It’s everywhere, it’s everywhere.

Covid test came back negative. I went back to the pool Wednesday. Of course, if I go to the pool, there’s a chance I’ll get it from one of my fellow swimmers, because everybody has Covid here. Kate’s entire band. All the other bands in the city, seemingly. And now, the governor’s husband.

Part of me wants to get this over with before we have our bathrooms remodeled at the end of the month. God knows those Ukrainian contractors haven’t been vaccinated.

Just what we need, coming out of the holidays, right? Another winter confined to quarters, or to a drafty tent somewhere? I put on makeup and a fancy French scarf to go to CVS this afternoon, because I think I may be going insane. As the man says, I picked the wrong month to stop drinking.

Oh, what am I talking about? We had a lovely dinner tonight. (This one, plus some oven-roasted potatoes.) Tomorrow starts the weekend. The tree has been dragged to the curb and run through the chipper. Kate and Alan are downstairs buffing the bass they’re working on. Life is good, even if it is very cold. Eleven degrees this morning, 19 at the moment.

Peter Bogdanovich, or as I like to think of him, Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, died today, a man with great talent who proved that at heart, even great artists of keen intelligence are sexual toddlers. His erotic fixation was a lot like John Derek’s, it turns out. Derek was married four times; his last three wives looked so much like one another they could have been sisters. Bogdanovich fell for a series of 20-year-old blondes, two of them sisters. Those would be Dorothy and Louise Stratten, of course, and you can google the details. Dorothy was murdered by the husband she left to be with Peter, of course. We all saw “Star 80,” which wasn’t terrible at all, and not directed by Bogdanovich, but Bob Fosse. Don’t know much about Louise, except that she’s allegedly a movie producer and that their marriage didn’t last. (No! Really?)

I liked him as Kupferberg, which for you non-“Sopranos” watchers was Tony’s therapist’s therapist. He was great in the part, no doubt having done years of therapy himself. He understood the subtle humor of the role, the kind of doctor who keeps a giant water bottle at hand and drinks from it often, because lord knows you can’t drink enough water, can you?

Anyway, he was 82, surprisingly old to me. He got his full measure.

I see everyone took apart that J.D. Vance profile from a few days back, so I won’t bother to link. What a fucking maroon that guy turned out to be. This seems to get to the point with admirable succinctness:

Onward to the weekend, then. Have a good one.

Posted at 8:53 pm in Current events |
 

49 responses to “It’s everywhere, it’s everywhere.”

  1. alex said on January 6, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    So Ohio has a Jew for Jesus battling a ‘jack for GOP Jihad. If this were 2004 it would be high satire.

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  2. basset said on January 6, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    Spent much of the snowy and housebound afternoon watching “MeatEater,” until I realized how much Steven Rinella resembles Ted Nugent. Venison carpaccio looked tasty, though

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  3. Sherri said on January 6, 2022 at 11:31 pm

    Cathy C asked for my input on cryptocurrency and NFTs in the last thread, so…

    Cryptocurrency seems indistinguishable from a Ponzi scheme. As a currency, it’s strictly worse than using a credit card. Transactions are much slower to resolve, and the overhead costs are enormous. While your friendly credit card company charges 2-3% per transaction, crypto transaction fees are constantly changing, may be a flat fee rather than a percentage, and can run into the hundreds of dollars. The exchanges where you trade or store your cryptocurrency may be anywhere, and may be lightly regulated, if at all. Outright theft is not uncommon.

    As an investment vehicle, cryptocurrency is like investing in art or wine or baseball cards or beanie babies – as long as there’s another sucker willing to buy, crypto holds value. Of course, there’s no tangible artifact backing the investment, so if there’s no sucker left, you’re just left with a bunch of bits.

    NFTs are like buying the rights to name a star. You get to claim that you’ve named the star, but the star hasn’t changed, and nothing is stopping anybody else from naming the star. I know, it doesn’t make any sense.

    Cryptocurrency transactions are confirmed (and new coins are entered into the network) through “mining”, which means performing a complex equation (proof of work). This is why it’s such an ecological disaster, and also why it’s so difficult to buy a PS-5. It turns out that the computer cards built for graphical processing for video games are the best for crypto mining, and so miners build rigs with lots of those cards to do nothing but crypto mining. This consumes lots of electricity. I mean, so does the cloud, but at least we’re getting something useful for it, and Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc, are incentivized to consume less electricity.

