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Year 2 - Day 52
Not feeling well today at all - lots of drainage in the night, so been coughing off and on today. And very congested in the chest and head. Feeling a little better now - except for the intermittent coughing.
I think it's allergies. Could also be a cold. Although allergies makes more sense. I don't think it is COVID, because hello, vaccinated.
Also, I've been cool today. Wearing a sweater and jeans. It's in the 60s, no heat. So makes sense. Took temperature - it was 96.6 which mother informs me is normal.
* COVID & OTHER NEWS
* In the U.S., Pfizer and BioNTech applied for full F.D.A. approval for their Covid vaccine — the first companies to do so. The approval process is likely to take months. Emergency authorization for the use of the Pfizer vaccine in adolescents 12 to 15 years old is expected next week.
* A federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin and three other former police officers on charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.
The indictment was returned less than three weeks after Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder in Floyd’s death. The charges are another extraordinary censuring of law enforcement officials, who rarely face criminal charges for using deadly force.
The indictment alleges that by holding one knee on Floyd’s neck and the other on his back, Chauvin used unconstitutional, unreasonable force that resulted in Floyd’s death. The other three officers were charged with willfully failing to stop Chauvin. A second indictment charged Chauvin with depriving a teenager of his civil rights in a 2017 encounter.
* Part of China’s largest rocket, the Long March 5B, is tumbling in orbit and will probably fall to Earth this weekend. Don’t panic.
The chances that it will hit a populated area are small, but not zero. Why China allowed this to occur remains unclear, and more such uncontrolled rocket re-entries are possible in the years to come. The country’s space program continues to create danger, however small, for people all over the planet by failing to control the paths of rockets it launches.
As of Friday, the re-entry is predicted to occur on Saturday at 11:53 p.m. Eastern time. If that is accurate, debris could shower down over the Indian Ocean. [LOL! I love the "Don't Panic".]
*
Live from New York, it’s … Elon Musk.
The billionaire chief executive of Tesla and founder of SpaceX will host “Saturday Night Live” tomorrow, a decision that has drawn some criticism, partly because of Musk’s tweeting of misinformation about the pandemic. Some cast members have expressed their displeasure, or at least, as our culture reporter writes, “their befuddlement.”
Michael Che, one of the show’s head writers, said the disagreement was a good thing. “I think it means people still care about the show in some way, at least.” [In other words, SNL sold out?]
* The quest for a deer-proof garden.
We’ll get straight to the bad news: It doesn’t exist. As one of the dominant species in Canada and the U.S., white-tailed deer are the largest herbivore in most places where we farm and garden. But our garden expert says there are still plenty of things you can do to deter them, like building a barrier or using repellents that smell or taste bad. First, though, make sure your adversary is a deer.
If you’d rather not battle stags and does, you can just buy your flowers. T Magazine rounded up the most sought-after florists in cities around the world who are pushing the art of floristry in new directions
[That amused me. My brother built a 15-20 foot barrier wall to keep out deer - only to struggle with ground hogs. So he trapped the ground hogs and drove them fifty miles up a mountain and relocated them, much to their considerable annoyance. Also, Minister at church has issues with cut flowers - apparently she considers this bad for the flowers - the woman is crazy. She drives. Also, flowers die. If you cut them at their peak, just before, it's fine. I know, my grandmother raised roses and African violets, and used to cut them and tulips to put on the graves for Memorial Day - she was careful to pick the blooms that had been fully pollenated and were ready to go.]
I've been emailing college buddy, who now fully vaccinated is gearing up to fly to Texas, pick up her mother, and drive said mother to Ashville, North Carolina, then to DC, then back to Ashville, then fly home. And pick her up in October, and drive her back to Texas. She's not looking forward to Texas which is among the idiotic states that have decided COVID isn't an issue any longer.
College buddy is the one who rec'd A Gentelman in Moscow to me, which I rather enjoyed and has stuck with me. Also Rules of Civility, which I'm currently listening too. The writer sneaks in plot.
The NY Times annoys me - it keeps telling me all the wonderful stuff folks have done. Like a 76 year old taking up the piano, or a 83 year old woman getting back on her bike. It makes it sound like a big deal or no big deal - what it doesn't say is not all humans are equal. My mother is 78 and has a broken hip. And we learned piano when I was kid - both were awful at it. Not everyone can just pick up the piano. What is also sticking in my head is Stephen Fry's comment that we don't have as much free will as we think, it's not as if people elect to become sociopaths. (It brings back a college debate we had, which resurfaced years later with other people on the ATPOBTVS fan board...about free will vs. determinism. I fall somewhere between the two. I think we do make choices and should be held accountable for them. But, at the same time, I do think to some degree our paths in life are pre-determined by DNA, Environmental factors, family, circumstance, opportunities, education, etc. I mean a child born in Ethiopia to a poor family while far differently from one born in say the US to rich white folks.
