Interstellar probe: A mission for the generations [Click] Excerpt: “Not many people know but we are about to exit our local interstellar cloud that this heliosphere has been ploughing through for the last 60,000 years. We're entering a completely new region." Well, I sure didn’t know that.
Surprising coincidence. A lot of this sounds familiar because I've just finished reading "Chasing New Horizons" for a Jan. 9 book discussion. That is about the New Horizons mission to Pluto mentioned in the article. And a lot of the book is about how missions get proposed and funded. Or not.
We just returned from stimulating Costco's economy. I had been thinking for quite a while that the floor space devoted to alcoholic beverages had been increasing--in fact, it now seems to have roughly tripled. I asked one of the checkout clerks if it had been increasing since the pandemic hit, and he said it had.
Yes, alcohol sales have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic [Click] Further confirmation of my impressions: “Increased alcohol sales were driven, in large part, by spirits. In some months, large increases in wine sales also drove the overall increase in alcohol sales. Beer sales were lower in a majority of months, but were slightly higher in five of the 12 months the NIAAA published data for.” At least some of the store alcohol sales were evidently related to decreased consumption at saloons.
Whereas my alcohol consumption has somewhat decreased. A bit of postprandial fortified wine is now the exception rather than the rule. But that has more to do with changes in daily routine than with the pandemic per se.
Current: CA-22 This district is represented by Devin Nunes (R). Registered voters here are 39% Republican and 33% Democrat.
New: CA-5 Under the new lines, registered voters in this district would be 43% Republican and 31% Democrat.
Once again we are just barely excised from Fresno and joined to a physically large district mostly located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range—including such urban hotspots as Yosemite National Park. The Democratic Party will certainly go back to ignoring us altogether. There are as yet no official candidates. With luck we will revert to a simply useless "representative," but that is nowadays a bit much to hope for.
And excised from the city of which we are a part. Our part of the city has historically been strongly Republican. Why, it's so right-wing that I think I was the only voter in the precinct to vote for Gloria la Riva for President one year! One year (when district boundaries were more like the upcoming ones) the fellow who won the Democratic primary was a head shop owner--the institutional Dems hadn't given any candidate any support. I voted for him on the theory that unlike our then-current (Republican) "representative," I would at least know what he was smoking.
We still have racial/ethnic deed restrictions; they can't be enforced and the title companies now often (usually?) don't report them, but they have never been removed. I think that there was once an attempt to hold a vote of the property owners to remove them, but it didn't happen.
Interstellar probe: A mission for the generations [Click] Excerpt: “Not many people know but we are about to exit our local interstellar cloud that this heliosphere has been ploughing through for the last 60,000 years. We're entering a completely new region." Well, I sure didn’t know that.
ReplyDeleteSurprising coincidence. A lot of this sounds familiar because I've just finished reading "Chasing New Horizons" for a Jan. 9 book discussion. That is about the New Horizons mission to Pluto mentioned in the article. And a lot of the book is about how missions get proposed and funded. Or not.
DeleteIt does make one think, for sure.
Delete‘For me, it’s about the mission’: why Cori Bush is just getting started in Congress [Click]
ReplyDeleteWe just returned from stimulating Costco's economy. I had been thinking for quite a while that the floor space devoted to alcoholic beverages had been increasing--in fact, it now seems to have roughly tripled. I asked one of the checkout clerks if it had been increasing since the pandemic hit, and he said it had.
ReplyDeleteYes, alcohol sales have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic [Click] Further confirmation of my impressions: “Increased alcohol sales were driven, in large part, by spirits. In some months, large increases in wine sales also drove the overall increase in alcohol sales. Beer sales were lower in a majority of months, but were slightly higher in five of the 12 months the NIAAA published data for.” At least some of the store alcohol sales were evidently related to decreased consumption at saloons.
DeleteWhereas my alcohol consumption has somewhat decreased. A bit of postprandial fortified wine is now the exception rather than the rule. But that has more to do with changes in daily routine than with the pandemic per se.
Delete[Hillary] Clinton: 'It is a time for some careful thinking about what wins elections' [Click] Spoiler alert: She thinks it’s time for everyone else to get on her boat.
ReplyDeleteTechno-optimism for 2022 [Click] Gee—things could be looking up; food for thought.
ReplyDeleteTales of Human History Told by Neandertal and Denisovan DNA That Persist in Modern Humans [Click] Evidence that there was neanderthal and denisovan gene flow back into Africa. More sensitive modern methods find neanderthal DNA in African populations.
ReplyDeleteIn re our current and new congressional district:
ReplyDeleteCurrent: CA-22
This district is represented by Devin Nunes (R). Registered voters here are 39% Republican and 33% Democrat.
New: CA-5
Under the new lines, registered voters in this district would be 43% Republican and 31% Democrat.
Once again we are just barely excised from Fresno and joined to a physically large district mostly located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range—including such urban hotspots as Yosemite National Park. The Democratic Party will certainly go back to ignoring us altogether. There are as yet no official candidates. With luck we will revert to a simply useless "representative," but that is nowadays a bit much to hope for.
Oh joy; the new California 5th Congressional District is almost contiguous with the current 4th District, represented by Tom McClintock [Click]
DeleteOh, Alan. I am so sad you are stuck with Republicans.
DeleteAnd excised from the city of which we are a part. Our part of the city has historically been strongly Republican. Why, it's so right-wing that I think I was the only voter in the precinct to vote for Gloria la Riva for President one year! One year (when district boundaries were more like the upcoming ones) the fellow who won the Democratic primary was a head shop owner--the institutional Dems hadn't given any candidate any support. I voted for him on the theory that unlike our then-current (Republican) "representative," I would at least know what he was smoking.
DeleteWe still have racial/ethnic deed restrictions; they can't be enforced and the title companies now often (usually?) don't report them, but they have never been removed. I think that there was once an attempt to hold a vote of the property owners to remove them, but it didn't happen.
Delete