¡Adiós, 2024! Forum
I fear ye shall be missed.
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, December 31, 2024
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56 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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2024 has certainly been an interesting year for me
I traveled outside of Florida for the first time in 22 years including a trip to Australia and New Zealand.
I went traditional publishing after almost 10 years of self-publishing. More importantly I finally finished a book which will always be my pride and joy
One of my books reached #2 in genre fiction at Japan Amazon. In between a book written by JK Rowling and one written by Stephen King.
I had urinary retention after having ablation performed last April
My 2005 Toyota Matrix hit 65,000 miles
I met my 10th grade Spanish teacher for the first time in 45 years
This long suffering Florida Panthers fan watched his team win the Stanley Cup.
I drove my wife nuts at least twice a week
I finished my 1961 Strat-O-Matic baseball replay on leap day aka February 29
I bought a Apple computer, watched Seinfeld, hired an Uber driver, and drank Starbucks coffee for the first time.
Most importantly
I survived another year with Stage IV malignant melanoma
Happy 2025
My favorite piece of New Year’s Eve trivia: Before the telegraph, every town set their own noon by the sun (high noon). In smaller towns of commerce, where synchronizing your clock or pocket watch was important, there would often be a bell tower in the town square, and it would ring at precisely noon. In larger, noisier towns this was insufficient so some erected a very tall pole in the middle of the city and would hoist a giant hollow ball to the top, visible across a wide area, which they would drop at high noon. In New York City the location of this pole became known as “Times Square” and a tradition developed of also dropping it at midnight on New Years Eve. Today, that’s all that it is used for.
@Bill Jempty:
Happy New Year to you too, Bill.
Keep on keeping on.
Odd thing happened today, wonder if there is a explanation.
While checking in for a routine visit with my cardiologist yesterday ( as I or my wife has done perhaps 75 times this year), I presented my US Medicare and my Medicare Supplement cards and was asked:
Were you born in this country ?
Of course the receptionist could not answer why I was being asked this question.
Any ideas or similar experience?
@Bobert: In Texas, Gov Abbott directed all hospitals to ask this question. Clearly to intimidate immigrants. In a kerfuffle, a doctor had the temerity to put out on social media that the patient was not required to answer this question.
Abbott order will require Texas hospitals to collect patients’ immigration status
Texas hospitals are now required to ask for patients’ citizenship. Here’s what you should know.
@Bobert:
I haven’t encountered that question yet, but a couple of my likely responses:
– I have no recollection of my birth. Yet, here I am.
– But real question is: where was I conceived?
@Steven L. Taylor
About that tag line….
2024 was an absolute shit year.
But with what’s likely coming for 2025, I’m certain we will look back to 2024 from 2026 with great nostalgia.
@Rob1:
I wasn’t born. I sprang fully grown from the head of my parent. 😉
@Liberal Capitalist:
Many of those who voted for the felon, and many who chose not to vote, may look back with great regret.
Listen to [government approved] Science. Science is Truth. Do what you are told.
@Paul L.:
Keep up with peer-reviewed science. Think critically. Grow a brain.
@Paul L.: Paul, I truly and sincerely hope this new year brings you some peace from your inner turmoil.
@Rob1: I almost said something more derogatory, but I truly do fear that 2025 will make us miss 2024.
@Bill Jempty: Here’s to continued health in the New Year.
@MarkedMan: I second that sentiment.
@Paul L.: I agree with you. This imposition of scientific laws is undemocratic. I certainly didn’t vote for the 2nd law of thermodynamics which pushes up the cost of driving my car. It is clearly a plot between Big Oil and the scientists! Also, E=hf. Why is h such a small number? And why h? It stands for Planck. Clearly a DEI initiative by woke scientists to spread the alphabet!
Let’s get back to the good old days when priests told us about the shape of space and how to fight disease.
@DrDaveT:
I don’t know. There are sea creatures that lose high order neural function* once they find a spot to root themselves to, as they can make better use of nutrients for other biological functions. I’ve never herd of the opposite.
*Like people who find a fuhrer. They no longer need much of a brain.
@Paul L.:
The mantra of you bootlicking Trump slaves, now and forever.
Have your billionaire masters decided yet whether you’re for or against H-1B visas, or y’all still waiting for MAGA’s leading pedos, rapists, racists, and druggies to give Fox News its 2025 talking points?
@Bobert: I was not born in this country, and yet I am a US citizen. I really find this type of thing irksome. And unnecessary.
While I was ready to write 2024 off as a complete loss, late in the year my first novel scored a film contract with an indie production studio. So it ended on a positive note.
To (most of) my OTB brethren:
Hello from the beach at Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. I’m posting, literally, from the beach.
2024 will go down as one of the worst years of my life, which is fair, given that 2023 was one of the best years of my life. I fear 2025 will be even worse, though, hence my being in the Dominican Republic, and not California. My wife and I are doing some real estate exploration, before we head to Belize to do the same. My fears have lessened a bit due to the sheer incompetence of Trump himself, but Miller, Hohman, Musk, and the others still scare me enough to keep me seeking my escape plan.
