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shadowkat1. John Scalzi explains why Wonder Woman is a smash in more ways than you may think.
He makes two interesting points that I found interesting and relevant in regards to the current cultural climate:
Finally, because Wonder Woman is a woman-centered superhero film with a woman director, and the common wisdom was that the film outperformed financial expectations. Why this bias persists is a long discussion for another time (it’s worth noting that only one other film has outgrossed Wonder Woman domestically so far this year, and that’s Beauty and the Beast, another woman-focused film, and the one film remaining on the theatrical schedule this year that will outgross it will be The Last Jedi, which also has a woman as the protagonist), but it’s there.
.......
This means I also suspect that even if Wonder Woman had not been a critical success, it still would have done reasonably well at the box office: In the $250 million-to-$300 million range domestically and double that globally. And again that’s down to familiarity and marketing and the long pent-up desire to have a woman superhero head up a movie, and especially Wonder Woman, the best-known woman superhero. The critical/perceptual box office premium here is significant — roughly 25% of the box office gross — and nothing to discount. But recent box office successes in the form of Beauty and the Beast, The Force Awakens and Rogue One shows us that established franchises (Star Wars and Disney live action remakes, respectively) don’t automatically take a financial penalty for having women in the lead role (I’m not even bringing up Twilight or Hunger Games here, which established themselves in the lit world before jumping over to film). Wonder Woman, I think, would have been perfectly financially successful even if it had only been critically received only marginally better than BvS or Suicide Squad.
The real issue here, to my mind, is how there’s still any hesitancy to front women characters in franchises, superhero or otherwise. There’s pretty clearly no significant financial penalty for doing so if your franchise is already up and running and your marketing is focused; honestly, at this point there’s only upside, if you manage to make the film better than its male-focused franchise siblings. That upside is perceptual in the short run, as it largely was here with Wonder Woman. But in the long run it’s likely going to add to your franchise financial bottom line. In this case, Justice League will almost benefit from Wonder Woman’s perceptual halo.
I have to admit that's why I was happy Wonder Woman, Force Awakens, The Hunger Games, and various other female lead action films have done well. This means more equality in Hollywood, and a broader worldview.
2. I'd wondered if they were still doing another season of the Great British Bake-Off (Baking Show here), after Mary Berry, Mel and Sue left due to the channel change in Britain from Channel 4 to BBC.
Only Paul Hollywood is left, and...no one really likes Paul Hollywood.
Well, apparently they are...and the trailer is...scary. See We all stand together...singing and vomiting pasteries. It actually reminded me of an episode of an old horror anthology series entitled Friday, the 13th, which gave me nightmares, not that specific episode. Which is why I don't watch horror anthology series. I don't need fodder for nightmares...
The good news is we now have the Great American Baking Show with Mary Berry and three American hosts that is almost as good as the British one. It pops up around December.
3. Hmmm..., Apparently there's a position at NASA entitled planetary protection officer...
You know the kind of sci-fi movie where you’re staring at the screen in disbelief not because of the amazement of how far special effects have come, but because some bonehead who’s apparently never watched a movie is getting a little too comfortable with a seemingly harmless specimen from an alien world, and you just know it’s about to sprout some gnarly teeth—or similar dangerous implements—and gnaw some faces off? Yeah, NASA’s seen those, too, which is why they have a “planetary protection officer” job opening.
The job itself is actually nothing new—for NASA or other space agencies—but it’s come up for applications due to a relocation of the position to another department within NASA, as the current planetary protection officer, Catharine Conley, told Business Insider. Due to our current level of contact with alien life (that unfortunately being zero), the position is all about setting forth principles on how to avoid, say, a sample taken from Mars inadvertently contaminating Earth with anything unexpected it may contain, as well as making sure we don’t contaminate the alien worlds we visit.
Can we deem Trump and alien life form and employ NASA to protect us from him? No? Oh well, worth a shot.
