How Is This Possible?

Qatar is sour graphing.

They should look into male Qataris grabbing foreigners' hineys at the game.

How Is This Possible?

Know your history.

François Bonivard (1493–1570)

"When the bubonic plague struck Geneva in 1530, everything was ready. They even opened a whole hospital for the plague victims. With doctors, paramedics and nurses. The traders contributed, the magistrate gave grants every month. The patients always gave money, and if one of them died alone, all the goods went to the hospital.

    But then a disaster happened: the plague was dying out, while the subsidies depended on the number of patients. There was no question of right and wrong for the Geneva hospital staff in 1530. If the plague produces money, then the plague is good. And then the doctors got organized.

    At first, they just poisoned patients to raise the mortality statistics, but they quickly realized that the statistics didn't have to be just about mortality, but about mortality from plague. So they began to cut the boils from the bodies of the dead, dry them, grind them in a mortar and give them to other patients as medicine. Then they started dusting clothes, handkerchiefs and garters. But somehow the plague continued to abate. Apparently, the dried buboes didn't work well. Doctors went into town and spread bubonic powder on door handles at night, selecting those homes where they could then profit. As an eyewitness wrote of these events, "this remained hidden for some time, but the devil is more concerned with increasing the number of sins than with hiding them."

    In short, one of the doctors became so impudent and lazy that he decided not to wander the city at night, but simply threw a bundle of dust into the crowd during the day. The stench rose to the sky and one of the girls, who by a lucky chance had recently come out of that hospital, discovered what that smell was.

    The doctors were tied up and placed in the good hands of competent “craftsmen.” They tried to get as much information from them as possible. However, the execution lasted several days. The ingenious hippocrats were tied to poles on wagons and carried around the city. At each intersection the executioners used red-hot tongs to tear off pieces of meat. They were then taken to the public square, beheaded and quartered, and the pieces were taken to all the districts of Geneva.

    The only exception was the hospital director's son, who did not take part in the trial but blurted out that he knew how to make potions and how to prepare the powder without fear of contamination. He was simply beheaded "to prevent the spread of evil".

Excerpt from "Chronicles of Geneva", pages 395 - 402

"History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes" - Mark Twain

Qatar is sour graphing.
They should look into male Qataris grabbing foreigners' hineys at the game.
-@Jackson4

In another reality, Quata is an arrogant world power that assumes its views are right for everyone on the planet.

They ban alcohol in the US of A because they know how right they are.

How would the largly immigrant population of the US feel about other foreigners deciding what is right for them?

Yep, bigotry and self importance are a real bugger.

- There are five sheep per person
in New Zealand. That's the highest
sheep-to-people ratio in the world.
Source... globotreks.com
-@cccmedia

Does that mean  polygamy is legal over there?

Scorched you again, Q!

The Ecuador national soccer team stomped

on Qatar again on Friday.

The Ecuador tie in a match with the

Netherlands, final score 1-1, officially

eliminated host team Qatar from

the FIFA tournament.

Ecuador and the Netherlands thus also

qualify for the final 16 teams.

Ecuador tied on a comeback goal scored by

its ¨Superman¨ captain Enner Valencia who

had scored both goals in the opening-day

shutout of Qatar.

News source... Reuters

New Zealand's Marriage Act.

Under the Marriage Act of 1955 and its

2013 amendment, a married person may

not enter into an additional marriage

(polygamy) in New Zealand.

An existing polygamous marriage may be

recognized if the parties had been married

outside New Zealand.

Source... Wikipedia page for

Polygamy in New Zealand

Muskier than ever.

Less than an hour before it was to hold a

Zoom meeting with Twitter officials, the

new Trust and Safety Council's members

were notified that the council was

dissolved and their service were no longer

needed by Twitter.

¨As the body unravels, Musk is tightening

his grip on decisions about the future of

content moderation at Twitter, with less

input from outside experts,¨ the

Washington Post reports.

In less than two months, Musk has undone

years' worth of efforts to make his

social network safer and more civil,

the Post report states.

  -- Washington Post news reporting

Did O'Leary clear 10 million bucks?

The FTX ex-spokesman who was paid 15 million

in that role seems to have cleared five million

based on his testimony to Congress.

