12.31.2020
12.30.2020
This is not an original idea…
…original to me, that is…as it's been bandied about on Twitter and elsewhere, but it certainly is striking that Congresscritters who just recently voted for a $900 Billion 5,500-page spending bill without reading it now want to carefully consider and exhaustively debate this $2000 relief payment idea that, according to polls, nearly 90% of the public is for and has already been approved by the House, to say nothing of the orange President.
The face that launched 1,000 ships…
…belonged, legend holds, to Helen of Troy. She was a daughter of Zeus and had a bunch of other Olympian relatives, which might have given her an edge in the polls.
But now it's an anonymous Japanese model that may have the face that launches 1,000 movie plots.
"[The artist] Shuhei Okawara's masks won't protect you or others against the virus. But they will lend you the exact appearance of an unidentified Japanese adult whose features have been printed onto them," Reuters reports in an article that will tickle pranksters and terrify facial recognition advocates everywhere.
12.28.2020
Things go way too far
New Christmas Tree Disposal Method? Eat It
“For some reason, when you mix Christmas trees with dairy, it’s kind of unbelievable,” says Ms. Georgallis…
We can only imagine.
Somehow this just makes me want to giggle
"Impossible situation": British skiers flee Swiss quarantine, destination unknown
Asked about the run-away tourists, Health Minister Alain Berset told reporters in Basel: “We are aware of that. It is obviously a problem, there was an order to quarantine that has not been respected.”
If that means I'm a bad person…
If I had the patience…
…I would write a list entitled The 7,318 Best "Best" Lists, putting a fit end to 2020—but I don't. I don't even have the energy to get through Amazon's 100 best books of this past year—the list, that is, not the books themselves, many of which (not naming names here) don't look all that appealing to me anyway. Your mileage may vary. Likely will.
It is way more predictable than the weather, recently, here, that the end of any year is glutted with "best" lists. And they rarely agree. The cookies, for example, on one person's 10 Best don't even appear in the next guy's Best 20, and so forth.
Time is eternal. Here's the be Best of Everything.
12.26.2020
12.25.2020
White not so much
Seems like only yesterday we had 20+ inches of snow on the ground and people all atwitter over a white Christmas. But it started raining here yesterday afternoon and we woke up this morning to find it still raining, hard, and the temp over 60º. The only snow left is in little mounds where plows had thrown up piles. Otherwise, puddles.
Jambalaya for dinner.
Wherever you are, take a break if you can.
12.24.2020
Kids might be learning something from all of this…
NYC is Paying $2 Million For Anti-Plagiarism Software After Firing Teachers
Algorithmic exam proctoring software has drawn fierce criticism from students, educators, and privacy advocates. Meanwhile, tools like Zoom, which were lifelines to schools in the early days of lockdowns, were quickly weaponized and found to be sucking up data.
…probably not what NYC is hoping, but better.
12.23.2020
Like Trump, 2020 will not leave willingly
Heavy Rain, Snowmelt Could Cause Flooding on Christmas
Very heavy rain will arrive overnight and into Christmas morning. One to three inches of rain is possible. Wind gusts may reach 60 to 70 mph in some cases. Thankfully there are no leaves on the trees, but we still are expecting scattered power outages.
Don't panic yet.
This forecast is just for New England. (OK, you can panic now.)
Not only will there be plenty of watery mess, given the snow we have piled up all around—there's the possibility of a power outage. We take these things seriously in New England, as we are still using the electric grid the Pilgrims built.
If the power goes out, we'll wind up having peanut butter for Christmas dinner. Maybe I should lay in a supply of holiday sprinkles.
A note from the blog, "Lawyers, Guns, and Money"
THE OUTFLANKENING OF THE OUTFLANKENING
Trump is threatening to veto the $900 billion deal unless the checks get bumped to $2,000 (and the three-Martini deduction gets extended indefinitely, which is a particularly weird fetish for a man who doesn't drink, but our Donnie is nothing if not a bottomless well of weird fetishes).
Questions for another day
**Can employers make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory?**
Yes, with some exceptions.
The story (see link) is from the Associated Press.
12.22.2020
If you're planning a trip to China, pack a lunch
McDonald's sells 'Spam burger' with cookie crumbs in China
BEIJING (AP) — McDonald’s is selling a sandwich made of Spam topped with crushed Oreo cookies Monday in China in an attention-grabbing move that has raised eyebrows. …
The sandwich is made of two slices of Spam, a product of Hormel Foods LLC, and Mondelez International’s Oreo cookies, topped with mayonnaise.
