Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Welcome to CaturSaturday, January 3, 2026, and the first shabbos of the year for Jewish cats. It’s also National J.R.R. Tolkien Day, as he was born on this day in 1892. Here’s the famous author reading for 15 minutes from The Lord of the Rings (Book 5, Chapter V) as well as The Hobbit. He’s far more expressive than I would have expected. The YouTube notes are below:
In 1952, J.R.R. Tolkien encountered a tape-recorder for the first time, introduced to him by his friend George Sayer. Unfamiliar with the technology, Tolkien requested that they begin by recording the Lord’s Prayer in Gothic, aiming to purify the device of any malevolent spirits. Captivated by the clarity of the playback, Tolkien proceeded to recite excerpts from his manuscript, “The Lord of the Rings,” which at that time had not yet been published. The recordings made are these very ones. Also featured are a few recordings from it’s prequel, “The Hobbit”.
It’s also Fruitcake Toss Day (you’re supposed to hurl away your unwanted gift fruitcakes), National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day, and National Drinking Straw Day, celebrating the day straws were patented in 1888. The first straws were made of manila paper coated with paraffin, then of course we went to plastic straws, and now we’re back to paper ones again, a change I heartily approve. Metal straws date back five thousand years to the Sumerians, and the bendy straw was first marketed in 1939.
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the January 3 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
Well, I’ll be. Here’s the big headline on today’s NYT page (click on it, or find article archived here):
An excerpt:
President Trump said on Saturday that the United States had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and was flying him out of Venezuela, in what would be a stunning culmination to a monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump’s administration to oust the authoritarian leader.
Mr. Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, his social media platform, and said that the United States had carried out “a large scale strike against Venezuela” in an operation that was conducted “in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement.” He said that Mr. Maduro’s wife had also been captured.
In a brief phone interview with The New York Times after the announcement, Mr. Trump celebrated the success of the mission to capture the Venezuelan president. “A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people,” he said. “It was a brilliant operation, actually.”
When asked if he had sought congressional authority for the operation or what is next for Venezuela, Mr. Trump said he would address those matters during a news conference at 11 a.m. at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla.
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, speaking on a state-run television station after Mr. Trump’s announcement, said that Mr. Maduro’s location was unknown and asked Mr. Trump for proof of life.
Earlier on Saturday, the government of Venezuela accused the United States of carrying out military attacks in the capital, Caracas, and other parts of the country after large explosions were reported at a military base in the city.
The Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency in response to the attacks and said they had occurred in Caracas and in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, according to a statement from the Venezuelan communications ministry.
. . . . Nicolás Maduro was indicted in the United States on corruption, drug trafficking and other charges in 2020, and the State Department had announced a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. In announcing the capture of Maduro, President Trump said it was done in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement. The indictment was sworn out in the Southern District of New York.
He’s toast now, bound for a Supermax prison. This is something one would expect Mossad to do, not the U.S. I bet Venezuelans are waking up this morning with a deep sense of unease, though many must be happy that this autocrat was deposed. Details of the capture will emerge later, perhaps when Trump holds a news conference later this morning, where will hear how all the credit for this Greatest Capture in the History of the World goes to our “President.”
Investigators said that sparklers attached to bottles of champagne were the likely cause of the fire that tore through a popular bar during a New Year’s celebration in the Alps, leaving 40 people dead and dozens badly burned, many fighting for their lives.
Beatrice Pilloud, the prosecutor general of the Valais canton in Switzerland, where the fire occurred, said at a news conference on Friday that evidence suggested that the sparkler-topped bottles were held too close to the ceiling in the basement of the bar, Le Constellation.
Many of the victims were teenagers, and Swiss officials said most of those who died were found in the basement, where the fire began. Survivors were being treated at multiple hospitals, including in France and Italy, forcing friends and families to mount desperate searches for updates. At a news briefing on Friday afternoon, Swiss officials said that 119 people had been injured and six remained unidentified.
In interviews with The New York Times, witnesses and regulars at the bar pointed to safety concerns.
One survivor said that the ceiling in the basement — where people were dancing while waiters carried bottles topped with sparkling candles — caught fire, causing partygoers to crowd the stairway that was the only exit. Another patron said that acoustic foam on the basement ceiling had come unstuck and was hanging loose when he visited days earlier.
The bar was a haven for people in their late teens and early 20s, and many of the fire victims were young. The hospital closest to the fire was overwhelmed by the crush of victims, and Switzerland’s burn units were immediately stretched to capacity, officials said. Some of the injured were flown 75 miles away across the mountains to Milan, which has one of Italy’s best centers for burn treatment. Others were being treated in France.
. . . .Officials said that a fire at the bar was followed by an explosion that was likely caused by a flashover, a phenomenon in which a fire in an enclosed space spreads rapidly, causing nearly everything in the room to ignite almost simultaneously.
Extensive third-degree burns are often fatal, and I expect the death toll will rise significantly in the coming days.(50 of those who still survived are described as “badly burned.”) It’s very sad, and their loved ones will never forget that the victims died on New Year’s Eve. Here’s a photo of what likely led to the fire:
*As we know, there are big protests in Iran, with thousands taking to the streets protesting inflation and the theocracy, defying Iranian forces who are firing at them. Some people are even calling for the return of the Shah! Now Trump has told Iran to ratchet back on the shooting. . . or else:
President Trump threatened to intervene if Iran cracks down violently on ongoing protests, putting more pressure on Tehran as it tries to contain discontent with its spiraling economy.
The warning came after demonstrations that have run for nearly a week turned deadly, with clashes between protesters and police leaving several dead.