I want to take the time to thank Drs. Joyner and Taylor, Mr. Bernius, Kingdaddy, for posting content that helps me keep track of the world while I ignore most other media. I want to thank the commentators for their constant fresh takes, which make me think of things in ways I hadn’t previously; specifically DK, Kathy, Beth, MR, wr, Kurtz, Bobert, Liberal Capitalist, Ignt, Country Lawyer, MarkedMan, Steve, Kylopod, al Ameda, and several others.
I miss Ozark and Teve, and hope their families are doing well.
Thank you again.
Here’s to a good 2025.
@EddieInCA:
Good fortune real estate shopping!
I’m thankful for OTB, for the thought-provoking posts by our genial hosts and the astute, funny, sane, and literate responses of 99% of our commenters.
@EddieInCA: Happy New Year–I hope that your 2025 brings serenity, and good luck with the real estate exploration–being on the beach is a good start 🙂
@DK:
Problem because
But that’s only a guess.
@EddieInCA: May your fortunes for 2025 be better. Stay in touch if you land somewhere else.
@Paul L.:..government approved science (what ever that is?)
For sure we should revert to the days of church approved science declaring that the Earth is the center of the universe and that the Sun revolves around the earth. And remember that according to the Bible the Earth is flat.
I suspect that all of this meets with the approval of Pope Paul 50.
@DK:
I’m wary of speculation, even from airline pilots. I do read the Ask the Pilot blog, when Patrick bothers to post on it.
All that said, there’s been a lot of talk about the concrete barrier supporting the localizer antenna. Partly because in the crash video one can plainly see the plane burst into flames upon colliding with it.
@DK: I can’t claim expertise, and online speculation is worth what you pay for it. NYT had a decent explainer yesterday that had indications they didn’t intend to land on that pass. What I’m reading smells like they lost the second engine. I don’t know if they have hydraulics for flaps and brakes with both out. They apparently did have enough control to line up on the runway. I see statements they can drop the gear without hydraulics, but if they couldn’t count on brakes, they’d be better off on the belly, really on the nacelles. Have to wonder what-if they’d had more runoff room.
It has, IIRC, been several decades that two engine airliners have been allowed long over ocean flights, partly because with modern engines the odds of losing both are exceedingly low. But with a flock of birds, e. g. Captain Sully? The Gimli Glider lost both, but that was fuel exhaustion, and I don’t recall aircraft type or what control they had left.
@Slugger: Physics! A law we can live with.
@gVOR10:
Modern planes have batteries, like those that infamously burned on early B787s. There’s also a ram air turbine (RAT). It’s a little windmill or propeller that can be deployed in the event of all engine failure or failure of all the engine’s electrical generators. As I recall from the Gimli Glider incident, it powers the essential systems for controlling the plane.
But, would that it were that simple. As speed is reduced for landing, the power the RAT can produce is also reduced. So maybe deploying the flaps makes the plane harder to control.
Greg Abbott sent his prayers and deepest condolences to Rosalynn Carter on her husband’s passing. Mrs. Carter was not available for comment on the depth of those condolences because she’s been dead for the last year.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/30/greg-abbott-jimmy-carter-rosalynn-condolences
@Kathy:
Kathy,
Don’t blow a head gasket while I compare the belly landing in South Korea to the belly landing crash in this movie. The crash can be seen beginning at the 9:30 of the video.
@Bill Jempty:
Landing a model on a set is far easier.
Bursting into flames upon hitting a wood fence is pure The Simpsons style satire, or should be.
@EddieInCA:
If you come across a former blogger who went by the name of Bullwinkle, let me know.
Around 2005-06* I contributed at a website Bullwinkleblog. The blog owner supposedly lived in Belize, was around 70 years old, and claimed to have been married around 10 times. Without warning the blog disappeared and the owner stopped returning emails.
*- My AOL email archives contain some Bullwinkleblog related emails all dated in 2006.
Fun Fact: Because of the timing of Jimmy Carter’s death, the 30-day flags at half mast rule means that when Trump is inaugurated, the flags will be at half mast.
Seems appropriate.
2024. My year of husbanding – my wife had a hip replacement and a fukton of work on deadline, including several book tours. I am the kitchen person, that’s baked in. But for the last year until just a week ago, I was also the laundry, vacuuming, trash, shopping and dog-care person. Yep, I am a beta cuck.
I did do some writing – a very adult comic novel I have to start peddling, an experimental YA novel I’m not sure of. (May need to talk to @Jempty about self-pubbing.) Under my self-imposed rules nothing counts until I get paid, so that’s all spec. I also finished my first ever feature screenplay called DRIVERLESS, and put it up on the Black List to four excellent reviews. Which was nice, given that I’m still insecure on screenplay writing, but again, means nothing until/unless I sell it.
