Pee Parity

 The Shewee

   As an old fellow, I am familiar with problems relating to urination, but relieving oneself while out-of-doors is not one of them. It is far easier for males and for that I apologize. I have learned that there is a device for women which I will now call to the attention of you female walkers, and for you fellows who should keep it in mind for next year's stocking stuffers. The marketing person who came up with the name for the product, The Shewee, also deserves our attention and an award for doing so. 

   To avoid the charge of "appropriation" I will turn this post over to the woman author who knows more about the product and the process of using it than I do.

“The Pure Liberation of a Personal Urination Device: A Plastic Aqueduct Provides New Pathways For Relief,” Melissa Hart, New York Times Magazine, Dec. 17, 2024
   "The device appeared on the front porch for my birthday: seven inches of sturdy pink plastic shaped like a deep-bowled spoon. “Happy Peeing!” my friend — who, like me, is an avid hiker — had written on a note tied with a ribbon.
   The gift was a personal urination tool that allows people with vaginas to stand when they urinate. “Gross!” my teenage daughter groaned…. I assessed the gadget: a miniature aqueduct. My friend had included a washable absorbent paisley square — a pee cloth that could be attached to the user’s backpack with a strap that read “Piss Off.”

She then goes on to talk about feminine travails when hiking on trails. It appears that both this product and the idea have been around for a long time.

   "It turns out, however, that 18th-century women had already figured out how to pee standing up, during hourslong dinner parties without a toilet in sight. Encumbered by long, heavy skirts, they could hoist back their satins and silks and brocades and let loose in a handled porcelain chamber pot called a bourdaloue. In his painting “La Toilette Intime (Une Femme Qui Pisse),” or “The Intimate Toilette (A Woman Who Pees)” (circa 1760s), the artist François Boucher depicts a demure young woman holding back her pink and green skirts and petticoats so that she can go in a delicate vessel shaped like a gravy boat."

   Female Urination Devices are pictured and easily purchased via Amazon. For Canadian shoppers, here is a link to what is apparently "Canada's Official Shewee Retailer."

Canadian-American Relations

Put A Tariff on Trump Tweets 

  Trump has recently suggested such things as making Canada a state, of which Wayne Gretzky could be governor. I also recently made an old post about "Canadian American Relations" a 'featured' one since it seemed timely. While looking at it again, I noticed these headlines from over 60 years ago.

"U.S. Owns Too Much of Canada Says Professor," Leonard Lerner, Boston Globe, Nov. 17, 1963.
   "Prof. Richard W. Sterling of the government department at Dartmouth College, has told the McGill Conference on World Affairs in Montreal that the United States is "the arch interventionist power of all time" and that the United States owns "too _______ much of Canada." [I assume the blank space may indicate a word too crude for the times was used.]
   However, Prof. Sterling said that Canadians must take some of the blame for allowing the United States to control so much of their economy because it takes two to make a deal.
   Current examples of U.S. intervention in Canada, he said, were the auto parts row, the wheat deal with communist nations, the waterfront labor dispute and the nuclear warheads issue.
   "We are hopelessly arrogant," Prof. Sterling told the Canadians. "It should be U.S. policy to stop owning as much of Canada as it does. But on the other hand, you asked for it, and you got it."

In the spring of that year there was another diplomatic spat when the U.S. contended that the Gulf of St. Lawrence was part of the "high seas and open to anyone." The Canadian government did not agree. "Trouble is Brewing Over Who Owns the Gulf of St. Lawrence," Leonard Lerner, Boston Globe, Mar. 17, 1963.

Bonus: The Long Border

  The one separating us is the longest land border and it includes the bit of border in the far north between Alaska and Canada.

Source: During the 1950s and '60s The Boston Globe had a column dedicated to "Canadian American News." For more detail see, "Canadian American Relations."

The Forest City

 

From the London Free Press, Dec. 29, 2008

  Sixteen years ago we were away for the Christmas holiday when this very large tree fell and I am sure it made a sound. The neighbour in the house, to the left of the trunk and on whose property it stood, called to tell us and said, "Don't worry, there was not much damage." I figured she was fibbing since it was a very large tree almost directly in front of our house, the one with the blue porch. I came home quickly and was quickly relieved. The damage that was done, was not major, and affected our other neighbour who lives in the house with the green roof. Had the tree fallen less diagonally, our old house could have been destroyed, even though it is a brick one. This picture from Google Street View offers a different perspective. The earliest Google view I could find was, unfortunately, the year after the falling of the big maple.

It is a good thing we weren't home because our car would have been crushed.

About the 'Forest City'
   London is often referred to as the "Forest City." The origin of the moniker is explained in the letter from Dan Brock, a local historian, found in the London Free Press on March 30, 2024:

"I'm still amused upon hearing London called the Forest City, because of its trees.
Historically, the early setters pointed to the forks of the Thames and made some disparaging remark about Lt.-Gov. John Simcoe's plans for the provincial capital to be laid out here, to be reached only on foot, by elm bark canoe, or Montgolfier's balloon.
This ridiculing of London continued after its founding in 1826, while efforts were made to rid the town plot of every tree.
By the early 1850s, however, Londoners came to take pride that they lived in "the city in the forest."
On Jan. 24, 1856, The Free Press had an oblique reference to "this city of the forest" and on Feb. 9, 1857, Forest City Lodge, No. 38, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was established.
By this time, the nickname the Forest City had become synonymous with London. A once-derogatory epithet had now become a source of pride."
  
