55 years ago #Today, one of the most famous images ever taken was snapped from the orbit of the Moon by the Apollo 8 crew.
Now known as Earthrise, with modern digital technology, the iconic image — originally in black and white — has been remastered. pic.twitter.com/c8GHK7ko7n
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 24, 2023
Some people hate going into the office this week, because it’s impossible to make any progress when so many people are out and/or businesses short-staffed. Some would prefer to be at their office, to finally get some work done without the usual distractions. And then there’s those who are spending time with loved ones they are loving less by the hour…
To everyone, condolences or congratulations… and let’s keep in mind that not everyone is gonna be in the best mood right now.
The secret life of gift cards: Here's what happens to the billions that go unspent each year https://t.co/zPh7NWlYfZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 25, 2023
Possibly helpful information on those gift cards for Hooters / Victoria’s Secret / the chain restaurant that doesn’t have a franchise within 100 miles of your home even assuming you’d ever lower your standards that far:
… Americans are expected to spend nearly $30 billion on gift cards this holiday season, according to the National Retail Federation. Restaurant gift cards are the most popular, making up one-third of those sales…
Gift cards get lost or forgotten, or recipients hang on to them for a special occasion. In a July survey, the consumer finance company Bankrate found that 47% of U.S. adults had at least one unspent gift card or voucher. The average value of unused gift cards is $187 per person, a total of $23 billion…
Under a federal law that went into effect in 2010, a gift card can’t expire for five years from the time it was purchased or from the last time someone added money to it. Some state laws require an even longer period. In New York, for instance, any gift card purchased after Dec. 10, 2022, can’t expire for nine years.
Differing state laws are one reason many stores have stopped using expiration dates altogether, says Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate…
While it may take gift cards years to expire, experts say it’s still wise to spend them quickly. Some cards — especially generic cash cards from Visa or MasterCard — will start accruing inactivity fees if they’re not used for a year, which eats away at their value. Inflation also makes cards less valuable over time. And if a retail store closes or goes bankrupt, a gift card could be worthless.
Perhaps consider clearing out your stash on National Use Your Gift Card Day, a five-year-old holiday created by a public relations executive and now backed by multiple retailers. The next one is Jan. 20, 2024.
If you have a gift card you don’t want, one option is to sell it on a site like CardCash or Raise. Rossman says resale sites won’t give you face value for your cards, but they will typically give 70 to 80 cents per dollar…
Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny confirmed his arrival at what he described as a snow-swept prison above the Arctic Circle and said he was in excellent spirits despite a tiring 20-day journey to get there https://t.co/fExNJPZlW1
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2023
*Relatively* good news, considering the alternative, per Reuters:
MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Tuesday confirmed his arrival at what he described as a snow-swept prison above the Arctic Circle and said he was in excellent spirits despite a tiring 20-day journey to get there.
Navalny posted an update on X via his lawyers after his allies lost touch with him for more than two weeks while he was in transit with no information about where he was being taken, prompting expressions of concern from Western politicians.
His spokeswoman said on Monday that Navalny, 47, had been tracked down to the IK-3 penal colony north of the Arctic Circle located in Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets region about 1,900 km (1200 miles) northeast of Moscow.
“I am your new Father Frost,” Navalny wrote jokingly in his first post from his new prison, a reference to the harsh weather conditions there…
Navalny’s new home, known as “the Polar Wolf” colony, is considered to be one of the toughest prisons in Russia. Most prisoners there have been convicted of grave crimes. Winters are harsh – and temperatures are due to drop to around minus 28 Celsius (minus 18.4 Fahrenheit) there over the next week.
About 60 km (40 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, the prison was founded in the 1960s as part of what was once the GULAG system of forced Soviet labour camps, according to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
Navalny, who thanked his supporters and everyone else for their concern about his welfare during his long transfer, said he had seen guards with machineguns and guard dogs and had gone for a walk in the exercise area which he said was located in a neighbouring cell, the floor of which he said was covered with snow…
276 Indians stuck in a French airport for days for a human trafficking probe arrive in India https://t.co/uLTtHXGgvh
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 26, 2023
And for those of you surviving, or dreading, the rigors of holiday travel, a global saga for the books from the Associated Press — “276 Indians stuck in a French airport for days for a human trafficking probe arrive in India”:
A charter plane that was grounded in France for a human trafficking investigation arrived in India with 276 Indians aboard early Tuesday, authorities said. The passengers had been heading to Nicaragua but were instead blocked inside the Vatry Airport for four days in an exceptional holiday ordeal.
The regional administration said that 276 of the original 303 passengers were en route to Mumbai, and that 25 others requested asylum in France. Those who remained were transferred to a special zone in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for asylum-seekers, it said. The passengers grounded in France had included a 21-month-old child and several unaccompanied minors.
The Legend Airlines A340 plane stopped Thursday for refueling in Vatry en route from Fujairah airport in the United Arab Emirates for Managua, Nicaragua, and was grounded by police based on an anonymous tip that it could be carrying human trafficking victims.