Kevin O'Leary, the self-promoting ¨Mr. Wonderful,¨

has been appearing on cable TV interviews and in

Congressional testimony.

O'Leary says he's not against crypto investing

though he wants to make clear that it needs to be

regulated.

Right now it's the 'Wild West', says the crypto

advocate.

cccmedia

Aged bachelor retires from N.D. high court.

Gerald VandeWalle, who turns 90 in 2023, has

announced his retirement from the North Dakota

Supreme Court, which he served as Chief Justice

for 27 years.

VandeWalle worked in the state attorney general's

office for several years in the 1970's before being

appointed to the high court.  He was Chief Justice

from 1993 through 2019 and has remained on

the court since relinquishing the senior justice role

three years ago this month.

Jerry, as he is known when not wearing the robes,

never married.  He says he was ¨too selfish¨

in his career to start a family.

Good luck in your retirement, Jerry.

News source... US News & World Report

Smells Musky.

The owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, has suspended

about eight journalists from the social media site,

claiming they posted information about the

whereabouts of himself and family members,

supposedly endangering their lives.

The move came one day after Twitter changed its

rules on how the ¨live¨ location of individuals

cannot be shared via Twitter.

The Washington Post, one of several news

organizations that had at least one reporter

banned in this effort, states that it has found

no Tweets showing that any of the journalists

shared online the location of Musk or his family

this week.

Prominent journalists barred in this

Twitter purge include reporters for the

Post and The New York Times and

Donie O'Sullivan of CNN.

The American Civil Liberties Union is

calling for Musk to reinstate the

journalists' Twitter accounts.

Source... The Washington Post

NFL history, when Indianapolis played at Minneapolis.

The Minnesota Vikings came into Saturday's game at

10-3 with a chance to clinch the NFC North division title.

With turnovers and other miscues, however, they fell into

a 33-0 hole at halftime.  No team in NFL history had ever

overcome such a deficit.

However, the Colts offense went cold in the second half

behind veteran QB Matt Ryan .. as the Vikings outscored

the Colts 36-3 in the half to tie the game at 36-all

late in the fourth quarter behind another

400-yards-plus passing performance

by Minnesota's veteran QB Kirk Cousins.

Flash back several years to Super Bowl LI when the same

¨Matty Ice¨ Ryan and his old team, the Atlanta Falcons,

blew a 25-point lead and lost to Tom Brady and the

New England Patriots in overtime.

In this Saturday's wild game, Matty Ice was unable to

move the Colts downfield in overtime .. and his game

again ended ingloriously as Minnesota kicked the

winning field goal for a 39-36 victory with

three seconds remaining in the OT period.

It's the biggest comeback win in NFL history, eclipsing

an old record of 32 points from three decades ago.

Muskrat love.

Elon Musk has reinstated most of the Twittter

accounts he had purged after First Amendment

advocates called for the reinstatements.

After having an informal poll taken in which

59 percent supported the journalists getting

their Twitter accounts back, Musk said 'the

people have spoken' and took rational action.

News source... nymag.com

Muskrat love.
Elon Musk has reinstated most of the Twittter
accounts he had purged after First Amendment
advocates called for the reinstatements.

After having an informal poll taken in which
59 percent supported the journalists getting
their Twitter accounts back, Musk said 'the
people have spoken' and took rational action.

News source... nymag.com
-@cccmedia

This translates to ... he has sod all choice because he was stupid .. and worse .. it played out badly in the press.

the twit should have guessed.

Head Musketeer Eyes the Exits.

Twitter has become such a clustercluck

that Elon Musk has queried his

122-million followers ... Should I

step down as head of Twitter?

The Musk man says he will abide by

the poll's result.

By evening in San Francisco, the

New York Times reported,

millions had already responded

to the question .. with the early

result tending toward a Yes,

Step Down.

Twitter has become such a clustercluck
that Elon Musk has queried his
122-million followers ... Should I
step down as head of Twitter?
-@cccmedia

Sod off 57

Hang around 42

At the time of this post - I voted with the majority

Interestingly, the US right is really blasting the left in the poll's comments - So unusual

Musk lost ... or maybe won.

