The first trailer, a teaser really, of the second iteration of Avatar is finally here, unless you went to the theater to see “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” where the trailer was first released.
Returning cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Ribisi are present for Avatar 2. There is also said to be a variety of new characters, a couple of which will be played by Kate Winslet and Michelle Yeoh.
There are some that are none too thrilled with the lack luster teaser…. Maybe because it didn’t really feel all that much like a “trailer”, or it could be, the original Avatar was a movie in which you went to the theater, put on special 3D glasses and was an experience. Watching the 2D video clip online didn’t pack the punch or awe-factor that many have been waiting for.
It’s a common theme with James Cameron movies – the plot and concept are so “perfect” but nearly generic is that perfection. Then all the effort and $$$$ is lavished on special effects and execution of that archetypal concept.
Will this, admittedly ultra-successful recipe work in 2022? Hard to say – this will be a big, huge, ultra-promoted blockbuster release no matter what. Little chance of besting Avatar ‘1’ but could be less than a disappointment even if it does not hit the $1 billion mark.
Check out the trailer below, the nearly 2 minute video clip, in glorious streaming 2D, doesn’t present audience with much in the way of a plot line besides showing the Na’vi in Pandora and having to defend their territory against invaders.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” is currently scheduled for a theatrical release at the end of the year on December 16:
They’re also chipping away at the most fundamental freedom of all: the right to vote – restricting everything from mail-in voting to ballot dropboxes.
But their chipping away at freedom is even bigger than all this.
Can you really be free if you’re saddled with medical debt and have to routinely pay outrageous health care costs?
Can you really be free if you have no voice in your workplace and your employer refuses to let you organize with your coworkers for the right to collectively bargain?
Can you really be free if you’re not paid a living wage and have to choose between feeding your family or keeping your lights on?
A living wage, the right to join a union, guaranteed healthcare, the right to vote – these are the foundations of real freedom.
Yet Republicans oppose all of these.
There’s a reason the historic 1963 rally was called The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Because freedom also means the ability to work in a job that pays enough to provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.
What Republicans want to preserve isn’t freedom, it’s power. The power to impose their narrow ideology on everyone else, no matter who suffers. Don’t let their propaganda convince you otherwise.
The 50th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade is approaching, we are also dealing with the likelihood that the Supreme Court is now reconsidering the ruling, as a result, an interest on the issues surrounding abortion and reproductive rights has peaked.
Reproductive justice, or the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy (in other words the ability to choose whether to have or not have children) has and most likely will always be a hot button issue, one that triggers immediate and intense reactions from both pro-life and pro-choice advocates.
Understandably so, abortion touches on huge subject matters that can intersect with religious beliefs, what qualifies as life and death in which people tend to have their own very strong opinions.
Below we have curated a list of 5 books that can help readers interested in educating oneself and understanding more on what is currently happening by looking at the past. These texts break down legal, political and social foundations regarding abortion. As well as speak to the very real issues surrounding abortion like violence, stigma, politics, race, access to medicine and law.
We have provided additional information on each book including publisher’s descriptions and where to learn more about each title:
Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe V. Wade
Roe v. Wade’s 1973 constitutional guarantee of a woman’s right to choose abortion emerged from a long and remarkable battle to extend Americans’ individual liberties to include a fundamental right to sexual privacy. Only in 1965 had the Supreme Court first begun to protect such intimate personal freedoms by finally invalidating an archaic Connecticut criminal law that had prohibited the use of birth control.
Despite the landmark importance of this crucial struggle, not until now has this legal revolution received the comprehensive treatment it deserves. Roe v. Wade’s origins lie not in the U.S. Supreme Court’s dramatic internal deliberations of 1971-72 or even in the grassroots women’s movement of the late 1960s but, instead, in the 1920s and 1930s efforts to win repeal of the Connecticut birth control law. Those initial attempts failed, but twenty years later Connecticut Planned Parenthood director Estelle Trebert Griswold launched a new crusade against the statute. After one appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court lost by the narrowest of margins in 1961, Griswold and a medical colleague were convicted for providing birth control services in open defiance of the law. When their appeal finally reached the Supreme Court, the justices held that such a fundamental constitutional right to privacy did indeed exist.
That resounding Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut opened a previously unimagined constitutional door: the opportunity to argue that a woman’s access to a safe, legal abortion was a fundamental individual right. In 1969, the first abortion rights case was filed in federal court in New York, soon followed by others, including Roe v. Wade in Texas and Doe v. Bolton inGeorgia. After those two challenges were upheld by local federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court – which so far had confronted the abortion issue on only one occasion – agreed to review both decisions. The comprehensive, once-secret files of former Justices William J. Brennan, William
Before Roe V. Wade: Voices That Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court’s Ruling
The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade legalized abortion-but the debate was far from over, continuing to be a political battleground to this day. Bringing to light key voices that illuminate the case and its historical context, Before Roe v. Wade looks back and recaptures how the arguments for and against abortion took shape as claims about the meaning of the Constitution-and about how the nation could best honor its commitment to dignity, liberty, equality, and life.
In this ground-breaking book, Linda Greenhouse, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered the Supreme Court for 30 years for The New York Times, and Reva Siegel, a renowned professor at Yale Law School, collect documents illustrating cultural, political, and legal forces that helped shape the Supreme Court’s decision and the meanings it would come to have over time.
A new afterword to the book explores what the history of conflict over abortion in the decade before Roe might reveal about the logic of conflict in the ensuing decades. The entanglement of the political parties in the abortion debate in the period before the Court ruled raises the possibility that Roe itself may not have engendered political polarization around abortion as is commonly supposed, but instead may have been engulfed by it.
Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe V. Wade
On April 16, 1972, ten thousand people gathered in Central Park to protest New York’s liberal abortion law. Emotions ran high, reflecting the nation’s extreme polarization over abortion. Yet the divisions did not fall neatly along partisan or religious lines-the assembled protesters were far from a bunch of fire-breathing culture warriors. In Defenders of the Unborn, Daniel K. Williams reveals the hidden history of the pro-life movement in America, showing that a cause that many see as reactionary and anti-feminist began as a liberal crusade for human rights. For decades, the media portrayed the pro-life movement as a Catholic cause, but by the time of the Central Park rally, that stereotype was already hopelessly outdated. The kinds of people in attendance at pro-life rallies ranged from white Protestant physicians, to young mothers, to African American Democratic legislators-even the occasional member of Planned Parenthood. One of New York City’s most vocal pro-life advocates was a liberal Lutheran minister who was best known for his civil rights activism and his protests against the Vietnam War. The language with which pro-lifers championed their cause was not that of conservative Catholic theology, infused with attacks on contraception and women’s sexual freedom. Rather, they saw themselves as civil rights crusaders, defending the inalienable right to life of a defenseless minority: the unborn fetus. It was because of this grounding in human rights, Williams argues, that the right-to-life movement gained such momentum in the early 1960s. Indeed, pro-lifers were winning the battle before Roe v. Wade changed the course of history. Through a deep investigation of previously untapped archives, Williams presents the untold story of New Deal-era liberals who forged alliances with a diverse array of activists, Republican and Democrat alike, to fight for what they saw as a human rights cause. Provocative and insightful, Defenders of the Unborn is a must-read for anyone who craves a deeper understanding of a highly-charged issue.
