I was just watching a slice of joy on tiktok. It was xchucklesx if you want to know. He dances to ANY music. I was introduced to him by his dance to a bit of Bach, or possibly Rachmaninoff, in any case it was not music that I thought could be danced to. But Chuckles did it so successfully I wanted more.
So, I was looking for a distraction from my besetting anxiety about…. Gestures Broadly… and was perusing Chuckles and his family dancing to Love Train. And it was indeed the bit of joy I needed. And then Samsung decided I didn’t have sufficient battery and just blacked out the screen in the middle of my joy. But I did apparently have sufficient battery for them to remind me that I should be angry with Samsung by putting their logo up.
Look. I get it. This is my fault. They warned me at 15% and 5%, but what I need in these cases is a warning 90 seconds, 60 seconds, 30 seconds, 15 seconds….
I got their last warning just as I was getting ready to leave the house. I wanted to be on time for hostess, and finding charging cables wasn’t on my mind. So when I got home I fired up the tiktok, as you do… And then just when I found my slice of joy – boom. No warning because the 5% was apparently my last chance.
If you have let your battery get below 5 percent – you are the sort of person who needs more and urgent warnings closer to the event. Bad design, Samsung. Bad Design.
I ordered a mail in ballot. Then didn’t mail it in, so now I have to show up. Some days, weeks, months, ok. Some years it’s just hard to survive much less be organized about mailing something.
Actually mailing things has been a life long issue with me. In my 20s my bills were perpetually a bit late merely because I couldn’t seem to stuff an envelope, and put the damn thing in the mail. My credit soared with advent of the internet banking.
Anyway, here in procrastination central, we have finally decided to look at the ballot and do a bit of research. In Ohio, they don’t tell you which party a candidate is with on the ballot. Is that true everywhere? I don’t know. But while I have definitely voted for Republicans locally in the past, I will no longer give any credence to that party. It’s like there’s a giant seeping tumor in the party and they are dancing around pretending it’s not there. So it’s important to know who is who because I’m not spreading the cancer.
Anyway, I went to Ballotpedia to check out the candidates. And some of them don’t even have pictures on Ballotpedia. How half assed do you have to be in order to run for office? I’m suspecting that a quarter ass might be sufficient. They are carrying a camera on their person 24 hours a day, but don’t have a public facing picture to put on Ballotpedia? I might assume Ballotpedia just doesn’t trouble themselves with minor local election candidates, except it’s not all of them. Some have pictures.
It’s just interesting to me. How hyped up we are about the National Election and how completely unimportantly we treat a local commissioner or Engineer. On my ballot there are several offices with only one person running. No clue at all if the people are competent or not. The Coroner and the Engineer are both undisputed. Do they even have the necessary education for the jobs? Do we even have minimum requirements? A quick google check does not provide any enlightenment on the subject. And since no one is challenging them, I guess it’s not going to be questioned if they don’t. They are both incumbents.
I lived in a town a few years ago where the actual city council members went into elections unchallenged. School board was the same.
I was just wandering around the rabbit holes of Wikipedia. There I discovered that there was a nearly intact boat inside the base of one of the pyramids. I naturally clicked to learn more and as I was perusing the lovely images, this picture showed up!
That right there is not the pile of rope found at your local marina. Although you would NOT be at fault for assuming it was. That is the rope found with the boat in the base of the pyramid. It’s rope from 4500+ years ago.
Rope has not become irrelevant. It has not changed dramatically at all. It’s the same and still necessary. Certainly, today, we have more fiber options, more effective machines to make it, and still this ancient rope would blend right in at the marina. Because we still make rope the same way the ancients did. We twist up fibers. And then we twist up the twists, etc.
It useful. Indeed it’s necessary. The ancient method for making it was so good that we have just kept right on doing it. I find that mind bogglingly beautiful.
In what can only be called stupid talking about stupid – there is quite a large bit of babbling happening on the internet about people who won’t mask. I have a theory. And since this is the internet, I’m gonna tell it to you.
I think there is a direct connection between people condemning and screaming about non-mask wearers on social media and people deciding that wearing a mask is somehow optional and/or an infringement on their rights.
