tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91037722303020216992024-03-18T08:15:27.768+02:00Dispatches from VilniusJames Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.comBlogger2390125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-46411588127809417422024-03-15T11:29:00.008+02:002024-03-15T16:07:46.094+02:00Give 'em hell, Joe!You have to hand it to the artless dodger. Trump managed to get an insurance company to put up a bond for the 83 million he owes E. Jean Carroll in a defamation settlement so that he can appeal the decision. Now for someone to come up with the 435 million he owes New York in the fraud settlement. He already has been trying to move assets out of the state so that New York James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-39630750651398261582024-03-08T09:22:00.013+02:002024-03-08T14:16:42.632+02:00Middle OutI nearly spit my coffee on my laptop when I read Musk was suing OpenAI for abandoning its original mission of using artificial intelligence to benefit humanity and now churning out ChatGPT in the name of profit. At the same time, he jumped all over MacKenzie Bezos for "virtue signaling" in that she has given so much of her divorce settlement to charity. He thinks independent rich James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-62727646519269043402024-03-05T09:59:00.012+02:002024-03-05T10:55:54.170+02:00D'ohvember!So Trump stays on the ballot in Colorado. Not that it really matters as the only primary he has lost so far is DC, which in his addled mind he lost on purpose. More interesting is that Nikki Haley withdrew her pledge to support the Republican nominee, leaving pundits to speculate what that means. Will she run as an independent if she loses the nomination and try to pull of the "James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-23196450232028183682024-03-03T10:14:00.013+02:002024-03-08T09:44:57.850+02:00Trumped OutThere's been a lot of consternation in the polling and rightly so. It is hard to imagine Trump consistently polling ahead of Biden given the performances he has given on the campaign trail, let alone the pending trials which keep getting deferred as his legal eagles argue for "presidential immunity." The Supreme Court voted to hear the case despite a unanimous 57-page opinion from a James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-10681003799474558792024-02-28T14:39:00.006+02:002024-02-28T16:21:01.133+02:00A Razor's EdgeEither LP has a very bad sense of geography or her timing is way off. She was scheduled to perform in Kaunas next week but her concert was abruptly cancelled when she proudly showed off a hoodie she received from adoring Russian fans on the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. To be fair the American singer, who is more famous for the songs she has written for LadyJames Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-49065398727890147862024-02-12T12:23:00.021+02:002024-02-12T16:57:06.589+02:00Report from the Front LineThere were actually Super Bowl watch parties at some of the local pubs in Vilnius but the game came on well past my bedtime. I checked in on my cellphone when my dog first woke me up at 5:30 this morning and saw that the Chiefs had pulled off another nail-biter. I imagine that had the alpha males all in a rage. No doubt the conspiracy theories are swirling on X.X has become James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-18576072845547733782024-02-06T11:17:00.011+02:002024-02-06T16:10:52.715+02:00I'll be backNot surprisingly the Republican House refuses to bring the Bipartisan Senate bill on border security to the floor, given it is the only card they have to play in November. "Gym" Jordan said as much in this feisty interview. Trump has become the de-facto House speaker, controlling the ultra-slim majority with bellicose threats from the campaign trail. Republican US James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-61511854457786162072024-02-04T13:12:00.008+02:002024-02-06T11:38:35.397+02:00The kiss seen around the worldI have no stake in the Super Bowl but I would kind of like to see San Francisco win. Not because I'm against Swifties, but I like the Brock Purdy story and how Kyle Shanahan has put the 49ers together. Reminds me a lot of the Seahawks team Pete Carroll built in the early teens. Yet, I wouldn't bet against Kansas City after pulling off two big road wins to return to the Super James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-17903648082987947372024-01-29T10:16:00.007+02:002024-01-29T15:09:14.036+02:00White Racism 101Nice to see a professor and a university standing up to DeSantis. The Florida governor has gone out of his way to pitch a "colorblind society," eliminating courses from the AP curriculum that present race and gender identification. At Florida Gulf Coast University, Ted Thornhill is being quite blunt about it, teaching a course called "White Racism," in which he lays out the cold, hardJames Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-63411751593799369132024-01-24T14:15:00.004+02:002024-01-25T09:17:48.877+02:00I'm Just KenThe Oscar controversies trumped the New Hampshire primary this week. People were more upset that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie got snubbed for Oscars than they were Trump winning another primary. It wasn't like Barbie got shut out. Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera both received supporting actor nominations, but the snubs were slaps in the face for a movie that pulled in nearly James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-4004024499366846582024-01-10T16:20:00.034+02:002024-01-11T13:47:03.074+02:00Say it isn't so, NikkiI always thought the Civil War was a pretty easy subject to tackle, especially if you regard yourself as an American citizen. Apparently, it is more difficult for those who live in the South. It seems they still haven't gotten over losing the war. But, Nimarata"Nikki" Haley is different. Her parents are both immigrant Sikhs from India. You would think she would have James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-39411406578093739852024-01-08T11:23:00.039+02:002024-01-08T13:20:19.655+02:00A basement of curiositiesI never realized how bulky plasma televisions were until I tried to move one. They're even heavier than the old tube televisions. I had to get my son to help me move it out of his grandfather's house so that the handyman could finish painting the living room. No wonder plasma TVs didn't make the cut. They were discontinued in 2014. Hard to believe it was more than ten James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-58641566647542966732024-01-05T13:27:00.006+02:002024-01-05T14:02:00.330+02:00Vilnius in winterOddly, it is much nicer when the