He might very well be an insufferable git, but he isn't a stupid one (usually) so he might well have a plan.

Will he sell to Trump?

Sell to Trump?  He would have to tell the banks his biggest lies ever, quite the task.

Chief Twit still in charge.

Elon Musk did not step down on Monday after

his exciting survey showed that most respondents

wanted him to do so.

He eventually broke his silence, but mainly to

state that future polls will be limited to

premium Twitter members who pay

eight dollars a month for subscriptions.

Chief Twit still in charge.
Elon Musk did not step down on Monday after
his exciting survey showed that most respondents
wanted him to do so.

He eventually broke his silence, but mainly to
state that future polls will be limited to
premium Twitter members who pay
eight dollars a month for subscriptions.
-@cccmedia

Ah, superhero trading card tactics.

Chief Twit still in charge.
Elon Musk did not step down on Monday after
his exciting survey showed that most respondents
wanted him to do so.

He eventually broke his silence, but mainly to
state that future polls will be limited to
premium Twitter members who pay
eight dollars a month for subscriptions.
-@cccmedia

THIS JUST IN!

Elon To Stay As Twitter CEO After Counting Mail-In Votes.

Got to love "democracy"

12/20/22 Thought experiment. If Elon Musk really had $44 Billion that he didn't feel he needed, how much better for the world, for Twitter participants, and for him himself would it have been if he had just donated it all to the World Health Organization, with half the funds unrestricted, and the other half earmarked for malaria elimination, infant mortality, vaccinations, child hunger, etc. instead of throwing the money, Twitter, and his own reputation onto one big, toxic bonfire?

Musk has ASD, as he stated on a TV show some while ago. That might well leave him with difficulty understanding what are considered to be societal norms.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised to find out he has histrionic personality disorder. He fits the profile.

Either way, his Twitter mess hasn't done him any favours

In the year 2525...

According to the New York Times, Mr. Musk

now says he will step down as Twitter CEO

when he finds someone ¨foolish enough¨

to take the job.

No date certain given for that.

Which somehow reminds one of one-hit

wonders Zager and Evans' song that began

with the lyrics...

In the year 2525, if man is still alive

And woman can survive ...

SBF's unsurpassed bail bond.

The New York Times looked into the

extraordinarily high bond of

250-million USD that disgraced

FTX crypto founder

Sam Bankman-Fried is bound by.

The bond agreement  is supposed to

guarantee that SBF will show up in court.

To that end, he is being electronically

monitored while staying at his parents'

home in California .. and

the home would be forfeited to the

government as part of a massive

penalty if the alleged scammer

runs off.

As for who put up 250 mil in cash that

is allowing SBF to remain outside the

prison system, the answer is nobody.

The Times report explains that the

government only goes after the money

if the alleged scoundrel goes on the run.

SBF's parents are Stanford U. law professors

(Wait! What!?). The value of their home

will be assessed in the next few weeks.

Nicer homes in Northern California often

have excessively high values, but nobody

is saying the SBF parents' home is worth

anywhere near 250-million dollars.

There are two (publicly) unidentified

parties who also signed onto the

bond agreement and could be on the

hook for big bucks if the case

goes sideways.

cccmedia

You call him a scammer until he's been convicted.

He might not have done it. I am typing this message whilst riding a space dolphin past the planets Mars and youranus.

If your point is that he is technically innocent

till proven guilty, FYI I called him an

'alleged scammer' in my post above.

As for your space dolphin ride,

post photos, please.

cccmedia

My dolphin is as real as his innocence

Scam Bankrupt-Fraud? Him?

"I fff'ed up".

Oh, well then, in that case no problemo', young man. Thank you for your candidness and honesty.

Case dismissed.

NEXT!

Of course, he's "innocent until proven guilty, and convicted by a jury of his peers".

On the other hand, I'd say the writing's on the wall for SBF... and it says LOTS of years!

(a) CZ, CEO of Binance, said that SBF was "one of the greatest fraudsters in history".

(b) FTX (bankruptcy) CEO John Ray said the FTX collapse was one of the worst business failures he had seen, a result of an “unprecedented lack of documentation.” I liked his comment on SBF's use of small business accounting QuickBooks: “It’s a very nice tool... just not for a multibillion-dollar company.”

