This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Sunday, January 11, to midnight on Monday, January 12 (8pm Eastern Time).
A bright blowy day and sidewalks still dry, so off I went in shoes to have eggs benedict. Temps were just at freezing: I should have checked the wind chill, because it was -11C/ 12F. Needed mitts over my gloves, which I did not have. Anyway, eggs were reasonable, though no one ever gets them the way I like ie soft but not runny inside. Kind people helped the walker in and out of Pauper's and I headed back west. And almost immediately turned around in the opposite direction because wind gusts and Mirvish Village high rises make walking both unpleasant and nearly impossible. Walked to the next stoplight and then through Annex streets and laneways to home. 5000 steps is the best I can do these days, shoes or not, because cysts and neuromas are just not fun at all.
And Bateman's Bicycles have closed their Bathurst shop and moved up to Eglinton so if I ever buy a city bike it will not be from them.
Part of this is on me: I had somehow gotten it in my head this was modern day and was looking forward to seeing how "hivemind took over the entire medical profession undetected" aspect of the premise would play out. The setting is not modern day, it's set some indeterminate amount of time (over 500 years) after some sort of apocalypse (fair, and an interesting setting itself) and people are aware to varying degrees aware that there is Something Wrong TM with the Institute.
The main part of the disappointment is that the book keeps bringing up concepts and then... Not Doing Anything with them. Spoilers from here on out. Our PoV character loses access to the hivemind fairly early on. Helen's miscarriages and/or the twins having supernatural powers never goes anywhere. The baron seems aware that he is hosting pseudomycota and even might be working with it? Let's never speak of this again! The idea that "If you’re born in Verdira, you die in Verdira" is brought up and we get told what happens is someone born there tries to leave, but that goes nowhere. /End spoilers
It is so disappointing and frustrating. It all just goes fucking nowhere!
Today I attempted to make (bake? I’m not sure if that’s the right verb) a cake in the pressure cooker. I’m intrigued by the concept but unsure what to expect the results to be like. How much will the texture be different to oven baking? Will it be more like a steamed sponge pudding? Will I like it?
I’m still really not sure because the cake failed for non-pressure-cooker reasons. I used a new-to-me-brand of almond extract and it is obviously considerably stronger than the brand the recipe-book writer uses. A teaspoon was way too much and I now have pretty much the cake-shaped version of those room scenting wax-chips rather than something you’d want to eat…
(It was at least a sweet almond extract rather than anything too cyanide-y)
On weekends I tend to do nothing much while the family life swirls around me; the girls come and go to sit with me in my basement (and use my phone), and I go upstairs for a while here and there. Today I used my rebounder for about 45 minutes; the girls were down here with me for some of that time looking at videos on my phone. After lunch all the girls went to Violet's Scout group meeting (taken by their father) to play kickball, so my daughter and I had some quiet time at home while they were gone. After they came back the older two went to a neighbour's to spend time with the two daughters who are about their age, while Aria watched Bluey, which I half watched while reading. Around 5 pm Aria went to her Scout meeting with her mother.
Now Violet and Eden are down here in the basement with me again, having a rollerskating party accompanied by Taylor Swift playing on my computer. If they haven't got bored and left before 7 pm, I will send them upstairs at that time as we have an agreement that 7 pm is the cutoff time for being down here with me. (After I wrote that their father came down to tell me he has to run to the store, and since my daughter and Aria aren't back yet I won't be able to send the girls upstairs if at 7 if neither of their parents is back yet.)
All three girls have had a habit of running across the room and flinging themselves onto my bed. I don't like it but I've been tolerating it, until this week. Suddenly the bed starting making a sort of clanking sound sometimes when I changed position while sitting on it or lying in it. I checked the slats as well as I could without dismantling the bed and they seemed fine, but yesterday evening it made an alarmingly loud noise so I got down onto the floor to peer under the bed and saw that there is a supporting leg right in the middle and it had somehow worked loose, was bent at an angle, and wasn't really supporting anything any more. I told my son in law, who came down with some tools and tried to tighten the bolt holding it in place, but it was so bent that the screw couldn't grip. He resorted to hammering the leg as straight as he could get it and tightening the bolt as much as he could and the bed is no longer making that clanking noise, but I don't entirely trust the leg to keep supporting the middle of the bed.