Prosecutors wouldn’t comment on whether the passengers’ ultimate destination could have been the U.S., which has seen a surge in Indians crossing the Mexico-U.S. border this year…
The Vatry airport was requisitioned by police for days. Local officials, medics and volunteers installed cots and ensured regular meals and showers for those held inside. Then it turned into a makeshift courtroom Sunday as judges, lawyers and interpreters filled the terminal to carry out emergency hearings to determine the next steps…
Legend Airlines lawyer Liliana Bakayoko said some passengers didn’t want to go to India because they had paid for a tourism trip to Nicaragua. The airline has denied any role in possible human trafficking.
The U.S. government has designated Nicaragua as one of several countries deemed as failing to meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking. Nicaragua has also been used as a migratory springboard for people fleeing poverty or conflict because of relaxed or visa-free entry requirements for some countries. Sometimes charter flights are used for the journey.
OzarkHillbilly
Cash never expires.
HinTN
I’m glad Navalny’s not disappeared, although that outpost of the gulag sounds pretty forbidding. I’m amused that Santa is a member of the NPFD and I’m delighted he gets to put his feet up for a minute. Happy Kwanzaa and/or Boxing Day, jackals.
lowtechcyclist
Good morning, y’all! Everyone recovered from yesterday?
Scout211
Re: the Danziger cartoon.
Santa, I realize you just got off work after a 24 hour shift, but really? Clothes in the floor? You can rest and relax now but poor Mrs. Claus, her work is never done.
In other news, the clock has run out for the newer Apple Watches.
narya
I have friends who gathered up all their gift cards and used them when they were renovating their kitchen; ended up solving two problems at once.
meander
How do you like to use up odd-valued gift cards, like a Visa card that your company gave you and now has a balance of $3.29? Two ideas that come to mind are 1) find a store that lets you pay for part of your purchase with the gift card, the rest with cash, 2) donate to charity using the “Other” box with the card’s remaining value.
On the same subject, a YouTube video about how the State of Delaware has been claiming unused gift cards to fill their public coffers because so many corporations are registered in that state (300+ of the Fortune 500!: https://youtu.be/Gh7b2SSYrro?feature=shared
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
twbrandt
Happy
WrestlingBoxing Day, everyone!Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m still working on my project to read a book from each category of finalists in Goodreads Best Book of the Year contest. I hit the horror category and just posted my review of Stephen King’s Holly. I was dreading this category, but the book was pretty good.
ETA: We’re going to our son’s house for lunch and present exchange today. Then my DIL will go right back to where her mother is in the hospital in Indiana. Poor lady.
Matt McIrvin
On Christmas Eve, we got some sniffles and congestion and my wife tested positive for COVID. We are of course all vaccinated and boosted to the hilt. She still has something like a cold, but the odd thing is that I seemed to get better that same day and later tested negative. And our daughter hasn’t apparently gotten sick at all, also tested negative (though she is sleeping off some senior-year/college-application stress exhaustion).
Usually, we go around visiting family in the area on Christmas; it’s kind of hectic. This time, we had to have a quarantine holiday, back to pandemic times. There was a relaxing quality to it, after all the stress of preparing for Christmas. I guess we’re going to do in-person gift exchanges sometime in January. I’m planning to go back to work (remotely) for a couple of days on Thursday and Friday, but I keep wondering if the other shoe is going to drop and I’ll actually get ill. But I kind of think I might have just shrugged off a COVID infection with only extremely minor symptoms.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Matt McIrvin: When we both had covid, my symptoms in particular were very mild. But it did take me 5 days to test negative.
Suzanne
I have been dealing with sinus misery (that isn’t Covid, this is just normal for me) for the past few days. Pleh.
We had a lovely Christmas. Spawn the Elder is here visiting (he got $$$ transferred into his bank account….easier to fit in one’s suitcase!). Yesterday was of course a chaos of gifts and food, and the kitchen is a disaster. Mr. Suzanne got me a Dyson airwrap, and I screamed with delight. I had gotten a holiday bonus last week, and I was trying to justify spending a bit of it on that item for myself but I felt bad about it! So it was a huge surprise to get it!
Karen S.
With all the running around we did yesterday to see family, Xmas dinner (baked ham with root beer glaze, mac and cheese, greens with smoked turkey tails, cornbread, and eggnog pie) was surprisingly relaxed. My wife and I spent the afternoon and evening with one of my brothers, my dad and my dad’s caregiver. I’m eating a bit of the leftover ham for breakfast now before taking my dad to his podiatrist appointment. After that, nothing planned for the rest of the day. Bliss.
Matt McIrvin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This would be my second time–the first time was in late January and it was like a really bad cold, plus one day of an intense sore throat that felt like a strep infection. But we’re not really getting anything like that now.
