December is designated as Seasonal Affective Disorder Awareness Month12. During this time, awareness is raised about the challenges faced by people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) due to reduced daylight impacting mood and well-being1. Treatment options are available for the 16 million Americans struggling with this disorder every year.
and to get you more in the moodiness, here’s today’s musical *earworm from a 2021 Chris Mann Show
*An earworm, also known as sticky music or stuck song syndrome, is a catchy or memorable piece of music or saying that continuously occupies a person’s mind even after it is no longer being played or spoken about. Earworms are involuntary, spontaneous, and repetitive perceptions of a particular musical sound in the absence of an external version of that sound. Earworms usually consist of a fragment of music, usually three or four bars, which go round and round and round. According to researcher Bede Williams, an earworm must possess five key elements: rhythmic repetition, predictability, surprise, melodic potency, and receptiveness. [wiki]
and then there’re the late-night comedians to deepen the mood, first Stephen
A suspect has been arrested for the murder of the CEO of United Health Care, Syria’s bloodthirsty dictator Bashar al-Assad is gone, and President-elect Trump expressed his desire to imprison members of Congress who investigated the January 6th insurrection.
second Jimmy K
The police have apprehended a man named Luigi Mangione in the murder of the UnitedHealthCare CEO, the New York Mets signed outfielder Juan Soto to a $765 million deal, President Trump was in Paris over the weekend for the grand re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, he spent some time with Prince William there, Dr. Jill Biden was seated next to Trump at the Notre Dame ceremony and he used a photo of them together as an ad for his new fragrance line, Melania was busy selling some Christmas ornaments on Fox & Friends, Trump had a long and rambling interview with Kristen Welker for “Meet the Press” where they had an uncomfortable exchange, Trump was awarded “Honorary Patriot of the Year” this weekend on Fox News, and while all of Trump’s cabinet nominees have been very unsettling, it’s also a lot of fun for kids!
those monologues bring up another of our SAD disorders
HEALTH INSURANCE
Attribution: Health Insurance by Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune, UT
Cole must have been writing in winter.
Attribution: Musk Ramaswamy Cut Entitlements by Ed Wexler, CagleCartoons.com
p.s. kudos for the creativity: a “billionaire bro-liarchy” era well-describes the musky-smarmy monster of trumpenstein
Or as Biden would say more “Mo…larky”.
In case anyone is feeling elderly, here is the oldest known melody ever discovered. The Hurrians came up with this ditty in 1400 bc
Think you’re sad now, just wait until the third week of January. These will be the good ol’ days. Live it up, kids!
PatD – Thanks for posting late night clips, as we go to bed at the same time as the neighbors chickens.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-mocks-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-governor-great-state-canada-rcna183570
“It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social account just after midnight Tuesday. “I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon so that we may continue our in depth talks on Tariffs and Trade, the results of which will be truly spectacular for all!”
Honestly, if Canada takes this demented bullying as an act of aggression, I wouldn’t blame them. Hmmm…maybe Canada can do just that, attack us, and the US can become Canada’s biggest province…and we can finally have healthCARE for all!
Orange Adolf should go to bed with the chickens instead of ranting online.
Should we do a thread of predictions (fun and otherwise) for 2025?
I see Biden is speaking at the Brookings Institution, telling the world how great he was. Of course as usual for Biden he is a year too late. Sit down and stfu old man, nobody cares.
Jack
I predict that my IRA in the next 4 years will not see the returns it saw this year (25%). I would not be unhappy if my prediction was proven wrong.
Jack
Other hoped for predictions
I will finish remodeling my kitchen.
Jack
another Christmas tradition
Sorry if it ruins you day(Well, not really}:-) )
In case you know someone needing access to low cost drugs. Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus drug site
Jack
Just finished up appointment with ear surgeon and scheduled timpanoplasty for January 31st to skin-graft a patch over a longstanding hole in my left ear drum, so I predict better hearing next year. Or maybe I’d be better off with 30% less hearing capacity.