Sounds like a waste of perfectly good Spam to me.
Always a market for new bad ideas
"With more services than ever collecting your data, it’s easy to start asking why anyone should care about most of it. This is why. Because people start having ideas like this."
Your Credit Score Should Be Based on Your Web History, IMF Says
12.21.2020
Trump Derangement Syndrome
Trump's response being wrong does not necessarily mean the polar opposite response is right.
Biden’s team vows action against hack as US threats persist
12.20.2020
Upping the privacy stakes
Facebook’s Laughable Campaign Against Apple Is Really Against Users and Small Businesses
Facebook claims that this change from Apple will hurt small businesses who benefit from access to targeted advertising services, but Facebook is not telling you the whole story. This is really about who benefits from the normalization of surveillance-powered advertising (hint: it’s not users or small businesses), and what Facebook stands to lose if its users learn more about exactly what it and other data brokers are up to behind the scenes.
12.19.2020
Here's a solid (a little bit technical) recap…
…of the past week's events related to the SolarWinds cyber event, attributed in Trumplandia to a Russian "attack." (Maybe it is, but then…)
The SolarWinds cyberattack: The hack, the victims, and what we know
Unconfirmed media reports have also cited sources linking the attacks to APT29 (aka Cozy Bear), a state-sponsored hacking group associated with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
Researchers, including FireEye, Microsoft, or Volexity, have not attributed these attacks to APT29 at this time.
Sometimes a guy just feels old
We’re Never Going Back to the 1950s
Since 2010, 33 million households have either cut the cord or never signed up for cable TV in the first place. The traditional cable bundle is slowly dying…
Wait. Traditional? For most of the people alive today, I have to remind myself, it probably is. But not for a time traveler from the 1930's like myself. The first time I even saw a TV set, as far as I can recall, I was in junior high school and the 1950s was still a year away. It was the mid 50s before my family even owned a TV set, never mind a "cable bundle."
I did have a cable bundle for a few years in the early 90s, back when CNN was a news station and not the 24-hour reality show it is today. Now, the closest I come to a "bundle" is when I subscribe to Hulu for a couple of months each year to watch college football. This year's subscription ends Monday.
12.18.2020
This is sadly hilarious
Hacked networks will need to be burned ‘down to the ground’
"Agencies will often have to conduct sensitive government business on Signal, WhatsApp and other encrypted smartphone apps," notes the Associated Press.
Signal, WhatsApp and other encrypted smartphone apps [such as Apple Messenges — Ed.] are the very apps many in the U.S. Administration and Congress have been clamoring to reign in, require backdoors to, or even downright ban on grounds of national security and law enforcement. (WhatsApp, being owned by Facebook, is a little wobbly to begin with.) The fact they might now be necessary for conducting sensitive government business is nigh on to priceless, a little glitter of levity in an otherwise overwhelmingly sad tale.
Are you paying attention, FBI?
Somehow this seems like a story that just writes itself
Man Who Sued Parents for Getting Rid of $29K Porn Collection Wins Lawsuit
David Werking said while briefly living with his parents after a divorce, they discarded $29,000 worth of films and magazines
Ooops, lost me there
Female extremists in QAnon and ISIS are on the rise. We need a new strategy to combat them.
More generally, QAnon women are using social media with soft pastel hues to disseminate the conspiracy throughout North America and internationally.
A lot of assumptions here—some of them may be true
With Trump silent, reprisals for hacks may fall to Biden
"To be sure, it’s not uncommon for administrations to refrain from leveling public accusations of blame for hacks until they’ve accumulated enough evidence. Here, U.S. officials say they only recently became aware of devastating breaches at multiple government agencies in which foreign intelligence agents rooted around undetected for as much as nine months. But Trump’s response, or lack thereof, is being closely watched because of his preoccupation with a fruitless effort to overturn the results of last month’s election and because of his refusal to publicly acknowledge that Russian hackers interfered in the 2016 presidential election in his favor."
