Sure, we’re running a little late this morning and yes, it is intentional. I didn’t want to get up. I imagine that several other people feel the same. With the storms that went through last night and a forecast full of maybe-it-will, maybe-it-won’t scattered showers, staying in bed and cuddling with the pups seemed like the most expedient thing to do. Besides, there’s no big breaking news story this morning and nothing dramatic going on here at home. Taking the weekend a little more calmly is an intelligent move, in my opinion.
I’m missing my readers, though. They’ve disappeared. They were sitting on the desk earlier this morning when I fed the cats, and now they’re gone. They’re not behind the desk or on either side, which is the natural first place to look. I can’t imagine either of the twins grabbing them and running off with them. They’ve both stuck pretty close this morning. I’m completely mystified. Fortunately, I can get by without them for most things. As long as I’m not facing any small print, we’ll be okay. I’m pretty sure I have a spare pair around here somewhere.
One thing I have noticed more this week is how fragile my skin has become. It seems that the slightest brush against anything results in bruising, and a faint scratch is enough to draw blood. My most frequent injury comes from the dogs. As they try to get my attention to take them outside, they’ll put a paw on my arm. They’re not being aggressive in the least, but almost every time I get outside, and discover that I have blood running down my arm. I don’t feel the scratch, but it’s there and it will leave a scar. My arms are covered with them. I know this is largely a natural part of aging, with some inherited traits thrown in. Once it is cool enough to wear long sleeves, the problem with go away. The whole issue just highlights how fragile I’ve become.
Speaking of fragile, there’s an interesting story in today’s Times. It seems that the weight loss drug Wegovy reduces instances of death from COVID. Mind you, it doesn’t prevent anyone from getting the disease. However, patients who are on the drug are significantly less likely to die. The problem? No one currently understands why the drug is having this effect. Without understanding the why, it’s almost impossible for doctors to know when/if it is safe to prescribe the drug as a treatment. Studies are underway, of course, but it could be a while before any resolution is found.
Here’s something interesting. Are your kids, especially your daughters worried about getting wrinkles? Apparently, that’s a thing, and it’s causing problems. As young people, we’re talking 11- and 12-year-olds, start watching social media influencers for tips on keeping their skin looking younger, they’re inadvertently doing more harm than good. For starters, all those adult-dosed chemicals, “can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring.” Oh, but that’s not all. “Extensive data suggests a fixation on appearance can affect self-esteem and body image and fuel anxiety, depression and eating disorders.” As I look around and see entire generations suffering from those exact issues, I wonder if we’re accidentally dooming our kids to more problems by not teaching them to love themselves as they are.
In stranger news, an Arizona office worker was found dead in a cubicle 4 days after last scanning in. This happened at a Wells Fargo facility in Tempe. Apparently, the 60-year-old woman worked in a “less populated” area of the building. No one noticed when she didn’t scan out. No one noticed anything until, presumably, the fragrance of rotting flesh became dominant. Not even the housekeeping staff noticed. What does that say about the Wells Fargo work environment? How can someone be dead in their cubicle for four days before anyone notices? Did no manager stop to check on her? Did no one swing by to chat? This story, which is short on details, is both sad and frustrating. Corporate America sucks.
You may or may not remember hearing of a film named “The Apprentice” last May as it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. You’ve not seen in it theaters, though, because no one in the US wanted to distribute it. The biopic of a young Orange Felon has been threatened with lawsuits by the Felon himself, which caused most companies to stay away from it. Well, that has now changed. Briarcliff Entertainment will release “The Apprentice” on Oct. 11 in U.S. and Canadian theaters a mere two weeks before the November 5 election. We already know that the film is not flattering to the Felon. The question is whether it might sway any voters at the last minute. I certainly don’t think it will affect his base, but it definitely could influence those waiting until the last minute to make a decision.
Then, there’s the delightful fact that Brazil is now blocking access to the entire X (formerly Twitter) platform. A Brazillian judge has ruled that the platform is spreading unchecked misinformation. Elon Musk, surprising absolutely no one, has balked at the order to provide some oversight. In my slightly elevated opinion (I elevated it myself), this is a win for people in Brazil. No one needs X in its current chaotic form. There’s no way to rely on anything posted there. Scams, fakes, and stolen accounts are all over the platform and Musk, screaming about freedom of speech, refuses to do anything about it. Intelligent people are using @Threads instead.
If you have time for a slightly longer read, Jennifer Szalai takes on the question of whether the Constitution is a danger to itself. While we necessarily worry about Project 2025 and what it could mean if Republicans get the presidency or a congressional majority, Szalai finds that some of the biggest issues that could end democracy as we know it lie within the Constitution itself. If you have a spare six or seven minutes, it’s well worth taking a look.
Of course, college football starts today. I’m going to try and watch as much of it as I can. What that actually means is that I’ll most likely catch 10-15 minutes here, a quarter or two there, and the rest will be game highlights after the fact. It takes an incredibly good football game to keep me awake for four quarters and this early in the season, few of the games are ever that good. I’ll give it the ol’ college try, but be aware I slept through a lot of college, too.
I’m trying to not let the gray skies dampen my mood this morning. The disappearance of my readers still has me mind-boggled, though.
Maybe more coffee will help.
