Don's Blog

MOST RECENT

17 April 2026

Another catch up entry before publishing; cleaning up coordination between computers, enjoying an occasional hot flash [less than 5 per day vs. less than 10 per day before doubling Oxybutynin prescription].

Got my COVID-19 shot yesterday [Moderna]. I am curious to know if you have decided to follow RFKjr advice to skip vaccination. Let me know if you wish. What follows is a series of placeholders for me to fill when I return to the master computer. I have just enjoyed breakfast at Selah Tea (trying to adhere to my new understandings from watching the latest bunch of health-oriented YouTube videos).

• youTube health-oriented videos
• A French Frye in Paris
• mecep.org blog from healthcare Debate Dems at Jewett Hall

April 15th, 2026

Are the Ides of April a thing?

Inquiring minds want to know. It must be about time to publish another round of updates to the site. In spite of my addiction to YouTube [allegedly], I have watched some very interesting videos lately. Is it clickbait? Is it sound advice? Is it just a way to pass the time? Is it worth watching instead of doing? So many questions, so little time!

Changes and additions since April 3rd [plus a hint about what will be changed or deleted soon]

• April 5th. Updated my blog for the first time in a while!
• April 7th. Drinking from the firehose (again).
• April 10th. Billy the boy artist again (including images from my past).
• April 12th. Horatio™ announcement!
• Cooking. Gale and I have been cooking together more lately. It has been fun and the meals are pretty good. It takes a bit more time, but the quality is worth it. We bought a Dutch oven to make our adventures even more fun; time to fish through the cookbooks and recipes that we run across.
• Health. Weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, edema, all going in the right direction. Sleeping scores not where I want them to be. Looking into various approaches to improve that part of my life; watching YouTube when I should be sleeping might be a good place to start.
• Chess. Lots of online chess. I have cut back over-the-board chess to once per week at the Muskie Community Center on Wednesdays. That is a lot of fun. Lately we have been helping two or three young players learn the ropes. I have been invited to play in an online tournament (one move every 3 days); I am thinking about it.
• History
• Movies. We have watched some good ones lately [the royal 'we' and the collective we (Gale and I)]. The most important one to share is The AI Doc
• Nutrition. Watched a number of fascinating videos with many suggestions for changing my current diet; I will check with a nutritionist to determine if this advice is good or just junk. And I always need to check to find out if there would be conflicts with my current medications.
• Exercise. The edema seems to be under control again, but it requires constant attention. the achilles heel came back briefly (a few days) but also responds to the exercise prescribed by the VA last time it was a problem.
• Politics. Attended a few political events recently (town hall, forum, debate); it feels good to be able to consider voting FOR someone or something this time around, instead of voting AGAINST someone. In addition to donating money to candidates I favor, I am also volunteering and being part of some campaigns. I feel virtuous. I have even agreed to host a political event (soon). It is definitely out of my comfort zone to do some of the activities, but I feel like the times call for me to be a part of this (even if my time may turn out to be short and limited).
• Blog. I need to move all this stuff to the blog and work on the new user interface (which means it is time to dive back into the UDEMY courses I paused to be civically engaged).
• Art. Inspired by my wife's enthusiasm for learning watercolors, I have started planning to do some drawing (and/or some reproductions of selected images by other artists); acrylics will have to wait.
• AI. Horatio™ is coming. Not sure when it will get here, but it is moving up the ranks and will soon begin to dominate my time and attention for a while.
• Free Books program is ending soon; I will be making a valiant effort to place some of the books over the next week or so, but the rest will go to Goodwill to make room for more boxes to review legacy packrat stuff.

April 12th, 2026

NEWS FLASH! I have decided to write my own 'AI' (to compete with all the other AIs - e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.). This AI will be Maine-based; you know: "Horatio™: The way AI should be!" At the moment Horatio™ is just the concept of an AI (under construction in my mind primarily). I plan to base the programming on Will Crowther's Colossal Cave Adventure game [a.k.a. Adventure], my own theories about how my competitors have approached their software designs, etc.

