Happy New Years From DWT... And U2

The Rolling Stones were my favorite band for my whole life-- until 1979 when I first heard U2. Then they became my favorite band-- at least until I got into The Clash a month later. The Clash are still my favorite band. When the first U2 album was mailed to the press it included the first American story about the band. I wrote it. Boy was an amazing album. I Will Follow made me ditch the Rolling Stones… even after all those acid trips I had taken on the first day their albums were released all through my time in college! But “I Will Follow,” despite my review, didn’t break the band; neither did boy. Their first international mega-hit was “New Year’s Day” from the third album, War, in 1983. I was still a huge fan, even if The Clash was my #1 favorite band already.

U-2 often used my indie 415 Records bands as their opening acts. Romeo Void and the Red Rockers went out on several tours with them and I recall Wire Train doing a gig with them as well. War was a smash, especially because of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” and “New York’s Day,” both overtly political songs, as was the title track of course.

This year, in honor of New Year’s, Irish Central decided to republish Kate Hickey’s 2015 piece about the meaning behind the 1983 hit-- although I recall that it was a secret when it was released. “Although it is one of U2's most well-known tunes,” she wrote, “many fans don’t realize that the song's lyrics are actually about the Polish Solidarity movement. And you could be forgiven, given that it is called ‘New Year’s Day’ and it was released in January 1983.”

The lyrics, in fact, refer to the persecuted leader of the Polish Solidarity movement, Lech Walesa. Coincidentally, after the song was released Poland's Communist government announced that they would abolish martial law.

In 1980 the Solidarity movement in Poland, under the leadership of future Nobel Peace Prize winner and president Lech Walesa, challenged the oppressive rule of the Polish government. In December 1981, the Solidarity movement was outlawed and Walesa, together with the other leaders of the movement, was arrested and put in jail.

It is believed that "New Year’s Day" initially started out as a love song, dedicated to Bono’s high-school sweetheart, Ali, whom he had recently married, but this changed.

Bono told the Rolling Stone he made the lyrics up on the spot, as he often does. He said, "We improvise, and the things that came out; I let them come out."

"I must have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when we'd recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be lifted in Poland on New Year's Day. Incredible."

Here’s the beginning of the song:

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day.
I will be with you again.
I will be with you again

As the song continues, it further documents the growing movement of people clamoring for freedom and justice throughout Eastern Europe in the early 1980s.

Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspapers say it's true
It's true
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one.

The themes of understanding in a time of global unrest were a focal point for the album "War," the title of which was inspired by the various conflicts around the world at the time. "War" raced up the charts and became a huge commercial success, in the process knocking Michael Jackson's Thriller from the top of the charts. It became U2's first number-one album in the UK.

Here's a rather spectacular U2 performance of "New Year's Day" in December of 2006 in Poland. This audience sure seemed to know exactly what the song was about.

 

Another Year In Review-- Trump's Residence In Hell Is Just Beginning

The White House announced that Señor Trumpanzee isn't going to his Mar-A-Lago $1,000/guest New Years Eve party tonight. The Palm Beach Post's gossip columnist wrote that "It’s unclear whether Mar-a-Lago will let people wiggle out of their tickets at this late date. But evidently, some club members and guests have no interest in paying extra-high ticket prices if the president will not be in attendance. People were willing to pay for the cachet if partying with the president, a source said. But with President Donald Trump staying in Washington, 'people are bailing,' the source said. 'It’s a lot of money (to spend) without his celebrity.'"

Fitting way to end the year for the chaos-by-design-ridden and most dysfunctional presidency ever. Everything went wrong from the day he somehow managed to slither into the White House with 3 million fewer votes than the least likable nominee the Democrats could field. And it was capped off last month with a giant thumbs down from the voters, as 43 red seats flipped blue, not even counting two districts-- one in Florida and one in North Carolina-- where the election theft was so blatant that there may well be do-overs.

There are several ways to summarize Trump's 2018. Noah did it in 11 consecutive daily posts here at DWT. Sunday at HuffPo Carla Herreria refined it down to 6 "new lows" and Business Insider decided the best way to look at it was by examining all the ongoing investigations and lawsuits in which Trump is a principal wending their ways through the courts and DOJ.

Herreria-- always keeping in mind that for normal people "it is impossible for Trump to get any worse; but, somehow, he always does," began her essay with a timely quote from Karen Tumulty: "With President Trump, there is no bottom... We have a president who is willing to politicize the deaths of two young children to score points against the opposition party. And the most shocking thing about seeing him scrape along a new moral bottom is this: It is no longer shocking at all." Here are 5 more shockers-- besides the dead children exploitation incident-- that she thinks defined Trump's 2018:

• When Trump said he’d defend Saudi Arabia even if the crown prince ordered the murder of a Saudi Washington Post journalist

• When Trump called Hurricane Maria’s death toll "fake news"

Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Roselló commissioned the analysis, which was completed by researchers at George Washington University. The new estimate made Hurricane Maria, at the time, one of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of the U.S.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who became a fierce critic of Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, called the president’s denial “despicable.”

“This is a new low, even for President Trump,” she told CNN. “Now, it is to be expected the president has the ability to make everything about him.”

