Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Republicans in disarray!

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / How About Some Good News? I’ll Start!

How About Some Good News? I’ll Start!

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If We Were All in Florida, and There was No Covid, How Would We Celebrate Betty's Birthday?

It’s a tough day out there!

I’m not denying that this is a rough day, and I have been feeling sick to my stomach with worry and anxiety.  But that doesn’t help a thing.

How about some good news to remind us that it’s not hopeless, that there’s more good than bad out there, and that there’s always something we can do to make a difference?

So pull up a chair at the tiki bar and let’s celebrate the fact that the extra $5,000 we raised for Four Directions Wisconsin has indeed been double matched – turning our extra $5k into an extra $15,000.  

That’s $90,000 for organizing the Native vote in Wisconsin.

We did that!

And we have a jackal getting married today – VeniceRiley.  That’s definitely worth celebrating!

What else good is going on?

Reader Interactions

109Comments

  1. 1.

    JoyceH

    I finally got the house decluttered enough to get a cleaner who comes every two weeks. It’s so awesome. But I never know what to do with myself while the cleaner is cleaning. Currently on the front porch keeping the dog company.

  2. 2.

    Roger Moore

    My good news is that I was finally able to get a service engineer to my lab to fix my equipment. It’s been almost 2 weeks since the initial call. Yes, that includes Thanksgiving, but it’s still a long time for equipment to be down, and I’m glad the fix is in sight.

  5. 5.

    Benw

    My wife, oldest kid, and mother in law come home tomorrow!. I’m doing a metric ton of laundry to make sure everyone has clean sheets ready. Also, I managed to get in a nice easy jog this afternoon, so I have declared my booster side effects over!

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    Am I the only who’s excited about the $90,000 for Four Directions Wisconsin?  I thought surely there might be some whooping and hollering about that!

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    I won my first attempt at NaNoWriMo :) Meaning I hit the 50k word goal for the month, but I still have probably another 30k or so for a finished first draft. No idea if I’ll ever do anything with it, but who knows…

  11. 11.

    SpaceUnit

    Nice to see a new thread. The one below about the Supreme Court was getting bleak.

    Good news? Well here on the west side of Denver it’s almost 75 degrees and sunny on the first day of December.  We haven’t had any snow yet and we’ll probably be breaking temperature records all week long!  I’m running my AC even as we speak.

    Oh wait. That’s actually bad news. Never mind.

  13. 13.

    Kent

    Is this an open thread?

    Anyone have any experience sending their kids overseas in high school year abroad foreign exchange programs? Our 10th grade daughter is very interested in being a foreign exchange student to a Spanish speaking country next year. Which will mean Spain or somewhere in Latin America.

    We are just starting to explore options through traditional programs like AFS and YFU and it turns out there are dozens of organizations that do foreign exchanges. I think AFS is the largest and oldest but I’m not sure which are good or bad. Anyone with personal experience?

    The alternative would be to send her down to Chile as part of a DIY year abroad that isn’t part of any official US-based foreign exchange program. We can do that because my wife is Chilean and our kids are all dual citizens with Chilean passports and we have a ton of family down there. So we could theoretically just enroll her in a Chilean private school and send her down to live with a family that is one of my wife’s circle of friends from her extensive HS and college alumni network. She went to fancy private schools in Santiago and still has lots of contacts. And because our daughter is a dual citizen there is no Visa paperwork, student Visas or any other administrative paperwork to deal with.

  15. 15.

    ruemara

    @TaMara (HFG): She’s adorable! You really love the Great Danes.

     

    I’m sitting on some potential good news? Maybe?

    Also hoping to get some responses so my What Drives Us deep dive into the EV infrastructure provisions means for public electric vehicle chargers this week, so we can discuss that  next week.

  16. 16.

    narya

    @WaterGirl: I’m excited! I am ashamed to admit I haven’t yet donated (because I hate the ActBlue email barrage i experienced before), but I have committed myself to donating at some point.

    It’s a hard day–Word AIDS Day, the Scotus BS, and anniversary of the death of a child of one of my best friends–but small expressions of love and caring, and the continuing efforts of so many folks here to hold each other up, help to create a space to breathe.

    Something good? My running challenge is doing a 48-state route for December, with all runners’ efforts pooled together, and donating to a First Nations group. (The running series gives back in all of its efforts.) Something else good is this site’s efforts–to educate, to inform, to make each other laugh, to share pet pics, to Do Good in this world. Thank you.

  19. 19.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Also hoping to get some responses so my What Drives Us deep dive into the EV infrastructure provisions means for public electric vehicle chargers this week, so we can discuss that  next week.

