Tuesday, December 29, 2020

White Poinsettia


 

29 comments:

  1. WHO warns Covid-19 pandemic is 'not necessarily the big one' [Click] Experts tell end of year media briefing that virus is likely to become endemic and the world will have to learn to live with it.

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  2. Pope Francis Strips Powerful Vatican Office of Its Financial Assets [Click] “A financial scandal involving the secretariat of state has given fresh impetus to Francis’ reform agenda.”

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  3. OHIO; COVID cases 682,570 and 8,722 deaths.

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  4. I simply do not understand what is going on in Georgia. I have read reports that both Warnock and Ossoff have raised $10 MILLION each and that each of them are ahead in the polls. So why the constant multiple pleas for money?

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    1. The meme is that you can never have too much money. Aside from the fact that I'm seeing more emails from other pols and groups on their behalf than from the candidates themselves. As for them being ahead in the polls, that reflects an ignorance of statistics. The polls are within the margin of error -- there is no way to actually tell who is ahead. And November saw a much bigger GOP vote than the polls had predicted.

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    2. BTW, I think that was one hundred million each. . .

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  5. The Life in The Simpsons Is No Longer Attainable [Click] The most famous dysfunctional family of 1990s television enjoyed, by today’s standards, an almost dreamily secure existence.

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  6. Snowing here. I think of this as our first real snow of the season. We've had a couple of dustings and what was predicted to be a significant snow that turned into maybe a half inch, but nothing before this that mattered.

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    1. Actually pretty nice weather here today, but a cool breeze. Could see snow on the mountain tops until they were covered with clouds; pretty.

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  7. Georgia Already Breaks Turnout Record for Runoffs
    December 29, 2020 at 4:24 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    NBC News: “More than 2.3 million voters have cast their ballots, with more than 800,000 voting absentee by mail and 1.5 million voting early, in person, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. The previous runoff turnout record was set in 2008, when Georgians cast 2.137 million total ballots in the entire election.”

    “More than 78,000 Georgians who did not vote in the general election have already voted in the runoff race.”

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    1. That last factoid is the one that caught my attention. Hats off to Stacy Abrams and co.

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    2. Indeed. I'd bet a nickel she becomes the next governor of Georgia.

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  8. First Case of Highly Contagious Virus Variant Is Found in Colorado

    The variant, which was first identified in Britain, was detected in a man in his 20s with no travel history.

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    1. Yep. How in Heaven's name did it find its way to him? Probably means it is seeded over a considerable portion of the US, and quietly spreading.

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  9. VTcases(2 days' worth) 7202-7029=173 (90+83)
    2268 active cases
    130 deaths(+3)
    Recovered 4804
    Hospital: 31(+3) ICU:6(+4)
    Tests 261,095 (+1819)

    Postivity rate 2%
    Death rate 1.8%

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  10. Yesternight I happened across a quiz on the NY Times which asks about how you pronounce words, what expressions you use for various things and so forth. Based on the answers it tells you (after each answer and after the entire quiz) where in the US people sound most like you. They rotate the questions, too; repeat the quiz and you will get some different questions. By and large, I register as from the west and upper midwest. Then I came across a question about a pronunciation I have been working to develop: pronouncing Mary, marry and merry all differently. That is standard in pretty much all of Britain; I heard it demonstrated once by a member of the native Anglophone minority of Quebec. To my surprise, the map showed a pronounced hotspot of such pronunciations on Long Island! I wonder why; will see if I can winkle out the explanation.

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    1. This seems to be as good an explanation as any. [Click] I see that I should work on my pronunciation of "Mary;" I seem to exaggerate it somewhat. Then again, I remember reading that it was originally a long A or close to it. If I intend to puzzle people attempting to place my accent, why not toss in a wild card just for fun?

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  11. Newly-Elected [GOP] Congressman Dies of Covid-19
    December 29, 2020 at 10:23 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    “Rep.-elect Luke Letlow (R) died Tuesday evening from complications with COVID-19, shaking the Louisiana political world weeks after being elected to represent Louisiana’s 5th District in Congress as the state’s youngest U.S. representative,” the New Orleans Times Picayune reports.

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    1. To say that he was evidently a right-wing extremist would seem accurate. So far I don't find any indications whether or not he was a fervent supporter of Trump or failed to take the coronavirus seriously, but neither would surprise me given what I have discovered. Lots of stuff about him is disappearing from his campaign website and Wikipedia entry.

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  12. Where do they pronounce the l in palm>

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  13. The Trümperdämmerung Is a Fitting End to 2020 [Click] Put in that way, it does give one some sympathy with the residents of Berlin as Red Army ground its way in to the Fueherbunker.

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  14. Pence Refused Plan to Overturn Election
    December 29, 2020 at 9:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    “Lawyers representing Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Arizona’s 11 GOP electors disclosed in a court filing Tuesday that Vice President Mike Pence rejected their request to join their attempt to subvert the results of the presidential election,” The Hill reports.

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