The New York Times’ editorial board also criticized Trump for shifting the attention on the devastation to his own personal woes: “Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own.”

In the headline of a story covering Trump’s death toll denial, the Rolling Stone made it more concise: “Trump Reaches New Low. Republicans Remain Silent. Rinse, Repeat.”

• When Trump met with Vladimir Putin and publicly defended the Russian president against accusations of meddling in the election

Garry Kasparov, chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and former world chess champion, also said the summit marked “the lowest point in the history of the American presidency.”

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Kasparov said Trump gave a “Russia First performance” in the high-profile meeting:

Standing next to a dictatorial leader accused by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement of attacking the foundations of American democracy, Trump often appeared confused and incoherent-- and those were his best moments at the podium. The rest of the time he spent praising the KGB dictator to his left and attacking the institutions he swore an oath to defend. It was a Russia First performance, from beginning to end.

• When the Trump administration separated children from their families as part of his zero tolerance crackdown on illegal immigration

• When Trump called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries”

Trump has a reputation for saying shocking things, but when the Washington Post published a report saying that the president had referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “shithole countries,” it brought his rhetoric to a whole new level of vulgar.

Grace Panetta, writing for Business Insider pointed out that nearly every corner of Trump's political, business, and charitable activities are the subject of some form of investigation as 2018 comes to a close, including a lawsuit accusing him of illegally profiting off his presidency. There are dozens investigations in which Trump faces criminal and/or civil liability involving his campaign and his behavior as "president." She wrote that "The investigation Trump publicly disparages most often as a 'rigged witch hunt' and a 'disgrace' is special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign collaborated with Russia to tilt the race in Trump's favor. But the one that poses the most immediate danger to Trump himself is the campaign finance probe in the Southern District of New York. In that case, federal prosecutors secured a guilty plea from his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying for the silence of women who alleged affairs with Trump, a crime to which prosecutors listed Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator."

Here's her list:

The Trump campaign's knowledge of and possible involvement in Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

• In June 2016, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort convened at Trump Tower to meet with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Kremlin-linked Russian lobbyist.
◦ Trump Jr. initially said the meeting had nothing to do with the Trump campaign, asserting that Veselnitskaya instead came to lobby against US sanctions on high-level Russian officials.
◦ But he amended his statement after it was reported that he agreed to the meeting after he was offered "dirt" on Clinton by the publicist of Emin Agalarov, the son of a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin. The Washington Post later reported that Trump "dictated" the initially misleading statement his son put out after he was contacted about the story.
◦ Both Trump and Donald Jr. later admitted publicly the meeting was part of an effort to benefit the Trump campaign.
◦ It is illegal under US campaign finance law for campaigns to accept material aid from foreign nationals. Legal experts say that even if Veselnitskaya did not provide the promised "dirt," the laws are written in such a manner that even soliciting or inviting such material is a federal crime.


• Mueller's team is also examining the extent to which people in the Trump campaign were aware of, and collaborated in, WikiLeaks' dissemination of emails hacked from the DNC and Clinton campaign to interfere in the election. Mueller indicted 12 Russian security officers over the hacks in July.
◦ Both Donald Trump Jr. and Trump ally Roger Stone communicated with WikiLeaks and a Russian hacker who went by the name Guccifer 2.0, often tweeting links to hacked data at WikiLeaks' request.
◦ At least 7 of Stone's associates, including people he said served as intermediaries between him and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, have been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury convened to hear testimony in the Mueller probe.
◦ The special counsel is seeking to determine whether Stone and other officials had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks' document dumps, as some of Stone's tweets suggested.
◦ Mueller has also requested transcripts for Stone's 2017 testimony before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, a sign that could indicate Mueller is looking to indict Stone for lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks.

The Trump Organization's efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 election, referred to in court filings as the "Moscow Project."

• The Trump Organization reportedly offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a discounted $50 million penthouse in the proposed Trump Tower Moscow. This offer could violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which outlaws US officials from giving foreign governments gifts of monetary value in exchange for something they want.
◦ Businessman Felix Sater told Buzzfeed News that offering Putin a penthouse in the tower was a business tactic intended to raise the property values of the surrounding apartments and make them more attractive prospects for Russian oligarchs.
◦ Experts say, however, that the deal would only violate the FCPA that if the offer for a discounted penthouse was formally lodged to Russian officials in writing, and if it was made in exchange for something like a tax break or a zoning permit, not just as a marketing ploy to raise the property values.


• Trump could also be implicated in his lawyer Michael Cohen's guilty plea to lying to Congress about the timeframe during the 2016 election in which the Trump Organization pursued the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
◦ Special counsel Mueller's sentencing memo for Cohen said that Cohen provided cooperation regarding "the circumstances of preparing his false testimony" and his contacts with White House officials, which experts says could describe a coordinated plot to direct Cohen to make false statements to Congress.
◦ Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis also told Bloomberg that "Mr. Trump and the White House knew that Michael Cohen would be testifying falsely to Congress and did not tell him not to."

The probe into Trump's alleged obstruction of justice and witness tampering as president.