In recent years, many have questioned if London is still a Forest City, although the LEDC contends that:
"No matter where you live, one thing you’ll appreciate about London is the balance it offers between city and nature. Nicknamed the Forest City for its more than seven million trees, London offers tree-lined streets, 470+ parks and open spaces, and over 330 kilometres of walking and biking trails." 
Many trees in our "Old South" area have been lost to the Emerald Ash Borer, old age, or to construction, but Elmwood Avenue was certainly canopied by trees when we moved to Wortley Village. Here is an old photograph of it:

Many of those trees are gone, but the beautiful Arthur Stringer house still stands tall. For a picture of it and the trees click the link in the sentence above. 
Many businesses in London use "Forest City" in their names as does the Japanese restaurant in Wortley Village - "Mori", which means forest in Japanese.

Old Posts Addenda (5)

 A Baker's Half-dozen 
   Here are some "Breaking News" items relating to subjects already covered in MM. 

1. A Big Bird Kill
   There is a flock of posts in MM relating to birds of various kinds and a few have been devoted to the losses in the avian world. In "Passenger Pigeons", their disappearance was lamented and a description of a large flock over the Bruce Peninsula long ago is provided. Readers of The Times (of London) used to write letters to that paper about the spotting of the first cuckoo in the spring. Now they are rarely seen and the song of the nightingale seldom heard ("Books of The Times.") 
   Soon it is the murres we will be missing.
"Scientists Just Confirmed the Largest Bird-killing Event in Modern History: A Marine Heat Wave in the Pacific Ocean That Began a Decade ago Killed some 4 Million Common Murres in Alaska, Researchers say," Joshua Partlow, The Washington Post, Dec. 12, 2024.
"It would take years of study to confirm they had witnessed the largest die-off of any bird species ever recorded in the modern era, according to new research published in the journal Science on Thursday.... The killing was an order of magnitude larger, she said, than the hundreds of thousands of murres that perished in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.“We’ve had lots of long-term declines that have been observed in wildlife,” she said. “But what’s really different here — that we haven’t seen before — is this really swift catastrophe where in one year we have half the population of this really abundant seabird just wiped out.”

2. What Will Eat the Dead Buzzards?
   The "Vanishing Vultures" in India that were written about in MM in 2017 are in the news again. See:
"The Hidden Value of Vultures: "Researchers believe a massive die-off of the birds led to over 100,000 additional human deaths per year in India, by Ian Rose, The Washington Post, September 14, 2024 and
"How a Crisis for Vultures Led to a Human Disaster: Half a Million Deaths The birds were accidentally poisoned in India. New research on what happened next shows how wildlife collapse can be deadly for people," Catrin Eihorn, NYT, July 29, 2024.
   "Now, economists have put an excruciating figure on just how vital they can be: The sudden near-disappearance of vultures in India about two decades ago led to more than half a million excess human deaths over five years, according to a forthcoming study in the American Economic Review."
  Rotting livestock carcasses, no longer picked to the bones by vultures, polluted waterways and fed an increase in feral dogs, which can carry rabies. It was “a really huge negative sanitation shock,” said Anant Sudarshan, one of the study’s authors and an economics professor at the University of Warwick in England...."
"The findings reveal the unintended consequences that can occur from the collapse of wildlife, especially animals known as keystone species for the outsize roles they play in their ecosystems. Increasingly, economists are seeking to measure such impacts."

    The buzzards are also disappearing in other places. 
“To Save a Scavenger: Why Vultures Need Our Protection," Mary Cunningham, Columbia Magazine, Spring/Summer 2024.
   "Vultures, known (and notorious) for their penchant for rotting flesh, have experienced major population decline over the last few decades, due in large part to poisoning, explains Kendall. Hunters often put pesticides on carcasses to kill the scavengers, making it harder for law enforcement to detect illegal poaching (“circling vultures can indicate the presence of a large carcass and therefore help rangers find dead elephants”). Additionally, farmers sometimes use poison to retaliate against predators that kill their livestock. “When the vultures feed on the bodies, they die within a few hours,” says Kendall, adding that vultures are also sometimes killed by superstitious locals who see them as bad omens."

3. Too Many Crows: The Rochester Roost
   A few years ago you were told about the very large number of crows in Burnaby and when we were in Vancouver recently we saw them at dusk everyday flying over and heading there,(see "A Murder of Crows".) "The Purple Martin Problem" in Nashville was noticed more recently and now there is a big murder of crows close by in upstate New York.
  "Where It Isn’t Christmas Until the City Shoots Lasers at 20,000 Crows: In Rochester, N.Y., every year in early December thousands of crows descend on the city, which tries to shoo them away with loud noises and bright lights," David Andreatta, NYT, Dec. 14, 2024.
  "In Rochester, N.Y., there are telltale signs that the holiday season is underway.Santa’s workshop opens at the outdoor ice rink downtown. There is the lighting of the pyramid of kegs at the local brewery. Productions of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Nutcracker” begin.Then there are the tens of thousands of crows that descend on the city every day at dusk in early December, and the fireworks and lasers that are deployed to drive them away.City officials and wildlife experts estimate upward of 20,000 crows roost downtown nightly.“It’s like you’re in ‘The Birds,’” said Rachel Kudiba, referring to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film about birds on a murderous rampage."

4. Line 5
   Line 5 is that pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac where we hope it does not rupture. This is about Line 6 which just did. Here is the story:
"Enbridge Pipeline Spills 260,000 litres of oil in Wisconsin," A.P., Dec.14, 2024.
   "Line 6 is a 748.3-kilometre pipeline carrying crude oil from Superior, Wisconsin, to a terminal near Griffith, Indiana, according to a company map. Critics noted the spill was discovered during the same week that Wisconsin regulators approved the first permits for Enbridge’s plan to move the aging Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation. Opponents said it would still threaten the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels." 
For Line 5 in MM: see, e.g. "Line 5" and "Line 5 Again."

