UnkNuk

Well, Melania Trump does have beautiful eyes. And the watercolor is actually quite nice. But I'm not sure why anyone would buy something for $180 US that they can get for nothing on the internet. But, then, I've never really understood the attraction or purpose of NFTs.

Don't you just love it when you find out that something you think you know turns out not to be true. One of the few facts of physics that I thought I knew was that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. And then this guy, who presumably knows what he's talking about, says that, while it's true that nothing in space can go faster than the speed of light, space itself can expand faster than the speed of light!

It's useful to consider what it means to live in a petroleum free world. And a scenario like the one described above isn't pleasant. But, according to more than a few climate scientists, if we don't make a radical break with petroleum we're facing more severe crisises like the ones we've experienced recently in BC - fires, floods and heat waves. Which also isn't pleasant. We seem to be on the horns of a dilemma.

The Whitecaps have picked up a defender from LAFC via Charlotte's expansion draft: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/vancouver-whitecaps-acquire-defender-tristan-blackmon-in-expansion-draft-trade LAFC defender Tristan Blackmon is heading to Vancouver Whitecaps FC by means of Charlotte FC’s 2021 MLS Expansion Draft, as was announced Tuesday evening. He joins Vancouver for $350,000 in General Allocation Money for the 2022 season and an additional $125,000 in GAM for 2023, totaling $475,000 in GAM. Blackmon was picked with Charlotte's fourth selection.

The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to be sent off into space next Wednesday December 22nd. "60 Minutes" did a segment on it on their recent show: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-webb-space-telescope-60-minutes-2021-12-12/ "This December 22, may become known as the day the universe changed. That Wednesday, NASA expects to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most expensive instrument ever flown. One hundred times more powerful than the 31-year-old Hubble Telescope, Webb can see back in time all the way to the "let there be light" moment—that instant when a cold, dark universe ignited into stars."

Yep. Should be a good test for the Canucks and the Boudreau Bump. We've won five of the last six games. But, in terms of position in the league by points percentage, #25 Vancouver has beaten #31 Montreal, #30 Ottawa, #21 LA, #14 Boston and #18 Winnipeg. So we've beated three teams that are in the bottom twelve and two teams that are in the middle of the pack in the League. Carolina is #4 in the league by point percentage. Let's see how we do against one of the top teams in the league.

New York City Football Club. The MLS Cup - the thing the Whitecaps and all other MLS clubs try to win each season. Yes.

Congratulations to NYCFC on winning the MLS cup. From a neutral's point of view I thought it was an average soccer game enlivened by a fired up crowd in Portland that included a couple of thousand NYCFC fans who made it out to the west coast to watch the game. It was fitting that NYCFC won the shoot-out as the last second goal (literally) by Portland that sent the game to extra time probably should have been disallowed.

A reminder for those who may be interested even though the Whitecaps aren't in it - the MLS Cup final is tomorrow (Saturday) at noon. NYC @ Portland. Game is being broadcast on ABC.

And let's not forget he's Swedish and the Swedes always seem to have these psycho-dramas going on. I mean, just watch an Ingmar Bergman movie sometime!

Well........ On the bright side, if they do pull it off, it will be quite an accomplishment! GCG!!!

One explanation that I've heard goes something like this: Everything in our Universe is subject to the law of causation. But what is true of the creation is not necessarily true of the creator. God created the Universe and everything in it, including the law of causation. But God himself (or herself, or itself) is not subject to the law of causation. That we have trouble understanding God's nature isn't surprising. To expect humans to be able to understand God is somewhat akin to expecting a monkey to understand the inner workings of a computer.

Another benefit of hiring the coach first is that it gives ownership/management a second opinion about the players themselves. If the team continues to lose even with a new coach it indicates the problem lies with the players. On the other hand, if the team suddenly starts winnining game after game (we hope!) it indicates that the problem was with the coach. In this case, it would also indicate that the gm actually knew what he was doing when he drafted the players. If so, sorry about the firing, Jim.

Tucker opined on the Ukraine situation on tonight's show: **************************************************************************************************************************** https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-america-gain-nothing-from-starting-war-russia Here’s something all of us need to internalize. Just because something seems far-fetched, or it seems crazy, or it seems totally destructive to core American interests doesn’t mean the U.S. government won’t do it. That’s the main lesson at the moment we’re living in. So with that in mind, do not discount, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, a hot war with Russia. Yes, that is a lunatic idea. There is nothing we could possibly gain from a military confrontation with Vladimir Putin and there’s very much we could lose including of course many thousands of American lives. But that doesn’t mean Joe Biden won’t do it.

Dr. Zhivago Haven't watched this movie in years but it popped up on TCM. A screen epic - probably best viewed on a large movie screen rather than tv but what can you do? A bit corny in parts but still a very enjoyable movie. Added benefit - it stars Julie Christie who, in her time, was one of the most beautiful women in the world.

A pretty remarkable artist:

Good questions. I wish I knew the answers. I just assumed that the roster decisions listed applied to those players whose contract was ending at the end of this season. There is a salary cap in MLS. For this past season and next season it's $4.9 million. As well, each team can sign up to three designated players whose salaries, for the most part, do not count towards the cap. But there seems to be a host of exemptions and qualifications which I don't pretend to understand. For instance, here's a summary of the Whitecaps salaries for this past season: https://www.spotrac.com/mls/vancouver-whitecaps-fc/ According to this, their senior roster is costing $9.2 million. Which is way more than $4.9 million. And the excess is not going to their designated players. So I have no idea how the MLS salary cap works. And, yes, they can add new players to their roster. They have to be able to. But if they have a full roster, if they sign a new player someone has to go. What will the Caps do? Who knows. But I've read speculation that Cavallini, for one, might not be back next season.

Whitecaps announce their end of season roster decisions. No real surprises: https://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/whitecaps-fc-announce-end-of-season-roster-decisions

And now he's off to Europe to play for Club Brugge in Belgium. Quite a year indeed!

There's the Canadian Premier League (which will have its final on December 5th). They play from about June to December. https://canpl.ca/ Their games are available on a streaming service called One Soccer: https://onesoccer.ca/

And the MLS playoff upsets continue. New England losing today means two of the three top teams in the East were bounced in the first or second round while, in the West, all three top teams have been eliminated.

Vancouver Whitecaps making it official - Sartini has been given a two year contract as head coach. https://www.tsn.ca/vancouver-whitecaps-agree-to-two-year-deal-with-head-coach-vanni-sartini-1.1728365

And, speaking of moving troops and NATO, Canada is considering sending a couple hundred more troops to Ukraine: "Canada is considering bolstering its military mission to Ukraine, amid a debate over whether additional NATO forces would deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from further aggression against his country’s neighbour. Two sources with knowledge of the deliberations said Defence Minister Anita Anand is considering deploying hundreds of additional troops to support the Canadian soldiers already in Ukraine on a training mission. Other options being looked at include moving a warship into the Black Sea, or redeploying some of the CF-18 fighter jets based in Romania." https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-canada-considers-boosting-military-aid-to-ukraine-as-russia-amasses/ (Given that Putin has about 100,000 troops stationed at the Russian/Ukraine border, I'm not sure how effective such a move would be.)

Let's give Benning a chance. Granted, his first nine year plan doesn't seem to be working out all that well. But how many of us succeed the first time we try something? Let's see how his second nine year plan does. And if that doesn't pan out then, by golly, he'd better produce in his third nine year plan or there's going to be trouble!

What's Linden doing?