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shadowkatIt's cold. Brrr. And getting colder as we speak. Not to worry, I have plenty of heat. And actually when it gets really cold, my apartment becomes comfortable - not too hot, not too cold, just right. When it's in the 40s and 50s, I have to open a window or turn on the A/C to counter-act the damn radiators.
That said, I may need to drip a faucet in the shower. OTOH - I do have a radiator in the bathroom now - so shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I located a suitable picture to get across what it looks like outside today, blue skies, frigid, and that's my hood, so to speak.
No, I didn't go gallivanting about. I decided to do laundry, pick up packages from the mail room, and well work. I actually had more to do today than usual. I got to review a scope of work - and determine the proper procurement method for a couple of colleagues. Along with other odds and ends. So, less grouchy.
Crazy Org
Also...I wasn't as pissed off with my management today. Was, however, amused, when I received, not one, but four separate emails about what "medical eligibility" meant in regards to taking the vaccine. They felt the need to explain it to us, apparently, since it wasn't clear to the managers who'd forwarded the previous registration emails. (I was right, it means "not autoimmune compromised" idiotic managers don't understand what autoimmune means.) And how we know if we were "eligible for the vaccine". I'm guessing I'm not the only one who got confused by the idiotic managers - and asked the medical director to clarify?
Crazy Org now sends emails in ...triplicate, sometimes sextuplet. [ I think Crazy Org has one too many managers and communications officers, and they aren't talking to each other.]
Breaking Bad even forwarded the email from P again (the woman who got confused - in regards to eligibility and thought it meant any medical issue). This time, P stated that she didn't need to know how we responded just that we did. (Possibly because the medical director informed her and her boss that she had no clue what she was talking about, and it was meant to be confidential). And to thank the people who'd already told her.
I ignored Breaking Bad and P's email (even if I was amused by it). If I ever make it back into the office - I may comisserate with Breaking Bad about how disorganized our organization has become. It's kind of out-doing itself. I did however ask my doctor if there were any medical issues that would prevent me from getting the vaccine. She quickly responded, not that she was aware of, and good luck getting it via the agency. (I know, right?)
Anyhow Breaking Bad's email was the sixth one that I've received on the topic. And I already told everyone that I had responded and filled out the form. I even had confirmation.
Honestly, working for a major public agency (that is state, federal and city funded) while living and working in one of the biggest international cities on the planet during a major pandemic - is an interesting experience. One that I'm not sure I wanted or wish to repeat. I now know more than I ever wanted to know.
In fact, I thought today - that this pandemic is basically answering all the questions I ever had when I was attempting to write a science fiction novel about the after-math of one. (I was trying to envision what happened prior to the start of my novel - now I know. It's quite as bad as I envisioned, but it's also...well.. I really wish I didn't know. I preferred not knowing.) Kind of takes the whole organized chaos theory of state agencies and government to a whole new level.
Laundry
Anyhow, around three something, I decided to do laundry. So I took about fifteen-twenty minutes and took laundry down to the basement, threw it in the washers, and came back up again. No one was down there. Although the basement smelled of onions and garlic - from the apartment that's located in it. There's an apartment near the laundry machines. The fun thing about living in an apartment complex - is whether you want to or not, you can smell others meals. Tonight, I'm smelling fried chicken? Yesterday, it was brownies.
I may heat up some chicken, have it with veggies and quac. Also possing corn chips. Last night? Chicken tacos, which weren't quite as good as the salmon burger tacos. Note to self - should try Mahi Mahi tacos - which requires getting more blue corn taco shells. (Also Mahi Mahi - but I already have that in the freezer from Imperfect Foods.) I need to get more root veggies while I'm at it - so I can make more blended curry root vegetable soup. (That was amazing, assuming I can remember how I made it. The difficulty with not following recipes on soups - is you often don't remember what you did to replicate the experience.)
Laundry is easier on Thursdays, less people. And if I go early enough, I can get around folks and have it to myself. I go around 3, which was kind of perfect. Did run into the woman with the baby and cloth diapers - who was there when I went to grab stuff out of the dryer around 5 pm. She had no mask on, but did pull it up when I arrived. So progress.
It's cold tonight. I put a sweater on - usually, I have short sleeves.
