LOL. I loved the first picture. Ah, Autumn in Florida, when it cools into the 80s and only hurricanes occasionally... <sigh>, I remember it well.... well, I remember it, I think.

Actually, that's my favorite time to visit, but I had to cancel my October trip (I was planning to look you up while I was there).

It is definitely acting fall-y here. Cooling off, morning rains, falling leaf (mostly evergreens), birds migrating through. I need to pick up my motorcycle from the shop, though. SO looking forward to riding in cooler weather.

Fall came right on time with some cool breezy weather. I don't know if it actually dropped below 70 but there was a wind from the north and little whitecaps on the lake. There were jackets on the trail but the swimmers were unfazed. Acorns are dropping and I just noticed the top of the big sycamore across the street is drying out so those will be all over the place soon. I saw a handful of bluebirds this morning, don't know if they're residents or just here for the winter.

This makes me a little sad. But the independents will still decide the election.

Dems and Reeps each have a little over 5 million, independents a little under 4 million registered voters.

How does that poor dog manage to get a round without a head?

Btw - I love “Autumn Leaves,” but I’ll raise you Ella.

Yup....super cold mornings when i leave for work. Super warm/hottish afternoon when I leave from work.

Roscoe is pretty good about dodging photos, he's just got his head wedged between the balusters.

Mellow...I used Ella and Satchmo for the "Summertime" Roundtable. I thought when I saw that video it would be Chet singing it, fortunately it was instrumental so I used it. Like Satchmo, the singing gave him a break from playing trumpet and the damage it did to his lip.

I’m sorry I missed that, Greger. I think when I came back in, II tried to catch up a bit on several of the threads, but the Roundtable being of a more social nature, I probably didn’t get back that far. My apologies.

It’s just that, for reasons I’ve never really identified, “Autumn in New York” has been a favorite of mine for just about ever.

I see the Arizona Fraudit announced their results today: Biden actually gained votes and Trump lost votes! (I wonder if this has anything to do with the Justice Department investigating them?) The net result is that Maricopa County has to spend millions on new ballot counting hardware.

Nevertheless, Republicans are repeating this idiocy, or attempting to repeat it, in several more states.

I think the only positive result will be that Arizona Democrats get a nice juicy campaign issue for the next election. Maybe Democrats in those other states, as well. Wasting taxpayer millions chasing psychotic conspiracies may not sit well with Independent voters.

So Rick some questions if you don’t mind:

How did you end up in the Puget Sound area anyway? Last time I heard you were living in Portland and working at Costco.

Do you like it there? Do you miss California at all?

I know you fled California because of lack of water and your timing seems to have been impeccable.

The autumn weather here in NE Ga is magnificent.
51 degrees this morning, up to about 75 as the high. Low humidity, nice breeze, no clouds, perfect sky, falling leaves. A few fireplaces started up. I put the heavier spread on the bed.
Perfect walking weather.

Actually we've had a good weather year. Nothing extreme. Moderate summer temps for the most part. Enough rain, not too much. None of the hurricanes around us gave us anything other than a good rain or two.

Of course for the second year our summer festivals were canceled even when they got rescheduled for the fall.

Greger, I'm so glad you were able to include Rosco in your move to the city.

We do 3-5 miles a day through historic downtown Clermont and the various connected parks. Everybody loves Roscoe, he's just such a big goofy happy boy that people can't help smiling when they see him. Big revival going on in Waterfront Park tonight, he just ambled through the crowd with a big grin on his face dutifully pausing for pets as required.

He turns 14 soon, I never thought a dog his size would live this long.

My dearest dog ever Aggie passed in January 2020. She was 14 at the time, right before the pandemic became real. First dog I had had since I left Hawaii for Oregon in 1975. I had to put her down as she had become so arthritic that she could barely stand up and she was having accidents in the house which humiliated her to no end. But that was the way it was. Fortunately I discovered a vet that came to the house and did the deed on my couch. As painful as that was it was much better than having to take her to some cold sterile vets office.

I still miss that dog tremendously and thinking about getting another one. It would be a rescue of course (as was Aggie) if I were to do so.

Speaking of Florida, if Brian Laundrie is vaccinated, wouldn't Bill Gates' chip reader have found him by now?

Trump is so GRRRRRRRRRRR mad!!!!! ,

AZ Dems now need to go back and bring suits against all of AZ's new "election fraud laws" which have been enacted due to Trump's "Big Lie." Even Trump's own Cyber Ninjas found none.

Not at all.

Back in 2010 when Foster Farms eliminated our MPQA department, my intention was to go work for Costco as food safety auditor. I submitted several resumes to the Bay Area Regional Costco Office. For sixteen months, I was out of work because of the 2008-09 recession lingering effects. Yes, Foster Farms laid me off in the middle of a recession. I finally got a job at a school district and they made me sign a year contract. A week later after accepting the school district job, Costco called me. I told them that I just accepted the school district job and signed a year contract. Costco said to call next year. Next year, turned into another year, and into another year. Not because of Costco, it was because of me.

Now it's 2014, and I'm sitting at my school district job desk. My morbidly obese Food Service Director with only a high school education, is riding my ass. The fat phuck is relentless. He is also bitter because Michelle Obama's 2010 Healthy Hunger-free Kids Act was requiring, on the federal level, that all food service directors needed to be college educated, and fat phuck isn't. He and his ilk try to get a waiver of being "grandfathered" in. He was going back to school and he had not been to school since high school. He was never a good student. This requirement is going to be burden on him.

The federal government could do that because every school cafeteria program is not part of the school district - it's part of the USDA program. One-hundred percent of the funding for school food programs come from the USDA, it's not local money. States manage the funds for the USDA and the funds cannot be commingled with school district funds AT ALL.

Anyway, this was July 2014.

Fat phuck went on a two weeks vacation, and even while he was on vacation he was tasking me. The Sunday before the Monday he was to come back to work, I was just felling lousy. On Monday I called in sick. I went to the doctor to only get a doctor's note to return back to work on Tuesday. During the visit, my blood pressure is really high...like 159/100. I knew exactly what the reason was.

While the doctor was out of the room, I impulsively made a decision. I asked him for a 30 days leave of absence. On July 1st, I just received all of my vacation and sick time for the year and it was all front-loaded into my account as it was for every school district employee on July 1st in Cali as July 1st is the start of Cali's fiscal year.

I used that time to get my house in the Bay Area on the market, sold it, with the intention of moving to either Portland or Houston and settled on Portland because Houston is too red statey and to go work for Costco, as I had heard the only way to Costco Corp was through a warehouse.

So, I sold the house in less than a week, the lady buying my house, bought the furniture as she liked the style and most Realtors thought I had staged the house. It was just how I lived.

Boxed-up the things that I wanted, sold everything else, or just left it in the house for the lady (Hallmark Christmas ornaments for example) shipped 32 boxes via UPS to an apartment that I rented sight unseen in Portland. Arrived with Sammy dawg on September 26, 2014. NWP's son was getting rid of a futon, I went and picked it up. It took me six weeks to get a Costco job at a local warehouse as I was only going to work for Costco. I told them that too. I went there four or five times and kept bugging them.

I was hired on Sunday, November 16, 2014.

While at Costco I kept on the lookout for Corp job postings in my field, none ever did come up. I accepted a "facilities" job at Corp and moved to Puget Sound. I could only afford to live in Tacoma, 41 miles southwest of Corp, because everything north was more than I can afford, and because I literally took a 50% cut in pay to go work for Costco at $11.50/hr in 2014. Today's starting pay is $16.00/hr.

I was making $23.00 an hour at the school district or $46K a year, while the high school educated fat phuck was making $108K - and am the one with the bachelors of science degree in Nutrition. I had the degree and he didn't. He didn't like me because of the degree, and I didn't like him because of his salary - for only a high school education. When I first went to the school district, his staff wasn't even completing food production sheets correctly because no one there knew how to complete them.

I went to Corp on August 1, 2016. Never did get the food safety audit job, but I'm ok with that and with what I am doing now. I'm good with all of it and I'm comfortable and I'm paid very well and have great benefits. For example, Costco provides a public transportation benefit of $90 each month that I use for the vanpool/ferry. Previously, just for the vanpool. I am always the driver of the vanpool because I don't like other people's driving and I can go to work, 20 days a month, for 27.00 each month because the vanpool was $117 per person and Costco pays $90 of it. It's the BEST benefit, in my opinion, because I use it every day. I use medical maybe three times a year and dental twice, and vision once - and those benefits costs me several hundreds of dollars for my portion.

I am in awe of the beauty of the area. I live in Kitsap County which is all hills, a plethora of trees on every square inch of soil - and I am surrounded by lots and lots of water.

I've been to Cali at least 8 or 10 times since I moved. I am struck by how treeless it is. California is mostly chaparral. When I lived there, I thought it was beautiful, now I think it's barren when I go there. I don't miss Cali at all.

Plus, when I left in 2014, the East Bay's Hayward fault had not slipped in 150 years, and that was in 2014. It had slipped on the average of every 140 years. As of this writing it still has not slipped.

It was the lack of water AND that the Hayward Fault is ready to go is why I left.

...and now you know the rest of the story.

Sorry for your loss. When Sammy dawg passed-away, I gave him a thread.

That is quite a story Rick. And thank you for being so honestly comprehensive. As I had stated earlier regarding this site I was never so much interested in politics but mostly as to what the motivations for people are and why they do what they do. To me that inquiry seems to answer the questions of why some people are so easily manipulated.

But I think that might be a topic for a separate thread.

When my old dog goes, I plan to replace him as soon as possible. A companion animal is important to me.

Like a cowboy and a horse, I can't imagine being without a dog.

You know what Groucho had to say about it: “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. That's because inside a dog it's too dark to read.”

I’m kind of surprised myself that I have not gotten a new dog by now. I’ve been to the shelter a few times but nothing clicked for me. Part of my problem is I’m looking for a clone of Aggie and I know that’s not possible. But I still hope.

Then I would also like to go to Hawaii for a month in the winter which brings up the problem of what to do with the dog?

I would say to wait until you come back from Hawaii to get a dog.

BUT, if you meet one now, don't turn down the opportunity. Since you have to go through Portland anyway to fly out, I know a family in Tigard that will take care of your new dog for a month. They love dogs and they'll watch and take care of your dog because I asked them to.

I got Rocksus only because I missed Sam so much. Sam and I lived on the 7th floor of the building I just moved out of, and Rocksus lived right below me on the 6th floor. Sam and Rocksus look similar - except Sam had two gold eyes, and Rocksus has one brown and one light blue. Otherwise, they look like they could have come from the same litter, but 12 years apart.

Sam and Rocksus met before.

Rocksus' owner was being deployed to North Carolina, and he asked me if I wanted Rocksus. I said yes.

Tonight in George, Trump said at his superspreader rally:
America first. America first...where have I heard that before? Oh yeah...history class:

...then after telling his merry band of idiot supporters NOT to vote for Dems, he endorses Stacy Abram over Brain Kemp in next year's election,



Dude's mind is like a metal ball in a pinball machine...bouncing all over the place - zigging and zagging.

Stable genius? Surely not.

"Karen" Trump

COVID, going after one unvaxxed MAGA hatted dolt at a time:

So this is what I was talking about. Back when America was really great!:



Although to tell the truth I love this song.

Although these days, perhaps, the lyrics would be better served to be “just bring us back the rainy weather.” And then we perhaps could continue to hang together as birds of a feather.

But can you imagine what it would have been like to be the whistler’s mother when he was growing up?

I rode that Amtrack train that just wrecked in Montana a few times in the Wayback, going to a Christmas gathering of my 2nd ex-wife's family in Devil's Lake, North Dakota from North Idaho. One time we had an unscheduled stop in Havre (near where the wreck happened). It was dark, 30 below, and the wind was blowing. They opened the doors and windows of the car I was into let the smoke out - smoke, you say? yeah, the outlet to the shiiter froze and they were thawing it out with oxyacetylene torches and something caught fire - I wonder what? The shiiter outlet, you ask? Yeah, they just dump the holding tanks onto the rail bed as the train is Empire Building along the Highline at 70 mph.

Trains have a reputation for being romantic! So romantic that it reminded me of a song I'm going to post over in the Song Game topic...

Donald Trump, is that you?

Now-a-days, Idaho's hospitals are full, and they're running out of mobile morgues for all of the dying unvaxxed conservatives.

Oh well...we all make choices in life. These people are simply exhibiting their freeDUMB.

We took the Empire Builder in 2016 (among other trains across country and back). Stopped to see Julia in Omaha and then Ken in Eugene. Got off at White Fish, Mt., rented a car and spent 10 days in Missoula visiting our son-in-law. Drove back up to White Fish, got back on the Empire Builder.
That's a gorgeous ride through Montana, Glacia Park.
Havre is a regular stop now. That's where the ladies of the town make and sell box lunches to train riders who want one. Good stuff!

We were supposed to do another similar trip but the pandemic interrupted us.

Maybe something like this guy who must be Whistler’s uncle:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.examiner-enterprise.com/article/20140817/lifestyle/308179933%3ftemplate=ampart

Could not get that link to work correctly. Oh well.

Here you go Ken:

Ken's working linky dink from above.

Thanks Rick. Whistling was supposedly a thing back in the day but that was even before my time. Imagine that!

Apparently it was common to hear people whistling as they strolled down the sidewalk. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

There is a current song that has whistling in it. I can't find it now. Listening to the radio now for it. Will post when I find the name of the track and artist.

Interesting research paper came out the other day. Some researchers associated with the Pasteur Institute in France (highly respected) collected virus samples from a whole bunch of bats in Laos, and found one virus that is nearly identical to SARS-COV2 in the Receptor Binding Domain. This is the part of the spike that binds to human ACE2, and lets the virus enter cells. This particular spike binds just as well to ACE2 as SARS-COV2. They showed this virus can infect human cells, and is neutralized by human antibodies against SARS-COV2. They performed a plaque assay, which is a test to show visually the virus killing cells on a culture plate, and it looked just like a SARS-COV2 plaque assay.

Then they figured out all of the molecular binding geometry, and showed why it works just like SARS-COV2! Then they showed how the SARS-COV2 virus is a product of 15 different recombination events, with almost all segments of it's RNA from one of 15 different corona viruses. They have a lovely figure that show all the common parts of all 15 viruses, with each segment labelled as to what other virus they share it with.

This utterly demolishes the "Lab Leak Hypothesis". And it also gives them a virus they can culture that can be used for experiments, that is harmless in humans.

Ugh. Religious freaks.

Yet there will be some that hang-on to this disproven idea and store it in the same memory bank where they store pizza parlors with basements commit child abuse and drink children's blood to remain youthful.

In other words, some people will never be convinced.

Should that negate the awesomeness of the song?…. I hope not.

Thanks for your post PIA. Very fascinating and informative.

As you all might be aware if anyone gives a s*** I attended Oregon State U in the early 1970s. I was a business major and a biology minor. I found biology and the associated sciences to be much more interesting but my intent was to just make money. I made some along the way the but in retrospect I should’ve gone towards the sciences.

Retrospect is always 2020.

Or in this case 2021.

Nope. The song is sweet and I enjoyed it back then.

They rubbed me wrong long ago when they (maybe it was just she) were campaigning hard for mandatory school prayer and more.

I was not aware of that Olive. Sheesh Mel.., But as per your response I think I remember that. It’s very curious how religion and intellect can sometimes intertwine with one another and then produce a convoluted response.

Nevertheless…

Happy Trails to you!