Pandemic statistics, mostly grim, some not so
Americans’ spending on groceries, compared to January: down 2.7 percent
Total sales of alcoholic beverages during the pandemic: $62.5 billion, up 21.8 percent
12.17.2020
So…wait a minute…
Small, quiet crickets turn leaves into megaphones to blare their mating call
Some male crickets make their own megaphones by cutting wing-sized holes into the center of leaves. With their bodies stuck halfway through this vegetative speaker, male Oecanthus henryi crickets can more than double the volume of their calls…
…it's the quiet ones that are making all the noise?
Fun is where you find it (especially in Wisconsin)
Wisconsin motorist pulled over for driving car covered in Christmas lights
A state trooper credited the driver for his creativity, but warned him it is against state law to drive with the festive lights display.
Who, exactly, are these "experts" I keep hearing about?
What music do dogs love? Here’s what experts recommend you play for your pet
“Genres such as reggae and soft rock usually have a slower tempo, which some dogs may find more relaxing,” he says.
Beethoven gets a mention, but no Bach.
12.16.2020
Well, it does seem like a small price to pay
California judge extends strip-club exemption from lockdown
The judge noted that Pacers International Showgirls and Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club operated for five weeks during the pandemic under their own safety measures, which included keeping strippers 15 feet (4.6 meters) from tables, allowing no more than one stripper per stage and requiring them and other employees to wear masks.
If you want to try your luck guessing the gender of the judge I'll give you a little hint: His first name is Joel.
Just too much money to ignore, maybe
Facebook pauses political ad ban for Georgia runoffs
I'm not sure what the reason was for banning political ads in the first place, but pausing a ban sounds like a finagle. Gotta say.
Make that to go
Murder suspect escapes prison transport van that stopped at McDonald’s
The best part of this story:
Taylor, who is wanted for a murder in East Chicago, Indiana, was wearing a belly chain with handcuffs, along with a leg brace when he slipped from the van…
The driver of the van tried to catch Taylor after he fled, according to surveillance footage obtained by authorities.
The guy was just a really slow driver.
12.15.2020
Not to be outdone…
Revealed: China suspected of spying on Americans via Caribbean phone networks
Miller said that he found that in 2018 China had conducted the highest number of apparent surveillance attacks against US mobile phone subscribers over 3G and 4G networks. He said the vast majority of these apparent attacks were routed through a state-owned telecoms operator, China Unicom, which he said pointed in very high likelihood to a state-sponsored espionage campaign.
Take that, Russia!
I traveled to Europe on this ship in 1958: She was grand
SS United States: The mighty ship that broke all the records -- then was left to rust
The SS United States held -- and, incredibly, still holds today -- the fastest transatlantic speed record for a liner, and possessed a secret double identity.
The Information Age
Adobe publishes research study on disinformation
"Manipulated content is everywhere, and it’s eroding trust in everything"
Who would have guessed?
China Peddles Falsehoods to Obscure Origin of Covid Pandemic
The party also appears eager to muddy the waters as the World Health Organization begins an investigation into the question of how the virus jumped from animals to humans, a critical inquiry that experts say is the best hope to avoid another pandemic. China, which has greatly expanded its influence in the W.H.O. in recent years, has tightly controlled the effort by designating Chinese scientists to lead key parts of the investigation.
12.14.2020
The Electoral College meeting is not the only news to watch this week
Endangered-species decision expected on beloved butterfly
Trump administration officials are expected to say this week whether the monarch butterfly, a colorful and familiar backyard visitor now caught in a global extinction crisis, should receive federal designation as a threatened species.
The "digital" part of this paragraph may be true…
Outsourcing Disinformation
While the details of this case are intriguing, in many ways Smaat’s Twitter network is illustrative of the new normal: a disinformation campaign linked to a digital marketing firm. We are increasingly seeing state actors outsourcing their disinformation operations to these companies.
…but the rest of it has been going on to my certain knowledge since at least the 1960's, major U.S. public relations and lobbying firms representing the interests of some of the most malevolent dictators and nation states in the world,
There's really no way to tote up the effects.
Too much togetherness is a thing
Amazon Sidewalk is coming – and not everyone will be happy
Nonetheless, it’s likely to raise concerns among both users and security advocates alike. Having a second network running, which has access to your home internet, and which you have only marginal control over seems like a recipe for potential disaster.
Abraham Lincoln's Doctor's dog
It's a line from an old joke about a writer who found out the best-selling books at his local bookstore were books about Abraham Lincoln, books about doctors, and books about dogs. So he wrote a book entitled…etc., etc.
I just wanted to see what would happen if I write it here.
