Tom Faranda's Folly

"Kamala Harris: Pro-Life Americans are “Extremists”"

Kamala, a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Kamala Harris continued her abortion cheerleading tour today. This time she sat down with actress Sophia Bush for another event to promote abortion. There, she claimed pro-life Americans are extremists for passing laws to protect babies from abortions and then lied about what those laws do.

Well we disagree.

Tuesday wordle

YIKES! Woman survives being compacted in a garbage truck - 50 second video

Bizarro World. She feel into a dumpster putting out her garbage.

 

What is the shelf life of liquor?

Here is useful information for the home bar. I already knew some (like the surprisingly short life of vermouth) but not all of this. Excerpt below but it's not a long article anyway.

"From distilled spirits to vermouths, here’s a handy guide to storing your bottles—and knowing when it’s time to let go."

So what is the shelf life of a bottle of alcohol? It turns out the answer is pretty complex.

Shelf Life of Liquor Fast Facts

• • Unopened liquor of all kinds will generally keep indefinitely if stored properly. Store out of direct sunlight, tightly sealed, in a stable room-temperature environment.
  • Once opened, distilled spirits like whiskey and gin won’t expire or become unsafe to consume, but they may start to taste “off” after 1–3 years.
  • Liqueurs, opened, will usually last 6 months–1 year.
  • Vermouths and other wine-based spirits like vino amari should be refrigerated and consumed within 6–8 weeks.

Monday wordle

Three examples of mainline media dying

Wow. All three of these were separately posted on Drudge a few days ago.

From the Hollywood Reporter -

The media sector is facing a crisis unlike anything seen since the 2008 financial mess, with layoffs and cost-cutting at every turn. The cuts have all occurred in the backdrop of declining web readership at many major publishers over the past year, as tech giants like Meta (Instagram, Facebook) and Google try to keep consumers on their own platforms while old standby referrers like Twitter/X no longer deliver as many readers and the social media landscape fractures. The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time, Condé Nast, Sports Illustrated, Business Insider, New York Daily News, National Geographic and The Baltimore Sun have all been in the news just this month for layoffs, cost-cutting, labor walkouts or bleak prognosticating.

NY Post reporting on the ongoing NY Daily News disaster - the NYP must be laughing about this.

The News — which bills itself as “New York’s Hometown Newspaper” — has been without a home since giving up its Lower Manhattan headquarters at the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The 104-year-old tabloid was scooped up by notorious vulture hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which owns more than 200 newspapers, as part of a $633 million acquisition of Tribune Publishing in May 2021.

From Axios -  Hit the link for the list of media companies cutting staff or outright on the very verge of closing.

Mainstream media bloodbath: News outlets slash jobs as business suffers. Nearly a dozen mainstream media companies are gutting staff and scrambling to rescue their struggling businesses. Why it matters: The media business is shrinking at the national, state and local levels — a scary, stark new reality for thousands of journalists.

Sunday wordle

Close call!

Sign at the March for Life - and two pictures

The Consistent Ethic. Got the wording - also on a flyer - but not a picture. But see the two below.

Make America
good again
Good to the unborn
to their mothers
to refugees & immigrants
to workers & farmers
to the Earth
Good to each other –
red & blue, black & white.

And bonus - here's a third one. It was snowing.

 

Saturday wordle

Two minutes.

It's Saturday: A Revolver - bourbon coffee cocktail!

Will have tonight and report back!

 

Friday wordle

Pope Francis on the marriage annullment process - 90 second video

Thursday wordle

NYT: An atheist chaplain counsels a death row inmate

This was a feature in the NY Times a number of days ago. Interesting and in a way, sad. Hit the link for the whole article.

An Atheist Chaplain and a Death Row Inmate’s Final Hours. Devin Moss spent a year ministering to convicted killer Phillip Hancock. Together, they wrestled with one question: How to face death without God.

Moss, a chaplain, had spent the year working as the spiritual adviser to Phillip Hancock, a death row inmate in Oklahoma....

Hancock, convicted of two murders he committed in 2001, was scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. With three hours to go, his lawyers were still hoping that Oklahoma’s governor would grant him clemency, as the state parole board had voted to recommend three weeks earlier.