5. "I'll Bet Ya!"
   I am willing to bet the issue of gambling will soon be as big as the debts being accrued. Among the many posts about betting in MM, this one discussed the large wagers placed by someone named "DRAKE" and Phil Mickleson,(see, "ON Betting.") They are not the only one making big bets.
"Bettor Places Largest NFL Wager of the Year: $3.1Million on the Eagles-Panthers Game," Ben Fawkes, Dec.7, The Athletic. 
On Thursday afternoon, Circa Sports reported taking a $3.1 million wager on the Eagles moneyline (ML) against the Carolina Panthers. The wager was placed at -700 odds, meaning the bettor will win roughly $442,850 if the Eagles win the game straight up...."
He won, by the way: #3.1 Million Bet on Eagles Wins After Panthers' Dropped Pass," David Purdum, ESPN, Dec.8, 2024.

Cathal Kelly is the best reason to get a subscription to the Globe and Mail and he picked Gambling Promotors as major sports villains this year: "Sporting Heroes and Villains From 2024," Dec. 25, 2024:
"Gambling promoters: Gambling is legal. Once upon a time, so was drinking and driving.
Using that fig leaf, Canada’s broadcasts and pages are full of people you recognize encouraging fellow citizens with far less than them to blow their rent money betting the under.
Driven by the NHL and its flunkies in the sports media, it is an unalloyed display of amoral greed. Some day, it will be seen as a national embarrassment. Until then, we will continue doing the Canadian thing by pretending that because it doesn’t affect anybody we know, it’s not happening."

Thomas's "The Cotton Bowl" (2011)

6. A Black Sculpture By a Black Sculptor
   In a post about Hank Willis Thomas you learned about a work of his - which was inspired by an event in the 1960s on the Eastern Shore of Maryland -  now resides in a Vancouver back yard. He continues to sculpt and is doing well. For the post see: "A Black Sculpture.")
"Hank Willis Thomas Sees What America Can't Say: In His Art About Race and Freedom, He Asks Us to Look Closer, and Think Twice," Robin Givhan,The Washington Post, Aug. 16, 2024.
"Over the years, Thomas has blossomed into a public artist. His large-scale sculptures, often inspired by photographs, are now part of landscapes across the country. [and even in Canada.]

7. More Pictures From An Institution
   This title was borrowed from Randall Jarrell and I have used it before. It is found in a post about "Jasper Cropsey" and the controversy that ensued when one of his paintings was sold by the University of Western Ontario. A similar controversy is unfolding in Indiana where, you may be surprised to learn, Valparaiso University is located. 
  UWO needed money back in 1980, just as Valparaiso does now. That University came up with a plan to sell some paintings so new dormitories could be built. The justification for selling the paintings needed a legal basis and the University devised a way of characterizing the paintings so they could be sold without violating the terms of the donation. The former director of the Museum which held the paintings said, “I think it was a clever way of trying to pick at the validity of the paintings, and it was done because they thought they wouldn’t have to answer to anyone but the judge..." 
   This controversy needs more space than can be utilized here. You can learn about the "Cropsey Controversy" at UWO by looking at my earlier post. As well, there was a more recent controversy when the Western History Department had to come up with a way to keep a donor's money, while dropping the donor's name (see "Western and the Hilborn Issue.") For the issue in Indiana, see this article:
"To Sell Prized Paintings, a University Proclaims They’re Not 'Conservative': ‘Valparaiso University is arguing it should never have acquired two paintings, including a Georgia O’Keeffe, in the 1960s. It hopes to sell them to pay for dorm renovations," Annie Agular, NYT, July 19, 2024.
   "An Indiana judge is facing that very question as Valparaiso University contends that it should be able to sell high-value paintings it owns, including a Georgia O’Keeffe landscape of the New Mexico desert, in order to finance a renovation of freshman dormitories.When the private, nonprofit university announced its plan last year, it said the sale was necessary because enrollment had declined, which has also prompted the school to cut some programs and positions. After opposition to the sale of the art that had long hung in its on-campus museum, the college is now arguing before a court that selling two of the paintings is justified because they should never have been acquired in the first place."
  By the way, perhaps the committee that purchased the paintings now up for sale should be re-constituted to handle Valparaiso's investment portfolio:
 The university’s petition says the committee bought the O’Keeffe in 1962 for $5,700 and the Hassam in 1967 for $9,000. “Rust Red Hills” renders New Mexico mountains in draping, muscular forms, and “The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate” explodes a pre-bridge San Francisco Bay into an impressionistic light-dappled array.
   Those modernist American landscapes are now the most valuable works in the Brauer’s collection. Appraisals commissioned by the university estimated fair market values of $10.5 million to $15 million for the O’Keeffe and $1 million to $3.5 million for the Hassam. (The Church is valued at $1 million to $3 million.)

Post Script: 
   The Cropsey post also contains some information about another art controversy at Fisk University and other collections at Dubuque and Colby. Given that such controversies are likely to increase as university budgets decline, the link to the Task Force For the Protection of University Collections --Tookit provided in that post and again above, could be useful. 

The Bonus: 
  Art collections at universities can be valuable resources for the surrounding community as well. For some of the better ones see this article:
"The Best College Art Museums in America: The Post's Art Critics Pick Their Favorite Museums at Colleges and Universities Across the U.S.", The Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2024.
Here they are:
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University Harvard Art Museums RISD Museum Yale University Art Gallery Those who commented on the article mentioned, Smith College, the Stanley Museum of Art at Iowa and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. Several mentioned that Princeton was constructing a major new one.    