What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics
One of the Wall Street Journal‘s Top Ten Books of the YearA leading expert on public bioethics advocates for a new conception of human identity in American law and policy.The natural limits of the human body make us vulnerable and therefore dependent, throughout our lives, on others. Yet American law and policy disregard these stubborn facts, with statutes and judicial decisions that presume people to be autonomous, defined by their capacity to choose. As legal scholar O. Carter Snead points out, this individualistic ideology captures important truths about human freedom, but it also means that we have no obligations to each other unless we actively, voluntarily embrace them. Under such circumstances, the neediest must rely on charitable care. When it is not forthcoming, law and policy cannot adequately respond. What It Means to Be Human makes the case for a new paradigm, one that better represents the gifts and challenges of being human. Inspired by the insights of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor, Snead proposes a vision of human identity and flourishing that supports those who are profoundly vulnerable and dependent–children, the disabled, and the elderly. To show how such a vision would affect law and policy, he addresses three complex issues in bioethics: abortion, assisted reproductive technology, and end-of-life decisions. Avoiding typical dichotomies of conservative-versus-liberal and secular-versus-religious, Snead recasts debates over these issues and situates them within his framework of embodiment and dependence. He concludes that, if the law is built on premises that reflect the fully lived reality of life, it will provide support for the vulnerable, including the unborn, mothers, families, and those nearing the end of their lives. In this way, he argues, policy can ensure that people have the care they need in order to thrive. In this provocative and consequential book, Snead rethinks how the law represents human experiences so that it might govern more wisely, justly, and humanely.
Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy, 1800-1900a
“A fascinating book which sets to rest a number of preconceptions on the subject. Easy to read and yet hard-hitting.”–Marlette Rebhorn, Austin Community College
“Should be an eye-opener to those who think that religious objections were at the root of anti-abortion legislation and equally to those who think that abortion has been a matter of life and death.”–Carl N. Degler, Stanford University
“A superb example of the way history can inform a current contentious controversy.”–Journal of American History
“Mohr makes it abundantly clear that Supreme Court decisions of the 1970s were not a modern weakening of moral standards but a return to what Americans believed and practiced a hundred years ago.”–The Christian Century
“An altogether lucid review of American abortion policy in the 19th century.”–Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times
“The history of how abortion came to be banned and how women lost…rights previously thought to be natural and inherent over their own bodies is a fascinating and infuriating one.”–Chicago Tribune
James C. Mohr is the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of History and the Philip H. Knight Professor of Social Science at the University of Oregon. He is author of Doctors and the Law: Medical Jurisprudence in Nineteenth-Century America and Radical Republicans in the North: State Politics during Reconstruction, both published by Johns Hopkins.
For purchase information on Amazon, check out below:
Actor Bob Odenkirk, who portrays the iconic Jimmy McGill /Saul Goodman character in AMC’s “Better Call Saul” is currently wrapping up the show’s final season, which is now available to watch (or stream) weekly on AMC . And even though the show is coming to an end, there is still so much more in store for the actor; he is set to star in a new series, an adaptation, also on the AMC Network called “Straight Man”, as well as venturing out on a book tour for his newly released memoir “Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama”.
Starting to re-watch the series from scratch, it’s easy to see the why the show has been so incredibly successful. Odenkirk it’s a unique star with a wide acting range, playing an easily lovable character that you feel you can stand behind (as he cares for his mentally ill brother), even when he is doing sketchy things (bribing witnesses, forging documents, etc.) to get by.
Of course, not to be forgotten is the epic and one-of-a-kind construction that made ‘Better Call Saul’ into a 6 season prequel to ‘Breaking Bad’s’ 5 amazing seasons. Since the 6th and final season is currently underway – there will no doubt be an amazing opportunity to watch all 11 seasons in the binge of all binge marathons.
The shared characters and storylines, from Ignacio “Nacho” Varga to Michael Ehrmantraut to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman make for an amazing and truly gargantuan story arc. The final season of ‘Better Call Saul’ even includes a few “flash forwards’ to the post ‘Breaking Bad’ timeframe which currently also has the ‘El Camino’ feature in its time-space dimension.
Rising from his early origins as a stand up comic, then to writing for Saturday Night Live (SNL) to eventually an on-screen debut in “The Ben Stiller Show”, HBO’s “Mr Show with Bod and David” and of course, making his lasting trademark as Saul Goodman in “Breaking Bad”.
If you want to learn more about Bob’s new memoir, more information about the book with a description from the publisher follows, below.
Bob Odenkirk’s career is inexplicable. And yet he will try like hell to explicate it for you. Charting a “Homeric” decades-long “odyssey” from his origins in the seedy comedy clubs of Chicago to a dramatic career full of award nominations–with a side-trip into the action-man world that is baffling to all who know him–it’s almost like there are many Bob Odenkirks! But there is just one and one is plenty. Bob embraced a life in comedy after a chance meeting with Second City’s legendary Del Close. He somehow made his way to a job as a writer at Saturday Night Live.
While surviving that legendary gauntlet by the skin of his gnashing teeth, he stashed away the secrets of comedy writing–eventually employing them in the immortal “Motivational Speaker” sketch for Chris Farley, honing them on The Ben Stiller Show, and perfecting them on Mr. Show with Bob and David. In Hollywood, Bob demonstrated a bullheadedness that would shame Sisyphus himself, and when all hope was lost for the umpteenth time, the phone rang with an offer to appear on Breaking Bad–a show about how boring it is to be a high school chemistry teacher. His embrace of this strange new world of dramatic acting led him to working with Steven Spielberg, Alexander Payne, and Greta Gerwig, and then, in a twist that will confound you, he re-re-invented himself as a bona fide action star. Why? Read this and do your own psychoanalysis–it’s fun! Featuring humorous tangents, never-before-seen photos, wild characters, and Bob’s trademark unflinching drive, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama is a classic showbiz tale told by a determined idiot.
During a screening at CinemaCon, Paramount held a debut for “Top Gun: Maverick” and thus far it has been enthusiastically reviewed, to put it mildly. Attended by film critics, some of the first ravings of the sequel included: “the perfect blockbuster”, “a total banger” and “a masterful adrenaline rush”.
Looking at the trailer, which is out now (below) it is clear to see where some of the excitement is coming from. The photography in the action sequences has a realistic feel that, when using the original film from 1986 as a reference, clearly shows an amazing upgrade. On a big screen at CinemaCon these sequences must have been amazing.
There’s also the sense that the storyline used Tom Cruise’s age in a clever way, turning it into an advantage throughout, and , as a result, turning the film into a sympathetic one for anyone older than 25 (most reviewers, in other words).
Finally, one has to wonder if the current situation in Ukraine, with the same enemy from the ‘Top Gun’ in 1986 – MiG-28s fighters from Russia (Soviet Union) played a role in the excited reactions in any way?
Not having seen the entire film, without any spoiler alerts, there could be an emotional connection with the sad and scary enemy that invaded Ukraine and the projected heroic power and potential of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, to counter that threat, were they to be real.
Please take this with a grain of salt, it could be way off base. But one thing is certain – the critics who’s reactions are already out there are wildly positive on the film and are predicting that it will be a huge memorial weekend hit, just for starters.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK is the perfect blockbuster. Not only did it feature dazzling aerial combat sequences, but I actually cried, it’s that emotional. And call me crazy, but I humbly predict that it WILL land a Best Picture nod next year. It’s not just THAT good, it’s VERY good. 😉
Yes. So much yes. #TopGunMaverick is a masterful adrenaline rush. Tom Cruise is our greatest movie star. This delivers EVERYTHING you want in a blockbuster. Aerial scenes are jaw dropping. Character work is fantastic. Pure action with massive heart. A must see! pic.twitter.com/c8WvoInUze
The film shows “Maverick” still pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot. The official plot synopsis says “Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.”
