New Year’s Eve Forum
One last open forum for 2023.
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, December 31, 2023
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24 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a 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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On the subject of presents that came up the other week, a housemate bought a new pot. Specifically a Westinghouse granite finish pot.
It’s not a present per se, but that’s the kind of thing I’d enjoy getting.
On other matters, time travel still doesn’t exist, but you can play arbitrary date games with the international date line.
Brexit has completely failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons – poll
Gee, ya think?
eta: I have no idea what happened with the linky here, but it still works so I’m gonna leave it be.
@Kathy: My wife was a Peace Corp volunteer in Fiji and for one NYE she and some friends went Taveuni, which is on the dateline. There’s a sign on the beach. At midnight they started jumping back and forth shouting, “It’s 1990!” (Jump) “It’s 1989!”
@MarkedMan: There is a scene in the movie Paul where the 2 main characters played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost “time travel” at a time zone line.
It’s a silly little movie but fun and entertaining, which is all it’s supposed to be.
eta: Dammit, made the mistake of watching a couple clips and now I’m gonna have to watch it today.
For our anniversary, my wife and I did a quick trip into DC for an overnight stay and dinner at Michelin-starred Sushi Nakazawa. Chef Daisuke Nakazawa apprenticed under Jiro Ono, Japan’s renowned sushi chef. The service and food were both outstanding, but it spoiled me for regular sushi forever.
Anyway, that’s not what this comment is about–it’s about something rather interesting at the hotel.
As a holder of AmEx’s Hilton credit card, I’m entitled to one free night at any Hilton property anywhere. This year we chose the Waldorf Astoria in DC. For those unaware, the Waldorf was Trump’s DC hotel until he lost the election.
The free night reward is for a basic room, but we got really lucky–the hotel upgraded us from the $500-a-night room to an $1100-a-night room (still for free). This room was quite spacious and had two full bathrooms. One of the bathrooms had something I have never seen on a toilet outside the Middle East: a hose attachment with a spray nozzle.
Now why would an American hotel have something like this? It would if frequent guests from, say, Saudi Arabia would stay there. And at $1100 a night, it wouldn’t be just any Saudi, you know what I mean?
Can you spell “foreign emoluments?” I knew you could!
Another interesting thing: when we were leaving we were talking to some of the hotel staff (who were, I must say, absolutely spectacular) and told one I was happy they kept the staff on when the hotel changed ownership. He said “yeah, because we’re a union hotel.”
Happy 123123 Day!
For de Stijl….NOW it’s New Year’s Eve. Go get your beer stocked up and at least poke your head in at your friend’s party, you never know….you might enjoy it!
Me, I’ll probably be asleep shortly after 10. We usually watch the ball drop on TV, and go to bed.
Trump will be holding a rally in Newton, Iowa, on January 6, I guess to celebrate the anniversary of the insurrection.
January 1, 2024 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1928 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1923!
Happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year to all!!
@CSK:
In 1967 when I was 6 years old, my family traveled cross country. We spent a night in Newton. The only thing I remember from that night was next to the hotel pool was a trampoline.
@Jax:
I’ll be asleep somewhere between 9 and 10. The last time I stayed awake for the ball drop was around 20 years ago.
@CSK:
Poor Newton, first Maytag disappears and the cities economic reason for being goes with it and now trump is showing up.
One of those cute mid western cities from the 19th century where the downtown is built around a central square containing the courthouse. Today it’s probably a bedroom community for Des Moines.
@MarkedMan:
This clip illustrates my feelings about such actions.
@Jax:
In some countries it’s 311223, which is just nothing.
@Jax:
Happy Waltz Day?
@DrDaveT: Walt’s Day? Who’s Walt?
@DrDaveT: 12-31-23. I didn’t get it the first 3 times, but I’ma cracker.
123123…so tomorrow is the first day of AD24.
Here are some predictions for the New Year.
Happy New Year!
Steve
Good news to close out the year: Randall Munroe has an XKCD What If? channel on Youtube.
Only 3 videos up so far, but each as hilarious as his books and comic strip.
My New Year’s Resolution is to have my gall bladder out.
ER now.
Thankful for pain meds.
@Kurtz:
Wishing you a very speedy, uncomplicated recovery.
Happy New Year’s, my OTB friends! I almost got married today, and I definitely shot my dogs while they were killing roughly 40 of my chickens, today.
After watching Dad die in front of me in October, all I could do was take a long, hot bath and wash the stink of 2023 off me.
Cheers to 2024!! It can’t get much worse.
@CSK:
Thank you!