Good evening, Kibitzers! No, I won’t make you listen to that song.
Yesterday was the Winter Solstice, and also the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Nothing to see for the solstice, but the two planets were visible if nothing was in the way (LOOKING AT YOU, SKY OVER NEW JERSEY).
I watched the livestream from Lowell Observatory, which, being in Flagstaff on Mountain Time, was seeing the conjunction come into view at a decent hour when I could sit down and eat supper in front of it. You can see the replay of the livestream here. It has some good telescope shots of the planets once the sky over Arizona gets dark. Not all the scientists speaking are equally good lecturers, but that’s what the volume control is for. They were relentless about pointing out that the planets will still be mighty close for a few days, before they get too close to the sun to see, so one might wait out one’s local clouds and still get to see the phenomenon. So far, I am still waiting.
I’m usually NOT home to write a diary by this point in the holiday season, but… you know. So the message of that song is turned on its head — instead of people coming home to be together, it’s everyone staying home to keep apart. On the scale of bad things the Orange Menace is responsible for, it’s nowhere near the worst, but that in itself is a bad thing.
Anyway, since I still need to put some time into preparing for a last round of leave-the-house errands tomorrow, I’m gathering up some miscellaneous holiday, uh, stuff for you here, in the hope that your days may be merry and bright (although, unlike Megyn Kelly, I do not demand your Christmas or your Santa be white).
Let’s back up for a moment. It turns out that winter solstice sunset at Stonehenge is livestreamed by English Heritage, a charitable organization that cares for many of Britain’s historic sites. The replay video is long, but once the sun actually goes down, there’s not a lot of plot left.
If you’d care to learn more, this brand-new 20-minute video with anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota examines what’s known today about Stonehenge in the context of other prehistoric sites in the area.
To careen madly to another topic, the Rollin’ Wild series of animated short clips was a monster hit a few years ago. In it, the animators imagine what happens if all animals suddenly have their torsos inflated to the shape and elasticity of enormous rubber balls. It’s not a “fat joke”; it’s a comical exercise in the physics of bounciness, in which no actual animals were harmed.
No holiday is complete without one or more of the classic movies, I assert without evidence. Some odd soul has kindly made a six-minute montage of the extremely short scene in A Christmas Carol where Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Past. Nine movie versions from 1938 to 2009 are represented.
They are:
If we’re going to talk A Christmas Carol, we must have pudding. The Charles Dickens Museum presents food historian Pen Vogler making a Christmas pudding of the day. Recipe is on the YT page.
Let’s talk about cookies. You have my cookie recipe. I can make others, but I so seldom make cookies, I usually make my favorites when I do. Some people, however, approach cookies as a literal art form. I invite you to spend 15 minutes watching this lady make “art cookies”. I’m serious — two of the kinds of cookies are expressly stated to be based on works of Ellsworth Kelly. You will not learn the recipes here — for that, you’d need to venture behind the paywall of the Failing New York Times.
If, on the other hand, you do not live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, here are 15 minutes’ worth of cookies that are pretty and tasty-looking and a little different, but not so different as to require explaining their concept to your guests. You can glean the recipes by stopping and starting the video to read the fast-moving captions, or by going to their website, no account needed.
Need some hot chocolate to go with those cookies? If you take the trouble to make it the way they do in France, you’ll barely need the cookies. (If you drop a Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow in this stuff, God will strike you down and you’ll go straight to hell.)
And if you lack a snowstorm to look at through the window while you enjoy your hot chocolate, one that you will not have to drive in or shovel, unless you like that, here is a nice one with a good vigorous storm and a kitteh sleeping by the fire.
And with that, I wish a merry Christmas to all who observe it in any way, and an extra wish for all who’d rather be with loved ones whom they instead choose to protect from illness. May all our efforts keep all our loved ones, and ourselves, safe, and may we return next year to gathering as before!
Today’s Political and Other Short Subjects:
Let’s start with the latest from Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock.
The Meidas Touch is making good use of guest artists. Here’s Grammy winner Patti Austin with a new song for Georgia.
And then, we met journalist Heather Gardner last week, and here she is again.
Our favorite sources of parody music have not been idle. Founders Sing do Tom Petty.
Rocky Mountain Mike does ELO.
And Parody Project takes advantage of the limited time remaining to use Christmas songs.
Stephen Colbert offers a new pharmaceutical ad.
And last, Grandpa Tony Dr. Fauci further demonstrates how a person can be the exact opposite of Donald Trump, by being kind to worried little children.
And in case you were worried, here’s Dr. Fauci himself getting the Moderna vaccine today.
Stay safe! 💙💙💙💙💙
🌟 GOTV 🌟
🌟 Protect the Results: This group still stands ready to mobilize for peaceful actions if needed to protest actions by Trump that need pushback.
🌟 GEORGIA US SENATE RUNOFFS JANUARY 5: Donate HERE to the two candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock; to Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight; and to many other relevant orgs (you can designate who gets how much if any). For a simpler ActBlue page, with just the two candidates and Fair Fight, go to GAsenate.com.
