Saturday, February 27, 2021

She who reconciles the ill-matched threads


                                                 Wer Seines Lebens Viele Widersinne


                                                                             
She who reconciles the ill-matched threads
                                                                                              
of her life, and weaves them gratefully
                                                                                into a single cloth —
                                                                              it’s she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
                                                                            and clears it for a different celebration

                                                                       where the one guest is you.
                                                                     In the softness of evening
                                                                   it’s you she receives.
 
                                                                You are the partner of her loneliness,

                                                              the unspeaking center of her monologues.
                                                            With each disclosure you encompass more
                                                          and she stretches beyond what limits her,
                                                        to hold you.


                                                                         
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

45 comments:

  1. Answer to fossil record puzzle may lie with teenage T rexes, study finds [Click] “Absence of smaller dinosaurs may be result of adolescent megatheropods crowding them out.”

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  2. The shawl out front, made of silk and mohair among other threads, was hand woven for me by my sister-in-law, Deb ... who has macular degeneration. It is so precious to me. When she wove it, there was a real chance it would be one of her last creations. Happily, some newer meds and methods have saved her sight more than expected. But I will never take it for granted.

    BTW, I did not set out to slant the type of the poem. There was just something really wonky about the cut and paste, so I had to punt. Kinda works, though.

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    1. The shawl is very nice, and with such a story behind it, its value can not be measured in dollars. No problem with the slant; I figured you had developed a new skill!

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  3. Lotsa posts added to the last thread!

    Had to get to sleep early last night, so that I could get up early this morning and call the dentist. So I'm just catching up.

    Two minutes before 5:00pm yesterday, the crown I got in September popped off. I called my dentist's office anyway, and learned that he's on vacation until the 4th. So I got to call the office of the dentist who is covering for him (a different practice entirely), only to learn I had to call their answering service. The good dentist called me back and said I should call the office just after 8:00am today and they'd get me in this morning.

    I'm lucky that his covering dentist has Saturday hours! So, incase they were to say, "Oh, come right in" I got up just past 7:00am and took a shower. So now I'm sitting here with damp hair and a sensitive tooth and they said "Come in at noon."

    Murphy hates me.

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    1. I've had a number of crowns over the years (no fluoride in toothpaste when I was young, and probably none in city water, but we had our own well anyway). I think I had one pop off once; putting it back with a dollop of fresh glue is very easy.

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    2. One memorable experience I had with a crown (I don't recall if it was the temporary or the permanent one) was when I went skin diving a few days later. I made a dive and all was fine until I started to come up, when it began to hurt; the farther up I went, the worse it hurt. There must have been a bubble under the crown that got compressed and then expanded as I went up. I went back down for a bit, but since I was free diving that wasn't going to last for long, and it didn't.

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    3. I commented on some of your comments yesterday.

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  4. Replies
    1. Yeah but that's not really a very good idea. Think of the precedent it sets. The last time that was done was 1975. It's infrequent for a reason.

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    2. I disagree, Cat. Given the way the GQP has been trying to bully their way to one-party rule over the last decade I think it's time to stop being polite. And you know people are already upset that the survival check is $1,400 rather than the whole $2,000 of the campaign. Not getting this done is going to leak supporters in 2022, cost us the House and make us the minority party again. Beside, the GQP are going to cast *whatever* we do in the worst possible light.

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    3. You both make good points, but I lean with Susan.

      The GOP has been so one-sidedly-cruel for years and it's time people had a living wage.

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    4. It is long past time for a living wage and for the minimum wage to be indexed to inflation so there is an automatic cost of living adjustment as per Social Security. The Republicans are in the midst of a slow motion and messy self-destruction and, yes, Susan, they are going to turn whatever we do into something monstrous, and there are plenty of poor, gullible SOBs who will believe them. But all the more reason to play very strictly by the rules. Don't sink to their depraved level and don't play by their filthy, corrupt playbook. Everything Biden and the Dems do has got to be so squeaky bloody clean you can eat off it. That is one way - not the only way - to differentiate ourselves from loathsome them, by delivering and by doing so with probity and propriety and any other civic virtue you can think of. Ask yourself, would Trump have done (fill in the blank) if he thought it would give him an advantage? If the answer is yes, DO NOT DO IT!

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    5. Of course, it's still okay to do the right and decent thing, even if it gives you an advantage...which, truth be told, it always does, because it gives you the moral advantage.

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  5. Biden said 'Diplomacy is back!' Then he started dropping bombs [Click] I expected as much. He and his friends talk up his experience in foreign policy, but there is a difference between experience and understanding.