After I'd put the bed and bedding back together I had the idea to search online (on Amazon of course) for replacement supporting legs for beds and discovered that there are many types available. I found some that should work as extra support if we place one on each side of the existing damaged one, so I ordered a pair and they should be here tomorrow. I've been on beds before when they've collapsed and I don't really want to repeat the experience.
Spontaneous vigils popped up all over the country in the 24 hours after Renee Good was executed. I actually made the LA Times in this phot by Genaro Molina.
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
It’s been a horrendous week, but you know what? This is one of the best good news roundups I’ve sent out in a while. A lot of really amazing things happened this week! This in no way makes ANYTHING else that happened less devastating, but it should at least remind us that good is also present, despite the absolute nightmare through which we’re living.
Remember, what we focus on tends to grow, so please take some time today to savor the many, many great things that happened this week amidst the noise and brutality.
I love you. We’ll get through this.
Talk tomorrow, friends.
Celebrate This! 🎉
A court has ordered $145 million in funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to immediately be released, allowing the agency to keep its doors open for the time being.
Congress is reversing Trump’s steep budget cuts to science. Some budgets may even increase slightly! Amazing!
A federal judge in New York temporarily blocked the Trump administration from freezing roughly $10 billion in federal funding for child care and social services destined for five Democratic-led states.
A broad coalition of groups across the country held a coordinated ICE Out For Good Weekend of Action this weekend to demand accountability, honor the lives lost to ICE, and make visible the human cost of ICE’s actions. I was at one. Were you?
The US House broke with Trump to pass a three year extension on the ACA subsidies. It now goes to the Senate, where there is at least a chance it will pass!
In one of her first acts as Mayor of Detroit, Mary Sheffield launched a program to financially support new mothers facing the high cost of taking care of children.
In two executive orders, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani targeted junk fees, hidden charges, and deceptive business practices in an effort to protect consumers.
As part of “the most ambitious animal welfare strategy in a generation,” England will end the use of hen cages and pig farrowing crates, ban trail hunting and puppy farming, and more by 2030.
Avelo Airlines ceased deportation flights. They say it’s part of ‘streamlining its network’ but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that our protests and boycotts are behind this.
Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming after the state Supreme Court ruled that two laws barring the procedure, including the country’s first explicit ban on abortion pills, violate the state constitution.
House Majority PAC, House Democrats’ main super PAC, and its associated nonprofit raised a combined $121 million in 2025, more than they have in any previous non-election year dating back to HMP’s 2011 founding.
The Tesla Diner in Los Angeles is officially a dud.
An associate professor of acting and directing at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee has been reinstated and awarded 500K following his removal over a social media post related to Charlie Kirk last fall.
Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have allowed all complaints made to the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) to be appealed to state courts.
The U.S. Senate advanced a bipartisan War Powers Resolution 52-47 to block strikes on Venezuela without prior congressional approval. Last month, this same fight fell short by two votes in both the House and the Senate.
11 blue states have committed to filling in funding gaps created by the OBBBA which blocked federal Medicaid funding for reproductive health care services provided by Planned Parenthood and other organizations that also provide abortion care.
On January 1, because of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, the cost of some of the most expensive prescription drugs came down. Nine million seniors will save a total of $1.5 billion in annual out-of-pocket costs.
A federal judge ruled that John Sarcone, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, has been serving unlawfully for months. The decision makes him the fifth Trump-appointed acting U.S. attorney deemed illegitimate by the federal courts during the president’s second term.
A new internal GOP poll confirms Republicans are in deep trouble on health care. Only 38% of voters approve of his approach.
A second poll found that Trump’s popularity amongst young men is in free-fall, as many have turned their backs on the president for failing to deliver on a key campaign promise: lowering the cost of living.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) delivered one of the strongest rebukes yet to the DOJ’s attempt to seize voters’ private data, vowing the department would have to “put me in jail” before he would illegally hand over unredacted voter rolls.
Rep. Chuck Edwards’ (NC-11) hometown paper awarded the Republican its 2025 “Nothingburger” Award for putting out self-congratulatory press releases, despite failing to secure meaningful relief for his community after it was devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Missouri officials confirmed that roughly two-thirds of the more than 300,000 signatures submitted to block the state’s new GOP gerrymander are valid — far exceeding the number needed to force a referendum.
In a bipartisan effort, two U.S. lawmakers asked a federal judge to appoint an independent monitor to compel the DOJ to release the Epstein files.
White storks will return to London for the first time in over 600 years, marking an important milestone in urban rewilding. The majestic birds have been extinct as a breeding species in England since 1416.