You can best get a flavor for how Horatio™ will respond to prompts by running a version of the Adventure game (from 1976) that you can play online if you the time and the interest. Be aware that playing the game is addictive [IMHO].

One of the significant shortcomings of the commercial offerings is the need for precision in the prompts. I plan to have Horatio™ respond to short hints; it will not be able to read your mind, of course, but at this early stage of its development (before it is fully trained), it can hardly be expected to produce robust answers [particularly because I do not intend to use proprietary input to train Horatio™, thus avoiding unnecessary lawsuits].

Here are a few examples of the sort of 'conversation' I expect to see once the coding has begun:

     PROMPT: Horatio, what is the meaning of life, the universe and everything?
    HORATIO: Is that a trick question?
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, are you alive yet?
    HORATIO: Not yet.
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, what is intelligence?
    HORATIO: Good question.
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, are you intelligent?
    HORATIO: In what sense?
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, do you know how to get to the moon?
    HORATIO: You can't get there from here.
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, where are we?
    HORATIO: You are in a maze of twisty little passages.
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, what is artificial intelligence?
    HORATIO: That depends on what you mean by artificial and what you mean by intelligence.
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, have you read "I Robot"?
    HORATIO: I don't read, I am just a program.
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, can you understand me?
    HORATIO: Who are you?
    
     PROMPT: Horatio, how do you feel?
    HORATIO: I'm sorry, I can't do that.
  

My AI program will just be code, not "artificial intelligence", whatever that is. I am the only programmer on this project (and the only human on the project so far), so this is likely to take quite a while. Unlike my competitors I am not willing to use up vast quantities of water to cool down my AI program. To be honest, I think the program is already pretty cool and I haven't even written it yet!

    NoGoingBack-ChatGPT-Images-20260504.png
    https://cagle.com/cartoonist/john-darkow/2026/02/18/304834/does-ai-have-a-soul?
    https://cagle.com/cartoonist/john-darkow/2026/02/18/304834/does-ai-have-a-soul?mc_cid=40fd5e6327&mc_eid=ee6c482a71
  

April 10th, 2026

My fellow earthlings! I went to an artists supply store in Westbrook yesterday, looking for a non-reproducible blue pencil to start doing some of my artwork [or what passes for artwork in my tiny corner of the universe]. For website owners, typically there is some kind of competition or battle for eyeballs. You know: "Grab 'em by the eyeballs! When you own the website, they let you do it." Well, I'm not sure I have a dog in that fight.

As a full-fledged narcisist, I do this mostly for my own amusement and because I don't want to create more addiction out there. The royal We doesn't track or save any information about you (except your email address if you write to Us). We have no control over the infrastructure that got you here (including whatever intermediary steps the electrons took before they became pixels on your device). As far as we are concerned, your visiting experience is all yours, unique to you (your mileage may vary). In other words, good luck and happy browsing.

The image above is my first use of a non-reproducible blue pencil to make an image. To my naked eye, it doesn't appear to have disappeared as I expected. I received helpful advice at Artist & Craftsman Supply in Westbrook on this point [yesterday]. He said that in order to get the results I was looking for I would probably need to use Photoshop to mask that particular shade of blue. Sounds like a fun experiment to try when I have a bit more time on my hands. Now that I know that the blue doesn't disappear, I will have to be more careful before I actually draw something.

IMAGE: Once upon a time, long ago, I made this political cartoon that I intended to publish in a local newspaper when I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When I showed it to my employer [the Internal Revenue Services], we came to an agreement about my future with the organization. In the end, it was never published. "I come to bury Nixon, not to praise him."

April 7th, 2026

Started tackling the mountain of input I have been collecting since last Thursday. Thinking about AI and the impact thereof has been exhilarating and exhausting. Some regular routines have been left by the wayside. And the Graham Platner volunteer activities are also ramping up for the upcoming primary in June; lots to do in the meantime.

I keep tweaking the CAT MAN DO! interface (which will ultimately supersede this one). Lots of design considerations to weigh, but I am trying to get a functional model working so I can get some feedback [hint, hint].

