Tom Faranda's Folly

Tim's birthday today.

Ooops this popped up a day early! But that's ok. Yeah who's the man! Some recent pictures; graduation and an April track meet at Lafayette College.

And on the Feast of Saint Juan Diego.

 

 

Pensacola Base shooting victim "saved countless lives"

UPDATE: More here about all three victims - all young men. The three young men who were shot dead on Friday morning at Naval Air Station Pensacola were hailed by U.S. Navy leaders as heroes who “didn’t run from danger” when confronted by the assailant but instead “ran towards it and saved lives.”

Family members have identified Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, as one of the victims of Friday’s shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola. “Joshua Kaleb Watson saved countless lives today with his own,” Adam Watson wrote late Friday. "After being shot multiple times he made it outside and told the first response team where the shooter was and those details were invaluable.

 

SNL Weekend Update: Pelosi prays for Donald Trump

Attention to detail: She even has Pelosi's necklace -

"Recommended Winter Day Hiking Gear List"

The guy who writes this newsletter, Philip Warner, gave up his day job about ten years ago to be a fulltime outdoorsman. The article is worth a look, or just scrolling through, even if you are an experienced hiker. With my knee in good shape now, and having done a four miler the day after Thanksgiving in Fahnestock Park, I'm hoping to really get going again.

When gearing up for winter day hiking you want footwear, clothing and traction aids that can be used across a fairly wide range of temperatures, wind speeds, sun, precipitation types, and surface conditions.

 

Feast of the Immaculate Conception is tomorrow

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the infallibly defined dogma of the Catholic Church that "God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate. This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church). Chosen by God to be the Mother of the Savior and the "New Eve," Mary Immaculate is a type of the Church and the perfect model of holiness for all Christians. Mary under this title is the patroness of the United States of America, and the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Pink Panther's Inspector Clouseau: "Does your dog bite?" A classic, 102 seconds long...

Awesome Peter Sellers.  Who thinks of this stuff?

WSJ - Jobs market booming: "What Would We Do Without Experts?"

A column from the WSJ yesterday, on the news that employers added 266,000 jobs in November. 

There’s no recession in sight as the U.S. economy continues to create new opportunities and defy the expectations of professional forecasters. Yesterday, on news of another surge in hiring among small businesses, this column asked if anything can stop the great American jobs machine. Today’s Labor Department report on the whole economy adds an exclamation point to that question.

The Journal’s Sarah Chaney reports:

The U.S. job market strengthened in November, as hiring jumped and unemployment fell to a half-century low, adding fuel to the economic expansion.

Employers added 266,000 jobs in November—the fastest pace since 312,000 in January—and the jobless rate dipped to 3.5%, matching September as the lowest level since 1969, the Labor Department said Friday. Wages also advanced 3.1% from a year earlier.

“This is a ‘who would have thought moment?’” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of staffing company ManpowerGroup’s North America division. “No one would have ever guessed we could be sitting at 3.5% unemployment with 110 months of job gains.”

Certainly such guesses were rare among people paid to make economic forecasts. Neil Irwin notes in the New York Times the big lesson from the current robust labor market:

... the American economy is capable of cranking at a higher level than conventional wisdom held as recently as a few years ago. As the economy continues to grow well above what once seemed like its potential, without inflation or other clear signs of overheating, it’s clearer that the old view of its potential was an extremely costly mistake.

The mainstream view of the economics profession — held by leaders of the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Budget Office, private forecasters and many in academia — was that the United States economy was at, or close to, full employment.

In January 2017, for example, nearly three years ago, the Congressional Budget Office forecast a 4.7 percent unemployment rate as far as the eye could see, and it projected that the United States labor force would consist of 163.3 million in 2019. The jobless rate has averaged less than 3.7 percent through the first 11 months of the year, and the labor force now stands at 164.4 million people.

Donald Luskin of Trend Macrolytics writes in a note to clients that today’s jobs report was so good, it seems too good to be true:

This morning’s November Employment Situation report was a huge beat versus expectations for only 180,000 – and all the more so in that upward revisions of 41,000 to the prior two months’ reports raised the bar. Those upward revisions include 28,000 to October’s payrolls, which was already a blockbuster beat. 45,000 or so November payrolls are the result of automotive workers coming back from a strike, but that would have been anticipated in the consensus.

This report flies in the face of contemporaneous labor market data, which indicates in aggregate that employment increased only from 137,000 to 151,000 jobs – and indeed a tepid 81,000 new jobs reported in the “household survey” this morning confirms this. We have to think that these blockbuster payroll numbers are going to get revised lower. Nevertheless, they could get revised a lot lower and they’d still be strong – depriving those expecting a recession around the corner of a necessary argument.

Great short article: "How to Explain Anything to Anybody"

This is from a TEDx lecture - the 15 minute video is embedded in the link with the short (18 paragraphs) article and I've also embedded the video below the link, and excerpted the first four paragraphs. If you have time, watch the video (as with all TED videos it's excellent- note title of video "Quantum Physics for a seven year old") but definitely read the article. That is, unless you never have to explain anything to anybody.