On the COVID threads I’ve mentioned that if you look at wastewater numbers, this winter wave seems to be about the same size as last winter’s, but if you look at case/hospitalization/death counts, it’s less severe–the hospitals are having as much trouble with other things like flu and RSV. So I guess our experience is consistent with that. Whether it’s that the virus is different or just that there are fewer people left who are getting it for the first time, who knows.
p.a.
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2023/12/26
😂
mali muso
Pretty quiet day here. The kiddo got a stocking full of treasures from Santa, and gifts under the tree from us and her grandparents. The biggest squeal came when she unwrapped the one item she has been pining for all year, a tablet. Sigh. I managed to hold out on getting her personal tech until age 7, but it was time. still not ready for this brave new world. 😩
OzarkHillbilly
@mali muso: My 4 yr old granddaughter sent us a Merry Christmas text on her mother’s cell phone yesterday. It went something like, “epugggmavt” heart, smiley face, present, cake, heart.
OzarkHillbilly
@p.a.: My NY resolution is no more NY resolutions.
Gin & Tonic
My son and DIL just left, to go visit her (large, extended) family, so now it’s just us with the three dogs, cleaning up. Hoping for some peace and quiet today.
opiejeanne
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s always the right color, too.
And this year, with all of the warnings about cards being stripped of value by scammers, cash is an excellent alternative.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Perfect gift for an old curmudgeon.
geg6
@Matt McIrvin:
Saw a tv news report that the newest strain seems to be very contagious but much milder than previous ones. So that would explain it.
opiejeanne
@HinTN: What is the NPFD, and what is that thing on the floor between his boots and socks and his red suit?
Matt McIrvin
@geg6: I was just looking up historical numbers for Massachusetts to confirm what I was saying, and in the process realized that, wow, late 2022 had a pretty vicious flu wave too and I never realized it.
Abnormal Hiker
@opiejeanne: North Pole Fire Department?
OzarkHillbilly
@opiejeanne: North Pole Fire Department.
ETA: mask
BlueGuitarist
@rikyrah:
good morning!
SiubhanDuinne
@opiejeanne:
The thing with the strings and rabbit ears? Glad I’m not the only one perplexed by that item. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time this morning staring at it, trying to puzzle out what it might possibly be.
OzarkHillbilly
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m assuming the rabbit ears are ear loops for the mask. As to the strings, maybe his pen got away from him?
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: When we give year-end bonuses, we give cash. One year I did those Visa gift cards, but they cost so fucking much I’ll never do that again. It’s ridiculous to have to pay almost $3 just to activate a gift card! I figure who am I to tell people where to spend their money. I do give gift cards when I know what people like. I think it’s a treat to get a gift card to a favorite restaurant or a place I like to spend money like Sephora. In fact, these days I’d rather have a gift card than another “thing” I don’t have a place or a use for.
NotMax
The Twilight Zone … on radio?
Some episodes adapt well. A few, frankly, not so much. Kudos due though for excellent incorporation of background music.
BlueGuitarist
@Suzanne:
feeling your sinus pain.
Mr. S. Continues to impress
BlueGuitarist
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
impressive project!
opiejeanne
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Our Christmas party is this evening starting at 6pm. Yesterday our son and his JW wife and kids (and the baby, who is no denomination yet) arrived with their giant dog who was very unhappy in the garage last night; they brought us cooked Dungeness crab, and we opened non-Christmas presents on Christmas Day. Don’t look at me funny, that’s what happened. They stayed the night and will leave after supper so that they don’t have to be exposed to Christmas presents being opened afterward. So far it’s been a very nice visit, but it’s exhausting. I think next year we’ll treat them to a hotel room nearby.
My DIL made us a very nice anniversary present, very thoughtful, (they are allowed to celebrate anniversaries; ours is the 27th): a little photo album of our granddaughter that she had printed. The album is very sweet and the baby is adorable. Today she gets to meet two cousins who live in Thailand. We are providing a noisy present for the 4 year old: a very cute little dump truck that makes sounds like a motor being revved, a horn, and a running engine. His brother is 16 months, and our granddaughter is 14 months. This will be interesting and hopefully entertaining.
Soprano2
My goal for this year (I don’t make resolutions, I have goals) is to clean up more of the mess that’s in our house because my husband wanted to save everything. I started on it this year, I need to continue. This is one of the few bonuses I get from his condition – I can throw away the years and years worth of credit card bill receipts he saved, and he won’t say anything about it. What I could never get him to understand is that it’s not any good to save stuff if you don’t know where it is and can’t find it when you need it! My goal for our house is to plant strawberries in the raised bed garden, get the black walnut tree that’s growing into the bottom of our fence cut down and to get new awnings for the windows on the house.
opiejeanne
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks. I couldn’t figure out either of those, other than Fire Department. NP=North Pole. D’oh!