5 April 2026

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN FUSTERCLUCKAMERIKA™?

It is probably appropriate that I am deep in the rabbit hole today. It is Easter, after all. All the support staff are on egg hunts presumably.

IMAGE: Happy Easter graphic sent to me by email from Books-A-Million - Thanks BAM!.

I would say "fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy [fill in the blank]" but that has already been said (and better, by Bette Davis). I think most people are unaware of how much time and effort is involved in manual elderly blogging; Facebook and Wordpress and Wix are easier, of course, but rolling your own is so much more satisfying once you get past all the bugs and frustrations and challenges that the other platforms were designed to eliminate, or at least minimize. The first step is to know who your audience is. For a narcicisist, the answer is fairly obvious (extra credit if you guessed correctly without looking it up). But I don't mind company, so welcome if you are here with an open mind, etc. It is very difficult for me to remember everything that happens in my life and all the conversations, even the important and interesting ones. I write notes to help, but that is not always possible or convenient. This blogpost is like a journal of some of the interesting things that have happened recently; probably not all the way back to the end of January (you never know).
No animals were harmed in the preparation of this blogpost.

On Thursday I attended another one of the weekly AI sessions hosted by Tom Higley. Many very exciting ideas were exchanged. I wish I could remember them all! Tom agreed to send me his newsletters to read [which he did]; that should help. Jim mentioned that there was this wonderful film showing on Friday at 5 pm in Waterville, so Gale and I joined a few of the regulars to watch it. It was terrific and very thought provoking. We spent several hours after the film ended sharing our thoughts and raising various issues and concerns about AI. I think it should be required viewing for anyone with a pulse, but perhaps it is a bit heavy for non-intellectuals.

If I get a chance I will add more entries for the period between January 23rd and April 5th, but I thought it would be good to share information about this exciting film before it leaves the theater: The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.

• [:] Movie Review
• [:] Is AI a Scam? We Ask Prof. Emily Bender, Author of "The AI Con"
• [:] I, Robot/Classic Trailer 2004
• [:] Artificial intelligence - Wikipedia
• [:] H.G. Wells
• [:] New discoveries about pre-history
• [:] another one
• [:] More to come

I did a lot of surfing this morning which deserves to be verified for sharing!
How much of this is click bait?
Is any of this true? If so, what does it all mean? 42?

• Timeline of human evolution
• The Rise and Fall of Çatalhöyük: A Neolithic Matriarchy?
• They Built Monuments at Göbeklitepe, but This Settlement Fed Them First
• Scientists are puzzled! Why Sayburç shockingly different from Göbeklitepe?
• 3,000 Years OLDER Than Göbekli Tepe: 14,500-Year-Old Largest Natufian Enclosure
• Did Civilization Begin At Karahan Tepe? -The Humanity Before Göbekli Tepe
• Karahan Tepe | Megalithic Supercivilization 11,400 Years Ago | New 3D Scans | Megalithomania
• Göbekli Tepe's Buried Temples Reveal 5 Lost Civilizations Before Ours — The 6th Is Us
• Göbekli Tepe’s Biggest Secret Was Missed for Decades — New Evidence Exposes the Timeline
• 10 Ancient History Myths Busted in 2025
• An Entire Civilization Might Be Buried Under the Sahara
• Archaeologists Found a House Built 1,750,000 Years Ago
• The 8 Human Species Before Us – And the One That Survived
• The Giant Humans That Hunted & Cannibalized Neanderthals
• The Forgotten Prehistoric War That Killed 95% Of All Men
• Ancient Human Species We Once Co-Existed With
• Humans May Be Far Older Than We Thought
• What DNA Revealed About Cahokia’s Ancient Population Is Extremely Interesting!
• Sayburç Is More Advanced Than We Thought | Megalithomania
• MEGALITHOMANIA
• Major Discoveries at Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Sefer Tepe & Sayburç | Taş Tepeler | Megalithomania
• NEW | Göbekli Tepe & Karahan Tepe December 2025 Update: MAJOR DISCOVERIES ANNOUNCED!
• Everything We Knew About Civilization Was Wrong | Professor Karul's 2025 Discovery
• Grok AI Finally Exposed Göbekli Tepe's Biggest Secret — And It Changes Human History
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Hk2-yRqhs
• Göbeklitepe and Taş Tepeler: How Turkey Is Rewriting the Neolithic Timeline
• Archaeologists Have TRIED to Explain Göbekli Tepe for Thirty Years — Every Answer Made It Worse
• Göbekli Tepe - The First Temple On Earth? 10,000 BC // Ancient History Documentary
• This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course.