(c) Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, has already pleaded guilty to several charges, and is a "cooperating witness". He admitted that they "manipulated FTT" (the FTX token), and that he "wrote software" to enable FTX customer funds to be transferred to Alameda Research (the FTX hedge fund, supposedly a separate entity).

(d) Caroline Ellison. co-CEO of Alameda Research has already pleaded guilty to several charges, and is a "cooperating witness". She admitted that she knew that their "conduct was illegal", and that she was involved in preparing false financial statements concealing the true relationship between FTX and Alameda, and the extent of its debts (= "deceiving FTX customers and investors").

Redefining relevance in the NFL.

The San Francisco 49ers' current quarterback

Brock Purdy was dubbed ¨Mr. Irrelevant¨

at the National Football League Draft because

he was the last player selected by any team.

In the last 22 days, Purdy -- a rookie out of

Iowa State University -- has risen to extreme

levels of football relevance as the NFL goes

down the stretch leading to the playoffs.

With the Niners' first- and second-string

quarterbacks down with season-ending

injuries, the third stringer, Purdy, assumed

the QB role and has led the team to four

consecutive victories over playoff teams.

The Niners have won eight straight games,

the first four of which featured

Jimmy Garappolo under center.

Purdy's poise, accuracy and consistency

have been a delightful surprise to

NFL fans, most of whom had never

seen him throw a pass even on television

until late last month.

He has been completing 67 percent of

his passes and thrown for exactly

two touchdowns in each of the four

games he has piloted.  He threw a pair

of TD passes to tight end

George Kittle in the Niners' latest victory

on Christmas Eve Day (Dec. 24, 2022),

a 37-20 romp over the

Washington Commanders.

In Purdy's previous game, the Niners

defeated the Seattle Seahawks to

win the NFC West division title for

his team, guaranteeing the team a

home game when the playoffs start.

Purdy's lone interception as a starter came

on a passed dropped by a San Francisco

receiver, who tipped the ball into the

air and into a Washington defender's

hands.

The upcoming chapter of Purdy's

fairy-tale story will draw a

national audience in the 49ers'

next game, playing the Raiders in

Las Vegas on New Year's Day.

cccmedia

Of course, he's "innocent until proven guilty, and convicted by a jury of his peers".
On the other hand, I'd say the writing's on the wall for SBF... and it says LOTS of years!

It's an especially big bitcoin scam. If I were to be totally honest ....

A lot of this stuff is used by drug dealers and other assorted lowlife so them getting scammed is not much of an issue for me.

I feel slightly sorry for people fooled into buying in the hope their greed will pay off, but not all that much.

A lot of this stuff is used by drug dealers and other assorted lowlife so them getting scammed is not much of an issue for me.
I feel slightly sorry for people fooled into buying in the hope their greed will pay off, but not all that much.
-@Fred

Agreed, but with slight variance

A lot of this stuff is used by  ̶d̶r̶u̶g̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶l̶e̶r̶s̶  Corporate Execs and  ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶o̶r̶t̶e̶d̶  lowlife Politicians and Bureaucrats so them getting scammed is  ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶s̶u̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶e̶  wonderful to behold.

I feel  ̶s̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶r̶y̶  immense schadenfreude for people fooled into buying in the  ̶h̶o̶p̶e̶  hubris/presumption their greed will pay off  ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ .

hope you're okay with my taking artistic license with your statement

A lot of this stuff is used by drug dealers and other assorted lowlife so them getting scammed is not much of an issue for me.
I feel slightly sorry for people fooled into buying in the hope their greed will pay off, but not all that much.
-@Fred

Agreed, but with slight variance

A lot of this stuff is used by ̶d̶r̶u̶g̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶l̶e̶r̶s̶ Corporate Execs and ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶o̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ lowlife Politicians and Bureaucrats so them getting scammed is ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶s̶u̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶e̶ wonderful to behold.
I feel ̶s̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶r̶y̶ immense schadenfreude for people fooled into buying in the ̶h̶o̶p̶e̶ hubris/presumption their greed will pay off ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ .






hope you're okay with my taking artistic license with your statement
-@Aidan in HCMC

Western companies go with patent laws and sue the heck out of each other.