COVID
There's some good news - the COVID Cases are going DOWN in the US. There's a sharp decline for the first time. There was never a sharp decline before. They think it may be a combination of potential herd immunity (over 25 million have had it, plus the vaccines, which is about 25 million - so a 100 million immune?) and increased mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing. Basically after being colossal idiots during the fall - people are behaving themselves. And, many have figured out that they'd rather NOT get sick prior to getting the vaccine. So if they can hang tough for a few more months, then get it, all will be well. More and more people on my FB and DW pages are getting it - all academics and teachers. (I'm not frontline, they are, so it will be a bit longer for me.) My parents have an appointment to get it on Saturday afternoon. Mom gets it at 3:30, and I think Dad at 2?
I'm relieved, as you can imagine. Bro, me and his family are willing to hang tough.
Mother has more money than I do - so is okay there at least.
Ah the Coronavirus death toll in the US may be worse than we realize, now that information has come out that the deaths were undercounted. (Seriously, is anyone at surprised by this? I mean it's not as if the NY Times, and most of us were stating it all along. The only idiots who thought it was undercounted were Trump and his dingbat supporters.) Cuomo is once again dealing with the frigging nursing home disaster that happened on his watch back in the spring of 2020. The Attorney General has discovered that Cuomo's administration under-counted the number that died in the nursing homes of COVID. I honestly can't blame his administration that much for this. I mean, it was pure chaos, and he was busy trying to get PPE, ventilators, and keeping the hospitals from overflowing - which they were. And the private nursing homes were lying - NY State regulates them to an extent, but also tends to give them a lot of lee-way if private. But they have to blame someone.
I think NY lost over 60,000 to the virus not 42,000. I know people who died from it that never got tested, and people who had it that either had a false negative or didn't get tested. We didn't have accurate testing or testing capacity until sometime in June or July. I know I talked about it in my journal - so if you are so inclined, you can go search for yourself, I suppose. I don't feel like it. I also vaguely remember discussing what pandemic would do to the UK and the US with a conservative Brit way back in 2016/2017 in this journal (I'm pretty certain it was peasant) but have no interest in locating it. I flirted with it, then thought, nah. I don't tend to re-read my journal entries - any more than I re-read my letters or anything else for that matter. I like this better than letter writing. I had one friend who decided to send all my letters and postcards to her back to me, which I found annoying. This way no one can do that.
Escapades on Social Media While Bored Working Remotely
You do, however, need to be careful what you write on the internet. I've learned that over the years. I'm less careful here - possibly due to the pseudonym? Then I am elsewhere. I do a lot of deleting on FB, and rarely post on Twitter. Although I could not resist responding to X-men comics posters..
They are allowing comics fans to vote on the final member of the new X-men team that Scott and Jean are leading. Currently Polaris is leading by 77%.
The male comics fans are upset, they want cute 20 somethings like Boom Boom or Marrow, or male characters. They keep stating Polaris (Lorna) alread has a book. (Actually this is not true - X-Factor is more Northstar's book than Lorna's, it's akin to saying Rachel or Eyeboy have a book. Or Sunspot does. Or Forge.)
I voted for Forge, then changed my mind and voted for Polaris. I like Lorna. And I don't see why she can't be in two books. Wolverine is in three. Actually more like five.
So I responded as follows: Wolverine has over five books and no one wants to limit him. Why can't Polaris have two?
Or
No one is limiting Wolverin, or Cable? I don't understand why you have to limit Polaris?
Aw, fanboys, they are the downside of being a comics fan. Actually that's why I've hid it. And why I love comixcology, I can avoid fan boys. Whedon actually nailed the comic book fan boy element with Warren Mears, Andrew, and Jonathan. There's a reason a lot of female comic book fans keep a low profile. Fanboys. Sigh.
Although this was better than Lawyers from the Left who got riled up because they felt people praising Amanda Gorman for being poised and articulate was...racist. (eyeroll). They stated such words were micro-agressions. Which yes, I'd buy and agree with if Amanda Gorman wasn't twenty years of age and the youngest poet laureate in the history of the US, and the youngest to read a poem at the inauguration, during a pandemic, surrounded by fencing, and national guard, and after a bunch of white supremacists just a week earlier had tried to raid the place.
So I responded kindly...with the following: "Although- I just want to point out that a lot of the reactions I saw were to her “age” not race. She’s the youngest poet laureate and it was her first time. They stated and I quote- “ she’s incredibly poised for one so young and for her first time.” ( I’d have been a nervous wreck - there’s no way I could have done that. And I recited poetry in front of about 100 college kids at the age of 18, hands and voice shaking.) I’m not saying they aren’t necessarily micro aggressions in some contexts, but we should be mindful of context here or we only cause confusion."