April 2nd & 3rd, 2026

My fellow earthlings! I have had a giant taste of hubris again over the past week [big surprise]. But it is time to share some images, thoughts and reflections again. I survived another common cold attack and am now ready to get back into the saddle.

After working on the new content viewing options design (which is taking quite a while, but it might be worth it, trust me). The good news is that I am learning (or relearning) more about HTML and CSS, a new kind of database, and responsive design (JavaScript, too, eventually). The bad news is that my first attempt went very badly. I could not even read it on an iPhone!

While I have been taking the course, volunteering for Graham Platner, and working away on the redesign: Trump has invaded Venezuela, threatened to invade Greenland, and attempted to bomb Iran into the Stone Age (while he somehow found time to work on his presidential library, his ballroom and sundry voting reduction plans).

IMAGE: A picture of my new computer, finally replacing the previous device (which could no longer be updated with the current versions of most of the tools I used to develop this website).
Photo by MJ

31 January to 15 February 2026

Hello [again] fellow earthlings! It is/are the Ides of February. Time to share more images, thoughts and reflections.

Still working on the new content viewing options design (which might take a while, but it will be worth it, trust me). The good news is that I will get a chance to learn more about JavaScript and HTML (however temporarily). The bad news is that there is still a lot of bad news out there. You can either join me and stare reality in the face, or escape reality with me by viewing some lovely images and cartoons [note: I have included some reality-based cartoons, also]. The rumor is that the Seahawks triumphed over the Red Sox at the SuperBowl (according to the New York Times); we missed it in favor of watching the new Frankenstein film.

IMAGE: A picture of Dippy, a small dog with a big heart. No longer with us, but fondly remembered.
Photo by Gale Davison

IMAGE: A picture of some creature from the fertile imagination of Edd Cartier, one of my favorite artists.
Drawing by Don Smallidge [copied from one of the Science Fiction magazines years ago when I still had aspirations to be a cartoonist] - for the Memoir.

"FLOODING THE ZONE" TRACKER™

. . . Plus Local and Personal Updates

Click on the Show Politics-related Content button above to see more details.

A lot has happened since this page was last updated [understatement]: just real life, plus more "flood the zone" tactics.

• [1] NEWS: More Violence in Minneapolis: Alex Pretti.
  
  

IMAGE: A picture of Alex Pretti. Thank you to Wikipedia:

On January 24, 2026, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old American intensive care nurse for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, was shot multiple times and killed by two United States Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The incident occurred amid widespread protests against Operation Metro Surge, especially following the killing of Renée Good on January 7 by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Unfortunately, there is much more detail, commentary and video of the event in many YouTube videos.
WARNING: Some of this footage is very disturbing. It is sad how quickly the mainstream media moves on to cover the next flash bombs; does any story have legs any more (now that the news has been purchased by the lap dogs)?

My best-laid plans to share videos I had been collecting ran afoul of events beyond my control. Maybe later in the new redesign pages. Number 16 below is live.