    @ruemara: I’m excited for this discussion!

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    You are most certainly not the only one! I think what we as a community have done is simply extraordinary and well worth noisy and sustained cheering! Thank you for your leadership and coordination to make this happen.

    (I was in class and am only now catching up, or I would surely have responded sooner.)

  27. 27.

    bemused senior

    @Kent: my daughter spent her junior year abroad in Argentina in 2001, via Afs. It was a great experience for her, despite being the year of their economic collapse with many unexpected problems to deal with. I would recommend it to anyone with an outgoing teen. Your kid is no doubt fluent in spanish. My daughter was as fluent as you get if you take all the spanish taught at a california high school, plus spanish immersion summer camp. She did fine socially, but had difficulty with vocabulary in classes she took with her argentinian sister, who was in a stem track.  The dual citizenship thing would make the bureaucracy easy in Chile but Argentina paperwork was a bitch.

  28. 28.

    Miss Bianca

    @TaMara (HFG): Oh, Trixie Belle! That’s good enough news for me!

    Other good news is that it’s freaking gorgeous outside. I gotta get out of the office!

     

    @JustRuss: I was just going to suggest Rotary Club!

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    Oops, didn’t see this thread before posting below. Stacy Abrams is running for GA governor.

  31. 31.

    Scout211

    @Kent:

    Our oldest granddaughter went through the Rotary Exchange program. Her  family also hosted several students for that program in their home.  The family was very happy with the program, both for their daughter and as hosts. One thing that my granddaughter liked about the Rotary program was having three different host families during her year as an exchange student.

  32. 32.

    Jay

    Got my booster on Saturday,

    came in to work this am, to find out that MGMT followed my insistence, and it’s now policy that we are writing off all pump, dehumidifier and other flood related tools for those effected in the Fraser Valley.

  33. 33.

    Leto

    @JoyceH: I came back, late, to the thread where we were discussing Comm yesterday, but wanted to say that I was very familiar with VLF as our site also maintained a rx VLF array. Many of my friends also worked on other AF VLF sites. Always glad to meet a fellow RF person :)

  36. 36.

    Nelle

    The Des Moines area is getting 70 to 90 new residents from Afghanistan via one agency alone (I’m volunteering with US Committe for Refugees and Immigrants.  Catholic Charities and Lutgeran Services are the other two agencies with resettlement contracts.). There are mountains of blankets, diapers, coats, pots and pans (in good condition) being donated for them.

    Think of it..these guys I picked up last night wore big tags around their necks, identifying them as refugees from Afghanistan and that they didn’t speak English.   They were on multiple flights where other passengers kindly helped them. At baggage claim, others smiled a welcome to them.

    They entrusted themselves to three old white people, who put them in cars and took them to an extended stay hotel.  They were brave and cheerful.  And, I’m sure, overwhelmed.  I’m disgusted with much about Iowa right now but I saw a lot if goodness yesterday.

  38. 38.

    Isua

    Yay for Four Directions! RAINN is matching donations today so I just sent them 25 bucks because screw the Supreme Court.

    And I have 25 bucks to spare because I did the paperwork this morning to onboard at a new full-time  teaching job in January! So there’s my good news. I’ll be teaching college-level intro science online, and it’s got a way better salary than I was expecting. I will be able to support my guinea pigs in the manner to which they have become accustomed. And my children too, probably.

  39. 39.

    JMG

    I shook off my sloth and telephoned one of my oldest friends from college, who spent most of the fall in Europe. He allowed as how he is nearing 70, he might be getting a little old for a couple of months of motorcycle rallies and motorcycle touring.

  40. 40.

    Kent

    @bemused senior: Thanks!   Our daughter is not actually that fluent in Spanish.  She has had a couple of years of HS Spanish and is OK with it but one of my wife’s regrets is that we did not really teach them that much Spanish when they were young.    But I expect she will be fine.  She is a quick learner and that is part of the point of doing an exchange anyway.

    We have hosted students ourselves (from Germany) as part of Youth for Understanding.  So I know how that works.  But the experience of a US student studying abroad is not necessarily equivalent to hosting a student here.

    It appears that one of the issues she is going to face is getting enough graduation credits to graduate with her class after a junior year abroad.  Talking to her HS counselor it sounds like they are ambivalent about granting credit for study abroad.  They will grand elective credit.  But the need a lot of documentation to allow foreign HS classes to be used to meet core state requirements for ELA, social studies, math, or science.  So that could be hit or miss.  If we send her to Santiago it would be to a tony private school that is probably international baccalaureate so they would have extensive scope and sequence information from which to decide whether to grant credit. But if she goes through a regular program and winds up at some rural school someplace that might not be the case.  She can always do online classes and summer work to fill in any missing gaps.  But I hate for her to have to do that unnecessarily.