I think people have gone insane. We really need to address mental illness in our society. Also how are food choices and habits affect our brains, emotions and stability. Not to mention interactions on the internet.
Then we have the soap opera actor (a tall blond, blue eyed, German-Australian actor living in California, who looks like a surfer) that kept tweeting posts in support of the white supremacists and Trump. Until he got himself into a lot of trouble and deleted his account - the problem with twitter is unless twitter makes it impossible for people to retweet what you said - it's there. I kind of feel sorry for him - because I've met people like him, and I know how they think and why they think that way. They've never really lived outside of certain area, or seen certain things. And society has to a degree reinforced the mind set. However, he's a soap actor, in a few months it will disappear and folks will forget. Am I holding it against him? Eh...hard to say. I will state that I'm no longer as enamored of the character as I once was, and yes, the actor has managed to melt the fourth wall and make me cringe now when I look at him just a tad. Mel Gibson did the same thing, as did Bruce Willis, Dennis Quaid, and various others.
And several co-workers.
It's sometimes really hard to see the person and not the politics.
And...there's the member from my church, who posted on FB that she was leaving our church (in a huff) because she couldn't handle the fact that the church chose to discuss the non-fiction book "Nickle & Dimed" which she hated, found offensive, and felt demeaned her. And no one would address her feelings. I think she was over-reacting and everything has begun to slowly get to her - to be honest. This is a hard situation, and the poor woman is alone with her special needs son, a bunch of animals, in the Far Rockaways, doing Zoom court hearings and trying to remote teach her son. What she wants from her church is comfort and social justice, and kind of feels betrayed by it.
I think the Minister could have handled the situation better than she did. She's not great at this sort of thing - though. A lot of people aren't. Over a series of Bible Study discussions, I've slowly begun to understand the Minister a little more. She's a private person, who isn't overly comfortable with an outpouring of emotion and a bit of an introvert. Also she has some strong ideas about diet and health and justice. I don't dislike her any longer, not that I ever really did. And I kind of feel sorry for her - you can't please everyone. And everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. And this is a hard situation for everyone. We're in the middle of a pandemic, we need to be a little more, understanding? Or kind? I think? Maybe that's the wrong words? Gentle. Gentle with each other. And I struggle with this daily.
So kind and gentle with myself as well.
Social media is kind of dicey anyhow...it's very easy to say the wrong thing or worse, to be misunderstood. I'm getting annoyed with the GH fan board, because of a dumb necklace storyline on the show.
Mother: Still having issues with the necklace story on GH?
Me: Yep, we keep fighting about it on the GH FB fanboard. It's driving me crazy. For the opposite reasons I had issues with how Bridgerton dealt with their necklace story - apparently misuse of jewelry props by story-tellers in television serials drives me crazy? (Also illogical storylines - which does beg the question as to how I am able to handle comic books, romance novels and daytime serials. I don't claim to be consistent or to make sense.)
Oh, also George Taki tweeted that Satire is apparently dead, after he attempted to joke about a Reddit thread taking Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, et al down. Everyone wanted a link to the thread. Some went so far as to join Reddit to find it. (It turns out it doesn't exist. George was making a joke in connection to a group of millenial traders on Reddit taking down the stock market briefly this week.]
In other news, Tiktock then Twitter parodied Rick Springfield's song Jessie's Girl, by showing the song through the eyes of the girl in the song - and it's called "Jessie's Friend" and it's about how he keeps stalking her and they need to be wary of Jessie's friend. (I found it amusing, more amusing than I should. I'm kind of embarrassed by my amusement actually. But hey, gallows humor. I restrained myself from sharing it with Rick Springfield fans on the GH board - it would not go over well.)
Miscellaneous News Offerings
What else? I told mother that Discovery of Witches was only on one night, and then would not be on again until June for some reason. [I hate it when they do that.] She was not a happy camper, sorry to say. See, AMC? You upset my poor mother. You should be ashamed of yourself. And you've confused the hell out of me and for what - to get a streaming channel going? Really?
Mother: What? So I can't watch it any longer or see it?
ME: No, you have to wait until June. Apparently they want everyone to head over and buy the app for AMC or Shudder and watch it on streaming. And, I refuse - I have enough streaming channels.