In the olden days of my long gone youth – we learned about things from a very serious and trustworthy person named Walter Cronkite. He was a news anchor on the TV. We trusted him. If he got on TV and told us that masks were required to protect us, we would wear masks. Because no one else was telling us there was another option.
Or more precisely, no one we would listen to was telling us anything else. There were always lunatics on corners screaming about conspiracy theories, but everyone fully understood they were loons and we were not making any decisions based on their ranting.
These days everyone is talking all the time – telling you things. It’s a constant gossip garbage festival. Now I have not met anyone who refuses to wear a mask. But I have seen dozens and dozens of people condemning them on social media. I’ve seen news outlets reporting on what people say on social media. Because that is where we get our news now – they just scrape the bottom of the social media garbage can for the maggots and publish it.
It’s not that I don’t see people without masks or wearing a mask improperly. I do. But here’s my impression of all those people
Ehfuckit: The person who left the mask in the car. Too lazy to go back for it.
ParticipationRibbon: The person who is wearing a mask around their neck.
BeardProtection: The person who is wearing the mask on the chin,
Igottabeathe: The person who is wearing the mask just under the nose.
Imsweatingunderhere: The person who is wearing the mask appropriately.
Most of people have done all of the above at different points. Because we are human. No one is all one thing. Certainly we are not a homogenous group.
It’s not that I don’t believe that there are people who refuse to wear a mask. It’s that I think they got their balls to do that because so many people are screaming about people who refused so they figure they have lots of compadres in their quest to be selfish and are given fuel to do this. We are feeding them by giving prominence to the tiniest group.
Then add in how it easy it is to get in touch with the selfish and ignorant club on the internet and now we have a movement. A movement that I posit would not have existed in 1983. I don’t want to go back to the pre-internet world. I think only if you lived without it, can you appreciate it for all the small and lovely ways it improves life. From banking to spelling to random interesting questions. Back in 1983 we just continued to wonder about something that came up in conversation. We didn’t go to the library and research it. We just never found out.
I don’t want to go back there. But it is true that the internet is not working quite so well on a societal level. sigh.
The week after July 4th weekend, several of my coworkers went away to the beach on vacation. Apparently they decided that if they pretended hard enough the whole pandemic thing didn’t apply to them, it just wouldn’t.
The company required all of them to be tested when they returned but didn’t stop them from coming back into work while they waited for the results.
On Thursday, one of them announced that one of the people he and his father (both work for us) were on vacation with tested positive. They were still waiting for their results but they were sent home immediately.
Unfortunately that was after I had extensive contact with one of their phones and computer. I’m an idiot too.
Yesterday one of them was told he was positive and one was negative. Happily the one whose workspace I was in, was negative, but…
I went to get tested today. The drive through line was a literal mile long. But they are VERY efficient. I was done in less than an hour. But if I have this virus because these two idiots HAD TO GO TO FLORIDA, I am going to have to exercise a whole lot of anger management.
Is it impossible to sacrifice a vacation for the well being of your community? I just don’t understand.
Have you had one arrive suddenly above you? If you live in an urban environment that can be the feeling. One day, you are working in your backyard garden and you hear conversation. Above you. And there it, floating impossibly above you – it’s colors screaming delight, it’s passengers happy to wave and join your wonder from their, possibly happier, perspective. And then a sudden muted roar as the flame is ignited to give it some lift and your momentary delight floats away like the happy dream.
How can it still be so wonderful? Hot air balloons have existed for more than 300 years. Indeed, if you consider the (unmanned) Chinese Sky Lanterns, they’ve been around nearly 2000 years. They shouldn’t be anymore gawkable than a car or a plane. And yet they are. And I think they will be forever. They have an ineffable quality that makes them continue to inspire awe.
Like all awe inspiring things we create events and images and stories around them. Most cities of size have some kind of hot air balloon event. You can buy countless calendars with dedicated to the hot air balloon. Coffee Table Books, Websites, Pintrest Boards, Balloon Chasers and finally and perhaps most telling – advertisers.
The moment of magic they provide everyone who sees them is one of life’s delights.
I was lamenting yesterday about the economy and how badly it was affecting the business I work for. I wondered why we stopped the world instead of just focusing our efforts on protecting the vulnerable.
