The Icy 800

 Blizzard of Oz

I thought it would be a bad year…

A US scientist has brewed up a storm by offering Britain advice on making tea

Not since the Boston Tea Party has mixing tea with salt water roiled the Anglo-American relationship so much.

…but I never even imagined this bad.

The ultimate Oscar snub

"Just Ken" gets nominated; Barbie ignored.

Meanwhile, I've decided to watch at least a few of the Best Picture nominees myself, just to see what the shouting's about. I watched Oppenheimer, of course, last summer in a theater and was reminded most people alive today were hearing that story for the first time. Last night I streamed the first half of Flower Moon – that sucker's 3 1/2 hours long — another little-known story told in graphic, exhausting detail. I want to see if Maestro makes a nod to Lenny's famous fundraising party for the Black Panthers immortalized in Tom Wolfe's "Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers."

I'll get around to a couple of others before the show. 

NYTimes reporter detects "warped information space"

The contrast between the uproar in Russia over the raunchy celebrity party and the silence over the deadly attacks on Ukraine highlighted the warped information space that has emerged in Russia in the nearly two years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

[Paul Sonne, Russian Celebrities Caught ‘Almost Naked’ Are Now Dressing to Appease, Jan. 22, 2024.]

Totally. And that's not all.

Our President, who considers the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary so insignificant he didn't bother to run in either one, has declared the former guy winner of the Republican nomination this year on the strength of his wins in…Iowa and New Hampshire.

[To give the man his due, Biden won the New Hampshire Democratic primary anyway, surging on what the Times calls a "scrappy write-in campaign" to a victory over some guy from Minnesota and Marianne Williamson.]

Warped information spaces are having a moment, it seems. 

It wasn't always how it is

In 1979, 52 American employed at the U.S. embassy in Tehran were taken hostage by the government of Iran and were subsequently held for 444 days. For that entire time, Walter Cronkite of CBS News opened his evening newscast by announcing the number of days since their captivity had begun. Jimmy Carter was President; his failure to free the hostages was considered by many a reason he was voted out of office after his first term. It was a very big deal.

According to the James Foley Legacy Foundation there are currently 57 Americans being held as hostages or in wongfull detention abroad. As of December, the White House said eight were in Gaza. Nobody seems to be quite sure. Nobody seems much exercised about it. 

That's how it is.

Been there, done that

January 19-20 Intense Lake Effect Snow

Portions of I-94 near Michigan City, IN had traffic backed up for several hours due to numerous crashes and slide offs.

Exactly there and exactly that. When the road you're driving on vanishes into a featureless white void things can get pretty exciting pretty fast. 

The only good news is when you find State troopers spun off into the same ditch you landed in you know, at least, help is on the way.

Give this a try

Test Yourself: Which Faces Were Made by A.I.?

(From the New York Times.)

A cyberthriller, and true

How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Busted the Myth of Bitcoin’s Anonymity

Laid up with a cold for the last few (cold) days I've had plenty of time…and motivation…to scounge around for some interesting reading. This one looks like a winner.

It's by Andy Greenberg and it's called Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency.

This is the story of the revelation in late 2013 that Bitcoin was, in fact, the opposite of untraceable—that its blockchain would actually allow researchers, tech companies, and law enforcement to trace and identify users with even more transparency than the existing financial system. That discovery would upend the world of cybercrime.

Now available in paperback, digital, and audiobook versions, as well as hardcover.

Nice packing, Amazon

 It's a wooden stick. From Brazos, a Texas company that makes excellent wooden sticks. But still. It isn't exactly fragile.

At least the box wasn't stuffed full of tho plastic pillow things.