I predict our grocery bill won’t be any lower…
yeah…. especially those eggs!
today’s meme…
Craig there is a line in this Jimmy Buffet song. I quote it every once in a while. “He is losing his hearing but he don’t care what most people say”
I just returned from a resupply shopping tour of Sam’s Club, something I do about once each year. Quantities of canned goods. Paper towels and TP. Whatever was on sale in the meat case and some MM’s. There is more but not important to the issues we will face. What I saw proved that people are not understanding what sfb plans to do to the American economy. Lots of paper products, nobody buying some to put in the back room. There were no regular supply eggs, just specialty eggs at very high prices. The poultry stocks are showing the effect of the diseases invading the chickens.
I asked the check out clerk if anyone was buying lots of paper products, she said no, only me. Hmmm. Okay, all that aside I finally ran out of the Twenty-Twenty purchases of TP and paper towels.
all summer I paid $2.05 for eggs. Aldi’s, Now, $4.96. As soon as the election was over, eggs went up 150%.
Let’s applaud Joe Biden for an excellent job as President. No reason to tell him to shut TF up.
Jack, I drafted this yesterday but forgot to hit “Post”.
Dex, Kroger’s brand of eggs (Grade A large) are $2.91/doz. here if you buy the 5 dozen container ($3.99 for 1 dozen each), Walmart’s are $2.10 per for the same size, or $2.16 for one doz. containers; Sam’s cage free are $2.49 per dozen for the 2 dozen size., and their cage free organic eggs are $3.77 per doz. (2 doz. container). Eggland’s Best Organic run about $5/dozen around here. These prices are mildly higher than they were a couple of months ago. They most probably are going to rise in the upcoming months. We’ve been getting them for $4/doz. at the farmer’s market from two different farms – depending on which farm we get them from they come in white, Brown, blue and green.
Oh, but gasoline is down $.25 per gallon in the past 2 weeks. Now Regular is $2.76.
Jack, He Went to Paris is one of my very favorite Buffet songs, with Changes in Latitudes and A Pirate Looks at Forty rounding out the top 3, with Come Monday close behind.
Ha, Jack, exactly! I’m iffy about whether I really want to hear so much, comes in handy at moments like street noise while sleeping, just turn the bad ear to the sound. Also works well with annoying humans.
Pogo – you can always tell someone is new to boating by the songs they blast out on the dock. And, the reaction from those who have heard too often and too loud.
I’ll echo He Went to Paris as my favorite Buffett song.
Predictions: That I will win at least one of the smaller lotteries. My son is wonderful, but I really, really want a place of my own.
BB, ain’t that the truth? I’m past my blastin’ out the tunes years. We’ve taken to avoiding the 2 or 3 loud areas on Deep Creek Lake, and if we’re on the lunch hook we tend to go into a fairly large but shallow cove between two peninsulas on the quiet side of the lake and listen to relaxing music not played too loud. The channel into that cove is a no wake area about 50 yards long and 3 yards wide, actively patrolled by the MD DNR guys.
Prediction: I will be able to keep at least one, decent tomato from being consumed by horned worms or deer.
BB – I’m hoarding canned goods and paper products as sales appear. The only thing that produces at will on this land are persimmons and black walnuts.
So I was browsing Quora Digest and was reading bullshit comments under a “Can you name a worse President than Biden?” thread and ran across this.
Almost pissed myself.
Son is stocking up on Tequila just in case that 25% tariff goes into effect.
We always stock up on the essentials canned foods. Feel free to drop by for Tomato Soup, Tuna and SPAM and lots of TP to handle any after effects.
BB, that would be 30 yards wide…
I’m not stocking up on anything out of the ordinary, when walmart drops the price of my diet coke after the holidays I will probably lay in a supply. They dropped the price after the summer season ended and then raised it for thanksgiving/Christmas. I buy some stuff in bulk from Sams club/Cosco, I stock up on sale items. Just ordered a whole pork loin, I will slice it wrap it up and freeze it,
I just ordered my years supply of toilet paperfrom Sams club, I did much the same just before covid, so I missed that circus.
