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I initially posted this a few years back after my dad passed away, but I realized that it seemed like a really good way to end what’s over and head into a New Year. This is the Phil Och's song, "When I'm Gone." It's not his version, though, but an absolutely exquisite cover by two groups, Kim & Reggie Harris and Magpie. I first heard it years ago when the long-running Saturday night show, The Midnight Special on the classical music station WMFT in Chicago played it as their closing song each week. They used it for a great many years, but have changed hosts in recent years, but they were still using it then. My folks absolutely loved the song. Loved it. They enjoyed The Midnight Special a great deal although they liked it more in its earlier years and not the selections as much in its (and their) later years. But they always listened and, if not always all the way through, they always made sure to listen to the ending, just to be sure to hear The Song. The song is about all the things to do in life now, because this is your chance to see them through.
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This is a charming and exceedingly low-key video that Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt made, singing "What are You Doing New Year’s Eve?" Not-shockingly, I figured that it was reasonably appropriate tonight. How low-key are the production values? At the end, Ms. Deschanel leans over to click off the camera. On the site, she also posts the following explanation -- "I have known Joe Gordon-Levitt for going on 12 years. We first met in the summer of 2000 while doing a tiny movie called Manic, where we bonded over a mutual appreciation for Harry Nilsson and Nina Simone and I have been lucky enough to call him one of my dearest friends ever since. When we did 500 Days of Summer 8 years later, we spent every lunch hour dancing to Marvin Gaye in the hair and make up trailer; we had loads of fun. I hope to do a thousand more movies with him because he's simply the best. But in the meantime, we made a little New Year's duet for all of you! The original by Nancy Wilson. ENJOY!" For the sake of accuracy, she's wrong about a couple of things. For starters, it is not "by" Nancy Wilson. Yes, I know she (like many singers) is referring to who recorded it, but who a song is "by" is a personal bugaboo of mine. And it's especially notable here because this particular song was written by the great Broadway composer Frank Loesser (who wrote Guys & Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, among others), though it wasn't for any show or movie, just a standalone song. She's also wrong that the original was recorded by Nancy Wilson, missing by almost two decades. The original recording was performed by Margaret Whiting in 1947. (Wilson didn't record it until 1965, though she had a big hit with it, reaching #17 on the Billboard charts.) But those are details. The performance itself is the lovely point of it all -- Two weeks ago, I wrote here about a state Senate Special Election in Kentucky, for the 37th district. It didn’t get any national coverage because it was just for a state Senate race. Also, it was when a very Blue seat which Democrats held by 21 points, so they were expected to win. What was not expected, though, is that they won the Special Election by 47 points! A remarkable pick-up of 26 points. Well, it was no fluke. Last night, in the Blue 16th district in Iowa, Democrats duplicated that. In the 2024 general election, Kamala Harris had won the election in that district by 16 points. So, winning the Special Election was expected. What was not expected, though, is that -- well, I have to repeat myself -- they won it by 43 points! A remarkable pick-up of 27 points! (And even better, the win kept MAGOPs from having a supermajority in the state Senate.) As in Kentucky, I have no idea if Independent and even some right-wing voters were so upset with the MAGOPs that they voted for Democrats -- or if MAGOPs were so discouraged by their party that they stayed home. But ultimately, the reason doesn't matter all that much, because the result is the same. This is the public responding to the MAGOP party running for election, not about Trump alone who isn't officially on the ballot. Even if the MAGOP candidates, here and in Kentucky, are local and not in Washington, they are supporting and enabling the racist, pathological lying, anti-Semitic Trump with dementia just the same, and all he stands for and all his positions without criticizing him, and are tied to him at the hip. A very good way to end the year and head into 2026. Here’s another of the great-fun “European Reacts” videos by André from Portugal, and again he’s joined by his friend (when this was made, but now-wife, the ever-enthusiastic and surprised Sara), making the video all the better. This one is a bit different and much more low-key than it would otherwise seem. They watch a video by a young woman from Australia who emigrated to America seven years ago and lists the 10 things she loves the most about the country. And react to it. When I say this is much more low-key, boy, do I ever mean that. Number 2 on her list is Denny’s! (Yes, really.) Another thing, for example, is all the American accents. But the fun thing here is the discussion between André and Sara about the list – and even more, it’s fascinating to see how people from other countries seem the United States on things that everyone here takes for granted. Like free refills of soft drinks and coffee. (Yes, those are on the list, too…) Because all three are amazed by that and in awe of it. That’s what intrigues me most about this video – there are things on her list that all three loves, and I don’t remotely agree with are what all America is like( for instance, the friendliness of customer service) …however, to people from other countries whose experiences are totally different, such things stand out to them as being so much different and better. As we near the end of the year, we’re going to go with a tech story today. But it’s a fairly important one -- and also, rest assured, really easy. So, bear with me. It