Morning Update: 08/14/24
One of the things that is interesting around here is how much more noise there is around the house when Kat’s not home. When Kat’s here, we all try to be as quiet as possible. The kids understand that she rarely sleeps well during the night and avoid turning on lights and speaking loudly. When she’s not here? This morning G was up and in the shower at 5:00. Tipper was up shortly thereafter and it wasn’t long before the lights were on and the chatter was going. The dogs went out, the cats were fed, and there were plenty of conversations before they headed out the door for the day. I think I prefer the quiet days because the intensity of the chatter is a bit much for this early in the morning.
I talked so much about Tipper yesterday that I forgot to mention that G is now one of the Lab’s three student ambassadors. He’ll represent the Lab at other schools and different events, and he’s in charge of administering a program that gives points to students for positive behaviors. This is a fantastic leadership opportunity for him and it’s nice to see how seriously he’s taking his responsibilities. He’s overcoming his fears and learning to speak up on issues that are important to him. I’m looking forward to seeing how this year develops.
Yesterday was the last Two Dollar Tuesday of the Indiana State Fair, so I had to go. My hope was to get some selfies with draft horses. Tipper had talked about how many of them were there on Saturday, and I just assumed (an error) that there would still be some there yesterday. Nope. The horse buildings were completely empty. Not a horse of any breed in sight. I was severely disappointed. I did get a picture with the lovely gentleman you see at the top of the page. I figure we black sheep need to stick together, you know? I also made my way around to the DNR building and asked them what I’d need to do to get more bears, wolves, and elk back into state parks. For some reason, they weren’t amused by the question. I put in nearly 10,000 steps for the day, which is probably the most I’ve walked since starting chemo. When I got home, I took the dogs out and then collapsed into bed for a nap.
The dogs really don’t like it when I’m gone all day. They barely left my side when I took them out, and when we came back in, Belvedere tried climbing into my lap while I sat in my office chair. They both have been extra snuggly anyway. I’m a little concerned that they’re sensing something that I’ve yet to grasp.
I know we talked a lot yesterday about women’s autonomy, but over the course of the day, two more states, Arizona and Missouri, put abortion on the ballot for this fall. This brings the total to seven states that are putting some form of abortion measure to a vote. No matter where you live, this is an important matter that requires everyone to get out and vote. Again, these issues are totally separate from the races for president and members of Congress. And while the number of people registering as Democrats has increased over the past three weeks, we have to realize that prior to that point Republicans had been registering significantly more people since last December. It’s going to take a lot of effort in every state to prevent the dangerous and undemocratic policies of Project 2025 from taking effect. There’s no sitting on the sidelines or trying to avoid being political. Everyone needs to speak up and let their position be known. Silence almost certainly leads to disaster come November 5.
Interesting story out of New Zealand where a food bank accidentally distributed potentially lethal doses of meth disguised as candy. Disguising drugs as food items to get past border customs isn’t new, but the question is how they became donated to the Auckland food bank. With a street value of over $600 US per candy, it seems unlikely that this was a deliberate attempt to poison low-income and homeless people. The food bank is trying to get all the candies back, but four people have already been hospitalized for taking the drug.
Folks in Japan are a little on edge after the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its first-ever “megaquake” advisory. Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone places in the word. While last week’s 7.1 quake stayed offshore and provided little threat to the island nation, concern is growing that there’s now a 70-80% chance of a significantly larger quake in the 8-9 range on the Richter scale. Such a large quake could prove devestating. Unfortunately, the announcement didn’t come with any instructions on how people might prepare for such an event. This has led to considerable confusion and criticism of the agency. What may be worse is that without specific planning instructions, people are more likely to disregard the warning, leaving them completely unprepared should such an event occur.
I posted about this on Facebook yesterday afternoon, but I want to get a little more into it this morning. The United Auto Workers Union has filed a complaint of worker intimidation with the National Labor Relations Board against the Orange Felon and Elon Musk after their glitch-filled chat on Monday. While the Felon’s campaign is trying to pass off the complaint as “frivolous” there could be some real meat to the story. Back in June, eight former workers at SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, sued the company and Musk, alleging he ordered them fired after they challenged what they called rampant sexual harassment and a hostile “Animal House”-style work environment at the company. In Monday’s chat, the Felon told Musk, “I look at what you do. You walk in and say, ‘You want to quit?’ I won’t mention the name of the company but they go on strike and you say, ’That’s OK. You’re all gone.’” That statement would seem to be a direct attempt at intimidation against unionizing efforts at Tesla and elsewhere. If you needed another reason to not vote for the lying, cheating, swindling, rapist felon, there you go.
Mornings like this, I kinda wonder if we’re all not a little bit crazy for living in a society as messed up as ours. The economy is questionable, climate change is progressing faster than anyone predicted, and it seems that politicians suck no matter what country one lives in. We can change this, you know. Young people in Bangledesh proved that last week. The question is what will it take for us to get serious about anything?
Maybe I just need more coffee.
Morning Update: 08/16/24
Yesterday was one of those days that just existed, nothing more. I spent most of the day in bed (no big surprise). The kids cleaned out all eight litter boxes and refilled them (no small feat). Kat came home early, too exhausted to stand. We have days like this. You have days like this. We all keep going, doing our best, content with the fact that at least nothing horrible happened. Any day where the ground isn’t burning under our feet is a good day.
