The United Nations climate chief says our leaders MUST “stop dawdling” and act. The world now stands on the frontline of disaster. Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd after pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine and half minutes in 2020, is now expected to survive after he was injured in a knife attack in jail. According to NASA’s Harvest program (over 40 partners that help farmers around the world access a view from space of their fields) reveals that 6.5%-8.5% of Ukraine’s total cropland is unplanted or abandoned due to Russian and Ukrainian troops’ heavy artillery use during the war. It is so enormous, it is visible from space.
The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved. Richard Rogers
If you make a few dollars selling goods or services online, the IRS has postponed implementing a new rule that would have required you to report your earnings if they exceed $600 per year. According to the IRS, the new $600 Form 1099-K reporting for third parties will not take effect in 2023. They will treat this year as an additional period of transition. Because yes, you will have to pay taxes on side jobs like selling on Etsy or eBay (or even just shoveling snow). Prior to the new rule, people only need to report the sale of goods and services involving more than 200 transactions within a year totaling over $20,000.
ID EST QUOD ID EST (It is what it is – doesn’t it sound so much smarter in Latin?)
Remember to make kindness LOUD!! There was a great article in Magnolia Journal Fall 2021 – yes, sometimes it takes me several years to read a magazine. This article was encouraging people to give more, hand out the last compliment, ask questions that show you care, call a friend to see how they are doing, send flowers for no reason, write a nice note, invite someone to Christmas dinner, buy something on the teacher’s wish list, rake leaves, just do something – anything – to show human kindness. We have to start somewhere! And please be loud about it! It is no longer enough to just think about being kind.
The importance of giving, and blessing others can never be over emphasized because there is always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy by acts of giving.
There was an article about our expenses, and where we could save thousands of dollars by re-thinking our outgoing cash decisions. One was car payments. According to Edmunds, as of October the average monthly new car loan payment was $736. WHAT?!?! I may be old and therefore I think old, but that is a house payment in my little brain. Then on top of that, you have insurance, gas, and depreciation. Plus, repairs. I believe that cars are one of the things you should never buy new. Eating out. We all do it. But the average household spends $3,639 per year dining out. Learn to cook and eat at home, or just do not go out as often. Take your lunch from home. Cable. The average household cable TV plan costs $83 per month. Mine was over $150 when I finally cut the cord. There are over 20 streaming services that are absolutely FREE. I do not miss my cable. Lattes. $4 per day, times five workdays per week, times 52 months, equals $1040. Plus, another $260 if you leave a dollar tip (and you should because you are a kind person…). So, you could be putting all that extra cash into your retirement plan. Develop good habits! Good luck.
I meant to behave but there were too many other options.
A company called PimEyes is an online facial recognition tool (described as a reverse image search) that scans photos and searches the internet to identify ANY person or thing. It is described as protecting your privacy because it can find which websites are publishing YOUR photos. “Eliminate the problem of illegal usage of your image.” But that is pretty scary information that could/can/will be misused so easily. Hmmm. Our world… You can be billed monthly $29.99 – for one search per month, to $299.99 mo. for unlimited searches daily, and more. A PIM is defined as Product Information Management.
Lessons are repeated until they are learned. Cherie Carter-Scott
Lead poisoning is dangerous for anyone, but even more so for young children. The US Food and Drug Administration is warning parents to avoid apple cinnamon fruit pouches from 3 specific brands, WanaBana, Weis, and Schnucks brands. They are investigating 52 reports in 25 states of high lead blood levels in children ages 1 to 4 after exposure to pouches of applesauce. The FDA is now screening imports of cinnamon from multiple countries for toxic lead contamination with a cinnamon from Ecuador as the likely source. But there have been no other reports of illness tied to the spice.
Speaking of spices, this is the season to cook and none of us seem to empty our spice jars very quickly. The McCormick spices in rectangular tins (or ones marked that they were packaged in Baltimore), are at least 25 years old. Yes, time flies when you’re having fun. I have several old tins that I hang on the Christmas tree along with a couple of ancient floppy discs. History for my children. As of November 1st, there was a shortage of 243 drugs in the U.S. This compromises patient care, and cost hospitals more money. On North Padre Island they have found several mysterious Witch Bottles washed up onshore. According to Wikipedia, a witch bottle is an apotropaic (things to ward off evil) magical item used as protection against witchcraft.
Everybody wants to die of old age, but nobody wants to grow old. Brian Magee
The AOS (American Ornithological Society) will no longer name birds after people in the future, and will now change the English common names of birds (70 – 80 of them) that are named after people, along with any other bird names deemed offensive or exclusionary, or associated with people with racist histories. Think: Anna’s Hummingbird, Gambel’s Quail, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Bewick’s Wren, Bullock’s Oriole and many more. At least they’re not extinct, I guess. Speaking of birds, the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory’s online auction is now in progress with 41 auction items. They’re not just auction items, they’re an experience. If you’ve never looked at the auction, today would be a good day. Do it for the birds before December 10th. GCBO.org
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” Hunter S. Thompson
There’s a new kind of waffle named after the city where they were invented, Liege waffles. At least it is new to us. Or better yet, new to me. They’re made from a yeasted raised dough which includes sugar pearls. Doesn’t that sound pretty! The waffle is pressed into a waffle iron, is more compact, pudgy and irregular around the edges, crispy and almost candied-coated on the outside, with a soft middle. You can purchase sugar pearls (that’s what it said in the magazine, but I’ve never seen them) or you can make the pearls by stirring 1.5 cups of granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons of water in a saucepan until the sugar clumps into small bits (slowly for 25-30 minutes so not to burn). After it cools on a plate, break up large clumps to collect one cup of pea-sized sugar pearls. Belgian Pearl Sugar is simply sugar that’s been tightly compressed forming larger, chunks of sugar that won’t dissolve when baking. Can you tell I read cooking magazines on the plane to Boston over Thanksgiving? And I was hungry most of the time. I’m making these soon. Sounds delicious.
I always advise people never to give advice. P.G. Wodehouse
Director George Lucas offered to exchange his $500,000 salary for the original Star Wars, for the merchandise and sequel rights, and 20th Century-Fox agreed, because they couldn’t imagine a future involving Star Wars figures, toy light sabers or lunch boxes. They certainly never imagined additional Star Wars movies and television shows would still be entertaining us almost 50 years later. In 2012, Lucas sold his Star Wars rights to Disney for $4 billion. At that time the franchise had grossed about $20 billion along with all the merchandise. Fox could have had it all if they just paid him $500,000. (I also read an article on the plane about stupid decisions that movie makers have made in the past.)
More: George Lucas wanted unknown, unexperienced faces for Star Wars, so he simply asked Harrison Ford to just assist in the auditions by reading lines with other actors, explaining the history behind the scenes that they were reading. Lucas was charmed by Ford’s portrayal, casting him instead of Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Sylvester Stallone, Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Burt Reynolds, Jack Nicholson, James Caan, Robert De Niro, Kelsey Grammer, Al Pacino, Steve Martin, and Chevy Chase, plus others. What a group of then, babies.
Have a great week. Please sell something! Thank you for reading us.
LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
