More great short stories from Jeffrey Archer — very entertaining.
Recommended.
My NEW MacBook Pro in 2022
While in Europe, my first generation SILICON MacBook Pro purchased November 2020 began to fail. Slowly the display started to go black. I ended up using just half the screen that was still visible. As I post it’s completely black and can only be used with an external monitor.
Just over a year old, the warranty was void. Happily, I’d purchased AppleCare extended warranty and will try to have the 2020 fixed.
In the meantime, on November 25th, I ordered the base model of the upgraded 2022 version.
Love it so far. Especially the RETURN of features that had been discontinued.
One of my online gurus, Serge M from Saskatoon, had his laptop screen crack after he dropped it. So purchased the same machine at about the same time. Base model 14‑inch MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM and only 512 GB internal memory. Both of us will store our large files on external SSD drives.
Kraig warned me that my old 2020 laptop might choke with only 8GB RAM. And he was right — though it didn’t happen very often. And only rarely with Final Cut Pro and once Pixelmator Pro.
Serge tested my new machine editing 4 simultaneous 4K streams. No problem. That’s far more processing power than I’ll need for years. 😇
iJustine tested even more extreme use cases, and was shocked how easily the base model handled video editing.
So … the cheapest base model of the 2022 MacBook Pro is powerful enough for anything I’d want to do over the next few years.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
For the first time ever Apple bungled my online purchase. I ended up having to cancel.
NEXT I tried to buy one in stock from an Apple store in Vancouver. They bungled that, as well.
FINALLY I was able to get one from BestBuy Canada with only 2 weeks delay in delivery over Christmas.
NOT CHEAP — I paid CAD $2500 AND $300 in taxes. I’ll be paying a few hundred more for an extended warranty.
Savage Run by C.J. Box
This is the second book in the Joe Pickett series. He’s a Wyoming game warden.
The plot is intriguing.
Someone hired hit men to kill a number of environmental protection activists across the States.
The lawyer who protected Grizzly Bears was made to look as if he was killed and eaten by those bears. They don’t want martyrs.
I recommend it.
A good insight into the pros and cons of environmentalism in Wyoming.
A Joe Pickett TV series just launched. USA only, so far.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Doc Martin – seasons 2/3
I was charmed by the first season.
Finally got back to the British comedy.
Doc Martin is grouchy, direct, and lacks social skills. No doubt on the autistic spectrum. Perhaps Aspergic.
Even better is his love interest, Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz), school headmistress at Portwenn Primary.
The 10th and final season should be released in 2022.
Other versions of the show have been launched in France, Germany, Spain and other nations.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Hidden in Plain Sight by Jeffrey Archer
Archer’s most recent book series is based around William Warwick. This is book #2 (2020) in the four published, so far.
Having been promoted to Detective Sergeant, William Warwick and his team have been assigned to the Drug Squad where they are charged with apprehending a notorious South London drug leader named Khalil Rashidi. Along the way, William makes new enemies and encounters several old foes like Miles Faulkner who could finally be put in prison.
Meanwhile, in his personal life, Warwick is planning a wedding with Beth. They are however caught off guard by the unpleasant surprise waiting for them at the altar.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Dexter – season 9 – New Blood
Dexter: New Blood launched 2021. A surprise sequel 8 years after the conclusion of the original TV series.
It was always a guilty pleasure for me. A show I probably shouldn’t have watched.
Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter reprising their roles as Dexter and Debra Morgan, respectively …
The plot is convincing. Jack Alcott plays Harrison Morgan, Dexter’s son. Creepy.
The rest of the cast is good too.
It’s 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and I’d say that’s about right.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
WOW – Don’t Look Up
I rejoined Netflix mainly to watch Don’t Look Up.
Brilliant.
Be sure to watch the credits. There are 3 endings.
Satire that reminded me of both Swift’s A Modest Proposal and Wag the Dog.
Something between a star-studded Hollywood blockbuster and an amateur YouTube documentary. Very original editing.
You’ve never seen DiCaprio like this. He had a lot of input on the script.
The cast is great. Best is Jonah Hill who plays a Don Jr. idiot appointed by his mother as the insanely unqualified Chief of Staff.