“If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” the president said on social media. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
It wasn’t clear what action the U.S. might take. The U.S. has slapped sanctions on Iranian perpetrators of human-rights violations during previous waves of unrest, but Trump has pursued a more muscular foreign policy, including bombing Iranian nuclear sites over the summer, even as he pushes forward peacemaking efforts in Gaza and elsewhere.
Trump warned earlier this week during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran would face military strikes if it tried to rebuild its ballistic-missile or nuclear programs, which were badly damaged during the 12-day war in June.
. . .Iran has little ability to counter any strike after Israel shattered its air defenses during the war. But it was able to launch missile barrages that, while doing no strategic damage, stretched U.S. and Israel defenses and left dozens dead. Iran and its militia allies have also previously attacked American bases in the region.
The unrest in Iran has left seven people dead, at least 33 injured and 119 under arrest, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. The demonstrations, which began in Tehran, have spread to at least 32 cities, the group said in a report late Thursday.
Trump is on the right side here, but does the U.S. have the right to interfere in purely internal protests? (At least there’s a U.S. connection with his attacks on Venezuela.) The U.S. and Israel may attack Iran again if they deem it necessary to stop the country’s continuing efforts to get nuclear weapons, and perhaps that could be a tipping point for regime change. But I doubt it—not so long as the government has the armaments.
*Nellie Bowles is back with her first news-and-snark column of 2026 at The Free Press: “TGIF: The Warmth of Collectivism.” As always, I’ll steal a few items.
→ The Zohran era begins: Meanwhile, His Honor Zohran Mamdani was sworn in just after midnight on New Year’s Day. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.
So far our new Mayor Mamdani has announced: “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” We’re doing communism, baby! It’s never been done before! Mamdani is everything we imagined. He’s the villain in an Ayn Rand novel, perfectly concocted. (My favorite part of his inauguration was Iris Schumer, whom I adore, sitting behind Mamdani with what the Daily Mail describes as “a face like thunder.” Me too, Iris. All I ever wanted was to live in a world run by Chuck and Iris, whatever new Bush family member Bohemian Grove selected, and Hillary Clinton. Instead, I’m going to be paying taxes to Zohran, who is immediately marching me to jail. Which one of you told him I was a debutante? You monster.)
→ Wow, Ilhan Omar got so rich: Embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband’s venture capital firm has quietly removed information about key officers, including former Obama officials, the New York Post reports. Omar (D-MN) reportedly went from nearly broke to being worth as much as $30 million in just one year. Frauds or not, I think we have found the new Nancy Pelosi, ladies and gentlemen.
→ Keir Starmer’s dream man: Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, has been tightly focused on bringing one man back to England. And this week he got him home! Here’s Keir:
“I’m delighted that Alaa Abd El-Fattah is back in the UK and has been reunited with his loved ones, who must be feeling profound relief.
I want to pay tribute to Alaa’s family, and to all those that have worked and campaigned for this moment.
Alaa’s case has been a top priority for my government since we came to office. I’m grateful to President Sisi for his decision to grant the pardon.”
Wow, a top priority. Alaa Abd El-Fattah must be a great man, a wronged man.
Let’s quickly look through Alaa’s X posts: “can we please adopt armed struggle and kill all foreign journalists,” he wrote. And also: “I seriously, seriously, seriously hate white people, especially those of English or Dutch or German descent.” Hmm: “we must kill all police officers without any discrimination.” Huh: “Unfortunately, the Iranian nuclear project isn’t dedicated to the extermination of the white man; bin Laden’s odds are higher.” Wait: “from time to time I remind ppl that I rejoice when US soldiers are killed, and support killing zionists even civilians.”
It goes on: “I generally support murdering rulers.” And an innocent question: “proof we need more suicide bombings?” with a link to some story.
In sort of apologizing for the posts, Alaa Abd El-Fattah described them as “the writings of a much younger person,” which I guess is technically true, and simple “expressions of a young man’s anger.” See, he was a child when he wrote those, a young boy of 30. The Guardiandescribes the posts as coming “when the British-Egyptian democracy activist was turning 30.” I love that. People don’t describe ages as “turning” unless it’s that someone is turning 7. Here’s how the BBC describes the outrage:
*On January 1 of each year, some artistic creations enter the public domain. For films, book, music and cartoons, it’s generally 95 years from their first publication, which means that this year cartoons created in 1930 go public. I was pleased to learn when I saw this article in the AP that Winnie-the-Pooh characters became public ion 2023, which now allows me to put up an image of my favorite spirit animal, the dysthymic Eeyore:
Illustration by Ernest Howard Shepard from Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), =Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A new year means a new parade of classic characters and works entering the public domain.
Under U.S. law, the copyright on thousands of creations from 1930 — including films, books, musical compositions and more — will expire at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2026, meaning they will be free to use, share and adapt after nearly a century.
“I think this is my favorite crop of works yet, which is saying a lot,” says Jennifer Jenkins, the director of Duke University Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, who has compiled an annual list of public domain entrants for over a decade.
This year’s treasure trove features famous faces like the original Betty Boop — whose iconic hoop earrings originally took the form of floppy dog ears — and the initial version of Disney’s Pluto, who first went by the name Rover.
“That’s not only exciting in itself, but it’s really an opportunity to look back at the history of these two incredible animation studios, Fleischer and Disney, and how their styles are imprinted in the DNA of today’s cartoons,” Jenkins says. “That’s just a fun rabbit hole.”
Literary highlights include William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, the full version of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, Watty Piper’s The Little Engine that Could, the first four books of the Nancy Drew detective series and The Murder at the Vicarage, Agatha Christie’s first Miss Marple mystery.