More than 30 years since the original 1986 action drama “Top Gun” has been released, the sequel starring Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell played by the one-and-only Tom Cruise is coming to the big screen .
Val Kilmer and Jennifer Connelly, also original actors from the first film, return as well. Additionally some new characters will be introduced which will be played by: Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Monica Barbara and Glen Powell.
“Top Gun: Maverick” will be held for theatrical release starting May 27 and will most likely have streaming capabilities on Paramount+ following its theatrical run time.
Let’s thank Adele for bringing the Sirtfood Diet to our attention…
Haven’t heard of the Sirtfood Diet? We hadn’t either until Adele flaunted an almost unrecognizable photo of herself on her 32nd birthday. The singers’ noticeable weight-loss (down 100 pounds) has been reported to be linked to the sirtfood diet. Since this diet isn’t always on the top list of the more recognizable diets, we decided to do some additional digging to get more information about this eating plan.
The Sirtfood diet was developed by Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten, two British Nutritionists. It makes sense that celebrities in the UK would be among the first names that follow the diet. Adele, being such a famous singer has definitely shined a spotlight on sirtfood. There have also been other notable celebrities that have followed the diet including: Pippa Middleton, Jodie Kidd, Lorraine Pascale, and Sir Ben Ainslie.
The “Sirt” in the Sirtfood diet gets its name from sirtuins (SIRTs) which are a group of proteins that help regulate your cellular health in a number of ways, which includes more specifically regulating inflammation, metabolism and longevity of cells, particularly in regards to anti-aging. Sirtfoods are are comprised of mainly plant-based foods that have high levels of antioxidants that allow your body’s fat burning powers to activate the SIRT-1 protein. The sirtuin protein in context to diets has also been referred to as the “skinny gene”.
The diet claims that eating particular foods that contain high levels of the chemical polyphenols (would within sirtuins) help to quickly shed weight. This is because the chemicals put mild stress onto cells that create an effect on our genes which mimics as if we were fasting or exercising.
It is good to note that exercise in conjunction with any diet or health plan is always helpful for both losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This diet has the added bonus that eating the right types of food can kick start your skinny genes to imitate the same metabolic process of actually being active. Although I’m sure adding exercise to the eating plan would create an even more desired result.
Phase 1 is the first phase of the diet that will last for the first week (7 consecutive days). During this time, the first three days requires you to drink 3 green juices a day with 1 meal. Your calories are restricted to only 1,000 per day. On the 4th day, you increase your calorie intake to 1,500 with 2 green juices and 2 meals.
Phase 2 (Week 2 and 3) is a 14 day maintenance where you can eat 3 balanced sirtfood meals daily and a green juice. After the 3rd week there is no specific eating plan other than continuing to add sirtfoods to each meal. Maintenance is key to the long-term desired weight loss and healthier lifestyle.
What can I eat?
Below are a list of some of the most popular sirtfoods to implement into your eating plan:
Bird’s-eye chili Peppers
Buckwheat
Capers
Celery
Dark Chocolate/ 85%Cocoa
Coffee
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Green Tea
Kale
Lovage (herb)
Medjool date
Parsely
Red Chicory
Red Onion
Red Wine
Argula/Rocket
Soy
Strawberries
Tumeric
Walnuts
Sirtfood green juices are an essential element to the diet so owning a juicer is definitely a must-have kitchen equipment if you don’t already have one. There are 3 key ingredients: matcha green tea, lovage (herb), and buckwheat. Other examples of Sirtfood approved green juices could include combinations of ingredients like kale, arugula, celery, parsley, green apple and lemon.
There are many different types of food that have sirtuins, yet there are only a handful of fruits and vegetables that hold high enough levels of sirtuin that trigger the weight loss protein to be in full effect. Foods that are heavy with polyphenols include kale, dark chocolate and red wine (none of which sound like bad eating thus far!). The polyphenols trigger the sirtuin pathways which activates the body’s metabolism.
Effective?
The Sirtfood Diet is not meant to be a one time participation of the two phases, instead its supposed to be a lifestyle where you incorporate the sirtfoods and eat healthy as you steadily lose weight at a healthy pace. Adele’s weight loss wasn’t lost all in one go around but months of consistency to the meal plan and exercise.
Whether or not this diet is the right path for you, sounds like even if going through the process of phase 1 and 2, its a good way to start eating cleaner and incorporating healthy ingredients into your diet.
As always, whenever choosing a specific eating plan, diet, or weight loss approach, keep in mind that everyone’s body is different and results will vary. Consulting an expert on the matter, like a registered dietitian or general practitioner, is highly recommended for the best guidance on what is best for you.
Photo Credit / Living Habitats and National Wildlife Federation
Magnificent bridge for LA wildlife survival
In conjunction with the #SaveLACougars movement, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and partners will begin the start of construction officially on April 22 to commemorate Earth Day. The groundbreaking will mark the world’s largest wildlife crossing which will cover 10 lanes of traffic on the very busy 101 freeway near Los Angeles. The project is currently slated for completion by early 2025 and has been dubbed as the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.
The Wildlife crossing will cost nearly $90 million, with 60% of the price already covered by private donations and the remainder from public funds meant for conservation purposes. Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg donated $25 million to the project
The overpass proposal and funding was inspired by a Los Angeles cougar named P-22 who crossed two freeways to settle in Griffith Park. Unfortunately most wildlife aren’t as lucky to make it safely and roam as nature intended, and this crossing will finally represent a potential solution to this problem.
“This crossing will save the local mountain lion population from extinction, stand as a global model for urban wildlife conservation — and show us that it’s possible for a structure of this magnitude to be built in a such a densely populated urban area”
-Beth Pratt, California Executive Director for NWF
The positive environmental impact will be coupled with an aesthetic improvement that should also please humans, based on the renderings above. With some of the most congested freeways in the world in and around LA, this exception to the endless asphalt sprawl would be a welcome change from the status quo. The crossing is slated to be completed within three years.
For 50 years warnings have been ignored: now it will be actions and solutions that matter
As a child I was fascinated with the Geodesic Dome and other inventions, such as the Dymaxion Car by R. Buckminster Fuller. I devoured his books but one stood out in particular. ‘Utopia or Oblivion‘, an obscure title that was difficult to read due to the pregnant prose and the seemingly overwrought message ( and title), the text shocked my young mind.
Originally published in 1963, decades before my birth, is is now nearly 60 years since it came out. What was shocking to me, at the time I first read it, was that the warnings in the book, made abundantly and overtly clear in the title and body, were not heeded, and that basically after decades passed the issue of fossil fuels being a non-sustainable resource was virtually ignored, with prejudice.
In 1963 the ozone layer was for all practical purposes still intact. Climate change, and / or global warming, caused by massive carbon emissions and the whole nasty, familiar story of today, was not even a consideration.
It was enough to know, unequivocally, that oil and other fossil fuels were a finite resource, and therefore will one day run out, that made it imperative, according to Fuller, to begin the necessary journey to building a world without them.
A book written by a genius, scientist, innovator and sage
This book ‘did the math’ and the science and concluded that humankind (still called mankind in those days) would have two fates possible in the next century (our century, f.y.i.): Utopia or Oblivion. To understand why this is absolutely right, in my opinion, I recommend reading the 448 pages of the book, 8 times, as I have.