But since I wrote that I’ve learned a couple of things. One was a video by Dr. Campbell on how the virus works and spreads and how cutting off the spread can kill the virus off permanently. That is what happened with SARS. I was still a bit skeptical that a virus that has already circumnavigated the world could be killed off permanently, but I just read Rowena’s post. She’s particularly vulnerable to this virus. If she catches it, she has a high risk of mortality and certainly will end up in hospital, assuming beds are even available. She’s a mother with young children.
Her family is going to great lengths to protect her. They bought a popup camper for her to live in for the duration so the family won’t infect her. It just suddenly made it all clear to me how hard it is to truly isolate and protect the vulnerable. The only way to do it is for everyone to participate.
Unless you are a single person living alone like myself, true isolation is impossible. And even now in all this mess, if I were forced to truly self isolate, I would likely still need to leave the apartment to take out the trash or receive a delivery of groceries, which would expose me to surfaces other people in the building have touched. And all of that is complicated and compounded when you live with others, particularly as a parent.
that is why we are all sacrificing. It’s a mess. But we must get through and we must all take it seriously or it will all be for naught. We will lose the vulnerable and have killed the economy, if we don’t do it right.
I’m not being sardonic, ironic or sarcastic. I truly love Broccoli, although I keep misspelling it, so my delight does not extend to all it’s aspects apparently. Thank you, Spell Check for your minatory corrections. I’m frankly also glad for spell check, although I mostly express my annoyance with it. Having grown up and lived my young adulthood in a time before it’s existence, I know the suffering, the embarrassment of being a poor speller.
But back to the Broccoli. I love it. Raw or cooked. Frozen or Fresh. I don’t think I’ve ever had it canned. I’m mostly not a fan of canned veg so probably wouldn’t love it. But maybe?
I use broccoli slaw on my sandwiches instead of lettuce. It provides crunch and a marvelous taste. And so many more nutrients than lettuce.
I often take mashed potatoes and broccoli to work as my lunch. It’s marvelous in a soup. It’s a lovely additive to nearly any casserole. Particularly those Mid American casseroles that generally feature Campbell soup of some variety.
Of course I love a lot of foods. But what makes broccoli special is that it’s GOOD FOR ME. This is what makes it delightful. To love something that is actually good for you is so rare that it’s nearly like finding the Hope Diamond, fully cut, in your backyard.
I felt it had to be celebrated. Broccoli. It’s Good.
People are talking about a recession, but honestly, it feels more like it might be headed straight for a depression.
Two weeks ago the transportation company I work for was thriving. On Monday they laid off half the workforce and pulled more than half of their vehicles off the lot and the insurance.
Small businesses will not survive this. Or only a few will. Most transportation companies are facing full on collapse in 30 or so days. They carry a debt load on their fleet, not to mention the insurance and payroll. Our company is in a better position than most because we don’t carry any debt but it’s just going make us last a bit longer. Because without any income you cannot run a business.
Today I wondered what I would do differently if I were in charge of running this disaster. And I think I would have focused entirely on high risk people. Just make older people and people with pre-existing conditions self isolate. Set up ways and means to support that isolation with food delivery and medical care and whatever support was needed. But stopping the entire world when it seems like 97% of the sick are not going to feel any worse than having a cold, seems like we went at it wrong.
Of course, I’m not a public health expert. I have no real knowledge on the spread of sickness and it’s consequences. It’s probably a pipe dream to think it could have run it’s course mostly avoiding the at risk and giving the rest of us a cold to complain about. But, if any countries are doing that, I would be interested to know if their outcomes are better/ worse on mortality and economy.
Also ground hog’s day, but that’s just a silly superstition.
The 02022020 is real. And it’s rare.
This particular date works in both the US and the European dating customs. That makes it even rarer.
And today is the 33rd day of the year. And there are 333 days left in the year. Palindromes again!
I learned about this magical and rare holiday from Matt Parker, math video educator and presenter and author.
We need more pointless but interesting trivia in our lives. Or maybe we don’t? Anyway, it beats learning horrific facts about the coronavirus or the endlessly burning Australia or god forbid, Politics. So. I’m OK with it.
It's a Thought 