Snow, Rafi and oddities.

 

Today's Tids Issue 5,094

Waxing skis:

 

It was pleasant to hear the crunch of snow under my feet yesterday as I walked the streets of our small city. Streets lined with 18th century homes had a feeling of times years ago. Days of yore, without lines of cars braying. People starting to shovel out, all united by a common bond of being isolated in their homes for at least a day or two. Quiet solitude, singular tasks. The world I love best.

 

You have to wonder who was walking along one day and sat down next to a pile of cotton strands. Then he or she happened to notice two slim sticks nearby and the proverbial lightbulb shown above his or her head. The eyes lit up, and he or she said, “I think I’ll knit.”

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Dems pushing these stories about the possibility of Trump running in 2024. They are building an arsenal of data against him, and they would just love firing potshots if he were to run in another, “Anybody but Trump campaign.”  

 

Olympiads — Commercials shown during the Summer and Winter Games.

 

The Question:

When and where were the first three Winter Olympic games held? Bonus: Which five countries have won the most all-time Winter Olympic medals?

 

The Headlines:

--Markets Open Higher, Dow Drops Towards Noon Ahead Of Busy Wek Of Earnings Reports.

--Spotify Will Not Become A Censor, Says CEO Daniel Ek; Will Add advisories Boards To Control Misiforma6io.

--Plea Deal Reached With Two Of Ahmaud Arbery's Murderers In Hate Crimes Trial; Parents Say They Will Fight It.

--UK Investigation Into Downing Street Covid Lockdown Parties Finds “Failures Of Leadership”.

--Northeast Digging Out.

-- Superbowl: The Cincinnati Bengals Versus The Los Angeles Rams.

--AOC Wants SC Nominee To Bring Tinge Of Anti-Business Attitude To The Court.

 

There is no question in my mind that Raphael Nadal is the comeback person of the year in sports. I was genuinely excited excited for his arduous 5 hour plus victory in the Australian Open tennis tournament. A lot of people didn’t think he would have the strength following leg surgery to get through the grueling two weeks. Now, today he is the all-time Grand Slam tournament winner!

 

Windows and Word often ask me a question and gives me the answer options of “Yes” or “No”. I rarely know what the question means. And I can only think of the worst about what could happens to to me if I pick the wrong answer.

 

The spotted cat was banned from the Olympics because it was a Cheetah!

 

I was at an event recently where the host thanked all of the sponsors and workers, then paused to say there was one more thank you. It was for our Indigenous Americas for the land upon which this building was. So do Romanians, or is Hungarians, thank Attilla the Hun for their land. And what about cavemen, does anybody ever thank a caveman. Where’s the guilt there?

 

Every time groups of celebrity liberals ban together against something; I always figure that what they are banning against is good for me.

 

They will be smoking a lot cigarettes in Beijing. They like the idea of filtered air.

 

I just had to root for the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday, because color of their helmets matched that of Cheetos. And now they will be my team in the Superbowl.

 

The Dems say (And of course the media picks up on it) that the Repubs are restricting voting. The Repubs say they are passing bills that will preserve the integrity of honest voting. Once again uncontrolled hyperbole is crushing chances for cooperation.

 

As you have probably seen, the total deaths from Covid in the US over the past two years is pretty high and very sad. But what it represents is that only 2.7 out of every thousand USA humans died over that period.

 

The Answer:

The Winter Games were first held in 1924 in Chamonix France. Games two were in 1928 in St. Moritz Switzerland and in 1932 i Lake Placid NY USA. Bonus: With 368, Norway leads in the all-time medal winning race. The US (305) is number two followed by Germany (240), Austria (232), Canada (1990, Soviet Union* (194), Finland (167), Sweden (158), Switzerland (153) and at #10, The Netherlands (130). *The Soviet Union Medal number is for games between 1956 ad 1988. Russia from 1984 to present has won another 120., not to mention of other former SSR countries.

