Archive of entries posted by Oppo

Straight Line of the Day: To Get Quoted as a Source by the Media…

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NPR Creates New Rule After They Quoted One ‘Expert’ In 77 Different Stories
Daily Caller | 12/24/2025 | Natalie Sandoval

NPR has a resolution for 2026: Stop quoting University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.

Tobias “appears 77 times on NPR’s website, and seems to be a dial-a-quote for NPR and numerous other media outlets on a very wide range of topics,” NPR’s standards chief, Tony Cavin, reportedly complained in an email sent to staff. That email — subject reading “GUIDANCE: Don’t I know you from somewhere?” — was shared with Semafor.

Tobias’ “hobby seems to be getting himself quoted about anything and everything in news stories,” the email reads. …

“Tobias casts his net far and wide, from California to the New York Island. And it’s not just on the coasts, he’s quoted by outlets across the country including The Minneapolis Star Tribune [,] The Fresno Bee, the Beaver County Times in Western PA, the Superior Telegram in Duluth MN, and even the Chronicle in the New York City suburb of Croton-on-Hudson, population 8,300,” the email continues, before proposing that “as a collective New Year’s resolution we give the professor some (well deserved) time off.”

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Ann Coulter noted, in 2003, that a New York Times (NYT) piece on “Hillary-mania” hinged on the testimony of a Gregory F. Packer.

“It was easy for the Times to spell Packer’s name right because he is apparently the entire media’s designated ‘man’ on the street’ for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans Day Parade. He was quoted at not one — but two — New Year’s Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new ‘Star Wars’ movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games — even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwins house in the Hamptons and the pope’s visit to Giants stadium.”

I Might Go Back to Work

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California’s minimum wage is increasing in 2026 as Los Angeles debates $30 an hour
CalMatters | December 19, 2025 | Cayla Mihalovich

Californians will see the minimum wage increase to $16.90 per hour starting Jan. 1. The adjustment — a boost of 40 cents per hour — was calculated in August by the Department of Finance as part of its minimum wage annual review required by state law. …

Under laws Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2023, fast food workers earn a minimum wage of $20 an hour and health care workers are on track to make $25 an hour. …

“You can’t threaten to blow a hole in our budget and then the only way to stop it is on the backs of workers,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of the union that represents many hotel workers, UNITE HERE Local 11. “That kind of raw extortion and shakedown has no place in our city.”

According to Petersen, a coalition of community organizations and unions are beginning to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would raise the minimum wage to $30 per hour for all workers in Los Angeles.

“The power is everyone together,” said Peterson. “Working people need help and raising wages is the easiest, most straightforward thing to do. Going up 40 cents per hour in 2026 doesn’t move the needle at all.”

Every Three Years, Like Clockwork

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Covid-19: Super Flu or a Mild Cold?
American Thinker | 03/20/2020 | By Anthony J. Ciani

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FESTIVE FEARS Beware the new ‘super flu’ that leaves sufferers with ‘brains like porridge’ and ‘passed out on bathroom floors’
The Sun ^ | 12-14-23 | Isabel Shaw

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Flu season arriving early in US, amid warning of a fast-spreading ‘super flu’ variant
Just the News | 12-22-25 | Joseph Weber

Straight Line of the Day: What Would You Expect To Find on a Lemon-Shaped Planet?

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Scientists Find Unprecedented Lemon-Shaped Planet That Shouldn’t Exist
Study Finds | December 18, 2025 | Michael Zhang (University of Chicago)

Nothing about this planet makes sense. And that’s both confounding and exciting for astronomers.

In A Nutshell

* Astronomers discovered a Jupiter-sized planet with an atmosphere unlike anything seen before, dominated by carbon molecules in ratios that defy current planetary formation theories.

* The planet orbits a pulsar (a dead star’s ultra-dense core) every 7.8 hours and is blasted with gamma rays, heating its atmosphere to nearly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit while stretching it into a lemon shape.

* The carbon-to-oxygen ratio exceeds 100 to 1, and carbon-to-nitrogen tops 10,000 to 1—numbers so extreme that no known planet orbiting a normal star comes close, leaving scientists without an explanation for how it formed.

* The planet’s unusual heating from gamma rays creates powerful westward winds and dramatic temperature differences between its day and night sides, making it a unique laboratory for studying atmospheres under extreme conditions.

“Oh — and did we mention it’s lemon-shaped?”

This Week in Cat News

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The dispersal of domestic cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago
Science | 27 Nov 2025 | Vol 390, Issue 6776 

…domestic cats were introduced to Europe from North Africa starting at ~2 thousand years ago (kya), several millennia after the onset of the Neolithic in Europe. 

Our research suggests a late arrival of domestic cats in China, with the earliest skeletal remains, imagery, and written records appearing no earlier than 1,400 years ago, in the 7th century, both in China and along the ancient Silk Road.

Can ya blame the cats?

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Chinese Guy: “What the…! Who scratched all this silk?”

I’ll Take a Wild Guess — Global Warming?

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Why the world is running out of frankincense
BBC | 12/21/2025 | Lauren Hadeed

The precious, fragrant resin is the scent of the festive season and rising in popularity in the wellness industry – but its natural source is being decimated.

Salaban Salad Muse has built his whole life around frankincense.

Living the small town of Dayaha in the Sanaag region of Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, he works as a seasoned harvester of the famously aromatic resin, obtained only from the Boswellia tree.

Every year, Salad Muse camps for three to six months in a cave near the site he owns with these trees on it.

Wait . . . what? I’d have thought that the odds of my ever reading that sentence were darn close to zero.

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Running ‘n’ Empty

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California seems to have a plan to chase all gasoline businesses out of their state:

Gavin Newsom PANICS after Chevron LEAVES California
YouTube | 12/17/2025 | Steve Turley

… Chevron‘s announcement to relocate its headquarters from California to Houston, Texas, after over 140 years, with CEO Mike Wirth citing high taxes, excessive regulations, and a difficult business environment that impacts retaining engineers.

Valero is reported to be closing its Benicia refinery by April 2026, accepting a $1 billion loss rather than comply with state mandates, resulting in job losses, a 20% budget hit to Benicia, and potential gas supply issues. Phillips 66 is shutting down its Los Angeles refinery by the end of December 2025, eliminating 139,000 barrels per day of fuel production. Combined, these closures are said to remove nearly 20% of California’s gasoline refining capacity within a year.

California’s policies mentioned include cap-and-trade requiring carbon emissions allowances, a unique gasoline blend mandate isolating the state from national markets, and legislation capping refinery profit margins. The state lacks pipelines to other U.S. refineries, and the federal Jones Act restricts domestic shipping to U.S.-flagged vessels, limiting imports from places like Texas.

Governor Of California PANICS After Shell LEAVES California
youtube | 12/18/2025 | Pump Report

… the state’s strict refinery requirements, low-carbon fuel standards, and environmental regulations create a perfect storm for sky-high prices at the pump. … the Cap-and-Trade program adds hidden costs to every gallon, and even minor supply disruptions send prices skyrocketing. 

Permanent Closure Requirements for Underground Storage Tank with Single-Walled Components.
CA WATERBOARDS / X | 12/19/2025 | Mike Netter

In 2014, California passed a bill mandating that all gasoline storage tanks in the state of California be upgraded from single wall tanks to double wall tanks. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2026. As a result of this law, across the state 473 gas stations will close.

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