The movie selection spans war stories, musicals, thrillers, Westerns, comedies and more, coming from directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hughes and Salvador Dalí. Among them are All Quiet on the Western Front, Animal Crackers starring the Marx Brothers, 1931 best picture winner Cimarron, and two Marlene Dietrich films, Morocco and The Blue Angel.
Several movies on the list feature future stars in their early days: Bing Crosby’s first feature-film appearance in King of Jazz, Greta Garbo’s first talkie Anna Christie and The Big Trail, John Wayne’s first leading role.
Notably, Jenkins says, the films on this year’s list all predate the Hays Code, a set of self-imposed studio guidelines that banned subjects from profanity, violence and nudity to interracial relationships and “lustful kissing” in movies from 1934 to 1968.
The musical compositions include “Georgia on my Mind,” “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and four songs by Ira and George Gershwin: “I Got Rhythm,” “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “But Not for Me” and “Embraceable You.” Among the artworks are Piet Mondrian’s “Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow” and the Jules Rimet Cup by Abel Lafleur — the original trophy of the FIFA World Cup from 1930 to 1970.
Betty Boop! This is from 1935 and is not racist; Betty even speaks Japanese!
*And, in the NYT, Ezra Klein has a fascinating interview with Buddism expert/practitioner Stephen Batchelor. Have a gander at “This question that can change your life” (clickbait if ever there was one). Klein’s questions are in bold, Batchelor’s answers in plain text.
From the age of 27 to 31, you say you sat facing a wall for 10 to 12 hours a day, asking the question, “What is this?” repeatedly. So I guess the obvious first question is: Why did you do that?
[Laughs.] Well, I became a Buddhist monk when I was 21 years old.
. . . .Drop me more into the existential experience of doing that. What is it like to sit staring at a wall for 10 to 12 hours a day, asking the question, “What is this?”
These retreats are 90 days in the summer, 90 days in the winter. It’s a long period of time. But what happens in the first couple of weeks is that the mind still keeps coming up with all these clever answers and theories. Maybe even a little enigmatic, Zenish kind of poetry — or whatever — comes up. But at a certain point, that quietens down, and you just come to rest in that quality of amazement and astonishment that you’re here at all and you’re in this moment.
It’s not that the wonder or the questioning is just going on between your ears. It’s not an intellectual question. It might start out in that way, but at a certain point, you can actually let go of the words altogether. You don’t need to keep repeating: “What is this? What is this?”
You begin to discover what they call the sensation of doubt — an actual physical feeling that extends right down into your belly. And that embodied quality of wonder or questioning then begins to actually infuse your day-to-day consciousness more and more.
It becomes part and parcel of your fundamental experience of being conscious. The world is not something you just take for granted so much anymore — or meeting another person is not just a social interaction.
But underlying that encounter with nature or people or animals, you begin to be more and more attuned to the sheer strangeness that this is all going on at all: the world, other people, my cat, whatever it is.
That opens up a quality of relationship with life itself that I found deeply nurturing. It somehow reconnected me with the organic foundations of my life, but not in a way that I just let go or stopped thinking.
You don’t. As a human being, you are always thinking, in a way. But this provides an embodied framework, in which to maybe think from your belly rather than think from your head.
. . . . It’s odd — I find that people I know who have no interest in meditating have had experiences where all of their muddled and worried thoughts, for some reason, just die down. People might find this in doing sports, for example — running every day. They might find it by going for hikes in the countryside or just working in their gardens. There are all manner of activities we do that have nothing to do with meditation in a formal sense but are moments whereby, suddenly, we find we are at peace with ourselves. That, to me, is the nonreactive space.
I think it’s dangerous to present it as something exotic and spiritual. I feel nirvana in these moments of stopping, and in that stopping, suddenly feeling at peace with ourselves and in harmony with our world. It may only last a few seconds, maybe longer. But that’s nonreactivity. It’s not something we just get from meditation.
And sometimes they come upon us out of the blue: One day, you sit down on a park bench, and for some reason that you cannot explain, you find yourself still and quiet. The mind’s chatter has died down. And in that moment — and this is the other side of nonreactivity — the world reveals itself more luminously.
The problem with reactivity is not that it causes you suffering, although it often does, but that it actually inhibits you from experiencing the wonder of life itself.
I’d like to attain that state of un-attachment very much, and lord knows I’ve tried, but I’ve never succeeded.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Editor Hili is kvetching!:
Hili: I have more and more work, and you said things would be easier now. Andrzej: They are, since we have a better program and can do more.
In Polish:
Hili: Mam coraz więcej pracy, a mówiłeś, że teraz będzie nam łatwiej. Ja: Tak, bo mamy lepszy program i możemy zrobić więcej.
A genuinely far-sighted university, one that really believed all the guff they all spout about expanding knowledge and engaging minds, would appoint @FondOfBeetles as Professor for the Public Understanding of Biology.
This Norwegian Jewish boy was gassed to death, along with his father and mother, as soon as he arrived in Auschwitz. He was fifteen years old. https://t.co/aFw3taULcm
ROV pilots filmed this giant phantom jelly, or Stygiomedusa gigantea, at 253 meters during an ROV descent to explore the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon wall. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
“The last word” is the most dangerous of infernal machines; and husband and wife should no more fight to get it than they would struggle for the possession of a lighted bomb-shell. -Douglas William Jerrold, playwright and humorist (3 Jan 1803-1857)
The volcano video is really amazing…and no, I would not do it, but she is young…. Watching her startle to the explosion of the new vent opening and timing the explosive sound at about 1 second indicates she is only 1000 ft or so from the action. The sights, sounds, smells, and wind from her (and her videographers) perch must have been spectacular.