 

My friend Ty came first in the Beijing cross country skiing marathon, but still has not been awarded a gold medal. China refuses to acknowledge Ty won.

 

Groan!

Quiet solitude.

 

Today's Tids Issue 5,093

Want to have a snowball fight:

 

I’m looking forward to being buried under a lot of deep snow this weekend. Snowstorms become a problem when people think that they are the driver who won’t get stuck in a snow drift.

 

In my heart I feel deeply the aches of families and associates of all of those policemen set up to be murdered across the country. Simply because they are doing their jobs. Ad despite how the elitist minds may spin it, the problem is solely because of BLM. Period.

 

How ironic that the day Joe B is going to Pittsburgh to talk about infrastructure, a pretty significant appearing bridge in that city collapses. Maybe Jen Psaki is the greatest PR person of all time after all, despite her caustic sarcasm.

 

Q: What did the snowman and his wife put over their baby's crib? A: A snowmobile!

 

The Question:

Which countries are the worst Ocean polluters (Measured in millions of metric Tons)?

 

The Headlines:

--Markets Mixed; Apple Up Strong After Yesterday’s Excellent Earnings; Despite Strength Of That Key Dow Component; Markets Flicker Lower On New High Inflation Data; PCE Index Highest Since 1982.

--Pittsburgh Bridge Collapses Under Heavy Snow; 10 Injured.

--Nor’easter And Blizzard Could Dump 1 to 3 Feet Of Snow In Northeast.

--Putin Says US Has Ignored Russian Security Concerns; Wants Ukraine To Remain Neutral As Buffer Between His Country And NATO.

 

Regardless of how it looks, I don’t believe that Putin will make a move that would develop into an all-out war.

 

As I waited for a bus one frosty day lately, I noticed the woman next to me texting. She turned and mentioned to me, “I make a lot of mistakes when texting in the cold.” I nodded knowingly. “It’s the early signs of typothermia.”

 

Today is National Kazoo Day. A Play me a simple melody. How cool is tat.

 

Despite all the rumblings about getting back to work normally, big cities are still filled with empty office buildings. The companies who used to occupy those offices are still doing quite well but all the small businesses who used to

 feed off of their presence are struggling badly

 

Our economy which was built upon the absence of Technology must now figure out how to produce income with empty streets and robots doing simple tasks.

 

Q: What do you get from sitting on the snow too long? A: Polaroids!

 

The Answer:

China is way ahead of t rest at 8.8 million metric tons. The rest in order are Indonesia 3.2, Philippines 1.9, Viet Nam 1.8, Sri Lanka 1.6, Egypt 1.0, Thailand 1.0 and USA 0.3. Hey we’re ok, bring back plastic bags!

 

As you may have noticed, today is cornball snow joke day. So I should leave with the cornsnowiest joke of all. Q: Where do snowmen keep their money? A: In a snow bank.

 

After all the snow falls and serene quiet spreads across the countryside; where with that blanket of purification there is always a pleasant feeling of purging the world of grime and negativity. And a day later we will go outside again just like nothing happened.  Except that now we will have another batch of war stories about how we survived the big storm of ’22.

 

Stay warm, E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!!

Neath the shimmering January skies.

 

Today's Tids Issue 5,092

The sun never sets on a happy heart:

 

Today is a beautiful, balmy, brisk 19-degree day. Tonight, weather forecasters will frighten us to death with their brightly colored maps. I think Americans were far more contented before brightly colored weather maps.

 

Environmental shock warning: Today is “National Clashing Clothing Day”!

 

Bad Combo, Department:

Young families are loading up with dogs and pets. States are legalizing marijuana. Pets are consuming MJ edibles. Dogs are dying or at least embarrassing their owners in public. If there is anything that could stop the spread of Pot, it may be dog owners.

 

Breyer’s retirement is a ho-hummer with respect to its effects on SCOTUS.

 

The Question:

Who are the largest Jeopardy money winners?

 

The Headlines:

--Good Q4 GDP Results Have Markets Moving Upward; Economy Expanded By 6.9% Versus Expected 5.5%; Investors Digest Powell’s Remarks.

