Two Friends, A Pot Of Coffee, And A Whole Lot Of Opinions On Living A Meaningful Life.

 Christmas is not always the best of times for some people. It can be part of a Seasonal Affect Disorder, in which the "season" is the Holiday Season. The episode opens with a clip from a depressing Christmas tune that Wigmore Allen Gibbons produced. Some people, for a variety of reasons, including those plagued with addictions such as alcoholism, turn to substance abuse to cope. Jim and Terry share a few stories of growing up with memories of those awkward Christmas visits. What are some other traditions that make the Holidays pleasant? Jim and Terry share stories of the small community Christmas Tree lighting and singing carols on the street, as well as a few other activities and they have encountered. Terry drops hints of an upcoming interview with a SoundCloud Artist from Norway, who has a coffee song of her own that caught Terry's ear. Look for that in 2020. As well, a cover rock band from Winnipeg - Royal Mint Jelly - has caught Terry's attention, too, and may be featured in early 2020 as

We start off with Terry crooning with Keith Allen, in a jazzy, slow, festive tune that seems to remind Jim of David Bowie. The tune is called I'm Coming Home For Christmas and you can find it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/user-536194718...).  From there we talk about Christmas in terms of the music, hymns and baking that make our Christmas traditions. Baking? Yup, Terry will be hosting a day of baking with his Mother-in-law. The smell of baking wafting through the house is something Jim wants to poke his nose into. Jim loves the smells of home cooking and baking.Jim talks turkey. Terry talks brining and stuffing a turkey for a gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free food sensitive diet. Sounds complicated, but the rice stuffing is so delicious. Jim loves food! As long as he doesn't have to prepare it, Jim will eat anything.Terry mentions crackers - those festive decorated tubes that you grab at the ends and pull to pop and and usually have a toy and a paper crown or hat. King for a day, you say? W

 A little Christmas exploration in preparation for the season? Why not? Terry introduces a fellow songwriter - Darren Gibbons (from the UK) - and his Christmas Time song. Darren sent Terry a Christmas tune he had written and recorded the music to, but wondered about Terry singing on it, and Terry does enjoy his seasonal crooning. Available on SoundCloud on Terry's page...or cloud ;) What about Christmas traditions? Die Hard binge-watching anyone? How about Die Hard comic books? Terry muses about those traditions while Jim talks about his arthritis and how it limits his...er...eating? What? We're able to laugh at at this point, but keeping up with regular doctor's visits is increasingly important at this stage of life. The Jim and Terry Show have Christmas lights on, and Jim talks about his music during the Christmas Season, and he mentions his latest song: Go To Hell...what? Seriously, Jim loves Christmas, Christmas Carols, and his local church's Walk to Bethlehem, and Christmas Eve Candlelight serv

 There is a list Jim and Terry try using lists on the white board and the bamboo lapboard to get organized. Today's list, which Terry can't see from his seat, includes some interesting news items as well as a book to review. From the list we see topics such as : Ridding the ocean's of plastic by controlling the rivers that dump the plastic? Trump's campaign has raised a billion dollars for 2020. Butina gets a hero's welcome in Russia (Russian spy), the NRA is implicated in the Russian Money -for-influence which happens to include more than a few Republicans. And who is spreading the "Ukraine did it" ideas? Republicans and Giuliani? More Republicans echoing Russian talking points? Why? Perhaps Nancy Pelosi has it right when she says, "All roads lead to Russia," especially when you begin turning over (Roger) stones in Trump's Administration. What about the Ukraine military aid? Javelins yes, but where are they? Jim wonders if the anti-tank weapons are actually to be used against Russia? Some fact-chec

 Trolling? Social media phished, troll farmed, and sowing seeds of discord and misrepresenting untruths as truth, and how are we, the general public with no particular expertise in technology or social media, supposed to discern the truth from the stuff that is simply not the truth. If you nibble (click) on something that is marginal and not proven, you may inadvertently become part of the spread of false stories. Is the election turmoil in Kentucky a microcosm of the 2020 federal election in the US?Mitch McConnell rejected Federal assistance to secure the state electoral process. On the surface it is a fear-based position asserting State's powers over the state election. On the other hand, it appears strange to reject offers to secure something so important as elections and the ballot! Are all of these fears and problems springing from the impersonal world of the internet and the rise of Face Book and Twitter and other social media platforms? Is a return to paper ballots and snail-mail the solution to b

 From Electric cars to electric trucks to Space X, Elon Musk is a visionary. It helps that he is a multi-billionaire, but he is so driven, and looks at failure as the path ahead. We are taught, generally speaking, to fear failure. We create anxiety in kids by placing more value on success than failure. Musk turns that on its head. Musk said, after the Starhopper Mk1 experienced an anomaly (which some would have said was a catastrophic failure), "This had some value as a manufacturing pathfinder..." That is an extraordinary way of looking at things, and that attracts followers. Jim loves Space...all things space related, and Starship especially. Can you tell?It takes a smooth dark roast to keep Jim calm as he gets excited chatting about one of his favourite topics :)