Fast Shopping

 

I saw a reference earlier to "Slow Shopping" which encourages one to take time and buy less impulsively. It is very easy to shop quickly and I was reminded of that today. I read a book review this morning and when I looked for the book, the illustration above popped up. 
  If I ordered within a few minutes, the book would be delivered directly to my door in a couple of hours. In this case, the book is not available in the London area and even if it was, I could have it delivered at a cheaper cost, while avoiding slushy streets and road and mall rage. Given that I may make a resolution next week to buy fewer books in the new year, I did not act impulsively, but may act tomorrow and the book would probably be delivered on Sunday. It is difficult both to shop slowly and locally these days. 

Post Script:

  The book was this one. Ultimately I may have to buy it since it is unlikely to be picked up by the libraries because it runs counter to the current orthodoxy, and will likely not be in the few remaining bookstores.

Christmas SpiritS

 Alcoholic Beverages
     I looked in MM to see what I have written about booze and I will just say that the MADD members would not approve. Last year, I admitted in "Sober Hypochondria" that I was not able to stay dry, even for just January, and I provided some evidence that perhaps alcohol was not as bad as the health people suggest. The title and sub-title of this post is all you will need to determine where I stand: "Sobriety May Be Overrated: Ammo for Alkies."
   Many of us plan to drink a lot in the next few days and promise not to drink once the bell rings in the new year. Most of us are better at planning, at least about things that are booze-related, than we are at keeping promises. That the promise part is difficult is attested to by a fellow British boozer.
   Although he knew it would be difficult he was determined to limit his consumption to 100 bottles of wine for the year. How difficult that goal is, you abstainers won't appreciate. He thought that if he stayed dry for January, he would have about eight bottles to his credit and only eleven months left. While he did have some alcohol-free days during that dreadful month, "the long and the short of it is I got through my 100-bottle quota in the first three months of the year!" (the exclamation point is provided by me, since I know you sober people probably gasped.)
   Wait, it gets worse. Having decided to drink less, he also decided to purchase wines of a better quality.  "I immediately splurged on good wine - claret and white Burgundy for the most part - and then guzzled it all by springtime. Some of it was around £75, such as 2009 Domaine de Chevalier, but most of it was in the £30-£40 range, such as 2015 Segla, which worked out at £33.20 a bottle." Note the £ symbol. I drink mostly "plonk" as the Brit would say, but I do realize that booze is expensive.

Very Expensive Bottles
  How expensive, you ask? Here are the five most expensive bottles in stock at the LCBO stores here in Ontario. They are all Scotch whiskies. The Scots have to be frugal to afford these.

1. $69,999.95

Coming in at number one is The Dalmore Cask Curation Series: The Sherry Edition.

2. $55,849.95

For nearly $56,000, you can purchase a single 700 ml bottle of The Dalmore Constellation Collection Cask 2 Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1971.

3. $55,000

For $55,000, you can get a 700 ml bottle of Bowmore 1969 Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky.

4. $47,000

A 700 ml bottle of The Dalmore 45-Year-Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky goes for $47,000.

5. $40,000

At number five, for $40,000 you can buy a 750 ml bottle of Highland Park 50-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Scotland

Booze That People Purchase
   According to the LCBO data, folks here were more likely to buy American whiskey than Scotch, and Tequila is very popular. About 35% of sales was for spirits, 28% for wine and 23% for beer, which is easily purchased elsewhere. The illustrations are from the LCBO Quarterly Update, June 23 to Oct. 12

 

Sources: "Could I Limit Myself to 100 Bottles of Wine A Year?" Toby Young, The Spectator, Dec. 14, 2024.

"The 5 Most Expensive Bottles of Alcohol at the LCBO in Ontario," Ryan Rocca, Insauga.com, Dec. 4, 2024

P.S. "Both spellings of the word, "whiskey" and "whisky," are correct. The tricky part is matching the right spelling with the right country of origin. If you’re talking about a drink that’s been made in Scotland, Canada, or Japan, use the spelling without the e—whisky. When referring to drinks distilled in the United States or Ireland, use the e—whiskey."

Beyond the Palewall (14)

 

   Apart from the description above, I will add that this series allows me to note some items I found to be of interest, without doing much work. Besides, you probably missed most of the items in the news, that I point out, because you spent all of your time reading about Trump and/or Taylor, the two defining personalities of our time, perhaps of all time, forever. If the news doesn't get better next year I will start grabbing headlines from years when it was, or focus only on the bright side as Monty Python suggested. 

Bullets "R" US
  There has been some talk lately about Canada becoming a state in the United States. If so, Christmas shopping would sure be easier. Here in Ontario we have only recently and reluctantly allowed some alcohol to be sold in convenience stores. There, you can pick up a 6-pack and some ammo from a vending machine if you have forgotten to buy any presents. The story:

"Start-up Putting Ammo Vending Machines in Grocery Stores Plans to Grow: Dallas-based American Rounds says it makes selling ammo safer and more convenient, but some public officials and health experts worry about impulse bullet buying,", Jackson Barton, The Washington Post, Dec. 15, 2024.

Barred from Bar Harbor

  If you have purchased a cruise package you might want to check your destinations. People appear to be getting tired of tourists.
"In Some Port Towns, It's Residents vs. Cruises: 'We're Going to Eradicate Them:   "From Alaska to Maine to Virginia, Residents Are Using Their Voices and the Law to Preserve Their Communities," Andre Sachs, The Washington Post, Dec. 15, 2024.

"Around the world, from Venice to Juneau, Alaska, to Bar Harbor, Maine, residents are rising up against what they consider a scourge on their communities. They fear the vessels that they say pollute their air and water, drain the local economy and dispatch overwhelming crowds that diminish their quality of life. In Bar Harbor, for example, locals have described chaotic cruise days as packed as Times Square."