🌟 BENEFIT: THIS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, for a donation STARTING AT $10, MADE HERE, Fair Fight offers an all-star performance of Celebrity Autobiography, wherein comic actors read passages from the autobiographies of other celebrities who did not intend to be funny. (See the link.)
Start time is 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. An enormous complement of celebrities is turning out to help Ossoff and Warnock, and if you can part with a grand, the $1K ticket also admits you to a VIP post-show conversation with Stacey Abrams and cast members. The cast list so far: Matthew Broderick, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Andrea Martin, Mandy Patinkin, Rosie Perez, Rob Reiner, Martin Short, Cecily Strong, Tony Hale, John Leguizamo, and some more surprise guests.
🌟 GEORGIA VOTERS:
- Having voted absentee in Georgia in November does NOT automatically get you a mail-in ballot for January! If you live in Georgia and want to vote by mail, request a ballot at ballotrequestsos.ga.gov. The Voter Protection Hotline at 888-730-5816 can help you with questions.
- EARLY IN-PERSON VOTING is NOW: DEC. 14 - JAN. 1.
🌟 WRITING:
🌟 TWEETING: Please follow and retweet both candidates (@Ossoff and @ReverendWarnock) to help raise their profiles. And while you’re at it, do the same for the official Biden/Harris Transition account, @Transition46, to help reinforce the idea that a legitimate transition is going on.
🌟 VOLUNTEER for phone banking: Team Warnock events HERE. Team Ossoff has multiple regional teams: Georgia In-state — Out-of-state East — Out-of-state South — Out-of-state Midwest — Out-of-state West. Each page gives clear instructions (and clarifies who’s in what region).
Also see text/phone opportunities HERE at SoCalBlue.
🌟 I continue to recommend the Twitter thread of Marc Elias of Democracy Docket for those tracking Trump’s electoral bullshit. There is a LOT of good blow-by-blow reporting there of each court action. Also, I have gotten to really just love Marc Elias.
|
🔥 DAILY KOS 🌊
🌬️ DISASTER ACT BLUE ⛈️
Daily Kos has been gathering reputable charities helping disaster victims, for the last couple of disasters, and setting up Act Blue pages where you can split your donation among all of them, or pick out one or more groups to get the funds.
We have come to the point where Chef José Andrés’ worldwide relief organization is so ubiquitous that I’m just giving it its own box here. I can’t even link all the places they’re working. They’re feeding people who need meals wherever they find them, for whatever reason and by whatever means, including supporting local restaurants by contracting with them for meals. Pretty much every tab at that website will tell you something amazing.
(Also: this genius tweet from the chef is incredibly kind and thoughtful while simultaneously throwing shade where it belongs. Well played!)
You can always donate or volunteer at their website, but it may not be up on the very latest news. For that, check Twitter for Chef Andrés and for World Central Kitchen.
|
It has been 1,189 DAYS, MORE THAN THREE YEARS, SINCE HURRICANE MARIA MADE LANDFALL IN PUERTO RICO ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2017. DECEMBER 1 ENDED THE THIRD HURRICANE SEASON AFTER MARIA’S SEASON.
Full power has never been restored there, and many homes still have blue tarps for roofs. The island has been hit by two more hurricanes this year, and has dealt with ongoing earthquakes, coronavirus, and a severe drought, but they have still not seen anything like the relief money Congress voted for them.
I am nothing if not stubborn, so the link to the diary of Puerto Rican/USVI relief efforts is staying here, at least until somebody takes office who will help them.
|
🦠 COVID-19 🧫
Missing some past entry? My past diaries list, where the older purple boxes still live.
NEW: The Washington Post is maintaining this page that tracks vaccine arrival and distribution state by state. Note this is NOT paywalled.
NEW: The Meidas Touch (yeah, that Meidas Touch) offers a short talk by RNA biologist Rob Swanda, explaining in laypeople’s terms how the new Covid vaccine technology differs from old-style vaccines.
SciShow has a video discussing the early news about vaccines. See also their playlist of Covid updates on what we’re learning.
Join Dr. Fauci to watch super slow-mo footage of coughs, sneezes, and speech. Kinda gross but very instructive!
This English-language article from El Pais talks about indoor transmission and the difference between aerosols and droplets.
This tweet from the Brown University School of Public Health has an animated map tracking the pandemic in the US since February. AND this tool on their website helps you figure out how risky an activity is. (h/t Greg Dworkin)
Georgia Tech “Event Risk Assessment” map. Use the slider on the left to pick an event size, and it shows you, for every US county, the current % risk of having at least one Covid-positive person show up.
MinutePhysics video explains how N95 masks work (it’s waaaay more subtle than you may think).
Viruses on surfaces, from The Guardian.
This virus spread tracking site also has an excellent “wiki” page on virus information/misinformation, proper mask use, symptoms, etc. h/t eeff!