Soprano2
@opiejeanne: I worked with a man who was Jehovah’s Witness; he was a nice guy. He was a construction inspector; he once worked on November 11th, which we take as a paid holiday. He did it because one of his contractors was working, but he didn’t get it approved beforehand. I heard he got in trouble, because they had to pay him time and a half plus pay him for the paid holiday, and at over $20/hr back in the late 90’s that was a lot of money!
ETA – I’m one of those people who love to work this week, because all the bosses are out so on one bothers me. I can get a lot done!
opiejeanne
@Abnormal Hiker: Thanks.
OzarkHillbilly
In cost of gas news, I paid $2.50 a gallon in Potosi on Sunday.
eta: no Biden “I did this” sticker either. I wonder why?
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: For some strange reason the price here jumped from $2.45/gal two weeks ago to $2.69/gal last week. I have no idea why, maybe some refinery issue.
ETA – I’ve noticed that those stickers have disappeared here too, wonder why? There’s a guy who paid for a huge billboard on a main drag near the exit to Highway 65 that asked if Biden voters were happy with the high price of gas. It’s been gone for about six months now, replaced with something else idiotic.
Phylllis
Quiet day for us. Dinner was baked ham, sauteed brussel sprouts a la Jacque Pepin, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie for dessert. We watched The Sting; released on Christmas day in 1973, so sort of a Christmas movie.
BlueGuitarist
@lowtechcyclist:
Good morning!
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: I really don’t pay much attention to the price of gas, only taking note of it this time because the last time I filled up it was 2.89 or some such.
With Mama working at home nowadays I hardly ever drive the truck anymore, unless I need to haul something. To such an extent that I took it in for an oil change for the first time since last February. Mileage? 5800.
NotMax
@Soprano2
$4.85 hereabouts.
Layer8Problem
@NotMax: I bet you feel that when you gas up for big drives out of state. 😁
opiejeanne
@Soprano2: I have known both very nice JWs and some obnoxious ones. I like my DIL, and I think she knows not to push her beliefs around us because we push back. Meanwhile, our house is decorated for Christmas and not really toned down, but I did wrap their gifts in non-Christmas paper and I didn’t put them under the tree. We don’t string lights on the house, but we have electric candles in each of the windows because our house is a Federalist box and the windows are symmetrically placed. They all seemed delighted even though they were small tokens, except the boy. “It’s a book?” The Way Things Work, by Macaulay, and he sat down to read it right away after our son explained that it had been his most treasured book.
Rand Careaga
Years ago—2008, I think—my employer seconded me to an industry group for which I put together signage, graphics, presentations, handouts and a handsome printed event catalogue in connection with a big conference. Afterward I was handed one of those useless plaques and also a birthday-card sized envelope. This languished unopened among my papers until I came upon it last year (in the same file cabinet I found a Christmas card, also unopened, from another outfit for which I’d done pro bono design on my own time; this one had a $100 check from 2001, which I did not attempt to transact). Upon unsealing the 2008 card I discovered that it contained an Apple gift card for a sum unknown. This being taken to one of the tech giant’s retail arms, I learned that the amount pretty much covered the cost of a top-of-the-line iPhone 13 “mini” (I’m not a fan of the larger form factors) to replace my superannuated model 8. Thanks, industry group!
frosty
That’s been my annual goal for the last four years after I retired. I’ve made some progress but this year, dammit, I’m going to be ruthless. No more dilly-dallying thinking Object A still has value and someone will want it if I can only figure out where to post it.
It was a surprise how many sporting goods that Play It Again Sports didn’t want.
ETA When I saw that Mom had saved every cancelled check going back to 1952 I got rid of all mine. I keep three year’s worth of receipts and statements. In January I’ll toss out (shred or burn) 2020.
opiejeanne
@NotMax: I feel you. Gas near Seattle is finally below $4 but it was close to your price until a month ago, while we watched the other states’ prices drop below $3.
BlueGuitarist
@Soprano2:
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’ve avoided New Year’s resolutions, but I’m feeling Michelle Goldberg’s recent oped titled “Make a New Years Resolution to Fight Trump.”
eta: strawberries are a great goal.
rikyrah
That cartoon is so cute :)
rikyrah
@Matt McIrvin:
Get rest and get better.
rikyrah
Navalny being found is a good thing. The thought that the Russians pretended that he was ‘lost’ in their phucking penal system is infuriating.
narya
@Soprano2: That’s what I want to do, too–get rid of stuff. I have somewhat less crap than many people, because I mostly lived alone in one-bedroom apartments, but there’s still plenty of stuff. The single biggest thing is books, though there are other categories that can be edited. Eating the elephant: one bite at a time.
BlueGuitarist
@op “Nicaragua is one of several countries deemed as failing to meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking”
So disappointing how Daniel Ortega has wrecked Nicaragua and the hopes of the Sandinistas.