Suit Settling and the Decline of the Fourth Estate
   Even in MM Trump news cannot be escaped, but my excuse is that I wanted to display a quotation that is important. It is in an article reporting that ABC News is going to give the Trump Foundation $15 million, plus another $1 million for legal fees, because George Stephanopoulos said something that is not quite true, but mostly is. Here is the quote:

“What we might be seeing here is an attitudinal shift,” she added. “Compared to the mainstream American press of a decade ago, today’s press is far less financially robust, far more politically threatened, and exponentially less confident that a given jury will value press freedom, rather than embrace a vilification of it.”
("ABC to Pay $15 Million to Settle a Defamation Suit Brought by Trump:

The outcome of the lawsuit marks an unusual victory for President-elect Donald J. Trump in his ongoing legal campaign against national news organizations,"

By Michael M. Grynbaum and Alan Feuer, NYT Dec. 14, 2024.)

Update: MM can provide "BREAKING NEWS" with the best of 'em: 
"Trump Sues Des Moines Register and Iowa Pollster, Escalating Attacks on the Media: The Action is the Latest in a Series of Lawsuits Targeting News Media Companies," By Elahe Izadi, Laura Wagner and Meryl Kornfield, The Washington Post, Dec. 17, 2024.

Law and Disorder
   This new news is so bad, I have to include it: 

"Confidence in U.S. Courts Plummets to Rate Far Below Peer Nations:

Very few countries have experienced similar declines, typically in the wake of wrenching turmoil. Experts called the data, from a new Gallup poll, stunning and worrisome." Adam Liptak, NYT, Dec. 17, 2024.

   "Public confidence in the American legal system has plunged over the past four years, a new Gallup poll found, putting it in the company of nations like Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela.

“These data on the U.S. courts are stunning,” said Tom Ginsburg, an authority on comparative and international law at the University of Chicago.

  After the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the several prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, Professor Ginsburg said, “there is a perception that the judiciary has become inexorably politicized.”

2000 Mules Disappeared
   A couple of years ago the film, 2000 Mules,  produced by Dinesh D'Souza, spread the message that the 2020 U.S. election was affected by 2000 "mules" hired to deposit multiple ballots to benefit the Democrats. The tagline on the theatre poster was: "They Thought We'd Never Find Out. They Were Wrong."
   That tagline now can be turned around and used against Mr. D'Sousa, who admits mistakes were made, but apparently still believes the election was stolen. Even the WSJ reported this story:
"Dinesh D'Souza Says Sorry for '2000 Mules', Wall Street Journal, Dec. 5, 2024.
"Indulging Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen has ruined many reputations. The latest is the unraveling of the MAGA mockumentary "2000 Mules." This week the movie's narrator, Dinesh D'Souza, issued an apology for misleading viewers....One voter featured by the movie, a Georgia man named Mark Andrews, was cleared of wrongdoing by state investigators more than two years ago, before "2000 Mules" hit movie theaters. He has sued for defamation, and motions for summary judgment are due shortly. "I owe this individual, Mark Andrews, an apology," Mr. D'Souza now says."
If you missed the film and the news about "2000 Mules" see the Wikipedia entry. 

You Need a Phone to Sit on the Throne
   This very clever headline caught my attention: "Can't Afford a Smartphone? That's Going to Cost You," Marc Fisher, Washington Post, Dec. 4, 2024. 
The District of Columbia signed a contract to have the company,Throne, supply "convenient, clean and free toilets for people who find themselves in urgent need. To use them, you need a phone (unless you are homeless and can get an access card from a library.) The author concludes:
"Too often now, in matters meaningful and meaningless, the good stuff is reserved for people who have smartphones or other digital tools. From parking garages to airplane movie offerings, it pays to be digitally equipped. More to the point, it hurts to be in the technological slow lane."

(As an older gent, I still think the idea is a good one and that there should be more public toilets, even ones only accessible by phone.)

Chikungunya (Something Else To Worry About)

  This is a deadly and costly mosquito-borne disease I was unaware of and I don't recall ever seeing the word --- "Chikungunya." A new report was released and then reported on in The Washington Post: "Mosquito-borne Disease Has Cost the World Billions, Researchers Say: Scientists Say There Were 18.7 million Chikungunya Cases That Exacted a Total Cost of Nearly $50 Billion Over a Decade," Erin Blakemore, Dec. 7, 2024. This is from the study from BMJ Global Health:

"Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne arboviral disease posing an emerging global public health threat. Understanding the global burden of chikungunya is critical for designing effective prevention and control strategies. However, current estimates of the economic and health impact of chikungunya remain limited and are potentially underestimated. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the chikungunya burden worldwide."

The Lamprey (Some Good News for a Change)
  This title is from the National Geographic: "How Scientists Claimed Victory Over an Invasive Great Lakes Bloodsucker." 

 "In order to combat the highly predatory sea lamprey, which arrived in the region more than a century ago and immediately began to gobble up native species, scientists developed a new type of lampricide that has now killed off between 90-95% of the sea lampreys in the Great Lakes without harming the native species. 

"There is no doubt that this is an unprecedented victory anywhere on the planet, where you have a species this destructive, this widespread geographically, and yet still able to be controlled using a selective technique," said Great Lakes Fishery Commission's executive secretary Marc Gaden. "It saved the Great Lakes fishery." 
(As reported by Jeremiah Budin in TCD, Dec. 4, 2024.)

    Hold on - the good news was just reduced by this breaking news. Apparently covid even had an affect on the cold Great Lakes. 

"The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has announced the annual sea lamprey abundances for each Great Lake in 2024. In it, the commission noted that populations of non-native predatory sea lampreys are above targets in all five of the Great Lakes.