    So, that’s what I think of crypto. As a currency, it doesn’t work, as an investment, it’s stupid, but hey, some people will make a lot of money, others will be left holding the bag when the music stops. Blockchain as a technology still has no real practical uses. NFTs just make no sense at all.

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  4. Dexter Friend said on January 7, 2022 at 12:17 am

    “Power of the Dog” got love here on this page, while I fell asleep and had to re-watch. Famed film critic Neil Rosen was on the radio today with his current reviews and just trashed this film, calling it so boring he’d prefer to watch paint dry. He did praise Cumberbatch’s work, but called it a horrible film and advised everyone to not watch. I felt vindicated simply to find an allie.
    He then heaped glowing praise on the best movie I have seen in months, “CODA”, which most of you know stands for Children of Deaf Adults. This movie , set in Gloucester, Massachusetts, about a talented young singer trapped in a family fishing business, is priceless. Apple+.
    I watched coverage of Biden and Pelosi on TV, listened to many lawmakers and newspaper columnists , and finished up with a pundit saying Donald Trump will be the 2024 candidate unless Merrick Garland can knock Trump down a peg. Apparently this business of taking Trump down will take years, and won’t be finished until after the 2024 Presidential election. We may have a Biden-Trump rematch, say it ain’t so.
    And J.D. Vance is being painted as a left-wing Hillary and Biden lover in this Mike Gibbons creep’s TV ads, that shows how crazy this manic Gibbons, a real Trumper, is.
    Two Powerball draws ago my buddy in Connecticut wrote saying someone close by him won a $1M prize. Then on Wednesday the giant entire jackpot was hit. Ho hum.
    I am in the same cold weather pattern that Detroit is. Too fucking cold. The pest control professional has so far caught just one squirrel out of my garage. He will get them all he promises, and patch up the entry points the little bastards chewed away from the garage walls. This is crazy. Kinda expensive but I told him to do anything he can until he gets them out. They gnawed a big hole in the lawn mower’s gas cap!

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  5. Mark P said on January 7, 2022 at 2:33 am

    Dexter, maybe you should get a ferret or two and let them loose in your attic. They would probably make quick, if messy, work of your little tree rat bastards.

    Modern art wasn’t a high enough tax on rich, stupid people, so they invented the NFT. Cryptocurrency — playing computer games in the real world, only without multiple lives.

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  6. David C said on January 7, 2022 at 6:19 am

    I got into the most internet trouble ever by telling someone that they might as well have flushed their $75 down the crapper than to send to to a company that named a magnitude 30 star that nobody cares about and sent them a certificate they made on Word for a few cents. How was I to know they “named” a star after their dead dad? Webb Observatory should find enough galaxies so that everyone in the world can have one named for them. Maybe I need to get into the galaxy naming business.

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  7. Suzanne said on January 7, 2022 at 7:48 am

    A co-worker of mine took out a loan to invest in Bitcoin. He tried to get the company to let him quit for a week and then rehired him so he could cash in his 401(k) so he could invest it in Bitcoin. The company said no.
    He thinks it the wave of the future but he also believes Trump is really running the country and that what we see is not really Joe Biden but a guy in a mask pretending to be Biden. He’s the guy who I may have mentioned who drove to Florida to attend the Faith & Health Conference (or was it Freedom & Health?) starring Michael Flynn, Mike Lindell, et al. I imagine he will eventually lose his shirt; he doesn’t appear to have made millions yet.

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  8. ROGirl said on January 7, 2022 at 7:51 am

    Don’t forget, Peter Bogdanovich’s original 20 year old blond was Cybill Shepherd. He was at least 40 and married to Polly Platt when their relationship started.

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  9. ROGirl said on January 7, 2022 at 8:08 am

    There’s a really good podcast called You Must Remember This that did a series of episodes about the life and career of Polly Platt. It’s worth listening to all 10 of them.

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  10. basset said on January 7, 2022 at 8:27 am

    Not familiar with Polly Platt, but I’ll once again recommend the “Cocaine & Rhinestones” podcasts on country music history – really well told presentations, and this entire season is about George Jones and related topics.

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  11. nancy said on January 7, 2022 at 9:18 am

    Sherri, that’s a great explanation. Thanks. I’ve read financial journalists who can’t explain it that well.