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

Moss thought of the outrage Hancock had shared with him. “The good Christians are going to strap me to a crucifix and put a nail in my vein?” Hancock had asked. “Do they really think that their God approves of them?”

Wednesday wordle

"3 Hudson Valley Hospitals Ranked Among Best 250"

Healthgrades evaluated 4,500 hospitals across more than 30 common procedures and conditions to determine the 250 best in the nation.

Healthgrades evaluated 4,500 hospitals across more than 30 common procedures and conditions to determine the 250 that received 2024 America’s Best Hospitals Awards.

Hospitals in the Hudson Valley among the top 250 nationwide are:

 

• • Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital, Newburgh
  • Northern Westchester Hospital, Mount Kisco
  • Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Poughkeepsie

Healthgrades said in a news release that it used data-driven, clinically validated methodology that focuses solely on patient outcomes to determine the rankings.

Tuesday wordle

"Pigs fly; NPR has fair article on March for Life"

Wow. And it's not bad at all - as the posting says, the writer and her editor are probably re-writing their resumes, looking for new gigs.

Pigs fly; NPR has fair article on March for Life

 

 

 

Monday wordle

Palantir's CEO Alex Karp crushes wokeness - gutsy for a corporate CEO

I love this guy - I think he deliberately tries to look like a mad scientist or Albert Einstein. Palantir is an up and coming information aggregation company - heavy into Artificial Intelligence (AI).

BUT he gets it - "the most important issue is war and peace". And he goes after the typical BS'ing CEO.

 

Sunday wordle

93 year old, with the cardio of a 40 year old

Cool. He uses the Concept 2 indoor rowing machine for his cardio. I should get back to using it myself. And - he lifts weights. The 90 second interview at the bottom was nine years ago.

“We need to look at very active older people if we want to understand aging,” said Bas Van Hooren, a doctoral researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and one of the study’s authors. Many questions remain unanswered about the biology of aging, and whether the physical slowing and declines in muscle mass that typically occur as we grow older are normal and inevitable or perhaps due, at least in part, to a lack of exercise.

For lessons on how to age well, we could do worse than turn to Richard Morgan.

At 93, the Irishman is a four-time world champion in indoor rowing, with the aerobic engine of a healthy 30- or 40-year-old and the body-fat percentage of a whippet. He’s also the subject of a new case study, published last month in the Journal of Applied Physiology, that looked at his training, diet and physiology.

Its results suggest that, in many ways, he’s an exemplar of fit, healthy aging — a nonagenarian with the heart, muscles and lungs of someone less than half his age. But in other ways, he’s ordinary: a onetime baker and battery maker with creaky knees who didn’t take up regular exercise until he was in his 70s and who still trains mostly in his backyard shed.

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

What made Morgan especially interesting to the researchers was that he hadn’t begun sports or exercise training until he was 73. Retired and somewhat at loose ends then, he’d attended a rowing practice with one of his other grandsons, a competitive collegiate rower. The coach invited him to use one of the machines.

“He never looked back,” Daly said.

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

During the time trial, his heart rate peaked at 153 beats per minute, well above the expected maximum heart rate for his age and among the highest peaks ever recorded for someone in their 90s, the researchers believe, signaling a very strong heart.

His heart rate also headed toward this peak very quickly, meaning his heart was able to rapidly supply his working muscles with oxygen and fuel. These “oxygen uptake kinetics,” a key indicator of cardiovascular health, proved comparable to those of a typical, healthy 30- or 40-year-old, Daly said.

Perhaps most impressive, he developed this fitness with a simple, relatively abbreviated exercise routine, the researchers noted.

• • Consistency: Every week, he rows about 30 kilometers (about 18.5 miles), averaging around 40 minutes a day.
  • A mix of easy, moderate and intense training: About 70 percent of these workouts are easy, with Morgan hardly laboring. Another 20 percent are at a difficult but tolerable pace, and the final 10 at an all-out, barely sustainable intensity.
  • Weight training: Two or three times a week, he also weight-trains, using adjustable dumbbells to complete about three sets of lunges and curls, repeating each move until his muscles are too tired to continue.
  • A high-protein diet: He eats plenty of protein, his daily consumption regularly exceeding the usual dietary recommendation of about 60 grams of protein for someone of his weight.