Yes Rick. Potentially very dangerous. Wonder if she has a respirator in her pack. Risk/reward calculation: Upside: extremely thrilling….Downside: potentially lethal.
I’ve done a lot of volcano photography and video. The danger in a situation like that shown in the clip is not so much from toxic gas as from flying debris if there is a sudden explosion. Dukono erupts on a small scale almost daily so the internal pressure doesn’t build up too much, but you never know with volcanoes, as they are inherently unpredictable (though volcanologists try)..
Always good to bring a top quality gas mask in such a situation in any case.
Today’s Venezuela events reminded me of a similar but less neat operation in 1988 when the US took Noriega out of Panama and later, in the mid 90s Raul Cedras (?) out of Haiti though I think in that case Clinton set him up in exile in Panama.
Big deals all over the place I can’t keep up. Somaliland/Israel, Ukraine blowing up a lot of the Russian air force, Venezuela … AND the wild events in Iran.
FK — I think the whole Chavas-Maduro era is over now Venezuelans understand the horrors of communism. And Money matters: The peak of their era, its consolidation was 2000-2008 when the oil prices were sky high. Communism can’t make money alone but commie pukes are subsidized by oil sometimes.
Like the USSR’s peak was in the 70s after the oil shock/price rise. Come the 80s and lower prices the USSR basically went bankrupt.
So with the oil prices lower these days and Venezuelan socialism has been seen to have failed.. a more sane gvt will follow. Venezuelans, who seem to mainly live in NYC now (huge influx) deserve better times.
Some news is now reporting that the US will “run” Venezuela for now. Unbelievable behavior on the part of the US. They want the oil and they want to isolate Cuba. This is a terrible precedent for international relations. Might makes right. We’ve returned to the deeply shameful “gunboat diplomacy” of the last century.
What was shameful about it? If you can bend another country to your will through threats of force that it can’t credibly retaliate against, why shouldn’t you do it? There could be consequences that could cause the policy to be regarded as erroneous when judged in hindsight, but I don’t see how shame enters into it.
A good reason why the U.S. might want Venezuelan oil is that it is the “heavy” crude that the refineries on the Gulf Coast are designed to refine. (Saudi oil is lighter.) Currently much of this feedstock comes by pipeline from faraway Alberta, including the expensive tar sands. Canada’s Liberal Government policy is to 1) to put the Alberta oil and gas industry out of business through higher carbon pricing making it price-non-competitive and 2) to move Canada away from its traditional trading partnership with the United States and “pivot” to China. Hence Venezuelan crude becomes a strategic asset the U.S. might want to nail down and rehabilitate.
The U.S. inexhaustibly touts “American Values.” I have reasonably gathered that Americans (fancying themselves qualified to lecture others about values), would surely experience at least embarrassment if not shame in missing the mark in not practicing their values.
Obviously, “American Values” have been made manifest in Venezuela. As George Herbert Walker Bush put it, “What we say goes.”
The international order is selfishness tempered with the art of the possible. Whether that makes a better world is not part of the calculus. Commerce is usually more efficient for producing wealth than conquest….until it’s not. I just don’t see any scope for shame in there, is all.
If you think your government should conduct itself differently, you need to install a new government.
I definitely agree with the last part of your comment.
“If you can bend another country to your will through threats of force that it can’t credibly retaliate against, why shouldn’t you do it?”
Seriously? Well, using that logic, the US should take over Canada- lots of timber and oil we need. What can Canada do about it? And while we’re at it, let’s take over Mexico and some other South American Countries. Actually, let’s just make the whole continent America, who can stop us? If we can, we should, right?
Even if it were generally considered shameful, that wouldn’t have any effect on the chronically shameless.
How about an appeal to enlightened self-interest? Venezuela and its allies may be powerless to retaliate; but there are other players, who are well organised and have a proven record of being especially greedy, violent, and shameless. Oil is not the only very profitable trade to be threatened by this special military operation.
Flap flap flap flap thud — the sound of chickens coming home to roost.
In his news conference this morning, Trump ululated the throwaway line about wanting “good neighbors.” I’m reminded of FDR’s 1930’s “Good Neighbor Policy.”
Trump was also asked if Venezuelan Nobel peace prize winner, Ms. Machado, would be involved. He replied to the effect that she would not be as she did not have sufficient “support.” In a brief online interview, Elliot (Iran-Contra) Abrams expressed surprise at this, saying Machado had a 70% domestic approval rating. Were a Pinochet clone available would Trump deign to look upon him favorably? (Considering current events in Iran and Trump’s threat to use military force, is it possible that the current Shah will triumphantly return? Trump would be hard-pressed – for “security reasons” – not to accept an “invitation” to reintroduce U.S. military bases there.)
What with the Venezuelan intervention and the willingness to put U.S. troops on the ground there, is there any good reason to reject as impossible that also happening in Cuba, “a consummation devoutly to be wished” by Marco Rubio, eh? If it can happen in Venezuela for “security reasons,” it can surely happen in defenseless Greenland.
To paraphrase the old hymn,: “All hail the power of Donald’s Name! Let men their prostates fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Trump Lord of all”
Lou, “might makes right” is the way the world works and always has. It is why for example tiny Israel has such powerful weaponry – otherwise it would not survive. The major rival blocs of countries today are armed to the teeth for this reason. So although I was somewhat surprised by the audacity of Trump’s latest move, the basis of it is the oldest principle of nationhood.