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  12. LAMary said on January 7, 2022 at 9:44 am

    You beat me to mentioning Cybil Shepherd, ROGirl. I went to a preview of At Long Last Love, a musical Bogdonavich directed starring Cybill and Burt Reynolds. I still think it’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen.

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  13. Deborah said on January 7, 2022 at 10:59 am

    I only know one person who has bought an NFT. He put it on FB or Twitter, it was a video or more like a gif, of a ball of floating fire, something like that. He may have more than the one by now, that was his first. I had never heard of NFTs before that, I looked up what in the heck an NFT was, so now I know, but I don’t get it. I agree with Sheri’s description.

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  14. Deborah said on January 7, 2022 at 11:11 am

    For Christmas years ago we gave uncle J and his then wife certificates for 2 stars named after them. My husband found the star naming site online, a complete scam of course, but what else do you give to people who have lots of money and everything they could possibly want. It went over OK when gifts were opened, but I’m sure completely forgotten after that moment. I think it cost us about $25 each for the certificates.

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  15. LAMary said on January 7, 2022 at 11:47 am

    We named a crater on the moon after my late cat, Edith. I have no problem with that. Someone made 10 bucks off us and when I look at the moon I know there’s a crater there that someone who probably had no sofficial connection to lunar crater designations knows it’s named after Edith the cat.

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  16. Jenine said on January 7, 2022 at 11:50 am

    Aw, Mare Edith, I like it.

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  17. Sherri said on January 7, 2022 at 12:08 pm

    Thanks, Nancy. Both my husband and I have really tried to make sense of all of it. Blockchain as a technology is highly relevant to things we both used to work on, and so we kept trying to see anyway that it made sense to use it or that it was any way superior to the kind of logging methods in us, and couldn’t come up with anything.

    As a currency, it was clearly being made up by people who had no understanding of how and why currency works, just a bunch of people who thought about it on the level of government is bad.

    And as an investment vehicle, all we could see was disaster after disaster, scams upon scams, bubbles, Ponzi schemes, pump and dumps, and absolute theft. Yet we knew smart people involved in it.

    After Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, Silicon Valley VC’s are patting themselves on the back that they didn’t invest, that they knew better. Silicon Valley VC money is invested in crypto companies.

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  18. cathy c said on January 7, 2022 at 12:21 pm

    Sherri, what Nancy said. Very much appreciated!

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  19. Jeff Borden said on January 7, 2022 at 12:53 pm

    I thought one of the more poignant points in “Landscapers” was the investigating detective telling the husband that the vast collection of “collectible” Hollywood merchandise the murderous couple had purchased was worth only 700 quid, which Google told me was about $950. The couple had spent thousands and thousands of dollars on it.

    Olivia Colman and David Thewlis are quite wonderful in “Landscapers,” but it’s way padded and could’ve easily been a two-hour presentation instead of a four-part miniseries.

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  20. Julie Robinson said on January 7, 2022 at 2:10 pm

    Sherri, though I haven’t studied Bitcoin, etc. in the same depth as you, I’m sure you’re correct on all counts. We have several family members who are always looking for the next get-rich-quick scheme, and they’ve all flamed out. It’s only a matter of time.

    Anyone remember the Beanie Baby craze? People went broke building their collections and searching for the rare ones, and today they are worth…nothing.

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  21. Sherri said on January 7, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    In weather news, we’re getting inundated with rain, and snow in the mountains, and Seattle is close to being an island at this point. All the mountain passes between western and eastern Washington are closed, and I-5, the main route south out of Seattle is closed due to flooding. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for I-5 north of Seattle to flood, too.

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  22. Bruce Fields said on January 7, 2022 at 3:34 pm

    Bitcoin and friends are built out of some interesting technological ideas.

    Though to my mind the *most* interesting of those ideas are the ideas that actually predated them by decades.

    Like asymmetric cryptography–the idea that we can give you a secret that basically allows you to solve math problems that nobody else can–and that you can use this to prove who you are, or to sign documents–that’s very cool! But we’ve known about it for over 40 years now.

    The original Bitcoin stuff is 14 years old now and enthusiasts have been claiming various killer apps are right around the corner that whole time, and none of them have materialized yet. Every time I ask someone for an actual in-use application they’ll point me to something that, on careful examination, is really only interesting to people that want to use cryptocurrency for its own sake.

