Escape From Malibu; Toys Are a Scam; Hear Me Out on This Greenland Thing
It's Free for All Friday!
It’s Free for ALL Friday!
Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
My Escape From the Palisades Fires
A Malibu resident's first-person account of fleeing the raging wildfires with her 13-year-old son.
The night before, I wasn’t feeling well. A fever and a cold. I was sort of out of it. We get high wind alerts a lot, so I wasn’t really attuned to anything that was particularly unique about the situation.
Dane caught his bus to school at 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning. It was windy, but not so windy. I slept until 11 or 12. I got up to get some food and medicine. I had been hearing things when I was sleeping, fire engines. But I was so sick I was just grateful to be sleeping.
I first noticed the light outside my window, which was very eerily orange, and very smoky. I thought, “Oh, gosh, there’s a fire.” I went upstairs and immediately everything was bathed in this orange light. I looked out my window, and I could see that there were cars stopped and lined up and down Palisades Drive. I turned on my phone and it’s suddenly all these alerts, calls from family members and friends. Lots of text alerts to evacuate.
Outside my house, there was a group of firemen who were putting out a fire. I said, “Excuse me, should I be leaving?” And they were like, “Uh, yes.”
‘Make Greenland Great Again’? No Thank You, Greenlanders Say
Donald Trump Jr. credit, as he and a few other unofficial representatives of President-elect Trump actually visited the country, which is something almost nobody talking about it suddenly has ever done. But I have a thought (again, having never been there).
It's that if Greenlanders were in fact interested in changing their political situation, it might make a lot more sense to become a protectorate of Canada than the United States itself.
Reasons:
The map. Canada and Greenland are neighboring countries sharing the longest maritime border in the world: 2,139 nautical miles. Also, Nuuk is closer to Montreal and Newfoundland (1,500 and 1,100 miles) than to any other inhabited place. (Copenhagen is 2,100 miles away)
The people. A majority of Greenland's 56,000 people are Greenlandic Inuit. There is only one other country in the world with a similar (actually larger) Inuit population: Canada (about 70,000).
Political benefits. Assuming Greenland doesn't want to be part of the USA, but also isn't thrilled being part of Denmark, it's small enough and strategic enough that it probably needs to be aligned somehwere. Canada means it'd still be in in NATO. But also, since Greenland is now in the EU, it might also open the door for some kind of Canada-EU relationship.
I've long since given up making predictions, but wouldn't it be ironic if all of the current drama led Canada and Greenland to work together?
Landlords are Accused of Colluding to Raise Rents. See Where.
RealPage, a property management software company, uses a trove of data to suggest rental prices to landlords. The software has been widely adopted by property managers — and is now facing strenuous legal pushback. Over the past three years, the company has been sued by the federal government, which alleged in August that it unlawfully decreases competition among landlords.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department expanded its suit to sue six large landlords, which it says operate in 43 states and D.C.
To assess how widespread use of RealPage’s rent software may be, The Post identified 3.1 million market-rate rental units managed by companies named in the lawsuits. That analysis found 10 counties where more than 1 in 3 multifamily units are managed by a property company allegedly using a rent-setting program from RealPage.
See where these buildings are in your city.
Elon Musk Vaulted to the Top of a Popular Videogame. Everyone’s Asking Where He Found the Time.
The head of six companies says he recently became one of the world’s top ‘Diablo IV’ players, a milestone gamers say would have required playing ‘all day, every day’.
This past fall, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s new robotaxi, launched dozens of rockets and spent weeks campaigning on behalf of president-elect Donald Trump. He also notched another achievement that some say is even more impressive.
The billionaire declared himself one of the world’s best players of “Diablo IV,” a blockbuster videogame set in a dark fantasy realm that involves making elixirs and slaying demons.
“So many life lessons to be learned from speedrunning video games on max difficulty,” Musk wrote on his social-media platform X on Nov. 20, before going on to announce that he’d just cleared the highest tier of a section of the game called “The Pit” in under two minutes. He included a video clip of the milestone.
Such an accomplishment requires more than just expertise in monster slashing. It takes dozens of hours just to reach the highest tier, which is level 150. The Pit was only added to the game in May and the latest season kicked off on Oct. 7, resetting all players’ progression to level 1. That suggests Musk made his way to the top level in 45 days or less.
Toys Are a Scam
Kids keep asking for them. We keep buying them. And no one is playing with them.
The baby doll broke me.
Two Decembers ago, my daughter spent weeks yearning for a doll she’d seen at Target. Hard plastic, sparkly eyes, named Chelsea or Chloe or some such. Chirped “Mama” and freakishly grew pigtails if you pumped her arms up and down.
It was the thing our 8-year-old wanted most in the world.
And Santa — surely against his better judgment — delivered. Man, was this kid elated. She played with darling little what’s-her-face for a solid 20 minutes. Changed her clothes, brushed her hair, gazed adoringly. Then shoved that thing into a bin and five days later declared it was time to give her away.
Which left me with one abiding thought: Toys are a scam. At least the way we consume them in America today.
How To Quickly Find Something You Lost: 10 Clever And Practical Techniques
This might have caught my eye because I have misplaced my glasses for several days this week, which relegates me to wearing a banged-up backup pair until I inevitably find them again.
When I published my episode on how to find lost objects in November, people messaged me with all kinds of useful techniques to hunt down missing items.
So many of you told me to pray to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost objects — a tip that my grandma has sworn by since I was a kid. Others had some very practical advice: Look in coat pockets, lay a flashlight on the floor (if you've lost a tiny object, the beam may cast a large shadow) and — here's a good one — make sure you know what it looks like!
Here's a roundup of advice from our audience on how to look for stuff — plus a few bonus tips from our experts. We hope this helps you quickly find whatever you're searching for. These responses have been edited for length and clarity.
(NPR)
They Met as Child Actors in ‘School of Rock.’ Now They’re Married.
Angelo Massagli and Caitlin Hale bonded as classmates in the 2003 Jack Black film. They brought the cast back together for their wedding.
Do I share a lot of wedding announcements here?
No, I don't.
But did I like the 2003 movie, School of Rock, and do I find it very cute that two of the child actors in it grew up, left show business, started careers, reunited 15 years later, and wound up getting married?
Yes, I do.
LOVE the School of Rock story. And they got married about 1 1/2 miles from my house. I wouldn't know them if I fell over them, but they picked a spectacular venue.
I think “dark money” is behind the interest in Greenland and the Panama Canal. It would be poetic justice if Greenland aligned with Canada, at least until “dark money” goes after Canada as well!
The big picture: Trump wants to concede Ukraine to Putin because the US “dark money” wants Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal. They want to divide the globe up into territories, I.e., Russia, USA, China, India, Middle East. Unsure about Australia.
I know…crazy thinking, but who knows?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Money_(book)