Twitter valuation down 71.5% according to Fidelity. https://www.axios.com/2023/12/31/elon-musks-x-fidelity-valuation-cut

"Some are bold and graceful, others are spidery and maladroit, yet every one represents an attempt by their creators to renegotiate the nature of their existence." https://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/12/06/graffiti-at-the-tower-of-london/

Disney's Mickey Mouse enters public domain https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67833411

There’s always another conspiracy idea https://www.physics-astronomy.com/conspiracy-theorists-claim-the-large-hadron-collider-transferred-us-into-a-parallel-universe-in-latest-experiment/

As we turn the calendar page to 2024, I want to remind you all... I am glad you're in my life, and I appreciate every one of you.

This bathing suit cover-up is pretty, and it has pockets. But ultimately it's only okay. https://amzn.to/47nyGRU

Netflix announced on December 12 that season 3 of Bridgerton will release in two parts in 2024: Part I on May 16 and Part II on June 13th. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysXcW5K_5Sg

How many science fiction characters does it take to change a light bulb?

Two. One to change the bulb and the other to say, "As you know, Fred, the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison and operates by the principle of..."

"Quite simply, it’s the largest repository of cartoon art in the world, with 300,000 original cartoons, 45,000 books, 67,000 serials and comic books, and a whopping 2.5 million comic strip clippings."
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2023/10/history-in-ink-preserving-the-worlds-largest-cartoon-and-comic-collection/

Reading this article by an author who consults vintage photos to inspire his novels, I contemplate two things:

* I wonder how many of my writer friends do the same, and
* These photos capture (part of) the New York City where my grandparents grew up. I find myself wanting to walk into the scenes to image what their world was like.

https://crimereads.com/nyc-photographs-thaddeus-wilkerson/

Things to celebrate in 2023.
A lot of things went right this year. Almost none of them made the news. https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews2023/

I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone’s teeth get cleaner? – Frank Zappa, in response to Tipper Gore’s allegations that music incites people towards deviant behavior, or influences their behavior in general.

My Amazon review of The Global Pantry Cookbook: 4 stars
The idea is to expand your repertoire using exotic/foreign items. It has several good recipes, but I like the premise more than the execution.
https://amzn.to/3tCCXDf

SFMTA runs trains on a storage format that can’t even hold a hi-res image.
https://sfstandard.com/2023/02/02/sfs-market-street-subway-runs-on-reagan-era-floppy-disks/

Lode Runner (HTML5 Remake) https://loderunnerwebgame.com/game/

The science of the ideal salad dressing
There is a large energy cost to breaking apart and mixing the water and oil layers. The secret to blending them is to add an extra ingredient known as a ‘surfactant’ or emulsifier, such as mustard.
https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-the-ideal-salad-dressing-216159

How Tesla, BMW, Ford, GM and Mercedes driver assist systems compare https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/28/how-tesla-bmw-ford-gm-and-mercedes-driver-assist-systems-compare/