Carry on.
12.13.2020
Too bad
Too bad fog bathing is not a thing, We have plenty of fog this morning (did you watch the Army-Navy game yesterday? Like that), and sun bathing is totally out of the question.
(It's about 45º, so a little chilly for sun bathing anyway, but still a little sun now and then would be a happy event,)
12.12.2020
12.11.2020
It's likely to be a rough winter, vaccine or no
America’s Bipartisan COVID-19 Illiteracy
Nine months into the pandemic, governments and elites still don’t understand—or refuse to clearly say—what this virus is or how it spreads.
Alas
College football insider: Allowing Ohio State into title game shows the conference lacks character
If the Big Ten had followed its own rules, Ohio State's slate of meaningful games would be done, as would the conference's hopes of a national title. But coming from the conference that issued a schedule this summer only to cancel the season days later only to reinstate the season weeks later, the fact that it didn't shouldn't shock anyone.
I've been a huge fan of Big 10 football for three quarters of a century. But this development—a last minute change of rules to let Ohio State play in the championship game—is deeply disappointing.
The Ohio State team is a fine team and has won every game they've played this year, but other teams in the conference have won just as many games—or even more games—while still playing the requisite number of games to qualify for the championship.
12.10.2020
Now things have gone too far
Top supplier warns of possible cookie shortage over holidays
I am officially joining the movement—let's put an end to 2020.
12.09.2020
12.08.2020
Meanwhile…
Puppy pipeline runs from Georgia northward to adoptive homes
“We have had the most incredible outpouring of people in the D.C. suburbs that have a strong desire to rescue dogs and cats during this pandemic,” Williams wrote in an email.
…there are a whole lot of people who could use some rescuing themselves.
There's speculation Congress may do something to address that soon; it is way overdue.
So now we need a doorbell on the refrigerator…
If viewing your Nest cameras on your Family Hub fridge is on your Christmas list, you're in luck.
…and something about a Mercedes as well?
Not my refrigerator.
I did, however, once have a friend whose mother kept a padlock on the refrigerator. My friend had eleven siblings, so the lock did make some kind of sense.
12.06.2020
How dusty is it under your bed, really?
Find out. The National Institute of Standards and Technology will provide you a two-gram sample of Standard Reference urban dust for $761.00. Or, if your bed is in a more pastoral setting, you can pick up twenty grams of medium test dust for a mere $500.00.
The NIST can, in fact, furnish reference samples of just about anything, from argillaceous limestone (70 grams @ $989.00) to peanut butter (a whopping 510 grams @ $881.00) and beyond (way beyond).
Never again just guess.
Never ceases to amaze
You would think people who live in climates where it snows every year, heavily and for a long time, would eventually learn to drive on it. And remember.
But no. They forget. The first snow of every year invariably produces this.
Here in our pleasant valley, despite frantic predictions of heavy snow all day yesterday and into the evening, we got not a flake. But elsewhere in the region, closer to the coast, there was some, enough to cause multiple scenes like his and, naturally, knock down power lines. Another winter begins.
12.05.2020
Ski spat
Swiss slopes buzz as those of neighbors sit idle in pandemic
The discord among countries during the worst pandemic in a century cuts across issues of health, business, economy, culture and wellbeing. But it also violates one of the key tenets that the World Health Organization promotes to help fight COVID-19: solidarity.
12.04.2020
Scandal! It just keeps on selling
‘Scandalous’ 1st Christmas card up for sale
In the foreground, a young girl is pictured taking a sip from an adult’s glass.
Raised such an uproar it took three years to publish another one. No kidding.
The fascinating fix we're in
ACLU Sues Government Over Secret Purchasing of GPS Data
That raises a constitutional issue, as it appears as if the federal government is trying to bypass the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. The ACLU argued that, instead, the agencies involved should be seeking legitimate court warrants to track individuals.
It appears that—in the ACLU's view, at least—the Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches by the government, but not by private sector actors. I find this somewhat discouraging.
The world has changed somewhat since the 18th Century. When the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution it was not just highly unlikely, it was literally impossible for a private (or government) entity to collect the scope of personal information on anybody that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and numerous other organizations collect routinely today.
We've done a lousy job at keeping our Constitution, our laws, and even our understanding of government up to date.