The first time I dropped acid, I discovered the real "happy trails". For those of you who have not imbibed, "trails" is a very common visual hallucination effect of psychedelics. You can move your hand and see many images of the hand following the primary image, and then converging when the movement stops. When this happens, you know you bought the real thing.

This is so disgusting....I can't believe it's real.

I was coming home in the ferry when I see this small orange boat...with a fcking machine gun on it!!!




WTF????????????

People in the vanpool said it was the Coast Guard and they've been escorting ferries since 9/11. I've never seen that in the entire month I've been commuting via ferry.

Since when are Coast Guard vessels orange? Coast Guard vessels are white and have a red flog on the side.

An announcement on the ferry's PA said this was routine and not to be alarmed. I'm not alarmed, I'm pissed!! Is this fcking Afghanistan here?

No, this is the nation that invaded Afghanistan and terrorized the people there for 20 years.

This is the nation that invaded Iraq and terrorized the people there for 14 years.

This is the nation that bombed,,,
Bosnia 1994, 1995
Cambodia 1969-70
China 1945-46
Congo 1964
Cuba 1959-1961
El Salvador 1980s
Korea 1950-53
Guatemala 1954, 1960, 1967-69
Indonesia 1958 Laos 1964-73
Grenada 1983
Iraq 1991-2000s, 2015-
Iran 1987
Korea 1950-53
Kuwait 1991
Lebanon 1983, 1984
Libya 1986, 2011-
Nicaragua 1980s
Pakistan 2003, 2006- Palestine 2010
Panama 1989
Peru 1965
Somalia 1993, 2007-08, 2010-
Sudan 1998
Syria 2014-
Vietnam 1961-73
Yemen 2002, 2009-
Yugoslavia 1999

And yet you are surprised and offended that these same forces are protecting you against retaliation? This is the most dangerous, most militarized nation in the history of the world.
And yet her people are kept blissfully unaware of the ravages of war we spread around the rest of the world on a daily basis.

Oh, and Coast Guard helicopters are also orange...

A co-worker JUST told me that.

I was not aware of those boats in Elliot bay either (we left Seattle in 1986) but I did find a 2005 link from the Seattle Times that might help.

Link

I don't remember London ferries being attacked. The Washington State Ferry system is the largest ferry system in the country. After 9/11, law enforcement became too militarized.

Omarosa won her arbitration against Trump. Turns out, any NDA signed in NY State are illegal and unenforceable. I can't wait for the juicy stories to come out about the twice-impeached, failed POTUS now.

I have not been to Seattle for several years now. It was my understanding that the Alaskan Way viaduct was going to be demolished and then the area changed into an oceanfront park. Has that happened?

As I might’ve mentioned before we lived for six years in Green Lake just off the north-east corner of the main entrance. I used to commute daily to just south of SeaTac airport. I would take the I-5 heading south but I would always return on 99 via the elevated aqueduct, the upper level being northbound. Depending on the time of year it was just awesome watching that sunset over the Puget Sound with the Olympic Range in the background.

Viaduck. Water always flows downhill.

Even though I am an OSU beaver.

My uncle (Sam) brought me to Washington in 1986. I've never wanted to permanently leave. When I first joined the Army I had the notion of moving every three years, living in exotic places and really getting to know the country and the world. Then I had kids and never wanted to move again. Nevertheless, I have had the opportunity to spend time in Virginia, California, Texas, DC, Florida, Wisconsin, Panama, Korea and Germany - all at the invitation of the government. It solidified my desire to stay, although I did entertain a job in Germany. I loved it there, too, and thought it would be great for the kids. Now I do my travels on my own dime. There are plenty of places I still want to visit, for extended time to get to know the place, but age and commitments make that unlikely. I do have a friend with an apartment in Italy, though, and a nephew who is moving to Spain...

We lost our dog, Augie, in December, at 16. He adopted us when he was 6 or 7. He loved our travels in "Harvey", our RV. Our younger son has an albino pit bull, Moxxie, who is adorable. So, we haven't had another dog adopt us yet. And our last cat left us nearly 6 years ago (although he now lives with a friend, so I do see him occasionally). When son #2 gets his own place, I expect another animal will find us. Losing companions is painful, though, and I do miss them terribly.

Regarding the Alaskan Way Geoduck... It closed in January 2019, and the tunnel opened in February. "Demolition work was completed on November 21, 2019, with 240 million pounds (110,000,000 kg) of concrete recycled and 15 million pounds (6,800,000 kg) of steel rebar reclaimed.[61] Some of the concrete from the demolition was pulverized and used to fill the Battery Street Tunnel.[62] New development along the waterfront in downtown Seattle, including a park promenade, is planned to be completed by 2021.[63][64]" Wikipedia.

I'd be interested in Rick's views (literally) of how it looks now, since his ferry ride lands down there. I haven't been down there (the waterfront) since COVID, although when son #2 was going to school there, we went regularly because he lived one block from Pike Place Market.

I remember the first time I saw one of those we were in the Pike Place Market, of all places. I thought to myself “my god what is that?” That’s a big boy they’re allrighty. Ahem… and as I am sure you are aware but others might not be the pronunciation is gooey duck. How in the heck do they get gooey out of Geo?

Inquiring minds need to know. Or want to anyway.

So we know how it got the pronunciation. What we don't know is how it got the stupid spelling.

This is an aquadog.

That’s a mighty fine looking pup. It’s also good you reattached his head. I can see he’s getting gray like all of us but hopefully has a few good years left in him.

That was my point about geoduck. I know it’s sometimes difficult to transliterate some languages into English but one would’ve thought that “they” would have made a better attempt to spell the word as it is pronounced. Such as guiduck?

Naw…..

Yes. Hwy 99 is now a double decker tunnel underground. The Alaskan Hwy is a wide-open modern highway with LOTs and LOTs of construction happening.

The entire waterfront is being redone. You can read about it here.

People are excited here in Seattle because the Mariners are heading to the play-offs.

Just lots of unfinished construction. Lots of temporary one-way streets. It seems they're about 30% completed with the project. Lots of temporary signals and light poles.

The first month with my work transportation money, I purchased a September ferry pass. It is a use it or lose it thing when you buy a monthly pass because the ferry fare is reduced.

Next month, for October, I am just going to let the funds sit in my ORCA card and pay a higher fare...whenever I am charged. The thing is, the ferry employees are so inconsistent...I am charged, I am not charged, the passengers are charged, the passengers are not charged. The vanpool gets waived through the toll booth, the vanpool gets scurintiezed. It's like every WSF employee just makes-up their own rules.

So the risk of just letting the funds sit in my account and pay when needed is a gamble. I think I will come out ahead though, more than I will be behind, based upon what has happened this month.

If I have extra monies on my ORCA card, I can then use those monies to go to Seattle in my personal car on the ferry when I am off from work. I plan on doing that this Saturday and next Wednesday - a week from now.

I'm taking Rocksus to a corn maze on Saturday night in Soquamish and next Wednesday, I'm taking a vaca day because my friend Crystal is coming to Seattle from the Bay Area and we're going to have dinner with her sister on Lake Union. I reserved an outdoor table because the restaurant is right in front of the marina there.

Not sure what you're talking about there.

In Portland there is a street called COUCH. The locals call it COOCH. They call their river WAH-LAM-IT, Us non-locals called WILLAM-ETTE.

Also in Portland, things are "spendy." In Cali and Washington, things are pricey.

aka Roscoe

Tamales. Mebbe tamale…

Plural: Los tamales

Singular: Un tamal

Jesus, I must be the grammar Nazi. But it’s OK as long as one does not get geotamales.

Grammar Voxist (Spanish Nazi)

Anu Garg’s “A Word A Day”

One tamale two tamales three tamales four
my mama doesn’t use potatoes anymore
—slightly bastardized children’s rhyme
(the rhyme, not the children…)

When I lived in New Mexico, during tamale season, bags of tamales were sold from the backs of cars. I worked at a software company, and from time to time there was an announcement: tamales at the front door!

Work stopped. Those stuck on phone calls passed money and a number to a coworker to act on their belief.behalf. On-site client meetings took a break and the out-of-towers were assured they were about to get a treat.

Another few weeks and I’ll head down to 24th Street, see if I can pick up some fresh tamales and maybe some pan dulce.

Hormel canned tamales is all I ever get anymore. They're pretty pathetic but they satisfy the urge.

I went in for my scheduled Covid booster this morning at the local Albertson's pharmacy, following up on a confirmed reminder I got yesterday, and when I got there I was told that I didn't have an appointment for 9:00 - in fact I wasn't in their system at all. The pharmacist asked if I had scheduled it through the DOH, and very puzzled, I said that I hadn't - I did it through the Albertson's website - and showed her yesterday's 9:41PM confirmation email. She said they stopped doing it through the store because, "it was too confusing." "So you stopped doing it between 9:41 last night and 9:00 this morning to avoid confusion??" Shrug... "you have to go through DOH."

So I got home at 9:15 and logged onto the DOH website and after 10 minutes of wading through resurrecting my vaccine registration code I filled out the form and rescheduled for October 11, the next available date. As I was about to submit, a red banner came up saying I had already had three shots - two in March and one this morning at 9:00.

I called the pharmacy for advice and got a different person, and explained that I was confused (in spite of the noble effort on their part to avoid confusion). I told her that DOH wouldn't let me schedule a booster because of the previously schedule shot that I didn't get. She said that when I came in on October 11 (how did she know that since DOH wouldn't schedule me?) she would take care of the DOH registration.

Is the Long Covid side effect contagious as a separate pandemic, now? Or is this just Batsh!t Crazy Syndrome skulking about?

At least I got some tamales while I was in the store - now two are working their way through the confusing inner pathways of Logtroll as he sits, hunched in front of the computer, preparing to do everlasting battle with grants.gov...

That’s “funny.” I just got my Pfizer booster yesterday at the Lane County fairgrounds site in Eugene. They didn’t have me in their system either but I had a copy of the confirmation email they had sent to me (from an independent site) so all was well.

I have been incredibly impressed with how efficiently Lane County has handled this whole vaccine distribution. It has gone very smoothly and very orderly for all three of my injections. Although yesterday’s one was on a way smaller scale than the previous two, obviously because the eligible clientele is much less than for the previous two.

It really was an old farts convention.

Kinda glad I got the Moderna shot...no mention of a booster yet. But even so, there's a DOH/WIC place just a couple blocks away doing vaccinations. It's an outdoor affair so I won't even have to get out of my chair.

Here too. Easy peesy. Got ours this morning.
Called at 8:15, chose 11:15 appt. DOH 1/2 mile from my house.
There were a couple of younger people there saying their workplace had mandated a vaccine or daily tests. She was disgruntled (hahahahaha).

Martha used to like those so we always had some in stock. I would partake on occasion as a sort of guilty pleasure. They are greasy as hell (the real geotamale) but to me they have a particularly alluring flavor. Nothing like an authentic Mexican tamal but as you say not bad in a pinch. Especially with sour cream added to make it even more geo.

Canned tamales?



I've only had fresh ones. Guess I'm spoiled.

As a recipient of Moderna, I am not presently eligible, and as a relatively young fart, I am not likely to be eligible when the next round is allowed. My lovely wife, however, will be as someone with a significant risk factor. It all depends on whether they see care givers as at risk. In this booster round, I don't see it as quite as critical, but I will await the guidance.

I have to wait a few more weeks. I’m only 61 (a phrase I don’t use often!) but diabetes will get me a booster. But I got my 2nd shot in mid-April, so it’s not quit3 6 months yet.

Anybody here get their Covid and flu shot on the same day? I really don’t want the flu shot to interfere with my microchipping. The olderI get, the more easily I get lost.

Seriously dude-es! That is my main concern too. And then what happens if we get the regular flu vaccine combined with the shingles vaccine on top of the Covid booster? There is a serious chance we could then be launched into outer space. Although the younger generation would probably love that if it were to happen.

“Finally got rid of the old farts!” They took themselves too seriously anyway……..

Moderna here too. Plus, it's not yet been approved yet for booster shots.

When it does become approved for booster shots, the company I work for is considered an essential business (grocery) - so each of us employees are considered essential.

Some people are saying the annual flu shot interferes with the COVID microchip microwave antenna.

Got all my shingles and pneumonia vaccines out of the way last year.
I asked about the flu shot when I got my 3rd Pfizer yesterday. She said wait a couple of weeks.

Oh my. That's some pretty hefty rhetoric.

Moderna vaccinations are holding up much better than Pfizer or J&J, in terms of antibody levels. That seems to affect your resistance to infection, though all are still effective against serious illness. If they are going to give boosters based on antibody levels, they should give them to folks who had J&J vaccines first.

Good news for the vaccine-hesitant: Molnupiravir is passing it's drug trial with 50% reduction of hospitalization, and 100% reduction of death. That's pretty good, and the cool thing is it looks like it will work against every RNA virus! You do need to take it as soon as symptoms appear, so no waiting until you need oxygen to survive. That's too late for an antiviral, because with Covid most of the virus is gone by then. But you just take a pill twice a day for five days, as opposed to an IV for monoclonal antibodies, so it's a lot easier to get sooner.

It works by making RNA replication fail by introducing junk nucleotides into the new strand, so it is messing with protein synthesis similar to mRNA vaccines, but it prevents immune system involvement instead of inducing it. On the con side, I suppose it could affect fertility if some of the drug leaked into the nucleus of dividing germ cells, That might make nonsense DNA in sperm or ova, that would be lethal mutations. It is a powerful mutagen, so it would make non-viable replicate DNA when it is at full strength. But I worry it could make cancer cells as it fades after treatment. We shall see. Also, it probably prevents you from getting any immunity if you take it when it works best. So 10 days later you are healed, but still vulnerable to reinfection immediately. The best treatment would be to get it AND a vaccination 10 days later. You can't do both at the same time, because it would do the same thing to the vaccine mRNA!

It works because we do no RNA replication: That's only done by RNA viruses. Cool idea, but it's long term effects are a bit scary.

Why do you think there would be a difference in the antibody levels between the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccines? It was my understanding that the two are almost identical and only vary slightly in their method of manufacture. Is that true?

That's my understanding as well

Moderna uses a higher dose of mRNA than Pfizer, and the two doses are four weeks a part instead of three weeks. They picked doses that worked and interdose times that got their trials done ASAP. Turns out that even four weeks is not optimal. Mine was five weeks because of the Texas power grid failure leading to vaccine shipment shortages. But some virologists say 5 months would be WAY better. Immunologists have known this for a long time, but WarpSpeed's aim was to make as many somewhat immune as fast as possible.

Seems the immune system does a bunch of things that take time, and the first dose just gets some processes started. If they have run for a while, the second dose has activated T-cells to turn on and get B-cell antibody production really cranking. This is why infection followed later by one vaccination gives you super-immunity.

So as I had mentioned earlier I got my third (booster) Pfizer vaccine two days ago. I waited three weeks as per directives between the first and second injections. Six months and one day between the second and third one. Are you saying even with the Pfizer (don’t forget to include Bio-N-Tech) vaccine I would have been better served if between the first and second shots it had been five weeks?

And between the second and third probably eight months?…..Too late now.

Not to mention the higher manufacturing dose of mRNA?

Alex Jones was found guilty of liable in two suits for knowingly and willingly lying about the tragic deaths of the Sandy Hook elementary school kids, stating the Sandy Hook parents were crisis actors and the tragic event didn't really happen...

This Rightwing nut job is whining that his First Amendment Free Speech Rights are being trampled.