I pay an extra 50 a year for my Sams club membership. It has been well worth it. I just place my order and they bring it out to the car. Probably saves me an extra $100 a month from stuff I don’t buy as I wander the store. I also take advantage of their free shipping too.
Jack
Mrs. P refers to Sam’s Club as my designer clothing store. It’s not hers – her tastes are a bit more refined than mine.
So Elon has reaching Mars among the top issues for us? Question the intelligence of anyone who believes that reaching Mars is among the top issues for the U.S., or Earth for that matter. It ain’t habitable (Sorry, Mr. Damon, it’s not), and application of the tech it would take to get there to travel outside our solar system is simply not feasible in anything like the foreseeable future. (Hint – Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our sun, which ironically enough has an earth-sized planet in its habitable zone, is 4.2465 light years away – about 25 trillion miles) It may not even be there as we speak – ask in 4.2465 years and we will have an answer. Even IF it’s still there, the fastest spacecraft yet (NASA Parker Solar Probe) hit a brief top speed of 430,000 miles per hour (116 miles/second), so that craft would take about 6600 years to reach PC, or something more than the length of time civilization has existed on the earth. Have a nice trip, Elon.*
* My math is VERY rough, and I welcome being corrected.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/astrophysicist-mocks-elon-musks-mars-colonisation-plan-in-viral-rant-people-will-die-101732520125490.html
“Elon Musk defended his Mars colonisation vision against Neil deGrasse Tyson’s criticism after the astrophysicist’s rant went viral.
“For him to just say, let’s go to Mars because it’s the next thing to do. What is that venture capitalist meeting look like? ‘So, Elon, what do you want to do?’ ‘I want to go to Mars?’ ‘How much will it cost?’ ‘$1 trillion.’ ‘Is it safe?’ ‘No. People will probably die.’ ‘What’s the return on the investment?’ ‘Nothing.’ That’s a five-minute meeting. And it doesn’t happen,” he said.
The Tesla CEO took to X and shared the video of Tyson’s viral rant with a response.
“Wow, they really don’t get it. Mars is critical to the long-term survival of consciousness. Also, I’m not going to ask any venture capitalists for money. I realise that it makes no sense as an investment. That’s why I’m gathering resources,” he wrote.
Hmmm, “gathering resources” from the US Treasury?
Also, “survival of consciousness”? How about helping out with the day-to-day survival of most humans on the planet?
Elon has zero empathy for the human condition.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/10/business/milei-argentina-economy-impact-intl/index.html
“Argentina’s Milei counts Trump and Musk as fans. Here’s what his ‘chainsaw approach’ has delivered”
“Milei — who likes to brandish a chainsaw to symbolize budget cuts — has slashed the number of government ministries to eight from 18 and laid off more than 30,000 government employees so far. He has also scrapped energy and transport subsidies, halted virtually all public infrastructure projects, ended most subsidies to local governments and frozen public sector wages and pensions.”
“Under the chainsaw-wielding Libertarian economist, the government has posted rare consecutive monthly budget surpluses and inflation has fallen sharply — “better-than-expected results,” according to the International Monetary Fund.
Investors have also cheered the changes: Argentina’s flagship Merval stock index, which tracks around two dozen of the country’s most valuable listed companies, has soared almost 140% this year.”
“(But) the country is still in a recession, and it’s actually in a deeper recession as a result of budget cuts,” he told CNN.
“But the budget cuts have come at a cost to ordinary Argentines. The poverty rate has jumped above 50% from an already high level, the economy, the third largest in Latin America, has slid even deeper into recession and unemployment is on the rise.”
*Chainsaw? Nah, just robbing Peter to pay Paul. Peter is starving and Paul just bought a second home, and the IMF is cheering on Paul and ignoring Peter.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/10/trump-vows-fully-expedited-permits-for-1-billion-investments-in-us.html
“Any person or company investing ONE BILLION DOLLARS, OR MORE, in the United States of America, will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals. GET READY TO ROCK!!!” Trump wrote.
*He’s not the prez yet. Illegal? Despicable.