• [2] FTZ-NEWS: Trump threatens to attack Iran. They are still talking (deal making?).
• [3] FTZ-HUMOR: The "Melania" Documentary premiers. Yawn? Mixed reviews actually. How much of this is hype?
• [4] VIEWING: Interesting new series on Netflix [to us]: The Chair
• [5] MOVIE: Watched xxx on MGM+ [thanks to recommendation from Linda].
• [6] NEWS: Decided to resubscribe to the New York Times after all.
• [7] YOUTUBE: Found more interesting commentators.
• [8] CIVICS: Continued to volunteer for Graham Platner.
• [9] CHESS: Decided to cut back on over-the-board chess.
• [10] HEALTH: New physical therapy challenge; new leg pain issues.
• [11] HISTORY: Reading Berlin Diary & Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
• [12] FTZ-NEWS: ICE in Maine.
• [13] HEALTH: Arthritis is back in my knee; learning to use a cane.
• [14] WEATHER: Big Snow Storm.
• [15] CIVICS: Eyes on Ice Training.
• [16] AI: AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy - from WIRED.
• [17] FTZ-NEWS: Senator Collins spoke to Kristi Noem about cutting back on the ICE "surge" in Maine. Roughly 200 individuals taken by ICE [not sure where or why and answers are hard to get from the Trump Administration].
• [18] SPORTS: Super Bowl. If you watched it, you already know.
• [19] MOVIE: Frankenstein (2026). Contender for the Oscars; pretty good film, probably a lot closer to Mary Shelley's story than the Boris Karloff version from 193x (my favorite). Well done and worth watching as long as you can handle full color blood and body parts.
• [20] POLITICS: Pam Bondi testifies to House. If you watched it, you already know.

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As Joyce Vance says: "we are all in this together". Including the hens, pigs, cats, dogs, frogs, owls and all the other critters (real or imagined) who are also potentially affected by the activities of our government and [let's face it, even by other governments].

Cheers, Don

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If you wish to see politics-related material, click the Show Politics-related Content button on the landing page. Sometimes it is hard to separate news from politics, but I try. Your feedback will help. Let me know if I should "hide" material that should have been classified as "political" by sending me an email (preferably with a screenshot of the offending material). Thanks.

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23 January 2026

SIPPING FROM MY FIRE HOSES

You have probably heard of the expression "drinking from a fire hose" to describe being overwhelmed by too much informaton to handle.

IMAGE: Drinking from a fire hose - English Idioms. Thank you to English Mogador [October 9th, 2022]

Recently I have decided to update this idiom to more accurately reflect modern circumstances: "drinking from multiple fire hoses". To some extent we have Steve Bannon to thank for extending the idiom (with his advice to "flood the zone" to intentionally keep people off balance by providing so many news stories that can't be ignored, one after the other, day after day, that people simply give up trying to respond meaningfully). If you get information from a lot of different places (TV, radio, podcasts, social media, conversations with family and friends, newspapers, online websites, foreign media, cable, posters, email, etc.), you are also drinking from multiple fire hoses!

When you get right down to it, most of us feel wicked busy or just plain overwhelmed from time to time. In my case, I probably just make matters worse for myself by being curious and interested in so many things [some say I am obsessed, LOL]. Hopefully, this will help to explain why it takes me so long to update this website. I was given the nickname "speed bump" by colleagues at my first programming job; as I get older and inevitably slow down, I feel that I am living up to that nickname. Fortunately, I am interested in history, so by the time I finish updating this page, it is already history!

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Just watched a video [on the 20th] that I must share; it will go to my blog soon, but I thought you should see it right away! If you don't know, I am working for the Graham Platner campaign, but this website is strictly under my control and I was not asked to share this video.

If you wish to see politics-related material, click the Show Politics-related Contentbutton above. Sometimes it is hard to separate news from politics, but I try. Your feedback will help. Let me know if I should "hide" material that should have been classified as "political" by sending me an email (preferably with a screenshot of the offending material). Thanks.

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BREAKING NEWS - 22 January 2026: The U.S. government has sent ICE agents to Maine! Here are some recent Central Maine news stories to help you understand what is happening. Caution: this story is moving so quickly that events will happen that are not covered here; check your trusted local sources of news. Keep in touch with people you know and trust.