    Like prepaid cards with snazzy crypto-themed art, that can be funded by selling bitcoin. Yay.

    Maybe there’s still some killer app out there, but it’s all been vaporware so far.

    So, all we’ve got now is another random asset whose value you can bet on. Good luck.

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  23. David C said on January 7, 2022 at 3:35 pm

    Crypto bugs seem to be the same people who were gold bugs ten plus years ago. At least when you bought gold, you had gold even though as a means of exchange it isn’t good for much. You just can’t buy a candy bar with gold until you convert it to good old greenbacks. I know the story was that gold would hold its value when the hyperinflation they always have a jones for happens. So gold made some sense. Like Sherri says cryptocurrencies only makes sense as a Ponzi scheme. There’s nothing there. The pustule Steve Bannon’s LGB Coin pretty much proves that. I just hope when it collapses and they have their hands out for bailouts, the governments of the world tell them to pound sand.

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  24. beb said on January 7, 2022 at 5:51 pm

    I never heard cryptocurrency described as a Ponzi scheme before this but on reflection I can see that Sherri has that right. NFT never made sense to me. You;re buying a one of a kind digital object that can never be duplicated. Like the movie said “Never say Never.”

    I’m fascinated by the rumor floating around that the mysterious absence of Florida’s governor to a couple was because he was battling COVID. Covid kills but apparently not reliably enough. Still ironic that the man who has been so determined to downplay the seriousness of the disease should endn up getting it.

    Our daughter was born shortly before the beanie baby craze. So, since she was a toddler and the babies were cute we bought her a bunch of them. Of course the first thing she did was tear off the name tag from each beanie baby so even if a market for them existed they would be worthless for resale.

    It’s my third week with my foot in a cast. It’s even worse than being housebound to avoid the Omicron. I can’t even ealk around the house or check on the mail or fix something to eat on my own. Gotta stay off the foot. They told me to get a roller-thingie but our house is to small to use it inside. I am so bored! I’m tired of doomscrolling, there’s not much on TV what I care for and try as I might I can’t sleep the day away.

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  25. David C said on January 7, 2022 at 6:10 pm

    The collectable toys market is ridiculous and I blame Antiques Roadshow. I work with a guy who’s father bought the co-worker’s five-ish year old son a die cast tractor. A bit later the father came over and saw the kid playing with the toy and had a fit because it was a collectable and would be worth something some day. He really had a fit when he asked where the box was and was told it was recycled. He considered the toy a monetary investment that was worth noting unless in pristine condition and still in the box instead of an investment in his grandson’s imagination and happiness.

    I don’t know if one would work for you beb but I’ve seen a couple of people getting around with a sort of crutch that straps to your thigh and supports you on your knee. They seemed to be getting around pretty well. Oh, I found them from my bad description. They’re called iWalk. https://iwalk-free.com/

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  26. Deborah said on January 7, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    We just had the most weird evening, we found out a couple of hours ago that a very close friend of LB’s killed himself yesterday. It’s so sad, the guy had gone through all of the help through the government he felt he had, he lost his job during Covid, then began having heart issues and became unable to work. He tried to get help but nothing seemed available to him. So sad.

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  27. Dexter Friend said on January 8, 2022 at 1:48 am

    Cybil was the “it girl” in Hollywood and she enjoyed dating many of the biggest names out there. I heard her tell of how she hooked up with Elvis. Their handlers arranged the hotel room date and Cybil told of what a great lover he was, but what I remember most was that she said she melted when he undressed and “he smelled so good.”
    Ferrets running around killing squirrels in my attic? What a nightmare that would be! So far, just one squirrel caught, but the pro just set the outside traps Friday after 3 days of baiting an area to get their movements recorded. I had to back up all the electrical work a month because getting these squirrels out is taking a long time. The electricians will not re-wire a squirreled up house.
    Someone stop me! No, I ain’t tempted by drink, I almost bought a perfect used GMC Sierra pickup truck Friday. I don’t actually need a truck, but I am a truck kind of guy; I have owned a bunch of them. I hope someone else buys it or next week I’ll likely have bought it.