--Russia’s Initial Response To Nata’s Written Proposal Is Pessimistic; But Russia Says It will Take Time To thoroughly Review.

--Northeast Primes For Big Snowfall.

--Astronomers Warn: The SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Launched In February 2015 On Course To Crash Ito Moon.

--Biden Expected To Bow To Progressives And Identity Politics With the SC Pick.

--Amy Schneider Defeated After Amassing $1.382.800 In Her Jeopardy 40 Game Win Streak; Super Smart Contestant Now Second In Wins Only To Ken Jennings.

 

As soon as the stock market recovers, I’m going to buy a new lap top so I don’t have to add back “Ns” into everything I write. Do you know how may N‘s there are in a typical Tid’s issue? There’s about 190 to 220 per issue. Yes, I counted them. Yes, I have nothing better to do in my new status. Now the “Es and “Hs” are giving me a problem. Life is fraught with game changing decisions – do I give up the Tids or but a new computer?

 

Zowie!! It’s Tids Pickers Thursday all over again! Last week was bad at 1-3 bringing our Playoff picks record to 6-4. But last week was great if you love competitive football. San Fran has proven to be resilient. They beat GB on GB’s turf in GB weather. But Jimmy G looked wobbly down the stretch. And he could look even more so as he faces down Aaron Donald charging at him. Matthew Stafford proved his mettle as cool customer QB, and I just have to go with LA Rams even though I am a fan of SF’s Coach Shanahan. I am really happy for Cincy and Jo Burrow who is proving he will be a force for the future. But, Mahomes is still magic, and Andy Reid can coach with anybody. And, KC is at home. I’m seeing a Super Bowl with KC against LA.

 

I’m rooting for Ricky Fowler to win the big La Jolla Torey Pines PGA Tournament this weekend. He needs a win badly, and he seems like a good guy.

 

Jeopardy’s Amy induced ratings of 10 million daily viewers pushing the venerable old show past 60 minutes as the most watched non-sports TV show.

 

After yesterday’s Q about pretty lakes, a perceptive reader reminded me what I should have known that little ole’ RI closely tied to its dominate ocean presence, is also full of beautiful lakes. Of which I have often noted. Actually, when you think about it. picking ten lakes as best is just a ridiculous idea.

 

If you are in the market for the long haul, watching the ticker is more about self-flagellation than anything else.

 

In case you are interested, our economy last year had it best GDP surge with a 5.7% increase since 6.4% in 1984.

 

Why do people always run to a grocery store for bread and milk just before a big snow storm? Does everybody somehow run out of staples just before a storm? I think it is kind of eerie.

 

January is the best month for getting back into enjoyable TV. At least if you have streaming or Showtime.

 

I like British TV police stories because they actually look for clues to solve mysteries instead of posing glamorously or standing legs apart in pistol hold position 101. Or chasing some bad guy on foot who they always capture despite the huge getaway lead. US TV is more about shooting than sleuthing.

 

By the way, I watched a Danish police story on Netflix called “Anxious People” that turned out to be a nice heartwarming, feel-good, tear-jerking tale in the end.

 

The Answer:

I asked for the largest Jeopardy money winners but the contestants aren’t listed by weight. So here it is by money: Number 1 is Brad Rutter at $4.938M. Next is Ken Jennings (He is far and away having the most victories) $4.37, James Holzhauer $2.962, Matt Amodio $1.518, Amy Schneider $1.382, Daviid Madden $762K, Larissa Kelly $656K, Matt Jackso $611K, Jason Zuffranieri — $532K and at #10, Roger Craig — $530K.

 

There are two things of paramount importance in the world today – the Russia/Ukraine situation and the Global/US economy. And I don’t have a good answer for either. I hope you weren’t looking for a boffo ending today.

 

Congrats to Amy Schneider, and I hope she has a good life, but I am happy to get back meaningful “Final Jeopardy” segments. She was just too good.