Just Keep On Truckin'

I started assembling a post tonight about all the ways that America is sliding into a lawless authoritarian pit, but I couldn't finish it -- because yes, we know that already and there's just about nothing anybody can do, really. So all we can do is to keep on truckin'. 

Here's a post about some of the better news I read today:

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there's a house on my street that leaves their Christmas lights up year-round. Not just until February or March like the procrastinators. ALL year. The neighborhood association has sent letters. People complain. But every night, those tiny white lights outline the small house like a constellation. Last week, when I saw him during morning walk, I finally asked why. "My daughter is autistic," the man said. "The lights help her find her way home from the bus stop. They're her North Star." Now I get angry at anyone who complains about them. Some rules are meant to be broken indefinitely.

- Darshak Rana

Read on Substack

Went hiking with the beagle yesterday and he was just roaming the alpines with a smile on his face and without a care in the world. I felt a tinge of pity for this poor creature because he will never understand the feeling of receiving a Microsoft Teams invite.

- Sam Colt

Read on Substack

Imagine being able to make marble look like a transparent veil. Sculpted by the hands of Italian artist Giuseppe Sanmartino in the 18th century.

- James Lucas

Read on Substack

This is beautiful:

Mary Bryton from Whitefish River First Nation in Ontario, closed Tuesday’s cabinet swearing-in ceremony with a rendition of O Canada sung in English, French and Anishinaabemowin. Take a listen. pic.twitter.com/ISSbIRVahy

— APTN News (@APTNNews) May 13, 2025

Ha ha!

Make sure to use raw water or you won’t get the benefits

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— 🍅🥔🫐🌽 hoopy frood 🌶️ 🥑🍫🌵 (@huwupy.kawaii.social) May 19, 2025 at 2:39 PM

Being "that guy":

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Being Derek Guy:

you look great

— derek guy (@dieworkwear) May 19, 2025

One of the substacks I enjoy is Lev Parikian's Six Things. This week one of the things he shared was a terrific article by Rosa Lyster At Crufts - the best dog show in the world:

...it is a planet full of dogs: many more of them than anyone would imagine could fit into a conference centre complex next to Birmingham Airport. They were everywhere. I saw them in the hotels and in the restaurants, in the lobbies and in the corridors, leaning their massive heads against the Perspex siding of the on-site pharmacy while their owners darted in for emergency toothbrushes.
I heard them howling their brains out under the stands in the BP arena during the West Midlands Police Dog Display, a twenty-minute demonstration of riled-up German shepherds launching themselves at the padded limbs of volunteers dressed as burglars. The howling was audible even over Green Day’s ‘Good Riddance (Hope You Had the Time of Your Life)’, which was playing during the Saturday morning show as a policewoman announced the retirement of two police dogs, PD Chase and PD Viper, and encouraged the audience to put their hands together as the two animals streaked across the arena for ‘one final bite’, PD Viper leaping at the volunteer with such shocking violence that the man sitting behind me shrieked: ‘Jesus wept.’
I saw a sea of St Bernards waiting at a zebra crossing, and eight identical Pomeranians skipping around a bar stool on their stiff orange legs. I saw a trio of harlequin Great Danes walk through a hotel’s revolving doors and make their way to the reception desk. Each afternoon, when the judging for the day had concluded, I stood outside the main eventing hall and watched as hundreds of dogs and their owners trotted past me on their way to the parking lots, one uniform group followed by another, like the animals leaving the ark.
Twenty-four thousand dogs were judged at Crufts this year....

Great article, well worth reading.

Finally, every time I hear Carney talk about the Canadian economy, I feel smarter:

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I expect Carney and his team already know we're screwed, along with the rest of the world:

There are no trade deals. None, zero. The only thing that even tiptoes towards a so-called trade deal is the agreement with the UK that is 'an intent to work toward a deal'

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— @NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) (@newsjennifer.bsky.social) May 18, 2025 at 7:34 AM