• Mueller is also investigating whether Trump committed obstruction of justice with his May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey, which came after Comey refused to drop the FBI's probe into Michael Flynn's false statements to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
◦ While the White House claimed Comey was fired over his handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton's emails, Trump later said on national television to NBC host Lester Holt that "this Russia thing" was a factor in his decision.


• In July, the New York Times reported that Mueller is also examining whether Trump tampered with witnesses in the Mueller probe with his private interactions and public tweets slamming former Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not reigning in the Mueller probe, and not investigating Trump's political foes.
◦ Some of the events under scrutiny for possible witness tampering include Trump threatening to fire Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, suggesting Comey himself should be investigated, and attempting to push other senior officials like then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo into pressuring Comey to shut down the FBI's probes of Flynn and of Trump himself.

• The Times later reported in August that former White House counsel Don McGahn-- who was present for many of the events Mueller is examining as part of the obstruction probe-- had voluntarily provided 30 hours of testimony to Mueller.
◦ Some of the other crucial events which McGahn witnessed include the Comey firing, Trump's attempts to force Sessions to oversee the Russia probe, Trump drafting a letter describing his reasons for firing Comey, and Trump's reported attempts to fire Mueller himself.

Violations of federal campaign finance law, including the October 2016 payouts to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels to which Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to paying.

• On Dec. 12, Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty in August to eight federal crimes, including two large payoffs to silence women who claimed to have affairs with Trump, in violation of federal campaign finance laws.
◦ Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo for Cohen that he made the payments "in coordination with and at the direction of" Trump, officially establishing him as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.
◦ Prosecutors also struck a non-prosecution agreement with American Media Inc., the parent company of the tabloid the National Enquirer, which paid $150,000 to buy the rights to McDougal's story (which the company never published).


• Trump's two main defenses were that he had no knowledge the payments were illegal, and that they were made to protect his businesses and not to influence the election.
◦ The NPA, however, clearly states that AMI "further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."
◦ NBC and CNN both reported the unnamed Trump campaign official referenced in the NPA as being in the room with Cohen and AMI CEO David Pecker while the deal to purchase McDougal's story was being made, is none other than Trump himself.

• Federal prosecutors in SDNY are also reportedly launching a criminal probe into whether the Trump inaugural committee misspent some of the $107 million it raised, and whether it brokered special access to the administration for top inaugural donors.

The lawsuits against the Trump Organization and Trump Foundation.

• On Dec. 18, Trump agreed to dissolve his charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General's office alleged "persistently illegal conduct." This included unlawful coordination with the 2016 Trump campaign and multiple self-dealing transactions with the Trump Organization.
◦ The suit seeks $2.8 million in restitution and a temporary ban on Trump and his three eldest children from serving on the boards of New York charitable foundations.
◦ The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance is also investigating whether there is enough evidence to refer criminal charges against foundation executives to the AG's office for prosecution.


• Incoming New York Attorney General Letitia James has pledged to also investigate Trump and the Trump Organization on a number of other fronts, including alleged tax evasion and aggressive pursuit of tax breaks.

• Meanwhile, the attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, DC, are in the discovery phase of a lawsuit accusing Trump of violating the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the constitution, which prohibits elected officials from personally profiting off their office.
◦ The suit, which is the first-ever emoluments case to go to trial, accuses Trump of illegally making money off his presidency by soliciting business from state and foreign government officials at Trump-owned hotels and restaurants.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Well, here we are, New Years Eve. Happy New Year everybody! Another year of Republican Party infestation is about to go bye-bye, but the consequences will linger on and on.

Tonight's meme is a very accurate depiction of the current Republican Party platform. Since it's Sunday, I'll just add one more thing that fits Republicans to a T: Praise the Lord, Ignore his teachings!

The Trump New Year’s Eve Party: When Hideous People Dress Hideously

-by Noah

Señor Trumpanzee held a gala New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-lago on Sunday night. Some of the worst people were there. As yet, we haven’t had a look at what the bash cost the taxpayers and how much profit was made. However, at least we got a look at what the guests were wearing. The whole thing reminded me of the unintentionally hilarious party hats that many of the guests wore at the wedding of England’s Prince William few years ago. As was the case then, social media is having a field day pointing out that money can’t buy you class or good taste. Although, maybe this is the Trump’s way of angling for an invite to the upcoming Prince Harry wedding.

So-called “First Lady” Melania Trump led the way. Sadly, it looks like the dress she had ordered got lost, so she had to make do with one of the Mar-a-lago shower curtains. Kudos to some undocumented seamstresses who came to her rescue. No doubt their invoices have already been torn up.

Melania isn’t the only butt of the world’s jokes about the “fashions” seen at this party, not by a long shot. Treasury Secretary Steve Munchkin and his wife are more than fair game. Judging by social media, they proved to be very resourceful. Remember this picture?

Well, now it turns out that the Munchkins were just picking out a bit of fabric for Mrs. Munchkin's party dress. Gives the phrase “money shot” a whole new, literal meaning!

Others caught the Munchkins in a shape-shifting moment. The Swiffer Duster shoulder design is a nice touch. Let’s get Mrs. M. a job as a chimney sweep.

