Our tradition has evolved over the years. We used to throw a huge bash until one year a "friend" drank waaaaaay too much, pulled a handgun, locked himself into our bathroom, and said he was going to shoot himself. After that, we decided New Years Eve was a quiet and private affair. Now we make a huge deal out of cleaning the house, so as to start the New Year "fresh". Then we dress in our really luxurious silk PJ's and robes, dance together a bit, mix a few cocktails, watch the ball drop, and crash. At Midnight, again to start fresh, we run outside, drop our robes, and kiss one another. This year is going to be close to, if not below, zero, so perhaps not.

We do have a New Year's Day "Open House" where we make a shit-ton of finger food and friends and family drop by throughout the day for a bit and a little Hair Of The Dog.

One more step closer to robotic food assembly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-dark-side-of-your-5-footlong-business-owners-say-it-could-bankrupt-them/2017/12/28/425b6ae8-e671-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html?utm_term=.b1e2ef00c899

"A Subway sandwich is far more than the sum of its fillings, franchisee Keith Miller says.

Those ingredients cost roughly $2. Then he pays labor. Electricity. Gas. Royalties. Credit card transaction fees. Rent.

All told, Miller, who owns three Subway franchises in Northern California, says it costs him well over $4 to produce one of Subway’s foot-long subs. And that is why, when the chain announced plans to drop the price of the sandwich to $4.99 starting in January, he and hundreds of Subway’s other 10,000 U.S. franchisees sent a strongly worded letter warning that the promotion could force some stores to close."

...

"Labor costs at fast-food restaurants have increased in each of the past three years, according to the financial-consulting firm BDO, the result of rising minimum wages and increased competition for employees. While the federal minimum wage has not risen since 2009, 29 states and the District of Columbia have instituted higher wages.

In California, where the minimum wage will be $11 per hour starting Jan. 1, Miller’s labor costs are up 50 percent from 10 years ago, he said. The cost of a full-price sub has risen only 20 percent.

“It’s a hard cost per sandwich,” Miller said. “People can only make so many sandwiches per hour. We find it’s about seven.”"

http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=PAZ002&warncounty=PAC049&firewxzone=PAZ002&local_place1=4%20Miles%20W%20Edinboro%20PA&product1=Winter+Storm+Watch&lat=41.8859&lon=-80.2045#.WkUKVd-nHIU

"...More lake effect snow is expected off of Lake Erie...

.Low pressure will drift slowly southeast across the Great
Lakes Thursday night through Saturday. Snow will move into the
area early Friday ahead of this system. Friday afternoon, winds
will turn west and bring lake effect snow into portions of
northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania. The lake effect snow
will continue Friday night and Saturday. Winds will turn northwest
and likely disrupt the snow bands late Saturday. Snowfall totals
could potentially reach 12 to 16 inches where bands persist Friday
through Saturday with highest amounts likely in Erie county PA."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/huge-explosion-st-petersburg-shopping-11759063

Very busy due to Christmas shopping

"A huge explosion has rocked a busy supermarket in St Petersburg, leaving at least 10 people injured.

The blast happened in the Perekrestok supermarket in the northwest of the city, and shoppers fled in panic as emergency crews descended on the scene.

It is thought a bomb packed with shrapnel exploded in a storage locker, and authorities are treating the explosion as a deliberate attempt to kill.

One person is believed to be in a serious condition, while a further three were taken to hospital.

Six more were treated at the scene, emergency service sources told Russian media.

It comes days after a foiled terror plot to target the city led to large quantities of explosives being seized."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5204811/Flinders-Street-driver-taken-cell-interrogated.html

The Afghan refugee accused of deliberately running over shoppers in Melbourne has been taken for police interrogation.

Saeed Noori hid his face with his cuffed hands while sitting between two detectives as he was driven from Melbourne Police Station to the Custody Centre below the city's Magistrates Court on Friday.

The 32-year-old spent the previous 24 hours under police guard in hospital after ploughing a white Suzuki Vitara into 17 pedestrians outside Flinders Street Station.

Speaking to investigators from his hospital bed, he made a 'number of utterances' and 'spoke about dreams and voices'.

'He also attributed some of his actions to the poor treatment of Muslims,' Acting Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said on Friday morning.

60 pounds of beef, 20 pounds of sausage, 20 pounds of bacon, 30 pounds of chicken, 20 pounds of pork loin. Taking a short break. We have to now take turns cutting the beef into steaks, and the pork into chops and vacuum seal and freeze the who lot. Tomorrow is Christmas dinner shopping.

It sounds as if the local commander paid the price.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/another-north-korean-soldier-makes-a-mad-dash-across-the-dmz-1513820797

SEOUL—North Korean soldiers crossed into South Korea early Thursday in pursuit of a comrade who had defected across the heavily guarded demilitarized zone about an hour earlier and were forced to turn back when South Korean guards fired warning shots, defense officials in Seoul said.

The junior ranking defector was detected by South Korean surveillance as he dashed across a northwestern portion of the DMZ about 8 a.m., a Defense Ministry spokesman told a news briefing.

North Korean soldiers were spotted about an hour later, seemingly tracking the defector, and crossed briefly into the South. In response, South Korean guards fired 20 warning shots, prompting the North Koreans to halt before returning to the northern side of the border, the ministry said.

Gunfire could be heard in the North another hour later, about 10 a.m., the ministry said. But South Korean authorities said they weren’t aware of any targets in the South coming under fire.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-20/zar-tumbles-south-africa-decides-nationalize-central-bank-confiscate-land

"Amid "near collapse," South Africa’s ruling African National Congress gushed a double whammy of capital-flight-creating rulings this afternoon. The Rand is tumbling after the ANC agreed that land should be expropriated (from whites) without compensation, and perhaps even more worrisome, the Reserve Bank be wholly owned by the state.

Enoch Godongwana, head of the party’s economic transformation committee, told reporters that ANC’s National Executive Committee will seek an amendment to the constitution to allow for land expropriation, noting that the confiscation must be sustainable and mustn’t damage economy and food production.

South Africa’s ruling party has also accepted a proposal that the central bank should be wholly state-owned rather than an institution with private shareholders, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Delegates at the African National Congress’ elective conference in Johannesburg decided 100 percent of the Reserve Bank should belong to the government, said the people who asked not to be identified because it hasn’t been made public yet."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5198149/Couple-crack-open-12-double-yolked-eggs-row.html

"A couple were left shell-shocked after they cracked open two boxes of eggs to find all 12 had two yolks.

Babs Lee, 47, from Armadale, West Lothian, was called into the kitchen by her husband Jay, 42, after he cracked two double-yolkers in a row.

The pair and their son Ryan, 20, then watched as the four other eggs from the same box hit the frying pan to reveal they were also doubles.

But they really hit the jackpot when they reached for a second box of eggs the following day to make omelettes for tea and discovered all six also had two yolks.

One in every 1,000 eggs produced in this country is double-yolked, so the chances against getting six in a row are 1,000 to the power of six - or one quintillion."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amtrak-train-derailment-tacoma-washington-traffic-today-live-updates/

DUPONT, Wash. -- An Amtrak train has derailed on an overpass in Washington, and authorities say "injuries and casualties" were reported. At this time, all lanes of traffic remain blocked on Interstate 5.

The Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted a photo of the derailment, urging motorists to avoid the area.