NotMax
Post-holiday longish watch. Half an hour with Joanna Lumley. Nothing earth-shaking or momentous, just a pleasant chat.
frosty
@opiejeanne: It’s still over $3.00 here on the Mason-Dixon Line. When I get down to 1/8 tank I drive a couple of miles south and gas up in Maryland. It’s about 50 cents cheaper and saves me at least $5.00 per fill up.
narya
@frosty: Around here there are “buy nothing” groups on facebook, specific to various neighborhoods. People will take the most random stuff. That’s what I intend to do with the first batch of stuff other than books.
rikyrah
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 9:15 AM on Sun, Dec 24, 2023:
As democracy slides closer to the abyss, please remember there are reporters sitting on information that would be relevant to Jack Smith, Fani Willis &/or the electorate at large about Trump that they are withholding for the sole purpose of justifying their lucrative book deals
(https://x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1738941542608273481?t=AxAfRZdnzZDOzac90OP9bg&s=03)
OzarkHillbilly
On the off chance nobody posted this up here, from the Houston Chronicle: Two thousand years ago, a young family became refugees (Editorial)
rikyrah
Erin Godwin (@ErinAPN1) posted at 7:20 AM on Tue, Oct 17, 2023:
This is what nighttime looks like when you are 15 and you have severe long Covid. Not pictured on the other side of the curtain, the stream of patients and patient’s families (a metre away) who come and go from the room you have lived for months. Here you weep while you softly sing Fleetwood Mac and Harry Styles. You wait for friends to never call – they are at school and working at local cafes, all full of first loves and weekend house parties and beautifully naive existential crises. You, tube fed and bed bound, vomiting, pale with pain. You have disappeared.
Fund research into treatments for long Covid now.
#LongCovid #LC #longcovidkids #mecfs #covidteens #Covid #CovidInquiry
https://t.co/NER3lX8NDt
(https://x.com/ErinAPN1/status/1714255034408653287?t=QZskk6wnNXEIm-SmUNG-jg&s=03)
rikyrah
The Chanteezy Is Real (@iamchanteezy) posted at 9:17 AM on Sun, Dec 24, 2023:
Lindsey Graham’s interview on ABC’s #ThisWeek proves why it’s important to vote for #BidenHarris in 2024. Most of the elected Republican Senators and Reps in Congress are not Pro-Palestine. That’s a fact.
(https://x.com/iamchanteezy/status/1738941947006365912?t=wri6gYLdkluB-4nA4vWiSQ&s=03)
NotMax
Thanks to the Zoomers yesterday and to WaterGirl for letting it go on for much longer than is usual — four hours.
frosty
@NotMax: Is it still Festivus? Can I post a grievance? I wish everyone who did a podcast would post a transcription. I just don’t feel like listening for half an hour to something I could read in five minutes. Even though I know I’d lose the subtleties of tone of voice.
rikyrah
I love Kenny. He’s on point.
2RawTooReal (@2RawTooReal) posted at 6:30 PM on Fri, Dec 22, 2023:
So you want me to stand in solidarity while they simultaneously stripped my rights away? the answer is Hell no https://t.co/Xi5lf3VppP
(https://x.com/2RawTooReal/status/1738356262209835067?t=W3VisOSuDAN2EBQ98F81Ew&s=03)
Nukular Biskits
Good late mornin’, y’all!
Barbara
@frosty:Please come sit by me.
rikyrah
Dr. Virgo (@DrVirgo1981) posted at 10:39 AM on Sat, Dec 23, 2023:
Said in 2016, we lost roe, AA, the courts for 50y, millions dead from a pandemic response. Said it in 2010, we lost the public option, said it in 2004, we lost education, gained a housing crisis. Said it 2000 we got Iraq war. Said it in 1980 we got defunding of Social services.
Dr. Virgo (@DrVirgo1981) posted at 10:42 AM on Sat, Dec 23, 2023:
Now they want to do the same thing in 2024.
They’ve produced nothing with their protest votes, but helping their parents maintain the racist system that benefits them. Instead of listening to millions of black and brown people, y’all want to chase Chad and Becky to your graves
(https://x.com/DrVirgo1981/status/1738600955208233224?t=mYMFqPMNinFYHDBoYHpOTg&s=03)
frosty
@narya: I’ll check that out. I haven’t tried Freecycle yet either.
OT: Suddenly all my replies to comments are coming up in Visual instead of Text. An unexpected Christmas present!!
Mike in NC
Fat Bastard dreams of a prison above the Arctic Circle where he can send all of his millions of critics.
NotMax
@Mike in NC
Greenland?
//
Geminid
@BlueGuitarist: George Orwell knew what he was talking about when he wrote “Animal Farm.”
rikyrah
Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) posted at 9:20 AM on Fri, Dec 22, 2023:
How Gov. Greg Abbott lost a yearlong fight to create school vouchers https://t.co/Al607nuA7b
(https://x.com/TexasTribune/status/1738217835946496240?t=Dmdg8xQlobAb3FGZ18g38g&s=03)
rikyrah
Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) posted at 9:15 AM on Thu, Dec 21, 2023:
For too long, criminals & bad actors have hidden behind anonymous shell companies. Thanks to the new beneficial ownership rule, we’re leveling the playing field.