- Meryl Streep as Janie Orlean (Donald Trump), President of the United States
- Mark Rylance as Peter Isherwell, tech billionaire & major GOP donor
- Ron Perlman as Colonel Benedict Drask (awesome!)
- Ariana Grande as Riley Bina (Ariana Grande)
The Republican tribe is urged to NOT LOOK UP at the planet busting comet. And deny what they can see with their own eyes. 😀 It parallels the American idiocracy of covid denial, for example. Apathy, incompetence and self-interest.
Denial of science.
It’s certain ReTrumplicans will hate this film.
This movie came from my burgeoning terror about the climate crisis and the fact that we live in a society that tends to place it as the fourth or fifth news story, or in some cases even deny that it’s happening, and how horrifying that is, but at the same time preposterously funny.[10]— Adam McKay, writer, director, and producer of Don’t Look Up
Refugees & Asylum Seekers in 2022 😕
Trump too abruptly abandoned Syria. Biden did the same in Afghanistan.
Worldwide there are millions of people trying to flee.
I don’t understand why organizations — and billionaires — are not funding MORE and BETTER refugee camps. Only about 25% of refugees are in camps.
Life in a refugee camp should be minimal. But safe. Good security. Clean water. Decent health care. Education should be provided for kids who make up about 50% of the population.
My buddy Mike Sissons is an artist in Madrid. Some of his recent work features refugees.
CANCEL me in 2022
If you are irked that I call Donald Trump the fat golfer, please stop following my posts.
After a lifetime study of comparative religion, Joseph Campbell concluded that the best course was to Follow your Bliss. Make a list of those things in your life that you most enjoy; those things that enervate you, compel you; interest you in a sustained way. Do them!
Make a second list of those things that vex your existence. How can you avoid or minimize those? CANCEL them.
When in office I mostly called Trump the toddler President — rash, undisciplined, selfish, spoiled. Out of office fat golfer better sums up my opinion of him in a short, colourful way. Trump is the master of name calling. Since he does it, I feel it’s ethical to reciprocate.
I believe in freedom of speech. The fat golfer can say whatever he wants on his golf course. BUT not in my home. Not on my blogs. Nor my social media feeds.
I also believe in the freedom to NOT listen to speech.
Since Rush Limbaugh — the Big Fat Idiot — popularized the notion of cancelling people in the 1980s, the word cancelled has become increasingly loaded. And increasingly meaningless.
Though I’m left leaning, I haven’t yet cancelled JK Rowling, Woody Allen, Jordan Peterson and many more. You should if they irritate you enough.
I AM quick to unsubscribe to organizations and people I believe are distributing dangerous and/or unethical content online.
Certainly the American GOP / FOX money making machine picks a new Mr. Potato Head to cancel every day. Gots to keep their mostly old, white supporters angry. (That story was fake news, by the way.)
The best coverage of this issue I’ve heard is on my favourite podcast – Reputation.
Trump’s “Madman Theory” Is on Full Display in Iran – On the Media
President Trump threatened to commit war crimes before reaching a shaky ceasefire deal with Iran. On this week’s On the Media, the repercussions of the Nixon-era diplomatic theory that Trump appears to be testing in the Middle East. Plus, why shortwave radio remains a powerful tool for communication.
[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Bill Scher, the politics editor at the Washington Monthly, to discuss Trump’s escalating use of the “Madman Theory” in conflicts abroad and how it’s never been a winning strategy.
[16:15] Shortly after the first attacks on Iran in early March, mysterious messages in Persian were broadcast on shortwave radio. Shortwave radio has long been a tool for bypassing state surveillance, censorship, and regulations, as reporter Katie Thornton found in her examination of shortwave radio for season two of The Divided Dial. In this segment, Katie Thornton took a trip to the 737-person northern Maine town of Monticello to find one of shortwave’s farthest reaching broadcasters.
[37:12] Reporter Katie Thornton continues her examination of shortwave radio. This segment originally aired as part of season two of The Divided Dial, which was supported in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Further reading / watching:
“Trump Believes in “Madman Theory.” But He’s Actually a Madman” by Bill Scher
The Divided Dial, seasons 1 and 2
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
BEST George Michael’s “Freedom!” cover
I’ve been watching this multiple times a day. It makes me happy.
The Bellas (Anna Kendrick, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson and more) and contestants from The Voice Season 13 Top 12 …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 