Place Your Bets, Ladies and Gents

 

January 28, 2026

 

I was watching a TV show recently, and the murder victim died of a mysterious poison that turned out to be pufferfish. (I’m not giving anything away, they figure it out early on.)

 

I immediately bet the person next to me that pufferfish would be the latest entry in Hollywood’s game of “Follow the Plotline Leader.” As discussed before, my personal feeling is that most TV shows are written by people sitting in one room, who swap stories and swipe twists for storylines. (Like how Elsbeth and the main character in “High Potential” both dress in over-the-top, outré outfits.)

 

However: I lost the bet—at least temporarily. For what should appear in the plot but an absorbed twin? And guess what was a plotline in a show I saw last week? (If you said, “An absorbed twin”, you win.)

 

So, see if you can guess

 

A) How many times “Absorbed Twin” is used as a plotline this season and

B) What other, if any, plotline will be shared from show

 

What WON"T They Do?

 

January 22, 2026

 

The latest NIMBY cause is data centers, with their predicted use of energy and resources. And the space they’ll take, and how they’ll ruin the vibe of rural areas. I don’t blame anyone for resisting the incursions. But people want the results of the data centers. What to do, what to do?

 

Here’s what people WON’T do: Stop using AI every time they get on the web to look something up. We’re told that AI uses tremendous power; so stop using it as your default, even though it now comes up first in the search results. Scroll down.

 

Stop using it for other things, too. It’s not your therapist, it’s not your essay writer. It does have its uses, but you don’t need it all the time.

 

It’s the same thing with energy use: We complain that resources are dwindling, yet we continue to fire up the car for every trivial errand, instead of combining trips; we drive gas guzzlers; we use the gas guzzlers to make a gazillion trips a year taking our kids activities that they really could live without; we leave everything plugged in even when we’re not using it—sure the power drain may be minimal in your house, but with a few billion people doing it, yes, it can add up; we crank up the heat and the air conditioning even in moderate climates; we build in unsuitable environments that demand huge amounts of heat or air conditioning, or that use enormous amounts of water to keep the lawns and golf courses green…

 

What WON’T people do to keep the environment safe or their neighborhoods intact?

 

A lot, as it turns out.

 

(As a refresher, NIMBY stands for “Not In My Backyard”)

 

 

Not Just a Scenario for the Movies

 

January 22, 2026

 

With ICE wreaking havoc on the peace of mind of citizens and non-citizens alike, I can’t help wondering how soon thugs will start dressing like ICE agents—masks, riot gear, etc.—and start doing smash-and-grabs at businesses. Just because they can.

 

Not out of the realm of possibility, I think.