12.03.2020
Peeking over the edge of the abyss
IBM Uncovers Global Phishing Campaign Targeting the COVID-19 Vaccine Cold Chain
This is a pretty interesting article. The details are difficult to comprehend (and somewhat vague) but also mostly irrelevant to anyone not directly involved in the security field.
Nonetheless, the realization that global (and perhaps nation-state sponsored) malicious activity could be deployed at this scale against such a critical target is staggering.
Why? Maybe some kind of commercial mischief—stealing intellectual property, fixing prices, or establishing a black market, for example. Or maybe something less direct, like damaging the reputation of a country or company or even a specific person. Or simply sowing doubt and confusion, or other stuff. Or making money, as with ransomware.
The possibilities are chilling. They are also real.
12.02.2020
What could possibly go wrong?
Teen banking app Step reaches for the stars to raise $50 million
Teens. Next thing, they'll want to start driving. Or voting. Or who knows what?
12.01.2020
I can't decide if this is hilarious or sad
On the National Review web site a review of the AppleTV production, Ted Lasso," (and a favorable review it is) comes with this subhead:
A spirited and warm Apple TV+ comedy makes a perfect choice for adults to watch with their parents.
The article, toward its end, explains…
…its wonderful first season makes for the kind of easygoing, big-hearted watch that constitutes ideal viewing among adults seeking something to watch with their parents, especially around the holidays when we’re all in need of something cheery that brings us together and steers clear of divisive stuff like explicit sex, gory violence, and politics.
So apparently, all you adults out there, your parents can't deal with such divisive stuff as sex, violence, and politics.
And your kids think the same thing about you.
11.30.2020
11.29.2020
The winner of the '21 Super Bowl may simply be the last team standing
No QBs in Denver, no home for SF as COVID-19 sows NFL chaos
The Denver Broncos have no quarterbacks. The San Francisco 49ers have no home stadium or practice facility. And the Baltimore Ravens may not have enough players available for their next game, which has already been pushed back twice.
And not looking too much better for college football, with several of the Big Ten teams teetering on the edge of ineligibility resulting from too many canceled games and teams elsewhere in footballdom missing key players or even coaches.
Things change, but not very fast
Vanderbilt Kicker Sarah Fuller Becomes First Woman to Play in Power 5 Game
In 1955 I had a role in a high school production of a play called "Time Out for Ginger." It's about a girl, Ginger, who goes out for the football team. Hubbub ensues.
Sometime in the '80s I saw the same play performed in a Chicago dinner theater.
Now, yesterday, Sarah. The play would still work just fine. Hubbub (on Twitter, of course) ensued. But, like Ginger, Sarah got into the game.
11.27.2020
A cautionary note
The movie, Apollo 13, currently heading our movie list, comes scarily close to a kissing scene in the early going and may include an episode of baby-kissing as well (by that time I had lost focus on the canoodling question), but it is definitely worth taking a chance on anyway because it's a brilliantly good film.
Also they had to squeeze It onto those Verizon smartphones
Live spectators at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade wish they’d just stayed home
"This year’s parade was a deeply compressed made-for-TV live event — stretching just one block, in front of the iconic department store’s Herald Square headquarters."
499 bottles of beer on the wall…
Woman smashes 500 bottles of booze in British supermarket
The woman entered an Aldi supermarket in Stevenage, England, and began breaking 500 bottles of alcohol that caused around $130,000 in damages, according to local reports.
"Robots are having a moment"
Robots on the rise as Americans experience record job losses amid pandemic
They can check you in and deliver orange juice to your hotel room, answer your questions about a missing package, whip up sushi and pack up thousands of subscription boxes. And, perhaps most importantly, they are completely immune to Covid-19
11.26.2020
Dreary-cold and rainy here…
…but maybe more pleasant where you are—whatever the momentary conditions, happy Thanksgiving to all.
On a slightly less momentary note, somebody on Twitter this morning inquired how many of us have been on the internet since the long-ago year of 1993 (when the internet was still spelled with a capital I). I was.
I also, for the faded record, had a blog before the word "blog" was invented, and it was not that much different from this one in spirit, if not in execution. According to the internet (which, of course, knows everything now) "blog" became a word in 1998. I have no tangible record of a blog before that year, but I do have one from that year—November 11, 1998, to be exact. Its skeleton still exists on the Wayback Machine, here. (None of its links work, of course—link rot carried to its ultimate conclusion.)
11.25.2020
Seriously? Does anybody use mousepads any more?