Visit @FinCENNews for information on new reporting requirements & how to file starting Jan 1. https://t.co/vR3QgXK9Ow https://t.co/wCvy6Cf3Ej
(https://x.com/SecYellen/status/1737854328285872241?t=VlbKLJVbfOjjymmhF5DtGA&s=03)
BlueGuitarist
@OzarkHillbilly:
thanks for posting this!
we need a lot more of it.
So sick of Chrinos – Christians in name only – pretending to have religious motivations to justify their depraved anti-abortion and homophobic policies but ignoring the vast and explicit instructions to treat strangers and the poor well.
frosty
@frosty: I just checked Freecycle out. Someone posted a “Broken Kodak Carousel Slide Projector.” Good luck, even I would toss that into the trash. Or more realistically, procrastinate for six months trying to find out if it can be recycled.
Chris T.
@Soprano2:
Hah, here in WA state there’s an ad running now (that I’ve seen while watching the TV-news) blaming Jay Inslee for high gas prices, which is funny since the prices finally dropped enough below $4 (to ~$3.50 at Costco) to start denting even the high-price-next-to-the-freeway stations.
Thing is, Washington has no state income tax, so the only way to pay for stuff like roads is high usage fees: gas taxes, or for my EV, a yearly fee (set rather high as if I drove 20,000 miles a year, vs the sub-5k miles I actually put on it).
BlueGuitarist
@Geminid:
yep
also William Morris:
“[People] fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other [people] have to fight for what they meant under another name.”
NotMax
@Chris T.
Present vehicle purchased new 21 months ago. Including the 33 miles already on the odometer when first drove it off the lot, now has been driven a whopping 867 miles.
;)
Another Scott
That first tweet riles up my Grinchiness…
Where to begin… It’s been known as “Earthrise” for decades. There were 3 images – a B&W one and two color ones.
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4129/ has more than you probably want to know about the pictures.
Original B&W.
Original Color #1.
Original Color #2.
People – inside and outside of NASA – have been feeding them into Photoshop and the like for decades.
Fishing for clicks on “new” stuff like this is one of the curses of Twitter. Grrr….
[/grinch]
Happy Curse of the Babino Day!! (in 1919).
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@Karen S.: Sounds yummy. But now the real question…who made the mac and cheese? :)
Soprano2
@frosty: I keep a year’s worth. I know hubby has things like cancelled checks going back to the 1960’s in the attic! That’s the least of my problems right now. My first goal is to make the desk usable; I’m about halfway there. Next up is to clean out the drawers, then cleaning out the two drawer file cabinet because there’s a bunch of junk in it that needs to be thrown away. I have stuff I do need to file in there, like tax returns. Once I get that space I can start making a file system and moving stuff so I can find it.
frosty
@Soprano2: That’s pretty much my plan for our “office” although I’d like to make the desk usable for Ms F’s Zentangle artwork instead of keeping it as an office. I can do the bills and other stuff on my lap.
eclare
@NotMax:
Wow congratulations! I thought I didn’t drive much, but you drive less. I have around 9800 miles on the Honda that I bought in 2018.
Brachiator
@NotMax:
Saw that earlier. It was fun. I enjoyed her anecdote about Martin Scorsese.
Steve in the ATL
The Dentists—“Strawberries are Growing in my Garden”: all I can offer is a 1985 song by a band that sets the for obscurity
comrade scotts agenda of rage
In an hour, I have my last meeting with HR before retiring. I physically go into the office on Thu to clear out the personal stuff. I’ve actually been off since I gave notice to my mgmt chain on the 15th so as to not deal with any “hand off” issues.
Why am I being such a dick about it? This organization has been trying to privatize our positions since Al Gore was running for president. The Bushies put the policy on steroids. There’s 3 of us left in these field positions, the rest having been turned over to contractors (but don’t call what they do a personal services contract, those are illegal…except some of these contractors have been with us for at least a dozen years and do everything a personal services contract would do…but don’t call it that).
As such, they can figure out how the fuck to do the things particular to some of my sites on their own. They’re finally getting rid of me but on my terms, not theirs.
Geminid
@rikyrah: The changes Secretary Yellen describes come from the Corporate Transparency Act. During the “lame duck” sesssion following the 2020 election the CTA was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act. Trump vetoed the NDAA, then Congress overode the veto in the last days of the session.
There was do much else going on that this did not receive much notice but at the time a Forbes reporter said it was the most significant corporate reform legislation in decades.
Under the CTA, new corporations have to disclose “beneficial.” or actual, ownership. Existing corporations were given two years to comply. The CTA filings collected by the Treasury Department are not public records, but they can be accessed by courts and state, federal and tribal law enforcement agencies.