4. Hmmm... Dark Tower is not eliciting positive reviews...shame considering the cast - Hats Off to Petz for the link.
5. Is Social Media Making Me Miserable? Possibly...it certainly isn't helping.
The article states that spending time on social media, too much time, will often make you miserable or depressed. There's a tendency to compare oneself to others. (ie. If you are stuck working in a cave this summer, and all your friends are posting pics of beautiful vacations...) Or you are alone, and your internet buds or net buds post pics of parties with friends, vacations with friends or significant others...you are going to feel even more disconnected and isolated.
Dreamwidth isn't quite as bad, because no pics...just writing. And it's easier to scroll on by.
But what the article also points out and this is equally true, is someone who is miserable or depressed or anxious is more likely to seek out social media compulsively than someone who isn't.
What it doesn't quite address is the addiction to blogging that writers such as myself have. I'm sorry, but the internet is like crack to a writer.
6.The archbishop of a Catholic church in Ottowa earned the ire of his congregation when he allowed street performers La Machine to walk their large animatronic spider across a cathedral. Dang. (via Boing Boing) And deservedly so. No one should be permitted to walk an animatronic spider anywhere let alone a cathedrale. Is there no safe place for arachnephobes?
Go here for the video of it, because no, I'm not going to watch it and post a direct link to the video for you, that would require I would have to watch it and looking at a photo of it, was bad enough. I did however find the whole thing hilarious. (You knew I had an absurd sense of humor? Right?)
7. In other news...they are apparently doing a film about Christopher Robin with Haley Atwell playing his wife and Ewen McGregor playing Christopher.
The film will star Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels, as an adult Christopher Robin. Pooh’s old friend has grown up and lost all sense of imagination, forcing Pooh and his friends to help Robin find it again. Atwell will play Robin’s wife in the film.
Am rather charmed by this turn of events. I was in love with Christopher Robin as a small child, and his entire world. The Winnie the Pooh stories I find to this day exceedingly comforting, well next to Calvin and Hobbes. Although, oddly I never named my stuffed animals. I wasn't into naming things. My brother did that. I think I always thought it was a bit...presumptuous for me to do it?
8. The NAACP has just issued a travel advisory for the state of Missouri.
The Missouri chapter of the NAACP has issued a statewide advisory against visiting the state if you’re a woman, person of color, person with disabilities, or LGBTQ citizen because you “may not be safe,” the Atlanta Black Star reports.
The warning comes as Senate Bill 43 was signed into law, which amends the Missouri Human Rights Act to make housing and workplace discrimination cases significantly more difficult to prove in court. The law is slated to go into effect Aug. 28.
NAACP delegates are also concerned with “racial” and “ethnic disparities in education, health, economic empowerment and criminal justice,” as well as a recent report that shows black drivers are 75 percent more likely to be pulled over in Missouri than white drivers.
The NAACP also pointed to a history of “violent and dehumanizing” racial discrimination in the state, racist incidents at the University of Missouri in Columbia, and homophobic comments made by a representative in the Missouri House, who claimed that there is a “distinction between homosexuality and just being a human being.” Missouri is also home to Ferguson, where in 2014, black teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, and sparked national debate about excessive police force.
Dear god. I used to live in the suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri (albeit Kansas side) and even considered going to law school in Missouri. And much of my family had resided there once upon a time. Mother's side.
Granted, while volunteering for the Legal Aid Association of Western Missouri, I discovered that the law books still stated that women were considered the property of their husbands, hence the reason we had to obtain orders of protection as opposed to restraining orders. Or something along those lines.
In other words, we had to work around a law that permitted domestic violence.
Missouri was a slave state by the way.
Sort of glad I live in New York now, as opposed to Missouri and Kansas. But hence the reason the internet is not necessarily good for one's continued mental health.
9. One of the difficulties or rather hazards of living in NYC is viral marketing campaigns that blanket subways with things you'd rather not see or provide undue anxiety. Consider for a moment that NYC taken on its own merits is anxiety inducing enough all by itself, but add to it certain viral marketing campaigns...and well...
