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Bonus from the Boston Globe:

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Trumps "have they tried injecting disinfectant" level thinking, but for fires and the irrigation system of california.

this is what happens when Mad Kings assume they know more than every expert.

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Big Brother came for the CDC. and the USAID site is down.
4 star:
* Thunderstruck feat. ZuiKo (Nini Music)
Fun "japanese instrument" cover
* Blood on the Stage (The Cat Empire)
Lynette introduced me to this song.
* Time in a Bottle (Lykke Li)
I was thinking abut the muppet show version of this song... Jim Croce's original isn't quite my style but this cover is great.

3 star:
* Do the Right Thing (Redhead Kingpin & The F.B.I.)
* Space Doggity (Jonathan Coulton)
* Old Man of the Mountain (Chris & Meredith Thompson)
We saw these performers live at Passim
* Sea of Love (Rerecorded) (Phil Phillips)
* Unstoppable (Sia)
* Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home) (Elle King & Miranda Lambert)
* This Train (Big Bill Broonzy)
* Belief in Grief (Matt McGinley)
Incidental background music from This American Life
* Dragon God Yamato Taiko (Epic Music Gekka)
Lynette took me to Yamato - The Drummers of Japan - wanted to get at least something in the genre

Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada -- AND NO TARIFFS!

Man, how does React control the content any input field without losing the cursor position on rerender? Half the time it's a sex comic, but (and?) I do love Oglaf

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USAid thing is killing a bunch of science that was poised to help people around the world. If you wanted a way to make China look good relative to us, here you go. I still love the French Toast Alert System

Proud to have been born in Philly, glad they wolloped KC in the Super Bowl.

Got walloped by a cold yesterday. Feel a bit better this morning but not sure if it's the supplements I tried or just an ok night's sleep and I might fade later.

Found this song:


I wish I could say it would all be all right
I wish I could tell you it would all be fine
But a stone only rolls downhill
And these things
They'll be what they will
What they will

Definitely a song for our times - and so kind of fittingly, not as good as some of their previous works.

(I mean the video for "The One Moment" is just an all timer, the most amazing slow motion thing I've seen, syncronizing bullet time with real time music. Also one of the weird side effects of colds for me is I become incredibly emotionally fraught - like prone to weep for barely any reason. I guess it's like an enormously strange physiological interoception feedback loop - part of the mind notices the body feels like its already been crying, and then thinks of something to cry about. So anyway, I saw The One Moment and listened to the lyrics - about the transience of everything, and a romantic call to be with the singer here in that moment, and it gave me a crying jag for a minute or two. Like, colds are weird, man.)

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In theory I could get a flashlight that I could see on a low cloud. In practice, I really shouldn't.

His caresses were so delicate that they were almost like a teasing, an evanescent challenge which she feared to respond to as it might vanish. His fingers teased her, and withdrew when they had aroused her, his mouth teased her and then eluded hers, his face and body came so near, espoused her every limb, and then slid away into the darkness. He would seek every curve and nook he could exert the pressure of his warm slender body against and suddenly lie still, leaving her in suspense. When he took her mouth he moved away from her hands, when she answered the pressure of his thighs, he ceased to exert it. Nowhere would he allow a long enough fusion, but tasting every embrace, every area of her body and then deserting it, as if to ignite only and then elude the final welding. A teasing, warm, trembling, elusive short circuit of the senses as mobile and restless as he had been all day, and here at night, with the street lamp revealing their nudity but not his eyes, she was roused to an almost unbearable expectation of pleasure. He had made of her body a bush of roses of Sharon, exfoliating pollen, each prepared for delight.

So long delayed, so long teased that when possession came it avenged the waiting by a long, prolonged, deep thrusting ecstasy.

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"A day in the Life of Sue Republican.
Sue gets up at 6 a.m. and fills her coffeepot with water to prepare her morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.
With her first swallow of coffee, she takes her daily medication. Her medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of her medications are paid for by her employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Sue gets it too.
She prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Sue's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the shower, Sue reaches for her shampoo. Her bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for her right to know what she was putting on her body and how much it contained.
Sue dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air she breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
She walks to the subway station for her government-subsidized ride to work. It saves her considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Sue begins her work day. She has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Sue's employer pays these standards because Sue's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.
If Sue is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think she should lose her home because of her temporary misfortune.
It's noon and Sue needs to make a bank deposit so she can pay some bills. Sue's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Sue's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Sue has to pay her Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and her below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Sue and the government would be better off if she was educated and earned more money over her lifetime.
Sue is home from work. She plans to visit her father this evening at his farm home in the country. She gets in her car for the drive. Her car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards.
She arrives at her childhood home. Her generation was the third to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.
She is happy to see her father, who is now retired. Her father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Sue wouldn't have to.
Sue gets back in her car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Sue enjoys throughout her day. Sue agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm self-made and believe everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

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The bar "Scout" from the show "Sex in the City" was a really great idea.

I have the flu!

I went to the clinic and it was well-nigh useless. (Not to mention 2 hours) Well, not really useless - I've learned some stuff I want to share with everyone now, but enough so that if this situation repeats, I don't have to go to the clinic again, unless I work out the timing with at home tests...

1. It's probably worth getting Flu A/Flu B/COVID tests rather than just COVID tests. I didn't know about these during the last time I was under the weather last fall.

