January 2021 – THE HORROR REPORT

Singing out of tune in the 21st century

Tonight in history. The then Redskins won the Super Bowl and a show premiered that made us rethink nostalgia ..

The Washington Redskins—not their name now of course— defeated the Broncos by the score of 42– 10, winning their second Super Bowl. The game was played on January 31, 1988

After the game that year there was a special show premiering:

THE WONDER YEARS would go on to be one of the greatest shows in the history of television and would run until 1993…

But consider this.. the program premiered in 1988. The show featured nostalgia from 20 years previous in 1968. A crazy time of course

And that would mean if the WONDER YEARS premiered today and the same time constraints applied, our ‘wonder years’ would be 2001…

And to some of us who have been online since that year, this website included, it sure doesn’t seem like 20 years. Maybe it didn’t seem like that to those who turned 40 in 1988 either..

The wonder years indeed. Boy do we wonder .. where has the time gone?

The blizzard of 2021?

A long duration snow event: Stage set in the East Coast for blizzard

Major nor’easter to take shape, unleash snow, ice and wind for daysAccuWeather meteorologists break down the storm heading for the eastern U.S., where the most snow and ice will fall, how long it will last, and more with this multi-faceted storm.

This may not the biggest storm EVER but could be one of the biggest in years? It is a long duration event and has a lot of coverage area on the map..

Additionally there will be large areas above 18 inches of snow.. some locations that may even near 36 inches..

There will be local blizzard conditions..

In some lucky (unlucky?) places snow of varying intensities will actually continue for 3 days..

“Additionally, confidence is growing that much of the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington D.C. northward will see several inches, with totals possibly exceeding a foot in some spots.”
It would take more than 7 inches of snow for Washington, D.C., to get back on average pace for snow this winter. Thus far, only 0.3 of an inch of snow has fallen in the city. By Jan. 28, the normal snowfall is 7.5 inches in the nation’s capital.
Farther to the north, New York City is close to its seasonal average to date with 10.6 inches. The upcoming storm has the potential to pad the Big Apple’s total for the winter of 2020-21 and perhaps double it.

TOYS R DEAD part 2

Toys R Us died. Then tried a comeback.. This weekend the final stores, yet again, are closed…

The company didn’t work.

Toys-R-us gave it the old college try..

Some stores that were closed reopened in November 2019 as part of a small U.S. comeback attempt by the iconic toy chain..

Today it being reported that the it’s over, Again.

The Toys R Us store at the Galleria mall in Houston shuttered on Jan. 15, while one at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, closed on Tuesday, according Tru Kids, a new entity formed when it acquired Toys R Us’ intellectual property during its liquidation in 2018.

The Toys R Us website is still in operation.

“As a result of COVID, we made the strategic decision to pivot our store strategy to new locations and platforms that have better traffic,” Tru Kids said in an emailed statement Friday. “Consumer demand in the toy category and for Toys R Us remains strong and we will continue to invest in the channels where the customer wants to experience our brand.”

The two shuttered locations were about 6,500 square feet – about one-seventh of the size of the old Toys R U stores and emphasized hands-on experiences. Employees unwrapped toys, for instance, so that kids could try them out.

While we can say here in NORTHEAST PA, we were fans of KB Toys because that is just what we had, there will always be a special place in our heart for any

…Does Mitt ROMNEY agree!?

x x x

And just for some nostalgia, here is what it was like to shop at a toy store in the early 1990s… those were the days..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZilFWyB8zPA&feature=emb_title

All of the HE-MEN you cannot find

All of the ads for the newest HE-MAN toys say to collect them all.. it’s tough to collect things are not able to be found!

https://coalspeaker.tumblr.com/post/641736046376288256/photoset_iframe/coalspeaker/tumblr_qnqvxnVhuq1qfjo2g/0/false

The newest wave of updated 2021 HE-MAN action figures inludes ROBOTO, SHE-RA, MER-MAN, and ZODAK..

And sadly they are no where to be found on store shelves across America!

Although some on Twitter have bragged they were in a Target in St. Louis Missouri..

And one other showed off a full collection of all of the newly released action figures so far in her collection;

In the mean time, my local WALMART continues to just carry over-stocked amounts of HE-MAN and SKELETOR.. with no new wave figures yet to be found..

🙁

The lonely pandemic

The pandemic has created havoc everywhere.. especially in the silence of your socially distanced mind..