I remember a friend returning from a three-four year missionary stint in Africa to NYC and huddling in a corner due to the media overload...she'd returned to Hell's Kitchen near Times Square.
I say all of this as a sort of prelude to this bit I read in the Mary Sue...Dear Annabelle, Creation Marketing Team...
Sometimes when companies invest in viral marketing, well, sometimes you end up with haunted dolls scattered through New York, and then I never leave my home again. And thus the people behind the upcoming Annabelle: Creation are to be fully blamed for my upcoming self-imposed isolation.
Haunted dolls are my literal nightmare....
So when I read that Annabelle was hiding 13 hidden spooky dolls throughout the Times Square Ripley’s Believe It or Not, I was amazed that someone had clearly gone into my actual nightmares and harvested them for advertising purposes.
But that’s fine. I could avoid a contained location. Dolls, you stay inside Ripley’s, and I’ll stay anywhere else on earth. To which the dolls replied:
Annabelle has escaped and is heading towards Times Square! Where will she end up? #Annabelle #AnnabelleCreation #AnnaBelieveItorNot pic.twitter.com/KTpUi0414j
— Ripley's New York (@RipleysNY) July 21, 2017
RE YOU KIDDING ME? If I walked into a subway car and saw a haunted doll in front of me, I fully believe my soul would leave my body, and fly away from this planet forever. Do you remember that billboard for FX’s The Strain that people hated so much a few years ago? The one with a giant worm slithering into a giant eyeball? This is like that, but if the eyeball were fully tangibly manifested, and could be anywhere at any time.
And I do mean anywhere! Because now with this “Annabelle’s Presence” feature, you can edit creepy dolls into your own life.
Annabelle wants to play. Make your own #AnnabelleCreation at https://t.co/RFKTwJTTYV pic.twitter.com/bTJoIrDdQv
— Annabelle: Creation (@annabellemovie) July 30, 2017
PEOPLE! NO! As Charline said in our staff slack rant about how no one wants this to exist, THIS IS HOW YOU GET HAUNTED. Next up in Annabelle: Creation’s viral marketing campaign: Placing dolls in your home while you sleep! Entering your nightmares and possessing your soul with Annabelle’s angry demon spirit! Never sleeping again! #Marketing #brands #nightmares!
If you never hear from me again (pause for internet misogynists rejoicing), please know it’s just because I angered this movie’s PR team and have been possessed by a haunted doll, and am now living out my days in the Ripley’s basement.
LOL! I can relate. When they were advertising a spider horror film a while back, I think in the 1990s...I kept freaking out whenever I passed the damn billboard size posters on the subway walls.
Evil marketing people.
10. This comic -- thanks to yourlibrarian for the link -- accurately represents my experiences and my sister-in-law's experiences in NYC regarding our health. Now, I'm talking about New York City -- where we allegedly have the best health care in the world. Granted I had difficulties in Colorado and Kansas as well. Also Pennsylvania. So not limited to NYC. But, I'm still hunting a good doctor. Sis-in-law had shingles mis-diagnosed, they told her she was a hypochrondiac and it was just a rash. IF they'd treated it when she came to them, it would have been fine, instead...it was horrific.
But it's not the doctor's fault entirely...it's the lack of time, money, etc. Doctors can't test for things, due to insurance restrictions. A test for ceiliac disease costs $250. Tests for candida, assuming he believes in it, costs upwards to $2000, and on up, and insurance won't cover it.
I remember dating a Chinese Doctor, who told me that under their national health coverage in China, that Doctors had more time for their patients, spent more time with them, not ten minutes like they do here. Also they didn't have to run double shifts at the hospital, and be half tired. He said, here, in the US, the doctors in hospitals are given less then ten minutes to visit with each patient and diagnose them. As a result more mistakes are made.
We have great technology, modern advances, but quality patient care is ...dwindling.