I must admit, I would have expected the Trump sons and their whatevers to be wearing the skins of animals they’d shot but then I realized that such attire would be far too warm in the Florida climate.

And to think; all of this may have started with Sarah Huckabee Sanders wearing her old 1947 tablecloth.

In my dreams, I see these people reduced to wearing old, frayed Pillsbury Flower sacks, missing a few teeth and looking like 19th century street urchins, yet still vaguely recognizable. Alas, it is only in my dreams.

And the new year is off to a bang of a start

You really want to see this slide show? Okay, click here. Want more? You'll find another slide show here.

"One person first kills the police officer outside, and then a civilian. Inside he rained bullets brutally, mercilessly over innocent people who were there just to celebrate the new year and have fun.”

-- Istanbul Province Gov. Vasip Sahin

by Ken

By the time you read this, I suppose we'll know more about the Istanbul perps. Given the assorted messes in present-day Turkey, one shudders to think. At a guess, though, the attackers were ticked off about something and reckoned that the way to deal with it was to kill at least 39 people and wound scores more.

Terrorist Attack at Istanbul Nightclub Kills Dozens


NTV posted photos on Twitter of a large police presence outside the club.

By TIM ARANGO | Jan. 1, 2017
The New York Times

ISTANBUL — A gunman opened fire at an Istanbul nightclub filled with New Year’s revelers early Sunday morning, killing at least 39 people and injuring scores of others, according to Turkish officials.

The target of the attack was the Reina nightclub, in the Ortakoy neighborhood overlooking the Bosporus, which had maintained its popularity with a mostly affluent, cosmopolitan clientele despite a series of terrorist attacks that had severely crimped Turkey’s tourism industry. Popular among professional soccer players and soap opera stars, and with Turks and foreigners, the nightclub is known for its late-night parties and the beautiful view from its terrace.

As many as 600 people were estimated to have been in the club when the attacker, a lone gunman, burst in around 1:15 a.m. and opened fire.

At least 15 of the people killed were foreigners, the Foreign Ministry said. They included citizens of Belgium, France, India, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, according to news agencies and government statements. Sixty-nine people were hospitalized, four in critical condition.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the mass shooting, which came as threats against Turkey by the Islamic State and its supporters have increased. It was the fourth terrorist attack in Turkey in less than a month.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters that the authorities did not yet have hard evidence on who was behind the attack. “Some details have started emerging, but the authorities are working towards a concrete result,” he told reporters. He denied widespread accounts that the gunman might have been dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, saying: “There is no truth to this. He is an armed terrorist as we know it.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s most powerful leader, said that terrorists were trying to break Turkey’s will.

“They are working to destroy our country’s morale and create chaos by deliberately targeting our nation’s peace and targeting civilians with these heinous attacks,” he said in a statement. “We will retain our coolheadedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and we will never give ground to such dirty games.”

He added, “Turkey is determined to continue to fight to the end against terror and to do whatever is necessary to ensure the security of its citizens and secure peace in the region.”

Gov. Vasip Sahin of Istanbul Province said a police officer outside the club had been killed before the bloodshed began inside.

“One person first kills the police officer outside, and then a civilian,” Mr. Sahin said. “Inside, he rained bullets brutally, mercilessly over innocent people who were there just to celebrate the New Year and have fun.”

In the ensuing panic and the rush to escape, some clubgoers jumped into the Bosporus — which separates Europe and Asia — and others hunkered down for safety. . . .

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Happy New Year from all of us here at DWT!

by Ken

For this new year, I thought I'd bring back a Sunday Classics triple toast (with trimmings) I whipped up for last New Year's, with assists from assorted participants in that greatest of operettas, Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus, beginning with this immortal (if hard to translate-in-song) pearl of wisdom:

Richard Leech (t), Alfred; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Rosalinde; Vienna Philharmonic, André Previn, cond. Philips, recorded November 1990

[in English] Richard Tucker (t), Alfred; Marguerite Piazza (s), Rosalinde; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Live performance, Jan. 20, 1951
[Note that the English translation doesn't even attempt to retain the sense of the original. But just listen to the sounds being made by the young Richard Tucker! Note that he's also the Alfred of American Columbia's recording of Fledermaus based on this Met production.]


NOW ON TO OUR TOASTS, OR ALMOST

Three New Year's toasts from Die Fledermaus, starting with the one in Act I that's excerpted above, with this invaluable lesson taught by the Alfred, a tenor (yes, in "real" life) who never lets anything get him down. But first, in accordance with what was common Sunday Classics practice, we start at the beginning, with the Overture.

J. STRAUSS Jr.: Die Fledermaus: Overture


Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded June 1960

Vienna Philharmonic, André Previn, cond. Philips, recorded, November 1990

Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Ackermann, cond. EMI, recorded June 1959

Bavarian State Orchestra, Carlos Kleiber, cond. Live performance, Dec. 31, 1974

We've heard all of these performances before, but let me say again -- as I do each time the Karajan-Decca Fledermaus comes up -- that it's one of the handful of recordings I would offer in evidence of Karajan's greatness as a conductor, along with, I think, his first DG Beethoven symphony cycle (you can hear how hard he worked on that set, not in the effort but in the results), the DG Ring cycle, and the EMI Fidelio.