In the many years since I first read this, now 59 year old book, the only thing that has changed is that his predictions of a world where humanity would face extinction (or be rescued by the realization that utopia is possible once we, as a species, make it possible) are now more definitely certain than ever.
Elon Musk, someone who would likely agree with much of the science in the book, is trying to get the “light of human consciousness‘ to Mars, since Earth’s survival hangs in the balance.
In the years since the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006) was released, scores of scientists and world leaders have repeatedly warned of the increasing dangers, with actual occurrences and measurements producing evidence, mountains of evidence month by month. It has reached a point where, even in the USA which has the highest percentage of climate change skeptics, over 70% of the population, nevertheless, believes the threat is serious, important, and real.
Image: SAP/Qualtrics
Finally, nearly 60 years after R. Buckminster Fuller’s seminal work, there is a consensus in the world that this is a problem that must be solved.
Not something to debate or consider. Nothing to prove or produce evidence of in order to justify acting on, we all believe (as a majority) that the solutions must be found and the actions needed to implement those chances must be started immediately.
Some of us, for example anyone who read ‘Utopia or Oblivion’ during the last 59 years, or anyone who ‘did the math’ and understood that oil and fossil fuels are not, and never were, meant to be a permeant source of energy for humanity, are ready to act.
Therefore, this article, and many more you will have the opportunity to read in celebration of Earth Day 2022, is designed to invite you to act now, if only by reading and learning about the challenges we face.
And then, armed with knowledge and understanding, to begin today, on 04-22-2022, the first day of a new era in human history, the beginning of transition to the sustainable, clean energy era. Utopia, then must be achieved, in order to prevent Oblivion.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW‘S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALISTA major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes Over the last half-billion years, there have been Five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us. In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind’s most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER – In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical–and accessible–plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet’s slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations.
Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions–suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Are we deranged? The acclaimed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh argues that future generations may well think so. How else to explain our imaginative failure in the face of global warming? In his first major book of nonfiction since In an Antique Land, Ghosh examines our inability–at the level of literature, history, and politics–to grasp the scale and violence of climate change. The extreme nature of today’s climate events, Ghosh asserts, make them peculiarly resistant to contemporary modes of thinking and imagining. This is particularly true of serious literary fiction: hundred-year storms and freakish tornadoes simply feel too improbable for the novel; they are automatically consigned to other genres.
In the writing of history, too, the climate crisis has sometimes led to gross simplifications; Ghosh shows that the history of the carbon economy is a tangled global story with many contradictory and counterintuitive elements. Ghosh ends by suggesting that politics, much like literature, has become a matter of personal moral reckoning rather than an arena of collective action. But to limit fiction and politics to individual moral adventure comes at a great cost. The climate crisis asks us to imagine other forms of human existence–a task to which fiction, Ghosh argues, is the best suited of all cultural forms. His book serves as a great writer’s summons to confront the most urgent task of our time.
No Planet B: A Teen Vogue Guide to the Climate Crisis
An urgent call for climate justice from Teen Vogue, one of this generation’s leading voices, using an intersectional lens – with critical feminist, indigenous, antiracist and internationalist perspectives. As the political classes watch our world burn, a new movement of young people is rising to meet the challenge of climate catastrophe. This book is a guide, a toolkit, a warning and a cause for hope.
I hope that this book embodies Teen Vogue’s motto of making young people feel seen and heard all over the world. I hope that it forces their parents, communities, loved ones, friends, and–most importantly–those in power to see that the health of our planet depends on how quickly and drastically we change our behaviors. I hope it forces them all to respond. –From the foreword by Teen Vogue editor-in-chief, Lindsay Peoples Wagner
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – “The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon.”–Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon
With a new afterwordIt is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible–food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation. An “epoch-defining book” (TheGuardian) and “this generation’s Silent Spring” (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it–the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress. The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation–today’s. Praise for The Uninhabitable Earth“The Uninhabitable Earth is the most terrifying book I have ever read. Its subject is climate change, and its method is scientific, but its mode is Old Testament. The book is a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet.”–Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times
Building solar panels over water sources is one way to both provide power and reduce evaporation in drought-troubled regions. Robin Raj, Citizen Group & Solar Aquagrid
To most people, a solar farm or a geothermal plant is an important source of clean energy. Scientists and engineers see that plus far more potential.
They envision offshore wind turbines capturing and storing carbon beneath the sea, and geothermal plants producing essential metals for powering electric vehicles. Electric vehicle batteries, too, can be transformed to power homes, saving their owners money and also reducing transportation emissions.
With scientists worldwide sounding the alarm about the increasing dangers and costs of climate change, let’s explore some cutting-edge ideas that could transform how today’s technologies reduce the effects of global warming, from five recent articles in The Conversation.
1. Solar canals: Power + water protection
What if solar panels did double duty, protecting water supplies while producing more power?
California is developing the United States’ first solar canals, with solar panels built atop some of the state’s water distribution canals. These canals run for thousands of miles through arid environments, where the dry air boosts evaporation in a state frequently troubled by water shortages.
“In a 2021 study, we showed that covering all 4,000 miles of California’s canals with solar panels would save more than 65 billion gallons of water annually by reducing evaporation. That’s enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or meet the residential water needs of more than 2 million people,” writes engineering professor Roger Bales of the University of California, Merced. They would also expand renewable energy without taking up farmable land.
Putting solar panels over shaded water can also improve their power output. The cooler water lowers the temperature of the panels by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 Celsius), boosting their efficiency, Bales writes.
2. Geothermal power could boost battery supplies
For renewable energy to slash global greenhouse gas emissions, buildings and vehicles have to be able to use it. Batteries are essential, but the industry has a supply chain problem.
Most batteries used in electric vehicles and utility-scale energy storage are lithium-ion batteries, and most lithium used in the U.S. comes from Argentina, Chile, China and Russia. China is the leader in lithium processing.
Geologist and engineers are working on an innovative method that could boost the U.S. lithium supply at home by extracting lithium from geothermal brines in California’s Salton Sea region.
Brines are the liquid leftover in a geothermal plant after heat and steam are used to produce power. That liquid contains lithium and other metals such as manganese, zinc and boron. Normally, it is pumped back underground, but the metals can also be filtered out. https://www.youtube.com/embed/oYtyEVPGEU8?wmode=transparent&start=0 How lithium is extracted during geothermal energy production. Courtesy of Controlled Thermal Resources.
“If test projects now underway prove that battery-grade lithium can be extracted from these brines cost effectively, 11 existing geothermal plants along the Salton Sea alone could have the potential to produce enough lithium metal to provide about 10 times the current U.S. demand,” write geologist Michael McKibben of the University of California, Riverside, and energy policy scholar Bryant Jones of Boise State University.
President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act on March 31, 2022, to provide incentives for U.S. companies to mine and process more critical minerals for batteries.
3. Green hydrogen and other storage ideas
Scientists are working on other ways to boost batteries’ mineral supply chain, too, including recycling lithium and cobalt from old batteries. They’re also developing designs with other materials, explained Kerry Rippy, a researcher with the National Renewable Energy Lab.
Concentrated solar power, for example, stores energy from the sun by heating molten salt and using it to produce steam to drive electric generators, similar to how a coal power plant would generate electricity. It’s expensive, though, and the salts currently used aren’t stable at higher temperature, Rippy writes. The Department of Energy is funding a similar project that is experimenting with heated sand. https://www.youtube.com/embed/fkX-H24Chfw?wmode=transparent&start=0 Hydrogen’s challenges, including its fossil fuel history.
