Tuesday, October 05, 2021

Autumn revving up

 

34 comments:

  1. Slept well!
    Now 101.1°F & achy
    Taking a day off
    (Totally worth it!)
    Vaxxed & Boosted!

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    1. Hopefully your temperature will return to normal within the day; it shows that your immune system is working as it should--maybe even exceptionally well.

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  2. Take your choice of headlines:

    The Senate Is Broken [Click]

    This Is ‘Normal’ [Click]

    Hereabouts the smoke is not as thick as yesterday, but still far from satisfactory; AQI = 158.

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    1. Although I would say this version of "normalcy" goes back, not just to Obama's administration, but to Gingrich's "Contract for America." In a strange way, Manchin and Siena forming what is in effect their own party is a return to pre-Contract normalcy. Except it doesn't work when Senate Repupblicans are maintaining the new normal party discipline.

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    2. When I hear "Contract for America," I always think "Contract on America." I'd say you're about right on the timing, Bill.

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  3. What We Lost When Gannett Came to Town [Click] “We don’t often talk about how a paper’s collapse makes people feel: less connected, more alone.”

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    1. Same happened when Gannet came here. Bah!

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  4. South Dakota Is the Biggest U.S. Tax Haven [Click] This “revelation” from the Pandora Papers shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, it seems to me. It has been reported for a long time.

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    1. There's a reason most major US corporations are theoretically headquartered in either South Dakota or Delaware.

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  5. We just had a positive experience with spy cameras. On Saturday Miyoko purchased some clothing at a large clothing store; when she was recording the credit card receipt at home, she realized it was about a hundred dollars more than it should have been, and she had been charged for two $48 items she hadn't bought. She was going to go to the store this afternoon and complain, but Naomi called and was told they would "check the camera" and get back to us. Within a few minutes they called back, had verified that the charges were incorrect, and asked if we would prefer to come in and get a cash refund or have it credited to the credit card that was used. WAY better than the haggling we had with a famous department store a few years back when charged for a handbag that we had not purchased; ultimately the cash register clerk was found to have been accumulating such handbags and smuggling them out of the store.

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  6. Johnson & Johnson seeks US clearance for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses. The article also says Moderna has filed for booster, but no details and I haven't heard anything about that.

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    1. All good, it seems to me. I have little if any sympathy for those who choose not to be vaccinated.

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    2. I can’t help thinking today that if everyone had just gotten vaccinated last Winter and Spring the Delta variant wouldn’t have become so prevalent and I wouldn’t be sitting here with a fever and horrible headache from needing the booster.

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    3. (If I ever require another booster, I’m buying a heated toilet seat.)

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    4. Those aren't standard in Vermont? [He ducks]

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  7. Headline:
    Frances Haugen tells Senate that Facebook makes 'disastrous' choices, prioritizes profit

    Unlike other capitalist enterprises?

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    1. Commerce is quite insiduous. It pretends to be providing a service, information or entertainment, or even salvation, when, all along, the intent is predation.
      The predator's mode is to injure and kill without suffering personal injury. The reliance on currency makes that a virtual certainty. The introduction of pestilence seals the deal.
      Our predatory friends in the Republican party have reason to be suspicious.

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  8. Ten US States That Drink the Most Alcohol. [Click] I expect that a lot of the drinking in Nevada is done by visitors in casinos.

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  9. I found another evidently good international news site: Deutsche Welle [Click] I had heard of it, but hadn’t previously read anything there.
    Here is the Wikipedia article about it. [Click] In short, a German public state-owned international broadcaster set up to be free of government influence.

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  10. Vox: Facebook’s whistleblower tells Congress how to regulate tech [Click] “Frances Haugen’s testimony offers a path forward on how to address Facebook’s harms.”

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  11. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=420129442809635&set=a.278980076924573

    "@NYPD Police Union leader just resigned. The man has been a racist scoundrel for a generation."

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