Here's the thing about Rightwingers: They think "free speech" means consequence-free, speech.

Nobody has ever claimed that Righties are stellar thinkers...

Alex Jones et al deserve a special place in hell. Too bad that does not exist. Neither does heaven. But I still wonder how those self-serving assholes can live with themselves.

Is money and fame the answer? And their only answer?

Six months or more between the second and third vaccination is perfectly fine. You were still protected from serious illness, but now you should have several months of sterilizing immunity, that prevents any detectable infection at all. I wouldn't go and make out with a Covid victim, but as long as you stay out of crowded rooms without a mask, you should be very safe.

It's a real pleasure having discussions with people who operate in the real world. I spend time on another board where that is frustratingly not the case. Understanding the biological mechanisms of inoculation. And of disease. And think about the actual real world consequences of policies. I really appreciate you guys and this forum.

Was supposed to go to a corn maze tonight, but Rocksus' 3:30 annual vaxx appointment took longer than I hoped. Missed the 4:15 close ferry and by the time we did finish, I was not going to make the 4:45 ferry where I would have to drive 30 mins to get there.

That's ok, I made shrimp scampi for dinner, instead. (Always fill your disappointments in life with food. )

I joined a meal kit club. I got my first delivery two days ago on Thursday. I figured FR, SA, SU dinners. It doesn't look like a lot of food when you open the box, but when they say it's for two people, it really is. I have leftover white bean stew, and leftover shrimp scampi.

The produce sent was absolutely beautiful. The provider sends all of the seasonings, produce, main entree, accompaniments. You supply the oil, salt, pepper and butter.

This company's recipes are heavy on the butter...so far.

You get to pick from 12 menu times for the week. Each week is different. Each meal is costing $4.95 or $5.95 per serving. So far so good.

That's an excellent price. Does that include shipping? You might be able to do that cheaper shopping yourself, and my local supermarket lets you pickup your order curbside with all weekly specials honored, and no extra charges. But it's WAY WAY cheaper than even the cheapest fast food. And the market doesn't let you buy two servings worth of many items.

Sounds like you will be having some nice lunches with the leftovers.

What is your eleveneses tradition?

Yes. Right now, I'm paying bout $33.00 for the entire service for the week.(three days). Yes, much less expensive than fast food. I spend about $8.50 at Chipotle, or $13.50 at Hamburger Habit.

True, the benefit of having them make meals suggestions is the creative and already done-for-you aspect for of meal planning.

During the week, I eat at the Corporate Deli. I was budgeting $10.00 per day for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack. It's a hot food buffet line esenetioally that is different every day. There is also a sandwich bar and a salad bar. It's charged by the weight. Non-protein plates are 0.28 per ounce. If the protein is chicken, the entire plate is 0.32 per ounce, and if the plate has beef, it is 0.36 per ounce. If the plate has seafood, it is usually 0.42 per ounce.

Not bad.

Jambalaya for example usually costs me $5.50 a plate. Breakfast is usually $2.50 a plate and lunch is typically $3.50 a plate.

One thing that I am surprised at is the meal service uses white rice for it's meals. Brown rice has more nutrients - but then again, it takes longer to cook and is probably the reason the meal kit people have chosen white rice. It appears they try to keep prep time to 10 mins and cooking to 30 mins.

At work we sit in "pods" or "cubes" - four desks per cube.

During the non-vaxxed portion of COVID we were down to one desk per cube and most people were WFH (Work From Home). Corp insisted that the "Buying" team come in during the height of COVID and I.T. got to stay home and work remote. During the height of COVID pre-vaxx, we were not allowed to go to the Deli together.

Anywhoo...

Our tradition for Elevenses is the entire pod goes to the Deli together for breakfast, select their meal, wrap it tor "ToGo" and bring ti back to their desk and eat breakfast. The rest of the day, we are on our own.

Crap you just can't make up...

So Trump thinks he's been "exonerated" from the Russia Investigation (he was not, Meuller found connection between the Trump Campaign and a dozen Russian government officials allowed Russia to assault the 2016 election process), so Trump is now telling DeathSantis to back-off from running for POTUS in 2024 because Fatboy Trump is going to do that.

Some say the if Trump is in prison by then, AND still running for POTUS and gets elected - he can pardon himself.

Don't laugh, this scenario is completely possible. Nobody thought he'd ever be POTUS - yet here we are! It's not like the DOJ is looking to hold him accountable for all he has done illegal, anyway.

I just have Kroger deliver all the ingredients I need to make 14 fabulous meals a week. Plus snacks both sweet and savory! Adult beverages too!

Cooking from a wheelchair changes your perspective a bit. I keep meals simple and nutrient-dense.

Elevenses is when I put my feet up for a couple hours so they don't swell. But here it is noon and I'm still at my desk...

Governor DeSantis is no threat to Donald Trump. He is second-choice only or possible VP material.

My take right now is that Trump is going to run again. Desantis has kowtowed to Trump and said he would not run...he's too busy f*cking up Florida to hell and gone and couldn't possibly take on another 49 states. Trump just said that when he enters the race, everyone else will drop out.

Folks have been telling me for 6 years now that Trump is going to jail soon. They've also been saying that Jesus is coming soon. You'll have to pardon me for taking both with a grain of salt.

Looks like it's time for decent folks to separate from AT&T.


How AT&T helped build far-Right One America News by Reuters.

OAN is Trump's propaganda machine. It puts Breitbart to shame. AT&T now owns HBO. No wonder Bill Maher has gone full DINO.

AT&Ts decision to fund OAN seems to be strictly for business reasons: Their cable and Direct TV offerings had only Fox News on the conservative side, but many more media channels on the reality-based side. If they had a channel crazier than Fox News, they might attract some of the rabid lunatics.

Nothing personal. Just business as usual.

Your daily reminder that Texas does not have a hotline to report a shooter walking into a school’s classroom, just for a woman driving into a Planned Parenthood parking lot.

Aint that the truth....

My response to that is yes indeed that is true and accurate… that Donald Trump seems to be immune to any sort of legal (even moral) retribution for his crimes against humanity. But what I wonder is, why is that so? Why is The Trump so impermeable, and so immune to the laws of nature..so to speak?

How can Donald Trump be held accountable when Republicans are flat-out lying about the 2020 Election?

Republicans are hold-on to power, anti-democracy aholes who are very pathological and sick in the head!



Republicans do not bold well for the continuation of the United States of America.

On Wednesday night, I had dinner with a friend of mine from the Bay Area and her sister at Daniel's Broiler in South Lake Union. It has an awesome view.

So the check comes and we're settling the financials and my friend Crystal's sister Debbi says to Crystal, I'll Venmo you my portion. I mentioned Matt Gaetz sending an underaged teen money for alleged sex and placing "Tuition" into the memo part of the transaction.

Neither Crystal or Debbi knew who Matt Gaetz is!

Is this why America is the way it is right now? You have Repbulicans, Fox News, NewsMaxx, and OAN all lying about reality and then you have us decent folks trying to correct the record - with most Americans not even cluing in to what is happening around them?

It's just getting to be way too much and I'm starting to feel defeated.

Crazy ferry staffing issues the last two days. Hopefully next week will be better.

Tesla's Elon Musk will move his electric car company from Fremont, CA to Texas - you know, that state with the failing electric grid. Sounds like a doomed to fail business decision - the kind that Donald Trump would make.

...and speaking of Donald Trump businesses, his DC hotel has lost $70M since it opened in 2017. Too bad it's now much harder for Trump to grift from his political supporters to make-up for lost business revenue.

Rick, TBH, without a hint I’m not completely sure I could have told you who Matt Gaetz is either. I knew who he was (vaguely) when he hit the news but a) I don’t have the power to arrest, try, or sentence him, and b) I don’t see any real value in remembering the names of sex offenders.

Matt Gaetz is a pissant north Florida rich kid son of a state senator who represents an inconsequential rural district, except for his bad-boy antics, there is no reason anyone outside Florida would even know his name. And as bad boys go he's not even that bad...she was seventeen.

He was among the first to grab Trump's coattails and will be among the last to let go.

See? Nothing I really need to know.

I know this sounds contradictory given my reaction to the priest thing, but this guy is a known entry, he’s had the spotlight turned on him, I assume he’ll face or has faced the law.

No participation required on my part, so far as I can see.

Another rich kid politician friend of his is under investigation and he is only involved because they hung out together. Gaetz has turned his image around and wants to be known as a family man from here on in, thank you. There will likely be no charges against Gaetz.

Really this is just a typical small-town republican assh*le who is well connected to the filthy rich Florida good ol boy network.

Rightwing idiot Allen West is unvaccinated, as is his wife, and they both get COVID. Like your typical dumbass Rightwinger, he and his wife ingested Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin - and surprise! They didn't work.

So he and his wife went to the ER (NOTE: Almost all ERs are out of network and insurance companies hardly pay anything towards them these days) and they get the $2,500 monoclonal antibodies.

Now West is tweeting that if you do get COVID, no big whoop, just get the monoclonal treatment.

So dumbass West won't get the $10 jab because it's experimental, but he'll get a $2,500 experimental treatment + ER + hospital stay.

...and Rightwingers wonder why they're so loathed by decent society.

Most people can't get the MAB's even if they HAD the 2500 bucks, for the simple reason that it's a boutique item, not manufactured in massive quantities sufficient to treat the world, or even the USA, or even the entire population of Burundi.

WORLD-O-METER: Burundi

In fact, it's a stretch if they even tried to supply enough MAB's to help a single city IN Burundi!


Why Burundi? I just pulled it at random out of my head.

So

Q: What is the name of that curious and questioning a little swine from Mexico?

A: Porque Pig!

MABS, like vaccination, are actually covered by the US government's pandemic free stuff policy. The hospital might charge you (quite a lot) for the IV infusion, but the MAB itself is paid for by the feds. IF you can find it, and IF you qualify, and IF your disease progression permits it. Most people don't even know about it, so won't do the leg work to find it. Qualification is pretty liberal now: If you are at risk of serious Covid it's enough, which is fairly subjective. Not hard to find a doctor who will agree, but that takes resources most people don't have. Of course, if you are rich or connected, you have people for that.

Timing is essential. Eight days after symptom onset, it does nothing for you. Five days after, it helps a little. You probably won't die but might wish you had. Right after exposure is ideal. Very likely you will be asymptomatic. Prophylactic use works for about 3 months, but I think it's Merck that has a MAB in trials that works for one year. $$$$$!

Grone...

So wait a minute. Aside from Columbus Day today is also indigenous peoples day? When did that come about? En serio! Forgive me father, but I have been sleeping. “Father” gleefully rubs his hands together displaying a demented smile, but that is a topic for that other thread.

Which is already there.

Although it does make sense:

“This land was my land, now it’s not your land, from Eastern Maine… to Hawaiian islands…… From North Dakota to Gregor’s Flo-or-ri-da…. this land was made for “only me.”

Oops. I forgot Alaska. And they are in the same time zone as is Hawaii.

Inexcusable!

Berkeley had it in the 1990s.

Pretty much recent state adoption of Indigenous People's Day came about circa 2017-2019.

I only learned that about a week or so ago.


You know these internet rabbit holes we go down when we look something up? That's how I learned they were n the same time zone...not that I was looking for that information

I see the Governor of Texas has forbidden all vaccine mandates in the state, including government employees, schools, and even private businesses. He's equating it with a constitutional right, though the US Supreme Court long ago said vaccine mandates are constitutional. This doesn't seem very Republican of him, telling businesses what they can and can't do! I wonder how that's going to hold up against federal rules where they conflict. I also imagine the courts will toss his order about businesses.

It would be hilarious if every airline cancelled all flights in the state of Texas, since they have required mask mandates. I don't see how they can land there and obey both Texas and federal rules.

I suspect he's looking for an ass-whupping.

Rightwingers tend to be masochistic that way...

Probably an honest assessment of my favorite band, U2.

Will life ever return to normal.





Spain probably has the best nightclubs...after London.

My 2014 Air Mac was acting up this week. Kept shutting down on its own, wouldn't hold a charge. I was panicking a little bit thinking I had to get a new one and I'd have to dip into emergency funds to do so. Then I updated to the latest Apple software...and voilà! The seven year old Air Mac is as good as new again.

Apple products are expensive at first, but well worth the money. I've never owned a PC this long. I would get 3 years max out of a PC.

It's funny, I've always preferred working on Motorola processors (680X0) and ARM processors starting with the 6800 offshoot, the 6502. But my Apple II was the last Apple computer I ever bought. Maybe because Intel-based computers were far more DIY. And I built my own desktop computers for decades. My current I-5 Dell laptop is the first I ever bought pre-made, mostly because a two year old used one was so incredibly cheap.

My supervisor's dad's best friend just succumbed to COVID.

Was he vacciniated? No
Was he a Trump supporter? Yes



Seems to be the common variables these days...

A lot of Rightwing sites I was banned from, I am no longer banned. Apparently, the new Apple OS systems hides information about you when you surf the internet. I just found out I can post at those sites again...and I did!

BAD DOG!
TAT

Funny thing, conservatives are always screaming and hollering about freedom of speech - until some Liberal says some truth on their websites that they don't like, then said Liberal gets banned.

To say that Rightwingers and hypocrisy go together like peanut butter and jelly would be an understatement.

Off color joke about women, ends 23-year old career of Christchurch wizard.

It's 2021, off cooler jokes just are not cool or edgy, dude

Steve Bannon to Jeffrey Epstein: "You were the only person I was afraid of during the campaign."

Epstein: "As well you should have been."

Salon.com

Not that I am back on Rightwing sites, Righties are telling me that you can simply get monoclonal antibody treatment with a prescription at the pharmacy.



I write: No you can't, why lie?



They get so GRRRRRRRR mad.

Antivaxxer: "I'm not putting that shiit in my body!!! Give me the monoclonal antibody treatment instead."

...and so it begins.

Laura Loomer ran an unsuccessful 2020 bid for Congress in Florida's 21st district. She is a Trump supporter. Now Loomer is pulling a page out of the Donald Trump handbook by claiming that she really won the 2020 election and that the election was stolen from her. (She did not win, and the election was not stolen).





I know drag queens who do a better Cher imitation. Can't this lady afford a better Cher wig? Sheesh!

Loggy, we both know that the Rightwingers we run into on these forums, don't have an IQ number higher than room temperature and they'll look you right in the eye and tell you a bald-faced lie. Or, they'll piss on your leg and tell you that it's raining. (That what is happening is not really happening.)

That's just your typical modern Rightwinger on the internet these days.

The Jan 6 Committee is hot on the trail of finding and holding those responsible for the 01/06 insurrection:

Patriots.

You're right...my bad. "Patriots."

I just heard a radio host refer to someone as “one of my beloved conversation partners.”

What the hell is a “conversation partner?” Someone you talk to but don’t like enough to have coffee with? Someone you only know through online conversation but otherwise don’t really so “friend” doesn’t really apply?

What is a conversation partner, and why would such a person be “beloved?”

It can probably be taken two ways:

• Someone who you like conversing with, but don't necessarily need to do it in person.
• Euphemism for someone you really don't like conversing with. (ie. me and conservatives)

The "beloved" part might be pure snark?
Ex. " I think I'll go over to Gateway Pundit and see what my beloved conversation partners are up to..."

Bless his little doggy heart heart, in Southern Slang!

It's even worse than getting Regeneron at a pharmacy with just a prescription! Admittedly the Florida Public Health site is a confirmed Rightwing site!

