Somebody's wedding decor

Shoppers shell-shocked by 36% spike in egg prices. Here's why costs soared.

By Katie Kausch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Updated: Jan. 23, 2025, 9:03 a.m.|Published: Jan. 23, 2025, 7:01 a.m.

That pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich is starting to look like a splurge meal as egg prices in New Jersey have surged.

Nationally, egg prices are up more than 36% since last year,* according to new Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The average cost of dozen eggs is $4.15, but some areas are cracking under the price pressure more than others. Experts say the expanding bird flu crisis is driving costs higher.

In the New York metro area, eggs are an average of $6.72 a dozen, a 47-cent increase from the week before, according to a weekly egg report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

https://www.nj.com/news/2025/01/shoppers-shell-shocked-by-36-spike-in-egg-prices-heres-why.html

*I bolded this part

Do we need to post pictures of their hateful faces?

And do we need to call the Orange Traitor by his name?

I am beyond sick of seeing images of these savages, or reading their names on DU.

Had a frightening dream last night

Dreamed I was working in the yard when the wind picked up and intensified as the sky turned dark gray. Heard a roaring noise and screamed to my husband and daughter "Take cover, it's a tornado!" I was huddled up face down at the back of the house when it hit.

At that point I woke up, shaking.

It was probably about the shitstorm that's about to hit this country at 12:01 p.m. tomorrow.

TikTok says it will go dark on Sunday unless given 'definitive' assurances

Source: NBC

TikTok confirmed that it plans to go dark Sunday unless it’s given more clarity from the Biden administration and the Department of Justice regarding the ban that’s scheduled to go into effect that day.

“The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans,” the company said Friday evening in a post on X.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” the statement continued.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tiktok-says-will-go-dark-sunday-rcna188235

Progresso launches Soup Drops, a hard candy that's 'soup you can suck on'

Progresso is celebrating National Soup Month by reimagining a classic comfort food — as a hard candy called Soup Drops.

The company this week launched its first-ever "soup you can suck on," a savory lozenge that captures the taste of Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup.

Designed as a portable alternative to the classic meal, the drops come packaged in a can modeled after Progresso’s soup cans and contain 20 individually wrapped candies. Each drop has flavors of broth, chicken, vegetables, soft egg noodles, and a hint of parsley.

“When you’re sick, nothing is truly more reassuring than Chicken Noodle Soup," MC Comings, VP, Business Unit Director for Progresso at General Mills, explained in a press release on Thursday. "So, we thought, why stop at the soup bowl? We took the beloved flavors of our Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup and packed them into a fun, savory candy Soup Drop for a totally new way to enjoy the taste you love whenever and wherever you want,” Comings added.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/progresso-launches-soup-drops-hard-candy-soup-can-suck-rcna188196

Would you eat Soup Drops? I wouldn't.

As bird flu concerns grow, scientists race to develop new vaccines

Source: NBC

As fears grow of a possible bird flu pandemic in humans, the federal government is pouring more money into the development of new vaccines, including an mRNA shot.

On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it’s providing about $590 million in funding to Moderna in part to fast-track the development of an mRNA vaccine that targets the strains of bird flu currently circulating in wild birds, poultry and dairy cows.

The money is in addition to the $176 million HHS awarded the drugmaker in July to develop a bird flu vaccine.


The federal government already has two bird flu vaccine candidates in limited quantities in the nation’s stockpile. Those shots use traditional vaccine technology, but take far longer to produce — a hindrance during an emergency like a fast-moving pandemic.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/bird-flu-concerns-grow-scientists-race-develop-new-vaccines-rcna187824

Trump's inauguration ceremony likely moving indoors due to frigid weather forecast

Source: NBC

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration swearing-in ceremony is likely going to move indoors due to a frigid weather forecast in the nation's capital Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Inauguration day is often cold, but Monday looks to be especially so. The high is expected to be roughly 20 degrees, with a low of 6 degrees, and strong winds.

The last time the ceremony was held indoors was Ronald Reagan's second inauguration; the parade was also canceled that year.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-inauguration-ceremony-indoors-frigid-weather-rcna188164

Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' still speaks to us today

about the evils that may arise from unfettered power.
I've omitted some parts from the beginning and the end of the speech because as a relatively peaceful person, I do not support the action that Brutus and Cassius took.

Julius Caesar
II,1,648

Brutus:

"... and for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. He would be crown'd:
How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?—that;—
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.

"The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power: and, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections sway'd
More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round.
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend.

"So Caesar may. Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous ..."

We need a snow / ice day in DC on Monday

You know what you need to do:

- wear your pajamas inside out on Sunday night.

- flush ice cubes down the toilet.

- put a spoon under your pillow.

Optional: do some kind of snow dance before bedtime.

My daughters and their classmates used to do these little rituals when they were kids, hoping for enough snow to close school the next day.

Wouldn't you love an ice storm to bring Washington DC to a standstill on inauguration day?