Driftwood on Salmon Creek
A gift from strangers left on the beach, September 26, 2017.
Thinking about
The Habituation of Horror
Ed Yong writes in the Atlantic about America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral and ends with this: 9. The Habituation of Horror The U.S. might stop treating the pandemic as the emergency that it is. Daily tragedy might become ambient noise. The desire for normality might render the unthinkable normal. Like poverty and racism, … [Read more…]
How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared
A federal lab found a way to modernize the grid, reduce reliance on coal, and save consumers billions. Then Trump appointees blocked it. The Atlantic Story by Peter Fairley
ProPublica – Las Vegas Is “Gambling With Lives”
In an article at www.propublica.org on August 17, the author, Marshall Allen, shows some alarming data points concerning the spread of the pandemic from Las Vegas. ProPublica used cell phone data from a weekend of people who were in Las Vegas and then traced their travels afterwards. The web of their cross contagion is shown … [Read more…]
Peter V. Tytell, a Typewriter Whisperer, Is Dead at 74
From the August 18, 2020 New York Times: Peter V. Tytell, a Typewriter Whisperer, Is Dead at 74 Raised in his parents’ typewriter repair shop, he became renowned for his ability to help resolve disputes over documents’ authenticity. Peter V. Tytell, whose knowledge of the intricacies of typewriters, shaped amid the Olivettis, Underwoods and Royals … [Read more…]
Free Your Mind … And Your Ass Will Follow
Over on the Atlantic, James Parker writes about The Funkadelic Album That Predicted the Future The legendary band could almost blend in with other acts during the counterculture of the ’70s. But today, the group looks like a pure phenomenon.
La Monte Young
True BelieversThe Man Who Brian Eno Called ‘the Daddy of Us All’ La Monte Young, the composer who quietly shaped much of contemporary Western music, reaches his last act.
BUSINESS HAS FELT THE PINCH
Stockton Independent 2 November 1918 Considerable Loss Due to the Closing Down During the Influenza Epidemic. Merchants and businessmen in all the towns and cities of the country where the Spanish influenza is raging have suffered from a depression of trade amounting, in some lines and in some places to almost a complete suspension. In … [Read more…]
New York Review of Books Strikes Again
One scathing essay and one graphic strip in the New York Review Daily which need sharing: The first is an essay from David Rothkopf: ‘The Most Ignorant and Unfit’: What Made America’s Worst Ever Leader? “Being president,” former First Lady Michelle Obama has said, “doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.” In … [Read more…]
Three Doctor visits
In the past week, I’ve been to three newly “reopened” medical offices for appointments, and all of them screened me with a COVID-19 questionnaire and temperature checks. None of them asked me my age nor any questions about any health risks such as diabetes, obesity, or the like. Because “this infection is a grave threat … [Read more…]