Thursday, May 18, 2023

Violets by the Stone Steps

29 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I think a smash-mouth solution by the Administration is in order, or very soon will be. Yellen opposes the trillion dollar coin, which is one solution; consols (consolidated debt bonds, AKA perpetual bonds) would be another. Or just pay the bills.
      ---Alan

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    2. Well, currency is a figment of the imagination and debt is an intellectual recognition of obligation.
      Reciprocity may be a fundamental trait, but some humans, whether by choice or default, aim to get something for nothing. It's the something for nothing people who have found a home in the so-called Republican faction, which has no interest in the public at all.
      So, the National Debt was invented in 1917 to satisfy people who prefer to collect and resist giving back. But, in any event, what was invented in 1917 can be declared antiquated and sent to the dustbin of history. Honorable people should resist calling the Republican bluff.

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  2. Freeze warning here for tonight. We saw a bit of snow midday!

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    1. We would be glad to split the difference with you!
      ---Alan

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    2. We had 26ºF last night. How'd you do?

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    3. I looked it up. You had 64ºF last night. 64 + 26 = 90, divided by 2 = 45ºF each. I'd be fine with that.

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  3. PUDDLE ~~

    Cooter was here this weekend, took me to Harrisonberg on Monday, to optometrist. Distance sight 40/60 to 20. Near sight nearly perfect. Not getting prescription lenses, going to go with magnifying glasses ($8/Food Lion!) Only one last apt at the eye hospital.

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    1. Sounds pretty darn good!
      ---Alan

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    2. Puddle, here's a search results page at Support Plus. Curiously, it has other things besides magnifiers, but not only have my mother and I shopped at this catalog/site for years and always found their products reliable, but I got Dad the page magnifier and the card magnifiers this Spring, and he seems happy with them.

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    3. Thanks, Cat. I actually ordered a magnifier. It looks a lot like the very convenient magnifier the National Federation of the Blind sometimes includes in their fundraising mail. The problem with the NFB magnifier is that I can't replace the battery. I hope that will be possible with this one.

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    4. Huzzah!!!
      If my life ever slows down, we need a long catch-up call.

      {The Boat FINALLY gets into the water on Saturday!!!}

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  4. Replies
    1. This is nothing new. Wasn't it in the 1980s that Microsoft was fined heavily for classifying people who were effectively full-time on-site employees as independent contractors just because they had no set working hours? This definitely spooked the PR firms I was working/freelancing for. And when I went to work for the biomedical research group in 2006 I was careful to write my contract in a way that would meet IRS guidelines for IC.

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  5. Oh, what a pretty picture! May I please steal it for my FB cover photo?

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    1. Any time, Cat! Any photo. Same for everybody. Happy to share.

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    2. BTW, sorry for the dirty first step on the little stairs....I had just cleared the remains of a large ant hill that the rain had mostly washed out.

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  6. Dad has a date for his surgery: June 26.

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    1. I hope and expect all goes well.
      ---Alan

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    2. What Alan said!

      puddle~~

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    3. So glad to hear Dad has a date for his surgery~!!
      May all go well, and may the surgeon be in her prime.

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  7. "She needed somebody to... handle her with compassion and time, and not Tasers."

    Outcry as Australian police Taser 95-year-old care home resident

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    1. Wow. "To a person with a hammer everything looks like a nail?" I suppose (hope) that Australian law takes the same position on eggshell victims as doe US law.
      ---Alan
      (Not that the US law deals particularly well with paranoid psychotic cops.)

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