temperature is -10 C or even less. The snow is powdery and light and easy to shovel. The air crisp and clean. There usually isn't much wind. It is actually quite pleasant outside as long as I have decent gloves to protect my hands. They get cold quickly due to poor circulation. The best gloves are a pair of old fur-lined mittensJames Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-32242466281260596622023-12-30T16:33:00.010+02:002023-12-31T10:01:39.910+02:00Can't get it out of my headI hate it when I can't shake something out of my head at night before falling to sleep. Usually, it is an insipid Christmas song or movie this time of year, but last night it was the news that Russell Wilson had been benched for the remainder of the season so that Denver didn't risk triggering a clause that would guarantee Russ an additional $37 million if he was injured in the two James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-1780057516293793912023-12-29T16:01:00.009+02:002023-12-29T16:21:27.798+02:00It's a curious thing this blogAs the year winds down I find the blog getting more hits than usual. At least this time people are looking at posts. Mostly old posts, like Colonel, when we actually had discussions and this was a pretty lively place. The contributors went their separate ways. Only Trippler is still around. I suppose the posts get shared and others look at them but no comments. James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-1347594268375124972023-12-27T16:31:00.010+02:002023-12-27T16:39:25.597+02:00Taking the taxi home on the eve of ChristmasI had an interesting taxi ride home. The driver was Lithuanian, which is pretty rare these days. He was complaining about the Central Asians taking over Bolt, which is the service I use. They don't speak English. They don't speak Russian. It is impossible to communicate with them, he said. God knows how so many got in but Bolt doesn't seem to care what languageJames Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-82709970239229055212023-12-18T12:36:00.014+02:002023-12-27T15:20:10.191+02:00The horror of it allA24 bought the film rights to Musk's biopic and signed Darren Aronofsky to direct the film. Given the type of movies A24 is known for, one can only hope Aronofsky will turn it into a horror movie. At the very least, pull no punches like he did in The Wrestler.I've covered Musk way too much in my posts. It was refreshing to see John Oliver take a turn at him this past weekend, James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-66725636788032722402023-12-12T14:40:00.002+02:002023-12-12T16:15:57.240+02:00Look who's smiling nowWhile Zelenskyy is in Washington to make a last ditch appeal to Congress for continued funding of the war effort in Ukraine, Netanyahu was on the phone with Putin admonishing him for the "anti-Israel positions" Moscow's envoys have taken in the UN. The massive shelling of Gaza the past two months has distracted nearly everyone from the ongoing war in Ukraine, and breathed new life into James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-40059360803957373372023-12-08T10:17:00.010+02:002023-12-27T15:30:18.493+02:00Christmas movies we love to hateI've never seen Love Actually from beginning to end. Over the years I've picked up bits and pieces of it on television. It is cluttered with a whole bunch of disjointed scenes with a who's who of British actors that makes it hard to believe all these scenes come from the same movie. Look at that cast! There's even Bill Nighy doing a Christmas version of The Troggs' Love IsJames Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-44118244679907483532023-12-05T13:59:00.012+02:002023-12-05T14:21:34.952+02:00No more MTG!I've been seeing a lot of MTG license plates recently. Seems like the Lithuanian motor vehicle departments is near the end of its M series. I resent that Marjorie Taylor Greene is the first thing that pops into my head. She branded herself MTG like some trailer trash rapper from the boondocks of Georgia.The media has not only done a great job of making Trump front page news againJames Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-21440100523149662182023-12-04T14:13:00.011+02:002023-12-04T16:28:42.167+02:00Enough already It is interesting to see so many news outlets flirting with the idea of a second Trump administration despite nothing that suggests it will happen. I suppose the news media likes to cater to the doom and gloom so many people seem to feel in this world, largely the result of hyperbolic news stories and opinions like this one in The Guardian. I have no idea who Jan-Werner Muller James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-41675189532583885562023-12-01T10:37:00.003+02:002023-12-04T09:45:50.350+02:00Oh Henry! I was overhearing the news from Daina's cellphone as she listened to a Ukrainian politologist talk about the death of Kissinger. He was saying that old Henry was cultivated as a Soviet agent many years ago. I was curious so I began perusing, and sure enough this turned up on the CIA page. According to an article written by Frank Capell in 1974, young Henry was first James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-53512709039237496092023-11-30T15:46:00.009+02:002023-11-30T16:43:04.712+02:00My Favorite NapoleonIt's an interesting year in cinema with so many biographies and true stories being brought to the big screen. This past summer I was very much impressed by how Christopher Nolan handled Oppenheimer, and now find myself debating whether to try to sit through another 3+ hour epic this holiday season, given my tight bladder. Reviews of Napoleon haven't been very good, much to Sir Ridley James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-81389059281056546382023-11-28T18:11:00.018+02:002023-11-28T18:33:59.593+02:00The man who would be kingNot that I'm an investor or know a great deal about AI, but it has been interesting to follow the events surrounding OpenAI the past two weeks. Like many, I didn't know anything about the research organization until Sam Altman was dismissed shortly after launching customized versions of ChatGPT, making AI accessible to virtually anyone curious as to what it can do. There was James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-10880550412638873992023-11-28T14:39:00.003+02:002024-02-12T16:12:42.062+02:00Tis the season I signed up for the Christmas Run on December 9 but things are looking pretty bleak at the moment. Winter fell on us like a cold heavy blanket after what was a pretty mild autumn. I was shoveling snow out of the driveway last week and there is no way to run on the icy sidewalks. I've taken enough spills over the years and at 62 would like to keep my hip intact. James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.com0