The Pandemic Has Erased Entire Categories of FriendshipThere’s a reason you miss the people you didn’t even know that well.Amanda Mull

This is a great piece in the ATLANTIC by Amanda Mull.. she explains the scientific reasons why you are missing people that you didn’t even know that well.. But one other point she makes also is worthy to think about:

Some of the most obvious consequences of our extended social pause could indeed play out in the professional realm. I started hearing these concerns months ago, while writing a story on how working from home affects people’s careers. According to the experts I spoke with, losing the incidental, repeated social interactions that physical workplaces foster can make it especially difficult for young people and new hires to establish themselves within the complex social hierarchy of a workplace. Losing them can make it harder to progress in work as a whole, access development opportunities, and be recognized for your contributions. (After all, no one can see you or what you’re doing.) These kinds of setbacks early in professional life can be especially devastating, because the losses tend to compound—fall behind right out of the gate, and you’re more likely to stay there.

Likely to stay there.

Mull points out that Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychologist and neuroscientist at Brigham Young University, has found that social isolation increases the risk of premature death from any cause by almost 30 percent.

Apparently it also creates the death of a career much sooner..

There are other really interesting points to consider in the full article.. The roaring 20s rescued the malaise of the 1918 pandemic. So she ends her story on optimism that the 2020s will roar the same way..

The 1986 possibilities of STRANGER THINGS 4!

https://coalspeaker.tumblr.com/post/641735389840850944/photoset_iframe/coalspeaker/tumblr_qnqw7yDutn1qfjo2g/0/false

Leaked photos online from the set of STRANGER THINGS 4 indicate that the show will take place in the spring of 1986.. recall at that time that America was recovering from the aftermath of the Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster and the biggie, Saturday 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster..

Anticipation for the show grows with those two amazing potential inclusions into the storyline..

It seems likely at least for the nuclear accident as we know Hopper is in the old Soviet Union..

New security measure in DC will include permanent fencing around the Capitol

PERMANENT SECURITY FENCING coming to US Capitol.

New statement from acting US Capitol Police chief: “Vast improvements to the physical security infrastructure must be made to include permanent fencing”

Welcome to the new new new new new new NEWEST world in the POST POST POST post post violence.

Field trips will never be the same again!

WHOA TO Wuhan.. grieving resident says ‘don’t be fooled’

Zhang Hai has a warning to World Health Organization-led scientists researching the origin of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China: Don’t be fooled.

“If you only work behind the doors with government officials, going to places and reading documents arranged by them, you will be easily fooled,” said Zhang, who said his father died in February 2020 after going into a hospital for a routine fracture operation and contracting the virus.

As the WHO team of scientists began its field work into the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan on Friday, Zhang is among a group of bereaved Chinese families seeking an audience with the international experts.

They accuse the authorities of concealing information about the virus at the start of the outbreak, which has since killed more than 2 million people globally, and want answers.

“If the WHO dances to their tune, the government will have a good excuse to reject the family members of dead patients that are trying to hold the government accountable,” said Zhang, who was born in Wuhan and now lives in Shenzhen
— Read on www.nbcnews.com/news/world/who-mission-covid-origin-begins-china-bereaved-son-seeks-answers-n1256121

Bubble trouble! Dow drops 600 points, briefly falling below 30,000 amid concern about GameStop trading frenzy

D U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday as heightened speculative trading by retail investors continued to unnerve the market.

The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 620 points, or 2%, after falling below the 30,000 mark at its session low. The 30-stock benchmark is on track to post its worst day since October.

The S&P 500 fell 2.4% as all 11 sectors traded in the red. The Nasdaq Composite slid 2.6% as Apple dropped 4.7% and other major tech names slipped.
— Read on www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/stock-futures-decline-as-volatile-wall-street-week-continues.html

The variants are changing everything! Perhaps those posters have to be re-printed

For a year now, posters have graced all public places and government facilities, airports and restaurants (that are still open).. how to prepare for COVID-19! the cough! the gasps! The sore throats.

New variants are re-writing the rules of engagement with the virus..

Confirmed with many people have said for months, the warning signs are not always clear. Sometimes no fever.. no cough.. just loss of taste, weeks of headaches, and numbness of feet or hands..

Changes to the tongue, the hands or the soles of the feet could give an early indication of Covid-19 infection, Spanish researchers found in a study presented on Tuesday.

The conclusions emerged from research carried out among 666 patients with Covid-19 at Madrid’s IFEMA field hospital set up during the first wave of the pandemic, the regional government said.

One in four patients said they had noticed changes to their tongue, while four out of 10 spotted unusual signs on the palms of their hands or soles of their feet.

British media, plagued with the new variant, is warning its nation about the 6 warning signs to watch for: While cough and fever remain, now included are rashes, tiredness, and headaches..