Mother: Exactly! I barely watch the ones I have. Damn it. This makes no sense. (she's really upset, she loves the show and loves the lead, and it was something to look forward to.)
Me: I'm sorry - I found out from a friend online. If she's wrong, or I find out otherwise I'll let you know. Right now, I'm on the fence about watching the episode though - because I'll forget it if I have to wait until June.
Personally? I think they should do the streaming this month and next, and make it available on AMC in March. June is a ridiculous wait. And they aren't going to get that many people streaming it. Also why they need to add themselves to the streaming world, I don't know. Soon every channel will be streaming, and you'll have to pay $14 a month for all the channels you want to watch. Ugh.
The New York Times evening briefing...
* Do you hate early morning workouts? (I don't do them, because I'm not a morning person. Commuting was hard enough. Often I found myself sleepwalking to work - it was amazing I didn't kill myself. Plus side of the pandemic? No commute.] According to the Times? There's a new article about how morning workouts aren't the best for men with type 2 diabetes, and afternoon is better. They don't know about women. Honestly, I think people should do what's best for them and ignore researchers.
* They talk about the loss of smell - and how this is a huge thing with COVID sufferers. I forgot to ask cubical mate if he lost his sense of smell.My Aunt didn't, nor did my cousins. So far I don't know anyone who has - that could change. I keep test mine. I have a pronounced sense of smell - I can smell spoiled food easily. I do not want to lose it.
* And how if you follow a certain brand of sneakers you will find the Taliban in Afghanistan?
Cheetahs athletic shoes are produced by one of the largest shoe companies in Pakistan. They are marketed toward athletes, were once endorsed by sports stars and are the company’s best-selling model.
But in Afghanistan, the sneakers have become associated with rifle-wielding insurgents who have worn them for decades — from the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s to the U.S.-led war that began in 2001. Eventually, the sneakers became synonymous with Taliban militants, above, who often wear them.
I'm more worried about the crazy white supremacist terrorists in the US. Can we get rid of the ones on our own soil first, please? They are even easier to find - it's not like they are hiding or anything.
* Protestors in Poland declared War on an abortion ban. [Good for them.
"Women’s rights activists vowed to continue their fight against the ban on abortions for fetal abnormalities that went into effect on Wednesday, planning more protests and calling on doctors to defy the increasingly autocratic government of the Law and Justice Party.
“Women are really scared to get pregnant right now,” said a Polish journalist “Yesterday was not just a symbol of something. It was doomsday.”Even before the ban, Poland’s abortion laws were among the most restrictive in Europe, allowing for termination of pregnancies only in cases of rape or incest, a threat to a woman’s life and fetal abnormalities. Now abortion is effectively outlawed in most cases.]
* General Motors will phase out gas-powered cars and trucks and plans to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
G.M. said the switch was part of a broader plan to become carbon neutral by 2040. The decision came a day after President Biden issued an executive order to electrify the U.S. government’s vast fleet of vehicles.
The company also said it was working with the Environmental Defense Fund to build charging stations for electric cars and to persuade drivers to switch to electric cars.
* Good news? Biden is proceeding with his executive orders and undoing all the damage the Trump administration wrought. He's expanding health care access and re-opening the affordable health care act. Biden is taking a different approach from Congress - he's helping the American citizens.
* And this is..just insane. People were laughing over it on Twitter.
Wall Street was shaken by amateur investors, as volatile trading in GameStop and other companies spurred stock trading platforms like Robinhood to put restrictions in place.
Robinhood has attracted millions of millennials to its platform by eliminating fees and making stock trading easy for nonprofessionals. Here’s what you need to know.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive icon who represents parts of New York, called the move to ban trading of some stocks “unacceptable” because “hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.”
Our tech columnist Kevin Roose wrote that this week’s market chaos — “absurdist, pretty-sure-I-hallucinated-it drama” involving “Wall Street suits and a crusading internet mob” — was a long time coming: “The most unusual thing about Wall Street being challenged by a rowdy band of Redditors is that it took so long to happen.”
********
The world is still nuts, albeit less nuts than it was previously...with any luck we'll continue on that upward spiral. All depends on whether the mutant zombies go bezerk again and if the Federal Government gets its act together to round them up, imprison them, and throw away the key.