I don’t deny that the world is a mean place. But there is a place for human decency. Acts of violence usually come back to haunt the aggressor. I don’t want a world filled with greed-driven international violence.
In the case of Venezuela, there was no threat to the US. The pretexts used here were even more dishonest than the “weapons of mass destruction” excuse in Iraq.
Part of the reason that the death toll in Switzerland is so high is that many of the young people just continued partying while the ceiling was burning, up until a flashover turned the entire basement to flame.
Is this because: (1) whenever something “interesting” happens, young people now automatically start videoing it on their cameras, in order to upload it to TikTok?, or (2) young people are so used to being mollycoddled, with everything made safe for them, that they’re oblivious to real and obvious danger?, or (3) they were so drunk that they weren’t thinking straight, or 4) … ?
Maybe a bit of all three explanations. Thanks for the video, that does document a very surreal reaction. I mean the ceiling is dripping flame and they’re bopping around, recording it, all smiles. Perhaps there was also a mob mentality going on, and of course, humans love the mesmerism of fire.
I find this pretty baffling, wasn’t it obvious that, in a basement with one stairway entrance/exit, they were in danger? Or is that the benefit of hindsight? The pity of this is that there seems to have been time, so, if they had simply made an orderly exit (such as, if the DJ had stopped the music and request everyone make their way out), the death toll would have been way lower.
That video shows the fire in better detail than the first and it’s obviously getting out of control. Yes, if everyone acted quickly, many more would have survived. The music sort of makes it all seem normal, maybe some (who may have been drunk enough) thought it was pyrotechnics. As you said “baffling”
Coel, are you the reader who suggested Grokopedia to us? I ask because I don’t trust Wikipedia anymore and someone here recommended Grokopedia (maybe I’m spelling it incorrectly) and I thought it was you. I’ve been trying to search topics there, but am getting very little in return. Sorry if you weren’t the reader who suggested it.
Yes, I suggested Grokipedia. It’s relatively new and is developing rapidly, but it seems promising so far. Another way of researching topics is to use AI directly, I have a Grok app on my iPad, and it’s amazingly good at answering questions on any topic.
Let’s see if you get this, Coel (there’s no reply button under your name). Maybe this is a stupid question, but I’m using either Brave or DDG for browsers. How would I use Grok there?
I’m using an Android phone. It’s all I’ve got
“people now automatically start videoing it on their cameras, in order to upload it to TikTok?”
Someone on twitter pointed out that there is video of a 2003 nightclub fire, which killed 100. It took 30s from the fireworks going wrong for the band to stop playing, and by then it was too late to escape. The cameraman realised long before most people around him, but only just makes it out:
That was some time before tiktok. But drunk people, not thinking about safety. There were several exits but the rush jammed the one everyone remembered coming in through. Recommendations were for the main entrance to handle more people, and for fire sprinklers:
So according to news conference, “we are going to run Venezuela” now. I am reminded of Seinfeld’s remark on Newman and Kramer playing the board game Risk for the domination of the world by two guys who can barely run their own lives.
I feel quite conflicted about the news from Venezuela. My wife is Venezuelan and has always been bitterly opposed to the Maduro regime, and the Chavez regime before it. We have participated in protests against these regimes. My wife has gone through all the increasingly difficult hoops required to vote in Venezuelan elections from abroad (we live in Canada). These hoops were created by the regime to make it as inconvenient as possible for expatriate Venezuelans to exercise their democratic right to vote, because it is no secret that these expats are overwhelmingly anti Maduro. In the very last election, Venezuelans living abroad, at least those living in Canada and the US, were simply not allowed to vote, full stop. So we are anything but sorry to see Maduro go. Maduro, though, is little more than a clown according to my wife. Removing him will make little difference if the people behind him remain. There is no doubt in my mind that they are largely made up of deplorable thuggish, corrupt liars, who have rigged past elections in their favour.
The above being said, the way Maduro was removed is deeply disturbing to me. While I think one can make the case, morally, for a powerful country’s removal of a tyrant who’s oppressing his people in a weaker country, it’s an awfully slippery slope.
I’m not sure I understand your question. The slope I’m talking about has invading another country for noble reasons at the top of the slope (let’s pretend we can agree what reasons can be considered “noble”). My example was an invasion to remove a tyrant, but yours of trying to eliminate slavery in the invaded country could be another. Further down the slope is invading another country because you consider their system of government “bad”, even if there aren’t that many widespread human-rights abuses. An example might be a country with a right-wing government invading one with a communist government. And near the bottom of the slope would be invading to get control of the country’s resources. The slipperiness comes from the difficulty of accurately identifying the motivation of the invasion. Did Trump invade Venezuela to rid the country’s citizens of a terrible despot who had ruined the country and to bring a “narcotraficante” to justice or did he do so to get control of the country’s oil resources?
We’ve been forbidden to say “+1” but, to me, your comment covered it all. Particularly in light of your wife’s experience and knowledge of her country of origin. Slippery slope, indeed. This morning’s press conference (I watched it on one of the networks because I’m low class vermin without internet) caused me great shame. The hubris was cringeworthy. How trump thinks he can mediate others’ wars is beside me.
Trump’s Director of National Intelligence ,Tulsi Gabbard, in 2019: “The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose our leaders – so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.”
Trump today, when asked how long the USA will be in Venezuela: “Well, you know, it won’t cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial.”
Did the Iraq War happen so the US could make profits off of oil? No.
Let me explain the difference.
