Day 312...gloomy, with bits of sunshine

[shadowkat]

Little depressed today, even though I did get a spot or two of good news.

Family vs. COVID

Mother is doing better, and it appears that she and possibly my father will get the vaccine within the next two weeks. They have more doses and are bringing the permission forms within the next few days. Her home health-care coordinator informed her that she's going to arrange for mother to get one, and check to see if father can as well. Since both are in the high risk group and eligible (they are above 75).

New York vs. COVID

New York has officially run out of doses, they cancelled and shut down all the big vaccine sites, including the two they'd planned on opening twenty-four seven. The Governor is going to discuss with the Federal Government when new doses will arrive. NY tried to get them directly from Pfizer and Moderna, but no success - Pfizer doesn't sell or provide directly to States or localities but to the Country's centralized government per the dictates of its agreement with the Federal Government, CDC and WHO. So, he's going to try for a better allotment. The reason West Virginia has the most folks vaccinated - is it is small, and it got a better allotment from the Federal Government. The distribution of this vaccine has not be equal.

I checked online, and discovered there were no appointments available in New York State except in Pottsdam, NY and Plattsburgh. Even if I could get there, it's unlikely that will last long.

Crazy Workplace vs. COVID

Cubical mate emailed me today - turns out that he caught a severe case of COVID over the holiday. Got it from his mother-in-law, who lives in the apartment below him - who got it from work. The mother-in-law got a mild case, cubical mate's was severe - and he's happy it's past him now. Said he got it around New Years, and it laid him out for about two-three weeks.
(I've not seen cubical mate since September.)

Meanwhile, a video came out today of all the people from my organization that have died from COVID-19 to date. It's well over 100.




I found myself missing my Dad today, I mentioned this to my mother, and she began to cry - so I began to cry. I was listening to the Barack Obama book and thought about my Dad, and how cool it would be to discuss it with him. And I can't. I even sent him the audio book at Christmas - but they never got around to listening to it. I feel as if I've lost him, already.
And fear I'll never see him again. Yes, I could call - but it would only confuse him and make things worse.

What I've been struggling with through all of this - is my anger and this overwhelming sense of futility. I'm frustrated with everything. And I'm trying really hard not to resent people, such as my bosses for not assigning me enough work or new work - they kind of did, only to have it disappear. As I told cubicle mate - one item is stuck with legal, one is stuck with new group who doesn't appear to know what they want us to do with it, and one has been cancelled completely. The only work sent my way today - I couldn't do anything with - because they wanted me to reduce PO's and Contracts that had been closed six-fourteen years ago. And I'm trying not to resent the people gallivanting around with the virus, or the Republican Party.

The Republican Party has been scaring the bejeesus out of me for the last twenty years. Every time I didn't think they could possibly get any worse or sink any lower - they do. I keep waiting for them to hit rock bottom, because once they do, that's it. The end. Then, they'll have to push the reset button in order to survive.

I was discussing this with mother today. While she knows a lot of folks who voted for Trump, she doesn't know anyone who "supported" him or his actions this month, or for that matter are part of his insane base. In fact, most of her friends have said that's it, they aren't ever voting again. I, on the other hand, knew and know Trump Supporters - via my work place. They are insane Long Islanders, who've never traveled, lived anywhere else, or if they traveled did it on a cruise or a bus tour (which don't count). Basically - they are Archie Bunker. Sound like him, talk like him, think like him. Arguing with them is not all that different than arguing with Archie - you get nowhere. They also are somewhat arrogant, and convinced that they are in the disenfranchised majority. (Uh no. Really not. They are less than 1% of the population. If they started their own party, which they are threatening to do, they wouldn't get very far. And all they'd do is weaken the Republican Party. Basically they'd do to the Republicans, what the Progressive Far Left almost did to the Democrats, but blinked at the last minute - when they figured out that four more years of Trump would probably kill them and, no, Bernie couldn't win.)

Mother hopes they start up a Patriot Party - they should just call it the Asshole Party, and be done with it. The reason? It would weaken the Republican Party.


The news..or some items from the evening briefing:

* The Kansas City Chiefs apparently won, much to my mother's joy, and my chagrin. I don't like them and was rooting for the Bills. (Not that I bothered to watch. I might, however, watch or attempt to watch the Superbowl. American Football bores me. I really don't understand the point of it - it's a frustrating game to watch, and I've zero patience for the ads and stop and go aspects of it. But I tolerate it for all those who appear to adore it around me.)

