Friday, July 12, 2019

Mountain Laurel


29 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Perhaps they used compost from a wastewater plant.

      Delete
  2. Gee--vegetarian crocodiles! And let us not forget carnivorous kangaroos. I have been idling much of the day, reading a Dorothy Sayers [Lord Peter Wimsey] detective novel: Clouds of Witness. Less than a hundred [small paperback] pages to go, so will finish tomorrow, Friday. A lively and amusing story, as anticipated, although Lord Peter has so far been both shot and nearly sucked to his death in a fog-shrouded moorland bog (not at the same time).

    Our car has been insisting on routine maintenance, and was due for a set of tires, so took care of both. As well as getting a good start on aforementioned novel. Learned something about hybrid electric automobiles: they wear out tires sooner than their conventionally powered equivalents.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Read most of the Lord Peter books donkey's years ago. Perhaps I should revisit them.

      Alan, speaking of hybrids - Hybrid airliners could come to dominate the skies - Click

      Delete
  3. Sorry to spoil the mood, but.......
    It is Congress which has defined the transport of children for sexual exploitation as a violation of the commerce clause. For some reason, the abuse of persons is not considered a crime unless they object. And children, of course, are not in a position to object because they are property, not persons.

    The U.S. is an ownership society in which people can still be owned.

    The lessons of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Extrapolating from simpleminded horserace polls this far in advance of the primary elections is to a large extent a fool’s errand, but there is some coherence in current surveys:
    WSJ/NBC poll shows four tiers [Click]
    First Read: Two Different Contests Define the Democratic Race [Click]
    Sanders and Warren appeal to different demographics [Click]

    The politics of school desegregation have changed a lot during the past generation, following big changes in demographics. [Click] A long read, and an encouraging one.

    Trump’s Iran Strategy Is Helping China [Click] “Forcing India out of Iran will give China yet more power in the region.” Gee, who could have known?

    The Overhyped Feud Between Nancy Pelosi and AOC [Click]

    The College That Became a Prison [Click] “Yankton College no longer exists. But it’s not fully dead either.” Neither is it unique.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thinking of India and Iran... the Indian equivalent of Machiavelli held that any country on one's border is a potential enemy, and any country immediately beyond them is a potential ally. Thus Iran and Afghanistan are natural allies for India in its struggle with Pakistan. For the US to try to disrupt such natural alliances is not going to result in a predicable situation; it is exceedingly dangerous. Not that I would expect our Dear Leader to have the slightest clue about that. And granted that Iran's democracy is not like the ideal of our democracy, it IS probably the best attempt to establish a democratic government in a Moslem country, and is IMO deserving of some encouragement.

      Delete
    2. Except for being a man, the polls say I should favor Warren over Sanders. I don't. In a couple of ways I could probably forget about if I had to, she has turned me off.

      Delete
    3. Re "Sanders and Warren Appeal to Different Demographics": Well, none of those pollsters talked to me. I'm fifty-five, perhaps on the young side of 'older' but still old enough to join AARP. I'm a woman with a graduate degree and Sanders is my first choice. Yet, according to the polls, I don't exist. Apparently, Listener doesn't exist either. That sort of thing could make a less strong, stable person pretty anxious.

      Delete
    4. I figure most people aren't committed to one candidate, do and die. Warren and Sanders supporters could certainly make common cause. I fully expect Biden to do a swan dive before Super Tuesday; Harris I don't know, Buttigieg seems most unlikely to go the distance. Beyond those few no one seems to have much traction at this point.

      Delete
    5. When the article about the two contests speaks about Warren and Sanders splitting the "big change" vote, I think it is again forgetting how Democratic primaries work. This will not reduce the total number of delegates the two combined will carry into the convention.

      Delete
    6. The sooner Biden swan dives the better, as far as I'm concerned.

      Delete
    7. Well, Cat, good to know I'm in such excellent company! :-)

      Delete
  5. White People Want Trump [Click] There is only one thing he is good for--promoting racism. I note references to Biden as “Diet Trump” here and there…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, that's what happens when you eliminate nuance as irrelevant.

      Biden as Diet Trump. Alan, you have a way with a word, my friend!

      Delete
    2. Alas, the term "Diet Trump" is not original with me. I encountered it on talkingpointsmemo.com (most of the letter is behind a paywall) and scanning turned it up here and there. I rather fancied it, although it is not generous.

      Delete
  6. ‘Goats are the best tool’: grazers in high demand to reduce US wildfire risk. [Click] “…officials estimated a human crew costs roughly $28,000 to clear an acre, while a goat crew costs an average of $500.” I didn’t know goats were unaffected by poison oak!
    California town sets up 'goat fund me' page to finance four-legged firefighters [Click]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yeah, I saw that weeks ago, and donated. Thanks for reminding me, Alan. Need to send them another few clamshells. Honestly, I don't know how I'm ever going to pay off my credit card, what with political donations and good causes and whatnot.

      Delete
  7. Steam is coming out of my ears! In my e-mail I just got a "poll" asking if I would vote for a Harris/Warren ticket. Yes, you read that correctly, Harris/Warren! Some of these things are so ridiculous, they actually make Sanders/Gravel look sensible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. May I be allowed to suppose that had you responded positively, you would have been offered the opportunity to donate money and your e-mail address?

      Delete
  8. Re the Peter Wimsey novel, that was among three candidate books to take along with me on my trip to my recently discovered cousins' reunion in Washington. Also another Lord Peter paperback and a Jacqueline Winspear hardback. I think I will abstain from taking my laptop computer with me. Maybe take a sketchbook and a very abbreviated watercolor kit? The latter is still a bit intimidating, but I have a technical understanding of what it would entail. I might be able to cram a folding tripod stool into my suitcase.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Replies
    1. Only in the primary, alas. I had thought California wasn't the first to pass such a law, but it seems I was mistaken. Still needs the governor's signature, but I expect that will come about.

      Delete
  10. Megan Rapinoe takes the game to her rightwing critics [Click] “Conservatives wanting to carry the culture wars to the sports field have a new and discomfiting adversary” Not being a sports fan, I have not been au courant with everything involved in this, but it sounds downright jolly to me!

    ReplyDelete