NOW WE SKIP TO THE FINALE OF ACT I . . .

Read more »

It's not too early to start planning what to do with the "leap second" we'll be getting New Year's Eve

Tim Hornyak took this photo in Tokyo on June 30 of last year, as this clock presumably ticked down to the addition of the last leap second.

by Ken

You know how we're always complaining that our lives are so tightly scheduled that we don't have a second to spare? It's in thi spirit that, ever since I heard the news that a "leap second" is being added to the official time-keeping apparatus on New Year's Eve -- so that instead of clocks going from 11:59:00 to 12:00:00 they're going to go from 11:59:59 to 11:59:60 and then on to 12:00:00 -- I've been barely able to contain my excitement. Think of it, a whole extra second, to do with whatever we will, at no charge, with no excuses or apologies called for, and nobody to answer to. The only hitch I can see is that you have to take it; otherwise you'll spend 2016 a second behind the rest of the world.

I can't explain very well where the extra second is coming from. I know, though, that it has something to do with the earth's rotation being unpredictable, though this unpredictability is apparently predictably on the slow side, so that every now and then, either at the end of June or at the end of December, the astronomers or physicists or whoever's in charge have been adding a leap second here or there, never subtracting one.


The official proclamation of the next leap second (click to enlarge).

The last time this happened, on June 30 of last year, a fellow named Peter Whibberley, described as "senior research scientist at the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL)," where he works in the time and frequency group, explained (for want of a better word) to the BBC, "Because they depend on measurements of the Earth's rotation, which varies unpredictably, leap seconds occur at irregular intervals."

Now this kind of alarms me, this business of the earth somehow dragging randomly. None of the responsible scientists seem to be pointing accusing fingers but a person can't help wondering whether the planet is just kind of dogging it from time to time, and leaving us to lump it. Or it could be some simple matter, like some of the earth's component parts having swollen a little somewhere, or there's maybe an umbrella or something ever so slightly stuck in the works, or somewhere somebody's pulling when they should be pushing.

It bothers me a little that these scientists don't seem to be focused on the root cause. I know there was some kind of big meeting of the United Nations' World Radio Committee in November, but WRC-15 seems mostly to have punted till WRC-23. Maybe the thinking is that by 2023 either nobody will care or it'll be somebody else's problem.


THE WORLD'S SYS ADMINS ARE HAVING KITTENS

One group that's mad as hell is the world IT community. (See PCWorld's report, "Latest leap second plan poses a dilemma for conscientious sysadmins.") The thing is, there's no way that the extra seconds can be preprogrammed into their systems; they have to be added manually. As our UK mate Peter Whibberley explained to the BBC last year (and remember, this goes back to last June and before, so there's no blaming this mess on Brexit):

Leap seconds are announced only six months in advance. This means computers and software cannot be supplied with leap seconds programmed in, and they must be inserted manually.

You probably won't be surprised to learn that our Mr. Whibberley (say, do you suppose that's really his name?) had still more to say:

Getting leap seconds wrong can cause loss of synchronisation in communication networks, financial systems and many other applications which rely on precise timing.

Whenever a leap second occurs, some computer systems encounter problems due to glitches in the code written to handle them. The consequences are particularly severe in the Asia-Pacific region, where leap seconds occur during normal working hours.

AS IDG News Services's Peter Sayer put it in the PCWorld piece:

The dilemma for sysadmins next New Year's Eve, then, is whether to stay on duty when everyone else is partying in order to minimize the effects of the coming leap second. Or whether to turn off their pagers, tell themselves that whatever will be, will be -- and let the ensuing chaos stand as testimony to WRC-23 delegates that the leap second's time is up.

THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR BONUS LEAP SECOND

My original plan was to put together a neat list of things a person could do with that extra second coming up on New Year's Eve. Then it occurred to me that any time I put into this project beyond the one-second mark would represent a net time loss. So you're on your own for ideas. I aay, go crazy!

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Happy New Year-- But Not In Dubai

You may know that I'm an inveterate traveler-- and have been since I first left my parents home in Brooklyn at age 16 and hitchhiked-- with $48 in my pocket; there were no credit cards back then (at least that I am aware of)-- to Los Angeles in order to stow away on a ship-- a series of ships-- to go make a new life on Tonga. I never got to Tonga, having been caught on the first ship, bound for Hawaii. But eventually I managed to travel to 100 countries-- theoretically a member of the Century Club-- normally just ones I want to visit. One country I visited that I didn't chose to was Dubai, a grotesque, feudal dictatorship where half the population lives in effective slavery.

3 years ago I decided to spend December in Kerala, a lovely state in southwest India that I had liked a lot when I was there in 1970. The easiest way to get to Kochi (Cochin) from L.A. was by Emirates Air from L.A. with a very short stop in Dubai. Roland and I flew back to L.A. on January 5 on a flight that left Kochi at 4:35 am and arrived in Dubai at 7:05 am for an hour-and-a-half layover. I was flying in business class and Roland was in economy. When the plane landed, the airline attendants hustled me off the plane and fed me some cock'n'bull story, as it turned out, about the plane not going on to L.A. What they did was give my seat-- and the seats of several other business class passengers-- to some people connected to the Dubai "royal" family, which is the sole owner of Emirates and which they treat like a family asset. So I got stuck in the godforsaken country overnight. I really hated Emirates Air-- whose attitude about the whole incident was shocking-- and I disliked Dubai as much. What a hellhole!