I'm still struggling to find a good doctor. I think I may have found a gynecologist...although she's not exactly close by, she is highly rated on the net. And specializes in a lot of things. So.
Also thinking of consulting an endocrinologist, because I'm not sure why my hormones keep flucuating.
Is it because of sugar? Caffeine? What's causing the cravings? The binging? Is it me?
Been driving me crazy for some time now.
11. Mother tells me that the Special Investigator Mueller has impaneled a Washington Based grand jury for the Russia investigation. He's using for subpoenas, compel people to testify, and to question people without lawyers present.
Grand Jury Impaneled
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Special Counsel Robert Mueller is using a grand jury in Washington as part of an investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, a person familiar with the probe said Thursday.
The use of a grand jury, a standard prosecution tool in criminal investigations, suggests that Mueller and his team of investigators are likely to hear from witnesses and demand documents in the coming weeks and months. The person who confirmed to The Associated Press that Mueller had turned to a grand jury was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Not huge. But significant apparently.
He makes two interesting points that I found interesting and relevant in regards to the current cultural climate:
Finally, because Wonder Woman is a woman-centered superhero film with a woman director, and the common wisdom was that the film outperformed financial expectations. Why this bias persists is a long discussion for another time (it’s worth noting that only one other film has outgrossed Wonder Woman domestically so far this year, and that’s Beauty and the Beast, another woman-focused film, and the one film remaining on the theatrical schedule this year that will outgross it will be The Last Jedi, which also has a woman as the protagonist), but it’s there.
.......
This means I also suspect that even if Wonder Woman had not been a critical success, it still would have done reasonably well at the box office: In the $250 million-to-$300 million range domestically and double that globally. And again that’s down to familiarity and marketing and the long pent-up desire to have a woman superhero head up a movie, and especially Wonder Woman, the best-known woman superhero. The critical/perceptual box office premium here is significant — roughly 25% of the box office gross — and nothing to discount. But recent box office successes in the form of Beauty and the Beast, The Force Awakens and Rogue One shows us that established franchises (Star Wars and Disney live action remakes, respectively) don’t automatically take a financial penalty for having women in the lead role (I’m not even bringing up Twilight or Hunger Games here, which established themselves in the lit world before jumping over to film). Wonder Woman, I think, would have been perfectly financially successful even if it had only been critically received only marginally better than BvS or Suicide Squad.
The real issue here, to my mind, is how there’s still any hesitancy to front women characters in franchises, superhero or otherwise. There’s pretty clearly no significant financial penalty for doing so if your franchise is already up and running and your marketing is focused; honestly, at this point there’s only upside, if you manage to make the film better than its male-focused franchise siblings. That upside is perceptual in the short run, as it largely was here with Wonder Woman. But in the long run it’s likely going to add to your franchise financial bottom line. In this case, Justice League will almost benefit from Wonder Woman’s perceptual halo.
I have to admit that's why I was happy Wonder Woman, Force Awakens, The Hunger Games, and various other female lead action films have done well. This means more equality in Hollywood, and a broader worldview.
2. I'd wondered if they were still doing another season of the Great British Bake-Off (Baking Show here), after Mary Berry, Mel and Sue left due to the channel change in Britain from Channel 4 to BBC.
Only Paul Hollywood is left, and...no one really likes Paul Hollywood.
Well, apparently they are...and the trailer is...scary. See We all stand together...singing and vomiting pasteries. It actually reminded me of an episode of an old horror anthology series entitled Friday, the 13th, which gave me nightmares, not that specific episode. Which is why I don't watch horror anthology series. I don't need fodder for nightmares...
The good news is we now have the Great American Baking Show with Mary Berry and three American hosts that is almost as good as the British one. It pops up around December.