According to a Republican legislative leader, the prospect of gerrymandering Kentucky’s congressional map to draw out its only Democrat in Washington is not going anywhere.
In a surprise move, senators of both parties agreed unanimously to erect a plaque honoring the officers who fought the mob at the Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021 — breaking from Trump’s false narrative about that day.
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings publicly vowed to vote for whatever 2028 presidential candidate vowed to “prosecute” members of President Donald Trump’s “regime” in the next administration.
A leading Catholic paper branded JD Vance a “moral stain” and accused the vice president of having a “twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity” for his comments on Renee Good.
Californians can now use a government website to request that certain companies stop selling their personal information online. The Drop website, which stands for the “Delete Request and Opt-Out Platform”, launched on New Year’s Day as part of a state law aimed at enhancing data privacy.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vetoed a bill passed by Congress cutting former President Jair Bolsonaro's 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election.
ICE’s approval rating has collapsed since Trump took office — from +16, according to YouGov/The Economist polling last February, to -14 as of November.
Visibility Brigade chapters did emergency actions across the country this weekend condemning Renee Good’s murder at the hands of ICE and honoring her name. AMAZING! (To see more check my Instagram feed—I posted a whole carousel of them!)
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After two days at sea from the Falklands, the next port was Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The first sight coming into port is a "ship's graveyard", which is apparently is being cleaned up. Some similar work is probably required in the nearby old city, Ciudad Vieja, founded by the Spanish in 1724. Whilst there are a number of glorious old buildings, some are in a state of dilapidation; I suspect there's a poor incentive structure at work. In a heroic effort over a day, we started at the famous Café Brasilero, the oldest cafe in Montevideo, and famously a haunt for the excellent Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, now with a namesake coffee. Other nearby sites visited included Plaza de la Constitución, Museo Histórico Cabildo, Museo Torres García, Puerta de la Ciudadela, Mausoleo de José Gervasio Artigas, Palacio Salvo, Museo de la Casa de Gobierno, Museo Figari (for Pedro Figari and Juan Carlos Figari), and the Teatro Solis. Three of these were art galleries, and one gets the impression that Montevideo is rather proud of its artistic history, and justly so. The constructivism of Torres García and Juan Carlos Figari and the impressionism of Pedro Figari (Juan's father) were all excellent, and the García museum also featured the amusing fashion designs by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.
The following day, after crossing the Rio de la Plata (arguably the widest river in the world), we returned again to Buenos Aires, where there was an opportunity to catch up with Cobina, an old activist friend of mine whom I haven't seen for many years, and visit the Xul Solar museum. A friend of the magical realist author, Jorge Luis Borges, Xul Solar was a painter and designer. His artworks combine both expressionist and surrealist styles. He invented a spiritual form of chess where moves can provide a horoscope (of his own making) and tell a story (in a language he invented). He also redesigned the piano to make it easier to play and learn. Probably one of the truest artists I have encountered. After that we all made our way to the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, which has an astoundingly beautiful interior, but also houses the mausoleum of General José de San Martín, a leading figure in the Argentine War of Independence, the Chilean War of Independence, and then Peruvian War of Independence - he had a busy life!
All adventures must come to an end, however, and after a month of an extraordinary journey with travelling companion Kate, we boarded the flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago, then to Melbourne. We spent seventeen hours in the air overall, and a significant portion of January 9 was lost due to timezone changes. Looking back on it, so much was packed into the thirty days, but that is definitely how I like to travel. From Chile, to Peru, Argentina, Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, Uruguay, and then back to Argentina, it was a journey that witnessed grand cities (Santiago, Lima, Buenos Aires, Montevideo) with all their artistry and history, extraordinary pre-Columbian sites (e.g., Machu Picchu), breathtaking nature (Antarctica, Falkland Islands), and a cruise through the Drake Passage and the Argentine Sea. It is, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary journeys I have been on. Whilst it is good to be back home in Melbourne town, I must confess that my taste for such journeys has been whetted rather than satiated. I am a long way from being "world weary".
Current Mood:accomplished
Current Location:The Rookery
Current Music:Visage, Soundtrack to 'The Beautiful World'
Do you have a favourite cause that you support? I support multiple causes through charitable donations, but one of the most important to me is the Abortion Support Network, which does exactly what it says on the tin: It helps people in the UK and Europe to get abortions, particularly those who live in areas with restrictive laws.