"Source and Summit: Reflections for a Eucharistic revival"

"Lay Aside All Earthly Cares". I thought this was great. Read carefully what he means by that line. Meantime we are on our way to Washington for the March for Life. This is from Magnificat.

 

Oldie but Goodie: "Two Cows" the updated version

Ahhh, sent to my by my buddy John W in Australia.  Who was a quite tough rugby back (flyhalf) when we lived in Cayman. YIKES! 43 years ago!!

TWO COWS

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other and then throws the
milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of
credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity
swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back,
with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a
Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells
the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says
the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want
three cows.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

 

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
Nobody believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows but at least you are now a Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.

A GREEK CORPORATION
You have two cows borrowed from French and German banks.
You eat both of them.
The banks call to collect their milk, but you cannot deliver so you call the IMF.
The IMF loans you two cows. You eat both of them.
The banks and the IMF call to collect their cows/milk.
You are out getting a haircut.

 

"Trump Promises Vivek A Position Running The White House 7-Eleven"

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have a mixed race family; please don't send me any stupid comments or emails saying I'm a racist.

Following former President Donald Trump's landslide victory in the Iowa Primary and immediate concession by GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump offered an olive branch by promising the billionaire entrepreneur a cabinet position running the White House 7-Eleven convenience store.

"I've always said Vivek was a great man, one of the greatest men, to be honest," said Trump during a victory speech. "That's why I've graciously offered him this incredible opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to run our big, beautiful White House convenience store. It's a tremendous, wonderful place."

"Under Biden, the White House doesn't even have a 7-Eleven. Not good! We're going to bring convenience back to the West Wing!"

Trump went on to say that he'll work closely with Ramaswamy every day when he takes office, stopping by the official 7-Eleven store located in the halls of the West Wing several times a day for a Diet Coke and "one of those delicious warmed-up cheeseburgers under the hot light thingies."

Ramaswamy quickly began training for the position, watching official 7-Eleven franchisee training videos on how to fix the Slurpee machine and offer fast service ringing up Big Gulps.

"Technically, I'm really very overqualified for this," Ramaswamy told reporters. "And I'm a little suspicious as to why Trump chose me for this position over some of the other candidates. But I'll take what I can get at this point."

When questioned, Trump was horrified at the accusations that any kind of racial stereotyping played into his selection of Ramaswamy. "I wanted to offer the job to DeSantis, frankly, but he's too short to see over the little hot dog display."

Wednesday wordle

"Prosecutors in Scathing Filing Dismiss Political Persecution Argument in Hunter Biden Gun Case"

Federal prosecutors dismissed Hunter Biden’s argument that the gun case against him is politically motivated in a scathing court filing, pointing out that the first son readily admitted in his memoir to smoking crack on an almost constant basis around the time he purchased a firearm in 2018.

Responding to Hunter’s recent motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that he is being persecuted by his father’s political enemies, prosecutors submitted a filing in Delaware court on Tuesday arguing that the “theory is a fiction designed for a Hollywood script.”

The 52-page filing repeatedly cites the younger Biden’s 2021 memoir, which highlights his past struggles with drug addiction. Hunter writes in the book that he decided to purchase a firearm in 2018, around the time he was smoking crack nearly every 15 minutes, after a drug dealer pointed a gun at him during a transaction. Prosecutors also reveal in the filing that cocaine was found on the pouch Hunter was using to store his firearm before his then-girlfriend threw it in a trashcan in a public parking lot after finding it in his unlocked car.

Poor guy. More if you hit the link.

PSA: "Items to stockpile ... in case Trump becomes President"

A Public Service Announcement from Babylon Bee.

9 Items Liberals Must Stockpile To Protect Themselves In Case Trump Wins

With the Iowa Republican Caucus done, it's time for us to confront our deepest, darkest fear: Donald Trump may actually get re-elected in November. As painful as it may be to face that fact, this reality means there are things liberals may need to think about buying up and hoarding.