I'm strongly considering baking gluten free brownies tomorrow afternoon while working. Or maybe muffins? Shhh don't tell anyone. Although I don't know why I'm worried, everyone else is doing it. I know one co-worker who works in the morning and cooks all day.
That said, I may need to drip a faucet in the shower. OTOH - I do have a radiator in the bathroom now - so shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I located a suitable picture to get across what it looks like outside today, blue skies, frigid, and that's my hood, so to speak.
No, I didn't go gallivanting about. I decided to do laundry, pick up packages from the mail room, and well work. I actually had more to do today than usual. I got to review a scope of work - and determine the proper procurement method for a couple of colleagues. Along with other odds and ends. So, less grouchy.
Crazy Org
Also...I wasn't as pissed off with my management today. Was, however, amused, when I received, not one, but four separate emails about what "medical eligibility" meant in regards to taking the vaccine. They felt the need to explain it to us, apparently, since it wasn't clear to the managers who'd forwarded the previous registration emails. (I was right, it means "not autoimmune compromised" idiotic managers don't understand what autoimmune means.) And how we know if we were "eligible for the vaccine". I'm guessing I'm not the only one who got confused by the idiotic managers - and asked the medical director to clarify?
Crazy Org now sends emails in ...triplicate, sometimes sextuplet. [ I think Crazy Org has one too many managers and communications officers, and they aren't talking to each other.]
Breaking Bad even forwarded the email from P again (the woman who got confused - in regards to eligibility and thought it meant any medical issue). This time, P stated that she didn't need to know how we responded just that we did. (Possibly because the medical director informed her and her boss that she had no clue what she was talking about, and it was meant to be confidential). And to thank the people who'd already told her.
I ignored Breaking Bad and P's email (even if I was amused by it). If I ever make it back into the office - I may comisserate with Breaking Bad about how disorganized our organization has become. It's kind of out-doing itself. I did however ask my doctor if there were any medical issues that would prevent me from getting the vaccine. She quickly responded, not that she was aware of, and good luck getting it via the agency. (I know, right?)
Anyhow Breaking Bad's email was the sixth one that I've received on the topic. And I already told everyone that I had responded and filled out the form. I even had confirmation.
Honestly, working for a major public agency (that is state, federal and city funded) while living and working in one of the biggest international cities on the planet during a major pandemic - is an interesting experience. One that I'm not sure I wanted or wish to repeat. I now know more than I ever wanted to know.
In fact, I thought today - that this pandemic is basically answering all the questions I ever had when I was attempting to write a science fiction novel about the after-math of one. (I was trying to envision what happened prior to the start of my novel - now I know. It's quite as bad as I envisioned, but it's also...well.. I really wish I didn't know. I preferred not knowing.) Kind of takes the whole organized chaos theory of state agencies and government to a whole new level.
Laundry
Anyhow, around three something, I decided to do laundry. So I took about fifteen-twenty minutes and took laundry down to the basement, threw it in the washers, and came back up again. No one was down there. Although the basement smelled of onions and garlic - from the apartment that's located in it. There's an apartment near the laundry machines. The fun thing about living in an apartment complex - is whether you want to or not, you can smell others meals. Tonight, I'm smelling fried chicken? Yesterday, it was brownies.
I may heat up some chicken, have it with veggies and quac. Also possing corn chips. Last night? Chicken tacos, which weren't quite as good as the salmon burger tacos. Note to self - should try Mahi Mahi tacos - which requires getting more blue corn taco shells. (Also Mahi Mahi - but I already have that in the freezer from Imperfect Foods.) I need to get more root veggies while I'm at it - so I can make more blended curry root vegetable soup. (That was amazing, assuming I can remember how I made it. The difficulty with not following recipes on soups - is you often don't remember what you did to replicate the experience.)
Laundry is easier on Thursdays, less people. And if I go early enough, I can get around folks and have it to myself. I go around 3, which was kind of perfect. Did run into the woman with the baby and cloth diapers - who was there when I went to grab stuff out of the dryer around 5 pm. She had no mask on, but did pull it up when I arrived. So progress.
It's cold tonight. I put a sweater on - usually, I have short sleeves.