In a broad sense, yes: the reason the United States (or any other great power) cares about Iraq in a way it doesn’t care about, say, Myanmar is because of oil. Iraq currently has the fifth largest proven oil reserves in the world (145 billion barrels, almost 8.5% of the global total), ahead of Russia.
…
So – oil certainly was a strategic factor: it’s a major reason why the US cares about the Middle East in the first place. But it wasn’t really a material factor: the US wasn’t gaining oil, or even gaining major oil assets or concessions directly from the 2003 invasion.
I read the Reddit links. What’s your opinion? About The US going into Venezuela. Bombing the country. Grabbing the leader and his wife in the dark of night. Saying that “we” will be in charge. Do you have an opinion about those facts? I am stunned by it all.
My guess is that the leaders of Iran, Cuba, and N. Korea are worried (in that order). My guess is the leaders of Russia are more concerned that the US might provide weapons to their opponents. The US is not going to kidnap the rulers to Iran (high probability). However, they might be killed (with or without Israeli help).
As a big fan of the Fleischer Brothers, and especially their Betty Boop animated shorts, I must share an HD version of my all-time favorite Betty Boop cartoon: Minnie the Moocher:
This is well worth 7 minutes of your time. For those unfamiliar with it, it begins with a brief live-action of Cab Calloway conducting his band doing the intro to the title song. Then the cartoon commences. When Betty and her friend Bimbo reach the cave, a rotoscope version of Calloway (as a ghost-walrus) appears. The Fleischers invented the rotoscope rocess. Calloway sings the song accompanied by some surreal, ghostly animated imagery (Professor PCCe, there’s a ghost mama cat with ghost kittens!)
This cartoon is from 1932, so, pre-Hays Code. I doubt the title song’s reference to drug use would have slipped under the radar later. The best BB shorts are pre-Code; some are quite naughty.
By the way, few film studios in those days would have featured a black artist in a short intended for wide release. The Fleischers were ahead of their time in many ways.
As a kid I had the record “Poems and Songs of Middle Earth” read by Tolkien himself. How I wish I’d kept it. But it disappeared, along with my Peter Max poster, long ago.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
“The last word” is the most dangerous of infernal machines; and husband and wife should no more fight to get it than they would struggle for the possession of a lighted bomb-shell. -Douglas William Jerrold, playwright and humorist (3 Jan 1803-1857)
The volcano video is really amazing…and no, I would not do it, but she is young…. Watching her startle to the explosion of the new vent opening and timing the explosive sound at about 1 second indicates she is only 1000 ft or so from the action. The sights, sounds, smells, and wind from her (and her videographers) perch must have been spectacular.
That cloud of probably toxic gas looked to be heading her way.
Yes Rick. Potentially very dangerous. Wonder if she has a respirator in her pack. Risk/reward calculation: Upside: extremely thrilling….Downside: potentially lethal.
I get it. I was immortal once also.
I have experienced something similar in Hawaii (as did Mark Twain)
What or who was taking the video?
I’ve done a lot of volcano photography and video. The danger in a situation like that shown in the clip is not so much from toxic gas as from flying debris if there is a sudden explosion. Dukono erupts on a small scale almost daily so the internal pressure doesn’t build up too much, but you never know with volcanoes, as they are inherently unpredictable (though volcanologists try)..
Always good to bring a top quality gas mask in such a situation in any case.
I usually expect a gentle entry to the news of the day when I come here. This morning, though, the Maduro news really popped my eyes open.
Today’s Venezuela events reminded me of a similar but less neat operation in 1988 when the US took Noriega out of Panama and later, in the mid 90s Raul Cedras (?) out of Haiti though I think in that case Clinton set him up in exile in Panama.
Big deals all over the place I can’t keep up. Somaliland/Israel, Ukraine blowing up a lot of the Russian air force, Venezuela … AND the wild events in Iran.
D.A.
NYC
Maduro will not be missed but what comes next? Will the second in command simply take over or will there be a real change?
FK — I think the whole Chavas-Maduro era is over now Venezuelans understand the horrors of communism. And Money matters: The peak of their era, its consolidation was 2000-2008 when the oil prices were sky high. Communism can’t make money alone but commie pukes are subsidized by oil sometimes.
Like the USSR’s peak was in the 70s after the oil shock/price rise. Come the 80s and lower prices the USSR basically went bankrupt.
So with the oil prices lower these days and Venezuelan socialism has been seen to have failed.. a more sane gvt will follow. Venezuelans, who seem to mainly live in NYC now (huge influx) deserve better times.
D.A.
NYC
Under MomDaddy they’re liable to get more of the same…
Some news is now reporting that the US will “run” Venezuela for now. Unbelievable behavior on the part of the US. They want the oil and they want to isolate Cuba. This is a terrible precedent for international relations. Might makes right. We’ve returned to the deeply shameful “gunboat diplomacy” of the last century.
What was shameful about it? If you can bend another country to your will through threats of force that it can’t credibly retaliate against, why shouldn’t you do it? There could be consequences that could cause the policy to be regarded as erroneous when judged in hindsight, but I don’t see how shame enters into it.
A good reason why the U.S. might want Venezuelan oil is that it is the “heavy” crude that the refineries on the Gulf Coast are designed to refine. (Saudi oil is lighter.) Currently much of this feedstock comes by pipeline from faraway Alberta, including the expensive tar sands. Canada’s Liberal Government policy is to 1) to put the Alberta oil and gas industry out of business through higher carbon pricing making it price-non-competitive and 2) to move Canada away from its traditional trading partnership with the United States and “pivot” to China. Hence Venezuelan crude becomes a strategic asset the U.S. might want to nail down and rehabilitate.