  41. 41.

    Anoniminous

    Antifa has entered the Pantheon …..

    Josephine Baker is the first Black woman to be inducted into France’s Pantheon. The Pantheon is a mausoleum for the remains of distinguished French citizens. Interment in the crypt of the Panthéon is severely restricted, there has only been 80 people so distinguished since 1791, and is allowed only by a parliamentary act for “National Heroes”.

    France awarded Baker with various high honors over the years: a French Resistance medal, the Croix de Guerre, and in 1961, upon recognition by President de Gaulle, the Legion of Honor.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Well, after going back and forth about it since Turkey Day, succumbed to temptation and signed up for the 99 cents per month for a year offer at Hulu (tier with ads). On the final day.

    Spent a fair amount of time since just poking around the offerings. Not anywhere near enough that appeals to me (or which have not already seen) which would justify the usual monthly fee of $6.99 for the same service tier. Slim pickings, IMHO, but 12 clams for the year (unless I choose to cancel earlier) is acceptable..

    That said, only a couple of episodes in but so far (and this will qualify as old news to many, no doubt) Deutschland 83, which has been on my ‘check it out if found’ list for quite some time, is pretty good.

  46. 46.

    CaseyL

    @TaMara (HFG): omigod, the pink on her belly and between her toes!  Cannot wait to (virtually) welcome her!

    Here’s something in the “Good News – if you can keep it” category:  My Aunt and I were going to visit my brother in Norway next summer, but Covid surges in Europe have Norway barring anyone without a EU vaxx certificate.  So we are instead going to Hawaii in May.

    We think.

    We hope.

    Eh.  We’ll see.

  47. 47.

    Betty

    @TaMara (HFG): She looks adorable. Congratulations! Yay, Balloon Juice for the help given to Four Directions!  Congratulations to Venice Riley and the new spouse and to Cain and the new spouse!

  48. 48.

    cain

    Hey I have some good news – I got married last week! Initially we were going to wait, but then we ended up in a tiki bar and the bartender convinced us to do it now with family. I listen to my tiki bar overlords!

    A week from this past Sunday, we had the Indian version which was basically a shortened 1 hour ceremony. It was modified because the guy conducting it was quite progressive and is in fact an educator instead of a Hindu priest. The ceremony was quite nice and if anyone wants a link to the youtube, happy to give it out – all the parts of the ceremony is explained. Also we modified the ceremony where a part of it where in a traditional marriage the bride sits on the father’s lap and is handed over to the husband (fuck the patriarchy) now clearly we can’t do that given this is both our 2nd time around. Instead, we modified the ceremony where I ask permission of my wife’s kid to share their mother’s love. It was quite lovely. Then we took blessings from the elders. (funny since I myself am an “elder”)

    Wednesday was the court one and the judge attempted to make me the bride and my wife the groom and tried to marry us that way – which hey no worries there. But the names got butchered, it was quite fun and the judge was a sweetheart all the same.

    This marks the end of a 6 month relationship – I already asked my wife to marry me about 4 dates in. We stopped dating on the 3rd date. haha! Somehow I’ve got myself someone who completely fits me and I fit her.

    There you go. :-)

  49. 49.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @SpaceUnit: The weather in Denver has been both glorious and frightening. We’ve never had to water so much into December.

    Spouse and I set out for a walk on the path along the creek and it was just so nice it was over 8 miles by the time we arrived back home.

  50. 50.

    bemused senior

    @Kent: My daughter  had the issues with graduation credits but took extra classes senior year and college admissions people worked with her (yes, her argentinian high school grades were mediocre, but I think she was regarded as resourceful for undergoing the experience.) The family she lived with were small business owners, and I liked that she wasn’t in a wealthy family setting. She has kept in touch with her family and visited once to introduce her husband to them.  Eta she ended up going to ucla, so even with the california high school area requirements she made it work out.

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    @cain:

    Congratulations, you two crazy kids!

    Maybe you dodged a wedding bullet. My boss is headed to Bangladesh this month where she got the lucky straw I guess, and is in charge of a wedding comprising six discrete ceremonies. Six.

  53. 53.