(Found on Amazon.)
If you'd asked me, "What if your zoom crashes?"…
What if Zoom crashes on Thanksgiving? These video meeting choices can save your virtual family gathering
…even a year ago I would have had no freakin' idea. Now I understand the question, at least, which may be easily mistaken for progress.(Within this article is a link to yet another article about the technical aspects of arranging a proper 2020 Thanksgiving—video lighting, special microphones, etc. No, Bunky, just a little cranberry sauce is no longer enough.)
11.24.2020
To [somebody] belongs the spoils
‘People are pissed’: Tensions rise amid scramble for Biden jobs
“The Obama staffers are now cutting out the people who got Biden elected,” said a senior Biden official channeling the feelings of the old guard of the Biden campaign, who requested anonymity for the obvious reason. “None of these people found the courage to help the VP when he was running and now they are elevating their friends over the Biden people. It’s f----- up.”
11.23.2020
11.22.2020
Regardless of whatever whatever…
(Or irregardless, if you prefer, a word listed enthusiastically by Merriam-Webster and noted, albeit somewhat snootily, by Oxford)
…of what you may be reading somewhere else, this from the Associated Press:
What does emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine mean?
11.21.2020
And an early humbug to you all
Forget sad Thanksgiving: early Christmas fever takes over
As some holiday tree sellers fear they’ll sell out by Thanksgiving and parcel shipping companies worry about November gridlock, a growing number of people on a quest for joy have bucked tradition and gone full-on Christmas weeks earlier than they normally would.
It's dark. It's cold. It's 2020. Ho ho ho.
11.20.2020
Can you trust your trash can? (We already know about your vacuum cleaner.)
Robot vacuum cleaners can eavesdrop on your conversations, researchers reveal
In a scenario presented by the researchers in an explanatory video, they described how a sensitive Zoom conversation could vibrate nearby objects such as a trashcan.
A compromised robot vacuum cleaner might then target the trashcan, and record its vibrations via its LiDAR sensors.
When people publish stories like this…
…shouldn't they at least mention who the researchers are? Seems only fair.
It's true that, unlike some other countries…
…the U.S. does not have an official language but it seems only fair to require the U.S. freaking Senate to communicate in some language, and not in unintelligible pap like this.
“Specifically, the NSF must support research on manipulated or synthesized content and information authenticity and NIST must support research for the development of measurements and standards necessary to accelerate the development of the technological tools to examine the function and outputs of generative adversarial networks or other technologies that synthesize or manipulate content.”
11.19.2020
Frankenbird
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Democratic Party has evidently sprouted some extra wings. I, for one, am not a big fan of wings, but if you're missing Saturday afternoons at your favorite sports bar this may be just the thing.
It's difficult to tell…
Criminals launder coronavirus relief money, exploit victims through popular apps
“I’ve never seen, in my 28 years’ experience, the amount of fraud that I’ve seen currently,” Roy Dotson, an assistant to the special agent in charge of the Secret Service, told CNBC. “And I think that’s just based sheerly on the amount of money the CARES Act allocated into Covid-related fraud and stimulus.”
…whether the current pandemic has broken so many things or simply revealed so many things broken already. Or whether this is just the way things always were and always will be (I prefer not to believe that one, but still).
Even so, we will need more of it: I am told 12 million people will lose unemployment benefits on December 26.
11.18.2020
Worthy of note
Florida Army reservist is 10th service member to die of the coronavirus
Five other Army reservists have also died from the coronavirus this year, as well as two Army National Guard members. An active-duty sailor assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt also died from the virus. Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., 41, died April 13 at a naval hospital on Guam.
"Service member" here refers to serving Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and now Space Force personnel, as well as Army Reserve and National Guard members. That's a whole lot of people. Ten have died.
Granted, these folks are, overall, younger than the general population (although not all of them are 20 anymore, or even 30). And possibly, overall, somewhat more fit. But they are also, as a group, trained to "go by the book." (You can say "follow orders," if you like. Or, "work together.")
Pretty clearly, it seems to me, an organized approach to this pandemic works.
11.17.2020
Zooming Santa
How to visit Santa in NYC under tight COVID-19 restrictions
Sitting on Santa's lap has never made my list of top 100 things to do but it's big in the movies. And with a lot of other people, as well, I'm told. So this year being this year does seem a little sad,
It also raises a question: Do department store Santas get unemployment payments in December, or what?