COVID
There's some good news - the COVID Cases are going DOWN in the US. There's a sharp decline for the first time. There was never a sharp decline before. They think it may be a combination of potential herd immunity (over 25 million have had it, plus the vaccines, which is about 25 million - so a 100 million immune?) and increased mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing. Basically after being colossal idiots during the fall - people are behaving themselves. And, many have figured out that they'd rather NOT get sick prior to getting the vaccine. So if they can hang tough for a few more months, then get it, all will be well. More and more people on my FB and DW pages are getting it - all academics and teachers. (I'm not frontline, they are, so it will be a bit longer for me.) My parents have an appointment to get it on Saturday afternoon. Mom gets it at 3:30, and I think Dad at 2?
I'm relieved, as you can imagine. Bro, me and his family are willing to hang tough.
Mother has more money than I do - so is okay there at least.
Ah the Coronavirus death toll in the US may be worse than we realize, now that information has come out that the deaths were undercounted. (Seriously, is anyone at surprised by this? I mean it's not as if the NY Times, and most of us were stating it all along. The only idiots who thought it was undercounted were Trump and his dingbat supporters.) Cuomo is once again dealing with the frigging nursing home disaster that happened on his watch back in the spring of 2020. The Attorney General has discovered that Cuomo's administration under-counted the number that died in the nursing homes of COVID. I honestly can't blame his administration that much for this. I mean, it was pure chaos, and he was busy trying to get PPE, ventilators, and keeping the hospitals from overflowing - which they were. And the private nursing homes were lying - NY State regulates them to an extent, but also tends to give them a lot of lee-way if private. But they have to blame someone.
I think NY lost over 60,000 to the virus not 42,000. I know people who died from it that never got tested, and people who had it that either had a false negative or didn't get tested. We didn't have accurate testing or testing capacity until sometime in June or July. I know I talked about it in my journal - so if you are so inclined, you can go search for yourself, I suppose. I don't feel like it. I also vaguely remember discussing what pandemic would do to the UK and the US with a conservative Brit way back in 2016/2017 in this journal (I'm pretty certain it was peasant) but have no interest in locating it. I flirted with it, then thought, nah. I don't tend to re-read my journal entries - any more than I re-read my letters or anything else for that matter. I like this better than letter writing. I had one friend who decided to send all my letters and postcards to her back to me, which I found annoying. This way no one can do that.
Escapades on Social Media While Bored Working Remotely
You do, however, need to be careful what you write on the internet. I've learned that over the years. I'm less careful here - possibly due to the pseudonym? Then I am elsewhere. I do a lot of deleting on FB, and rarely post on Twitter. Although I could not resist responding to X-men comics posters..
They are allowing comics fans to vote on the final member of the new X-men team that Scott and Jean are leading. Currently Polaris is leading by 77%.
The male comics fans are upset, they want cute 20 somethings like Boom Boom or Marrow, or male characters. They keep stating Polaris (Lorna) alread has a book. (Actually this is not true - X-Factor is more Northstar's book than Lorna's, it's akin to saying Rachel or Eyeboy have a book. Or Sunspot does. Or Forge.)
I voted for Forge, then changed my mind and voted for Polaris. I like Lorna. And I don't see why she can't be in two books. Wolverine is in three. Actually more like five.
So I responded as follows: Wolverine has over five books and no one wants to limit him. Why can't Polaris have two?
Or
No one is limiting Wolverin, or Cable? I don't understand why you have to limit Polaris?
Aw, fanboys, they are the downside of being a comics fan. Actually that's why I've hid it. And why I love comixcology, I can avoid fan boys. Whedon actually nailed the comic book fan boy element with Warren Mears, Andrew, and Jonathan. There's a reason a lot of female comic book fans keep a low profile. Fanboys. Sigh.
Although this was better than Lawyers from the Left who got riled up because they felt people praising Amanda Gorman for being poised and articulate was...racist. (eyeroll). They stated such words were micro-agressions. Which yes, I'd buy and agree with if Amanda Gorman wasn't twenty years of age and the youngest poet laureate in the history of the US, and the youngest to read a poem at the inauguration, during a pandemic, surrounded by fencing, and national guard, and after a bunch of white supremacists just a week earlier had tried to raid the place.
So I responded kindly...with the following: "Although- I just want to point out that a lot of the reactions I saw were to her “age” not race. She’s the youngest poet laureate and it was her first time. They stated and I quote- “ she’s incredibly poised for one so young and for her first time.” ( I’d have been a nervous wreck - there’s no way I could have done that. And I recited poetry in front of about 100 college kids at the age of 18, hands and voice shaking.) I’m not saying they aren’t necessarily micro aggressions in some contexts, but we should be mindful of context here or we only cause confusion."