concerns passkeys, which are the future for replacing passwords. You don't need to know this right now. But -- you will be using passkeys to sign into websites and even Windows sometime in the near-future. In fact, they aren’t even just the near-future, passkeys are here right now for many websites (and for logging into Windows and Apple computers). But the concept of passkeys is probably a bit bewildering to most people. The thing is – it’s actually very easy to understand…when explained properly. Which brings us to this. I’ve mentioned my friend Ed Bott on this site occasionally. Ed is a great, award-winning tech journalist who writes a wonderful column on ZDNET (which you can find here). You've heard the expression, "He wrote the book on..." Well, Ed literally "wrote the book" on how to use the Windows -- the current and earlier versions, each published by Microsoft Press. His most-recent, an 816-page tome on using Windows 11 can be found here.  That's how smart and good Ed is. For his column, he writes about very high-tech subjects, but in clear, human English, often with a good dose of Bottian humor. And last week, Ed had a superb article about passkeys. He notes in the piece – “After a lengthy online exchange on the subject with a friend who finally achieved an "Aha!" moment, I think I figured out why the topic is so confusing.” I can speak from personal knowledge when I say how terrific the column is – because the “friend” Ed refers to is…me! About six weeks ago, I’d read yet one more article purporting to explain how easy passkeys are, and it was utterly bewildering. So, I wrote to Ed about passkeys being so convoluted. And that began a long exchange of emails between us, where he tried to explain them – until, finally, after a barrage of questions, I did indeed have that “Aha!” moment. And for Ed, as he writes in this column, based on that exchange, it was an “Aha!” moment for him, as well, in realizing how to explain it easily. The challenge in explaining what a passkey is and how it works, he notes, is that “A passkey is not a tangible thing -- it's an abstraction.” And Ed figured out how to easily explain the abstraction. (I try not to bug Ed too much with techie questions, since I know he SO graciously spends a lot of time explaining them. Amusingly, in checking our passkey exchange, my first email to him had the Subject line: "Minor passkey question." Ha! It turned into anything but that! I'm deeply appreciative each time he goes into Bott Mode and explains so wonderfully, but he always says that "Explaining is what I do," and adds that often my questions and our discussions lead to column ideas for him. My favorite came after a lengthy exchange we had about me getting a new computer and all the options. He later wrote an article about it, and in a video interview about the column, he told the interviewer, "I was having a discussion with a friend -- let's call him....."Bob".) I’ll let Ed's passkey article speak for itself, because it’s so good and so fun to discover one’s own “Aha!” moment. But just to put it in perspective and set the table, I’ll give a very brief, easy -- and very simplistic -- background. But it should give you a basic starting point. First, the reason to get rid of passwords is that a password can be figured out by scammers or stolen. Passkeys cannot. Passkeys only reside physically on your own computer (or tablet or phone). And they’re hidden in a totally secure area on your system – so hidden that even you don’t know where they are. As Ed wrote to me in our email exchange, "That passkey can't be stolen. It's locked in a secure vault and is never exposed. Ever." And second – and this is part of the “Aha!” moment realization – is that passkeys are nothing more than like a high-tech handshake between the website you’re logging into and that hidden passkey on your system. Think of it this way: When you’re asked by a website, “Do you want to log in with a passkey?” and answer yes, that website checks to see on its own site that “Oh, okay, this person has a passkey” -- and it then sends a question to your device, to ask “Is this person who they say they are?” What your system then does is simply confirm that the request came from a legitimate site, and then asks you to confirm your identity. Once you do, your computer goes ahead and checks that secure, hidden area that is physically on your system to see whether you really do have a saved passkey. If it finds one, it sends a confirmation back to the website (but does not send the passkey itself!), and you get access. Again, to clarify, the passkey is never even sent. It stays secure and hidden on your system. The only thing sent back is the confirmation that all is well, so let the person into your website. That’s it. There’s nothing for you to remember. No keystrokes that an outside hacker can steal. No way at all for an outside scammer to get access to your passkey unless they literally are sitting at your system and using it. (And even at that, they still have to be able to first identify themselves with either biometrics, like facial recognition, or the PIN you set up on your device to log in.) So, that's what a passkey is: just the website you want to log into shaking hands with the passkey hidden on your system, and matching. That’s all. That’s also just a very basic explanation. Ed explains it so much better. So clearly. So simply. So much more enjoyably. And his article also has more, interesting things to know about passkeys and using them on multiple devices. So, do yourself a favor and take a look at his article about it here. Because passkeys are here already. (I use about a dozen so far.) And they are going to eventually replace passwords. Because they are extremely safe. And easy. As far as adorable animal videos go, this is just one adorable beaver And her story from being rescued in distress at a very young age through her rehabbing with the help of a deeply caring woman and her family just makes her all the more adorable. You may not be able to access it below -- but if not, the direct link is here. |
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 
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