The Atlantic has listed their ongoing virus coverage here, and none is behind a paywall.
This excellent video explains clearly how viruses are killed by washing with soap. h/t Sara R!
And this one intelligently discusses the benefits of face masks.
If you know someone who feels wearing a mask is just too hard, maybe they need to see this.
The Washington Post offers video tips on dealing with common mask annoyances. h/t Sara R again!
Further discussion of masks, including some useful video and valuable tips, in Besame’s KosAbility diary.
A doctor shows how to quickly alter a disposable mask to get a safer fit.
CDC chart showing how to remove gloves properly to avoid contamination.
The lung exercises in this diary are still good for anyone, sick or not.
If you’d like some attractive handmade facemasks, see Sara’s latest diary here, or the website here, to order a set made by Sara R and WInglion from various cotton quilt fabrics: $40 + $7.75 Priority Mail shipping for a set of 5 (or other quantities at $8 each). It’s $1 more per mask to add aluminum nosebars that fit the mask more tightly against your face. You can contact Sara R to discuss your preference in fabrics or special needs.
If you are a performing musician or public speaker, you might be interested in ”The Singer’s Mask” or “The Instrumentalist’s Mask”, available from (and to benefit) the Broadway Relief Project. They are pricey compared to regular masks, but specially designed to facilitate safer in-person performances.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Russian hackers attempting to disrupt the U.S. government were disappointed to discover that it had already been thoroughly disabled, the hackers have confirmed.
Expecting to find a well-oiled machine that they could impair, the hackers instead came upon a barely operational mess that had already suffered what appeared to be four years of degradation. [...snip]
“To be honest, it was pretty disheartening,” he said. “I was hired to cripple the U.S. government, but it’s clear that someone else got there first.” The hacker could not identify who was behind the widespread vandalism, but speculated that the culprit had vast experience in driving large organizations into bankruptcy.
— The Borowitz Report, at The New Yorker
This Week in Boredom:
- NASA News: The Hubble Space Telescope has seen an extremely cool Einstein Ring, an example of gravitational lensing in which the light from a more distant galaxy is actually bent by galaxies between us and it. See the image at the link, with more info.
- The Great Conjunction: While Jupiter and Saturn have reached their closest (apparent) approach and will be moving apart now, they are still quite close and can still be seen within the hour or so after sunset through about the 26th, at which point they’ll be too close to the sun to be visible. So if you had clouds yesterday, as I did, you have a few more chances to see them. Find a clear view of the southwest horizon; they’ll be visible in the same field of view in binoculars or a telescope, as will their larger moons. NASA’s December skywatch video shows you.
- Astronomy Picture of the Day: Dust pillars in the Trifid Nebula, from the Hubble telescope. See also yesterday’s solstice entry, a collage illustrating how the sunrise moves across the “east” from winter to summer solstice.
- Live cam: The Leavenworth, Kansas Village of Lights
- Smithsonian Transcription Project: Help transcribe letters and records from the Freedmen’s Bureau, a Reconstruction-era government agency concerned with the affairs of formerly enslaved people. Digitizing these records so they are searchable online makes them available to the descendants of such people seeking information about their heritage.
- Smithsonian Online Exhibition: Must Be Santa, a look at evolving US representations of Santa Claus in the 19th and 20th centuries, from the collections of various Smithsonian museums.
- French Pastry: A visit to the Vouvray Appellation, where an expert speaks about Loire Valley wines. (Still not exactly pastry.)
- Individual coffee-mug cake: Okay, today’s mug cake takes a little explaining (for me, anyway). There’s a kind of Dutch Christmas spice cookie called Speculaas, very thin and stamped with some design, such as a windmill. I’ve had those; they’re sold here, sometimes called “windmill cookies”; also called biscoff. What I did not realize was, their crumbs are then mixed with butter or another shortening to make a sweet spreadable paste called “cookie butter”. This is sold in jars, the best-known brand being Lotus Biscoff. (Amazon carries it, although apparently Trader Joe’s makes their own.) And now it’s taken you way longer to read this than to make the Lotus Biscoff mug cake, which microwaves in 1 minute. But you’ll need a jar of cookie butter.
- Time machine: On Christmas night in 1963, Nat King Cole performs The Christmas Song on The Danny Kaye Show.
- Obama White House video: Lighting the National Christmas Tree, 2016, with remarks (and Jingle Bells) by the President and a story from the First Lady.
- Ukulele Duet: Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit
- The Frick Collection’s “Cocktails with a Curator”: Discussion of Hoffman's "Bust of Henry Clay Frick", the robber baron who founded the museum. In honor of Frick’s first job as an accountant in his family’s distillery, the accompanying cocktail is an Old Fashioned. (New videos in this series post at 5 pm ET on Fridays, with the week’s cocktail recipe posted in advance. They run around 15-20 minutes.)
- The Metropolitan Opera is still streaming free operas daily. (They do not plan to re-open physically until September 2021. The entire 2020-21 season, through June, is very wisely canceled.)
|