Alheli Picazo

The best.

I suppose the firefly experience being limited to such a short window each year helps keep it special every time.

It's firefly season, and sitting under a dark, star-filled sky as hundreds (or thousands) of gently blinking both hang in the air and gradually move about the property is a feeling I'd bottle if I could.

Summer is my season of choice, and this is certainly one reason why.

YouTube video by Music Alanis Morissette - Your House - Jagged Little Pill

youtu.be/qIwFsYyroJ0?...

Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Absolutely brilliant.

The above photo, taken during a funeral for the victims of the December 29, 2017 massacre of Canadian Muslims in a Quebec Mosque, is one that stays with me.

So, too, do the words of the Imam who met hate and tragedy with unbelievable grace and compassion.

"We don't have enemies. We have some people who don't know us...Alexandre, before being a killer, was a victim himself. Before planting his bullets in the heads of his victims, somebody planted ideas more dangerous than the bullets in his head." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I know I'm a bit late here, but may 2025 be as prosperous and/or preposterous as your heart desires.

Welcome to the public domain, THE SKELETON DANCE (1929). 🎞️ 🎶👻 Walt Disney Studios' first Silly Symphony cartoon is a wordless masterpiece of synchronized animation & music featuring dancing skeletons in a graveyard.

➡️ https://blog.archive.org/2025/01/01/welcome-to-the-public-domain-in-2025⁠

She's also a beautiful cat!

Something I enjoy about social media is its ability to level out society.

Mark Hamill, just another guy, posting away.

This is a great profile of Craig Unger and his recently-published book on the straightforward treason detailed in that NYT feature.

archive.ph/677Gh

I hope this snippet entices you to click through the above to read the entire (excellent) piece.

In short: Former Lt. Governor of Texas confirms the secret Republican operation that convinced Iran to continue holding then-captured Americans hostage so to hinder Carter’s 1980 re-election campaign.

A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election (Gift Article) A prominent Texas politician said he unwittingly took part in a 1980 tour of the Middle East with a clandestine agenda.

A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election

“History needs to know this happened. Knowing the end is near for Carter put it on my mind more and more...I just feel like we’ve got to get it down (on the record) in some way."
www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/u...
Published 2023

Carter Center on reducing cases of the Guinea worm from 3.5 million to 7

Jimmy Carter personifies the power of one person to dramatically change the world for the better.

When he started his campaign to eliminate the Guinea worm in 1986, there were 3.5 million cases
Today, there are 7
www.cartercenter.org/health/guine...

Jimmy Carter's post-presidency example of doing good for the sake of doing good, without expectation of (or desire for) any sort of special recognition for his efforts, speaks to the true measure of his character.

My thoughts from 2023 stand. His was a life so well-lived.

How a future U.S. president helped avert nuclear disaster near Canada's capital | CBC News In 1952, an experimental nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., about 180 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, partially melted down, becoming the world's first nuclear reactor incident. Disaster was averte...

At great personal risk, Jimmy Carter helped Canada manage one of the world’s first nuclear accidents at Chalk River in 1952. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

My pleasure!

I love that you enjoyed it too.

YouTube video by Tommee Profitt We Three Kings [LIVE] - Tommee Profitt feat. Colton Dixon & Hollyn

2/ I came across this modern performance, and my goodness it's powerful—the verse above in particular.

By "powerful" I mean affecting, not "powerful" in a religious sense, though it could be that too I suppose.

Sung well, religious Christmas songs can be riveting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmyh...

1/ We Three Kings is a Christmas carol I reflexively disliked when young, but I've come to appreciate after learning of this gorgeous (and dark?) verse I hadn't known because my aversion to the song led me to completely tune it out.

Last night, searching for different versions of this song,

I've been waiting to share this gem, which I bookmarked three years ago.

Happy Solstice, and may the remaining days of 2024 be cozy.

YouTube video by Tori Amos - Topic Mr. Zebra (2016 Remaster)

Me too.

Another one I always enjoyed. A fun tune: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiVJ...

YouTube video by Fuzzy Legends Archives Tori Amos - Hey Jupiter (live Take It To The Bridge 1996)

My oldest sister used to listen to Tori Amos all the time. I wasn't much of a fan, save for a few songs.

Not sure why.

This one, though, is one of few songs I always liked, and this version is so good. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtLa...

A Great Horned Owl sits on the top of an evergreen tree. The top branch bends from the weight of the owl.

Always nice to find a good tree topper. #wildlife #photography

It's not that the other publications to which I subscribe aren't themselves excellent, but the quality of both reporting and commentary/analysis, in addition to the extensive investigative work, is invaluable for anyone wanting an accurate and deeper understanding of what's happening in the region.

Israeli, international journalists assail government boycott of Haaretz ***

I can't quite describe the delight of unexpectedly coming across my own name and words cited approvingly in a foreign publication.

Haaretz is easily the most valuable subscription I hold.

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

It's an indictment of the counterterrorism industry as well as of the police/authority response to the shooting itself.

The false confession the shooter's wife at the time was made to sign is insane, and it's for good reason she was found not guilty on all charges. She was a scapegoat.

Wild story

I didn't know that the shooter's father was a federal informant who tried (and failed) to entrap potential extremists in his own community (among other things) or that his son was already on the govt's radar as a threat, and that it was the father who started the false narrative re: motives.

Club Q victims, families sue El Paso County officials for not using red flag law to protect them Victims and family members of the Club Q shooting are suing the El Paso County commissioners and sheriff for failing to use the red flag law.

While I prefer physical books over other options, I have an Audible account b/c some of their original pods/docs are outstanding.

This story and anniversary brings to mind one such listen: Pulse, by Trevor Aaronson. Everything many 'know' about that tragedy is wrong.
coloradosun.com/2024/11/19/c...

Hello, hello!

I really like the looks of this platform, and I'm glad it seems to be the one everyone is settling into as a second twitter or twitter alternative.

Hey, thanks!

Thrilled to connect here as well. : )