And yesterday, as you've probably seen on TV they had a double bread-and-circuses event: a fire in a skyscraper next to an amazing fireworks show.

Look, it wasn't Donald Trump or even P.T. Barnum who first said, "the show must go on." It was-- even before Freddie Mercury, Leo Sayer and Pink Floyd-- English playwright and composer Noël Coward (who wrote a song, Why Must the Show Go On? in 1953). Yesterday, though, it was an official of the Emirate of Dubai who made a show must go on decision as the 63-story luxury Address hotel and residences burned. It took 5 minutes for the fire to spread from one floor to 40 floors but it took an hour for the first firetruck to arrive. The Address is part of the same Downtown Dubai development as the 160 story Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, which was at the hub of Dubai’s New Year's firework spectacular, which went ahead despite the fire. The Address had been advertising itself as "the perfect place to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks." If you can forget you're in a desperate hellhole the western powers play footsie with.

"Party Like It's 1969!"; plus five New Year's wishes

AMC sez, "Party Like It's 1969": This is no ordinary New Year's libation. It's the Mad Men Champagne Cocktail.

by Ken

From the folks at Mad Men Social Club (links onsite):

The Mad Men Cocktail Guide: Party Like It's 1969!

Want to make this evening's New Year's Eve bash a memorable one? Ditch the pedestrian champagne flutes and mix things up with the Mad Men Cocktail Guide. From Gimlets to Greyhounds, Mai Tais to Manhattans, you'll find inspiration, ingredients, and instructions that'll have you ready for a midnight toast to remember all year long. So when it's time to belt out "Auld Lang Syne," raise your Sidecar, your Old Fashioned, your French 75 . . . and welcome 2015 in style.

Meanwhile, AMC continues Sunday-morning Mad Men encores, this weekend finishing up Season 2 and dipping into Season 3, meaning we're introduced to Lane (links onsite).

What can Maddicts expect? Roger proposes to Jane (Season 2, Episode 11, “The Jet Set”); Peggy requests Freddie‘s old office (Season 2, Episode 12, “The Mountain King”); Betty breaks the news to Don that she’s pregnant (Season 2, Episode 13, “Meditations in an Emergency”); and Lane Pryce is introduced (Season 3, Episode 1, “Out of Town”). . . .

Mad Men encores air Sundays at 6AM/5c.


Anyone wanna bet on how Roger and Jane's marriage works out?

FIVE WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR



1. World peace, and decent living conditions for all -- oh yes, and good health to all.
2. Season 5 of Downton Abbey doesn't suck. (I just finished rewatching Season 4, which I hadn't enjoyed all that much, and was delighted to find that it's quite sensational, with almost every character involved in powerful basic-life-needs plots.)
3. Pepperidge Farm makes it possible to buy yummy Lido cookies separately again. (Not those yucky coconutty Tahiti thingies.)
4. I mentioned about world peace and decent living conditions and good health for all, didn't I?
5. I mentioned about the Lido cookies, didn't I?

That's not asking for an awful lot, is it?

Happy New Year, everyone, and thanks for reading. If persistent reports are accurate, once this year is in the can, there's another one ready to be rolled out which is likely to be pretty much the same. Oh well.

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A healthy and happy new year to all from all of us here at DWT

"Either cheer up or take off the hat."

by Ken

As I hinted in my post earlier today, "Ready for New Year's Eve? We've got the New Yorker cartoon crew to help get you psyched," I squirreled away one more of the New Yorker New Year's cartoons gathered by cartoon editor Bob Mankoff in his blogpost "New Year, Old Laughs" -- the one above -- for later use, and I think you'll agree that it's just dripping with the New Year's Eve spirit.

And in that spirit, let's turn the proceedings over to Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Ready for New Year's Eve? We've got the "New Yorker" cartoon crew to help get you psyched

"Just one more holiday to hit us upside our heads," says New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff in his latest e-newsletter/blogpost, "New Year, Old Laughs" -- more of this post in a moment. (Click on this cartoon and most of our others in this post to enlarge.)

by Ken

It's hard to ramp up to the appropriate level of festivity with this smack-dab midweek New Year's, especially if you're expected to be at your work station until today's closing whistle sounds. (Let's just say that I was at my desk until that whistle.) So I thought we could all use some professional inspiritization. So we're calling on some of the most dependable merry-makers, the corps of New Yorker cartoonists, as refereed by cartoon editor Bob Mankoff.

When we rejoin Bob in a moment, we're going to find him sneaking his way, not entirely surprisingly, toward a slide show, and here I have to enter a disclaimer. This is, I think, the best slide show I have ever seen Bob post. There are nine cartoons in it, and I think they're all gems. I made an executive decision that we're going to pluck out three, with possibly a fourth for another use I have in mind -- but believe me, the choice was excruciating.

Now let's rejoin Bob, having announced that we have "just one more holiday to hit us upside our heads."

