A nap seemed in order…

…this afternoon…two late nights in a row…so I stretched out on my bed and went to sleep. Dreamed I was reading a book…about some computer thing or other, I don't remember exactly what. But then reading the book made me feel sleepy so I put the book down…and woke up.

The very low bar

In a year of pain, one silver lining: fewer mass shootings

 Experts who research mass killings say there are two key reasons for the sharp drop-off. For one, most people avoided going out in public during coronavirus lockdowns, which meant fewer opportunities for slayings in workplaces or schools. For another, Americans were so focused on other tragedies that would-be gunmen were less likely to consider carrying out attacks

It's a start

The Navy’s Tradition of the New Year’s Day Deck Log

I’d like to say ‘Happy New Year to you’
And tell you our ship is moored starboard side to
Berths Mike and November, and here’s the location:
San Diego, California at North Island Air Station.
As an added precaution again any trouble,
Our mooring lines are, not singled, but doubled.

Song of the Year

Your most-played song of 2020 is … white noise?

The good news just keeps rolling in

Rumors of a ‘murder hornet’ apocalypse may have been exaggerated

Under the arch on Arch Street

This is not an original idea…

…original to me, that is…as it's been bandied about on Twitter and elsewhere, but it certainly is striking that Congresscritters who just recently voted for a $900 Billion 5,500-page spending bill without reading it now want to carefully consider and exhaustively debate this $2000 relief payment idea that, according to polls, nearly 90% of the public is for and has already been approved by the House, to say nothing of the orange President.

The face that launched 1,000 ships…

…belonged, legend holds, to Helen of Troy. She was a daughter of Zeus and had a bunch of other Olympian relatives, which might have given her an edge in the polls. 

But now it's an anonymous Japanese model that may have the face that launches 1,000 movie plots. 

"[The artist] Shuhei Okawara's masks won't protect you or others against the virus. But they will lend you the exact appearance of an unidentified Japanese adult whose features have been printed onto them," Reuters reports in an article that will tickle pranksters and terrify facial recognition advocates everywhere.

Things go way too far

New Christmas Tree Disposal Method? Eat It

“For some reason, when you mix Christmas trees with dairy, it’s kind of unbelievable,” says Ms. Georgallis…

We can only imagine.

Somehow this just makes me want to giggle

"Impossible situation": British skiers flee Swiss quarantine, destination unknown

Asked about the run-away tourists, Health Minister Alain Berset told reporters in Basel: “We are aware of that. It is obviously a problem, there was an order to quarantine that has not been respected.”

If that means I'm a bad person… 

The Very Long Weekend

If I had the patience…

…I would write a list entitled The 7,318 Best "Best" Lists, putting a fit end to 2020—but I don't. I don't even have the energy to get through Amazon's 100 best books of this past year—the list, that is, not the books themselves, many of which (not naming names here) don't look all that appealing to me anyway. Your mileage may vary. Likely will.

It is way more predictable than the weather, recently, here, that the end of any year is glutted with "best" lists. And they rarely agree. The cookies, for example, on one person's 10 Best don't even appear in the next guy's Best 20, and so forth. 

Time is eternal. Here's the be Best of Everything.