3. Hmmm..., Apparently there's a position at NASA entitled planetary protection officer...
You know the kind of sci-fi movie where you’re staring at the screen in disbelief not because of the amazement of how far special effects have come, but because some bonehead who’s apparently never watched a movie is getting a little too comfortable with a seemingly harmless specimen from an alien world, and you just know it’s about to sprout some gnarly teeth—or similar dangerous implements—and gnaw some faces off? Yeah, NASA’s seen those, too, which is why they have a “planetary protection officer” job opening.
The job itself is actually nothing new—for NASA or other space agencies—but it’s come up for applications due to a relocation of the position to another department within NASA, as the current planetary protection officer, Catharine Conley, told Business Insider. Due to our current level of contact with alien life (that unfortunately being zero), the position is all about setting forth principles on how to avoid, say, a sample taken from Mars inadvertently contaminating Earth with anything unexpected it may contain, as well as making sure we don’t contaminate the alien worlds we visit.
Can we deem Trump and alien life form and employ NASA to protect us from him? No? Oh well, worth a shot.
4. Hmmm... Dark Tower is not eliciting positive reviews...shame considering the cast - Hats Off to Petz for the link.
5. Is Social Media Making Me Miserable? Possibly...it certainly isn't helping.
The article states that spending time on social media, too much time, will often make you miserable or depressed. There's a tendency to compare oneself to others. (ie. If you are stuck working in a cave this summer, and all your friends are posting pics of beautiful vacations...) Or you are alone, and your internet buds or net buds post pics of parties with friends, vacations with friends or significant others...you are going to feel even more disconnected and isolated.
Dreamwidth isn't quite as bad, because no pics...just writing. And it's easier to scroll on by.
But what the article also points out and this is equally true, is someone who is miserable or depressed or anxious is more likely to seek out social media compulsively than someone who isn't.
What it doesn't quite address is the addiction to blogging that writers such as myself have. I'm sorry, but the internet is like crack to a writer.
6.The archbishop of a Catholic church in Ottowa earned the ire of his congregation when he allowed street performers La Machine to walk their large animatronic spider across a cathedral. Dang. (via Boing Boing) And deservedly so. No one should be permitted to walk an animatronic spider anywhere let alone a cathedrale. Is there no safe place for arachnephobes?
Go here for the video of it, because no, I'm not going to watch it and post a direct link to the video for you, that would require I would have to watch it and looking at a photo of it, was bad enough. I did however find the whole thing hilarious. (You knew I had an absurd sense of humor? Right?)
7. In other news...they are apparently doing a film about Christopher Robin with Haley Atwell playing his wife and Ewen McGregor playing Christopher.
The film will star Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels, as an adult Christopher Robin. Pooh’s old friend has grown up and lost all sense of imagination, forcing Pooh and his friends to help Robin find it again. Atwell will play Robin’s wife in the film.
Am rather charmed by this turn of events. I was in love with Christopher Robin as a small child, and his entire world. The Winnie the Pooh stories I find to this day exceedingly comforting, well next to Calvin and Hobbes. Although, oddly I never named my stuffed animals. I wasn't into naming things. My brother did that. I think I always thought it was a bit...presumptuous for me to do it?
8. The NAACP has just issued a travel advisory for the state of Missouri.
The Missouri chapter of the NAACP has issued a statewide advisory against visiting the state if you’re a woman, person of color, person with disabilities, or LGBTQ citizen because you “may not be safe,” the Atlanta Black Star reports.
The warning comes as Senate Bill 43 was signed into law, which amends the Missouri Human Rights Act to make housing and workplace discrimination cases significantly more difficult to prove in court. The law is slated to go into effect Aug. 28.
NAACP delegates are also concerned with “racial” and “ethnic disparities in education, health, economic empowerment and criminal justice,” as well as a recent report that shows black drivers are 75 percent more likely to be pulled over in Missouri than white drivers.
The NAACP also pointed to a history of “violent and dehumanizing” racial discrimination in the state, racist incidents at the University of Missouri in Columbia, and homophobic comments made by a representative in the Missouri House, who claimed that there is a “distinction between homosexuality and just being a human being.” Missouri is also home to Ferguson, where in 2014, black teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, and sparked national debate about excessive police force.