What's interesting is there may be no huge superbowl ads this year. A lot of companies opted out, because they didn't want to pay CBS $5.5 Million for a game that might be cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. Budweiser opted to send the money to a Coronvirus Vaccine Awareness Campaign instead.

* Biden repealed Trump's ban on transgender soldiers in the military. (Apparently the idiots who are against it - are because they've read a lot of mis-informantion about hormone treatments. Uhm, the individuals applying have that under control. )

Nic Talbott, 27, above, has been trying to join the military for much of his adult life. He has a college degree, top physical scores and a spotless record. “The only thing keeping me from serving my country is one word on my medical record” — transgender, he said.

The military has always had issues with race, gender, and sexuality. Why people want to be in the military is beyond me, but they do. If so, let them. Honestly. There was a time you were forcing folks to serve. Honestly, Conservatives are hypocritical assholes.

* Biden has decided to strengthen Buy American provisions, making it harder to get waivers. Dang it. I wish he wouldn't. There are some things that are just impossible to buy in the US (steel for example has problems, since aspects of it have to come from Canada), also it's expensive. I hate the Buy American clause - it's a pain in the ass as it is. I wish I could make the idiots who like it - do my job for about ten years. Trying not to resent the whiny American manufacturing industry. And they do like to play the victim.

*Moderna said it had already begun developing a new form of its vaccine that could be used as a booster shot against the South African variant. A BioNTech official said a newly adjusted vaccine against the variants could be developed in about six weeks.

At the same time, President Biden said he will ban travel by noncitizens into the U.S. from South Africa and will extend similar bans imposed by his predecessor on travel from Brazil, Europe and the United Kingdom.[Why would just banning non-citizens work here? Shouldn't you insist everyone have a negative COVID test before entering the country?]

* Meanwhile, Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for the former president who pushed to overturn the election results. It accuses him of carrying out “a viral disinformation campaign” against the company and seeks $1.3 billion in damages. Dominion has been suing the Trump lawyers (and pretty much everyone) who falsely claimed their voting machines were defective or not up to snuff, which in turn hurt their business. Ironically, Dominion didn't provide the voting machines for the areas the Republicans are claiming had fraud. Also the ballots weren't done by voting machines, but by paper ballots that were scanned in. So, pissed off by all the false claims by Fox, Rudy, etc - they are suing them for over a billion.

* And...to the surprise of no one.."Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy will present his resignation on Tuesday, his office said. The move is likely to trigger the collapse of Italy’s government as it faces a still-spiraling coronavirus epidemic and a halting vaccine rollout.Mr. Conte, above, and his government failed to get an absolute majority during a Senate confidence vote last week after Matteo Renzi pulled out of the coalition to protest Mr. Conte’s management of the epidemic. The political crisis has struck many Italians as unnecessary, and one of the country’s leading virologists has compared the politicians to musicians playing on the Titanic. (Italy's never been exactly stable - and it is reeling now.)

* Oh, and apparently people in Arizona are mistakingly calling an 8 year old girl in Missouri for the vaccine?


Online...I was discussing the pardons with the Lawyers from the Left, and hit upon a guy with the name Miles Vorkosigan. After responding to his comment, I did a double take. Wait a minute. This name seems really familiar. So I google it and I'm right.

Me: Do you realize you have the same name as a fictional sci-fi character in a series of novels, or is that deliberate? (I provide the link.)

The internet continues to amuse me with its absurdities, apparently there are fake journal publishers scamming academics now. Meanwhile a church member is upset with the novel Nickle & Dimed (which fat-shames), being chosen for a social justice discussion group about economic injustice. Unfortunately when it came time to discuss? She lost the Zoom link and couldn't get in. I told her the Universe was most likely looking out for her best interest. It does that for me all the time - I'll get pissed off with some comment on FB, move away for a bit, still be pissed, try to respond and can't for the life of me find it again. A few hours later, my anger has receded - because I can't find it again - it's gone.

No, I didn't get to walk around the cemetery tonight, just to the pharmacy and back. Grabbed a few supplies. Not that many people. Also got a Foodkick delivery - I've discovered that I can easily order alcohol (or booze) via Foodkick/Fresh Direct to my door - about ten months ago. It took three months (or after May) for Foodkick to stop being booked solid. People finally started driving and picking up stuff or they got more staff, one or the other. I told this to my brother a while back - and he was gobsmacked. "Wait, what? How?"