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  28. Icarus said on January 8, 2022 at 8:36 am

    I blame those news pieces that use to fill the last few minutes of the evening news, where someone found an old painting, trinket, or some klotchke that turns out to be worth more than a few bucks. This is one of the many excuses my mom uses for her hoarding. I’ve told her that you need something in pristine condition and/or a buyer who is really looking for your item for their collection.

    Has anyone tried any of those Faux liquor substitutes for Dry January? I’ve heard Seedlip is good but the minute I mentioned it, my feed is filled with ads for multiple vendors.

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  29. Jeff Borden said on January 8, 2022 at 9:34 am

    Icarus,

    The first time I did Dry January, I allowed myself a reasonably tasty European non-alcoholic beer called Clausthaler, but since then, I’ve kind of decided it was cheating a bit. And, like decaf coffee or tea, it’s really not quite the same.

    Maybe the best non-alcoholic drink that tastes like a cocktail is a Virgin Mary.

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  30. Suzanne said on January 8, 2022 at 10:44 am

    We have been dealing with elderly parents and all their stuff. My in-laws have moved into assisted living. I went with my husband to check on their house and really looked around. My oh my. They seem to have never gotten rid of anything. They are well off, have a large home, but there is still a basement full of toys (youngest grandchild is 16 & lives out of state), old suitcases, and all the train layouts and train accoutrements associated with that. They had at least 50 bottles of wine in the basement, so no dry January for us. We found one bottle from 1986. Several were undrinkable but many, although not in prime flavor, were ok. I now understand where my husband gets his hoarding tendencies.
    My mom has at least 25 boxes of Christmas decorations and 4 or 5 Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes in her basement. She won’t get rid of any of it nor will she sell us her car that she hasn’t driven in at least 2 years. She swears she will drive again soon but she is 86, uses a Walker, and can’t even get down the two steps into the garage.
    Rather than dry January, I am having clean out the basement & closets January.

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  31. Jeff Borden said on January 8, 2022 at 10:49 am

    Suzanne,

    I hope you can find a good home for the electric trains. My BIL built a large layout when my nephews were young and they enjoyed many hours playing with the miniature railroad. He found plenty of buyers when he listed all the gear –engines, railcars, buildings, track, switches– on Ebay.

    Electric trains were a part of my childhood and almost everyone else my age. I think it’s largely a hobby for adults these days.

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  32. susan said on January 8, 2022 at 11:42 am

    Dexter Friend –

    You might try one of one of these. My brother had squirrels in his attic; they had chewed a huge hole through the soffit as an entry point. He didn’t want to use poisons, for several reasons. A friend of his, the Jewish Hunter, offered to go up there and pop them with one of his guns…. Er, nope. For several reasons. So he did some research and decided to go with a strobe light set up in the attic. His expenses were the unit itself, and an electrician to install a switch below the attic access panel in the ceiling. Those squirrels were gone in 24 hours! He judged that by not hearing them skittering around above the ceiling. He waited a week to make sure they were out of there before having someone come and patch up the soffit hole. Then he turned off the strobe. But it’s there if he needs to use again. That really did the job. Pretty damned cool.

    No pest control people and their traps.

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  33. Julie Robinson said on January 8, 2022 at 1:44 pm

    Oh Suzanne, you have my deepest sympathies. We had to deal with my sister’s hoardings and are still working on mom’s. She’s been renting storage units ever since we moved her out of her house eight years ago because she couldn’t part with her crap. And, trust me, it’s 99% crap. Yesterday she found my grandfather’s confirmation certificate; that’s the best of it so far.

    I just came home from a great talk by a horticulturist and am filled with enthusiasm for the garden. I have so much to learn but now I have know enough to be dangerous. Plus, I have his book, signed!

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  34. Dexter Friend said on January 8, 2022 at 7:11 pm

    susan, those strobe devices really do work, by your testimony and by my witness. In my case, they just keep coming back…I had to call in the pros, which I did. 3 squirrels caught Saturday, 4 total now. He expects to catch 15 to 20, all the ones who target my property and building. Thanks for the advice, and for most, I believe they work. My case…I have some determined gnawers. And they do destroy soffit. Yes, for sure.
    Jeff, 29 years ago as I was gearing up for my first AA meetings, I switched to Guinness Kaliber 0% alcohol by volume. It was the only near-beer product that tasted as good as the loaded stuff. I do not know if they make it still. I got my ass chewed when I asked , in a meeting” if near-beer was OK for “us”. “Oh HELL no, you dumb ass!” But I had to know. Fact: if a drunk drinks near beer, he’ll soon be in a situation where there is none. And then, he’ll have a beer.
    My 66 year old brother’s 3G flip phone was soon to become non-supported, so he bought an Android Nord phone which he cannot figure out. I told him it might take a few days before familiarity makes it comfortable. He can’t seem to remember even how to answer it or call out . The modern age.