The U.S. inexhaustibly touts “American Values.” I have reasonably gathered that Americans (fancying themselves qualified to lecture others about values), would surely experience at least embarrassment if not shame in missing the mark in not practicing their values.
Obviously, “American Values” have been made manifest in Venezuela. As George Herbert Walker Bush put it, “What we say goes.”
Leslie, this is the rationale of a high school bully.
Even from your strictly selfish view, is it really going to be a better world if every country tries to do this to its weaker neighbors?
The international order is selfishness tempered with the art of the possible. Whether that makes a better world is not part of the calculus. Commerce is usually more efficient for producing wealth than conquest….until it’s not. I just don’t see any scope for shame in there, is all.
If you think your government should conduct itself differently, you need to install a new government.
I definitely agree with the last part of your comment.
“If you can bend another country to your will through threats of force that it can’t credibly retaliate against, why shouldn’t you do it?”
Seriously? Well, using that logic, the US should take over Canada- lots of timber and oil we need. What can Canada do about it? And while we’re at it, let’s take over Mexico and some other South American Countries. Actually, let’s just make the whole continent America, who can stop us? If we can, we should, right?
Even if it were generally considered shameful, that wouldn’t have any effect on the chronically shameless.
How about an appeal to enlightened self-interest? Venezuela and its allies may be powerless to retaliate; but there are other players, who are well organised and have a proven record of being especially greedy, violent, and shameless. Oil is not the only very profitable trade to be threatened by this special military operation.
Flap flap flap flap thud — the sound of chickens coming home to roost.
In his news conference this morning, Trump ululated the throwaway line about wanting “good neighbors.” I’m reminded of FDR’s 1930’s “Good Neighbor Policy.”
Trump was also asked if Venezuelan Nobel peace prize winner, Ms. Machado, would be involved. He replied to the effect that she would not be as she did not have sufficient “support.” In a brief online interview, Elliot (Iran-Contra) Abrams expressed surprise at this, saying Machado had a 70% domestic approval rating. Were a Pinochet clone available would Trump deign to look upon him favorably? (Considering current events in Iran and Trump’s threat to use military force, is it possible that the current Shah will triumphantly return? Trump would be hard-pressed – for “security reasons” – not to accept an “invitation” to reintroduce U.S. military bases there.)
What with the Venezuelan intervention and the willingness to put U.S. troops on the ground there, is there any good reason to reject as impossible that also happening in Cuba, “a consummation devoutly to be wished” by Marco Rubio, eh? If it can happen in Venezuela for “security reasons,” it can surely happen in defenseless Greenland.
To paraphrase the old hymn,: “All hail the power of Donald’s Name! Let men their prostates fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Trump Lord of all”
I very much like your riff on “let angels prostrate fall”; but, uh, what image are you wanting to convey? (A genuine question.)
Lou, “might makes right” is the way the world works and always has. It is why for example tiny Israel has such powerful weaponry – otherwise it would not survive. The major rival blocs of countries today are armed to the teeth for this reason. So although I was somewhat surprised by the audacity of Trump’s latest move, the basis of it is the oldest principle of nationhood.
I don’t deny that the world is a mean place. But there is a place for human decency. Acts of violence usually come back to haunt the aggressor. I don’t want a world filled with greed-driven international violence.
In the case of Venezuela, there was no threat to the US. The pretexts used here were even more dishonest than the “weapons of mass destruction” excuse in Iraq.
I’ll take myself out the door now per Da Rulz.
Link to the Trump news conference regarding Venezuela: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/
Part of the reason that the death toll in Switzerland is so high is that many of the young people just continued partying while the ceiling was burning, up until a flashover turned the entire basement to flame.
E.g. watch this video.
Is this because: (1) whenever something “interesting” happens, young people now automatically start videoing it on their cameras, in order to upload it to TikTok?, or (2) young people are so used to being mollycoddled, with everything made safe for them, that they’re oblivious to real and obvious danger?, or (3) they were so drunk that they weren’t thinking straight, or 4) … ?
Maybe a bit of all three explanations. Thanks for the video, that does document a very surreal reaction. I mean the ceiling is dripping flame and they’re bopping around, recording it, all smiles. Perhaps there was also a mob mentality going on, and of course, humans love the mesmerism of fire.
Here’s another video..
I find this pretty baffling, wasn’t it obvious that, in a basement with one stairway entrance/exit, they were in danger? Or is that the benefit of hindsight? The pity of this is that there seems to have been time, so, if they had simply made an orderly exit (such as, if the DJ had stopped the music and request everyone make their way out), the death toll would have been way lower.
That video shows the fire in better detail than the first and it’s obviously getting out of control. Yes, if everyone acted quickly, many more would have survived. The music sort of makes it all seem normal, maybe some (who may have been drunk enough) thought it was pyrotechnics. As you said “baffling”
Coel, are you the reader who suggested Grokopedia to us? I ask because I don’t trust Wikipedia anymore and someone here recommended Grokopedia (maybe I’m spelling it incorrectly) and I thought it was you. I’ve been trying to search topics there, but am getting very little in return. Sorry if you weren’t the reader who suggested it.
Yes, I suggested Grokipedia. It’s relatively new and is developing rapidly, but it seems promising so far. Another way of researching topics is to use AI directly, I have a Grok app on my iPad, and it’s amazingly good at answering questions on any topic.
Let’s see if you get this, Coel (there’s no reply button under your name). Maybe this is a stupid question, but I’m using either Brave or DDG for browsers. How would I use Grok there?