I think people have gone insane. We really need to address mental illness in our society. Also how are food choices and habits affect our brains, emotions and stability. Not to mention interactions on the internet.
Then we have the soap opera actor (a tall blond, blue eyed, German-Australian actor living in California, who looks like a surfer) that kept tweeting posts in support of the white supremacists and Trump. Until he got himself into a lot of trouble and deleted his account - the problem with twitter is unless twitter makes it impossible for people to retweet what you said - it's there. I kind of feel sorry for him - because I've met people like him, and I know how they think and why they think that way. They've never really lived outside of certain area, or seen certain things. And society has to a degree reinforced the mind set. However, he's a soap actor, in a few months it will disappear and folks will forget. Am I holding it against him? Eh...hard to say. I will state that I'm no longer as enamored of the character as I once was, and yes, the actor has managed to melt the fourth wall and make me cringe now when I look at him just a tad. Mel Gibson did the same thing, as did Bruce Willis, Dennis Quaid, and various others.
And several co-workers.
It's sometimes really hard to see the person and not the politics.
And...there's the member from my church, who posted on FB that she was leaving our church (in a huff) because she couldn't handle the fact that the church chose to discuss the non-fiction book "Nickle & Dimed" which she hated, found offensive, and felt demeaned her. And no one would address her feelings. I think she was over-reacting and everything has begun to slowly get to her - to be honest. This is a hard situation, and the poor woman is alone with her special needs son, a bunch of animals, in the Far Rockaways, doing Zoom court hearings and trying to remote teach her son. What she wants from her church is comfort and social justice, and kind of feels betrayed by it.
I think the Minister could have handled the situation better than she did. She's not great at this sort of thing - though. A lot of people aren't. Over a series of Bible Study discussions, I've slowly begun to understand the Minister a little more. She's a private person, who isn't overly comfortable with an outpouring of emotion and a bit of an introvert. Also she has some strong ideas about diet and health and justice. I don't dislike her any longer, not that I ever really did. And I kind of feel sorry for her - you can't please everyone. And everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. And this is a hard situation for everyone. We're in the middle of a pandemic, we need to be a little more, understanding? Or kind? I think? Maybe that's the wrong words? Gentle. Gentle with each other. And I struggle with this daily.
So kind and gentle with myself as well.
Social media is kind of dicey anyhow...it's very easy to say the wrong thing or worse, to be misunderstood. I'm getting annoyed with the GH fan board, because of a dumb necklace storyline on the show.
Mother: Still having issues with the necklace story on GH?
Me: Yep, we keep fighting about it on the GH FB fanboard. It's driving me crazy. For the opposite reasons I had issues with how Bridgerton dealt with their necklace story - apparently misuse of jewelry props by story-tellers in television serials drives me crazy? (Also illogical storylines - which does beg the question as to how I am able to handle comic books, romance novels and daytime serials. I don't claim to be consistent or to make sense.)
Oh, also George Taki tweeted that Satire is apparently dead, after he attempted to joke about a Reddit thread taking Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, et al down. Everyone wanted a link to the thread. Some went so far as to join Reddit to find it. (It turns out it doesn't exist. George was making a joke in connection to a group of millenial traders on Reddit taking down the stock market briefly this week.]
In other news, Tiktock then Twitter parodied Rick Springfield's song Jessie's Girl, by showing the song through the eyes of the girl in the song - and it's called "Jessie's Friend" and it's about how he keeps stalking her and they need to be wary of Jessie's friend. (I found it amusing, more amusing than I should. I'm kind of embarrassed by my amusement actually. But hey, gallows humor. I restrained myself from sharing it with Rick Springfield fans on the GH board - it would not go over well.)
Miscellaneous News Offerings
What else? I told mother that Discovery of Witches was only on one night, and then would not be on again until June for some reason. [I hate it when they do that.] She was not a happy camper, sorry to say. See, AMC? You upset my poor mother. You should be ashamed of yourself. And you've confused the hell out of me and for what - to get a streaming channel going? Really?
Mother: What? So I can't watch it any longer or see it?
ME: No, you have to wait until June. Apparently they want everyone to head over and buy the app for AMC or Shudder and watch it on streaming. And, I refuse - I have enough streaming channels.
Mother: Exactly! I barely watch the ones I have. Damn it. This makes no sense. (she's really upset, she loves the show and loves the lead, and it was something to look forward to.)
