Wretch by Eric LaRocca

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

“Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes, you’ll know you’re dead.”

Our narrator Simeon is a middle-aged man who is mourning the loss of his husband Jonathan. He’s also recently lost his job. He has an ex-wife and a 16-year-old son. We don’t see much of the son, but I often got the impression he was younger than 16 due to the way his parents treated him and talked about him. With references to chat rooms and webpages buffering before loading, I initially thought this took place in the 1990s, but it turns out it takes place in the present time.

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Good News Friday

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  • There were 1.5 billion people estimated to be at risk of trachoma in 2002, dropping to 97.1 million as of November 2025: a 94% reduction. WHO.
  • A new milestone in the cancer fight: 7 in 10 patients now survive five-plus years. NBC News.
  • For the first time in history, more Mexicans are categorized as middle class than as living in poverty. Mexico News Daily.
  • Americans in the 1990s were at least twice as likely to be victims of crime as they are today. Our World in Data.
  • In 2025, the U.S. recorded the fewest shooting deaths of any year since 2015. Gun sales and mass shootings also declined last year. The Trace.
  • Presbyterian churches in Pittsburgh canceled $14 million in medical debt for their neighbors. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  • Pedro Pascal and Bella Hadid raise $5.5M at Gaza and Sudan aid concert. Good Good Good.
  • Coal power generation falls in China and India for first time since 1970s. The Guardian.
  • The scimitar-horned oryx, once extinct in the wild, has now been downgraded to endangered. BBC.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

When Could Women Vote for President of the United States?

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

I’m currently reading a biography of President William Howard Taft and it mentioned in passing that women in some states voted for president in the 1912 election. This is before the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 which allowed white women in all states to vote. (Non-white men and women were technically able to vote as well, but voter suppression tactics in several states effectively disenfranchised them until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.)

Out of curiosity, I tried to look up which presidential election was the first one women could vote in. Was it 1912 or was it an earlier election? Unfortunately, doing internet searches isn’t as easy as it used to be, so it took me a long time to get an answer.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Three out of four countries are expected to have had a decline in poverty between 2021 and 2024. World Bank.
  • 100 per cent of basic food needs in Gaza met for first time since 2023. United Nations.
  • A $370,000-per-year cystic fibrosis treatment will cost as little as $2,000 now that a Bangladeshi drug manufacturer will make a generic version. The drug delivers normal life expectancy to patients, who otherwise die as young adults. The Guardian.
  • Millennials spend more time than past generations with their children. The childcare and housework gender gap is also closing fast. The Economist.
  • Couple donates all 46 acres of their backyard to become affordable housing for their rural town. Good Good Good.
  • 7 numbers that explain why the future of buildings is all-electric. Canary Media.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • On Jan. 1, 2026, the minimum wage will increase in 19 states and 49 cities and counties. In 2026, 79 jurisdictions will have a minimum wage of $15 or more. USA Today.
  • Over two decades, a couple planted over 2.5 million trees to restore a Brazilian nature preserve. Good Good Good.
  • Scientists discovered thousands of new species in 2025. See 9 that wowed them, from the ‘curiously isolated’ butterfly to the screaming pika. Good Good Good.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

The Simpsons Season 9

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

This season starts with one of the funniest episodes, “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson” (S9, E1). It starts with Moe the bartender telling his customers that 91% of all traffic accidents are caused by the six of them, so they need to start having a designated driver. Barney draws the black egg and can’t drink. He’s even unable to party with Duffman in his first appearance, but he goes on a bender afterward, leaving Homer’s car illegally parked between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. I’ll admit the sight of the Twin Towers brought a tear to my eye. (This episode was made before the towers were destroyed on 9/11.)

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • All the good news the headlines missed in 2025. Fix the News.
  • 2025 year in review: a remarkable drop in crime. Jeff-alytics.
  • Ten things that are going right in America. Noahpinion.
  • The 2025 stories that prove people still run toward danger. Vox.
  • Teacher 3D prints prosthetic hand for 4th grader right in the school’s lab: ‘It cost about $20’. Good Good Good.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet by John G. Turner

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

I like that Turner puts Smith into context, telling us what his contemporaries thought of him and what else was going on at the time. You can’t really understand Joseph Smith without understanding early 1800s America. Turner isn’t a Mormon himself, but he’s writing with a Mormon audience in mind. He obviously admires and sympathizes with Joseph Smith Jr., but he also criticizes some of the things he does.

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Plur1bus again

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

I posted before about Plur1bus. Now that I’ve finished the first season, I’ve got a short additional thought to share.

So, the hive mind of Plur1bus makes even less sense. They claim they don’t make people join them against their will even though they did this to billions of people in the first episode. They say animals aren’t part of the hive mind, even though it all started with a rat. They claim they can’t lie, but they do lie by omission. At one point, they let Carol believe they’re vegetarians by saying they “prefer to be vegetarians” when they really aren’t. This counts as lying as far as I’m concerned. When one of them dies or is in pain, they’re aware of it, but it doesn’t hurt the rest of them. If this is the case, why do millions of them die whenever Carol yells at them? The only explanation is that the hive mind can indeed lie. With all the time she has to think things over, Carol really should have figured out they’re a liar much sooner, but she hasn’t.

Also, they apparently can’t pick apples from trees because they think this hurts the tree. Huh? Why would someone with the collective knowledge of all humanity believe such an obviously wrong and fringe idea? They can’t hurt any living thing directly, but they don’t do anything to prevent living things from harming each other. Who would think that kind of morality makes sense? The set of rules they follow gets more nonsensical and self-contradictory as the season goes along. I guess it’s still interesting to watch, but it’s definitely one of those shows you have to turn your brain off before watching. If there’s a second season, I probably won’t bother with it.