If you read it, you'll think "Of course, that's common sense" - but do you - or I - actually do it?

How to explain anything to anyone: 4 steps to clearer communication

“Have you ever had this experience?” asks physicist Dominic Walliman in a TEDxEastVan Talk. “You’re having a chat with someone, and they’re telling you something about a subject they’re very interested in or they know a lot about, and you’re following along. Then, at some stage you realize you kind of lost the thread of what they’re saying … You realize you have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.”

When this has happened, you probably felt bad — like you just weren’t smart enough to understand what they were saying and you’ve wasted that person’s time.

Perhaps you’ve been on the other side, too. You were talking about something relatively complex and you could practically see the moment that your listener checked out. Not only is it uncomfortable but it’s also disheartening when what you’re saying is important, cool or valuable to the listener.

When you’re the speaker, “there are things you can do to improve this,” says Walliman. All you need to do is find a better way to explain your subject.

 

"15 Life Lessons from Peter Sellers" and the Pink Panther

Love Peter Sellers - 12 minutes long. And look closely at the end of #7 - actor on the left - and #9 - the woman starts coughing - neither can keep a straight face.

Also:

- But this is a priceless Steinway !
- Not anymore

New York's newest Bishop talks about his meeting with Pope Francis

Bishop Lucia is from Syracuse.

 

Survey: Average age people say they are "too old" to work out - 41.

Six in ten Americans said at the beginning of 2019 that this would be the year they finally get in shape, according to a recently survey. Yet two in five respondents now admit they feel “too old” to get back in the gym. In fact, the survey of 2,000 adults found that on average, the age when most in the survey felt too old to work out regularly was just 41 years old.

But, age was just one of many obstacles listed by respondents. The most common barrier was “not having time,” with 42% citing their schedules as the main reason why they neglect their fitness.

Modern work pressures get in the way of fitness and health for many. The survey asked respondents about their most common excuses for skipping a workout. In response, 25% said they’ve used “stayed too late at work” as an excuse, while 36% said they usually just have too much work to do. The most common excuse was being “too tired” to work out (56%).

According to the survey, conducted on behalf of the fitness app Freeletics, Americans will take advantage of any excuse to get out of a workout, including “the weather is too bad” (33%). Humorously, another 10% admitted to skipping a workout because the weather was too nice. An additional 23% said they’ve used eating too much as an excuse, and 15% actually used Netflix as an excuse to skip the gym.

County report on the need for affordable housing in Westchester

Interesting and very readable  summation of the report. I agree with it. Of course the devil is in the details. The Croton Trustee plan (supported by all of 13% of the Croton people who responded to the Trustee's own survey) suggests putting up a property in one of the worst possible spots in terms of parking and accessibility.

During a press conference on Nov. 19, Westchester County Executive George Latimer officially released the county planning department’s housing needs assessment. “Affordable housing is a major contributing factor to a balanced and well-functioning county and in turn, its communities and neighborhoods,” Latimer said. “To that end, Westchester County undertook this Housing Needs Assessment to establish a data-based foundation for the creation and preservation of affordable housing in Westchester County.”

Sebastian Maniscalco: "Spin Class"

Pretty good!

Pope Francis on "Just War" theory, nuclear weapons, and non-violence

This is from a larger article - speaking to the press on the Papal plane leaving Japan and returning to the Vatican.

One thing he has not begun work on, he said, is a proposed encyclical letter on nonviolence. Asked about the idea of such a letter, Pope Francis said, "The plan exists, but the next pope will do it." The encyclical is one of many "projects in the drawer" that are "maturing there," waiting until the time is right, he said.

Asked specifically if he believed there could be such a thing as a "just war."

Catholic tradition has long held that a nation attacked by an enemy could respond morally to that attack under certain conditions, including that the measures taken were proportionate to the damage inflicted and that civilians were not targeted.

"The hypothesis of legitimate defense remains always," the pope said. But in Catholic moral teaching, responding with violence must be "the last resort; the last resort is with weapons." First a nation must try "legitimate defense with diplomacy, with mediation."

Nuclear weapons

He spoke on the existence of "armaments hypocrisy," which involves "Christian countries, or at least countries with a Christian culture (and) European countries that speak of peace and live by (selling) weapons. This is called hypocrisy."

As for nuclear weapons, the pope reminded reporters that visiting Nagasaki and Hiroshima Nov. 24, "I said again that the use of nuclear weapons is immoral; this must go in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And not only the use, but also the possession, because if there is an accident or a crazed government, one's madness can destroy humanity. Think about what Einstein said: the fourth World War will be fought with sticks and stones."

As we enter Advent - Archbishop Sheen on the Incarnation of Christ

The famous Archbishop - an excerpt from "The Life of Christ"

"Now man need not hide from God as Adam did; for He can be seen through Christ's human nature. Christ did not gain one perfection more by becoming man, nor did He lose anything of what He possessed as God. There was the Almightiness of God in the movement of His arm, the infinite love of God in the beatings of His human heart and the Unmeasured Compassion of God to sinners in His eyes. God was now manifest in the flesh; this is what is called the Incarnation. The whole range of the Divine attributes of power and goodness, justice, love, beauty, were in Him. And when Our Divine Lord acted and spoke, God in His perfect nature became manifest to those who saw Him and heard Him and touched Him. As He told Philip later on: Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father [John 14:9]."