JustRuss
I invited my cousin up for Christmas. After two weeks of vacationing with other family I was ready for some me-time, but it seemed like the right thing to do. He’s a touch autistic and maybe heading into dementia–it’s hard to tell–but it was nice to have time with him. Tonight I finally get the house to myself.
brendancalling
@p.a.: Arlo and Janis is one of the only comics I enjoy without irony.
However, my favorite remains Mary Worth.
dnfree
@opiejeanne: Back in the 1970s, our four-year-old daughter sitting on Santa’s lap told him she wanted a fire truck. Santa enthusiastically said “With a siren? That goes fast?” Thanks a lot, Santa! It took some searching to find a fire truck with a friction engine and a loud siren, but we managed.
dnfree
@frosty: I am SO with you on this. I don’t listen to podcasts because I can read faster than they can talk, plus skim the boring/irrelevant parts.
eclare
@dnfree:
Same here. Podcasts frustrate me.
raven
@frosty: try MALCOLM GLADWELL‘ Legacy of Speed.
Jackie
I know dealing with all the BS covering the 2024 elections is exhausting, and at times frustrating, so I almost didn’t read this Politico Magazine article, because it’s discussing potential presidential candidates for 2028! But, I’m glad my curiosity won the battle!
Looking at the potential Democratic candidates reminded me of what a DEEP BENCH of awesome candidates we have and made me excited for the future!
Then came the list of potential GQP/MAGA candidates… and made me both laugh and be even more optimistic for America’s future.
There are a few names listed that made me pause for a moment – then I reminded myself those republicans are/will be deemed mere RINOS by the RWNJs currently running the show and…
Anyway, a good, thoughtful article worth the time, and maybe bookmarking to compare with the actual 2028 presidential candidates.
Sure Lurkalot
I probably appalled the physical book lovers on the festivus thread by my desire not to own another physical book so of course I got a book for Xmas as well as a gift card to my once favorite bookstore. Oh the irony!
kindness
You know what media story I’m really enjoying right now? Smellgate. Yea, the one that’s about Trump’s ‘odd’ smell that has Republicans freaking out right now. Well…. to be honest, what they are freaking out about is the fact(?) that Donald Trump has worn adult diapers for the last 10-15 years because he can’t control his bowels (apparently). People who worked on The Apprentice have said Donald craps his pants all the time. Hence the adult diapers. Republicans are freaking because Donald crapping his pants would negatively affect MAGA voters thoughts about him. The irony here is MAGA is fine with Trump being a Putin stooge but is horrified their Dear Leader shits his pants all the time. It makes perfect sense that this is the topic Trump’s people are fighting hardest right now. Good times. If I could, I’d try to amplify the Smellgate meme, but I’m a nobody in the online world.
Oclarkiclarki
@frosty: I think that most folks listen to podcasts only when they are engaged in activities where reading is not possible. Driving, doing relatively mindless chores, etc. My peeves are videos where the visual or audio content isn’t really integral (for the reason you cite) and unexplained blog links.
Steeplejack
@Soprano2:
My niece and nephew (age 9 and 7) love getting personal mail, and Target is their favorite retail outlet (possibly influenced by my brother), so Target gift cards in fancy envelopes are my go-to presents now. So easy—and no complaints!
Kelly
Christmas dinner this afternoon. Way back in 1972 when my older sister married Mom decreed our Thanksgiving and Christmas would be celebrated on a convenient day following the actual holiday to allow her to spend the actual holiday with her inlaws. As we all grew up and married it’s worked really well.
Miss Bianca
@kindness: sounds like others are carrying the “Smellgate” baton, if I’ve read the BJ commentary correctly the past few days.
Me, all I will do is hold my nose and say, “Gross!”
Ugh, the man appears to be every bit as repulsive physically as he is mentally. Quelle surprise!
rikyrah
@kindness:
I didn’t know this, but,
BWA A AHA HA AH AHA HA HA HA
mrmoshpotato
@Soprano2:
Same.
Steeplejack
@OzarkHillbilly:
A week or so ago I paid $3.10 (for regular) here in spendy NoVA. That was the lowest it has been in a while—at my usual BP station, I mean. I drive so little I don’t shop around for gas.
Ken
I’m sticking with my usual New Years resolution, to start my diet — tomorrow. Sixteen unbroken years of success!
Another Scott
Brad DeLong is having a 50% off sale on his Substack. I’ve been tempted to finally subscribe because I often learn something, and usually have some new thoughts if I don’t, on reading his stuff. I’ve donated to support his blog and his favorite charities in the past, but not in a while.
However, A.R. Moxon’s latest makes me really want to dump Substack everywhere. (Yeah, yeah, we’ve known that the owner is a “free speech” munchkin for a very long time. Still, better late than never, amirite??)
Really, really good points. Worth a click to see the rest.
I’m not sure where to draw the line in general, and how to have rules that are clear and support a genuine exchange of ideas without being gamed by monsters, but having a site that pays writers that can’t figure out a way not to pay Nazis and fascists who want to destroy the country seems to be a clearly broken site.