The sea lamprey, a highly noxious fish, spiked in numbers when field crews were constrained in their ability to conduct sea lamprey control in 2020 and 2021. Because of the sea lamprey’s life cycle, scientists are now seeing the ramifications of those reduced control seasons. Recent levels of sea lamprey control give the commission reason to believe that sea lamprey numbers are now on the way back down.
This was just reported by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. See:"See Lamprey Populations Jump in All Five Great Lakes: Controls Were Relaxed in 2020 and 2021 Because of the Pandemic," SooLeader Staff, SOOTODAY, Dec. 17, 2024

Wave Power (More potentially good news, from Newport, Oregon.)

"This Seaside Town Will Power Thousands of Homes With Waves:

Wave Energy Has Been Untapped So Far, But an Experiment Could Unlock its Potential in the United States," Sarah Raza, The Washington Post, Nov.19, 2024.

   "At a moment when large offshore wind projects are encountering public resistance, a nascent ocean industry is showing promise: wave energy.

It’s coming to life in Newport, a rainy coastal town of nearly 10,500 people located a couple of hours south of Portland. Home to fishing operators and researchers, Newport attracts tourists and retirees with its famous aquarium, sprawling beaches and noisy sea lions. If you ask anyone at the lively bayfront about a wave energy project, they probably won’t know much about it.

   And yet, right off the coast, a $100 million effort with funding from the Energy Department aims to convert the power of waves into energy, and help catch up to Europe in developing this new technology. The buoy-like contraptions, located several miles offshore, will deliver up to 20 megawatts of energy — enough to power thousands of homes and businesses....
There is enough energy in the waves off America’s coasts to power one-third of all the nation’s homes, said Matthew Grosso, the Energy Department’s director of the water power technologies office.

We shall see. 

Disappearing Osprey and Complicated Supply Chains
   I will end this batch with some CANCON. It has been reported that the over- harvesting of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay near where I grew up is having a devastating impact on the ospreys in the Md./Va. area. Oddly enough, the menhaden catch is being used to feed fish, where I now live. 

"Mystery of Disappearing Ospreys Might Have Controversial Explanation:

A new study suggests osprey chicks are starving in parts of the Chesapeake Bay because of a lack of menhaden, a primary source of food but also a major industry," Gregory S. Schneider, The Washington Post, Sept. 22,2024. 

"The company at the center of the battle is Omega Protein, which operates out of Reedville on Virginia’s Northern Neck. It’s a waterman town, named after a menhaden fisherman named Captain Elijah Reed who came down from New England in the 1870s. Boats run in and out of Reedville bringing menhaden to a processing plant that grinds the fish into meal and oil — partly to feed farm-raised fish in Canada."

WOE CANADA

   

In my last post I indicated that I had learned (again) that the city in which I reside is not deemed to be a particularly desirable place in which to live. Whenever I am outside of the country and am asked where I am from, I don't generally characterize London in such a negative way. I suppose I do typically locate it for the questioner by saying, "Halfway Between Toronto & Detroit." You can buy the T-shirt pictured at Museum London. 
   Nor am I negative about the country in which this London is located. I admit to even being unapologetically nationalistic and to saying that "Canada is a great country in which to live." Apparently I should now add to that sentence this disclaimer, "but a lot of Canadians don't agree."
   Perhaps it was because I live in a city that is regarded as not particularly "livable" that I noticed that many now regard Canada as an increasingly undesirable place in which to be. That sentiment is expressed in the headline atop a poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute. Here it is:
"From 'eh' to 'meh'? Pride and Attachment to Country in Canada Endure Significant Declines."
The percentage of people saying they are "very proud" to be Canadian has dropped. "Pride" is now displayed far more often in flags not related to a country. Here are the graphic details.

It is not reassuring that slightly more people are "attached to Canada but only as long as it provides a good standard of living."
  I noted in my last post that high ratings and rankings attract more attention than negative ones and if there was a poll indicating Canada rated high up there in the "World Happiness Report," you would have read about it (Finland is usually at the top.) As far as I can tell, the reaction to the Reid poll about how Canadians feel about Canada is muted. 

  I did find one attempt to answer a question related to the poll results -- "What is driving this change in mood, this massive drop in patriotism?"  Unfortunately the question was asked and answered in a publication you probably don't read (you may look at it for the 'girls', which I see are still being displayed.) It would be good to see such questions and answers in the publications you do read. There are far fewer outlets produced by the mainstream or institutional media and increasingly, it seems to me, 'countervailing' ( to use a word used often by Galbraith) views and opinions are relegated to fringe magazines or newspapers or blogs such as this one. 
   Although the author of the article places the blame at the very top, which is debatable, the points made are worth considering. The article:

"Trudeau Trash Talks Canada and National Pride Falls Quickly," Brian Lilley, Toronto Sun, Dec.13, 2024. "Who would feel pride in a systemically racist country committing genocide with no core identity? All ways Trudeau has described Canada....."
Of course fewer Canadians say they are “very proud” to be Canadian. Who wants to boast about being part of a genocidal state built on colonialism, discrimination and systemic racism with no core identity."

E pluribus unum -- not in Canada. 

Woe Canada?
   The title I used seemed familiar and I see that I have already used it in the bottom of another post of mine you will not have read. Here it is and it has some relevance. We will probably see it more often. 

WOE CANADA - Factlet (12)
   Given the focus on Identity and Indigeneity this statistic made me wonder if there will be a Canadian identity in the future, or several thousand solitudes not just two.
"There are more than 630 First Nation communities in Canada, which represent more than 50 Nations and 50 Indigenous languages."