§

And then the whole damn merry-go-round starts to go round again.

"The seasons fly by so fast, don't they?"

This last holiday is a tricky one to navigate, with its injunction for fun fueled by inebriation:



And its aftermath leaves us resolved to do better and be better, with the predictable results.



The takeaway is not to bite off more than you can eschew.

Still, as we slide into 2014, it would be a sin to abstain from all fun, so perhaps it’s not a bad idea to resolve to view this slide show of some of the magazine’s favorite New Year’s cartoons. We won’t judge.

"Now we'll need a sitter for New Year's Eve."

"Nope, no New Year's resolutions for me this year --
I'm still working on a backlog dating from '87."

"Ernest, it's bedtime. The party's over."

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With a new year bearing down, braving a bold look into the future

By some measures, 2014 is already looking like tough times.

by Ken

Probably you were aware, but we're just this close to starting a whole new year. I know it happened last year just about this same time, but that's no help. (Look how that turned out!) Naturally it would be nice to have some sort of advance information as to what the new year has in store, so when I stumbled across an invitation -- as I was riffling through my e-mail -- to check out my astrological forecast, I thought I'd click through.

What I found was at once more specific and more vague than what I was imagining. In fact, I'm not quite sure what I found.

In 2014, your playfulness could bring trouble, as it'll be hard to find people that get your sense of humor. Sure, there will be instant attractions and more than enough opportunity for fun banter, but anything for the long term will be scarce. However, it'll be you that gets bored fast, as the ball will be in your court more times than not, in whatever games you do find yourself playing. Of course, there is nothing wrong with enjoying the wining and dining involved, as all is fair in love and war. After all, you don't have to answer to anyone but yourself -- and if anyone does try to get you to do otherwise, trust they will never understand you the way you want. 2014 will be all about your personal freedom. If there is another beside you for the journey, they'll be following your lead, not the other way around.

First off, I'm not clear why my playfulness, such as it is, will bring any more trouble in 2014 than in years past, or why it will be any harder to find people that get my sense of humor. What would be surprising -- and definitely worth mentioning -- is if it were going to be somehow easier.

Then, I'm not clear about this business about the ball being be in my court more times than not, in whatever games I do find myself playing. I actually can't think of that many games in which the ball even might be in my court, or why this should lead to my getting bored fast. I suppose it's true that I do sometimes get bored fast, but at other times I have the patience of, well, a really patient person. Look at how hard I'm working to make sense of this! (Say, is the ball in my court now?)

As to not answering to anyone but myself, well, I think we all try to pretend that this is the case, but when there are necessities of life to be accounted for like shelter and food and clothing, there are any number of people standing in line ahead of me expecting to be answered to, with excellent grounds for their expectations.

It could be that I'm not getting this part quite right since my head is still shaky from the part about it being A-OK to enjoy the wining and dining involved seeing as how all is fair in love and war. Um, which wining and dining is this? I did have some lovely roast-pork sandwiches yesterday and another today from a pork shoulder I roasted the day before (I dipped the inner sides of the rolls in the juices, and oh my goodness!), but I'm not sure that really qualifies as wining and dining, especially without the wining. I thought about maybe having some beer yesterday with the sandwiches, but I knew that in my head I would have seen my sleep doctor getting really frowny about it -- or, for that matter, about the hypothetical wine. Oh, I do indulge occasionally, but then, as you know, all is fair in love and war. (I think you have to slip that one in really quickly to get away with it, and just as quickly hurry on to some other subject.)

If I had to guess, I would say that the chances of 2014 being all about my personal freedom, or even substantially about my personal freedom, are pretty unlikely -- at least without the kind of windfall that these forecasts sometimes project, of which I notice no mention here. And as to the chances of anybody at all following my lead, well, that would frankly shock me.

But don't let me stop you from checking out your horoscope at the above link. I just hope it's easier to make sense of than mine.

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Do these people know how to party or what? (Total reported casualty count: two people treated for "minor injuries")

El Buffet may not be your idea of Party Central, but people make do with what they have available to them. And  you'll note that it's open 24 HOURS.

by Ken

Just the other night -- New Year's Eve, actually -- I tried hard to allow for the possibility that 2013 might bring us grounds for hope. So far, though, the new year is looking creepily familiar.

DNAinfo.com

Drunken Brawl Over Bathroom Line Mars New Year's Party, Witnesses Say

January 1, 2013 11:45am | By Nigel Chiwaya, Victoria Bekiempis, and Carla Zanoni

INWOOD -- New Year's revelers attacked each other with broken Tabasco bottles at a popular restaurant when a booze-fueled brawl over the line at a bathroom line spiraled out of control Tuesday morning, witnesses said.

Police responded to El Buffet Restaurant, at 217 Dyckman St. at approximately 8 a.m., after receiving a call that a fight had broken out.

According to witnesses, the brawl began when a women grew impatient waiting for the ladies room that was being used by a woman who was throwing up. Tension escalated when she started arguing with the sick woman's friend on line and the two women's boyfriends got involved.

Witnesses said about 10 people stepped into the fray, some of which swiped at each other with jagged hot sauce bottles, police and witnesses said.