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  6. Update to $15/hr Plan B:

    Wall Street Journal: “Backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), two committee chairmen are working on a new, more limited proposal that would use the tax system to prod employers to raise wages.”

    “The plan would impose tax penalties on large companies that aren’t paying the higher wage Democrats seek and create tax incentives for small companies to do so. Democrats hope the chamber’s parliamentarian would allow them to include the modified plan in the coronavirus relief package.”

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    1. Sounds good. Anything that forces big business to pay taxes flies with me.

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    2. That sounds truly reasonable. AND they can say they heard the concerns and made adjustments. Everyone who wants to can save face. If they Parliamentarian still says no, then bring in the VP.

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    3. You took the words out of my mouth, listener. But it is going around Robin Hood's barn to get the job done.

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    4. I remember back about 1965-1969 the official minimum wage was $1.35/hr; the real minimum wage was $1.00/hr. According to the US Govt. inflation calculator, those would be equivalent to $11.21 and $8.30 per hour today. And the relative values of things have changed a lot since then--housing costs have gone way up, for instance.

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    5. I think people will be waiting to see if the Dems will cave on $15/hr. For the sake of their credibility (and electability in 2022 and 2024), they better not. That said, there are multiple ways to get to 15.

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  7. I just took my new compact exercise cycle for a spin using my arms. I lost track (thinking deep thoughts) and am not sure if I used it for five minutes or ten, but whichever it was, it was a good workout, and I will continue at least for a while. Maybe 10 minutes twice per day with leg power, and 5 minutes twice a day with arm power.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. There are good places for leg exercise inside the house, but the best place for arm exercise is the workbench in the garage. But it seemed to me that carrying that kind of moderately heavy and clumsy object down and up the six steps twice every day was just asking to have an accident; when I mentioned it to my sweetie she agreed and said she wanted the white model. So there's another on of those things that we can't use as an excuse for divorce. It should be here Monday or Tuesday.

      Interestingly, ten minutes with my legs and mu legs were tiring a bit, but five minutes with my arms and I was huffing and puffing some. Good.

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  8. Just an update. Day 3 after the 2nd Moderna shot I have "Covid arm". A palm-sized red colored swelling on the shot arm. Doesn't really hurt - just *there*.

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    1. Are you taking an anti-inflammatory for it? Something like Tylenol.

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    2. Not really. It's fairly standard and will resolve on its own.

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    3. Is it a raised area or just a general swelling?

      (Sounds like you're making super-sized antibodies!)

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    4. It's a raised reddened swelling about the size of the palm of my hand. Yesterday it hurt. Today it doesn't, but it's still there.

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    5. Wow. You must have an impressive immune system. I'm wondering how my low-normal immune system will respond. I guess it'll be quite the test drive!

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    6. I am quite sure now that the discomfort I had yesterday, continuing into today, has nothing to do with the Covid vaccination. I am quite sure it was due to slowly overdoing the probiotic capsules. The cure is to stop taking them for a while (I was taking two per week) and for a little while take (in moderation) some grain-based ersatz coffee. All things in moderation. My lower GI tract has not been the same since my medical adventures about eleven years ago; probably my normal intestinal flora was knocked for a loop.

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  9. N95 masks: difficulties with purchasing and where (other than Amazon) to get some, as reported at NYT [Click]:
    Source One [Click]
    Source Two [Click]
    Source Three [Click]

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    1. We are double masking, using a white medical mask with a Sonovia mask over it (white with black trim). We also use a rubbery plastic insert inside that keeps the mask away from one's nostrils and mouth opening. Works great.

      Sonovia:
      https://sonoviastore.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-OeBBhDiARIsADyBcE4YJZ9I10PtSo0-oWKkP5FOZuIEDGPrYVn632m5ZnRpGgUX7qNp7QUaAvQxEALw_wcB

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  10. OHIO; COVID cases 966,154 and 17,237 deaths.

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  11. VT cases: 15,098-14,963 = 135
    2458 active cases
    204 deaths(0)
    Recovered 12,436 (82.4%)
    Hospital 29(+4) ICU 4(-6)
    Tests 329,898 (+1066)

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  12. Alan, as modern churches go, I concur that St. Anthony of Padua in Fresno is top notch! Thanks for the link.

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    1. I have never had reason to venture inside, but the interior photos were impressive. They have a school right next door.

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    2. The school reflects the architecture of the church. It is in a relatively upscale part of town, and seems to be doing well.

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