The Babylon Bee is here to help with the following helpful list of things you should stockpile in case Trump takes the White House and kills democracy AGAIN:

1. "Gun-Free Zone" signs: To scare off the roving gangs of MAGA voters.
2. Bricks: For throwing through the windows of a local small business. For democracy.
3. Books that say "gay": You need to build up a stash before Trump burns them all.
4. Freeze-dried mail-in ballots: You'll need them to take back our democracy in 2028.
5. Every episode of Brian Stelter's Reliable Sources on DVD: There's no way those will be available for purchase in Trump's fascist America.
6. Masks & COVID tests: To provide you with peace of mind while in your bunker.
7. Emergency puberty blockers: In case you or a loved one ever need to trans a kid.
8. Kleenex: To use as you mourn the loss of our precious democracy. And while watching your Brian Stelter DVDs.
9. Pictures of Trump: To stare at hatefully every day.

Go! Get out there, hit every store you can find, and get all of this stuff while you still can!

Tuesday wordle

Funeral arrangements for John Broderick, prolife lawyer

Funeral Arrangements for John Broderick

 

who went to the Lord yesterday.

 

Beney Funeral Home

 

79 Berry Hill Rd, Syosset, NY 11791

 

wake from 5 to 9 on Friday

 

Funeral Mass at 9:45 AM Saturday

 

St Edward's 

 

205 Jackson Ave.

 

Syosset, NY 11791

Buffalo Bills move on in NFL Playoffs

YAY, NY team - The Steelers don't tackle like they used to.

If the video doesn't embed here is the link - https://youtu.be/9_4Ybszo0lk?si=e64-f9F-rh6jXcSU

Monday wordle

Wow. Eagles v. Tampa Bay in NFL playoffs last night

Double wow. Eagles looked inept.

If video is blocked, here is the link - https://youtu.be/UKBAcibnGpw?si=loQ7EbPqbcV6nvlt

Joyce Randolph (Trixie on the Honeymooners)

Trixie -  99 years old.

Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on the classic sitcom “The Honeymooners,” and was the last surviving member of the cast, died Saturday in New York City. She was 99. Randolph was in hospice care at the time of her death and died of natural causes, her son, Randy, told TMZ.

Randolph’s character was married to Art Carney’s Ed Norton on “The Honeymooners.” They were the neighbors of Ralph and Alice Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.

Born Joyce Sirola to a Finnish American family in Detroit, she got her start in show business when she joined a touring production of “Stage Door” while working at a department store, then moved to New York where she acted in theater and on television in shows such as “Buck Rogers.”

Gleason noticed her in a commercial and cast her in “The Honeymooners” in 1951. It first appeared as a sketch on “Cavalcade of Stars” and “The Jackie Gleason Show,” then ran as a standalone sitcom in 1955 and 1956 on CBS. Though the show produced just 39 episodes, its popularity has endured and it influenced generations of sitcoms with its portrayal of squabbling working class families.

Though she didn’t appear in later revivals of the series, Randolph became so identified with the role of Trixie that she found it difficult to get other roles after the series ended.

A true classic.

And here's Trixie listening to Alice talk about Ralph's birthday.

 

Sunday wordle

Yay! Keeping wine fresh after opening

This a pretty good article from Popular Mechanics (of all places) in 2022. Worth hitting the link for the whole thing. I only put one excerpt below the link - there are other good ideas.

Usually, an open bottle of red wine will remain largely unchanged for four to five days, while whites and rosés will retain their flavor for two to three. But with the proper care, you may be able to keep sipping on a tasty blend past that.

Anyone who finds themselves frequently throwing out good leftover wine should consider investing in a Coravin Wine Preservation System. 

Starting at $100, this device inserts a needle into the cork without displacing the material, allowing you to pour out the wine while the bottle remains sealed. Once the needle comes out, the cork expands back to its normal shape, preventing any oxygen from coming in. Restaurants rely on this system—which Waterhouse says can keep an open bottle fresh for weeks—to be able to sell high-end bottles of wine by the glass. 

Heller uses her Coravin for dessert wines since she and her guests only consume a small amount of them at a time. “That’s definitely more of an investment, but that’s what I use when I have something that I know I’m not going to finish and it’s got some sort of sentimental value or it’s got a big price tag,” she says. “It’s really great for that.” 