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  35. alex said on January 8, 2022 at 9:31 pm

    Fortunately haven’t had to deal with squirrels in the attic, just mice. Wonder if a strobe light would do the trick with those critters too. We’ve just been tossing poison pellets up there indiscriminately and spraying the hell out of the kitchen with industrial-size peppermint/clove oil that comes in the same kind of jug as RoundUp with a battery-powered wand.

    Tonight the roads are icy so we’re staying in and making a black bean soup from kitchen staples. And watching Svenghouli, where they show old B movies and make fun of them.

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  36. Dexter Friend said on January 9, 2022 at 4:42 am

    I made a mile and a half drive to pick up a load of food and supplies and drove home on salted city streets at 20 mph. Very few cars out, slippery as hell on county roads I betcha. I retired 19 years ago and am grateful every time it ices that I can watch movies and not be driving on this stuff, 75 miles R/T every day.
    The blue Sierra truck is still for sale…I still hope someone buys it to save me the grief of maintaining another used vehicle.

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  37. David C said on January 9, 2022 at 7:48 am

    This is a good Twitter thread history, not so much of cryptocurrencies, but of the people and ideas behind it. Lots of hard money, eugenics, antisemitism, and every bad notion of the uberwealthy.

    https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099

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  38. Suzanne said on January 9, 2022 at 11:02 am

    When my husband & I were visiting our daughter in November, we started watching Hulu’s series Dopesick. We don’t have Hulu at home but our son gave us his login when he was visiting last week so we could watch Nomadland. This weekend, we finished watching Dopesick. It’s excellent and also incredibly frustrating, angering, and depressing. The Sackler family is slowing beginning to pay the price but overall, it left me with the defeated feeling that they, and many like them including Trump and his tribe, will never pay for what they have done. There is too much money involved and too many willing to turn a blind eye as long as the money flows. This on top of recently reading this Atlantic article: https://www.anneapplebaum.com/2021/11/15/the-bad-guys-are-winning/

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  39. Dorothy said on January 9, 2022 at 11:23 am

    Deborah @ 26 – my sympathies to LB and her friend’s family. That’s very sad. I know OF people who have committed suicide but I’ve never personally experienced a person I’m close to having done it. A cousin I had not seen in years did it about 10 years ago which was sad but since I had not talked to him in years it didn’t really feel like it impacted me.

    Our retirement plans are for me to have a sewing/knitting studio and Mike will finally have an entire room to do a toy train layout. He’s been buying cars and collecting for years and that is what will bring him joy when he retires. I hope his health continues to be good and nothing stands in the way of that.

    Is 50 bottles of wine hoarding? Lord I hope not. I don’t drink very much but after packing up what we had in the basement, I know how many bottles I put into empty liquor boxes. I’m going to have to start having wine with meals more often!

    I thinned out our Christmas decorations and donated the only artificial tree we had. I’m putting clothing into wardrobe boxes this weekend and just made what was likely the tenth trip to Goodwill in the last two months. Everytime I think I’m done finding clothes I can’t fit into anymore, another shirt or pair of slacks shimmies up to the surface. It does feel really great to get rid of so much.

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  40. Jeff Borden said on January 9, 2022 at 12:56 pm

    Dog walking was treacherous this morning. Freezing drizzle fell all afternoon and into the evening, glazing all the sidewalks over to a surface more suited to a Zamboni machine than human feet. My wife bought me these silly things called YakTracks last year, which are essentially springs laced between a rubber frame you fit over the sole of your shoe. Folks, they work great!

    My euphoria at returning to teaching public speaking at Loyola has turned sour. We’ll begin classes online for the first two weeks, which is something I despise personally and professionally. And I’m having a helluva time getting used to all the electronic hoops and ladders required to make the class work.