Renewable fuels, such as green hydrogen and ammonia, provide a different type of storage. Since they store energy as liquid, they can be transported and used for shipping or rocket fuel.
Hydrogen gets a lot of attention, but not all hydrogen is green. Most hydrogen used today is actually produced with natural gas – a fossil fuel. Green hydrogen, in contrast, could be produced using renewable energy to power electrolysis, which splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, but again, it’s expensive.
“The key challenge is optimizing the process to make it efficient and economical,” Rippy writes. “The potential payoff is enormous: inexhaustible, completely renewable energy.”
4. Using your EV to power your home
Batteries could also soon turn your electric vehicle into a giant, mobile battery capable of powering your home.
Only a few vehicles are currently designed for vehicle-to-home charging, or V2H, but that’s changing, writes energy economist Seth Blumsack of Penn State University. Ford, for example, says its new F-150 Lightning pickup truck will be able to power an average house for three days on a single charge.
How bidirectional charging allows EVs to power homes.
For example, he writes, “some homeowners might hope to use their vehicle for what utility planners call ‘peak shaving’ – drawing household power from their EV during the day instead of relying on the grid, thus reducing their electricity purchases during peak demand hours.”
5. Capturing carbon from air and locking it away
Another emerging technology is more controversial.
Humans have put so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past two centuries that just stopping fossil fuel use won’t be enough to quickly stabilize the climate. Most scenarios, including in recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, show the world will have to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well.
The technology to capture carbon dioxide from the air exists – it’s called direct air capture – but it’s expensive.
Engineers and geophysicists like David Goldberg of Columbia University are exploring ways to cut those costs by combining direct air capture technology with renewable energy production and carbon storage, like offshore wind turbines built above undersea rock formations where captured carbon could be locked away.
The world’s largest direct air capture plant, launched in 2021 in Iceland, uses geothermal energy to power its equipment. The captured carbon dioxide is mixed with water and pumped into volcanic basalt formations underground. Chemical reactions with the basalt turn it into a hard carbonate.
Goldberg, who helped developed the mineralization process used in Iceland, sees similar potential for future U.S. offshore wind farms. Wind turbines often produce more energy than their customers need at any given time, making excess energy available.
“Built together, these technologies could reduce the energy costs of carbon capture and minimize the need for onshore pipelines, reducing impacts on the environment,” Goldberg writes.
Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.
The same people behind the January 6 insurrection are now trying to overthrow the government in a slow-motion coup.
If they succeed, you can kiss our democracy goodbye.
Trump ultimately failed to overturn the 2020 election because a few election officials — secretaries of state in particular — rightfully certified the results despite heavy pressure from him and his enablers to overturn them.
In 37 states, the secretaries of state are the chief elections officers. That means they oversee elections and voter registration. In 2020, they held the United States’ rickety democracy together by certifying Joe Biden’s win.
But what happens if secretaries of state won’t protect democracy?
Trump’s choice in Georgia is Jody Hice (high-se), who voted against certifying the 2020 election in the Georgia House.
His choice in Michigan is Kristina Karamo (kah-rah-mo), who falsely claimed to have witnessed election fraud as a pollster.
In Arizona, Trump has endorsed Mark Finchem (fin-chum), a QAnon-supporting member of the Oath Keepers militia who participated in the January 6 insurrection.
At least 20 other candidates now running for secretary of state do not believe in the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
The plan is to take over the machinery of our democracy from the ground up – so that in the 2024 presidential election, only Trump loyalists will be certifying elections.
[CLIP: “We’re taking action. And that action is we’re taking over school boards, we’re taking over the Republican Party through the precinct committee strategy. We’re taking over all the elections.”]
Thousands of Republicans who have taken up Bannon’s call have also signed up to be local elections officials and poll workers.
We can’t allow our democracy to be overtaken like this.
These positions, especially secretaries of state, are the last lines of defense in a democracy.
And we’ve seen what happens when secretaries of state put partisan interests ahead of election integrity.
Trump and Bannon’s goal is to replicate these abuses across America and put into power Trump loyalists who care more about electing Trump than upholding democracy.
Voter suppression is nothing new. But it’s now occurring on a scale we haven’t seen before: an entire party’s election strategy aimed at thwarting the will of voters.
So what can we do about this?
First, spread the word about the GOP’s authoritarian plan. Make sure your friends and family know what the stakes are this fall.
Next, get involved locally. Volunteer to be a poll worker or join a campaign. From school boards to secretaries of state, every position matters.
And of course, vote! Check your registration early and make a plan to cast your ballot.
In 2020, millions of people organized, volunteered, and voted to keep American democracy alive. We, the people, must work to elect public servants who will uphold democracy and stand up to those who are hellbent on undermining it.
In the event you haven’t heard, the Slough House Thrillers (inspired by the book set) is now an Apple TV+ Original series titled after Book #1: “Slow Horses“. The series stars Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.
The British mystery/thriller novelist, Mick Herron is responsible for the 8 book Slough Houses series that tells the story of MI5 “Misfits”. His last book “Bad Actors” is available for pre-order and will be released in May 2022.
As is the case with many television series, inspiration comes from reading a book. If you want to start from the beginning, we have provided the book order to read, I greatly enjoy reading a book first and comparing how stacks up when adapted to the screen. And if you get hooked into the TV series, you have 7 more novels to keep you nice and entertained until Season 2 comes about!
London, England: Slough House is where washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated there. Maybe they botched an Op so badly they can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle–not unusual in this line of work.
One thing they have in common, though, is they want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another. When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, the slow horses see an opportunity to redeem themselves. But is the victim really who he appears to be?
The disgruntled agents of Slough House, the MI5 branch where washed-up spies are sent to finish their failed careers on desk duty, are called into action to protect a visiting Russian oligarch whom MI5 hopes to recruit to British intelligence. While two agents are dispatched on that babysitting job, though, an old Cold War-era spy named Dickie Bow is found dead, ostensibly of a heart attack, on a bus outside of Oxford, far from his usual haunts. But the head of Slough House, the irascible Jackson Lamb, is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered.
As the agents dig into their fallen comrade’s circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets that seem to lead back to a man named Alexander Popov, who is either a Soviet bogeyman or the most dangerous man in the world. How many more people will have to die to keep those secrets buried?
Real Tigers
Click photo for more on “Real Tigers” on Bookshop.
London: Slough House is the MI5 branch where disgraced operatives are reassigned after they’ve messed up too badly to be trusted with real intelligence work. The “Slow Horses,” as the failed spies of Slough House are called, are doomed to spend the rest of their careers pushing paper, but they all want back in on the action.
When one of their own is kidnapped and held for ransom, the agents of Slough House must defeat the odds, overturning all expectations of their competence, to breach the top-notch security of MI5’s intelligence headquarters, Regent’s Park, and steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however–the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but the highest authorities in the Secret Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the Slow Horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.
Spook Street
Click photo for more on”Spook Street” on Bookshop.
These are the paranoid concerns of David Cartwright, a Cold War-era operative and one-time head of MI5 who is sliding into dementia, and questions his grandson, River, must figure out answers to now that the spy who raised him has started to forget to wear pants.
But River, himself an agent at Slough House, MI5’s outpost for disgraced spies, has other things to worry about. A bomb has detonated in the middle of a busy shopping center and killed forty innocent civilians. The “slow horses” of Slough House must figure out who is behind this act of terror before the situation escalates.
London Rules
Click photo for more on “London Rules” on Bookshop.