 

Saturday wordle

Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen this year

Most interesting part of this short video is the tradesman speaking in the last half.

Friday wordle

Important! Signs you wife is preparing to do you in...

Is Your Wife Planning To Murder You? Look For These Red Flags

You've got to love hints a, g,  & i...

Whether you and your wife are newlyweds or have been married for several years, this thought has, at one point or another, crossed your mind: "Is my wife planning to murder me?" Though determining the answer is not easy, there are warning signs.

The Babylon Bee is here to help increase your admittedly slim chance of survival by providing you with the following list of red flags to watch for:

1. 1. She listens to podcasts about wives murdering their husbands: Sure, many wives do this, but your wife takes notes. Not good!
   2. She always says things like "If you died, would you want me to remarry?": Yeah, it's over for you.
   3. She has a large collection of Stanley tumblers that are heavy and sturdy and would make a great blunt weapon: Have you seen the size of those things?
   4. Her Amazon wish list includes hydrofluoric acid and large plastic barrels: We both know what those are for.
   5. She keeps encouraging you to get the COVID-19 vaccine: Those things kill.
   6. She asks you to lie down in the trunk of her car: "Just to see how much cargo space it has," she says.
   7. She has an oddly specific fitness goal of being able to deadlift exactly your body weight: Why would she need to only lift that much?
   8. She planned a romantic date to that old abandoned mine on the outskirts of town: "It'll be great. There won't be anyone else around."
   9. She books you a window seat ticket on Alaska Airlines: Even though she knows you prefer the aisle.
   10. She's currently sharpening an axe on the kitchen counter: Run!

While none of the items listed above is a guarantee she's trying to kill you, the odds are not in your favor. Keep your eyes peeled, chief.

Thursday wordle

Senasqua Park yesterday afternoon; post flood

This was around 4:15 and clearly there's been flooding but it had subsided.

 

Wednesday wordle

"SEC Approves Bitcoin ETFs for Everyday Investors"

From the WSJ yesterday afternoon.

The exchange-traded funds will allow investors to buy bitcoin as easily as stocks or mutual funds

The decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission will allow mainstream investors to buy and sell bitcoin as easily as stocks and mutual funds. Expectations of U.S. regulatory approval for such funds drove the price of bitcoin to the highest level in about two years. The digital currency fell to just below $46,000 late Wednesday, up from $17,000 in January 2023.

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

Crypto assets were mixed after the SEC’s decision. Ether, the second largest digital currency rose nearly 10%.

Coinbase Global COIN -0.46%decrease; red down pointing triangle, the largest publicly traded crypto exchange whose stock price tends to move in tandem with bitcoin, fell 1.4% in                   after- hours trading. Coinbase is listed as the custodian on at least eight spot bitcoin ETF applications.

 

 

The SEC previously rejected applications for so-called spot bitcoin ETFs on the grounds that the underlying market is vulnerable to fraud and market manipulation. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said more regulation and investor protection is needed before a swath of investors get access to the crypto market.

Gensler acknowledged the latest ETF applications were similar to ones the SEC had denied in the past. But he said a court ruling last year in favor of crypto asset manager Grayscale had compelled the change.

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

He added the SEC “did not approve or endorse bitcoin.”

“Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto,” Gensler said.

Highlights: Michigan v. Wisconsin National College Football Championship

In case ESPN blocks the embedding of the highlights, the link is here - https://youtu.be/EBdREJkch8g?si=XA5vqxDLp_AGI6SU

Tuesday wordle

Brigid pix - up close & personal with a squirrel

This was last Thursday - the 4th.

 

Monday wordle

Books I'll be reading this year - the next few months

Having posted this Books I read in 2023.  I thought I'd put up the next three books I'm planning on -

Just starting Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives our Success. It got good reviews and someone recommended it recently - actually sent to me by one of my vendors - so just started reading it.

Next, probably A Marginal Jew, Volume 3: Companions and Competitors. "Only" 720 pages - not as long as the 1100 pages of Volume 2.

Also later this year another seven day retreat, this one Job and Julian of Norwich, Trusting That All Will Be Well. Of course hit the link to see some very interesting reviews.

Sunday wordle