Me: I'm sorry - I found out from a friend online. If she's wrong, or I find out otherwise I'll let you know. Right now, I'm on the fence about watching the episode though - because I'll forget it if I have to wait until June.
Personally? I think they should do the streaming this month and next, and make it available on AMC in March. June is a ridiculous wait. And they aren't going to get that many people streaming it. Also why they need to add themselves to the streaming world, I don't know. Soon every channel will be streaming, and you'll have to pay $14 a month for all the channels you want to watch. Ugh.
The New York Times evening briefing...
* Do you hate early morning workouts? (I don't do them, because I'm not a morning person. Commuting was hard enough. Often I found myself sleepwalking to work - it was amazing I didn't kill myself. Plus side of the pandemic? No commute.] According to the Times? There's a new article about how morning workouts aren't the best for men with type 2 diabetes, and afternoon is better. They don't know about women. Honestly, I think people should do what's best for them and ignore researchers.
* They talk about the loss of smell - and how this is a huge thing with COVID sufferers. I forgot to ask cubical mate if he lost his sense of smell.My Aunt didn't, nor did my cousins. So far I don't know anyone who has - that could change. I keep test mine. I have a pronounced sense of smell - I can smell spoiled food easily. I do not want to lose it.
* And how if you follow a certain brand of sneakers you will find the Taliban in Afghanistan?
Cheetahs athletic shoes are produced by one of the largest shoe companies in Pakistan. They are marketed toward athletes, were once endorsed by sports stars and are the company’s best-selling model.
But in Afghanistan, the sneakers have become associated with rifle-wielding insurgents who have worn them for decades — from the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s to the U.S.-led war that began in 2001. Eventually, the sneakers became synonymous with Taliban militants, above, who often wear them.
I'm more worried about the crazy white supremacist terrorists in the US. Can we get rid of the ones on our own soil first, please? They are even easier to find - it's not like they are hiding or anything.
* Protestors in Poland declared War on an abortion ban. [Good for them.
"Women’s rights activists vowed to continue their fight against the ban on abortions for fetal abnormalities that went into effect on Wednesday, planning more protests and calling on doctors to defy the increasingly autocratic government of the Law and Justice Party.
“Women are really scared to get pregnant right now,” said a Polish journalist “Yesterday was not just a symbol of something. It was doomsday.”Even before the ban, Poland’s abortion laws were among the most restrictive in Europe, allowing for termination of pregnancies only in cases of rape or incest, a threat to a woman’s life and fetal abnormalities. Now abortion is effectively outlawed in most cases.]
* General Motors will phase out gas-powered cars and trucks and plans to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
G.M. said the switch was part of a broader plan to become carbon neutral by 2040. The decision came a day after President Biden issued an executive order to electrify the U.S. government’s vast fleet of vehicles.
The company also said it was working with the Environmental Defense Fund to build charging stations for electric cars and to persuade drivers to switch to electric cars.
* Good news? Biden is proceeding with his executive orders and undoing all the damage the Trump administration wrought. He's expanding health care access and re-opening the affordable health care act. Biden is taking a different approach from Congress - he's helping the American citizens.
* And this is..just insane. People were laughing over it on Twitter.
Wall Street was shaken by amateur investors, as volatile trading in GameStop and other companies spurred stock trading platforms like Robinhood to put restrictions in place.
Robinhood has attracted millions of millennials to its platform by eliminating fees and making stock trading easy for nonprofessionals. Here’s what you need to know.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive icon who represents parts of New York, called the move to ban trading of some stocks “unacceptable” because “hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.”
Our tech columnist Kevin Roose wrote that this week’s market chaos — “absurdist, pretty-sure-I-hallucinated-it drama” involving “Wall Street suits and a crusading internet mob” — was a long time coming: “The most unusual thing about Wall Street being challenged by a rowdy band of Redditors is that it took so long to happen.”
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The world is still nuts, albeit less nuts than it was previously...with any luck we'll continue on that upward spiral. All depends on whether the mutant zombies go bezerk again and if the Federal Government gets its act together to round them up, imprison them, and throw away the key.
I'm strongly considering baking gluten free brownies tomorrow afternoon while working. Or maybe muffins? Shhh don't tell anyone. Although I don't know why I'm worried, everyone else is doing it. I know one co-worker who works in the morning and cooks all day.