ENVIRONMENTALISTS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT CHANGING THE ENVIRONMENT IS HUMAN NATURE: Researchers uncover earliest evidence for prehistoric humans transforming surroundings.
Archive for 2021
December 16, 2021
THE VACCINE MANDATE HAS ALREADY BEEN REDUCED FROM TWO SHOTS TO THREE: Has the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ changed? These universities are already imposing booster mandates.
RIP: Lina Wertmuller, first woman nominated for best director Oscar, dies at 93. Italian filmmaker received nomination for 1977’s ‘Seven Beauties,’ but also was known for ‘The Seduction of Mimi’ and ‘Swept Away.’
(Via Ace of Spades.)
THE SPUNKY BOSTON TABLOID HITS WHERE IT HURTS:
Related: Elon Musk is the Hero We Need Today.
Gloriously capitalistic, irreverent and, yeah, a little weird, Elon Musk is an American original in the mold of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs. And someone I hope is a model to the next generation of young innovators — a perfect antidote to faddish neo-socialists like Warren and AOC.
Warren is pushing a wealth tax, believing at least 2 percent per year of a fortune the size of Musk’s should be seized by the government to be spent by her and her colleagues.
But direct wealth confiscation is an economically dangerous move that heralds a regime on its last legs.
They don’t want his money to support the greater good. They just want his money. And everyone else’s.
THIS IS TRUE, YOU NEED TO BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT WHERE YOU PUT GENERATORS: Experts: Carbon monoxide from generators can be silent killer after disasters. My brother has a friend who lost his young son to carbon monoxide poisoning after the huge Memphis blackout about 15 years ago.
Related: Generator safety tips. And you should have a carbon monoxide alarm, but you should have one of those anyway. #CommissionEarned.
AND YET CNN VIEWERS DON’T GET ANY SMARTER: ‘Baby talk’ helps infants learn words, study finds.
THE BOSS MAKES BANK: Bruce Springsteen sells his entire music catalogue for $500m.
Bruce Springsteen has sold the master recordings and publishing rights for his life’s work to Sony for a reported $500m (£376m).
The deal gives Sony ownership of his 20 studio albums, including classics like Born To Run, The River and Born In The USA, according to multiple US reports.
A 20-time Grammy winner, Springsteen’s music generated about $15m in revenue last year.
Warner Music bought the worldwide rights to Bowie’s music in September, and Dylan sold his catalogue of more than 600 songs in December last year to Universal Music Group at a purchase price widely reported as $300m.
The deals provide immediate financial security to the artists and their estates, while the rights-holders hope to profit by building new revenue streams for the music via film and TV licensing, merchandise, cover versions and performance royalties.
But will Bruce survive the Great Forgetting?
As the Who suit up for what I suppose will be their final tour (“Who’s Left”?), Chuck Klosterman points out in his book But What if We’re Wrong? that whole forms die out. He compares rock to 19th-century marching music: nothing left of the latter except John Philip Sousa. That’s it. And Sousa himself is barely remembered. In 100 years rock might be gone too, Klosterman guesses. Maybe we’ll remember one rock act. Who will it be? Maybe none of the obvious answers. It certainly wasn’t obvious at the time of Fitzgerald’s death that The Great Gatsby would be the best-remembered novel he or anyone else wrote in the first half of the 20th century. As for the novels of the second half of the 20th century, the clock is ticking on them. The Catcher in the Rye is moribund. Generation X was the last to revere that book. Teaching it to young people today would get you ridiculed. To Kill a Mockingbird? It had a good run but it’s now being labeled a “white savior” story by the grandchildren of those who revered it. Soon schools and teachers will be shunning it.
In the meantime, while Springsteen has been a Democratic Party operative with a Shure SM58 microphone for decades, given his many songs over the decades worshiping muscle cars and his hatred of zero carbon emission nuclear power plants, in today’s lefty freakout environment of “we only have 12 years left before the climate apocalypse,” why aren’t they shunning “The Boss” for such reactionary views?
Related: ‘Born In the USA’ Now Fits The Conservative Message.
It’s a trenchant commentary on the failures of the Great Society and radical environmentalism.
SHOCK POLL: Democrat Support in Freefall with Independents, GOP Way Up. “Biden has both an unpopular agenda and a high unfavorable rating draped around his neck like a lead life preserver. And now voters are leaving his party in droves.”
STILL POPULAR: THISWORX Car Vacuum Cleaner. #CommissionEarned
ELON HAS BETTER THINGS TO DO: Larry Kudlow Calls for Elon Musk to Run the Federal Reserve: ‘The Guy is a Genius.’ That said, we need someone better in that job.
GOOD LORD: Longtime CNN producer John Griffin’s devices seized 17 months before child sex trafficking arrest. “A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont did not immediately return a request for comment on the reason for the delay in charging Griffin.”
IT’S COME TO THIS: Bay Area car break-ins are on the rise, prompting some auto owners to leave their trunks open.
Do 21st century San Franciscans watch Vertigo as an inadvertent documentary about Bay Area life in a gilded age?
Related: Crime and No Punishment.
FIRST- TERM YEAR LAME DUCK: Is Biden’s Build Back Better Plan ‘Dead Forever’?
LET’S MAKE SURE IT STICKS: Joe Battenfeld: Elizabeth Warren earns new title from Elon Musk– ‘Senator Karen.’ “Musk has actually accomplished something — taking humans into space and pioneering the manufacture of electric cars. Now he’s done something else few could accomplish — turning the tables on Warren.”
She’s a sorry, entitled scold. She deserves all the mockery that’s been piled on her, and much, much more.
Flashback: Considering Elizabeth Warren, the Scholar.
Also: The Truth About Medical Bankruptcies.
More here.
BACK TO THE FUTURE! Giant Kites That Drag Cargo Ships Across Oceans Go on Trial.
Shouldn’t we get supply chains sorted out again before returning to the era of Horatio Hornblower?
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Santa’s List of Businesses That Are Naughty and Nice to Conservatives.
GREAT GIFT: The Drawing Book for Kids: 365 Daily Things to Draw, Step by Step. #CommissionEarned
EVERYBODY IS GOING TO GET COVID. EVERYBODY: Don’t Be Surprised When You Get Omicron.
Surprised? I’ll almost be elated.
WE WILL BE WELCOMED AS LIBERATORS: A Popeyes in France? Chain to open hundreds of locations in upcoming years.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: SDSU spent $250K to build a racial healing garden. Nobody uses it.
TOP SELLER: YOSUDA Indoor Cycling Bike Stationary Bike. #CommissionEarned