TAT

no need for even prescription Monoc...on demand official Florida state program

How is that even legal? Oh yes...anti-regulations Flor-i-duh.

I know what that means.

I am still in utter disbelief that monoclonal anitbodies are available without a prescription in Florida.


Hey PIA, your thoughts?

Are you jealous because your state can't provide services like this?

Jealous that a non-FDA approved experimental drug can be gotten without a prescription by anyone? No.

Florida might as well just say that buildings should be inspected every 40 years, too. Oh wait...

Who knew Trunts had the ability to be self-aware?

My thoughts on this is that MABs are pretty harmless. If you have an allergic reaction, that is treatable and would occur before you leave the infusion center. More of an itchy rash reaction than epi-pen time.

But they are pretty damned expensive for three months of immunity: The government is paying about $3000 per treatment, versus $30 per vaccine. And the vaccine will give you much longer lasting immunity. Then there is the little problem of efficacy: A recent paper reported the best MABs keep about 50% more people from getting hospitalized. mRNA vaccines keep around 95% of people from getting hospitalized!

When your three months is up, your health care provider is going to tell you get vaccinated before you get reinfected. MABs do NOT provide any long-lasting immunity like a vaccine does. Of course, neither does mulnupiravir. Five days after a treatment course, you could get reinfected because you have no antibodies or activated T-cells.

It's idiotic to waste MABs on people who could get vaccinated. We should save them for people with medical conditions that prevent them from developing antibodies.

Well you know...being fiscally conservative is a device only used when Liberals want something.

You can't get a non-FDA-approved experimental drug even with a prescription. It's volunteer only!

Are we liberals the "fiscally conservative" ones now? Denying treatment to folks because of the cost?

Because they made bad decisions...

What better reason to deny treatment, than making bad political decisions about healthcare? There won't be enough MABs around for folks who followed health guidelines, if Florida sucks them all down.
Possibly the worst implication is that the availability of a treatment for Covid, will be used by the anti-vaxer talking points and prevent the needed immunization rates to protect us, the good choicers!
TAT

People who make bad decisions have to pay a cumppance all of the time. Why should these folks be any different?

Today, HR put out an announcement that effective MO 10/25/21, starting pay will go from $16.00 to $18.00. Everyone at under $18.00 will automatically be raised to $18.00 and their hours get reset to zero. (We get a raise every 1040 hours until we're topped-out.)

My co-workers were all: "What about us who are topped-out?"

Me: "We''ll a $2.00 bump too. Calm down."


The company that I work for is well-known for having "lifers" - people with 30+ years of service.

New Liberal chant: Go get Bannon.

It seem clear that Bannon has no bottom, but I remain optimistic that his cell mates (like 350 pound Bubba) may find it cleverly hidden under 17 layer of clothing, and use it appropriately

Fatboy Trump is starting a new social media platform. You'll be banned if you make 'disparaging" remarks about Fatboy per Raw Story.


So much for freedom of speech.

Trump created the platform in part because he claims other platforms censor Conservatives. If you look at its Terms of Service and "prohibited activities," you agree not to: disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.

You can't make this stuff up.

You can Sign up for FUGS media site here
BTW you can also sign up for anyone as long as you know their email address and cell#, and you think they will greatly benefit from lots of calls and spam. Many folks are lonely during this pandemic and may appreciate more attention.

...from Fatboy's new digital Twitter-ripoff's Terms of Service:

Um...no you orange dunce. Perjury is only being under Oath and not telling the truth.

...part of Fatboy's announcing of TRUTH, his latest social media attempt:


Twitter says:

Oh Oh! Pranksters have pigs defecating on Rump site



TAT

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way. -Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (22 Oct 1919-2013)
A Word A Day, Anu Garg

Fortunately, with dementia, every day is a brand new day, and its exciting to suddenly learn something you forgot from yesturday!

Also, you keep meeting new people who are very friendly!

An investor is pulling out of the company that merged with Trump's new media group, after discovering he is one of the principals and was unaware of at the time he put money into the start-up, stating: Donald Trump has that effect on a lot of people.

Unfortunately, not enough people.

I could make a joke about Donald Trump's father pulling out back in 1945, but I will restrain myself.

On January 1, 2022, Washington State will have the first-in-the-country, Long Term Care wage tax of 0.58%. It's to support those in long term care.


There is a guy who just joined my vanpool says it's all apart of "Uncle Scam." (His euphemism of Uncle Sam collecting too many taxes.)

Why did he join the vanpool? He stated so he can reduce the miles on his leased cars - plural - one for his wife, one for him. Why is he leasing cars? Because the LLC he formed allows him to 100% write-off the leases for his business. What's his business? Owning houses and renting them out for twice the bank note.

Now, if you work 40-hours a week at a job, and your wife works 100% at her job, how can you write-off 100% of your leased cars for the "business LLC" when you drive those leased cars to your other jobs? Sounds like the only person scamming is this dude.

It's ironic that folks accuse others of what they do themselves. Another example of such a person is Donald Trump.

Irony!

It would have been a GREAT idea. The chaos and misery he personally has caused hundreds, if not thousands of people would have been worth it.

Where is Ponderer these days? He seems to have been AWOL for quite some time now.

It's been a few weeks. I'd text him...'what's up?"...but I left my phone at work yesterday.

Organizer cancels ‘Embattled Warriors’ tactical training for Christians in SW Missouri

Someone musta tipped-off the organizer, that training Meal Team Six for domestic terrorism is a bad idea.



Guy in the middle:

If your vanpool-mate is reporting 100% of his mileage as LLC-related, than he's committing tax fraud. The tax forms for reporting business expenses require you to list miles driven for business versus total miles driven, and require you to have detailed logs for each trip claimed. If he gets audited, he's probably screwed. If you feel justified, reporting stuff like that to the IRS is anonymous, and gets you a bounty based on how much additional tax they collect.

We have some rental properties, and some years we report zero miles because we don't need to go work on them. When we do have major renovations that we plan to work on, we log every trip on paper.

I üsed to do stuff like reporting folks...I now let Karma take care of it.

I got a "skinny" audit about ten years ago, all they wanted was proof of mileage. Fortunately, I have notebooks where I record at least an outline of what I do each day (sometimes more detailed if it's for a job where I need to invoice for time and expenses) and the first note is the truck mileage before I even start the engine. My office is at home, so I don't have any non-qualifying commute-to-work miles. For the audit I spent an hour photocopying that year's notebook, which I mailed to them. Not too long after I got a "Thank you very much" letter, and the audit was over. I suspect that if I hadn't the detailed notes that I would have been in for a full audit.

Did you Ranters know today is National Boston Creme Pie Day?

Me either and I am just finding out at 18:14 PDT?!?

Jason Sudeikis hosted SNL last night. Hilarious cold open. He also reprised his role as the jumping dancer on "What's up with that?" and he played the Devil on Weekend Update and he had some really great lines:


QANON:


Cold Open:

I just got a signed contract on my house!

Gonna be walkin' in high cotton.

Well, just don’t go trying to ride your camel though the eye of a needle…

Congrats Greger!

That’s great Greger. After you have that closing check firmly in hand you should go out and buy yourself some maitake mushrooms!

I just checked Kroger and for $11.99 I can buy 0.88 ounces of dried sliced maitakes!

Such a deal!

My advice is to soak them really good and bring the cost down to a few bucks an ounce.

At them rates I feel like I'm the one getting soaked.

This article by Hunter Walker is blowing-up the internet today. It connects the dots between Trump's White house, GOP politicos and the planners of the 1/6 insurrection.

Maybe a site selling plans for a self contained auto multiple wardrobe app. Dont leave home without all your clothes,

None of this is funny, in fact it is very dangerous.

And these people have a lot of power and they are going to use it.

Oh, Greger, I just saw this - congratulations and high times, I hate selling houses; I’m so glad yours went well.

Title people have begun assembling the papers. A year ago I was expecting to get $260K. It just sold for $387K. Me and the ex haven't hammered out a deal on this place yet but we'll likely split it or somesuch. She gets this place back when I die anyway so it doesn't matter much. Depends a lot on which of us would take the lesser tax hit. She has f*ck tons of money...I have none.

Might be getting a roommate for the winter, a quadriplegic pro bicyclist. Name's Pierre so I'm guessing he's French. He trains here in the winter. Rides a handcycle of some sort.

Welp, you have some now.

I had a traumatizing experience with my meal kit dinner last night. Not ready to talk about it.

The grasshoppers weren't dead?

The ground beef for the meatloaf lasted like mildew.

So I take it your enthusiasm for the meal kit outfit might have dimmed? Nevertheless you need to let them know. I’m sure they will send you a replacement but you might not be thrilled about eating it.

I have mixed feelings about mail order food. As a general thing I lean towards buying local, but if the mail order folks are supporting quality producers wherever they are, who may be struggling to make ends meet, and who may be providing quality meals that are interesting and nutritious, I can't be opposed to that.

Of corse, the meal providers must deal with quality control and the occasional bad provider and they need feedback without instant full termination. It's got to be a complicated flow problem - but what to do about it? Maybe it's a fatal flaw in the business model.

Local is better for a lot of reasons, but it's also a lot more work.

Here is the exact same kind of functional quad, a friend of mine, Jonathan Merchant.
I shot this film of him back around 2006 or so. He does ride a handcycle...sometimes at 60 mph downhill.

Please PLEASE give us a link to that research paper.

Karen is about to subscribe to Hello Fresh, for several reasons.

1. Daryl is back in the hospital again.
He stonewalled for almost two months, insisting he felt fine, but we could see he was taking on as much water as the Titanic.
By the time he FINALLY relented and said okay, he was at 384 pounds.
Well, in the last eighteen days they removed ONE HUNDRED POUNDS of water weight.
Since he only has one kidney (just like his Mom) that was a tough job and the kidney is now recovering.
He seriously needs diet help, and we can't beat him up or put a gun to his head, he's a full grown adult.
But he needs help and he knows it, so a meal plan would be adjusted to meet his nutrition needs.

2. Brianne (who is now living and working up in Portland) subscribed to it because she is just too worn out most
days from working to cook. And she is a fantastic cook by the way, but she just has her cuisine fun on her days off now.
The rest of the time it's Hello Fresh and she said she loves it.

3. Apparently it really DOES cost less than grocery shopping.

4. Karen's too worn out, by the stress of Daryl being sick, and in general, so she is not cooking as much as
she used to and I am less than mediocre in the kitchen unless I am just helping a good cook.
I'm good at following orders.

----So...I guess we'll see how Hello Fresh goes and if it's good I think we will stick with it.
We will only need to get things like coffee, milk, eggs, bread, bacon and the like, and maybe desserts.
Everything else can be HF if it works out.

Daryl says he thinks they will spring him from UCLA Hosp within the week, maybe Friday.

Let us know how the Hello Fresh works out Jeff. I enjoy cooking but as it is just me in my house these days sometimes it is difficult to cook for just one person. I used to have a house full of people (plus pets) but that is no longer true. It sucks but I am adjusting…..

Look at the guns on that guy! Hello!
(How can you not appreciate the male form when it looks like THAT?!? )

The service that I am using is called: Every Plate

Today I had an Anderson full-view storm door with interchangeable bug screen and glass door installed so I can have the front door open and get some fresh air, since only the bathroom and loft windows open and the other ones are stationary. I mentioned to the guy installing the door that the only heating source was a wall heater in the bathroom. He pointed to the Daikin mini-split and said: Doesn't that have a heating coil? They usually do. Check the manual.

Turns out he is right. All these past few months, I've been cold at night thinking the only heat source was a wall unit in the bathroom. I've never had a mini-split and always have had central air. I am warm and comfortable while I type this post

Manuals are for wusses!

The automatic control isn't intuitive, so I had to read the manual.

The Theranos scammer, Elizabeth Homes, got $100M out of Betsy DeVoss' family.

If you have $100M to squander like that, you deserve to lose it.

Congratulations Greger!
Your timing was excellent in this nationwide chaotic real-estate market. Just think how much more you could have gotten if you could have held out until right before the crash, which I dont see coming!
The market out there is terrible for first time home buyers. Even in the rust belt here, hedge funds are buying up everything worth renting with cash, and now will raise all rents, but only what the market will bear!
New buyers who need mortgages cant compete with the hedgers who suddenly come in with $20K bids over asking price, in cash!

TAT

I appreciate the forms of males and females alike...one of the motivations for getting down on the trail among all the athletic types. I'm not a player anymore but I still enjoy watching the game.

I hadn't even considered that he might be a triathlete. They just had the Great Floridian Iron Man Triathlon here last week, 2.4 mi swim 128 mile bike and then a marathon run. I can't imagine what inspires someone to put themselves through something like that.

There's also a guy down there with no legs who runs on those blade things. My ex mentioned that he was pretty fast and generally blows by everybody else on the trail. Turns out he's a double amputee marathon world record holder. One of those African marathoners, but with no legs. He lives in a nearby town and fits amputees to their prosthetics for a living. There's an easy 7-mile run around the lake for those inclined to do that sort of thing.

Jonathan's just "being Jonathan".
He was a triathlete prior to enlisting in the Army and prior to getting injured.
The truth is, he's really not doing anything he wouldn't normally be doing, except now that he's a disabled vet, he's doing it differently.
But everyone who knew him before says not much has changed.

The docs told him he'd never regain anything below his shoulders and he took that as a dare....typical of the guy.
So far the only thing he's been unlucky with is love...two wives and two matching divorces and two trips to (almost) clean him out financially.
He no longer has the lavish home with the pool, he had to scale back his lifestyle after Lost Wife #2 it seems.

Yep, he's a triathlete. Good lookin' rascal too. This is him in a racing chair, looks like the deal's on. We've texted a bit and he's gonna call tonight. He was a motocross racer until he crashed at 16 and injured his spinal cord. He's Canadian.

Check this out!

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are the winners:

1 Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2 Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an [censored].

3 Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4 Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5 Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6 Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7 Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8 Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it

9 Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafhalon (n): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido: All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor (n.): The colour you turn when you discover half a worm in the fruit you're eating.


The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

And the winners are:

1 Coffee, n The person upon whom one coughs.

2 Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3 Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4 Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.

5 Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.

6 Negligent, adj. Absent mindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

7 Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.

8 Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.

9 Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle, n A humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster, n A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

I dont get it??

This isnt quite as funny as Sargasm: Deriving extreme satisfaction from glibly berating another with sarcasm.
I get that!

TAT

Q: What did they call the give and take when young Tatum was nursing as a child?

A: Tit for Tat.

That's too bad he got soaked.

When guy's break-up, they just call each other a bytch, and move on.

Grrrrl, please. That's reading a bytch to filth. Queens have been doing THAT for decades.

OH YEAH! Bringing my Mother into this??

Well, if you "knew"

Like I "knew"
Well that would be illegal in many states!! ! And "naughty of you!

Not in red southern states...

A long Youtube episode that has virologists discussing the research paper about SARS-COV2 origins:

TWIV post

Here is the preprint:

Preprint

It should be published in Nature pretty soon.

Look at Figure 2 if you want to see the RNA sequence map showing all the other bat corona viruses that share segments with SARS-COV2.

Where it says MULT, that means multiple different viruses share that segment. Segment 13 is the one segment that none of these viruses share.

Just finishing up a USDA SBIR grant proposal for R&D on a ceramic heat exchanger that will burn smoke to power a microturbine generator.

What ever happened to the good ol' days of logging and cabin building?

Just out of curiosity, what do you burn smoke into? Carbon Trioxide?

Missing Lynx

And I thought Umami was boring!

