Masked Prey by John Sandford

30th book in the Lucas Davenport series. Always entertaining.

The daughter of a U.S. Senator is monitoring her social media presence when she finds a picture of herself on a strange blog. And there are other pictures… of the children of other influential Washington politicians, walking or standing outside their schools, each identified by name. Surrounding the photos are texts of vicious political rants from a motley variety of radical groups.

It’s obviously alarming — is there an unstable extremist tracking the loved ones of powerful politicians with deadly intent?

But when the FBI is called in, there isn’t much the feds can do. The anonymous photographer can’t be pinned down to one location or IP address, and more importantly, at least to the paper-processing bureaucrats, no crime has actually been committed.

With nowhere else to turn, influential Senators decide to call in someone who can operate outside the FBI’s constraints: Lucas Davenport.

Masked Prey

End Game by Jeffrey Archer

I’ve been a big fan of the William Warwick books since the beginning.

Seem’s Archer is wrapping up with the 8th and final.

It’s good — but perhaps not as good as the early novels.

Detective William Warwick Books

Nothing Ventured(2019)Description / Buy at Amazon
Hidden in Plain Sight(2020)Description / Buy at Amazon
Turn a Blind Eye(2021)Description / Buy at Amazon
Over My Dead Body(2021)Description / Buy at Amazon
Next in Line(2022)Description / Buy at Amazon
Traitors Gate(2023)Description / Buy at Amazon
An Eye for An Eye(2024)Description / Buy at Amazon
End Game(2025)Description / Buy at Amazon

London, 2012. The eyes of the world are on Britain as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games.​

But the glare of the spotlight makes London a target for some of the most dangerous people on earth. And the moment the bid is won, an international conspiracy is set in motion to unleash a devastating attack that will leave the world in chaos.​

One man stands between triumph and disaster: Commander William Warwick, heading up Scotland Yard’s elite team.

But as he pursues the shadowy organisation, he sets off a deadly game of cat and mouse which will take him from the bustling streets of London to the hidden corridors of power.

Can Warwick stop the assassin before the greatest show on earth becomes a catastrophe … ​

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Love the Mediterranean Climate

December in Southern California is perfect weather for me.

Sunny and dry. Not too hot. No humidity.

La Quinta Cove, California

Here’s where a Canadian snowbird wants to spend part of the winter.

Mediterranean climates typically offer 250 to over 320 sunny days per year.

Shorts and t-shirt every day. ☀️

The main cause of Mediterranean, or dry summer, climate is the subtropical ridge, which extends towards the pole of the hemisphere in question during the summer and migrates towards the equator during the winter. …

Areas with this climate are also where the so-called “Mediterranean trinity” of major agricultural crops have traditionally been successfully grown (wheatgrapes and olives). As a result, these regions are notable for their high-quality wines, grapeseed/olive oils, and bread products.

… Because most regions with a Mediterranean climate are near large bodies of water, temperatures are generally moderate, with a comparatively small range of temperatures between the winter low and summer high.

Southern California is a great place to visit …

Alberni Bam Bam: A Bikepacking Route on Vancouver Island

It finally dawned on me that I can no longer easily hike and cycle on Vancouver Island. We’ve sold my parents former home on Vancouver Island.

In the past, I’ve cycled large sections of this challenging route. Looks ideal for an experienced bikepacker who wants to find out what coastal rainforest wilderness is like.

Unpaved about 70% of a 450-kilometer loop. It starts and ends in Nanaimo, British Columbia, for those coming from the mainland. You don’t need a motor vehicle.

It links gravel roads, rough doubletrack, and a four-hour boat ride up the Alberni Inlet, featuring numerous swim spots, old-growth forests, quirky communities, and so much more.

ALBERNI BAM BAM

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy

My favourite Christmas song.

Bing Crosby and David Bowie.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

You might prefer the Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly version.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Pluribus – season 1

Have you watched this weird, original, unpredictable TV show?

Pluribus is a post-apocalyptic science fiction series that follows Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), an author who finds herself angry and isolated after an alien virus transforms the rest of humanity into a peaceful and content hive mind. …

The hive mind happily accommodates the wishes of those who remain unaffected, but admits that it will ultimately seek to assimilate them when it figures out how to do so. Carol is adamantly against their efforts as she searches for a way to reverse the Joining. …

It wraps up Dec. 23rd on Apple TV.

Personally, I would probably have gone all Samba Schutte as Koumba Diabaté. He definitely understood the assignment. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

F1 (film) 2025

I hate motor racing — but can highly recommend F1 on Apple TV.

It’s a feel good holiday treat.

… starring Brad Pitt as Formula One (F1) racing driver Sonny Hayes, who returns after a 30-year absence to save his former teammate’s underdog team, APXGP, from collapse. …

Racing sequences were adapted from the real-life races, with F1 teams and drivers appearing throughout, including Lewis Hamilton, who was also a producer. …

Pitt was paid $30 million for his performance in this very profitable film. But it’s not about the money … 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Author Amy Quan Barry played on the Danvers High School field hockey team in the late 1980s.

Many of the events around the infamous Salem Witchcraft trials actually took place in Danvers, Massachusetts, which at the time was known as Salem Village.

Barry’s writing touches on a variety of genres, including magical realism and speculative fiction.

We Ride Upon Sticks (2020) is the fictional story of the 1989 Danvers Falcons Field Hockey team.

This team is not very good.

BUT near the end of summer training camp, they call on witchcraft invoking new powers both on and off the field.

If you were alive in the 1980s, the highlight of this book are the many, MANY pop culture references.

It’s often laugh-out-loud funny.

A whimsical read.

If ReTrumplican politicians are looking for yet another book to ban in schools — this would fit the bill.

It’s all about personal identity in terms of the race, gender, and sexuality of 17-year-old High School senior girls. And one boy on the team.

REVIEW – BookReporter

Life on Svalbard by Cecilia Blomdahl

I’ve subscribed to Cecilia’s YouTube channel for a few years.

She makes videos about her daily life in the Northernmost town in the world.

Cecilia’s a Swede, who lives live in an arctic cabin outside of Longyearbyen with her boyfriend Christoffer and their Finnish lapphund Grim.

Svalbard is the place where ANYONE from ANYWHERE in the world can live legally, so long as they have a job and housing.

Her short 2024 book is called Life on Svalbard: Finding Home on a Remote Island Near the North Pole.

She’s lived there since 2015, enjoying life, taking photos, and sharing the unique experience with others.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Artificial Intelligence VIDEO editing

Easy to use image generation and editing artificial intelligence software is here. Almost anyone — even Ron 😀 — can get amazing PHOTO results very quickly, just using their phone.

Me? I’m still waiting for FAST, EASY VIDEO editing A.I. software.

December 2025 here are 3 clips created in about 2 minutes each using Envato Image Gen (Google’s Veo series (specifically Veo 3.1)MiniMax Hailuo 02ByteDance Seedance 1.0, and Kling AI.)

I first gave the software 2 still beach photos.

It created these 3 video clips from simple prompts.

Click PLAY or watch the A.I. edits on YouTube.

Not bad. But still too slow. And I don’t have enough control of the result.