I suppose the real biggie is free will. I find it interesting that no one really talks about it: I would say that 98 percent of all philosophers would agree with me that essentially free will is a myth. It doesn’t exist. That ought to be shocking news on the front of every newspaper. I’m not saying we don’t look both ways before we cross the road; we decide not to leave it to luck as to whether a car is going to hit us. Nor am I saying that we don’t have responsibility for our actions: We have agency over the body in which our minds and consciousness dwell. But we can’t choose our brains, we can’t choose our genes, we can’t choose our parents. There’s so much. I mean, look at the acts of a sociopath, which are performed with absolute will in the sense that he means to do what he’s doing, but he’s doing it because he has desires and impulses which he didn’t choose to have. Nobody elects to be a sociopath. The difference between us and them is one of degree.
Stephen Fry Interview
I don't think that let's folks off the hook though. We still make choices after all, they just are kind of more limited than we may like to believe.
Anyhow, should sign off before it gets too late.
[The pictures are from yesterday. Didn't take a walk today because my allergies are driving me bonkers.]
I think it's allergies. Could also be a cold. Although allergies makes more sense. I don't think it is COVID, because hello, vaccinated.
Also, I've been cool today. Wearing a sweater and jeans. It's in the 60s, no heat. So makes sense. Took temperature - it was 96.6 which mother informs me is normal.
* COVID & OTHER NEWS
* In the U.S., Pfizer and BioNTech applied for full F.D.A. approval for their Covid vaccine — the first companies to do so. The approval process is likely to take months. Emergency authorization for the use of the Pfizer vaccine in adolescents 12 to 15 years old is expected next week.
* A federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin and three other former police officers on charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.
The indictment was returned less than three weeks after Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder in Floyd’s death. The charges are another extraordinary censuring of law enforcement officials, who rarely face criminal charges for using deadly force.
The indictment alleges that by holding one knee on Floyd’s neck and the other on his back, Chauvin used unconstitutional, unreasonable force that resulted in Floyd’s death. The other three officers were charged with willfully failing to stop Chauvin. A second indictment charged Chauvin with depriving a teenager of his civil rights in a 2017 encounter.
* Part of China’s largest rocket, the Long March 5B, is tumbling in orbit and will probably fall to Earth this weekend. Don’t panic.
The chances that it will hit a populated area are small, but not zero. Why China allowed this to occur remains unclear, and more such uncontrolled rocket re-entries are possible in the years to come. The country’s space program continues to create danger, however small, for people all over the planet by failing to control the paths of rockets it launches.
As of Friday, the re-entry is predicted to occur on Saturday at 11:53 p.m. Eastern time. If that is accurate, debris could shower down over the Indian Ocean. [LOL! I love the "Don't Panic".]
*
Live from New York, it’s … Elon Musk.
The billionaire chief executive of Tesla and founder of SpaceX will host “Saturday Night Live” tomorrow, a decision that has drawn some criticism, partly because of Musk’s tweeting of misinformation about the pandemic. Some cast members have expressed their displeasure, or at least, as our culture reporter writes, “their befuddlement.”
Michael Che, one of the show’s head writers, said the disagreement was a good thing. “I think it means people still care about the show in some way, at least.” [In other words, SNL sold out?]
* The quest for a deer-proof garden.
We’ll get straight to the bad news: It doesn’t exist. As one of the dominant species in Canada and the U.S., white-tailed deer are the largest herbivore in most places where we farm and garden. But our garden expert says there are still plenty of things you can do to deter them, like building a barrier or using repellents that smell or taste bad. First, though, make sure your adversary is a deer.
If you’d rather not battle stags and does, you can just buy your flowers. T Magazine rounded up the most sought-after florists in cities around the world who are pushing the art of floristry in new directions
[That amused me. My brother built a 15-20 foot barrier wall to keep out deer - only to struggle with ground hogs. So he trapped the ground hogs and drove them fifty miles up a mountain and relocated them, much to their considerable annoyance. Also, Minister at church has issues with cut flowers - apparently she considers this bad for the flowers - the woman is crazy. She drives. Also, flowers die. If you cut them at their peak, just before, it's fine. I know, my grandmother raised roses and African violets, and used to cut them and tulips to put on the graves for Memorial Day - she was careful to pick the blooms that had been fully pollenated and were ready to go.]
I've been emailing college buddy, who now fully vaccinated is gearing up to fly to Texas, pick up her mother, and drive said mother to Ashville, North Carolina, then to DC, then back to Ashville, then fly home. And pick her up in October, and drive her back to Texas. She's not looking forward to Texas which is among the idiotic states that have decided COVID isn't an issue any longer.