Tat

It’s an alchemical process whereby, following a proprietary formula of incantations and exhortations sung by the artist formerly known as John Denver, the smoke is transformed into a very hot product that has yet to be named, but is commonly referred to as “nosmoke”.

That is all the lawyers will allow me to say about it at this time.

Breakfast SA 10/30/21

• Scrambled eggs
• Grilled crab cake
• Grilled Chabatta bread
• Fresh OJ

On February 18, 2010, 60 Minutes did a feature article on the Bloom Box. It was a ceramic heat exchanger generating electricity. I've been waiting for something like this to become readily commercial and viable.

That's exactly what I bought - a 2020 built energy efficient cabin with a 350 sq footprint plus an additional 175 sq feet of livable space due to two lofts.

I'm expanding it into a real house though. In fact, I have Zoom meeting with the architect in 1 hr 20 mins.

Make sure you get the manual, in case you want to read it sometime!
TaT

It didn't come with one - but the Daikin mini-split did.

It’s an alchemical process whereby, following a proprietary formula of incantations and exhortations sung by the artist formerly known as John Denver, the smoke is transformed into a very hot product that has yet to be named, but is commonly referred to as “nosmoke”.

That is all the lawyers will allow me to say about it at this time.


There seem to be frequent references to witchcraft to in your helpful requests lately. It may be time to do a little sink or float test, as was popular on Dave Letterman. The winners prize was a CheeseLog


HEAT EXCHANGER
APPLICATIONS FOR GAS TURBINES

I'm just guessing this was the subject of your reading. They still produce CO2, but I guess you could pair one of these with a liquid metal alloy electrolysis unit to convert the CO2 into solid carbon, which you could burn to run the turbine to generate electricity to run the electrolysis unit. Rinse repeat!

TAT

The Big Tat is on the hunt but has scented false spoor!

'Tis not reading I am doing but writing. The subject of the Small Business Innovation Research grant proposal is, indeed, a ceramic heat exchanger for the type of turbine generator that surfaced in your literature search. However, our innovation focuses on the high temperature burning of syngas (smoke), a co-product generated during the pyrolysis of woody biomass - the other product being biochar. There is also a 3rd co-product of heat that is not used up in making electricity that can be used for building or industrial process heat.

Because the biochar is a form of carbon, graphene, that is chemically and physically recalcitrant to change, it may be used in the soil and in other durable products as a carbon sequestration substance. And because it came from plants, which took it from the atmosphere, it represents a bona fide CO2 drawdown opportunity. Thus and thereby, it is the only carbon negative energy source in existence!

But the alchemy explanation is easier for most folks to grok...

I especially like the girl with the grinder.

[/quote]
The Big Tat is on the hunt but has scented false spoor!

'Tis not reading I am doing but writing. The subject of the Small Business Innovation Research grant proposal is, indeed, a ceramic heat exchanger for the type of turbine generator that surfaced in your literature search. However, our innovation focuses on the high temperature burning of syngas (smoke), a co-product generated during the pyrolysis of woody biomass - the other product being biochar. There is also a 3rd co-product of heat that is not used up in making electricity that can be used for building or industrial process heat.[/quote]

Well, since you were actually writing a grant proposal, you have my most sincere sympathy for MOAR pain than most willingly subject themselves to. You are granted a special masochism dispensation from the big TAT.

Do you need a hypercritical editor to help? I have battled editors from journals and funding agencies for years!
I loath them and their conflicts of interest.

TAT

Yep, that's Grindergirl! I was particularly interested in the spark color, as I learned in welding 101 that you can determine the type of steel or other metals by the color and persistence of the spark trails. I bet that shield was well insulated as grinding generates a lot of heat. I guessed titanium from white sparks, but its very hard to judge colors on media, or with cataracts. They said stainless steel that is much easier to fabricate than titanium.


TAT


Grindergirl

I think the color is not true. I suspect mild steel judging by the quantity and length of the sparks. Carbon steel and stainless are less abundant and shorter. Titanium I have no experience with.

Logtroll MD

https://f1chronicle.com/why-do-sparks-come-out-of-f1-cars/

I saw the sparks from race cars, while scrolling channels, and it looked familiar. It is from Titanium skid blocks under the frame. MOAR TITANIUM sparks coming ASAP.

Well, it arrived early. The video show the various spark morphology and Titanium only shows up as a white guest star around minute 5. PITA to weld though, unless you like rainbow patterns of oxides, that means your inert gas wasnt enough to exclude the oxygen, it fails QA, but it sure is purrty



TATANIUM

Figures. She seems like a natural born (circus) freak in the same vein as Melania...

Ms. Kahl has a lot more talent, and a better personality. And she grinds so fine!

Like the Karmic wheel that grinds slowly but exceedingly fine!

The daily grind?

Daily grinder girls, if you can afford it. She uses standard grinding wheel, not a cutting wheel, and mild steel.

Well, there’s nothing mild about that act!

Hip shaker, baby maker,
Some call me coffee ‘cuz I grind so fine…

Very Halloweeny. If you two boys would like a private audience with Sasha, I'm sure she would indulge your fantasies. If you click the YouTube link, she provides a way for you to contact her.

The music is from Deathstar's Christmas Collection - a song titled Cyanide. Yup, this checks all of the (circus) freak boxes.


Interesting choice of song that Sasha chose.

Great idea! I was wondering how to best greet tonight trick or treaters! A modification of Texas chainsaw massacre with Pleatherface wielding a sparking grinder, unfortunately limited to 200 foot power chords!
What could go worng? I have been bitten and nipped by grindrs over the years. Heavy welding gloves have saved several visits to the ER...
In the words of Fagin, "I think I'd better think it out again!
TAT

There was no Trick or Treat candy left at the grocery store when I just went - so I hope I don't get any kids tonight.

Yeah we hope so too. Tomorrow is the day to shop for next years Halloween candy. There is a risk, however, of having a bag of next years treats around for so long. Fortunately most of the "treats" that will be on sale at bargain prices tomorrow, are things you would only consider eating if you were stoned and there was literally nothing left in your goody stashes.
I will be out there anyway restocking my spider/critter stash for grandkids and other tease-ables! They would be sorely saddened if I didnt stock up to maintain our special relationship!
TAT

Not one Trick or Treater last night.

They took one look at you and were terrified. Even if they had not seen hide.. nor hair…of you. Prior.

Those things happen. Unfortunately. Sort of an unfortunate pre meeting….or some such thing…

I'm hardly the Hunchback of Notre Dome.


If you look at the Zillow pics of my house, you'll understand why I didn't get any Trick or Treaters. In fact, the guy who came last Tuesday to install the Anderson stormdoor said he has passed-by my house many times and thought my house was utility hut. THAT is why the previous owner didn't get any offers in two-and-a-half days and lowered the price $75K and I swooped in and grabbed it for the low price of $250K.

Sort of a "tiny home". Cool!

I had two batches of trick or treaters, the first was a gaggle of teens. Very polite, took one piece of candy each and thanked me for it. There were maybe eight of them, totally mixed racially, that makes me happy.
The later batch was older, fun but grabbed a ton of candy. I don't eat it so I was cool with it. Mostly they go to the "rich" densely populated areas. There was a lot of walking for not much candy around here...bunch of damned old curmudgeons cutting their lights out and hiding.

Just hit the 'send' button on a Small Business Innovation Research grant proposal. Y'all please pay your taxes, now!

Time for a tall gin and tonic.

My booster shot arm was really sore today. On the way home from work this afternoon, I felt like I had the chills and my entire mid-section internal organs feel achy and sore. I went to bed at 6:30 pm. It's now 11:45 pm and I feel great.

I guess it was the effects getting the COVID booster yesterday.

Going to read a little, then go back to bed...3:45 am comes early.

Ditto.

Took my booster last Saturday, the 30th, felt the same as you describe, and as experienced with the first two back in March.

I got my first shot in March and second in April and was fully vaxxed on Mother's Day.

I never exprienced in March or April what I did this time. This time is definately the worst I have felt after getting a COVID shot. Right now, I feel completely fine and normal. Yesterday afternoon, was a challenge.

I think you should be pleased with your body’s response Rick as to me that means your immune system was kicking itself into gear. I had dissimilar reactions. I have had all three Pfizer shots, for the first one and the third one my arm was slightly sore for half a day, and the second one no reaction at all. I don’t know how to read that.

I was actually hoping for some sort of reaction like you had but it never happened.

Ken, my experience was yours, to a “t.” I know this is a shock but I didn’t do my own research on the vaccine - I took the shots without even knowing what was in them.


I just assume that reactions vary and any chance of my interpreting them accurately are slim to none. I’ happy to gett them all, including the booster.

Shingles shot was worse.

So I will tell you something that I find curious. From my late teens until I was around 50 years old I would get the flu probably every three years or so. Reaching temperatures of about 102.5°. It became like clockwork, getting the influenza, suffer through it, and then recover. About 20 years ago I had an influenza that almost did me in. I had a fever of about 105.5 and I was sweating, I was burning up, I was shivering. As far as I knew I was dying.

Martha was about ready to call the ambulance but I told her no! And I sweated it out another day. Since then I have never caught influenza nor have I ever had an influenza vaccine since then. I don’t know what to say about that except perhaps my immune system might’ve been sent into overdrive. Those who know more than I do might want to weigh in on this assessment.

I've never had the chicken pox and have been vaccinated for the chicken pox. Do I need a shingles shot? I only got the chicken pox vaxx because I started the school district right after college. And you know how germy li'l kids are...

Hmmm...that's interesting in a really cool way.

I have never had one childhood disease - nothing. No mumps, measles, chicken pox - none of that. My dad was the same way. My brother was like me until his wife's little sister gave him the chicken pox. That is the only childhood disease he got and he got it in his late 20s.

Can you believe that it was one year ago today that decent Americans "You're Fired!" Donald Trump...and the sore loser is still whining about it.

Chicken pox and shingles are from the same herpes virus. Having either chicken pox or a chicken pox vaccine do give you some immunity, but the sad truth is that we lose memory B-cells as we age. So people do get shingles even though they had some immunity earlier against the virus. Apparently the Shingrix vaccine is very good: Like >90% effective.

But there is a caveat. CDC says: If you test negative for immunity to varicella zoster virus, you should get chickenpox vaccine instead.

Interesting factoid: Studies show that more than 99% of Americans 40 years and older have had chickenpox, even if they don’t remember having the disease.

Chickenpox nearly killed me. Measles nearly killed me. Mumps nearly killed me. Pneumonia nearly killed me. Some things just made me wish I was dead. Lotsa things tried to take me out and failed.

They say what does not kill us makes us stronger.

I say bullsh*t.

My standard phrase is: Everything that doesn't kill us, makes us wish we were dead!
It goes along with the aphorism: Today is the first day of the rest of the trouble!
Auntie Pollyanna

Or was that anti-Pollyanna?

Those "harmless childhood illnesses" can do a lot of lasting damage, including death. Anti-vax parents holding "chicken pox parties" and the like should have their children removed into foster care. Vaccinating should not be "parents choice". Not vaccinating your kids is abuse (unless for very rare medical reasons).

And I say this NOT for the purpose of punishing bad parents, but for the legitimate social goal of protecting children from their parents' insanity, much in the spirit of Child Protective Services and the foster care system.

Had a brief text chat with NW_P. He's been busy with life stuff...

Hey kids! I was reminded (thanks, genuinely, Rick) that I have been neglecting our little community. My apologies (sincerely). I like y'all and want to be active in our discussions. I've gotten out of the habit of checking in, and you all know how hard it is to break habits.

Set your phone for the next six days to check-in. Once you do something six times, it becomes a habit.

• Great October 2021 Job's Report
• Got America an Infastructre Bill passed

#ThankYouBrandon

Reporter:
Nancy:

I'm turning 70 years old in November, and Social Security notified me they have approved my claim. I was getting spousal benefits from my wife's earlier claim, but now we get to switch roles and she gets to claim spousal benefits from me. The next big financial move is starting MRDs from a Fidelity SEP-IRA in a couple of years, but I suspect they will start that without me requesting it.

I'm gonna have several hundred thousand smackeroos drop into my account In December and it's liable to upset my carefully curated ruse as a pauper. I'm sure the CPAs will sort it out and put most of it in a safe place because I have no understanding, nor any desire to understand intelligent money management.

I've already got my eye on a sporty new wheelchair, reportedly capable of achieving a blistering 6 mph!

Some turbo-wheelchairs may not be ready for prime time!
TAT

I'm sure some Rightwinger has some money-hiding tips for you.

Greger - congratulations. Might want to get one with detachable fins, and a side car for Roscoe (only when hers walked too far.)

Rick - I think my doctor recommended the shingles shot because I had shingles, long ago. Very painful and I don’t want them again. I’ll have to have a follow-up in December.

I started getting the flu shot years ago; it was required for access to Dad’s nursing home. I quit after he died, and then…I got the flu. Almost sicker than I’ve ever been, I gtflu shots every year now.

I have an 84 year old friend in the Bay Area's who has had an ex-partner live with him for 15+ years. That partner passed last night at the my friends house.

My friend in inconsolable and I can't get much information from him. He has Parkinson's and he uses a walker right now. I feel like I should go down and be with him, but at work right now we're in "blackout" due to the holidays and time-off is not permitted. We need to support the warehouses.

I get the flu shot every year. My honey is high risk. Ironically, last night was spent nursing my son who was throwing up half the night. He's better now.

My wife, Sarah, has been using a Go Go Traveler Elite scooter for nearly a decade. It is not kidding about scooting! Not sure what the top speed is, but when she's in a hurry, I can't keep up. The nice thing, though, is that it breaks down into manageable pieces for transportation. I usually leave three pieces together, but I take off the battery and seat. All together it's 105 lbs, but each piece is about 30-35 lbs.

I have not yet gotten pneumonia or shingles shots, but will when eligible. I had everything as a kid - measles, mumps, and chicken pox. I guess that means I was "sickly".

By the way, I've invested wisely during my "youth", so I am now withdrawing monthly from my retirement funds, keeping it under 5% per anum. So far, the increase in value has exceeded withdrawals. 4-5% of the principle is usually safe for withdrawal without eating into it - unless you are invested in Treasuries. (I trained as a financial planner, but never opted to get a CFP.)

Oh, Rick, I'm so sorry. It's really hard to not be able to "be there" when someone really needs you.

RE: Turbo Chair Tests. ROFL... literally... rolling...

Aint that the truth! But some can manage it!
Great to see you back, even though we are both now irrelevant as science and law have been discredited!

TAT

I hope someone closer can be with him right now, and, Rick, he'll still be needing someone when the holidays have passed. The holidays are hard.

My J6 powerchair weighs around 300 pounds. Top speed is 4 MPH.

Even before the news today, I already purchased a plane ticket for MLK Weekend in January to visit him.

That’s good, Rick. It really is hard to be supportive from a distance. Most of my good friends live in places I used to live instead of places I currently live. Makes things difficult.

I talked to my friend to night. He sounded normal. I think it was the shock of waking-up and find a dead person in the next room. I told him I will call him tomorrow and check-in on him. I need to find out if anyone else is going grocery shopping etc for him - because Rob the guy who passed was doing that.

---Get a handicap accessible minivan!


VMI is the only handicap accessibility outfit worth considering because Braun has slipped to WORST.
You can check out VMI's offerings here:

https://www.vantagemobility.com/wheelchair-vans/chrysler-pacifica/

The Pacifica is by far the absolute best wheelchair van in the business.
Sleek, handles like a car, fast, super economical on the highway (city - - meh...so so)
super comfortable and reliable.