At MI5 headquarters Regent’s Park, First Desk Claude Whelan is learning the ropes the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered prime minister, he’s facing attack from all directions: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat’s wife, a tabloid columnist, who’s crucifying Whelan in print; from the PM’s favorite Muslim, who’s about to be elected mayor of the West Midlands, despite the dark secret he’s hiding; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who’s alert for Claude’s every stumble.
Meanwhile, the country’s being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks. Over at Slough House, the MI5 satellite office for outcast and demoted spies, the agents are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. Plus someone is trying to kill Roddy Ho. But collectively, they’re about to rediscover their greatest strength–that of making a bad situation much, much worse.
In Slough House, the London outpost for disgraced MI5 spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him an outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process.
Meanwhile, in Regent’s Park, Diana Taverner’s tenure as First Desk is running into difficulties. If she’s going to make the Service fit for purpose, she might have to make deals with a familiar old devil . . . And with winter taking its grip, Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can’t ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends the slow horses out to even the score.
Slough House
Click photo for more on “Slough House” on Bookshop.
At Slough House–MI5’s London depository for demoted spies–Brexit has taken a toll. The “slow horses” have been pushed further into the cold, Slough House has been erased from official records, and its members are dying in unusual circumstances, at an unusual clip. No wonder Jackson Lamb’s crew is feeling paranoid. But are they actually targets? With a new populist movement taking hold of London’s streets and the old order ensuring that everything’s for sale to the highest bidder, the world’s a dangerous place for those deemed surplus. Jackson Lamb and the slow horses are in a fight for their lives as they navigate dizzying layers of lies, power, and death.
In London’s MI5 headquarters a scandal is brewing that could disgrace the entire intelligence community. The Downing Street superforecaster–a specialist who advises the Prime Minister’s office on how policy is likely to be received by the electorate–has disappeared without a trace. Claude Whelan, who was once head of MI5, has been tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads him straight back to Regent’s Park itself, with First Desk Diana Taverner as chief suspect.
Has Taverner overplayed her hand at last? Meanwhile, her Russian counterpart, Moscow intelligence’s First Desk, has cheekily showed up in London and shaken off his escort. Are the two unfortunate events connected? Over at Slough House, where Jackson Lamb presides over some of MI5’s most embittered demoted agents, the slow horses are doing what they do best, and adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation . . . There are bad actors everywhere, and they usually get their comeuppance before the credits roll. But politics is a dirty business, and in a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing are the norm, sometimes the good guys can find themselves outgunned.
I don’t know if this is legitimate or some kind of food prank or food “trend”, however, a TikTok video has been getting some major attention surrounding the mysterious “pizza” dish supposedly from Spokane.
The ingredients are not anything that I would ever think to put on my pizza. The following ingredients are purportedly piled atop the pizza dough: fry sauce, canned salmon, green bell peppers, onions and fresh strawberries.
Real or a monumental spoof, it’s hard to say, check the evidence below
This is almost 100% not a real thing but you can certainly check out the original video below to see for yourself.
Amazing, small but mighty non-profit orgs are out there. I recently became aware of one particularly effective group called ‘Sharing Love With Others‘. Based in LA and focusing on helping the local unhoused directly with care and, love.
The population in LA living outdoors is large. In California as a whole it is estimated that 49,000 are ‘chronically homeless’ and that LA County accounts for half of that number. While the local government, as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom are pledging to address the situation, the reality on the ground is in great need of being improved by direct, compassionate action.
This is where small local charities like ‘Sharing Love With Others‘ can produce immediate results with measurable success. Unlike bureaucratic, political proposals, a local grass-roots org uses resources and volunteering to help improve lives directly and immediately without intermediaries.
Founded by Maxine Sealey in 2019, geared to help the homeless community and the impoverished in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.
a quote from interview with Maxine in VoyageLA sheds some light on the origins of the group, “I was led to create SHARING LOVE WITH OTHERS after becoming the Outreach Director in 2004 of the church that I attend, while going through my personal hardship, after volunteering with other organizations that help the homeless, and after connecting people to free resources for their home such as refrigerators, bed, furniture and more. For some reason people would call on me to help, and I had the desire to help in whatever way I could.”
Supporting active, effective organizations like this is crucial, politically entrenched solutions notwithstanding.
KFC has launched the “Kentucky Fried Giving” Challenge to support local non-profit groups
Fortunately, you can support this incredible organization right now at zero-cost whatsoever.
The group is participating in the ‘Kentucky Fried Giving” challenge which will award a $60,000 grant to the non profit that gets the most votes in the challenge.
All you need to do is follow the link below and vote for Sharing Love with Others.
Once you get to the home page for the program you will scroll down to where you see “Sharing the Love With Others” video – where you can watch and see more n the program:
In the pop-up window just add your email address, check the box and prove you’re not a robot with the usual CAPTCHA widget and hit ‘submit’! That’s all it takes.
SHARING LOVE WITH OTHERS is a charitable organization with the goal of enhancing the quality of life of the less fortunate, specifically our homeless neighbors on Skid Row, by providing warm meals, water, medical services, clothing, and more.
Naturally, if you would like to donate directly, this is also possible on the group’s web site:
We distribute food every Saturday and organize Skid Row cleanup days once a month.
We are always looking for more volunteers and donations, so please click through our “Volunteer” “Donate,” and “Connect With Us” pages to get involved!
Come join us and serve our homeless neighbors on Skid Row! Rain or shine, we are here. 7th. Street between San Pedro and Crocker in Los Angeles, Saturdays starting at 12pm.
+ FB: facebook.com/SharingLoveWithOthers
+ IG: instagram.com/sharinglove2019
+ e-mail: sharinglovewithothers2019@yahoo.com
+ number: (310) 340-8814
+ mailing address: 1035 S. Prairie Ave. Ste. 4 Inglewood, CA 90301
Nicolas Cage is an actor and in his next role – which is to say, he also plays as an actor, a fictional one who just-so-happens to go by the name of Nick Cage, yes, extremely meta.
In the film, Cage is an unfulfilled actor that is on the brink of financial ruin (familiar, right?). The actor is propositioned with an offer he can’t refuse, $1 million to attend a super-fan named Javi’s (played by Pedro Pascal) birthday party.
Then things get ever-more-stranger when Cage is approached by a CIA operative (played by Tiffany Haddish) and asked to go on an unusual mission. The trailer is packed with expletives and outrageousness and looks like a buddy slash comedy slash Nick Cage-style action movie. In order to do so, Cage finds himself channeling his most iconic characters (referencing to his real life movies he’s played including: “Face/Off”, “The Rock”, “Leaving Las Vegas” and “The Wicker Man”) he’s played to save himself and those he loves.
The film was met with major praise during the South by Southwest festival (SWSW) and has already generated a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. The action comedy has also attracted major buzz ahead of its theatrical release on April 22.
Six years ago a terrorist in Vienna took hundreds of hostages and the rescue attempt was totally botched. Veteran Henry Pelham (played by Chris Pines), a CIA operative learned that one of its agents may be the reason behind the attack via leaking sensitive information. Pelham along with his college Celia Harrison (played by Thandiwe Newton), also former lover are assigned to figure out who the mole is.
The movie is based on the 2015 spy novel by author Olen Steinhauer. Director Janus Metz adapted his screen from the book. In addition to Pines and Newton, the film also features Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Pryce.
The movie will be released April 8 on the Amazon streaming platform globally and also in select theaters.
Using Language that evokes his well known comments regarding the reasons why a mission, and eventually colony, on Mars is his passion, Elon Musk just tweeted that he is inspired by curiosity.
