Why Week 18 Means the World to Raiders https://www.si.com/nfl/raiders/onsi/las-vegas-week-18-means-the-world-

❓ Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/

Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world
“I live in Accra, Ghana,” says Isaac Dinwe, who works for Closing the Loop, a Dutch company that works with the electronics industry to increase global recycling. “The e-waste problem in my country is so huge we are unable to manage it. Most of our e-waste ends up in city centres. Informal workers extract what […]

When Sir Tim Berners-Leeinvented the world wide web in 1989,
his vision was clear:
it would used by everyone,
filled with everything and,
crucially, it would be free.
Today, the British computer scientist’s creation is regularly used by 5.5 billion people
– and bears little resemblance to the democratic force for humanity he intended.
In Australia to promote his book, "This is for Everyone",
Berners-Lee is reflecting on what his inven…

We can be sure there will be no strikes on Venezuela before december 5th, when there is a big FIFA event in Washington. Trump will be praised there so he doesn't want to spoil that i think....
https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/w

Russia's friends helping each other:
Germany’s far-right AfD invited to join Munich Security Conference 2026, on initiative by JD Vance
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/29/german…

Projector is in place. Not as dumb as I usually like. Has an android OS and a Netflix app and things instead of just a HDMI input. But it has HDMI input too.
Screen is 1.9m wide by .92 high which is a 2.15m screen measured across the diagonal like they usually do.
Projection is keyed quite drastically with the right hand side being shrunk down vertically to square the image, which I suspect means pretty radically reduced resolution on the right hand side of the screen.
Maybe I could attach it to the bottom of the overhead cupboards more squarely onto the wall than the shelf is? Worth a though.
But working well. Will be even better when the main bedroom media PC arrives.

Luma AI opens its first international office in London and appoints former WPP and Monks executive Jason Day to lead its global expansion outside the US (Georg Szalai/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business

Luma AI Opens London Office, Led by Former WPP Executive Jason Day
Putting multimodal artificial generative intelligence (AGI) into "the hands of creative professionals around the world – be they marketers, gamers, or film studios – will transform the entire creative process."

I’m not really sure what it means, given the state of the world, but I guess in an aspirational sense, at least, as in “against all evidence to the contrary, here’s hoping 2026 will be a…”
Here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year.
(Except the fascists. They can get fucked.)
💕
PS. You can find people in need in Gaza to donate to at https://

Gaza Verified
We’ve personally had video conversations on Signal with the people from Gaza whose Mastodon accounts on the fediverse are listed here and we verify that their accounts are genuine. – Joy & Aral Balkan

"…the world needs to log off corporate-owned, centrally-controlled social media platforms & log on to a better way of being online. The world needs an open social web through the fediverse & Mastodon.
Calls for public institutions to invest in digital sovereignty are increasing across civil society. The term digital sovereignty means that an institution has autonomy & control over the critical digital infrastructure, data, & services that make up their online prese…

The world needs social sovereignty
The world needs to log off corporate-owned, centrally-controlled social media platforms and log on to a better way of being online. The world needs an open social web through the fediverse and Mastodon.

Did Performance

Played two Loopy gigs

Just a tiny birthday party and in a camping field with friends.
This is probably about the target number really.
It's nice to play now and then but couldn't be monthly or anything even more frequent.
Didn't feel like either went great. Health issues affecting performance plus nerves
Just one with video of any kind.
Added a couple of great songs to the playlists, need to practise more really.
At the end of a Hoopla class and the end of
a self-organised group class.
They were good fun.
But having to book a course every eight weeks means constantly churning co-players and long gaps where I don't get around to it or it was all booked up.
Tried to get a more permanent group going...
Trying to get some sort of indie-group off
the group rather than just short runs of
classes with new people all the time.
We found a group an booked the room but didn't get most of the actual people to turn up. Need to presumably meet more people up for that sort of thing.
So there will be new improv class starting
in Jan.
A new show in March at least.