Had to deal with various adaptation pitches with K, some for our joint work, ENDLING, some for hers, WISHTREE, some for mine, GONE. All complete wastes of time. My favorite was pitching GONE to Disney+, twice, each time knowing there was zero chance of Disney+ buying it. After describing the horror of the GONE world, the question was, “Can you make it into something uplifting and optimistic?” No, no, I cannot turn a book where 40% of the characters die of malnutrition and murder, into Bluey.
The highlight of the year was taking the Queen Mary to the UK, followed by a week in Nice. Excellent trip. We’ve made a strategic decision to slow the fuck down when we travel. Our usual is 3 nights and on to the next thing, leading to a blur.
An absurd amount of energy went into looking at emigrating. That’s gone through various permutations due to tax questions, visa questions, what-about-the-kids questions, what about-the-dogs questions and we are currently just exhausted on the topic. Kudos to @EddieInCA: for getting it done.
The last 5 years I’ve been ‘not working,’ by which I mean, not earning, aside from royalties. Have not had a book go out under my name since late 2019. Last book on which I was an uncredited co-author was early 2022.
So, back at it for 2025. I have an adult scifi/fantasy trilogy prepped to pitch, as well as a new KAA middle-grade series. I’m actually exercising (!) and doing a lot more cooking after I realized what we were spending on room temperature food from Door Dash. I’m at best a competent cook, but at least my food is hot.
Disturbing news: a term life policy is set to expire in 7 years, and if I don’t die before then my kids are out a million each. So, as a good father, I am smoking cigars and weed, drinking whiskey and eating red meat. So, the usual, but now it’s for the kids.
@Paul L.:..Do what you are told.
Don’t wrench your back!
@EddieInCA:
Wishing you peace, peace of mind, and good health.
All the best.
@DK:
There’s a few odd things about that account, a 20,000 hour pilot flying as an FO is most unusual. He should know that dropping the gear with the emergency system in a 737 does not need any hydro too. That both engines might have failed is definitely a valid speculation though.
Mostly what bugs me is he fails to mention something quite easy to imagine , the possibility that in that both-engines-gone scenario they might have immediately, reflexively, turned back for the airport and found themselves too high and too close to easily get to the runway, a condition which would be instantly apparent to the crew, but not so high to have any confidence in circling around. They might have just put the nose down and tried to hit the runway. They would be committed to this course of action once they began it, and determining they would be going off the end of the runway for sure, a decision to land gear-up might have been made.
@Liberal Capitalist: “https://youtube.com/shorts/7XruXsY-EL4?si=rYjZTnZNN1NFUp1v”
Old Soviet joke:
” How is it going this year?”
‘Okay. Not as good as last year, but better than next year’.
To everybody (except you – yeah, you), thank you for your contributions this year!
Barry
@dazedandconfused:
I’ve gathered from the blog and his one book (Cockpit Confidential), that the blog’s writer prefers the first officer post.
@Kathy:
Are you trying to imply, contra Hollywood, that not every car that leaves the road bursts into flames.
Happy New Year to all here and hereabouts!
Let’s hope it doesn’t all go downhill this time around, shall we?
@dazedandconfused: I expect the reason the author of this article is flying first officer with 20,000 hours is that he has bid first officer in order to get a favorable route. A low seniority captain may have to take an unfavorable route where if he bids as first officer his seniority is such that he can get the route he wants. The union contract will provide that so long as he bids captain at least one month every sixth month period he gets captain’s pay. I had a former squadron mate who went to the airlines after the Marine Corps and that’s what he did as a junior captain.
@Kathy: Yeah,, but that renders his numbers and being an FO meaningless for comparative purposes.
Happy New Year, from the future!
@Slugger:
It’s generally believed that in Planck’s original paper, h stood for “Hilfsgröße”, which is German for “auxiliary quantity”.
@Stormy Dragon:
Hence Ernst Mach: “Thick as a Planck!”
(not. lol)
I look forward to Trump invading Canada, Mexico, and Greenland, putting tariffs on everyone else, and MAGA slowly becoming big mad as they accept that Trump’s inflation isn’t decreasing even though they will constantly be told it’ll go down any day now.
I have a fancy batch of “Trump did this” stickers for every gas station I use.
I think it’s about 50-50 that Trump will try again to eliminate the ACA.. which will of course hurt Republicans much more than Democrats. Fun fact: 82% of people using the ACA are in states that voted for Trump. Live it, love it!
@JohnSF: If you hope in one hand and s**t in the other, I can predict which one will fill up first with amazing accuracy. But always let your reach exceed your grasp.
@just nutha:
This, my friend, is why I try to avoid shitting in my hand.
😉
Hope is a bitch, but what’s life without it?
Maybe best to hope for small mercies, as they say.
@JohnSF:
Solid choice!
Currently sitting at a hotel bar in SLC. Going to see my Momma tomorrow in
Mesa, AZ.
Happy New Year, OTB family.
@a country lawyer: True, but he shouldn’t be labeling himself as an FO if he is a captain bidding himself into an FO seat to get the routes he wants, implying that 20,000 hrs is typical for FOs. It’s just a bit off in that regard.