Further, that it is curiosity that drives him.
And then, in a more generalized summation of his thoughts regarding human consciousness, he implores us to join him in a journey leading to an expansion of the ‘scope and scale of consciousness’, “that we may aspire to understand the universe”.
I am inspired by curiosity.
That is what drives me.
So let us expand the scope & scale of consciousness so that we may aspire to understand the Universe.
After a weekend barrage of humorous and meme oriented tweets and replies such a serious and thoughtful note comes across as a rare and special occurrence.
Although just an anecdotal and non-scientific study a random browsing of his account also shows a seemingly large increase in the number of replies comments and other interactions with accounts of all types.
He seems to be in a truly jovial and generous mood this weekend showering compliments on random posts related or even unrelated to him personally.
It’s fantastic to see this, and must be incredible for some of the lucky individuals and organizations that he is bringing attention to via his 80 million followers. He even posted replies to his initial tweet above:
George Lucas once told me that the only reason Star Wars got made is because the old studio heads died
It is not easy to make the decision that you want to stop drinking. And once you make the decision to quit, there are many different types of strategies out there, which often vary and are unique to each person.
There is no one way to successfully quit drinking since there are often times many more factors that contribute to staying sober (i.e. daily stressors, access to resources, ect.) and these are often unknown or unclear until we are in a situation (sober) where we must confront them.
Regardless of your reasons to stop drinking, there are only benefits available, ultimately, to be achieved by learning and building your knowledge regarding addiction and alcoholism. One of the best, proven, ways to do that is to pick up a book.
The books we’ve selected below can help readers gain some insight, and perhaps find other ways of thinking and being, when it comes to starting and, perhaps even more importantly, staying on the journey towards recovery and long term sobriety.
Please take a look at the list below, which are of some of the best books available that are about quitting drinking. We have included book information provided by the publisher, as well as links, if you are interested in getting more information or picking up a copy.
This is the definitive, ground-breaking guide to alcohol and alcoholism. It explains how alcohol affects human beings on a chemical, physiological and psychological level, from those first drinks right up to chronic alcoholism.
Alcoholism and problem drinking seems illogical to those on the outside, indeed it is equally perplexing for the alcoholic or problem drinker. This book provides a logical, easy to follow explanation of the phenomenon and detailed instructions on how to beat it.
Despite being entirely scientific and factual in nature the book is presented in an accessible and easily understandable format.
Many people question whether drinking has become too big a part of their lives, and worry that it may even be affecting their health.
But, they resist change because they fear losing the pleasure and stress-relief associated with alcohol, and assume giving it up will involve deprivation and misery. This Naked Mindoffers a new, positive solution.
Here, Annie Grace clearly presents the psychological and neurological components of alcohol use based on the latest science, and reveals the cultural, social, and industry factors that support alcohol dependence in all of us.
Written in an uplifting, easy-to-follow format, “Alcohol and You” clearly explains: The best, scientifically-proven ways to reduce or quit drinking. How to self-diagnose alcohol dependence in minutes. How to motivate yourself to change and enjoy the process.
How to decide whether cutting down or quitting is right for you. Medications and strategies to help deal with cravings. The best, free support to help maintain your progress over time.“Alcohol and You” will leave you feeling inspired, fully-informed, and excited about your future. Order this book today and say good-bye to alcohol problems.
In The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporterCharles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed.
Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to the sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential.
At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.
This book is the story of a year in Clare’s life. A year that started with her quitting booze having been drinking more than a bottle of wine every day.
It sees her starting a hugely successful blog, then getting and beating breast cancer. By the end of the year she is booze free and cancer free, two stone lighter and with a life that is so much richer, healthier and more rewarding than ever before.
Sober Diaries is an upbeat, funny and positive look at how to live life to the full.
Here, in straight-talking chapters filled with personal stories, McKowen addresses issues such as facing facts, the question of AA, and other people’s drinking.
Without sugarcoating the struggles of sobriety, she relentlessly emphasizes the many blessings of an honest life, one without secrets and debilitating shame. Click to check out “We are the Luckiest“.
Please notice that we are including links below in case you’d like to view the items directly on Amazon. These are also affiliate links that benefit Lynxoitc but represent no charge to you. Thank you for your support and kind attention.
The Ketogenic Diet, popularly referred to as simply “Keto”, is on top of the list of many well-known ways in which people have lost weight by eating food low in carbs. The ketogenic diet isn’t actually anything new and has been utilized for centuries, most commonly used to help diabetes. The diet was also introduced in the 1920’s as treatment for epilepsy in children, as well as tested with people who have cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome (POS) and Alzheimer’s.
Yet, as a popular way to lose weight, Keto can’t take all the credit, since the rise in stature can be largely attributed to The Atkins Diet, which started around the 1970’s and commercialized the low-carb/high protein diet structure. Due to the initial success of The Atkins Diet, many other low carb diets and variations have been put on the map – such as Keto, Paleo, South Beach and The Dukan Diet to name just a few.
The four phases of the Dukan diet:
Attack Phase (1–7 days): You start the diet by eating unlimited lean protein plus 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran per day.
Cruise Phase (1–12 months): Alternate lean protein one day with lean protein and non-starchy veggies the next, plus 2 tablespoons of oat bran every day.
Consolidation Phase (5 days for every pound lost in phases 1 and 2): Unlimited lean protein and veggies, some carbs and fats, one day of lean protein weekly, 2.5 tablespoons of oat bran daily.
Stabilization Phase (indefinite): Follow the Consolidation Phase guidelines but loosen the rules as long as your weight remains stable. Oat bran is increased to 3 tablespoons per day.
The Attack Phase is primarily based on high-protein foods, as well as a few extras that provide low calorie options:
Lean beef, veal, venison, bison, and other game
Lean pork
Poultry without skin
Liver, kidney, and tongue
Fish and shellfish (all types)
Eggs
Non-fat dairy products (restricted to 32 ounces or 1 kg per day), such as milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, and ricotta
So what makes Keto different? The Keto diet stands out from the other low-carb diets because you eat a much higher fat content, which accounts for as much as 70-80% of your food intake and usually, in contrast to other low carb diets, involves also eating only a moderate amount of protein.
The general idea is for your eating plan to include more calories derived from proteins and fat and less from carbohydrates. With a low-carb diet, your body will eventually run out of fuel, usually taken from blood sugar (glucose), which will result in your body starting to break down proteins and fat for energy instead and that will result in weight loss. This metabolic process, described here in a nut-shell, is called ketosis.
Whether you want to just dip your feet in the pooland try out some Keto recipes, or go full hog (pun intended), we have provided some book titles on the most popular books relating to Keto.
What to Eat
Meat (Fish, Beef, Poultry)
Leafy Green Vegetables (Spinach, Kale)
Eggs and Diary (Cheese, Cream, Butter)
Oils
Nuts and Seeds
Avocados
Broccoli and Cauliflower
Berries
Water
What NOT to Eat
Bread (Flour, Wheat, Rice, Cereal)
Pasta
Starches (like Potatoes and Yams)
Sugar
high Fructose Corn Syrup
Corn
Legumes and Beans
Fruit (exception is Berries)
Soda
Milk (has milk sugar)
Being on a ketogenic diet is meant for the short term, rather than permanent, with the main focus being on losing weight and should not be done as a long-term lifestyle diet. This is because there have been some noted and potentially unhealthy takeaways from the diet; one that the diet heavily relies on red meat and other fat-rich processed, high-salt foods that are not optimum for daily consumption. In addition, there have not been enough long term studies to conclude if the the short-term results of weight loss will last or if, after resuming carb intake, the pound will be put right back on again.
