Thoughts for the Day, December 20, 2024: A Nationwide search is on
A nationwide search is on
From the Borowitz report, A nationwide search has begun to locate even one person who voted for Elon Musk, the leader of the manhunt announced on Friday.
The leader, Harland Dorrinson, said that searchers had fanned out across all fifty states but had yet to turn up a single Musk voter.
“Given that Mr. Musk is the most powerful person in the U.S. government, you would think it would be easy to find someone who voted for him,” he said. “Something weird is going on.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced that billions of dollars could be saved by eliminating empathy
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The Musk presidency
From Dan Rather: SHUT IT DOWN,” Musk posted; followed by “Folks, American Democracy is in TROUBLE,” said unironically.
He falsely claimed that shutting down the government would hurt no one.
“Just close down the govt [SIC] until January 20th. Defund everything. We will be fine for 33 days,” Musk wrote on X.
Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who would be furloughed and therefore not paid until there’s a deal. For context, when the government shut down for three weeks in 2018-19, the Congressional Budget Office said it cost the U.S. economy $3 billion. That estimate does not include lost productivity. But what’s a billion or three to someone worth 440?
Musk also threatened political retribution, saying he will financially back any primary opponent of Republicans in Congress who supported the original deal.
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Weird Stats
Six weeks ago against the Texans, Jared Goff threw five interceptions and won. Last week, he threw five touchdown passes with no interceptions and lost.
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John Keating, Detroit sports broadcaster is retiring
John “Keats” Keating has announced that he is retiring as a sports broadcaster in Detroit following the end of the Red Wings season. For nearly 40 years Keats has been the anchor of pre and post-game coverage for the Tigers, Wings, and sometimes the Pistons. Always well dressed and full of dry humor, Keats took over our living rooms daily, sometimes with sadness and sometimes with delight. He has been through it all, including the Wings Stanley Cup runs in the late 90’s and 00’s, the Pistons championship of ’04, and the Tigers magical run of 2006-2014 as well as 2024. He has dealt with rebuilds and the resulting disappointing seasons, especially 2003 with the Tigers, and recent years with the all three teams.
He has been the butt of many jokes by his fellow broadcasters, which he has taken with grace and quick responses. Through it all, he has brought professionalism to the broadcasts as he has worked to develop the professional athletes who have moved into the booth with him. His love for Detroit sports shows up in every broadcast. He is one of many iconic broadcasters we have been blessed with in Detroit. He will be missed.
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Beer has its benefits
From The Cool Down; Sometimes, a little friendly conversation over a few beers can lead to positive environmental change.
Such was the case with two students in Munich back in 2022, as the topic shifted to a lecture on how banana fiber was being used to make more sustainable building materials in Colombia…Soon their talk turned into reality, as the report detailed, leading them to create a startup called HopfON, deriving the name from "hopfen," the German word for hops. (You can see a video of the process here).
HopfON sought to use this waste material as a resource to create products instead of tapping the Earth's finite raw materials.
The company is taking the excess hop material left over from the fall harvest, drying it and removing impurities and then running it through a patent-pending process to create a workable material. HopfON's product line currently includes acoustic panels, thermal insulation, and building boards. The company also offers a circular model for its customers, per the report, which allows them to return old products to be remade into new materials.
The company's original duo, Marlene Stechl and Thomas Rojas Sonderegger, have since partnered with Fleischer Acuña to grow HopfON's business. They plan to add new organic materials into their process, and as such, the name may change from HopfON to onmatter, according to the report.
Other groups in Bavaria are joining the charge to help reduce waste and promote a more sustainable economy. Walter König, managing director at the Society of Hop Research, told the AP that its researchers have developed new hop varieties, which reduce the amount of waste to around 3 pounds per 2.2 pounds of usable material. More importantly, these new breeds shouldn't affect the beer in any way.
Anyone who can turn making beer into a positive for the environment gets my Orchid of the Day
Thank you to my friend and subscriber Deanna for sending me this article.
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Quote of the Day: “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.” Thomas Paine
Orchid of the Day: Marlene Stechl and Thomas Rojas Sonderegger for making beer good for the environment. See above story.
Onion of the Day: Short-term spending plans, debt-ceiling, pork, and government shutdowns.
Question of the Day: Will we be under a government shutdown when we wake up Saturday morning?
Video of the Day: Little DRUMMER BOY. by Jennifer nettles
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