Source: The Angus Reid Poll

The 100 Most Livable Cities in Canada - 2024

London Isn't One of Them (Again)

   Last year the G&M published a ranking of the "Most Livable Cities" in Canada, to help you determine in which city you would choose to live. Given that London did not appear among the "Top 100," I figured I would call that fact to your attention. It is typically the case that if one fairs poorly in a ranking, it is best to move on to a subject that is better rated. Since you probably did not read about London's poor ranking in what is left of the local news sources, have a look at this: "The 100 Most Livable Cities in Canada" in MM. You will learn from it that the closest Livable City appears to be Middlesex Centre. If you would prefer to rely on the original analysis (a good idea) see: "Canada's Most Livable Cities: Explore Our Data-Driven Ranking of the Most Desirable Places to Live in the Country," Mahima Singh and Chen Wang, Globe and Mail, Nov. 25, 2023. 

The News Is Not Good (for London)
   The data have been crunched again by the same authors and the 2024 edition of "Canada's Most Livable Cities" will be found in the G&M, Dec.12. If you are headed to a convenience store for some beer, you still may be able to grab a copy if city officials didn't abscond with all of them. I will provide here, the top 10 nice big places to live in Canada.

    Last year, I did not bother to say much about London since it was not among the 100 Most Livable Cities. This year, I dug a little deeper and found London buried among the 448 communities for which a number of variables were analyzed. Unfortunately London's rankings are not good and have gotten worse. Like I said earlier, you should look at the original article, where the methodology is explained. The article, by the way, was nominated for a Digital Publishing Award, (see, G&M, April 25, 2024.)
   

   There are sub-rankings as well and the Top 20 are listed. Unfortunately London doesn't appear, but at least it does creep into the Top 100 in one category - as a place for Entrepreneurs. The bad news is that London did worse in all categories this year.

                                                      Sub-rankings

            

                                               2024    2023

Full Ranking                         168      139

For Young Professionals.   166        99

For Raising Kids.                 129      116
For Midlife Transitions         254      196

For Retirement                      306      152

For Newcomers                     213      163

For Entrepreneurs                 76        74

You should look at the original article and especially the comments. There are, for example, many who think their city deserves a higher spot than Winnipeg. 
  MM is London-based and I have lived here for many years. Although I don't think London is as "Livable" a place as it was fifty years ago, I would think that most people in most cities (even in the top 100) would say the same thing. And I still think it is likely better than say, Winnipeg.  
(Readers of MM know how I rate Toronto and you will be able to tell from these titles: Toronto the Carbuncle and Toronto the Carbuncle (Update).)

The Word of the Year

    

                                                BRAIN ROT
   In my last post I mentioned the word of the year for 2024 which is shown right above. As usual, I don't agree and think there are better choices. First of all, if it is going to be the word of the year, then it should be just one word.
   "Brain rot" is the choice of a few Oxford lexicographers, aided by some public input. I like better the pick of the picky people at the Economist. As the newly elected president in the United States began selecting the new government officials, a better word of the year came to the surface - KAKISTOCRACY: the rule of the worse. This is from the Economist: 

   So the word everyone was Googling was kakistocracy: the rule of the worst. The first root, kakos, is found in few others in English. “Kakistocracy” is not found in ancient sources; it seems to have been coined in English as an intentional antonym to aristocracy, originally “rule by the best”. Having spiked on Google Trends the day after Mr Trump’s election, kakistocracy jumped a second time in the wake of these nominations. Searches surged a third time on November 21st, when Mr Gaetz announced that he would withdraw from consideration for attorney-general, suggesting that he was seen as the worst of the worst. The term was particularly popular in Democratic strongholds such as Oregon, Massachusetts and Minnesota....
   Kakistocracy has the crisp, hard sounds of glass breaking. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on whether you think the glass had it coming. But kakistocracy’s snappy encapsulation of the fears of half of America and much of the world makes it our word of the year.
   
    A close second for me, is a word from down under - Enshittification - defined by Australia's Macquarie Dictionary as, “the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.”
  (By the way, if you missed the word of the year discussions, perhaps it is because you have brain rot. Here is the common definition:
"Brain rot" is a term that describes the supposed decline of a person's mental or intellectual state, particularly as a result of consuming too much online content that is considered trivial or unchallenging. It can also refer to something that is likely to lead to such deterioration.)

The Bonus: I often offer one, but this is a good one if you just want to stay online and not go Christmas shopping.
   "Enshittification" was my second choice because I noticed that it had already been proposed before the Aussies chose it this year. If you are interested in such things as these then go to the American Dialect Society where you will find all of their word choices going back to 1990. 
For example, way back in 2014, here are a couple of words which indicate we have made no progress at all:
columbusing: "cultural appropriation, especially the act of a white person claiming to discover things already known to minority cultures."
manspreading: "of a man, to sit with one’s legs wide on public transit in a way that blocks other seats."

There are also other words offered for various categories. To wit: Most Creative; Most Useful; Most Outrageous. There are even Hashtags and Emojis. 
    One of my favorites is in the Euphemism category and it is: 
structurally restrictive housing: solitary confinement (rebranded by the New York City Department of Correction.)
   Enjoy your day surfing rather than shopping, both of which contribute to brain rot. You might as well stay warm.
Go to the American Dialect Society and then click on "Words of the Year.

More Books For Christmas

    Every few years I have suggested some books for your consideration as Christmas gifts. In 2017 I offered choices for those interested in history (see: "Christmas Shopping for Historians.") The list was more diverse in 2022 (see: "Christmas Book Shopping".) Last year ("Books for Christmas") contained some popular choices. There are other book lists from which to choose on MM and you may want to visit them since the older books might be in paperback and cheaper. 
  More recently, in two posts, I told you about books you could read because they were short. Here are a couple to read because you should. I should as well since the two listed I have not read, but will recommend anyway.
   If you are an admirer of Reagan who said, "I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help," then you should skip the first book. Reagan also thought that, "government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem," and the results of the last election indicate that many agree with him. So many, in fact, that perhaps the word "ungovern" should have been the word of the year, rather than "brain rot" which was. 