Me: Simple enough, I just put in the order and it comes.
Brother: But how do they know you're old enough?
Me: I state it online, and the delivery person asks for my birth date.
Brother: That's it?
Me: Well, I have gray hair now and I don't exactly look young..
Brother: Still - they deliver alcohol to your door that you order online.
Me: Yep. You can order wine and other things that way as well.
Brother: Wow.

I also ordered Jenni's Almond Brittle Ice Cream, and a bunch of pre-prepared salads, chicken, and shrimp, and some veggies.

I hope someone is enjoying these increasingly long missives. They keep me sane at least. I love writing letters. Brings back the good old days, when I'd write long letters to friends in multi-colored ink.

Comments

[mtbc]

Definitely liking to read your missives.

Yes, the stop-and-go really struck me, coming from England and being rather more used to rugby which I think makes for much better viewing.

I wonder if US citizens have some deeply entrenched right to enter the US, making it doubly tricky to try to stop any, though of course some might then be promptly arrested once arrived.

[shadowkat]

Thank you!

Rugby makes more sense to me - I find it thrilling. Football, sigh. Even Cricket has more going on than Football.

I wonder if US citizens have some deeply entrenched right to enter the US, making it doubly tricky to try to stop any, though of course some might then be promptly arrested once arrived.

Possibly. At this point, I'm uncertain if it matters - from the pattern, the variants are emerging in areas with the most cases. The more times the virus gets transmitted, the more opportunities for mutated strains. The US - due to poor leadership - has become a kind of petri dish for the virus, as have the UK, Brazil, and South Africa. I'd be surprised if variant strains didn't pop up sooner or later.

I honestly don't think they know if halting travel to and from these countries makes much difference. But it can't hurt. And I kind of think they should ban all travel, there's a bunch of Americans who are gallivanting around the globe without a care in the world - that I'd like to ground permanently somewhere.

[mtbc]

I am coming to suspect that these strains will get just about everywhere (other than New Zealand!) and it's mainly to buy more time for additional vaccination or improved treatment that it's worth trying to resist that inevitability.

[oursin]

Fake, or at least exploitative, academic journals (also conferences), have been a thing for years. They can usually be readily be detected by their really wide-open broad parameters:

International Journal of [two fields which may overlap somewhat but already have a proliferation of rather more specialised and focused journals] provides best platform to the Academicians who focus on the exploring the history and Culture of various places around the globe. Studies on History have become a key factor in effective communication of the importance of culture and its application for sustainable human existence. The journal includes a wide range of fields in its discipline to create a database for upcoming scientists and researchers.

or

Peer-Review Journal (Submit your Research Papers)
Dear Author,
SJP is a broad-base open access journal publisher. We cover all areas of scientific researches, humanities, social sciences and behavioral sciences. And we welcome the submission of manuscript(s) with a significance and scientific excellence.

SJP is indexed by well recognize international database such as Google Scholars, Gale Cengage Learning, Serial Solutions, Ulrich Periodical and Others. Our objective is to inform author(s) of the decision on their manuscript(s).* Submit your article directly to our office email at [redacted]

Regards,Editorial Office

And less than professional command of English.

They may indicate that they have come across Some Article one has published - this almost invariably turns out to be a review I have done on somebody else's book.

[shadowkat]

That's crazy, amusing, and somewhat sad. I feel really sorry for the academics and struggling writers who get conned. I remember seeing similar scams with the self-publishing industry - it should have occurred to me that it was wider spread.

Thanks for the information.

[colls]

I enjoy reading your posts. Since I'm only 1.5-2 hr south of you, I feel like you're my neighbor. Such are the strange times of COVID - LOL.

That last photo is beautiful.

[shadowkat]

Hello, neighbor. Pennsylvania? NJ? Or Staten Island?

And thank you.

[colls]

Bucks County, PA but I'm a transplant from Baltimore. I moved here a couple years ago.

[shadowkat]

Ah, I remember Bucks County. I spent my childhood in West Chester County. And my Dad's family hails from around there.

[wendelah1]

I can get alcohol delivered, too. They just ask me to sign for it. I don't drink but I do use wine and beer, too, for cooking occasionally.