2. I tested Tuesday and the test was clear; by late Thursday it was blatantly Flu Type A.

3. But, according to the clinic doctor, it was probably too late for like Tamiflu? Which raises the question of just how often you should test so that maybe you could get some Tamiflu when it would be useful (symptoms no more than 2 days seems like a damn tight window, given my clear test was in the first day of real bleh, after an evening of a few warning shots)

4. Like except for one inhaler, every other recommendation was OTC, Nyquil and Afrin spray

5. Before this I was just using some Advil, I should probably be quicker to the Dayquil/Nyquil stuff. At least anecdotally. I was feeling like death warmed over earlier, and now feel okish. Mighta been a bit of a nap but also it reverses the "feel good in the morning then decline" of some previous days.

6. It's a crappy flu season and clinics are getting kinda swamped. Apparently the flu shot this year wasn't a great match for the strain that popped up most. Ah well, youse pays your dime youse takes your chances.

7. oh and the very kindly clinic doctor recommended (besides the usual hydration) lots of protein? That was a new on to me.

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this made me laugh...

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A more serious point by this Atlantic article: Basically bodies of water are named for the destination the sailors from the more powerful country are going to - "European mariners often named bodies of water after the destination territory on the other side of that water."

So Trump in his juvenile "ha! mexico is stinky and we're stronger than them" renaming is invoking the language of being the weak.

(Not even getting into the "America is more like a continent name" weirdness of it? I mean I've never been patient for people who are pedantic about that, "United States of America" is sort of a terrible name for a country and the short hand "America" doesn't lead to confusion since other uses of it would require prefixing of North or South. But "Gulf of America" is almost less egregiously stupid, though what's worse "Gulf of the United States of America" or "Gulf of North America" or "Gulf of the Americas")

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In an age where vaccine skepticism is a having a completely stupid moment, the people writing this headline: New study reveals a major link between vaccines and Alzheimer's need to have a rethink (TLDR: get vaccines as an adult is linked to NOT getting alzheimers)


Lately I've been thinking about this odd minimalism or decluttering urge I've had.

Really sparse minimalism doesn't appeal that to much for me. I still like displaying and having access to well-curated stuff. And many items are literally irreplaceable (or at least would be a pain in the butt to track down again) if not figuratively so.

So like even thought I know open floor plans kinda stink, I still feel drawn to this idea of a single big room where everything interesting of mine was visible. Books, laptops, knickknacks. A tv, some random furniture. (Maybe not cookware or clothing. And why is it closets with a lot of stuff on hangers looks so ugly and lifeless to me?)

But thinking back I remember being fascinated as a kid by this book that's still in my library - "Terence Conran's New House Book", a 1985 tome with lots of pictures and lots of good thoughts about how good design could improve people's lives. (Even given its decade advantage, I feel its 80s aesthetic stands up much better and is more timeless than its predecessor, 1974's "The House Book which carries a more specific 70s funk.)

Anyway, 3 sets of photos have really stuck with me, and I was able to grab some scans from The Internet Archive... (the scans don't do a brilliant job with the gap between pages on 2 page spreads, but you get the idea)

"Teenage Bedroom", an intriguing God's Eye View of a cleverly divided bedroom. (I wonder if the room had insanely high ceilings or if other trickery was employed)

From "One Room Living" - kind of fascinating snapshot of the space of a "Japanese Shoe Designer", with that intriguing body suit as the decorative focal point. Though maybe on reading the sidenote "Being well-organized and scrupulously tidy are the prerequisites for living in one small room" I should have known it was a long shot for me...

And finally, there was just something about "Open Plan Layout". I'm still not quite certain if the under-bed area was just a low headroom workspace or just storage, but still.

Oh - tangentially related, I guess that last one has the same energy as the desk in this Apple II magazine ad I found interesting and aspirational, from around the same mid-80s era.

Was just doodling a "Pride" zebra, and realized I may had reinvented the Fruit Stripes gum mascot. Then found out they discontinued it last year

Food head at FDA quits citing Trump administration's mass staff cuts cool, cool. who needs to make sure infant formula is safe anyway

Krasnov huh? ;-) "Crazy Dion" Diamond did one-man sit-ins and other actions in the 60s and helped break Jim Crow. Hero!

25 Remnants of the Early Internet That Are Still Clickin'. Always fun thinking about what exactly has changed in web design...

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Kind of a fun thing on the history of English. It challenges some of the ideas that English is especially flexible compared to other languages and this accounts for its success - but it is certainly one of the weirdest languages.

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James Schneider via

Although completely physical, the male is unfit
even for stud service. Even assuming mechanical
proficiency, which few men have, he is, first of
all, incapable of zestfully, lustfully, tearing off a
piece, but is instead eaten up with guilt, shame,
fear and insecurity, feelings rooted in male nature,
which the most enlightened training can only
minimize; second, the physical feeling he attains
is next to nothing; and, third, he is not empathizing
with his partner, but is obsessed with how he's
doing, turning in an A performance, doing a good
plumbing job. To call a man an animal is to flatter
him; he's a machine, a walking dildo. It's often
said that men use women. Use them for what?
Surely not pleasure.

Not endorsing the would-be Warhol assassin's views, but "zestfully, lustfully, tearing off a piece" seems like a good goal Killing USAID is stupid and cruel. Here are some services it provided

People will never trust the USA together. We're proving to be an unserious nation.

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"You're not acting at all thankful," Trump said, before adding, "This is going to be great television."

It is humiliating that this guy is our commander-in-chief. And Vance with his "say thank you"?

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