And they will outfit it so you can click your power chair right in behind the wheel and drive FROM your chair
with either hand controls OR the regular pedals if your feet still move decently well.
The best part is the Advanced Cruise Control because it's a stress reliever in rush hour freeway traffic.
The stop and go accordion effect doesn't bother it at all, you just set your speed and you're all set...you only need to steer.
So no more gritting your teeth about all the idiots jacking their brakes every five seconds.

When we drove from L.A. to Tulsa OK, once we got on the Interstate, I think I might have used the gas and brake maybe twenty
times the entire trip because the ACC did it all.

The ONLY thing I do not like about our "Miss Ruby" is the rotary knob for the automatic transmission.
Chrysler has discontinued using knobs for the gears as of 2020 because of all the hate mail from people who
want to inform Chrysler that it's a CAR...not a WASHING MACHINE, and CARS use levers to shift gears.

Aside from that one thing, 10 out of 10!

Right after I moved here I was offered an adapted minivan for $15K and was ready to buy it.
Then I realized it was too low and wouldn't make it up my driveway. The floor had been dropped 6 inches and the exhaust system would have been raked off the minute I turned up the slope.

And then another issue reared its ugly head. Epilepsy. I begin to lose control of it a few years ago and no combination of meds has brought it back in line without turning me into a drugged-out zombie.

It's not serious and I don't even black out when it happens, but for 30 seconds I have no idea where I am or what I'm doing. Everything is spinning and I feel like I'm falling through space and actually tumbling. Needless to say, it interferes with driving.

And so I've had to give it up entirely. It's perfectly okay with me and I get around town fine in my powerchair! On the rare occasions I need to be driven somewhere I can call a cab or an uber or my sister, or my ex.

But mostly I don't feel any need to go anywhere. I take the dog out for an hour twice a day, I play shuffleboard three times a week. I read, I write, I play video games, I cook and do my chores, and I am never ever bored or feel closed in or trapped here. This is an absolutely beautiful location with easy access to miles of parks and trails. There's a big lake just down the hill with a public beach, pavilions, a music venue, there are rowing and sailing regattas and room for thousands of people to gather along the shore. There are breweries and restaurants, and all manner of shops, they just put up the city Christmas tree in front of city hall and are hanging decorations all over town. I know the city guys by name, I know the park rangers, the cops wave as they drive by and Roscoe is a bit of a celebrity on the trail, known and loved by all.

No more fuel, no more maintenance, no more insurance and no more payments.

I'm okay with this.

Lsst night's SNL opener was epic.

Watch this ALL THE WAY TO THE END. You won't be sorry.

Arlight, one more, one more. The one liners are awesome!

We have tried a couple of different mail-order food offerings, and they are what they advertise. The meals are good, proportioned properly, suitable for one or two people, and nutritious. BUT... everything requires preparation (which is fun, but taxing), and some days a sandwich is all I am up for; and, the biggest downside for me, the PACKAGING. So much waste. All those little plastic bags. I love that they provide one sprig of that, or a small portion of this - just the right amount, no measuring involved - but then I end up with all of these little packages of plastic that are going into the trash. The same for the box they come in. They are getting better about recyclable packaging, but I need to put some down the drain, and segregate the recyclables out.

For awhile we were involved in CSA - community supported agriculture - and I loved it. We got fresh produce, interesting new veggies like kohlrabi, heirloom potatoes, tomatoes and beets, and star fruit (carambola). The problem was we couldn't eat it all. We shared with two other families, and still we ended up wasting so much.

My wife's nephew has been involved in sustainable urban agriculture, which I simply love. They put greenhouses on vacant lots that provide fresh produce for the local community. [url=https://sustainableagriculture.net/tags/urban-farming/]National Urban Agriculture Coalition[/url. I think that is the future.

NW_P is correct about meal kit services: Too much packaging, but portions are exactly right.

After I posted yesterday about quitting the meal kit service, I didn't. I'm just not going to order any more meals which includes ground beef. In fact, I got a delivery on TH 10/30 and didn't get around to preparing it last weekend. I was actually going to toss the entire three meals yesterday. When I went to toss out the proteins (Chicken package, ground beef package, and a bacon package) I had placed the packages toward the back of the refrigerator and they were hard-chilled. The produce still looked good.

i thought: Welp, I'll make the meal with the bacon - Linguine Carbonara, bacon can't go bad. So I did, and it was delicious.

I put the chicken and ground beef toward the font to the shelf last night and made the chicken meal for lunch today: Chicken Dijon. It was delish.

I will not chance the ground beef. Later today, I'm going to the grocery store, I think I'll get my own ground beef and make the recipe tomorrow.

Talked to my friend in the Bay Area. He asked when in January 2022 was I coming. He already has it in his head that I'm coming to visit and that comforts me to know that he has something to look forward to.

I asked him about groceries and he said he has Safeway deliver. So I'm good there.

Prior to Rob dying on Friday night, I knew my friend was in good hands and he wasn't lonely. Now, ever since Friday night, it's constantly on my mind.

What a great friend you are, Rick.
If you can, call him every day/night. That will help him feel less lonely.
Also, send him some flowers or a plant in memory of his partner.

So sorry for your sadness, Rick.

Thank you for your suggestions Olyve.

Merrick Garland made this big, dramatic announcement today - not about arresting Steve Bannon, not about indicting criminal Trump, but about cyber criminals. Puh-leeze.

Pretty delusional: Alec Baldwin's solution for accidentally killing his cinematographer is to have police on every movie set that uses guns. Some sort of weird "good guys with guns" NRA meme? So if there was an armed policeman on Baldwin's set, what would he have done? Shoot Baldwin, is all I can think of!

I guess the idea of rubber guns (that all normal people have thought of) is anathema to the "more guns" crowd. How about we arm everybody on the set, guys? That has to make everything better.

Shouldn't it be MOAR GUNS?

Happy Birthday BC wherever you are in Yooperland!

For coastals: What's a Yooper?


It's really just someone who lives in the controversial Eastern Wisconsin, or Northern Indiana/Ohio exurbs, AKA Southern Central Canada

TAT

• Unions wouldn't go for it.
• That's what armorers are for. (Yes! That's really a thing and a union position )

Jenny-O, the turkey lady?

A federal judge ruled today that the Rightwinger's incompetent orange clown does not have Executive Privilege in perpetuity.

Too bad this judge can't fill-in for Merrick Garland who is clearly is in the weeds about what to do about Donald Trump and Steve Bannon.

Poll responder on "Whats a Yooper?

Apparently,
Once you're a Yoop
you're a Yoop all the way,
From you first ferry ride
till your last dying day

TAT

OK, I gave up somebody explain. If I shoot you, and you try to shoot me back because I shot you, and I shoot you again, how does that count as self-defense?

One shot maybe self defense? Two shoots and it’s a video game.

"I took an assault rifle with me just in case anyone thought I was a threat and needed to defend myself against plastic bags, skateboards, and guys with their hands up because he was afraid I would shoot him, just like the first two guys!"

Rightwing logic.

Any ideas why the judge got all pissy at the prosecutor today?

He brought up Rittenhouse beating the shiit out of a woman two weeks earlier, and saying he would shoot people if only he had a gun.

I saw snipets of the obviously politically biased Judge berating the prosecution. I dont think having a pussed off "so called judge" is a winning tactic.
Much moar ominous is the prospect of having half of the national jury pool being Rumpists, and trying to get a unanimous verdict in any criminal trial involving anything with political overtones. And, since everything is now politicized, are all rump criminal immune to criminal prosecution?
I can already hear the MAGGOT crowds outside of courthouses chanting: DEADLOCK the jury up!
We should all be worried about such blanket lawless immunity!

TAT

Welp, if it's a hung-jury the prosecutors will get another bite of the judicial apple.

Nothing Focuses the Mind Like an Impending Hanging, but not a hung jury! All prosecutors will be tied up with mistrials endlessly retrying cases until they are convinced it's a , and consider the jury well hung?

TAT

The low-IQ orange one got slapped-down by a federal court today, tomorrow is Veteran's Day - so the courts are closed, and Friday the National Archives papers are released.

#SoMuchLosing

An Appeals Court took mercy on orange Fatboy. Oral arguments are 11/30/21,

That is actually a good thing, although I want things to move as fast as possible. The DC Court is following normal process. Once the documents are released (as they will be), the cat is out of the bag. Courts should be reluctant to do that until the process is completed. I'd say there will be a ruling in December and a denial of Cert shortly thereafter.

The cat is out of the bag and back with resurrection of traditional 9 lives Avatar.

Yes, the process is going and crawling slowly toward the SCROTUS, and in December we will find out how little respect they have for presidential precedential privilege! All of us elders remember how close the ruling was with Nixon's tapes, but that was before the Federalist Society showed us how many of the previous judgements were flawed and need to be corrected.
Merry Frigging Christmas from the Federalist Society! I'm very tired of coal in my stocking!

TAT

Let us hope!

• Judge Patricia Millet, an Obama nominee
• Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was appointed to the District Court by Obama and elevated to the appellate court by President Biden.
• Judge Robert Wilkins, another Obama appointee.

Def not the three judges that Old Man Delay Tactics had in mind.

Steven Bannon was indicted today.

Steve just said something very fascistly obnoxious on his podcast when news came of the indictment. I'll bet ol' pock-mark face crapped his pants right then and there. i say sentence him to Maximum Security in Florence, CO. He should sit tight there for a few years, rotting.

Ok, I admit to loving Merrick again.

5th Circuit

Opinion: The 5th Circuit of appeals court staking out a claim to be America’s most dangerous court,
This was from August not today when the Frigging Fifth "so called court" proved it's more dangerous status, by halting Biden's vaccine or testing mandate for businesses.
Friggin Fifth court halts vaccine mandate A 3 "judge" panel, one from Reagan and 2 from Rump ruled, and it will now go to the entire court, but there seems little chance they will reverse this. So then it's off to the SCROTUS for a fair and balanced opinion. I report, they decide!

Now cant Garland just remove these batshirt "justices? Lying, cheating, and stealing have consequences in elections. Att. General Barr would have fixed this had the tables been turned by a liberal court!

TAT

Per RollingStone.com

Steven K. Bannon

K as in KKK

So far the strategy appears to be working though. They are taking over elections just as Bannon said. It's all pretty sound politics...surprising that Democrats can't seem to counter it with anything but higher taxes.

All those 70% of people who support progressive policies seem to evaporate come election day.

But Dems seem to get a real hard-on when they get to lock up political enemies. With a little luck they'll be able to lock up Trump soon! Probably a real winning gambit for the Democrats!

Lock Him Up! President DeSantis will promptly pardon him.

Taxes are not being raised on anyone making under $250K individually.

President DeathSantis won't be able to pardon Georgia or New York state sentences.
Also a 14th Amendment restriction on running for elective office can only be lifted by a 3/4 majority vote by both Houses of Congress, not a presidential pardon. It's literally right there in the constitution.

Since when do modern Republicans follow the Constitution?

Remember a few weeks ago that Donald Trump started a new media company and launched a website called TRUTH? The truth is, that he or his people or both stole the code for the website and never paid for it. So TRUTH is now dark.

Quell surprise.

Anti-vaxxers who took the vaxx and really didn't want to are now soaking in baking soda and Borax to "detox" themselves from the vaccine.

You...can't...make...this...stuff...up.

I wondered why SNL mentioned soaking in Borax in their cold open last Saturday. I was thought it was just SNL being silly.

You have to admit, it makes some sense… Borax, detox, and vaxx all have x’s in them. That can’t be a coincidence!

Someone is at the controls wreaking havoc with screen resolutions, settings and colors'

I wish they'd stop. Everything is squinched too close together and capital hill blue is no longer blue.

Or else we've reverted back to settings associated with the old software.

No word from the top whats going on.

It was SNL (the sponsors of today's post), by quoting Qnuts directly. Today's GOP is BSC (bat s*** crazy). If one shows the semblance of rationality or talks in complete sentences, one is ostracized - which is fancy way of saying, "targeted for assassination by loyal Qnutjobs".

Are today's GOP BSC or do the politicos think their base is so gullible, they'll believe ANYTHING the politicos tell them?

If it's the later, then the politicos are pure evil.

Alex Jones was found guilty of four counts of defamation in his Sandy Hook lies. Alex stated that Sandy Hook never happened, no children died, and the parents were "crisis actors."

Why do Conservatives think that they can say anything they want under the guise of 'free speech." Free speech is not consequence-free speech.

This is yet another example where Conservatives fail at nuance.

The Rittenhouse judge is a good example of a bad judge. Narcissistic and losing whatever marbles he had. Geezus. Smh…

The weapons charge dismissal was a clever bit of jurisprudence. The law was written specifically to prevent young gang members(presumably of color) from carrying short-barreled rifles and shotguns which are more easily concealed. It didn't include long guns like hunting rifles or the AR15 varmint gun young Rittenhouse was toting.

The rightwing judge is only putting his thumb on the scales of justice to help out a 17 year old rightwing killer get by with killing two other people who support the injustice of killing black Americans.

Good! Now federal prosecutors can charge Kyle with weapons charges. Wouldn't want the young irresponsible killer to be exposed to double-jeopardy.

At any moment, we're about to find out that it is enshrined in the Second Amendment that it is ok to kill woke whites who support the notion that black lives matter. If so, that would be a really radical idea.

It's enshrined everywhere that killing someone in self-defense is pretty much okay.

Yeah, but I still have a really hard time calling this self-defense.

Um...all of the witnesses called up by the prosecutors implied that the boy was defending himself....

Yes, but…I don’t have to agree. I’m not involved with the case in any way (which is why I try not to get involved in legal cases; it’s impossible for me to know all, or even most, of the facts.)

Still, to me, if person A shoots (or attempts to to shoot) person B, Person B was provoked and could claim self-defense.

As I said, my opinion on this is worth diddly. But if I was the defendant in that trial, and I got off, I’d consider changing my name and moving far away.,

Rittenhouse judge unloads wild rant about Black jurors after jury asks unrelated question

If the trial is too much for the judge to handle, mebbe he should recuse himsefl from the case. Just a thought...

I don't like anything about the ugly and unnecessary situation.

In the heat of the event, words were spoken, tempers flared, people died.

Just as in the Trayvon Martin Case, about half the folks feel one way and half feel the other.

The 1st-degree murder charges are unlikely to stand. Mostly, regardless of what happens or why I see no point in locking the boy up for an extended period of time. He's guilty of killing people. That will haunt him the rest of his days. Is it justice to also destroy his life?

I can’t answer as to whether it’s justice- but the only person who destroyed his life was him. (Grammatical correction requested.)

And maybe those who influenced him, but they’re not on trial.

And that damage is already done. Society doesn't need to step in and add a flaying, or a hanging, or a lifetime sentence. Some places might stone him to death or cut off his hands.

But we don't live in one of those places.

And whether or not the damage was already done doesn’t matter. The purpose of a trial is to decide on whether judgement was done to others, not to oneself.

And then you get into the whole punishment-or-rehabilitation thing.

I don’t think there’s a chance in hell he’ll get the lifetime sentence you refer to.

Personally, I think he should get a minimum of three years. He took two lives for pete's sake. When Ricky Schroder the actor paid his bond to get him out of jail, Kyle acted cocky and arrogant like he was some hero.

Maybe in the rightwing community he's a hero for killing two woke whites supporting black lives matter, but for decent folks, Kyle is no hero.