Dear god. I used to live in the suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri (albeit Kansas side) and even considered going to law school in Missouri. And much of my family had resided there once upon a time. Mother's side.
Granted, while volunteering for the Legal Aid Association of Western Missouri, I discovered that the law books still stated that women were considered the property of their husbands, hence the reason we had to obtain orders of protection as opposed to restraining orders. Or something along those lines.
In other words, we had to work around a law that permitted domestic violence.
Missouri was a slave state by the way.
Sort of glad I live in New York now, as opposed to Missouri and Kansas. But hence the reason the internet is not necessarily good for one's continued mental health.
9. One of the difficulties or rather hazards of living in NYC is viral marketing campaigns that blanket subways with things you'd rather not see or provide undue anxiety. Consider for a moment that NYC taken on its own merits is anxiety inducing enough all by itself, but add to it certain viral marketing campaigns...and well...
I remember a friend returning from a three-four year missionary stint in Africa to NYC and huddling in a corner due to the media overload...she'd returned to Hell's Kitchen near Times Square.
I say all of this as a sort of prelude to this bit I read in the Mary Sue...Dear Annabelle, Creation Marketing Team...
Sometimes when companies invest in viral marketing, well, sometimes you end up with haunted dolls scattered through New York, and then I never leave my home again. And thus the people behind the upcoming Annabelle: Creation are to be fully blamed for my upcoming self-imposed isolation.
Haunted dolls are my literal nightmare....
So when I read that Annabelle was hiding 13 hidden spooky dolls throughout the Times Square Ripley’s Believe It or Not, I was amazed that someone had clearly gone into my actual nightmares and harvested them for advertising purposes.
But that’s fine. I could avoid a contained location. Dolls, you stay inside Ripley’s, and I’ll stay anywhere else on earth. To which the dolls replied:
Annabelle has escaped and is heading towards Times Square! Where will she end up? #Annabelle #AnnabelleCreation #AnnaBelieveItorNot pic.twitter.com/KTpUi0414j
— Ripley's New York (@RipleysNY) July 21, 2017
RE YOU KIDDING ME? If I walked into a subway car and saw a haunted doll in front of me, I fully believe my soul would leave my body, and fly away from this planet forever. Do you remember that billboard for FX’s The Strain that people hated so much a few years ago? The one with a giant worm slithering into a giant eyeball? This is like that, but if the eyeball were fully tangibly manifested, and could be anywhere at any time.
And I do mean anywhere! Because now with this “Annabelle’s Presence” feature, you can edit creepy dolls into your own life.
Annabelle wants to play. Make your own #AnnabelleCreation at https://t.co/RFKTwJTTYV pic.twitter.com/bTJoIrDdQv
— Annabelle: Creation (@annabellemovie) July 30, 2017
PEOPLE! NO! As Charline said in our staff slack rant about how no one wants this to exist, THIS IS HOW YOU GET HAUNTED. Next up in Annabelle: Creation’s viral marketing campaign: Placing dolls in your home while you sleep! Entering your nightmares and possessing your soul with Annabelle’s angry demon spirit! Never sleeping again! #Marketing #brands #nightmares!
If you never hear from me again (pause for internet misogynists rejoicing), please know it’s just because I angered this movie’s PR team and have been possessed by a haunted doll, and am now living out my days in the Ripley’s basement.
LOL! I can relate. When they were advertising a spider horror film a while back, I think in the 1990s...I kept freaking out whenever I passed the damn billboard size posters on the subway walls.
Evil marketing people.
10. This comic -- thanks to yourlibrarian for the link -- accurately represents my experiences and my sister-in-law's experiences in NYC regarding our health. Now, I'm talking about New York City -- where we allegedly have the best health care in the world. Granted I had difficulties in Colorado and Kansas as well. Also Pennsylvania. So not limited to NYC. But, I'm still hunting a good doctor. Sis-in-law had shingles mis-diagnosed, they told her she was a hypochrondiac and it was just a rash. IF they'd treated it when she came to them, it would have been fine, instead...it was horrific.
