Happy Friday, dear friends. One of my favorite things about the holidays are all the beautiful lights. When I see them, my heart simply gets happy, no matter what I am feeling a second before.
When we started decorating our home, years ago, we decided to go with some old fashioned lights. I just liked them better than all the digital running lights or the new LED versions. Some things in life, we easily upgrade, and others we simply do not want to change. Since change is the order of the day, whenever I find a sticking point to change, I want to investigate it.
After thinking on it for a while, I realized that those lights connect me to beautiful memories from my childhood, in a Pavlovian-type of mental pathway. The memories occurred, in view of those lights and are burned forever intertwined.
While I have no urgent desire to change those lights, simply to be comfortable with change, knowing that I can keep those memories, without the lights, makes me happy. I don’t need a trigger to remember all the great things that have happened in my life, I simply choose to be grateful for them and they come flooding back in.
Let’s get to the news, beginning with an odd international cause-and-effect situation in the movie industry. We jump around from there.
Sony Pictures pulls movie in response to hacker threats.
We discussed previously, that Sony Pictures’ computer systems were hacked extensively in recent weeks. The cyber-attack was perpetrated by a group, that demanded Sony not release a comedy movie based on an assassination attempt against North Korea’s leader, Kim Jung-un.
At first, the group released sensitive company documents on the internet, and then released personal information about actors and company personnel. This week, they threatened to attack movie theaters who were premiering “The Interview.”
Initially, Sony, and all the actors involved with the movie, canceled the pre-release press tour, but yesterday they announced that they would shelve the project. All five major movie chains backed out of their contracts to screen the film, in light of the threats.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. As far as I can gather, this is the first time a multi-national company has caved to the threats of cyber-attacks. I wonder if it will set a precedent for future attempts to control the actions of major corporations.
Moving on…
Mars rover finds the building blocks of life on our red neighbor.
The Curiosity Mars Rover, has been tooling around on the red planet since 2012, sending back pictures and data to space researchers. The goal is to learn as much as possible about our neighboring planet, in an effort to plan a manned research mission in the near future.
This week, Curiosity project scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology, announced that complex chlorobenzene, dichloroethane, dichloropropane and dichlorobutane were discovered, inside rock samples, analyzed by the Rover. These chlorine-based organic compounds, do not indicate that life ever existed on Mars, but they show that it is definitely possible.
Researchers also revealed an interesting spike in atmospheric methane on Mars, which indicates organic decomposition. More analysis is in the works, to discover the reasons behind the spike and what it says about the historical evolution of the planet.
Curiosity Rover Finds Life’s Building Blocks on Mars by Mike Wall for Space.com
Food reclamation is the basis of the Real Junk Food Project in the UK.
We previously shared articles on food reclamation movements in the US. With the institution of the Good Samaritan laws, charities are able to feed a large number of people on food, reclaimed from restaurants and large retailers, that has reached its industry-set expiration date.
This type of law is not in effect in the UK, but that hasn’t stopped the Real Junk Food Project. Adam Smith, a 29-year old trained chef, in Armley, Leeds, feeds his hungry clients on goods that would otherwise have been thrown away by supermarkets, independent grocers and food banks. His cafe is based on “pay as you feel,” and if a client does not have money, they can help with washing dishes.
The Real Junk Food Project has fed over 10,000 hungry people on 29 Tons of reclaimed food, in the past 10 months. They have also raised over £30,000 in the process, from meal donations/sales.
Smith is in the process of negotiating with a number of large retail chains to reclaim their expired food products. He also hopes to get the laws changed, so that more establishments will stop fearing prosecution and work with this great cause. The project has inspired other cafes, built on similar platforms, to open across the UK and in the US as well. This is a wonderful way of addressing the gigantic food waste and hunger issues. It takes food out of the waste processing system and puts it firmly, and lovingly, in the bellies of those who need it most.
Jerry Seinfeld tells it like it is.
Our lovely Andrea Scully shared this link with me, because she knows my past, and thought I would find it interesting. Many years ago, I worked as an advertising executive at a number of large international agencies. At some point in my career, I realized that I could no longer do that work and be happy in my heart. Luckily, children came along, and it was easy for me to flow into another life phase.
I distinctly remember the clamor for the CLIO’s, which are awards given out for advertisers within the advertising community. Ad executives covet them more than anything, to boost their stock in the business. They all wanted to get a pat on the back from their business peers.
In this video, comedy super-star Jerry Seinfeld accepts a CLIO, and goes into the most outrageous acceptance speech I have ever heard. It had me laughing, but trust me, this is actually how advertisers think about things.
And finally…
What happens when a baby penguin meets a human for the first time?
Penguins rarely see humans in their home habitat. They have a set number of predators that they instinctively know to avoid, but humans are not on the list.
In this adorable video, we see what happens when a baby Emperor Penguin meets a human, on its own level, for the first time. I couldn’t stop laughing!
Curious Baby Penguin Reacts To Seeing A Human For The First Time on Sunnyskyz
That’s the news for today. Have a satisfying day. I hope to see you back here tomorrow for more news.
Be Well. Be Joy. Be Love!
Alex