As always, whenever choosing a specific elating plan, diet, or weight loss approach, keep in mind that everyone’s body is different and results will vary. Consulting an expert on the matter, like a registered dietitian or general practitioner, is highly recommended for the best guidance on what is best for you.
Since The Keto Diet has been around for a long time, there’s no shortage of books and cookbooks on the topic. However there are now many new and different ways to incorporate Keto, with an offshoot of systems for non-meat eaters, including vegan and vegetarian options.
This is surprising, since when Keto comes to mind, it is normal first to picture high-protein animal products like meat, eggs and cheese at the forefront of what can be eaten on the diet. Knowing that you can have plant-based alternatives to choose from and incorporate for Keto is refreshing, and just might remove some of the biggest potential drawbacks mentioned above.
Ketotarian includes more than 75 recipes that are vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian, offering a range of delicious and healthy choices for achieving weight loss, renewed health, robust energy, and better brain function. Dr. Will Cole comes to the rescue with Ketotarian, which has all the fat-burning benefits without the antibiotics and hormones that are packed into most keto diets.
In another great new video Robert Reich talks about the unspoken downsides of Abortion bans and why they are not “Pro-LIfe”. The video is one of many that can be seen on the Inequality Media YouTube channel – which adds at least a new video weekly.
Abortion bans are not pro-life. They’re pro-poverty and pro-inequality.
I’ll tell you what we can do about it in a moment. But first, let me explain how these bans worsen inequalities.
You’ve probably heard of the two abortion cases making their way through the courts. But it’s not just Texas and Mississippi’s new bans. For years, Republican state lawmakers – almost entirely white men – have been chipping away at reproductive freedom: enacting laws that lead to clinic closures, force people to travel hundreds of miles for abortions, and create near-insurmountable barriers for low-income people, especially people of color.
Make no mistake: bans like those in Texas and Mississippi won’t stop abortions. Wealthy people will always have access, but millions of low-income people will be forced to give birth – with dire consequences for both parent and child.
Pregnant people in Texas now have to travel an average of 247 miles to get an abortion. Who but the wealthy can afford this? Only one third of the lowest paid workers receive paid sick days, while 95% of the highest paid do. Taking just one unpaid day off from a low-wage job can mean sacrificing groceries, electricity, or gas.
These restrictions worsen inequality, and have lifelong effects.
One study found that being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term makes it nearly 4 times more likely that parent and child will live below the poverty line. They’re also less likely to have full-time work, and more likely to have public assistance four years later. Decades of research confirm that abortion access improves education, employment, and earnings — and the differences are especially large for Black people.
It’s not just economics. Restricting abortion puts people’s health at risk. Researchers found that abortion legalization in the 1970s reduced deaths among Black mothers by 30 to 40 percent.
The Supreme Court’s right-wing majority is poised to gut or even overturn Roe v. Wade. If they do, 21 states already have laws that will go into effect to severely restrict or outright ban all abortions immediately – threatening the livelihoods and health of millions of low-income Americans.
Congress must codify Roe v. Wade into federal law — now — by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act. It’s already been passed in the House but is being blocked in the Senate by – you guessed it – a Republican filibuster.
Let’s be clear: there is nothing “pro-life” about forced pregnancy and forced birth. The freedom to choose when, how, and with whom you start a family should not be dictated by your income or where you live. Congress must act to protect reproductive now, freedom before it’s too late.
A 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit Japan near the north-east coast of Fukushima Wednesday March 16. According to Reuters one fatality has been reported along with 69 injuries. Authorities have issued a tsunami warning with residents in costal areas told to evacuate.
More than 2 million homes lost power, as reported by NPR, The Japanese Meteorological Agency said the quake hit at 11:36 P.M. at a depth of 36 miles below the sea.
One person is reported dead and dozens of people are believed to have suffered injuries.
In some areas it was reportedly too forceful for people to stand, and buildings rattled in the Tokyo, according to AFP.
The quake jolted the region just a week shy of the anniversary of the devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that happened back in March 2011.
Jared Leto plays WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann and Anne Hathaway plays his wife Rebehak in the new Apple TV+ drama “WeCrashed”. The series will chronicle of how the company’s skyrocketed towards a $47 billion valuation in less than a decade, then quickly and dramatically plummeted.
Neumann, who served as CEO for the company from 2010 to 2019 and later resigned was well known for his megalomania and wild pronouncements of ambition. Becoming ‘King of the world’ was not beyond his imagination. According to reports at the time, his “eccentric behavior” was one of the main reasons he was pressured to step down.
The series is part drama for the entertaining over-the-top reenactments of the antics and impulses of Neumann (Leto) and part exploration of the era of insane exploits at start-ups, as well as part love story, showing their crazy ups, downs, best and worst of times while WeWork is being built.
Not the first to tackle this subject matter, after 2021’s WeWork: Or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, which was a documentary feature, this star driven Apple TV+ series is clearly aimed at being entertaining first, but still is a thoughtful exploration of the excesses and the era that produced them.
Along with the recent trial of Elizabeth Holmes who was found guilty on four out of 11 federal charges relating to her own megalomaniacal fraud spree at billion dollar start-up Theranos, there’s a building oeuvre of film work, such as HBO’s: The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley chronicling the era of excess that is still ongoing.
Apple TV+ is also getting in on the Theranos action. In an upcoming release Jennifer Lawrence will again team up with director Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up, also with JLaw), for Bad Blood. Release date is not yet known, only that it will be based on Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by Pulitzer Prize-winner John Carreyrou.
“WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork” will debut its first three episodes on Apple TV+ starting March 18 with new episodes airing every week on Friday.
How do things really get done (or more often not) in Washington D.C.?
In a new video from Robert Reich, former secretary of labor and accomplished author, the sad subject of so-called ’gridlock’ in government is addressed. This perspective is particularly useful and helpful to consider since this year is an election year.
There’s an unfortunate lack of understanding regarding how things actually work and, more importantly what can be done about it.
Inequality Media, the Org, led by Robert Reich, that is responsible for this content, is putting out clear and incisive messages on topics like this on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. Getting these kinds of valuable messages out to places like YouTube, TikTok and social media is important at anytime. Now, in such a critical moment in our history, it’s essential.
Why doesn’t Congress get anything done?
Well, one chamber actually does. Hundreds of bills have been passed by the House of Representatives, but have been blocked from even getting a vote in the Senate. Bills like The Freedom to Vote Act, The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, The Equality Act, Background checks for gun sales, Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, The Build Back Better Act. The list goes on.
So why aren’t these crucial bills getting a vote in the Senate? Because the filibuster makes it impossible.
All told, the House passed over 200 bills in 2021 that have not been taken up in the Senate. Everything from investing in rural education to preventing discrimination against pregnant workers to protecting seniors from scams – bills that have real, tangible benefits for the public; bills that have widespread public support.
So don’t believe the media narrative that Congress is trapped in hopeless gridlock and both sides are to blame. One chamber of Congress, led by Democrats, is passing important legislation and delivering for the people. But Republicans in the Senate, and a handful of corporate Democrats, are hell-bent on grinding the gears of government to a halt.
Why are Senate Republicans doing this? Because their midterm strategy depends on it. Republicans are blocking crucial legislation so they can point to Democrats’ supposed inability to get anything done, and claim they’ll be able to deliver if you give them majorities.