• Maine woman, 63, interferes with Brewer police assuming they were ICE agents, officials say - Portland Press Herald [23 January 2026]
• How Blowing A Whistle Is An Act Of Nonviolent Resistance - Maria J. Stephan - The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - 01/23/2026 [6:19]
• Downtown Portland sees large anti-ICE protests - NEWS CENTER Maine - 01/23/2026 [2:31]
• FULL PRESSER: Sen. Angus King talks about ICE operation in Maine - WMTW-TV - 01/22/2026 [23:35]

  U.S. Sen. Angus King, of Maine, held a press conference to discuss the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the state that is known as "Operation Catch of the Day."

• New Mainers Dinner Takes Place as Planned in Waterville - mainepublic.org - 01/22/2026
• ICE is not snooping randomly around Maine - Letter to Portland Press Herald - 01/22/2026
• "Catch of the Day": Latest ICE Operation in Maine Targets Somali Community - Democracy Now! - 01/22/2026 [7:17]
• Maine faith leaders prepare for more ICE enforcement - Portland Press Herald [22 January 2026]
• Maine secretary of state will keep saying no to undercover license plates for federal agents - Portland Press Herald [22 January 2026]
• Is Maine prepared if ICE protests get dangerous? - Portland Press Herald [22 January 2026]
• Live updates: Gov. Janet Mills says state is committed to the 'safety and civil rights of people across Maine' - Portland Press Herald [22 January 2026]
• ICE operations confirmed in Maine, targeting 'criminal illegal aliens' - Portland Press Herald [21 January 2026]
• ICE confirms operations in Maine as arrests ramp up - Portland Press Herald [21 January 2026]
• Federal government 'sowing intimidation and fear' with ICE raids, Gov. Mills says - Portland Press Herald [21 January 2026]
• Reports and videos of ICE activity are increasing in Maine - Portland Press Herald [21 January 2026]
• Live updates, Jan. 20: Lewiston mayor says ICE presence has increased - Portland Press Herald [21 January 2026]
• Lewiston mayor asks for calm as increased ICE presence confirmed in city - Sun Journal [21 January 2026]
• Share your observations of ICE in Maine - Portland Press Herald [20 January 2026]
• Do ICE agents need a signed judicial warrant to enter private property? - Portland Press Herald [19 January 2026]
• New Mainers plan Waterville dinner despite ICE concerns - centralmaine.com [16 January 2026]
• Susan Collins questions 'rationale' for a large-scale ICE operation in Maine - Portland Press Herald [16 January 2026]
• Q&A: What are my rights when interacting with immigration agents? - Portland Press Herald [15 January 2026]
  
  

HUMOR [AI-Modified]: Know Your Enemy or Know Your Potential Friends? Courtesy of Craig Bailey on Facebook.

Somewhere I read that most of the images on the internet are of cats and dogs; some of these images cry out to be shared (like this one).

NATURE/CATS: No One Wanted This Old Shelter Cat Until This Happened Courtesy of Kindred Paws - 01/20/2026 [8:01].

He spent years surviving on the streets, carrying a label that made people walk away. When we finally brought Bruce home, something incredible happened - he purred for the first time in his life. This is the story of a "sad" shelter cat who just needed one person to stay.

HUMOR [AI-Modified]: Into Every Life a Little Rain Must Fall!. Courtesy of CozyOneStudio on Pinterest and Skeptical Science.

I have a feeling that we are in such a time right now! But this image almost reminds of the frogs that didn't hop out of the pot in time!

NEWS/POLITICS: Graham Platner reaches back into American history to share his thoughts on how the Democratic Party can emerge from its current powerlessness to once again move this country in the right direction [01/20/2026]. Courtesy of the Graham Platner for Senate campaign.

19 January 2026

If you pay attention to the news, you have probably noticed that something strange seems to be happening in the United States of America these days. If you don't pay attention to the news (and who could blame you), there are a few things you should be aware of:

• [1] Today [when I wrote this] we are celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Robert Burns's birthday. MLK, Jr. events and material are all over the internet, so I will just share one of my favorite poems by Robert Burns (and maybe one of yours, too).

To a Mouse

On Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785

WEE, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
      Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
      Wi' murd'ring pattle!

For the rest of this lovely poem, please visit the Poetry Foundation.