   The following information is from the Princeton University Press website, which should serve as a warning if you are one of those also suspicious of elites as well as the government. 

Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos: How a concentrated attack on political institutions threatens to disable the essential workings of government, Nancy L. Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead.

   "In this unsettling book, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum trace how ungoverning—the deliberate effort to dismantle the capacity of government to do its work—has become a malignant part of politics. Democracy depends on a government that can govern, and that requires what’s called administration. The administrative state is made up of the vast array of departments and agencies that conduct the essential business of government, from national defense and disaster response to implementing and enforcing public policies of every kind. Ungoverning chronicles the reactionary movement that demands dismantling the administrative state. The demand is not for goals that can be met with policies or programs. When this demand is frustrated, as it must be, the result is an invitation to violence.

   Muirhead and Rosenblum unpack the idea of ungoverning through many examples of the politics of destruction. They show how ungoverning disables capacities that took generations to build—including the administration of free and fair elections. They detail the challenges faced by officials who are entrusted with running the government and who now face threats and intimidation from those who would rather bring it crashing down—and replace the regular processes of governing with chaotic personal rule."

Some of the Blurbs

“Ungoverning is an essential book for our moment, starting with a title that deserves to become a touchstone in our political conversation. Brilliantly drawing together philosophical reflections on democracy’s obligations to its citizens with a lively practical sense of how government works, Muirhead and Rosenblum offer a passionate defense of the now contested work of making our society fairer, safer, and more responsive.”—E. J. Dionne Jr., author of Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent.

"An illuminating — and alarming — book. . . . Muirhead and Rosenblum finished ‘Ungoverning’ before the 2024 election, but Trump’s ludicrous nominations — one already crashed in flames — serve as a sort of publicity campaign for the book’s thesis."—Ron Charles, Washington Post

“Ungoverning provides an unflinching and much-needed look at the threat posed by a new form of politics that actively seeks to undermine the core functions of government. Muirhead and Rosenblum deftly show how this alarming and uniquely nihilistic political philosophy helps define Trumpism and threatens democracy.”—Corey Brettschneider, author of The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It.

    Once again, if you are a libertarian-leaning, Reagan-lover, you will not like this choice either. The Road to Freedom will also not be liked by those who like,The Road to Serfdom.
   What follows is from the publisher:

   "We are a nation born from the conviction that people must be free. But since the middle of the last century, that idea has been co-opted. Forces on the political Right have justified exploitation by cloaking it in the rhetoric of freedom, leading to pharmaceutical companies freely overcharging for medication, a Big Tech free from oversight, politicians free to incite rebellion, corporations free to pollute, and more. How did we get here? Whose freedom are we—and should we—be thinking about?

   In The Road to Freedom, Nobel prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz dissects America’s current economic system and the political ideology that created it, laying bare their twinned failure. “Free” and unfettered markets have only succeeded in delivering a series of crises: the financial crisis, the opioid crisis, and the crisis of inequality. While a small portion of the population has amassed considerable wealth, wages for most people have stagnated. Free and unfettered markets have exploited consumers, workers, and the environment alike. Such failures have fed populist movements that believe being free means abandoning any obligations citizens have to one another. As they grow in strength, these movements now pose a real threat to true economic and political freedom."

Blurb-like Comments

"Stiglitz is a rare combination of virtuoso economist, witty polemicist and public intellectual."

New Statesman

"Along with Krugman and Thomas Piketty, Stiglitz forms a triumvirate of leading economic critics of global capitalism, 21st-century-style."

Andrew Anthony, Guardian

"An insanely great economist."

Paul Krugman, The New York Times

"A towering genius of economics."

Independent

"A seer of almost Keynesian proportions"

Newsweek

The Road to Freedom ... seeks to reclaim the concept of freedom for liberals and progressives [and] calls for the creation of a “progressive capitalism'' that would look nothing like the neoliberal variant

John Cassidy, The New Yorker

Post Script:
   If you think you might be inclined to be a "Stiglitzian" read the review of three of his books in, "Why the Rich Are So Much Richer,"by James Surowiecki, in the New York Review of Books, Sept. 24, 2015

   The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them, by Joseph E. Stiglitz

Norton, 428 pp., $28.95

Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity by Joseph E. Stiglitz

Creating a Learning Society: A New Approach to Growth, Development, and Social Progress by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Bruce C. Greenwald

Columbia University Press, 660 pp., $34.95; $24.95 (paper)

   "In the years since the financial crisis, Stiglitz has been among the loudest and most influential public intellectuals decrying the costs of inequality, and making the case for how we can use government policy to deal with it. In his 2012 book, The Price of Inequality, and in a series of articles and Op-Eds for Project Syndicate, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times, which have now been collected in The Great Divide, Stiglitz has made the case that the rise in inequality in the US, far from being the natural outcome of market forces, has been profoundly shaped by “our policies and our politics,” with disastrous effects on society and the economy as a whole. In a recent report for the Roosevelt Institute called Rewriting the Rules, Stiglitz has laid out a detailed list of reforms that he argues will make it possible to create “an economy that works for everyone.”....

   After all, the policies that Stiglitz is calling for are, in their essence, not much different from the policies that shaped the US in the postwar era: high marginal tax rates on the rich and meaningful investment in public infrastructure, education, and technology. Yet there’s a reason people have never stopped pushing for those policies: they worked. And as Stiglitz writes, “Just because you’ve heard it before doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try it again.”