Kairn of Koridwen by Charles Tomlinson Griffes

Airport Codes (Big Band Version) – Aubrey Logan

The Pink Panther theme song and the James Bond theme song go well together

The welcome arrival of rain by Dame Judith Weir.

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: The (English) Beat and The Replacements

Coverville 1506: Cover Stories for Natalie Maines and David Lee Roth and 1507: The Katy Perry Cover Story III

Triumphal March from Aida by Giuseppe Verdi

Convection Oven – Peter Sprague

Wichita Lineman – Colin Hay

Inch Worm – Road Work Ahead

The theme from Exodus · Ernest Gold

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean performed at the World Figure Skating Competition with a routine set to the Entr’acte of the original Broadway production of Mack and Mabel.

Spies – Randy Newman

Sesame Street Cast Crashes The Late Late Show with James Corden

I Just Called To Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder

K-Chuck Radio: Another 10 classic pop songs you barely remember (actually, one I recall quite well)

October rambling: Sudden Genius

The Mystery of Sudden Genius. The phenomenon of acquired savant syndrome reveals what happens when brain damage unleashes brilliance. I know Diana, who is profiled in the piece.

Federal Courts: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Interview:  John Oliver Is Still Working Through the Rage:

One year after October 7

Junk Science Put Me on Death Row. I Shouldn’t Die.

A Woman Was Accused of Murder After Losing Her Pregnancy. Now She Tells Her Story

Twitter is not Elon’s

To Understand Trump vs. Harris, You Must Know These American Myths

‘Trump Bible’ is one of few that meet the criteria for Oklahoma classrooms. “According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.”

The Republican Ethic of Lies

Jill Stein: The Grifter Who May Hand djt the White House Again

1950s TV episode featured a con man named “Trump” who wanted to build a wall

Also

John Amos, ‘Good Times’ Dad, Dies at 84. I saw him perform at Capital Rep in Albany in the August Wilson play Fences as the father several years ago, and he was very good.

I knew the plantation before I knew the college.

U.S. Divorce Rates Down, Marriage Rates Stagnant From 2012-2022

2023 New Zealand Census data

Wrecked rain gauges. Whistleblowers. Million-dollar payouts and manhunts. Then a Colorado crop fraud got really crazy.  “The sordid story of two ranchers who conspired to falsify drought numbers by tampering with rain gauges on the plains of Colorado and Kansas, resulting in millions in false insurance claims.”

History of the Famous “Daisy” Attack Ad from the 1964 Presidential Election

A history of Western art (in less than 7 minutes)

Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles.

Cookbooks and the war of the sexes

Zoom Sex

Drake Hogestyn, a ‘Days of Our Lives’ Veteran, dies at 70. I only watched DOOL for a couple of years, but I remember him well.

Now I Know: Another Brick in the Wall of Prohibition, and He Complained — and Proved Himself Wrong, and You Could Say Their Commute Goes Swimmingly and Why Late 16th Century British Workers Had to Wear Hats

Word of the Day: Zhuzh– Make something more stylish, lively, or attractive. This would be a brutal Wordle word.

MUSIC

For sister Leslie: He that that a pleasant face by John L. Hatton

When I Go Away – Levon Helm

Nocturne in E min by Fryderyk (Frédéric) Chopin; Grazyna Auguscik

Avinu Malkeinu – Barbra Streisand

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: The Cure

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Live at The Egg, Hart Theater on 2016-06-08

When Somebody Loved Me – Sarah McLachlan from Toy Story 2

Our Time – Jim Walton, who originated the role of Franklin Shepard in the musical Merrily We Roll Along

I Am What I Am – Voctave and the The Swingles

Matrix III by John Whitney Sr.

Bus Stop (The Hollies) and Taxman (The Beatles) – MonaLisa Twins

Death Of Suzzy Roche-The Roches (live) 

An Oscar-Nominated Short Film of John Lennon’s Ramblings

Professor of Rock interviews Weird Al

The last of the DNC 2024 roll call and playlist

South Carolina — Get Up – James Brown, who grew up in rural southwestern South Carolina

South Dakota — What I Like About You – the Romantics

Tennessee — 9 to 5 – the Tennessee singer, artist and activist Dolly Parton

Texas — Texas Hold ‘Em – Beyoncé, a Texas native.

Utah — Animal -Neon Trees, from just outside Salt Lake City.

Vermont — Stick Season – Noah Kahan, who hails from Vermont, mentions “I Love Vermont” in the song.

U.S. Virgin Islands — VI to the Bone – Mic Love, about the Virgin Islands.

Virginia — The Way I Are – Timbaland, born and raised in Norfolk, Va.

Washington — “Can’t Hold Us,” by the Seattle-based hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

West Virginia — “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” by John Denver, a song so core to West Virginia that it is considered an official state anthem.

Wisconsin — “Jump Around.” Though written by California’s House of Pain, this song is played at University of Wisconsin football games.

Wyoming — “I Gotta Feeling,” by the Black Eyed Peas.