(Yes, Moxon says he’s leaning toward leaving Substack.)
Cheers,
Scott.
kalakal
@NotMax: Seconded. It was very enjoyable and many thanks to WaterGirl for letting it run on
trollhattan
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
The struggle is real. Good on ya, and enjoy that freedom!
trollhattan
@kindness:
He’s so fond of schoolyard nicknames, that Diaper Don.
trollhattan
When Russia admits “damage” to the landing ship, they mean the little charred bits poking out of the water.
https://nitter.net/pic/orig/media%2FGCRI1A1XcAAaN5_.jpg
Only a flesh wound.
brendancalling
@kindness: i always imagined he smelled like a combo of Axe body spray and the juice that oozes from a canned ham, but more rancid.
Matt McIrvin
@Sure Lurkalot: My sister-in-law has taste in fiction that overlaps mine enough that it’s fun to buy books for her for Christmas–recent science fiction, usually. For a while, though, I was out of the loop enough that it had gotten hard for me to do that. But after getting an e-reader I’d actually been reading recent SF more often.
I offered to shop for her again this time around because I at least knew what recent authors were interesting, and I expected to have to do a bit of speculative “this might be good” buying… but when I actually got into a bookstore I realized I could get pretty far just by getting books I actually had read recently in e-book form. Somewhere in my mind I hadn’t thought of these books as physically existing in stores, but they do!
Brachiator
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Good to hear that you are leaving on your terms, not theirs.
Best wishes to you.
Hungry Joe
The (late; *sigh*) comedian Mitch Hedberg was anti- gift cards because “I don’t like being told where to shop. Just give me the money. A twenty-dollar bill is a UNIVERSAL gift card!”
Ms. Joe and I have finally turned the corner (we think) on COVID. We were SO sick. Better today. If we weren’t vaxxed and boosted I’m sure we would have been hospitalized. As it was I had to go to the ER for IV fluids because my throat was so sore and swollen that I couldn’t get any liquids down, and was becoming severely dehydrated. Throat has improved; I never knew that quaffing apple juice could be so gratifying.
Soprano2
@Oclarkiclarki: Yes, I listen to them when I work, drive, and clean house.
JAFD
Happy Boxing Day !
At the cheap gas stations of northern NJ, it’s $2.95/gal
In suburban Philly visiting some friends, had Christmas dinner with their family – prime rib, stuffed baked spuds, asparagus, cabbage and walnut salad, pecan pie and gingerbread cake. Then went back and hibernated in food coma.
At some point gotta swap SIM cards between cheapo fone and rebatteried good one…
Hope everybody who’s under weather is feeling lots better soon.
Phylllis
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’ve done a ‘soft’ retirement of sorts, working 5-6 days a month since August. I have to cut back my days in the new year due to being under a state retiree earnings cap. That and taking my social security mid-year at 62 will bring my help to a screeching halt. They’ll either figure it out or they won’t.
Bill Arnold
@kindness:
This might have origins in a anti-Biden rumor from 2021:
Did Biden Poop His Pants in Rome? (Snopes, “False”, Dan Evon, Nov 1, 2021)
Every GOP accusation is a confession. This is an unholy law of nature. Whoever started #smellgate (Adam Kinzinger?) may have been riffing on this; look for flamboyant accusations by Republicans that resonate with Republicans, and reflect them, if there is any evidence for the reflected accusation.
NotMax
@Hungry Joe
Yikes.
Glad to hear you’ve both taken the on-ramp of the road to improvement.
pat
I find this “smell gate” shit hard to believe. How can he go anywhere in public? How does he get rid of those diapers?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Brachiator:
Thanks.
I felt bad in a way because my immediate supervisor over the last 8 years has been one of the good ones. The most chill mid-level, pointy-haired Club Fed manager I’ve come into contact to over 38+ years. But everybody above him? Screw them. Earlier this year they overrode (in order to downgrade) some performance appraisals he and others did, one included mine. That simply solidified my approach to this over the last 4 months.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
There is footage of Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins making grossed out faces following an audible shart sound.
His former producer said he wears diapers.
RevRick
@OzarkHillbilly: Fuggedaboudit!
Karen S.
@Miss Bianca: Late in replying… I made the mac and cheese. It was amazing. I love mac and cheese, and I love when I get the chance to make it.
Ann Marie
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Congratulations on your retirement! I am retiring this week also, also on my terms, but from a much nicer boss and group of people. So much so that I agreed to work 3 hrs a week, from home, for the next few months just to help them out. (That’s actually more appealing than the mountain of de-cluttering and cleaning I need to do.)
Ann Marie
@eclare: I’ve given up on podcasts too, even ones that might be interesting, such as those at Talking Points Memo. I just don’t have the patience for them.
Uncle Cosmo
Reminds me of the year I gave up Catholicism for Lent. IIRC I was 14 at the time.