WTF-Beta

I went out a little while ago and there is absolutely nothing left of the squirrel. The bird must have come back and picked up the remnants.

Only sign that someone had been there was a white bird plop....

View out of our living room window:

Both hawks took off when I went out the front door to try to get better photos. The one left its squirrel tartare on the driveway. One of the birds flew back into my neighbor's tree and has been looking at the carcass remnants for the last half hour. I wish he/she would get a hawky bag and take the leftovers home to eat.

In Mr wtg's family it was "the elephant did it".

@RealPlayer That looks like a wonderful place. I looked at their website and they sure have a lot of goodies!

Guess he needed a pick-me-up after last night's debacle.

President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted on Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House said.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the vote on social media, saying it was because of the “unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”

Trump, a Republican who’s chairman of the board, often refers to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which is named for a Democratic predecessor, as the “Trump Kennedy Center.”

Asked on Dec. 7 as he walked the red carpet for the Kennedy Center Honors program whether he would rename the venue after himself, Trump said such a decision would be up to the board.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-kennedy-center-performing-arts-8b7159067174f3a0070b877c149ff0a7

Saving its reputation? Leavitt says these things with a straight face. Remarkable.

An article published yesterday.

https://washingtonian.com/2025/12/17/a-kennedy-center-musician-on-what-its-like-there-now/

I read this in a New Yorker piece this morning. It's from the diary of one of the writers who was born the same year as the magazine was founded, 1925.

It's a beautiful sentence.

The erratic motion of a yellow butterfly is immune to artificial intelligence.

Calvin Tomkins

said in 25th Amendment. Seriously.:

Susie Wiles, care to explain this to the rest of the country?

Well now we know whose fault the speech was.

President Donald Trump claimed Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, made him deliver Wednesday’s primetime address.

The president gave an 18-minute address to the nation, in which he blamed former President Joe Biden for the current economic woes, rising housing costs, and what he called a “colossal border invasion.” Now, after 11 months of the second Trump White House, he claimed, the U.S. has become the “hottest country anywhere in the world.” Trump was mocked online for the address for its seeming lack of substance and for how he shouted through most of it.

Following the brief address, Trump told reporters that his chief of staff informed him he “had” to give the address. Pressed as to whether she would stay in the role, the president said: “Yes. She’s doing a great job.”

Wonder how long she'll last.

@steve-miller

Decided to do crumpets another time, maybe next week.

This week's experiment....sourdough bagels! Not very pretty but tasty as all get-out. The great thing is that you are encouraged to eat them when they are warm, unlike many breads that require cooling so as not to get gummy.

Recipe:

https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-bagels-recipe/

I skipped feeding the starter and just used some pretty active starter that was in the refrigerator to make the dough. Seems to have worked fine. It rose nicely overnight and I made the bagels this morning.

NB: The author says "if your bagels stick". There is no "if". They stick. They were hard to peel off the parchment to put in the boiling water, and that's why they look a bit lumpy. I would do two things differently next time around. First, I would use a Silpat instead of parchment. Second, I would put a small amount of oil on the Silpat to prevent sticking.

edit: Three things. I would use the method from this next recipe to form the bagels. Cut the dough, form balls, let rise, then finish forming the bagel (make a hole in the center), boil, and bake. I think it would be easier to make a nice looking bagel.

https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2021/06/easy-homemade-sourdough-bagels/

And....who knew? There's a bagel subreddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bagels/comments/1d2ctaz/gonna_need_to_give_this_up_unless_i_can_find_a/

@Steve-Miller said in The ‘Gary Bears’ has a nice ring to it:

Don’t let them fool you. Football stadiums operate at a huge loss and don’t generate much revenue

No kidding. Which is why I've been against the Bears moving here since they bought Arlington Park. But our Village Board has bought the story hook, line, and sinker.

I just want them to go anywhere else, preferably to another state.

In this heartwarming, nostalgic, and humorous program, WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer takes viewers on a fun exploration of the traditions of this joyous Jewish holiday as he shares the story of how it came to be, the significance of the season’s cherished foods and fun, and how families continue to celebrate together across generations.

https://www.wttw.com/celebration-of-hanukkah/watch

Not a comprehensive study, rather just a sweet look at this holiday and perhaps something to offset, if just for a moment, the heavy news we’ve been seeing during this year’s Hanukkah. Definitely Chicago-centric; it was produced by Chicago’s PBS station WTTW.