    I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive and forget the morons who have turned a bad situation worse by refusing vaccines and other mitigations. Freedumb! Assholes.

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  41. Julie Robinson said on January 9, 2022 at 1:31 pm

    Jeff B, I’m with you on cursing them. My mom’s mental health is slipping again from having to be home all the time. She’s living in fear and being denied her normal activities and I wonder if it’ll be permanent.

    Positivity rate in our county is above 40%, and that’s for
    the people who can manage to get tested. The state doesn’t track residents of other states anymore; very convenient in a place with so many tourists.

    And yes, DeSantis had Covid. When he came back after his “vacation” he was pale and having trouble breathing. Also, the state sat on thousands of test kits until they expired. No need for those numbers to be even higher.

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  42. LAMary said on January 9, 2022 at 2:56 pm

    Roadie son tested postive. Months on the road and he didn’t catch it from all the idiots he worked with. One flight from St. Louis to LA and he caught it. He’s symptom free and since I am too I’m not wasting a test on myself, just staying home with him. We figure if we’re still symptom free in five more days we’re good but if it’s anything like possible to get tested here or find a rapid test kit by then maybe I’ll do that.
    BTW, we know he caught it on the flight because he had registered with some site to be notified if he had been exposed to someone who tested positive. He got a notification that he had been exposed to someone in Massachusetts who tested positive. He wasn’t ever in Massachusetts but he sat next to someone on the plane who was from Massachusetts. I know that there are an infinite number of people out there whose test results never get reported to any agency but we’re choosing to blame the guy from Massachusetts. Why not.

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  43. Julie Robinson said on January 9, 2022 at 3:30 pm

    I’m sorry about your son, Mary, and hope you both remain symptom free. Every other person at church was asking for prayers for those with Covid, and one family had to turn off life support. Other viruses are popping up, the flu season is much worse, and cancer patients are at their end. Prayer time was tough, and there were several parishioners lined up after church for extra pastor time.

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  44. Carter Cleland said on January 9, 2022 at 3:44 pm

    Having tried every last one of the NA beers available over the past 15 years, I’d recommend both the original Clausthaler, and the Heineken 00, for a nice-tasting basic pilsner. For those who like a “hoppier” approach, I highly recommend the Clausthaler Dry-Hopped and, most especially, Athletic Brewing Company’s Hazy-IPA FREE WAVE. Delicious. A wheat (weizen) near-beer I like is the Krombacher Weizen, which is great for warm-weather “imbibing”. IMO, Kaliber is WAY too malty.

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  45. Little Bird said on January 9, 2022 at 4:03 pm

    https://www.gofundme.com/

    So this is to help a very close friend. He has no insurance. It all goes to help Josh, not Ronan.

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  46. Little Bird said on January 9, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    Okay, something went wrong and I don’t know how to fix it. I’ll come back later and get it right, but I’ll probably need some time.

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  47. Deborah said on January 9, 2022 at 4:21 pm

    So LB’s friend who is in the hospital and needs funds is the roommate of her friend who killed himself and he found the body. It’s all pretty horrific and they still haven’t been able to contact the mother and brother of the deceased yet. So if you do respond to the go-fund-me for the ill roommate please don’t mention anything about the suicide of his roommate . Very confusing, I know and sorry for being so bold as to use nn.c for this purpose.

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  48. beb said on January 9, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    This is somewhere between insane and madness. Apparently the Supreme Court seems to be inclined against OSHA Covid mandates because the law they were based on, laws that broadly authorize OSHA to make emergency ruling to protect workers health are unconstitutional because Congress as that time did not mention COVID or pandemics in general. The law, as written attempts to be brad enough so that OSHA can quickly respond to an emergency. Waiting for Congress to pass a law would add months to any crisis. Now the Federalist 6 are saying that Congress can’t delegate to the Executive branch that kind of necessary broad power. So what’s Biden supposed to do, declare martial law to impose his mandates? If he does declare martial law I hope high on his agenda is the arrest of the six conservative justices for trying to usurp the powers of Congress and the Exeutive.

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  49. Little Bird said on January 9, 2022 at 5:10 pm

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-josh-bernard-with-hospital-bills/share?member=16556921

    Trying this again.
    Josh tried to revive his roommate and may have suffered some poisoning from that. Josh has no insurance. And neither did the deceased, none of them could afford it.

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