I’m using an Android phone. It’s all I’ve got
Someone on twitter pointed out that there is video of a 2003 nightclub fire, which killed 100. It took 30s from the fireworks going wrong for the band to stop playing, and by then it was too late to escape. The cameraman realised long before most people around him, but only just makes it out:
That was some time before tiktok. But drunk people, not thinking about safety. There were several exits but the rush jammed the one everyone remembered coming in through. Recommendations were for the main entrance to handle more people, and for fire sprinklers:
https://www.nist.gov/disaster-failure-studies/station-nightclub-fire-2003
Comment by Greg Mayer
Larry does detest Musk– he thinks Musk’s looks like a Nazi salute, while Mamdani’s looks like a wave.
GCM
I’m with Larry on this one.
I have no dog in this fight; I just couldn’t decide.
The important difference here is that Mamdani is an actual Nazi, whereas Musk is not.
So according to news conference, “we are going to run Venezuela” now. I am reminded of Seinfeld’s remark on Newman and Kramer playing the board game Risk for the domination of the world by two guys who can barely run their own lives.
But we’re so good at running countries we topple. Think of Central America, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. We’re very good at it!
Donald Trump has bought box of brand new Sharpies: there is a lot of renaming to do!
I feel quite conflicted about the news from Venezuela. My wife is Venezuelan and has always been bitterly opposed to the Maduro regime, and the Chavez regime before it. We have participated in protests against these regimes. My wife has gone through all the increasingly difficult hoops required to vote in Venezuelan elections from abroad (we live in Canada). These hoops were created by the regime to make it as inconvenient as possible for expatriate Venezuelans to exercise their democratic right to vote, because it is no secret that these expats are overwhelmingly anti Maduro. In the very last election, Venezuelans living abroad, at least those living in Canada and the US, were simply not allowed to vote, full stop. So we are anything but sorry to see Maduro go. Maduro, though, is little more than a clown according to my wife. Removing him will make little difference if the people behind him remain. There is no doubt in my mind that they are largely made up of deplorable thuggish, corrupt liars, who have rigged past elections in their favour.
The above being said, the way Maduro was removed is deeply disturbing to me. While I think one can make the case, morally, for a powerful country’s removal of a tyrant who’s oppressing his people in a weaker country, it’s an awfully slippery slope.
The UK (and other European countries) fought wars around the world to end slavery. Was that a ‘slippery slope’?
I’m not sure I understand your question. The slope I’m talking about has invading another country for noble reasons at the top of the slope (let’s pretend we can agree what reasons can be considered “noble”). My example was an invasion to remove a tyrant, but yours of trying to eliminate slavery in the invaded country could be another. Further down the slope is invading another country because you consider their system of government “bad”, even if there aren’t that many widespread human-rights abuses. An example might be a country with a right-wing government invading one with a communist government. And near the bottom of the slope would be invading to get control of the country’s resources. The slipperiness comes from the difficulty of accurately identifying the motivation of the invasion. Did Trump invade Venezuela to rid the country’s citizens of a terrible despot who had ruined the country and to bring a “narcotraficante” to justice or did he do so to get control of the country’s oil resources?
We’ve been forbidden to say “+1” but, to me, your comment covered it all. Particularly in light of your wife’s experience and knowledge of her country of origin. Slippery slope, indeed. This morning’s press conference (I watched it on one of the networks because I’m low class vermin without internet) caused me great shame. The hubris was cringeworthy. How trump thinks he can mediate others’ wars is beside me.
It’s a pity Trump doesn’t apply his “protecting democracy” metric to Ukraine…
Trump’s Director of National Intelligence ,Tulsi Gabbard, in 2019: “The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose our leaders – so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.”
Trump today, when asked how long the USA will be in Venezuela: “Well, you know, it won’t cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial.”
It’s the oil. The oil. The oil.
I was going to draw a parallel between Venezualan oil and Iraqi oil, and I came across an interesting comment at
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/16pigcq/was_the_iraq_war_2003_really_about_oil/
I read the Reddit links. What’s your opinion? About The US going into Venezuela. Bombing the country. Grabbing the leader and his wife in the dark of night. Saying that “we” will be in charge. Do you have an opinion about those facts? I am stunned by it all.
My guess is that the leaders of Iran, Cuba, and N. Korea are worried (in that order). My guess is the leaders of Russia are more concerned that the US might provide weapons to their opponents. The US is not going to kidnap the rulers to Iran (high probability). However, they might be killed (with or without Israeli help).
As a big fan of the Fleischer Brothers, and especially their Betty Boop animated shorts, I must share an HD version of my all-time favorite Betty Boop cartoon: Minnie the Moocher:
https://youtu.be/qFhMuFEtIh4?si=DRVtKlU4I2Df5fwY
This is well worth 7 minutes of your time. For those unfamiliar with it, it begins with a brief live-action of Cab Calloway conducting his band doing the intro to the title song. Then the cartoon commences. When Betty and her friend Bimbo reach the cave, a rotoscope version of Calloway (as a ghost-walrus) appears. The Fleischers invented the rotoscope rocess. Calloway sings the song accompanied by some surreal, ghostly animated imagery (Professor PCCe, there’s a ghost mama cat with ghost kittens!)
This cartoon is from 1932, so, pre-Hays Code. I doubt the title song’s reference to drug use would have slipped under the radar later. The best BB shorts are pre-Code; some are quite naughty.
By the way, few film studios in those days would have featured a black artist in a short intended for wide release. The Fleischers were ahead of their time in many ways.
As a kid I had the record “Poems and Songs of Middle Earth” read by Tolkien himself. How I wish I’d kept it. But it disappeared, along with my Peter Max poster, long ago.