    Wolvesvalley

    $90,000 for organizing the Native vote in Wisconsin

    Jackals come through (and go over and above) so often, but it should never feel routine. Hooray for Four Directions for getting a double match for our extra zeal!​ 

    Oh, and Trixie is just adorable!​​

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @CaseyL

    Just on the chance whale watching might be something which you’re avidly expecting, they pack up their blowholes and head back to Alaska from here by the time March is over.

  55. 55.

    trollhattan

    CA Dept of Water Resources on every December first announces the initial allocation of water for the 29 SWP contractor agencies in the coming calendar year. This year’s initial allocation: 0%. “Don’t use it all in the first shower.”

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    @KBS: I remember when people wanted Stacey Abrams to take a job with the Biden administration, or serve as DNC Chaiman. People were anxious to see her on the national stage. She understood where she could deliver her highest value though. Georgians need a good Governor, and Stacey Abrams will be a great one.

  60. 60.

    SpaceUnit

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Yeah, this is the longest streak of beautiful fall weather that I can remember in Colorado.  And I’m an autumn sort of person so I’ve been reveling in it.  Usually fall lasts about a week here.

    But this is starting to feel a little weird.

  62. 62.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @SpaceUnit: 75 is no where near warm enough to run the AC. I just open the windows at that temp here in the DC area. It has to hit the upper 80s before I think about turning on air conditioning.

  66. 66.

    CaseyL

    @NotMax: Thanks for that bit of info.  Whale watching wasn’t precisely on my radar (I can do that up here in Washington, albeit a different species). I’m more interested in snorkeling, but haven’t found out yet if that’s on offer.

  70. 70.

    opiejeanne

    @JoyceH: We have two ladies who clean every other weeks for us, and you’re right, it’s wonderful. And it forces us to pick up, tidy up, before they get here so that they can actually clean the place.

    I still need to do a little more de-cluttering, there are a few large items that need to be stored or gotten rid of, like that old Compaq computer that’s sitting beside my desk, just waiting for me to strip all of the photos and family research and save it somewhere else.

    Also, that portable AC unit on loan needs to find a new home somewhere.

  71. 71.

    H.E.Wolf

    So much good news! Felicitations to VeniceRiley and cain and their spouses, three cheers for future Governor Stacey Abrams, and hooray for the extra matching at Four Directions!

  73. 73.

    SpaceUnit

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    Here’s the thing . . . in Colorado’s thinner air there’s not much to block the UV rays.  Standing in the sun feels more than 20 degrees warmer than it did in Western Pennsylvania  (where I grew up) at the exact same temperature.  And it will heat up your home like nobody’s business.

    I actually live in the upper level of a condo building and my unit faces south / southwest.  It would be 80 plus degrees inside today if I didn’t turn on the air conditioning.

  74. 74.

    Mike in NC

    Hauled all of the Christmas stuff down from the attic. Next assignment will be to find someplace to buy an actual Christmas tree (real not fake) since nobody is selling them yet in our area. Three weeks until Christmas, so we won’t panic just yet.

  76. 76.

    opiejeanne

    My good news is that my son is getting married in January, in Vegas, to a woman with two kids who adore him, and that last part is really good news. I mean, the kids love him and that’s a relief.

    I think overall this is good news, I hope this is good news. There are so many issues with their health, both mental and physical, and how quickly this is moving, and oh God, he spent how much on the ring??? But he’s ecstatic, and that’s really nice.

  78. 78.

    CaseyL

    Wow – a whole lot of weddings happening!  Even though I’m a happily confirmed spinster, I’m so happy for those who’ve found their Forever Partner :)

    Joy and best wishes to all of you!

  79. 79.

    mvr

    Congrats to both Cain and to VeniceRiley!

    The Wisconsin total is obviously good news but I guess I felt like I celebrated that already.

    I guess my good news is that last week I turned in what I hope is the final report to the state’s environmental granting agency for a large ($900K+) fisheries conservation project I co-wrote the grant for as a volunteer.  If they accept it I will have reduced my major responsibilities by one, which is good since I have a day job.  Also my stress levels may now come down since this is something I have never done and I have lived in fear of screwing up some reporting requirement or other.

  80. 80.

    opiejeanne

    @cain: Congratulations! That all sounds lovely and I’m happy for you.

    My husband of 52 years on the 27th asked me on our first date, but he had had a lot of beer so I gently laughed at him, but he asked again as soon as he was sober.

  81. 81.

    Kayla Rudbek

    Yesterday, Mr. Rudbek found the diamond that had gone missing out of my engagement ring on Monday night. It’s irreplaceable as this was the one that he literally put under the microscope at work (to verify its grade from the jeweler) before he gave it to me, so I was very happy that he found it!