These ‘magic balls’ attach to power lines and make the grid far more efficient

The simple technology has gained traction in Europe, but not the United States—until now.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91069186/these-magic-balls-attach-to-power-lines-and-make-the-grid-far-more-efficient

Fingers crossed.

The Chicago Bears are considering a move to northwest Indiana amid growing concerns that Illinois lawmakers will not approve the financial incentives needed to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights, a top team official told the Tribune.

In an exclusive interview, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren confirmed the possibility of crossing state lines, but said the organization also would consider sites in other parts of Illinois. A letter to season ticket holders Wednesday outlined plans to look elsewhere, too, adding more fodder to the ongoing political debate over the franchise’s future and renewing an old threat to leave the state if the team doesn’t get its needs met.

“We’re looking at opportunities that may exist in the Chicagoland area including northwest Indiana,” Warren said. “We still believe that Arlington Park is the most viable location in Cook County, but now we’re putting everything back on the table and exploring all options.”

The news comes after Indiana lawmakers earlier this year created the Northwest Indiana Professional Sports Development Commission to attract a major sports organization such as the Bears..

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/17/chicago-bears-stadium-northwest-indiana/

(Insert happydance here)

@Bernard said in 25th Amendment. Seriously.:

And in all these years, the republicans have accused the left of not loving their country, of being un-American and unpatriotic. Yet here we are. These *#&$%s are propping up and enabling the destruction of everything good about America, giving the green light to a trampling of the constitution, the likes of which this country has not seen, and which the founders, and those who ratified, sought to prevent.

You ain’t kidding.

After his speech ended and the video was no longer being broadcast, Trump turned to his gathered aides and asked them how his address to the nation went. The aides assured him it was great.

This AP analysis is crushing.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/12/17/trump-gives-a-partisan-prime-time-address-insisting-the-economy-is-stronger-than-many-voters-feel/

I didn’t watch the address to the nation this evening. I’m pretty sure I’m better off that I didn’t.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/12/17/trump-presidential-speech-angry-rant/87818778007/

And this paywalled piece in The Atlantic

I consider myself a connoisseur of Trump’s speeches. I’ve watched them and live-tweeted them for years because I think Americans need to see what kind of man sits in the Oval Office. But even by Trump’s standards, this was an unnerving display of fear. I can only imagine America’s enemies in Moscow and Beijing and Tehran smiling with pleasure as they watched a president losing his bearings, berating his own people, and demanding that they absolve him of any blame when things get worse.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/what-presidential-panic-looks-like/685307/

The comparison to Biden’s performance may be an apt one, the perils of age being demonstrated publicly. The difference for me is that Biden was surrounded by rational people in his administration who could keep the wheels on the government train. The lot in the Trump administration are incompetent and as loony as he is.

@Piano-Dad said in Candy store memories:

The smell of fresh, warm, roasted cashews!

Oh, boy. Do I ever remember those! Whenever my dad and I went to the Sears on Harlem and North we'd buy a little bag of those cashews. Years later as an adult I used to pop in to the State Street store during my lunch hour. One day I went in and was crushed to learn that they had eliminated the cashew roaster and there were no more to be had. A very sad day....

More details about the study:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/09/study-instacart-ai-pricing-cost-of-groceries.html

FTC is looking into this...

A study released last week showed that prices for the same products in the same supermarkets that work with Instacart can vary by around 7%, which can result in over $1,000 in extra annual costs for customers. Instacart responded by saying that retailers determine prices listed in the app.

In 2022, Instacart spent $59 million to acquire Eversight, a company specializing in artificial intelligence-driven pricing and promotions for retailers and consumer packaged goods. Instacart sought to “create compelling savings opportunities for customers in real-time” with Eversight, according to a regulatory filing.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/17/instacart-sec-probe-pricing-tool.html

In case you want to watch:

https://www.c-span.org/series/?ceasefire

Why is no one questioning this man's sanity? Or wondering, at least, why he's wasting time and money on crap like this?

A series of plaques recently installed in the White House’s “Presidential Walk of Fame” includes scathing attacks on former Democratic presidents and lofty praise for President Donald Trump.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/12/you-wont-believe-what-trumps-new-white-house-plaques-say-about-biden-obama-and-clinton.html

Susie Wiles, care to explain this to the rest of the country?