College buddy is the one who rec'd A Gentelman in Moscow to me, which I rather enjoyed and has stuck with me. Also Rules of Civility, which I'm currently listening too. The writer sneaks in plot.
The NY Times annoys me - it keeps telling me all the wonderful stuff folks have done. Like a 76 year old taking up the piano, or a 83 year old woman getting back on her bike. It makes it sound like a big deal or no big deal - what it doesn't say is not all humans are equal. My mother is 78 and has a broken hip. And we learned piano when I was kid - both were awful at it. Not everyone can just pick up the piano. What is also sticking in my head is Stephen Fry's comment that we don't have as much free will as we think, it's not as if people elect to become sociopaths. (It brings back a college debate we had, which resurfaced years later with other people on the ATPOBTVS fan board...about free will vs. determinism. I fall somewhere between the two. I think we do make choices and should be held accountable for them. But, at the same time, I do think to some degree our paths in life are pre-determined by DNA, Environmental factors, family, circumstance, opportunities, education, etc. I mean a child born in Ethiopia to a poor family while far differently from one born in say the US to rich white folks.
I suppose the real biggie is free will. I find it interesting that no one really talks about it: I would say that 98 percent of all philosophers would agree with me that essentially free will is a myth. It doesn’t exist. That ought to be shocking news on the front of every newspaper. I’m not saying we don’t look both ways before we cross the road; we decide not to leave it to luck as to whether a car is going to hit us. Nor am I saying that we don’t have responsibility for our actions: We have agency over the body in which our minds and consciousness dwell. But we can’t choose our brains, we can’t choose our genes, we can’t choose our parents. There’s so much. I mean, look at the acts of a sociopath, which are performed with absolute will in the sense that he means to do what he’s doing, but he’s doing it because he has desires and impulses which he didn’t choose to have. Nobody elects to be a sociopath. The difference between us and them is one of degree.
Stephen Fry Interview
I don't think that let's folks off the hook though. We still make choices after all, they just are kind of more limited than we may like to believe.
Anyhow, should sign off before it gets too late.
[The pictures are from yesterday. Didn't take a walk today because my allergies are driving me bonkers.]
no subject
But. In my philosophy 101 class the professor gave us this thought experiment: Imagine you're standing next to God, who knows everything about you and also knows the future. Your job is raise one hand, right or left doesn't matter. Surely God will predict which one you raise (cuz he's infallible, natch). But now suppose that before you raise your hand, God tells you which hand you will raise. Assuming he doesn't control your actions, are you free to raise the opposite hand?
Seems intuitively like you do. But maybe you just ... won't.
Anyway, I agree that we're accountable for our choices. And I think that even if there's no true choice.
no subject
But we do choose to get up each morning, which job to take, what to put in our mouths, and whether to see a doctor. We also choose what to spend money on. There's so many choices - millions upon millions...
The left hand/right hand argument seems a bit simple to me. Because...there's so many variables involved. Does God know which you'll choose - yes, but does that mean you don't have free will? No. Because what if he knew you'd do the opposite of what God wanted every time? It's kind of like writing a story - the writer kind of knows what the characters will do, and kind of doesn't - you can't write against your characters - well you can, but the story falls apart somewhere in there. So while you do know everything - you don't really have control over it, nor do the characters. It's hard to understand, I think, unless you've written a lot of fictional stories in your head and otherwise.
Another way of putting it? You've seen Buffy how many times? You know what every character will do. Actually while I was watching it - I knew what a lot of them would do and why - but I had no control over it. And they often did the opposite of what I wanted. Heck they did the opposite of what Whedon wanted. Whedon, the creator, the God of that verse, wanted to kill Spike in S2, but that's not how it went, he didn't have control of his own story. I see life pretty much the same way.
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The problem in life is other people have free will too. I told this to a friend once who was upset that a guy she loved didn't love her enough to stay, as opposed to moving far away. "Why did God take him away from me?" ME: "Well, God had nothing to do with it. He has free will too. If God interfered on your behalf, he'd have no free will." That's the problem with free will - other people have it too, which ironically limits it.
Can't control other people, unfortunately.
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It's an extremist or a binary perspective - we're either free to do whatever we please or not at all. The idea that it is either white or black or dark or light or free will or not free will or right or left. I hate to break this to you? But only computers are binary and possibly some rudimentary creatures on the planet are binary life forms.., but now with current advances, "computers" not so much. Most things aren't binary. Once you stop thinking in "binary" terms, things make so much more sense. Everything is a spectrum, and most things fall in the hazy in between.
We all have free will, but not at the same time - it isn't an either/or, it is both. Just as we are all capable of wonderful and horrible things at the same time. When it is dark - there are shades of light, and you can see objects, when it is light, there are shadows. The tendency to make it either or is the fallacy, when in reality it is an ever-expanding spectrum or range. We're looking at wheel, not a chart.