Yum, pumpkin chili. Go for it.

If it's not bulging or rusted, it's totally fine.

I support using the pumpkin

OK, did today’s crossword and will see if I can keep that up. Got a little time to work out whether this is would be a practical trip for me to take.

Crossword meet-up LET'S GO. (Someone remind me to sign up in January)

That can of pumpkin is 100% fine. Best-by dates are bullshit.

Hmm I’ve only been doing the mini crossword. But maybe I can start trying the main one. I usually get bored and frustrated halfway through and give up

I can solve the Monday and Tuesday crosswords, and sometimes the Wednesday crosswords, but Thursday-Sunday are too hard for me.

I can solve the Monday and Tuesday crosswords, and sometimes the Wednesday crosswords, but Thursday-Sunday are too hard for me.

Sometimes I think Will Shortz has it out for me. Thursdays are the shenanigans.

Mr. Claus and I got to do a fundraiser for the Trevor Project tonight--pictures with Santa. The photographer had a rescued possum. I got to hold a cutie-patootie, sweetie head possum!

I got to hold a cutie-patootie, sweetie head possum!

How fun!

Update from Bluesky on Syria (which is giving me much quicker news than any other source):

The Rebels are in Damascus and Russia and Iran have withdrawn all their people (diplomatic and military) and Assad has bugged out, so it's basically over.

HTS (the major rebel group) has been saying all the right things and (so far) done them. That is, they have said they will safely treat all sects (Kurds, Sunni, Shia, Christians et al). HTS was originally an offshoot of Al-Qaeeda but split off from International Jihadism in 2016 and have maintained that they exist to overthrow Assad and set up institutional governance (that is - not under autocratic control).

Of course, the Taliban said a lot of things that were flat out lies as the Americans left Afghanistan and have gone back to their wicked anti-woman ways. But we really don't know if this is going to be better for the Syrian people, but Assad was a torturing, murdering fucker so there's a glimmer of hope it could be good and it would be difficult to be worse.

One reason to think HTS might mean what they say is that if they did the US would eliminate the sanctions that have crippled the Syrian economy, and would actually be happy to invest there.

In the realm of Realpolitik this has huge implications for world power struggles. It's a huge strategic loss for both Russia and Iran. Russia in particular loses its naval port in the Mediterranean, and it makes them look weak. Two things contributed massively to this: Israel taking out almost the entire leadership of Hezbollah, and Russia expending so many resources in the Ukraine it couldn't focus on Syria.

The two biggest winners in the power game are Turkey (which will have much bigger influence in the region) and Israel. Though the US benefits because it significantly weakens Russia and Iran. I wonder if it might be a factor in weakening Iran enough to overthrow the theocracy there.

tl;dr: huge change in the mideast which will have massive international implications, but too soon to tell if it will be good, bad or otherwise for humans on earth.

I got to hold a cutie-patootie, sweetie head possum!

Named Pogo?

Named Pogo?

His name is Wish.

But that would have been awesome.