But it's not the doctor's fault entirely...it's the lack of time, money, etc. Doctors can't test for things, due to insurance restrictions. A test for ceiliac disease costs $250. Tests for candida, assuming he believes in it, costs upwards to $2000, and on up, and insurance won't cover it.
I remember dating a Chinese Doctor, who told me that under their national health coverage in China, that Doctors had more time for their patients, spent more time with them, not ten minutes like they do here. Also they didn't have to run double shifts at the hospital, and be half tired. He said, here, in the US, the doctors in hospitals are given less then ten minutes to visit with each patient and diagnose them. As a result more mistakes are made.
We have great technology, modern advances, but quality patient care is ...dwindling.
I'm still struggling to find a good doctor. I think I may have found a gynecologist...although she's not exactly close by, she is highly rated on the net. And specializes in a lot of things. So.
Also thinking of consulting an endocrinologist, because I'm not sure why my hormones keep flucuating.
Is it because of sugar? Caffeine? What's causing the cravings? The binging? Is it me?
Been driving me crazy for some time now.
11. Mother tells me that the Special Investigator Mueller has impaneled a Washington Based grand jury for the Russia investigation. He's using for subpoenas, compel people to testify, and to question people without lawyers present.
Grand Jury Impaneled
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Special Counsel Robert Mueller is using a grand jury in Washington as part of an investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, a person familiar with the probe said Thursday.
The use of a grand jury, a standard prosecution tool in criminal investigations, suggests that Mueller and his team of investigators are likely to hear from witnesses and demand documents in the coming weeks and months. The person who confirmed to The Associated Press that Mueller had turned to a grand jury was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Not huge. But significant apparently.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 12:28 pm (UTC)He actually existed? And wasn't a fictional creation?
no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 01:41 pm (UTC)If he's dead, it shouldn't matter. Just dead person fanfic. Sort of like the television series Will, Genius, Feud:Bette & Joan, and various others...
If alive, it's another matter.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 07:28 pm (UTC)That's definitely a drawback of living in a big city. I've never seen movie advertising in town -- nor would it make sense financially for companies to do it. I've sometimes seen TV show advertising but even then there's very little of it.
Sis-in-law had shingles mis-diagnosed, they told her she was a hypochrondiac and it was just a rash.
Yikes. Well, my father, finally forced by my mom to go see a doctor, had his primary care doc diagnose what turned out to be kidney failure and prostate problems as shingles. She told him that was absurd and insisted he go to a urologist, who did diagnose it properly. Unfortunately by that time his kidneys had suffered irreversible damage.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 07:35 pm (UTC)Our health care system is horrible. Very frustrated right now...trying to locate a new eye doctor because the one I had, disappeared on me. Also he cost a fortune.
And trying to find a gynecologist? The one I tried today? Not available until October. I was told to call back next week...when they had the October schedule open.
Also, apparently you have to research which labs they send the lab work too, but the insurance won't pay for all of them. Ended up with a $192 lab bill, negotiated down from $350, co-worker had one in the thousands...
no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 07:44 pm (UTC)We desperately need a single payer system with private insurance as an optional thing. It may not improve treatment but it should cut down on the enormous problems of labs, physicians, specialists, being in or out of network and the surprise bills that can result.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-04 10:56 pm (UTC)I'd agree. Everyone I know who lives outside NYC has better healthcare options. The hospitals are also much better.
That said, I did get two things looked at and diagnosed here, that weren't elsewhere. So there's that.
We desperately need a single payer system with private insurance as an optional thing. It may not improve treatment but it should cut down on the enormous problems of labs, physicians, specialists, being in or out of network and the surprise bills that can result.
Definitely. If only we could convince the frigging insurance lobby to allow it.