Morning Update
Taking the dogs out early this morning, I’m reminded of the opening words to a 1978 song by Crystal Gale: “Three O’clock in the morning, and it looks like it’s gonna be another sleepless night.” So, it was 4:00, not 3, and I slept earlier in the night, just not now. It’s my own damn fault. I went to bed around 7:30 without taking the dogs out one last time. As a result, Belvedere was standing on my chest and licking my face at 3:45, letting me know that some outside time was absolutely critical. The only upside of this situation is that the cats aren’t yowling for breakfast yet.
Oh, but be sure, Kronk, aka Pinball, and Solaris are right here doing their best to help me type. That’s why I’m going ahead and taking care of the update now. They’re not going to let me go back to sleep just yet. I have coffee that’s helping keep my eyes open. There will, without apology, be an early nap this morning.
My visit to the oncologist yesterday was probably the best I’ve had in a couple of years. All the numbers were where they needed to be. Even my glucose was lower than its been in a year. As long as this trend continues, I’ll be able to go off the chemo in March and won’t need to take any continuing medication for the Leukemia. We’ll still have to check in every once in a while and make sure those white blood cell numbers aren’t going back up, but at this point, we’re rather hopeful that our days of chemo are short-lived. We just have to survive the next few months.
The kids are in full fall break mode. Tipper spent the night, and possibly the weekend, with her friend. G is making final plans to leave for Florida with his friend on Monday. I’d say that I miss them, but the animals are doing a good job of making sure that they keep my attention. Hamilton has been especially needy of late. At least the animals don’t fuss about what we’re having for dinner.
We’re a week out from Helene making landfall. The storm’s death toll has climbed past 225, but many people remain unaccounted for. Despite the fact that the storm dumped 40 trillion gallons of water over the Southeast, clean drinking water is nowhere to be found. The lack of electric power isn’t helping. Of course, one bad turn generates another. Yellow jackets, who normally live in the ground, are swarming since they don’t have any place to rebuild their nests. North Carolina is distributing Benadryl and EpiPens to help deal with the allergic reactions. Helene’s powerful storm surge killed 12 near Tampa. Now, some are asking whether their deaths were preventable. I question the efficacy of second-guessing a storm that was quite determined to do its own thing. The number of deaths is tragic, but we have to realize that storms like Helene are so deadly because they do the unexpected. The next big storm to come along will almost certainly behave differently. Guessing what a storm is going to do is ultimately a fool’s game. The official Atlantic hurricane season ends in November, but with two more storms churning at sea, experts warned it might last into December. Make no bets as to what might happen.
Grumpy weather is a problem elsewhere in the world as well. Death toll in worst Bosnian floods in years rises to 16. The Brazil drought sinks the Amazon rainforest port river level to a 122-year low. Meanwhile, it’s elephants that are at risk from floods in Thailand. This is the new reality. Get used to it.
A reality I’ll never accept quietly, though, is how stupid people are allowed to disrupt life for the rest of us. There are a couple of stories that stick out to me this morning. In the first, the Heritage Foundation, the same people that brought you the insane Project 2025, are harassing NASA with Freedom of Information requests asking for internal emails. A foundation executive told Reuters that this “is part of that organization’s ongoing push to help Trump weed out uncooperative civil servants if he is reelected to the White House in November.” It’s unfathomable to me that these actions are even remotely legal. All the more reason to vote for Democrats up and down the ticket.
In a move that violates the First Amendment clause against religious establishment, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Schools wants to put Trump Bibles in the classroom. Where this push runs afoul of the law is the intent to use public funds to pay for the books. If it were done with private funds, the move might be legal. Using tax dollars, however, makes it a government establishment of religion, in violation of the First Amendment. Folks out in Oklahoma need to take Ryan Waters to the woodshed.
Oh, but before we forget, you probably should clean the filter in your dishwasher. Today. You’re killing yourself.
When does child abuse end? Apparently never. A 75-year-old mother has been charged with letting her 40-year-old paralyzed daughter lie on the floor for a week after falling out of bed. Reading stories like this makes my head hurt. The fact that this happened here in Indy is downright frightening, partly because I know there are too many people who would respond exactly the same way this mother did. Indy has some mean old people.
Not that the kids are any better. IMPD took three juveniles into custody yesterday after leading police on a high-speed chase following a string of robberies. As shocking as it may be that teenagers are pulling stunts like this, we’re at a point where it seems logical to assume that they’re learning this behavior from the adults, including grandparents, who are around them.
At least there’s football. Although, given the fact that I’m awake so damn early raises questions as to whether I’ll be conscious when this afternoon’s games kick-off. Purdue is at Wisconsin. IU attempts to keep its winning streak alive at Northwestern. Georgia clashes with Auburn. Oklahoma State hosts West Virginia. Tennessee goes on the road to Arkansas. Oklahoma and Texas both have the week off. We’ll see how many of them I spend time watching.
Ugh. One more act of sheer stupidity just popped up. An Idaho state representative told an indigenous candidate to ‘go back where you came from.’ Witnesses at the bipartisan forum describe the Republican representative’s outburst as “a complete meltdown” that scared their children. Seriously, are there no sane people left in the world that we are forced to put up with this level of incivility? Really?
You know, most Saturdays I struggle to find anything newsworthy that isn’t a rehash of what we covered during the week. Why the fuck is there so much nonsense this morning?
We’re looking at a beautiful weekend here in the Midwest. Get out and do something enjoyable if you can. Love your family. Pet your dogs. Feed your cats. Take naps.
Most importantly, don’t forget the coffee.
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