— Fulton J. Sheen, p. 21

 

Amazon's Jeff Bezos donates $100 million to aid the homeless; gets criticized by leftist whacko Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn, the head of the Labor Party in Great Britain and currently in danger of finishing in 3rd place (behind the conservative and liberal parties) in their election December 12th.  Corbyn's political views make Bernie Sanders look like a free market capitalist.

 

USA (and Trump) rather popular in Hong Kong

Trump's more popular in Hong Kong than in Manhattan. Lots more...

Stepinac alumnus Jon Voight 2nd part of interview and his tribute to fallen soldiers

This is a continuation of this interview An interview with Stepinac alumni and major donor, actor Jon Voight   which I posted Tuesday.

Very worth watching -

Really dumb: Sliding down icy Grand Canyon Trail

This was sent around as a warning tweet by the National Park Service. Note the sneakers. I'm hoping to do a little hike in Fahnestock Park today (Turkey Day) or in the next two days. No ice (or stupidity) expected.

"Terrifying Photo Shows Hikers Sliding Down Icy Grand Canyon Trail"

 

Trump executes goose on White House Lawn!!

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Trump delighted a crowd gathered on the White House lawn as he participated in a beloved annual tradition: the execution of an extremely irritating goose.

The president went through the motions of the solemn ceremony, reading off the goose's crimes and then asking if anyone wanted the goose to be pardoned. "These United States find you guilty of honking really loudly, chasing poor, defenseless people who just happen to get a little too close to you, and just being a real jerk."

*****************

Finally, the moment came: "Worst animal of all time!" Trump declared as he brought the axe plummeting down on the goose's neck. "No pardon for any geese, ever!"

Trump's poll numbers have skyrocketed since the execution of the goose, and he's since announced a daily execution of various animals including cats, honey badgers, and people from San Francisco.

An interview with Stepinac alumni and major donor, actor Jon Voight

UPDATE: There was a a Part 2 of the interview - very fascinating, as he talks about his role in the great movie Coming Home, among other things. Will post it if it goes onto youtube.

I like Jon Voight (and daughter Angelina Jolie); don't think much of the guy interviewing him. Voight turns 81 years old in a month.

PBS: Trump honors al-Baghdadi raid dog as stand in for Special Ops troops

Of course while Pence is patting the dog Conan on the head, Trump is patting himself on the back ... But still an interesting 5 minute video with good information. The Special Ops people couldn't be shown on camera; hence the dog for a photo op?

Note Mrs. Trump's Christmas coat ...

Genius Move: "Trump Supports Impeachment, Forcing Democrats To Oppose"

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The impeachment hearings have been thrown into chaos after President Trump announced that he supports impeachment, forcing Democrats to oppose their own impeachment inquiry.

"Impeachment? I'm for it. Great idea. Best idea, maybe ever," he said, adding that he's "getting kinda sick of all this winning anyway."

*****************

Democrats quickly condemned his statements. Pelosi said, "It's clear that Trump wants to be impeached because he's not good at being president. Well, we're going to show him a thing or two by forcing him to stay in the White House and finish out his term."

******************

One pundit on CNN suggested that Trump is supporting impeachment at the request of Putin or the guy from Ukraine or "whichever conspiracy thing we're pushing this month, I forget."

At publishing time, Democrats had also withdrawn from the 2020 race to teach Trump a lesson.

Stepinac marks the tenth anniversary as an independent Catholic High School

Half of Farandaville (Tim and myself) are graduates of Stepinac. The other half - Brigid ineligible as a woman - and living in England for her HS years  - and Joe a Fordham Prep grad.

My impression of difference between Fordham Prep and Stepinac:

Fordham Prep - Chardonnay

Stepinac - beer and a shot

Here's the video - 90 seconds long -

Interview with NY Rep. Elise Stefanik - Adam Schiff's nemesis

We will know in a year if I am right in thinking that Adam Schiff was one of God's gifts to Trump. Interview is with Marie Bartiromo and I'm sure Stefanik hits all  the talking points Stefanik wanted to hit. Was she also on Meet the Press? I doubt it.

Pope Francis - at Hiroshima and Nagasaki - speaks on the gross immorality of nuclear weapons.

I am not sure where he stopped first (UPDATE - stopped at Nagasaki first) - these are each three minutes long. The first is at Hiroshima - 80,000 instant deaths and 60,000 later. 

 

And here he's at Nagasaki - by the way, the center of Catholicism in Japan and a place where many were martyred in past centuries. The bomb landed on the edge of the Catholic enclave, killing 40% of the Catholics in Nagasaki. According to the WSJ "The pope also visited a memorial in Nagasaki for 26 missionaries and Japanese Catholics who were crucified during a crackdown on the religion in the 16th century."