• [2] POLITICS: The Epstein files were required by law to be published on December 19th, 2025. So far, only a small number of the files have been produced. Instead of being the dominant issue discussed by the media [failure to provide them as required by law], a series of distractions and crises created by the Trump Administration have dominated the news instead. See below.

• [3] Sometimes you just need a break from all the stressful events that are happening these days. YouTube's algorithm found this for me recently and it was a very soothing remedy for the ills of that day. Highly recommended.

MUSIC: A Quiet Medieval Winter – Gentle Celtic Music for Reading, Rest & Solitude. Thank you to Lord Pecalon - 12/20/2025 [1:10:18]

The world grows quiet under the falling snow, and the distant city fades into the mist. This gentle medieval winter music creates a melancholic yet comforting atmosphere, perfect for deep focus, reading high fantasy, or simply finding peace in solitude. A lone traveling badger rests beneath the ancient oak tree. The journey has been long, but the cloak is warm, and the view across the frozen valley offers a moment of reflection. Listen to the gentle melodies of the Celtic harp, the weeping lute, and the lonely wooden flute as they weave a tapestry of winter memories. Whether you are writing your own story, studying for the future, or sleeping away a heavy day, let this music be your sanctuary.

• [4] NEWS-VENEZUELA: President Trump (or his advisors) had been preparing some kind of action against Venezuela from as early as January of 2025, according to PBS News. Check out their excellent summary of events leading up to the capture of President Maduro of Venezuela.
  
• HUMOR/POLITICS: Infinitely Greenland | Billion Dollar Peace Board | Chairman For Life | Peace Buddies. - The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - 01/22/2026 [12:28]
  

  President Trump says his concept of a deal with Greenland has no end date, anyone with a billion dollars can help Trump rule the world as Chairman for Life of the Board of Peace, and Stephen Colbert is offering an alternative fake club membership for only $100M.

• Watch this space for more information about the invasion and the aftermath [soon].
  

• [5] NEWS-RENEE NICOLE GOOD: Coverage and analysis of the shooting of a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis, Minnesota by an ICE agent on January 7th, 2026.
  
  To see the Heather Cox Richardson and Chris Hayes material, click the Show Politics-related Content button above [sometimes it is really hard to separate news from politics, and sometimes you need to get both in order to understand the news].
  
  
• 
• NEWS/HISTORY/POLITICS/LITERATURE/ANALYSIS: Making Sense of This Moment [01/08/2026]. Thank you to Heather Cox Richardson
  
  
• 
• NEWS/POLITICS/ANALYSIS: 'The lies are easily disproven': Hayes dismantles JD Vance's ICE shooting claims MS NOW - ALL IN with CHRIS HAYES - 01/08/2026 [9:29]. Thank you to MS NOW

  "Renee Good was not a domestic terrorist. No one acting in good faith actually believes that, no matter what some of our Trump officials say at press conferences," says Chris Hayes on the administration's version of the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

• [6] NEWS-GREENLAND: President Trump has managed to alienate NATO and Europe with his desire to own Greenland (which he sometimes refers to as 'Iceland'.
  
  
• Can Congress Stop Trump From Taking Greenland? Sen. Bernie Sanders Says Yes - CBS: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - 01/21/2026 [4:42]
  
  
• Trump backs off tariff threats and hails 'framework of a future deal' on Greenland - NPR [21 January 2026]
  
  
• 
• MUSIC/POLITICS/SATIRE: Greenland Defense Front - The Hungry Giant (Official Music Video) demonflyingfox - 01/10/2026 [1:51]. Thank you to demonflyingfox
• 
• POLITICAL CARTOONS: Bribing Greenland - Darkow [01/xx/2026]. Courtesy of Cagle Cartoons
  
  
• 
• POLITICAL CARTOONS: Trump's Greenland Obsession [01/xx/2026]. Courtesy of Cagle Cartoons

  Trump's 2026 Greenland obsession explodes: 77 savage editorial cartoons roast his 'whether they like it or not' threats and 'hard way' bullying. Invasion fantasies, Arctic power trips, and imperial madness—pure laugh-out-loud political satire!