A 28-year-old man was arrested at the scene and charged with second degree assault and two people were treated for minor injuries, police said. The assailants name was not immediately available.

A restaurant employee who was locking up the restaurant around 9 a.m. said the melee which involved bottles and a sliced open can of Pepsi was fueled by alcohol.

"They cut people with bottles," he said. "But not bottles of alcohol, it was Tabasco. Hot sauce."

"People drunk all the time. They were partying for New Year's."

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It can't be anything in his pocket, since he doesn't have any, so he just must be glad to see her, no?

The friend who passed along this photo -- which now ranks among my all-time favorite photos -- did so with the subject line "I THINK THIS GUY MIGHT BE NEW ON THE JOB!" He added: "Feel free to pass it on, if you dare!"

If you're still a bit groggy from last night's celebrating, maybe this will help get you going. I take it as a sign of hope for this dagnab new year of ours, but then you know me -- always taking the sunny view of things. -- Ken

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Happy New Year from all of us here at DWT!

by Ken

If there's one thing we can say with near-certainty about the new year, it's that come Dec. 31, 2013, we'll be bitching and moaning about that godforsaken year just (mercifully) past. So in fairness, approaching a brand-new year that hasn't (yet) done a darned thing to us, I think we can start with some "glass half-full" messaging, like the cartoon above and the next couple.

NOW FOR THE "GLASS HALF-EMPTY" POSITION . . .

The nice thing is that at this point, from the vantage point of horrid old 2012, we can still wish for a safe, happy, and healthy new year for one and all.

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Auld lang syne, "Mad Men"-style

A remembrance of happier times: Betty and Don Draper (January Jones, Jon Hamm) ring in the new year, 1956. This would be No. 5 on the AMC bloglist below.

by Ken

Once again the industrious elves at the AMC website have come through with an inspired blogpost: "Happy New Year! Mad Men's Most Memorable Kisses."

The beginning of a new year is always a cause for kissing. Mad Men features plenty of that particular activity. If you need a refresher, here is a random sampling of memorable Mad Men kisses to get you in a Mad Men frame of mind for 2012. Remember a kiss that isn't listed here? Share it in the comments section below.

Here's the list of a dozen the elves came up with (links onsite):

Don and Rachel Menken in Season 1, Episode 3, "Marriage of Figaro"
With the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, Don and Rachel share their first kiss on the Menken's rooftop. As a bonus, Rachel gets a doggie kiss from one of her German Shepherds.

Pete and Peggy in Season 1, Episode 8, "The Hobo Code"
Pete and Peggy arrive early for work at Sterling Cooper, which provides a perfect opportunity for whispered confessions and a morning tryst.

Sal and Joan in Season 1, Episode 12, "Nixon vs. Kennedy"
Sal and Joan kiss while performing a reading of Paul's play at Sterling Cooper's election party. Afterward, Sal basks in the whistles and cheers while Joan casts her eyes downward.

Harry and Hildy in Season 1, Episode 12, "Nixon vs. Kennedy"
Nixon takes Ohio, prompting Harry to give Hildy a celebratory smooch at the office party. One thing leads to another and the two end up spending the night together in his office.

Don and Betty in Season 1, Episode 13, "The Wheel"
Betty and Don welcome 1956 with an embrace -- an image Don includes in his pitch for the Carousel slide projector, a device that brings people "to a place where we know we are loved."

Sal and the Bellhop in Season 3, Episode 1, "Out of Town"
Sal's on a business trip and doesn't resist when a bellhop removes his own shirt, undoes Sal's belt and zipper and starts to go even further -- until a fire alarm spoils the fun.

Don and Betty in Season 3, Episode 8, "Souvenir"
It's Rome, and Betty's wanted by locals and Don alike. In their hotel room, Don nuzzles Betty's neck and undresses her as she stands with her back to him.

Sally and Ernie in Season 3, Episode 8, "Souvenir"
"Sally and Ernie sittin' in a tree," Bobby sings after Sally kisses Francine's son. Sally then beats Bobby up. Betty reprimands Sally, "I don't want you running around just kissing boys."

Don and Betty in Season 3, Episode 12, "The Grown Ups"
Betty and Don dance at Margaret Sterling's wedding and kiss deeply on the dance floor. The next day, Betty reveals to Don that "I kissed you yesterday. I didn't feel a thing."

Allison and Don in Season 4, Episode 2, "Christmas Comes But Once a Year"
Don, drunk, asks Allison to tend to him. As she leaves, he takes her hand and pulls her onto his lap for a kiss. She tries to resist but gives in to his advances. "I feel dizzy," she says.

Peggy and Abe in Season 4, Episode 4, "The Rejected"
During a police raid, Peggy finds herself nestled in a closet with Abe. "I feel like I should kiss you," he says. Peggy leans in and he does, just as they're interrupted by Joyce.

Roger and Joan in Season 4, Episode 9, "The Beautiful Girls"
A mugger holds up Roger and Joan on the street, prompting a shaken Joan to kiss Roger, imploring him, "Don't stop." The next day, Roger tells her, "I feel something. And I know you do."

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR . . .

. . . to one and all from all of us here at DWT!

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