Chinese companies say, if you get  copied and outsold, you didn't innovate  quickly enough so it's your  fault.

I even 'liked' your  post.

Two USA Upper-Midwest states dominate in jobs.

Given the hundred-years snow and ice storm that

just rolled through their region, you might be

surprised to learn that Minnesota and

North Dakota are dominating the list of

U.S. cities with extremely low unemployment.

Five of the top eight spots on the list are cities

in Minnesota .. and two of the ten spots are

North Dakota cities that abut the Minnesota

State Line.  Atop the list at number-one is

Mankato, MN, which officially has 1.3 percent

unemployment.

North Dakota's largest city, Fargo, which

is number-two nationwide on the

low-unemployment list, officially has a

1.4 percent unemployment rate, and shares a

metropolitan statistical area with the smaller

city of Moorhead, MN.  The 1.4 percent rate

ties Fargo at second on the list with

Rochester, MN.

Other cities in this North Dakota-Minnesota

group with the lowest unemployment rates

in the USA are Grand Forks, ND (1.5 percent),

the ND capital of Bismarck (1.6 percent),

the MSP, MN Twin Cities which are

counted as one jurisdiction and tied with

St. Cloud, MN, at 1.7 percent unemployment.

Somehow, a Vermont city showed up among

the top eight cities at 1.7 percent.  That's

Vermont's largest city, Burlington, tied for

fifth-place with Bismarck (ND).

Not to be left out completely from the

statistics, South Dakota's entry, Sioux Falls

in the eastern part of that state, came in

tenth in the nation with 1.8 percent

unemployment.

---

Milennials in particular (born in the

1980's and '90's) have been dominating

the move to Fargo and other Midwestern

cities and away from the mega-cities

of the East and West Coasts for

the past two decades, according to

an analysis at the Livability website. 

Reasons cited in the Livability analysis

include strong economies, low

unemployment and the relative

affordability of buying a house or

apartment.

---

Statistics are current through

October 2022 as reported

by the U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics for metro

areas in the U.S.  The numbers

are ¨non-seasonally adjusted.¨

cccmedia

A musky odor is evident

      as the old year slips away.

Elon Musk's $300-billion (USD) fortune has

been more than cut in half during

the Tesla shares slaughter and

the Twitter debacle -- and now

stands at about 132 billion.

The losses at Twitter are just a fraction

of what Musk lost at Tesla, whose stock

has been the Wall Street short of the year,

making investors rich if they have been

betting against TSLA stock during its

68 percent crash.

Neither Tesla nor Twitter is Musk's biggest

holding.  That would be SpaceX, which --

as a non-public company -- does not

offer or sell stock.

Could Musk lose another 100-200 billion

in the next couple of years?

He has a whale of a gamble going

with SpaceX. The company will need

to solve a dicey bandwidth shortage

if it is to make its satellite internet service

as profitable as Musk and his people

projected it should be in coming years.

News sources....

       The Motley Fool, Yahoo!News

  -- cccmedia

Investing carnage ends for 2023.

The last investing day of the year on

Wall Street was another down day for

the S&P 500.

The index ended the year down 19.4

percent.  This was its worst performance

since the recession year of 2008.

Cryptos' charting is even worse.  Bitcoin

lost 65 percent of its value in 2023.

Source... nytimes.com

¨The Year the Long

    Stock Market Rally Ended¨

Pardon the error, I got ahead of myself.

The stock market year referenced above

is, of course, 2022, not 2023.

cccmedia

Investing carnage ends for 2023.
The last investing day of the year on
Wall Street was another down day for
the S&P 500.
-@cccmedia

I try to read a lot of diverse news every day (been a bit busy lately so only get through 6 or 7 papers per day). That covers news and opinion from a variety of sites.

Some of the less well known, and non-professional 'gurus' have been predicting a massive financial crash way beyond anything the mainstream is suggesting.

I would normally pretty much ignore them as mouths without much brain/mouths pushing a story for hits (cash), but a lot of what they predicted has come to pass.

And the good news is that those of us required to take required minimum distributions in 2023 will have a lower amount because of the decrease in the value of our IRA's.