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1. Mother is worried about Hurricane Irma, which at the moment is clocked as the strongest and most powerful hurricane to ever be spotted in the history of weather reporting in the Atlantic (the media does like to over-hype things, doesn't it?). Apparently just calling it a Category 5 Hurricane didn't feel strong enough. Less put some extra weight behind it. And tell people that it could hit Miami, Tampa, Orlanda, rocket up the coast like Matthew and decimate the Carolinas, or just wipe out the Caribbean. Because it's not like we don't have anything to worry over or be anxious about at the moment.

This is going to be a LONG-ASS hurricane season. Note Hurricane Season begins roughly in August and lasts until November. Sandy hit NY in late October. Matthew hit before Columbus Day.

Meanwhile, the northwest is on fire. And by on fire, I mean everywhere from Montana clear up to British Columbia..due to extreme heat, dry temperatures, and wild fires. And India is apparently being flooded by torrential rains. Far worse damage in India than in the US.

Gotta love Mother Nature. OR the media for freaking out over Mother Nature. Personally, I think 2017 is just determined to show us how much worse it can be than 2016. You think 2016 was rough? Just wait1

2. Sci-fi geek co-worker felt the need to discuss television today, and complain about all the people he's run into who love Twin Peaks. "How can anyone in their right mind love this show?" He rails at me.

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3. I finished The Windflower by Laura London and absolutely adored it. And now, miss it. Ever have this feeling after reading a really enjoyable book? That once you've finished it...there's this weird sense of loss. Sort of similar to eating a scrumptious desert. Wait, there's no more? I want more. Dang it.

Best romance novel that I've read in ages. (Will not state best I've read ever...since that's a sliding scale that changes as the wind blows. I don't really have favorite books, I have a lot of books I love at various points.) But I've been on a bit of a reading slump of late and this book was the first one that had me sitting for hours curled in a chair escaping via word pictures into another world.

The characters are so well developed. The plot tracks all the way through. There's a hint of historical realism. It contains a self-deprecating sense of humor and a dry wit. It's subversive and does the exact opposite of the trope. And is unpredictable as a result.

And I bloody well don't care if anyone else likes it. This is a classic that has been out of print for twenty-five years, and has just recently come back into print as a cheap Kindle e-book. Prior to that you had to spend $100 to get a copy or hunt it down in a used book store. Issues were stolen from library shelves due to its scarcity. I can sort of see why...it's a precious gem in an unfortunately somewhat paint-by-numbers genre.

Note to romance novelists and the publishing industry? Guidelines aren't your friend. Kick the guidelines to the curb and have a bit of fun. These guys did.

I already miss the book.

Up next is "Her Every Fear by Peter Swansen" which is a mystery thriller that I'm reading for a book club that I discovered via meetup groups online. They are meeting at a Korean restaurant near Penn Station at 6:30PM on Sept 19. I'm working up the courage to go to it. We'll see if I do and don't talk myself out of it at the last minute.

[I went back to edit because I realized that I've developed the highly annoying habit of skipping over words as I type. Weirdly the word "the", and "this". I have no clue why my brain is doing this. IT just is.)

(no subject)

So Hillary Clinton has not been resting on her laurels since the election, she's written another book...the one entitled What Happened -- which basically addresses what happened during the election and its aftermath.

While she has dealt with Trump in the book (how could one not?), she also decides to deal with the Bernie Saunders supporters.

What Happened With Bernie.

This was unfortunately my perception of many of the Bernie Sanders supporters on Face Book, and among the reasons that I could not support Sanders. It got so bad at one stage that I was hiding posts right and left. (Clinton who had learned her lesson in 2008 election, regarding hateful rhetoric against Obama, which had been among the reasons I did not vote for Clinton in 2008 and voted for Obama, had taken a different tact and did not give into it. Nor did her supporters. While unfortunately her opponents did. This to me, at least, proved she alone possessed the character and qualifications for President. Clinton had taken responsibility and learned from her mistake.) The hatred many Sanders fans threw at Hillary and Hillary's supporters, made it impossible for me to take them seriously or listen to anything they said. The more they railed hate at Hillary and anyone who supported her, the less I respected their choices. I hope those supporters have taken a hard look at their behavior and realized that perhaps if they chose a different way of supporting their candidate, we may be living in a world that is markedly different than the current one. While we cannot change the past, we can at least learn from it, take responsibility for our actions, and try to be more mindful of our interactions online and off next time -- in doing so, we can change the world for the better.

"As pretty much every Clinton supporter on the internet saw firsthand, sexist attacks during the election season weren’t just coming from the right. Clinton writes about how “some of his supporters, the so-called Bernie Bros, took to harassing my supporters online. It got ugly and more than a little sexist.”

“When I finally challenged Bernie during a debate to name a single time I changed a position or a vote because of a financial contribution, he couldn’t come up with anything,” she goes on. “Nonetheless, his attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump’s ‘Crooked Hillary’ campaign.”

The fact that someone as unethical and unscrupulous as Trump could label Clinton “crooked” and actually get that label to stick would be laughable if it weren’t so depressing. Trump has proven just how effective aggressive repetition of a catchy moniker can be in getting people to believe a message (“fake news,” anyone?), even when that message is as ludicrous a lie as the idea that Donald Trump is more honest or more qualified to be president than Hillary Clinton.

I agree with Clinton that Bernie Sanders leaned into that false narrative. As she puts it, “he had to resort to innuendo and impugning my character.” He called her unqualified, a claim with no basis in reality, despite its ubiquity. He called her dishonest, when really many of his (and his supporters’) issues with her seemed to be more with the party than with her. Which is absolutely valid. There’s a lot to be criticized when it comes to the Democratic Party. But he was actively seeking the nomination to lead a party he openly hates–a party he is not a part of. As Clinton writes, “that’s not a smear, that’s what he says.” She says, “I am proud to be a Democrat and I wish Bernie were, too.”"