  82. 82.

    prostratedragon

    (Hope this works) Pfizer, Pfizer, Pfizer.

    Congratulations to VeniceRiley and cain and their spouses, and fair weather to all planning such moves. And $90K is big money for a 10,000th rank blog, good job us!

  86. 86.

    zhena gogolia

    Reposting from below. I am mesmerized by Get Back on Disney+. I only have time / energy to watch a half hour at a time, but it’s the greatest movie ever made.

    ETA: The way the psychology of each of the four of them emerges over the course of it is totally hypnotic. At first I found it irritating, but now (almost through part 1) I am ADDICTED!

    I have enormously increased respect for McCartney. And Ringo.

  87. 87.

    Raoul Paste

    @narya:

    “but small expressions of love and caring, and the continuing efforts of so many folks here to hold each other up, help to create a space to breathe.”

    Well said

  89. 89.

    Anonymous At Work

    Read a report, lost the link, that the Great Barrier Reef is blooming like crazy.  Not blooming like flower but as in highly visible emission of sperm and eggs in a multiple colors.

  91. 91.

    SiubhanDuinne

     

    @cain:

    Oh, that’s wonderful! Congratulations, Cain!

    And yes, I’d love a link to the video YouTube.

    (Edited)

  92. 92.

    HeleninEire

    @opiejeanne: LOL. I once had someone ask me to marry him when he was drunk. I was drunk too so of course I said yes. We were 2 years into the relationship, not one date.  We woke up the next next morning, looked at each other and almost simultaneously said “Nah.” A bullet dodged! But the relationship lasted yet another year.

  94. 94.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Leto:

    I came back, late, to the thread where we were discussing Comm yesterday, but wanted to say that I was very familiar with VLF as our site also maintained a rx VLF array. Many of my friends also worked on other AF VLF sites. Always glad to meet a fellow RF person :)

    Don’t even bother to reply to this comment, Leto. I just came here to say I haven’t the foggiest fucking idea what this means ??

  97. 97.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl: Great news and I did a bit to help reach the goal so it feels good.

    We went to dinner last night at good friends.  We had great snacks I brought and delicious Red Snapper plus oven roasted potatoes with gin fizzes and white burgundy (separately).  My partner doesn’t think Snapper is worth eating but it was very delicious!

  98. 98.

    Dan B

    @ruemara: Sounds great!  We’ve had Nissan Leafs for years and the specific type of charger is not being continued so it will be dicey for older Leafs unless the infrastructure bill addresses that issue.

  99. 99.

    PaulB

    I completed an 11-month fitness and weight loss program yesterday, with the following results:

    Total weight lost: 133 lbs

    Clothing size: from XXXL to M

    Waist size: from 50 inches to 34 inches

    Stamina: from a maximum 1 mile walk to as much as 7 miles jogging

    Total mileage (walking and jogging): over 2,200 miles

    Running shoes: two pairs worn out; currently on the third

    Now comes the real challenge: keeping the weight off.

  100. 100.

    cain

    @opiejeanne: oh wow! I thought myself was nuts for popping the question after the “4th date” haha.  But it just felt right.

    ETA – oh yeah! #100!

  101. 101.

    dnfree

    @Kent: I had a daughter spend a year studying abroad her junior year of college, when she was 20.  I was comfortable with that.  A whole year for a high school student with no one she knows around seems scarier, but on the other hand, these days there’s the internet and cellphones. Since you have an option where she’d be with family, that sounds less worrying?  But then, I am a worrier.

  102. 102.

    cain

    @PaulB: Congratulations!!!! What great progress!

    Yes, it always involves changing your entire lifestyle. More power to you! :)

  107. 107.

    Mel

    @cain: Congratulations! Hey, when you know, you know.

    My hubby was the only fix-up / blind date I had ever agreed to; same for him. We got pestered about it by mutual acquaintances for months, before we both agreed just to get them off of our backs.

    What was supposed to be a quick meet over a bite to eat and then a speedy goodbye turned into a conversation that lasted until 2 am.

    I called my grandmother at 8 am and said, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I just met the person I’m going to marry.” He made a similar call to his sister.

    We both had sworn off serious relationships many months earlier.

    Three months later we were married. 25 years later, he is still my heart, my joy, my light, and has been my best friend and my greatest advocate through some really difficult times, healthwise. We get each others’ foolish jokes, love each even more for all we’ve come through together, and still fall asleep holding hands.

    Wishing you years of love and happiness. Treasure one another!

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