It does make the case less complicated that he's White and shot three White men. But it comes down to him taking a gun to a riot, and then bad stuff happened. I think they have to punish him for that, else lots of people will do that. And what people think of as "the good guy with a gun" is not necessarily going to win next time.

The basic problem is "Stand Your Ground". All states used to say you had an obligation to retreat, if things got out of hand. Now many states, and many people, think they should just shoot anybody they fear. But there is fear on both sides in any conflict, and these laws just protect the last person standing no matter what he did.

And now in Texas with the new open carry laws, all the 30,000 whack-jobs that were rejected for licenses can open carry wherever they want witout ANY restriction. Did you ever see a paranoid schizophrenic who was not always feeling threatened by most anybody they saw on the street. It gives so many new opportunities to exwhorsize the "Stand your Ground" Hunting license!

How Nature says DO NOT TOUCH

TAT

Not really, because in Rightwing thinking, those three men are no better than the black man who was shot in the back by Law Enforcement - which is what the protests were about. Again, Rightwing thinking: How can you be a decent person is you're siding with black American?

If Kyle is not held accountable, then Rightwingers will consider it open season on antiFA and BLM protesters in the future.

Oops, looks like the blue hydrogen producers need to be way more green, and they're sorta stuck in a corner.
At the COP26 environmental summit, a study released says that hydrogen production from natural gas produces a whole host of deadly emissions, like methane.
What's more, the carbon capture process employed doesn't even help much.


WaPo:
It’s hailed as the clean energy of the future. But hydrogen produces ‘substantial’ emissions, study shows

You’ve heard people say the good old days weren’t all that good?

On the radio this morning, I heard a restatement: for a lot of people, normal isn’t some place they’re anxious to get back to. The program in question was about water security but a lot of things fall into a bad old “normal.”

This is the thing that disturbs me the most. Extremists have taken over and removed any sense of sanity from the law. And this is the State where a whack extremist xenophobe murdered a Walmart full of people?

Hydrogen is a great fuel, but making hydrogen from methane has no advantages over just burning the methane. So that means hydrogen touting is currently a scam, since that is how most of it is made. Make it some other way that does not use fossil carbon, and it could be great. But it's always just going to be a way to store energy, not a "primary energy source". Where "primary energy source" means some process where you can externalize all your costs and waste products.

If you used solar or wind to crack it from water, that would be carbon-neutral. But ammonia is actually easier to use for hydrogen storage than compressing H2 gas. It liquifies MUCH easier, and each molecule has three hydrogens.

Interesting article in Huffpost:

Covid Origin

The author interviewed a lot of patients and doctors in Wuhan, and thinks the index case was a vendor at the seafood market, where live animals susceptible to the virus were being sold. She went symptomatic a few days before the accountant WHO identified did.

The problem is that she might have been the index case of Covid-19, but many SARS-COV2 infections are asymptomatic. So there could have been a lot of people who had infections but no symptoms before her! Or even symptomatic cases among hunters in Southern China or Laos who collected those animals and it either was never reported or not recognized by anybody until it got to Wuhan with their high-tech virology lab.

I think the best "virus origin" info is still the paper from the Pasteur Institute that showed all the SARS-COV2 RNA segments recombined from 15 other bat viruses.

Rittenhouse not-guilty on all counts! Open season on all foolish enough to be outside without sidearm!
It could be a hot time in the old town tonight.
TAT

Truly sickening!

...at least the rightwing judge left open for federal prosecutors to bring weapons charges against the 18 year killer and creep.

This will somewhat make me a bit happier given the above.

The prospects of freeing the US Postal Service from the grip of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy improved today when President ol' Joe announcement that he would be nominating two new members to serve on the USPS Board of Governors, including a new chair.

As you may recall, DeJoy was installed by the incompetent orange one without going through the normal hiring process. And, it's merely a happy coinky dink that DeJoy was a major GOP fundraiser and finance chair for the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Going to a Laser show tonight sponsored by Seattle's coolest dance radio (also a public radio) station C89.5. Can't wait!!!! Even going a to a club afterwards. Ironically, this is the first Laser show for C89.5 since February 2020 and this is the first time I am going out since February 2020 when I went to Bearracuda (A bear dance event) on the 29th (it was leap year last year).

Only vaxxed card presenters are being allowed in to both events.

Yeah...I'm feeling a little-bit cocky with my new boost from November 1st.

But wait...aren't you going to stay home and mourn the Rittenhouse verdict?

You know it's not safe to be out there among all the marrauding teens gunning for Democrats!

Welp, I relying on the fact that conservative teens are not bright enough to organize themselves quite yet to start murdering woke Liberals. After all, how bright is a conservative teen really when he presents himself as an EMT simply because he passed-out water bottles to an anti-woke protest crowd?

Obviously, a kid that is not playing with a full deck.

Then again, a not-so-bright kid carrying an AR-15 around tends to make poor choices as well - so there is that.

So Greger, by your formula Travis McMichael (and his father and interested neighbor who was part of the chase and filmed it) should go free too because Ahmaud Arbery tried to take his gun making it self defense. After all they just wanted to talk to him. Ask him why he was out jogging while black.

...while standing over Ahmaud calling him the n-word while he lie dying.

Oh Rick. Don't be so emotional. It's not against the law to call someone the n word.

Especially given that white men write the laws.

It's not as we already didn't know how things in the Rittenhouse trial was going to go when Judge Schroeder's phone went-off and the ringtone was Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American.

Nope, whole different ballgame. Black guy didn't see that white guy had a gun and start chasing him and trying to take it away.

That's essentially what happened to the kid.

Whoops, Greger. I'm dense tonight. I don't understand what you're saying.

Ritterhouse was walking the streets taking in the sights, the crowd saw he was armed, determined that he was the enemy and attacked him, tried to disarm him. He feared for his life and discharged his weapon.

In the case of Arbery vs McVeigh the black guy was unarmed jogging through the neighborhood taking in the sights, white guy came at him with a gun and the black guy feared for his life and tried to disarm the white guy to save his life. See the difference?

The guy who didn't use his(illegal) weapon probably should have.

Further evidence that Kyrsten Sinema is a DINO. She is now claiming that she "worked hard" to ensure the infrastructure package passed. The reality is that the hard work had to do with others convincing her to vote for the law. The initial law requested $3.5 trillion, but Sinema demanded it be reduced significantly.

Kyrsten thinks her base are gullible rubes just like other Rightwingers think of their base.

ABC15 Phoenix

Lawyers for Zachary Rehl, the leader of the Philadelphia Proud Boys, filed a nonsense motion a day after the Rittenhouse verdict claiming that charges against their client should be dropped because of how he is just like Kyle Rittenhouse and was in DC to "defend vulnerable demonstrators." This, to be clear, was the exact opposite of what Kyle Rittenhouse did or even claimed to do. Rittenhouse was in Kenosha, supposedly, to defend a vulnerable used car lot.

...and so the "Rittenhouse" defense begins.

A man tried to carry a gun aboard a plane. Detected, he lunged for the weapon and (apparently unintentionally) fired it. Three people were hurt. Injuries non-lethal, but who wants to suffer a bullet wound because some dumbass can't be separated from his security blanket?

Reuters.com

Hey Greger, let's not be so hard on Conservatives, right? They're just such misunderstood people.


It's got everything that Conservatives are known for:

• Racism
• Misogyny
• Women use sex to get ahead

What fine people! Such great character!

Horrific attack on Waukesha Parade. More than 23 injured, at least one fatality. Red SUV crashed through barrier and drove down length of parade route plowing into pedestrians.

Update: A car plowed through the Waukesha C...ed, with some fatalities authorities say (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

"Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said that around 4:39 p.m. a red SUV drove into the Christmas Parade "and more than 20 people were injured as a result of this incident."

A suspect vehicle was recovered and a "person of interest" was in custody, the police chief said. People were transported to hospitals via ambulances and police vehicles, he added."

Sounds like a Charlottesville redux. Were any Proud Bois arrested?

Eighty-person Smash 'n Grap at Nordies in Walnut Creek last night. Locals call it 'The Creek." (Um...because a creek called Walnut runs from the SF Bay all the way to downtown Walnut Creek. Broadway Plaza where Nordies is literally built over the creek. )

Anywhoo...I digressed from above.

Pro'lly some anti-vaxxers who lost their job and needed to get some Christmas prezzies.

Right, Rick, we should hate them with every fiber of our being. We should insult them and attack them wherever we see them and do our best to kill or incarcerate them all. We should go to places they hang out and try to intimidate them. We should all arm ourselves so we can kill them and claim self-defense then kill more of them and do it again!

There should never be any limit to our hatred for them because they sometimes make baudy jokes we don't approve of! They don't vote for our special superior candidates who always have their best interests at heart even though we despise them and want them all dead.

There isn't a single conservative alive that deserves our respect. They are all stupid useless people who should eat sh*t and die and we should never forget that and everything we type here should be insulting and denigrating to them because that's what superior smarter and better adjusted Democrats do with their time. We should freak out and get angry at everything they say and do and then come here and brag about all the ways we've insulted conservatives this week!

Eventually if we treat them badly enough they will come to see things our way. Proving once again that we are smarter, prettier and richer than they are! We are the superior race! The ubermenchen! The DEMOCRATS!

Big difference between loathe and hate. Your mileage may vary.

I would actually perfer to give them own country, as it is obivous, there is no working with them, or living with them. Please see: Divorce: American Style thread.

Right on Rick! They should love America or leave it! Everybody should just move from wherever they live to where you say they should live!

So if you only loathe Black people and don't hate them are you still a racist?

If you only loathe gays but don't hate them are you still a homophobe?

Nope.

I guess not. Big difference.

He reminds me of Clinton as rendered/roasted by The Capitol Steps, around 2:18.
Dont believe all the Lirty Dies!
Nake Fews!

TAT

Good day for Georgia. The slow step toward social justice took a big step forward.

Moral high ground won.
11 white jurors, 1 black.
Guilty.
I'm proud of Brunswick tonight.

Sorry. Didn't know where else to put this. Just wanted to crow a little.

Can I tell him?

• Racism
• White privelege
• White superiority
• Living in an alternate reality
• The inability to process information for himself

...just to name a few reasons.

Ex-prosecutor charged in Ahmaud Arbery case booked at jail

I think the cartoonist was referring to the picture of Trump on the wall...

Agreed, but there are other factors which caused Jacob to glum onto Trump as well.

New varient we might not be immune to. Nice!!! Sounds like Corona has mutated to ignore the current vaccines, and we will be at square one again.



Welp, I could use some more Work From Home time and stimmy monies.

It may have enough spike changes to evade the antibodies originally made by the vaccines. That would mean more vaccinated people could get infections. But the vaccines did two things that are going to fight any variant:

1. They made activated T and B-cells that respond to much wider viral epitopes than antibodies. When those T-cells encounter any corona virus (including SARS1 or MERS) they quickly get B-cells cranking out antibodies specific to that new variant. So the race between the virus and the immune system is fixed way in favor of the immune system.

2. If your immune system has a couple of months following vaccination, some "antibody evolution" takes place in the lymph nodes and other germinal centers. You start making all sorts of related, but different, antibodies. Pretty much antibodies against every variant possible. Evolution has selected for us making those related antibodies, just to keep up with virus mutation. That's called "co-evolution" and it's a very real thing.

What we should be looking for is how many vaccinated South Africans are ending up seriously ill or dead. The hospitalized number is not very useful in a country with so many poor people and lots of AIDS patients. Too many rich people get hospitalized when they don't need it, and way too many poor people have to just die at home. But eventually, a more deadly variant may emerge. The vaccinated or previously infected will do well. Non-immune people will die at a much higher rate.

Makes sense. Thanks PIA.

Big day today, I'm ready to sit down. Got up early, made coffee, and spent too long posting on RR; made Saturday morning hashbrowns and baked bacon; drafted and estimated a roof to span the space between two shipping containers for more forkliftable storage; went to the hardware store for parts to make a heavy duty extension cord for working at the cabin; stopped by my buddy's bicycle shop to pick up my electric bike that I took in for a tune-up and tires seven years ago; took all the screens off and washed the house windows, then cleaned and installed the winter storms; took the bike for a test ride (you never forget how to ride); shopped online for a couple of special tools; and put together a fresh Johnson-Su compost batch (leaves, litter from the chicken house, and biochar) - one with a big food waste hole in the middle for the worms to eat.

Time for a gin and tonic and a few more pages of Finding The Mother Tree. Later we'll walk downtown for the community lighted Christmas parade.

Just curious: How long do you have to let a chicken manure-based compost heap cook? I've heard of a lot of folks frying their plants with chicken poop compost because the nitrogen content is so high. That always seemed to me a reason to use less in your heap than you would something more benign like cow pies, but I've read some treatises about letting it brew longer.

Still have not got our chicken coop assembled yet, but coop litter is immanent.

I confess I'm not an expert on conventional composting, which is accelerated and bacteria dominant. I do know that adding biochar will improve the process and adsorb nitrogen, among other things, to be made available over the longer term. Such compost is generally considered to be a nutrient input to soils.

The Johnson-Su reactor is a static pile device that allows the compost to mature for a year, which allows it to become fungal dominant, and the extended period fully breaks everything down. The end product is soil health improving, microbially rich inoculant, and is not considered so much as a nutrient input.

That said, our chicken litter is probably less than 10% poop and 90% hay and straw. I'd guess that ratio, especially when mixed with other biomass and composted, sufficiently dilutes the potency of the manure to make it easily usable without concern.

Later we did walk, and saw the parade - all 14 minutes of it! It was the stuff of a wonderful short story about a tiny, not very wealthy community doing its best to keep up a non-virtual existence in an era of CGI. It was pretty pathetic, but oddly inspiring. Got in a nice brisk walk.

I have read your lynx which are informative re fungal dominance, and I have dribbled in compost tea to fight fuksarium fungus. I was trying for a bacterial biofilm to fill possible fungal niches, so I goosed my compost tea in an a large plastic trash can, with some sugar, spiked with PO4 and NH3 of some kind, and infected it with Actinomate, Actinomyces refs.. It worked , but learned other workarounds. I'm reconsidering it after this fungal year, that I read about somewhere. I,m trying for a more bacteria dominance, but what could go worng?

So, that's why I am cautious about adding an unknown fungus rich compost to my beds. Of course, I can see both sides of it, but I dont want to risk all of next years crop, which would be worst case scenario... no that would have been the year when I burned everything with a hotter than expected mix of chicken and mushroom poops not quite composted!

TAT

I have cut tree branches in the bottom of one raised bed (Hugelkultur), and that's the bed where my summer squash all perished by fungus. So I'm thinking I should remove the wood, and just add some perlite to help the soil retain moisture instead. We are in a high fire danger zone, so any burning of green waste is illegal: I'm not making any biochar in the foreseeable future.

Same difference.

I spent much of my afternoon watching aeroponic, hydroponic, and composting videos. Thanks, guys.

I don’t think the Hugelkultur has anything to do with the squash fungus. There are three general types fungi at work - pathogens (feeding on your squash, if that’s actually the culprit), saprophytes (feeding on detritus, such as the woody material you buried in the ground), and mycorrhizae (the fungus-root symbionts).

A friend of mine with a lot of gardening experience tried Hugelkultur a few years ago. My impression was that the main benefit was supposed to be moisture retention, but the concept seemed pretty strange to me - one reason being there was nothing natural about it - that’s not how wood decomposes in Nature, and the mess of sticks has lots of air pockets in the soil where the roots would like to be. His experiment was only one year.