I'm still reading your journal even if I can't always comment. I was thinking last night: I see many articles about how hard the pandemic has been on parents with kids at home--and it is, no question--but not much about people living alone who can't see their families and friends, people caring for aging relatives with little support, people who have cancer, and other chronic illnesses, etc. It's frustrating and hurtful, too, what you're suffering through.

I read Nickle and Dimed and I don't remember any fat-shaming. In any case, that hardly invalidates the entire book, does it? People are so...something.

[shadowkat]

Thank you. (hugs)

I was thinking last night: I see many articles about how hard the pandemic has been on parents with kids at home--and it is, no question--but not much about people living alone who can't see their families and friends, people caring for aging relatives with little support, people who have cancer, and other chronic illnesses, etc.

Very true. People tend to focus on their own experiences - and most of the people writing about it are parents struggling with small children or teens. They aren't single living alone or folks dealing with chronic illness, etc. I think people tend to think their situation is the worst and can't quite see past it - when everyone's situation is different. And there's pros and cons in all of it. But it's hard, I think for people to see that - when they are knee deep in their own or their kids shit?

I read Nickle and Dimed and I don't remember any fat-shaming. In any case, that hardly invalidates the entire book, does it? People are so...something

From what I picked up from various reviews of it on Good Reads, the writer's tone was difficult for a lot of people to get past. And her methods, problematic. (She's basically an anthropology professor who went undercover in a lower-class or poor communities, or lived among the natives, and wrote up her findings. But she didn't really go all the way - she still had a safety net, still had a $2000 a month stipend, and a huge book advance. Also, while people try to be objective and non-judgemental, it's kind of impossible. Human nature, I suppose. The writer couldn't help but project her own experience and views onto her subjects, and for those who picked up on it - it really grated. None of this was apparently helped by the fact that from what I saw of the reviews? The writer lacked empathy or the ability to feel it? At any rate - the writer's word choice, writing style and tone really chaffed a lot of folks, which made it impossible for people to see her points.)

That said, there were people like yourself who didn't pick up on that at all. I saw a lot of five stars, many from working poor and people who were overweight. And there were people from my church that consider themselves overweight, that didn't have any issues with the book. While there are others both on Good Reads and Amazon that really did, the author royally pissed them off with her tone.

The member from my church is sensitive about her weight. She's struggled with her weight for ages. And clearly been fat-shamed. She's also a "lawyer" who works in legal aid and defense, rescues animals, and is taking care of a special needs son. And has struggled financially over the years. There's a lot going on there...I can see why she hated the book - you have a patronizing, somewhat arrogant anthropologist with a $60,000 advance, wandering about doing low-paying jobs and reporting on the working poor under-cover.

There's better written and more relevant books out there - I found a list of 95 books, Nickle and Dimed was ranked towards the bottom at 79.

[rose_griffes]

I would have been thrilled - at least momentarily - if Trump had gone through with the threat to start his own political party. Pull away the worst of the QAnon believers from the GOP? Sounds good to me. Weaken the GOP at the same time? Sure, let's do it!

He's too lazy, though.

[shadowkat]

I don't know...they might still splinter. I'll be curious to see how this all plays out. Right now there's a fight going on between the two factions of the Republican Party, the business Republicans and the crazy nitwits. So far the Business Republicans have been kind of shrugging off or ignoring the crazy nitwits, but I don't think that's possible any longer. It's kind of hard to ignore a terrorist coup that killed five people in your own workplace, without looking like an idiot to everyone, except for the crazy idiots.

Over 2000 Floridians left the Republican Party, Over 7500 Arizonians did, and about the same amount from Texas. Also polling for the Republicans is in the toilet. McConnell blinked on pushing to keep the filibuster, and backed off of his threats, letting the Democrats split the committees finally. He knows he's in deep shit - so to speak.

That's why they are flooding the airwaves and trying to muster support, but they can't.
Big Business withdrew their support.

[yourlibrarian]

Meanwhile, a video came out today of all the people from my organization that have died from COVID-19 to date. It's well over 100.

Wow. I wonder how many organizations have similar numbers (or will by the time things improve for good).

[shadowkat]

Well, most organizations have folks working remotely - so not a problem. But mine? Sigh, 98% of the people who died were frontline workers or people who were out in the field, repairing tracks, working in tiny signal huts, etc.

But yeah, it's an interesting point. I still think the way things are going? We'll have over 1 million dead by August, if not before. I pray I'm wrong. Right now it looks like 500,000 by the end of Feb. The delay in the vaccine is a real problem world-wide.