The headlines in this morning’s news are interesting though not necessarily consequential. The death of actor Matthew Perry has resulted in the arrest of five people, including doctors and dealers. Perry died ten months ago from a ketamine overdose so large that it aroused immediate suspicion. All five of those arrested are looking at severe jail time, possibly even life in prison. While that’s all well and good, I have a question:
Why do we only leverage this level of investigation for celebrities? The same thing happened with Michael Jackson’s death, where his doctor was eventually convicted. When Elvis Presley died on this day in 1977, officials immediately looked at his doctors and blamed them for his overdose. Why don’t we apply the same rules and the same level of inquiry to the overdose deaths of “normal” people? How famous does one have to be to warrant such an investigation?
I know, I know, cost is the primary factor in deciding which cases get more intense treatment. There’s no small amount of PR involved as well. People, for some reason, care who killed a celebrity more than they care about who/what killed the addict down the street. Was Perry really any better than anyone else? He had struggled with addiction for years. If we were to observe the same behaviors in anyone else, we would have considered their death an inevitability.
Where’s the ProLife crowd on this issue? Absent, of course. They’ll happily pass laws that deny women autonomy over their bodies to save a barely-developed zygote while ignoring the guy on the street corner who has someone constantly pushing a stream of harder and more dangerous drugs at him. Heaven forbid we provide public Narcan stations where people can actually get help. The way that our society prioritizes one life over another is nothing short of disgusting.
Speaking of lives, file this one under “I didn’t know they were still alive.” Peter Marshall, the original host of Hollywood Squares died yesterday at the age of 98, well after most of the people who appeared in those squares have long passed. X gets the square and the game, Mr. Marshall. Well played.
I normally don’t pay a lot of attention to changes in heads of state for countries that don’t generally have a dramatic effect on anyone outside their own borders. However, when Thailand’s parliament elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra as the country’s new Prime Minister yesterday, it was a bit like if a fourth member of the Bush family were to become President here. Most famously, her father, Thaskin Shinawatra, who was elected to office three times, was overthrown and exiled in a coup orchestrated by the royal family in 2006. Since then, both her sister and brother-in-law have served as PM as well. This time, though, the royal family exerted its influence to prevent the liberal Move Forward Party, which finished first in a national election, from coming to power.
How does this affect you? Probably not at all. At least, there’s no direct effect. Paetongtarn says she’s going to double Thailand’s minimum wage and improve its public transit system, among other popular things. What’s most likely to happen is an effort to rebuild Thailand’s influence in the tech sector, which could increase competition for companies such as Nvidia. Expect there to be a push to increase tourism as well since the Shinawatra family’s fortune comes from the hotel business. Thailand is a beautiful country full of ancient history. This could be a good time to book a trip, but be aware that should Paetongtarn cross the royal family, she’ll be gone quickly.
Among the more insipidly stupid things you’ll see in today’s news, the Orange Felon says he’s ‘entitled to personal attacks’ on Kamala Harris because of the multiple charges against him. Felon says what? The statements came during yet another rambling and almost incoherent press conference yesterday, which, as we’ve come to expect, requires fact-checking because the Felon doesn’t seem to know the difference between truth and the fiction he creates in his head.
Here’s an interesting story: An association of Indian doctors called for more than a million colleagues nationwide to provide only essential services on Saturday, in a protest over the brutal rape and murder of a medic that is set to be the biggest such strike in recent times. The 31-year-old doctor was found dead on a blood-soaked mattress in the medical college where she worked in the eastern city of Kolkata. She had settled down for a short nap on a carpet in a college lecture hall after working for nearly 20 hours of a 36-hour shift.
Women account for a significant majority of medical professionals in India. While an arrest has been made for the crime, doctors say it highlights the dangers they face just being at work in hospitals across the country. In calling for a shutdown of all but emergency services, more than a million doctors could be absent as part of the strike on Saturday.
What an interesting perspective to have compared to the conditions in the US where women in the medical profession are still routinely abused, denigrated, passed over for promotion, and generally treated as inferior caregivers. In a July survey, a shocking 64% of participants reported a higher prevalence of all forms of gender-based violence for women, including sexual violence, verbal abuse, discrimination, bullying, and physical violence. If the American Medical Association were to suggest a nationwide shutdown in protest, there would not only be an outcry against them, legal action would likely occur in an effort to force them back to work. The US is so far behind other developed countries on this issue that presidential candidates won’t even acknowledge that it’s an issue. We’re not progressive. We’re not a leader in women’s rights. We need to improve dramatically.
Let’s end on a more positive note this morning, shall we? Panda twins were born in Hong Kong to Ying Ying, the world’s oldest first-time mom. By “world’s oldest” we mean that she’s 19 years old, which I guess is almost geriatric for a panda. The twins are still pink, furless little bundles for now, which means we won’t see them in public for a few weeks, but adding two more of the world’s most adorable creatures to the population seems like a very good reason to celebrate.
There are six cats and two large dogs currently sleeping in my bed, so I guess I’m staying up for a while. Good thing there’s more coffee.
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