If so, how do you support it? I give them as much money per month as I can. When they have fundraising drives, I donate more. When they ask for comments they can use in their promotional materials, I provide as much detail as I can.
Have you been an active member of an organization (attending meetings, volunteering, etc)? Yes. I was a school governor for a while, and I’ve also volunteered for Parkrun, as well as other charitable organisations.
Have you ever led any group? No, I’ve never had the capacity with either full-time work or academic study to lead a volunteer group.
If so, how was your experience with it? See above. I’m sure I’d find it very fulfilling, but it’ll have to wait until I retire (or go part-time).
Just listened to the really lovely play "The Goblin King and Me" by Paul Magrs. A magical story based on a real-life meeting with David Bowie. It was broadcast on Radio 4 last week and is available on BBC Sounds on catchup. Though sadly that might only work within the UK.
"No one wants to go in there when a random f***ing tweet can change the entire foreign policy of the country." -- oil industry investor, about Venezuela
I was reading a quote from an Exxon exec, talking about how all of Exxon's assets had been nationalized by Venezuela TWICE. Yeah, not a place where oil companies are going to be eager to rush back in to rebuild their infrastructure.
Not going to bother talking about a certain person's habit of changing international policy via social media posts, waste of finger and mental energy.
The first print edition of a baihe novel to be open for pre-order for the year is Yu Shuang's tragic contemporary romance The Guest (嘉宾), which is being brought out under the title 别时茫茫 (going to just dodge the task of translation this because my brain is currently not up to the task of translating a Ba Juyi reference). This is a mainland edition and will be in traditional Chinese and censored (I'm kind of curious to see how they're going to manage the censoring of a tragedy that fundamentally arises from institutional and societal homophobia). Pre-orders can be made via the following bookshops:
The return to work was fine. Mid week I thought, actually, I like being in this office. It feels good to be around people. Maybe I wouldn’t mind even coming in more than 2 days. But then I remembered the extremely complex and fragile state of the child-care and wrap around. Mine and Lachie’s working hours balanced perfectly but precariously to make sure we can do enough typing and meetings but also be able to pick the kids up because the school’s wrap around care, while perfect in Key Stage 1, is terrible in Key Stage 2 and nobody talks about this.
Tonight I took my bike up to the school and left it there so that tomorrow after drop off I can cycle home and be on time for a 9am meeting. This is the only way I’ll be able to make this meeting on time, and even then, if it’s icy or if one of the sprogs has a hard time going in, well, I’m going to be late.
Here’s a thought applicable to sewing and knitting but presumably transferable to most making things activities: there is a massive difference in people who can sew a garment and it looks good when you’ve finished it, vs it STILL looks good when you’ve worn it for a year. For most people going from zero to “can sew a garment” is hard to imagine but once you get to “can sew a garment” you realise… oh there is another 10 years of learning here and to most people they won’t even be able to see the difference.
With sewing I’m trying to make something that is actually impossible to mass produce economically because the techniques require hand finishing or are too fiddly on a machine to do cheaply.
Earlier this week I got a status page text message saying something vague about FT.com having issues. “Oh”, I thought, “I’m still subscribed to these status page texts, I’d better click this unsubscribe link”. “Sign in with OKTA” the page said which, of course, I can’t do because I no longer have an FT gmail account. Anyway, nice to get messages about how the ol’ website’s doing and at least I now know when the paywall might be down and I can read some articles for free 👀
I could ask someone to deal with this but it’s kind of fine and I don’t want to be a bother and I sort of like knowing if the wesbite is OK. Presumably someone will remove me eventually.
Incredible work by Noel's socmed person. The combo of text and image is *chef's kiss*. Original is here on his official insta. (No I am still not over Liam appearing on Noel's socials in case you were wondering!!)
This is an old article from October '25, I'm clearing out old tabs.
It's quite simple. The basic plan is to ensure that they are properly managing current and projected electrical needs and growth, and that they don't have crypto mining and AI data centers popping up everywhere and draining all of their generation capacity. Keep Canadian power generation for the province's residents and local industry - to which I say, GO CANADA!
There are useful aspects to AI/LLMs, but not in the form of generative AI and chat bots. Investors are seeking quick bucks and are creating a bubble: while there's no telling when it'll burst, we're going to see a lot of sobbing and knocking on government doors for bailouts when it happens. Can't happen too soon, IMO.
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