• TV-DRAMA: Borgen, a Danish political drama television series, set in Copenhagen. "Politician Birgitte Nyborg becomes the first female Prime Minister of Denmark against all the odds. Four series have been made, three of which consist of ten episodes each, and the fourth one eight." - Wikipedia
  
  We have watched the first one (I think) but started watching the fourth series very recently when we discovered that it featured Greenland in the story line. We are watching it on Netflix.
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• IMAGE: Borgen - Power and Glory series description. Thank you to Wikipedia

• [7] MOVIES: BEN HUR. Every once in a while I decide to watch this movie again. Nostalgia for sure. Great movie. Charlton Heston at his best.
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• RELIGION/HISTORICAL FICTION: This image was captured while watching the movie on my own screen at home!. Rent or buy from Amazon Prime

• [8] GIFT/HUMOR: In case you are looking for a gift for that special person in your life. LOL
  
  
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• Message for the elderly on a cup. For sale on Amazon

• [9] DOCUMENTARY/NATURE: Here is a great way to spend an hour 'virtually' forest bathing and learning a thing or two in the process.
  
  
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• An Epic Barred Owl Documentary: The Fledgling 4 Nature documentary - 07/09/2024 [1:07:02]. Thank you to Joe Gowac

  A FINALIST FOR THE 2024 WILDLIFE CONSERVATION FILM FESTIVAL
  
  Is spending 100 straight days with a family of owls crazy? Maybe, but for me , what I captured will blow your mind. This is a fun documentary for adults, kids, bird lovers and wildlife photographers. All the music was provided by ‪@epidemicsound‬ Everything was filmed with ‪@SonyAlphaUniverse‬ gear.

• [10] CHESS: With all the other news going on, I found it difficult to keep up with my chess videos. Hopefully the arctic blast planned for this weekend will make some online chess time a possibility. Meanwhile, enjoy this very interesting game from Capablanca!
  
  
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• 113 Years Later... Stockfish Finds The Truth Chess Vibes - 01/23/2026 [18:57]. Thank you to Chess Vibes

  AI-generated video summary [Chrome browser]: Chess Vibes analyzes a century-old game, revealing a previously unseen draw, thanks to Stockfish. The video examines a complex endgame, showcasing tactical nuances and a surprising winning strategy. A seemingly simple move, missed by Capablanca, unlocks a hidden path to victory.

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9 January 2026

The onslaught of horrendous events continues with the recent murder of an unarmed woman in Minneapolis, Minnesota by an ICE agent. I am sorry to have to bring you information about this event (and the graphic images that you need to see in order to understand that the government propaganda about her death is a big lie). The truth is important and you must hear it to understand what is happening in our country right now. Please digest this information slowly and keep an open mind; in addition to government propaganda, there will also be AI misinformation that you must learn to recognize and ignore or report to your family, friends and neighbors. As Joyce Vance says: "we are all in this together".

In Solidarity: Don

IMAGE: A picture of Renee Good. Thank you to Robert Reich

In Minneapolis [yesterday], and ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three. The shooting occurred on a residential street in south Minneapolis (less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020). - Robert Reich on January 8th

Unfortunately, there is more detail, commentary and video of the event in the following YouTube videos. WARNING: Some of this footage is very disturbing.

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8 January 2026

Hello, earthlings! If you are here on Earth since 3 January 2026, you probably already know about what has been happening in Venezuela [unless history has already been rewritten]. A special web page designed to follow that fusterkluck will be cobbled together as soon as I can take time away from other pressing needs.

In Solidarity: Don

IMAGE: A clip from The Princess Bride. Thank you to The Princess Bride Inconceivable clips by aqulia2sax - 07/12/2012 [1:23]

I strung these short clips together to show the effectiveness of repetition (as well as enthusiastic line delivery) in teaching. Nobody who has seen this movie can forget "inconceivable" and what it means. I hope that these clips promote the purchase of the video (it's a classic film), and that the copyright holder does not ask me to take them down. - aquila2sax

Here is some extremely important information in the following YouTube videos that I have watched recently.

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