From further reading (I haven’t wanted to bother Dr. Johnson, and he can be very hard to get ahold of) it appears that the Johnson-Su compost process is long enough that the biomass passes through a full progression of seral stages, much like a forest ecosystem beginning with a clearcut does with plants - the first stage is “weeds” (hardy colonizers), followed by grasses and forbs, then sunlight loving fast growing trees, then shade tolerant species are able to sprout in the understory, eventually leading to dominance by “climax species” such as western red cedar (I first learned of this dynamic while participating in an old growth inventory study in North Idaho). The climax condition is quite stable and can persist for centuries.

In Johnson’s research he has tracked the species shift as the compost matures over a year’s time and found that in the beginning it is predominantly bacterial, shifting slowly to fungal (of the mycorrhizal variety) - as the detritus is broken down the saprophytic fungi diminish and the pathogens disappear in the beginning (consumed by bacteria) due to the lack of living plants. In the end there are thousands of species of viable microbes, however. Many are symbionts of specific plants, and it is the plants themselves that select them to partner with. Other fungi are generalists.

At about halfway through the seral progression the ratio of bacteria:fungi is approximately 50:50, which is what grasses and garden plants prefer. Mature forests like much higher fungal dominance. Weeds thrive at the other end of the seral spectrum. I think Dr. Elaine Ingham has a great table showing this.

If I was in your situation with limited options for processing the woody debris created by pruning trees and other vegetation management, I’d be inclined to chip it all and use it for mulch, or pile the chips to compost on their own. The material will follow essentially the same process as in the J-Su composter, it will just take longer and be less consistent. Top dressing with a thick wood chip mulch is good, too. The idea of that method depleting soil nitrogen is an old wive’s tale. If you can’t get it chipped, just pile it in smallish piles away from ladder fuels (in case a low burning wildfire comes through). Animals will use it for cover and it will eventually break down.

Check this out (the successional table I mentioned is shown starting at 6:45)

Fun fact: Plutonium (specifically, plutonium-238) was first produced, isolated and then chemically identified between December 1940 and February 1941 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, Emilio Segrè, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium in the 60-inch (150 cm) cyclotron at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.

Seaborg chose the symbol "Pu" for the periodic table as a joke. Typical nerd humor is timeless.

I see another big-time vaccine-misinformer has died from Covid:

Network Founder Dies


I'm assuming the hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin didn't work out so well. No problem: Off he goes to be with Jebus!
His wife blames Satan, but that seems a little odd because now he's in heaven just like he wanted.

God sent the vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (all promoted highly by Trump), but I guess he was still holding out for personal divine intervention on that roof.

Made a trip to the big city today (Tucson), hadn’t been there for a couple of years. We have about 150 miles on I10 to get there, and there has always been a lot of truck traffic. But today I estimate there were two to three times more semis than I have ever seen before. I think there were more big rigs than cars!

I thought there was a big shortage of trucks and drivers?

Our resident Kirkland Kid will be gratified to know that we spent $1100 simoleans at Costco.

The WTA has canceled tournaments in China out of concern for the safety of China’s premier player.

<crickets>

A major Supreme Court rights decision is about to be overturned, in part with the help of Trump court appointees. This story involves history, medicine, states’ rights, precedence, oh, just all kinds of tasty debate material. This is a major, major case.

<more crickets>

Somebody hang some truck nutz on those stories, maybe they’ll drum up some interest.

Rachel’s got some Truck Nutz for sale!

The Big Three

Just finished the intake interview (via Zoom) for the DOE funded NM CERG program (Clean Energy Resilience and Growth). I’m optimistic that it will be key to expanding Trollworks to be effective as a climate change mitigating business venture.

I'm thinking that ending Roe v Wade is high on the conservative Supreme Court's agenda and will be an epic strategic mistake if they see it through. The SCOTUS is currently viewed by many as an activist court looking to mold the law to their own agenda with Constitutional norms falling by the wayside. An illegitimate court if you will. This is gonna throw some wrenches into a lot of political gears.

Regarding the tennis player...when you live in a fascist state it is best to closely adhere to the rules. The laws there have the sort of teeth that some would like to see them have here.

WHEN they see it through. Ending Roe v Wade has been a top priority for the 50 years since it was decided, and they are almost certain to get their way this time.

Regarding the tennis player - oh, never mind.

The tennis player will likely show back up...re-educated and apologetic.

Xi is somewhat less crude than Vlad Putin or some of the other strongmen and is actually embarrassed by some things when he gets caught.

So… The tennis player shouldn’t have been doing what she did in the first place. Anyway, there’s not much to worry about because the bad guy responsible for her disappearances really not one of the severe bad guys in anyway.

Reassuring.

By the way, I made that post more out of surprise than anything. Those are major news stories, and they didn’t catch our attention. Neither did the Michigan school shooting, so far as I can tell. It just made me wonder.

These topics grabbed our attention, even without the baiting of Truk Nutz, but I doubt anyone wants to debate on such uncontroversial topics, that even denialism fails to provide a defense. The only possible discussion boils down to an "Aint it awful" rendition and who can provide the worst possible outcomes thanks to the corrupt evildoers.
I think a better discussion would be about the rotting SCROTUS, that was my previously, more respectful, reference to the "Supremes"! BTW I actually looked for an antonym for supreme, and couldnt find one. We need a new word to define it, and I'm open to suggestions. Now that SCROTUS is not sufficiently insulting to describe the current "high" court new modifiers are needed. Under consideration are SCROTTENOUS, NECROCROTILOUS, and REDBALLS!
There is no need to invoke Truculent Nutz to grab our doggies, paraphrasing presidential oratory.

TAT

Most major news stories avoid coverage here, maybe because there's just so many of them?

When stories get politicized is when they are invited past our threshold.

Watch when they come in...they cast no shadow nor reflection.

Like those last couple of murder trials. And, Tat, Roe v Wade is anything but uncontroversial.

But, hey, whatever.

I don't think inventing ever more complex insults ever adds much to any conversation.

No matter who you're talking about.

Yeah Mello!

Context is everything, Mello
R V W would not be controversial here, just like it would not be controversial in Rapture World.

TAT

Anu Garg, A Word A Day

Woman caught breastfeeding her hairless cat on a Delta flight

I would have thought a hairless cat from Syracuse would be thrilled to escape to Atlanta this time of year. Cats are allowed on flights, but there is probably some rule about cages but I doubt there is a rule that bans breastfeed a cat.

This could well end up in the Supreme Court! Though I have been mildly disappointed with the court's politicization, I think they may rise to this crisis and be able to figure out how to put this obscene naked cat back in the bag, but I may be worng!

TAT

YouTube Episode

This is one episode on a YouTube channel about a couple of "van-lifers" who settle in the mountains of Utah, and build a house. Lots of entertaining construction stuff because they have no construction experience and try to do as much as they can themselves. Lately, Allie is pregnant and they are racing to get a Certificate of Occupancy before the birth. They don't make it, and this episode is the story of the birth.

I think they could win some sort of award for the short documentary format with this episode. It really has everything, film-wise: Tension, resolution, perfect videography and editing, excellent sound, relatable characters, dramatic impact, AND it's a documentary! Which are often rather boring to watch.

Does anyone suspect that Ethan Crumbley’s parents might’ve been Trumpsters?

Trumpsters or not, apparently they are nuts. They got $4000 out of an ATM and failed to show for their arraignment. They are now wanted by the FBI and state police. I bet they headed for Canada, which will do them no good. I don't think they have any way to get to a non-extradition country without getting caught. Leaked phone texts make them look very negligent, if not guilty of their manslaughter charges.

They seem to be into guns, so I presume they are armed and dangerous.

You mean the fact that Jennifer Crumbley wrote Fatboy Trump in 2016, thanking him for his support of 2A?

Ahh yes the good old sacred second amendment. Bartender….I think I’ll have a double.

I did not know that Rick but it makes perfect sense. Those two shall go down in a flaming spiral as parents of the year. What does one do for a Christmas present for an obviously disturbed child? Why…buy him a semi automatic pistol of course. What could possibly go wrong?

This case has shades of an infamous case in my neck in 1998. Kip Kinkel‘s father bought him a handgun in an attempt to “relate” to his disturbed son. A few days later Kip capped both his parents (thanks for the gun dad) and then proceeded to his school and wreaked havoc. This case from 1998 more less ushered in the modern era of mass school shootings in the US.

In other news I enjoy all you folks company. Ya’ll can be quite funny at times.

The Crumbleys have been arrested. They were hiding out in the dead of the night in a Detroit warehouse, and not on the lamb - per their attorneys. Who's to say they were not longing for a 90s flashback rave party?

Rittenhouse was a turning point. Gun advocates have gone from tacitly supporting mass shootings via lax gun laws to actively supporting the shooters themselves


Oh the gaslighting! This drunk old hag would be screaming and yelling and spilling her wine all over the place if Dems invoked tougher gun laws in Michigan.

Also Jeanine:


This argument goes directly against the pro-gun argument that she and conservatives make all the time.

Well of course he had a gun. That's our Republican platform now, that everybody should be armed and carrying at all times. And not a pistol either: An AR-15.

Republicans bumper sticker 2024: Guns, ammo, and white Jesus

Fatboy just can't keep his big, mouth, shut. That gossipy orange old fool admitted on Fox News over the weekend that he obstructed justice. Merrick Garland, are you listening?

Of course he obstructed justice! This is Donald Trump. He's been obstructing justice all his life. He won't be prosecuted for it for the same reason you aren't prosecuted for going a few miles over the speed limit now and then.

Just write AG Garland and explain how if he knew anything about the law(like you) he could have Trump in jail in a matter of days!

Asinine and churlish suggestion. I simply repeat what those with law degrees say.

Some are saying Merrill doesn’t want to appear political. That position in and of itself sounds political.

Democrat Party 2024 bumper sticker: Republicans - Repackaging Prejudice As Liberty

Rome (AP) - A Roman Catholic diocese in Sicily publicly apologized to outraged parents after its bishop told a group of children that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.

Did the Biship then say:

The big problem for Christian clergy, is that when kids figure out Santa is BS they might just figure out Jesus is BS too. After all, there is a LOT more evidence for Santa than for Jesus. Santa brings real presents they can hold in their hands, eats the cookies they leave out, etc. Anything Jesus does for them has to wait until they die!

Fox News continues its annual war on Christmas. Someone lit their Times Square Christmas tree on fire recently. and It did burn brighter than than a shining star - so there is that. But, Tucker Carlson wants the (deep state) FBI to investigate the crime as a hate crime against Christianity...because nothing says Christianity like stealing winter symbols from the pagans.

Bah humbug! Kansas City Landlords about find it a lo hard to throw families into the street.

Kansas City, Missouri, will now provide universal legal representation to tenants facing eviction....meaning that instead of just being thrown out of their homes with no recourse, evicted tenants will now actually have the right to due process, regardless of their financial situation. The measure passed unanimously out of committee on Wednesday, December 8, 2021.

Another Missouri story!

A health district in rural Missouri announced yesterday that it had been ordered by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt to stop doing anything at all to contain the coronavirus pandemic, due to a ruling in a state court last month which held that since the Missouri legislature hadn't explicitly given public health agencies the power to issue health orders for COVID-19, all such health orders were "null and void."

The health district is forced to cease all COVID-19 related work at the current time. This includes: case investigations, contact tracing, quarantine orders, and public announcements of current cases/deaths, etc. The agency writes:

...and to think that some liberals think that Republicans are good people who are just misunderstood.

A "friend" on FB just posted this...

Too bad for your "friend" there is no evidence to support his hyperbole. Friends don't let friends post on Facebook

..besides what kind of mental giant believes that liberals are at the cause of the CORONA-virus pandemic crisis?

Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder:

Your "friend" is also a Savage plagiarist, unless giving reference to this very hackneyed phrase.

I can't be sure without the context, but it can hardly be claimed as an original construct. Fake thought!

I hear it can be dangerous nowadays to de-friend rightwing whack-jobs, as a violent reaction is never off the table for traitors that disagree.
It's relatively safe to disagree with liberals, which does give librules a distinked disadvantage in debate.

TAT

In other words, Rightwingers like Michael Savage will do anything to prevent the United States from ever becoming a truly functioning multiracial, pluralistic democracy. Sad! The fact that Savage references the Ten Commandments only shows his white, male herterosexual Christian fascist bias.

I was just thinking how much it sounded like the rhetoric from the blue team. Both sides insist the other is at fault.

I agree with blue team and the "friend" is just someone I follow to keep tabs on the other side.

I don't allow much of that nonsense on my feed.

I don't see liberals forcing white male patriarchal Christo-fascism on others. I also don't see liberals forcing folks into gay marriages. Having perspective and living in reality, does wonders for the soul.

I'm scheduled to travel to Cleveland this week to help one of the participants in the NRCS Conservation Innovation grant (Carboneers) to plan out the installation of their Biochar+Energy System and a pellet-making operation (using waste urban biomass) to make the feedstock for the BES. A local colleague is going with me to learn about their aquaculture oprations so that we can set up our own here at our farm. The place we are going is the Rid-All Green Partnership. I'm not looking forward to the travel, but I'm excited for the interaction.

I'll be delivering a unit to Spirit Farm right after the new year.

Your soul seems embittered with hatred, Just sayin'...y'know?

Gook luck with travel Loggy.

Couldn't this all be done on a Zoom-call?

I love Cleveland! That's where the ex hails from.

In case you're not clear dear old Greger, Conservatives attitude towards others, forcing their way of life onto others, is what causes others to not be so enamored with them. But, i don't expect a white male heterosexual to understand MY perspective - you've never been marginalized AND continue to be marginalized, by those aholes.

Conservatives reap what that sow. Just sayin'. That you support them says a lot about you, and especially what you think about me.

I went to Cleveland once, it was fun.

Horrific trail of death and destruction last night from tornados in middle-America. One tornado is said, once confirmed, to have the longest touch-down trial of over 200 miles in length. Kentucky suffered a lot of damage and death. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is imploring the Biden Administration for help and financial aid.

This is th same Rand Paul who voted "NO!" when other area of America suffered destruction and death from natural-occurring distress such as hurricanes in the past. Thought I would point that out.

Mebbe ol' Joe should hold a press conference and toss papertowls to Kentuckians like orange Fatboy did for Puerto Rico in 2017.

There is no vaccine against creeping Socialism!

Why is Rand running to ol' Joe anyway? Rand wanted to decertify the electoral votes on 01/06.

I think Biden should condition aid to Kaintuck on Paul’s resignation from the Senate.

Nope I strongly disagree!
Paul is relatively harmless in his stupidity!!
Pitch Mitch first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TAT

Top 20 museums to visit in Cleveland
I recommend #1 and #3
TATOO

This ain’t no toorist visitation! We gotta leave home at 3:30 AM to catch a aeroplane in ABQ, getting into Cleveland at 6:30 PM. All next day with the Rid-All folks. Back on a plane at 6:15 next morning, back in ABQ by noon, pick up a pallet stacker (won at internet auction last week) and a quick 4-1/2 hour drive home.

Maybe I can find a Cleveland tour on a Viewmaster disc?

...but couldn't you have done this all by Zoom?

Same thought occurred to me about 3:30 PM, isn't that funny, 😆 it was on another forum but I never posted it...was gonna but forgot about it.
I guarantee you Rand Paul would be leading a delegation to withhold aid to California if The Big One happened, or maybe even CA-OR-WA altogether if a Pacific Cascadia type earthquake happened further North.