11.16.2020
2000 years in a sewer
What did the guy do to get him in this much trouble?
"A bust of the ancient god Hermes, in good condition, was discovered in central Athens during sewage work, authorities said Sunday.…
The head is in the style of famed Greek sculpture Alcamenes, who flourished in the second half of fifth century B.C., the ministry said."
Worse than the guy who had to push a rock up a hill—he's probably still at it. But still.
11.14.2020
The name game
Among all the other mind-blowingly awesome things about 2020 has been a new product named the iPhone Pro Max.
I fondly hope next year we can have an iPhone Pro Max Premium, and maybe the year after that, an iPhone Pro Max Premium Deluxe.
And so on, until someday somebody breaks the chain with a totally innovative new name like, who knows, maybe TelePhone.
So he was right then and here we are: Tired of winning
Trump’s Crazy and Confoundingly Successful Conspiracy Theory
This piece by Michael Kruse at Politico is, IMO, spot-on accurate view of the ongoing cluster**k that is Trump. It's concerning only because the apparent number of his admirers is upwards of 70 million citizens.
11.13.2020
Yes, it's Friday the 13th…
…and Minnesota plays Iowa, which makes it a double-unlucky day for the Gophers, I fear.
Tomorrow Indiana plays Michigan State, both of which teams have recently upset Michigan, although scoring a win over Michigan is looking less and less like an upset every week. So in spite of everything—a zombie election, a nutso lame duck, the raging plague, and a month-long Black Friday—it might be a good weekend for watching football, at least.
Also there's some team in Ohio that seems to be doing well.
Somehow going to college just doesn't seem like as much fun as it used to be
Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic. Now students are fighting back.
One system, Proctorio, uses gaze-detection, face-detection and computer-monitoring software to flag students for any “abnormal” head movement, mouse movement, eye wandering, computer window resizing, tab opening, scrolling, clicking, typing, and copies and pastes. A student can be flagged for finishing the test too quickly, or too slowly, clicking too much, or not enough.From a Washington Post story by Drew Harwell which is behind a paywall but available on Apple News.
11.12.2020
This just tickles me
The New York Times always—I mean, invariably—refers to Joebiden thusly:
"WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.…"
It literally makes me giggle. Every time.
If it weren't for everyone else in the media sphere, how would anyone know who they're talking about?
Well sign us up then!
Better, Faster Testing Is the Path to an American Comeback
“It used to be called sewage surveillance,” says Pepper. “Now the preferred term seems to be wastewater-based epidemiology.”
No kidding!
Woke up this morning to an otherwise routine Associated Press story that contained this sentence:
"As the storm blew toward the town, Martin rushed out into her yard to carry her 85 show chickens to safety. "Whaaat?
Yep, turns out chicken showing is a thing.
From the American Poultry Association's website:
"If you like beautiful, responsive, animals, then the world of “Exhibition Poultry” may be what you have been looking for."
So the day can begin.
11.11.2020
Finally, normalcy returns
Minnesota deer hunter bags 10-point buck — and an alligator
The hunter said he plans to mount the two together “in a fun taxidermy piece.”
11.10.2020
The language says whatever you want it to
Which is good, on balance. But confusing at times, as well. Take, for example, the word "populism."
Here's an article from the Los Angeles Times, dated 1985, retrieved from Wikipedia.
Texas’ New-Style Agriculture Commissioner : Jim Hightower Carries His Message of a New Populist Movement Nationwide
Friend of the people, Jim Hightower was, a progressive paragon.
But now, from this month's Atlantic…
Populism Is Undefeated
The U.S. election proves that this divisive style of politics is still viable.
Populism has become the voice of the incorrigible deplorables. Needs to be defeated.
Granted, 1985 was somewhere near the dawn of time, but still.
11.09.2020
11.07.2020
What we (and especially the we on cable news) should do is take a deep breath
Respecting Georgia, for example, the AP does not call states in which recounts are mandatory in certain cases, as it looks like, in Georgia, one will be this year.
Electoral research conducted by the AP found there have been at least 31 statewide recounts since 2000. Three of those changed the outcome of the election. The initial margins in those races were 137 votes, 215 votes and 261 votes.
Overall (and moving on), there is nothing unique about this election. Votes are never entirely counted on Election Day—Election Day winners are the result of projections by news organizations.
Here's a complete description of the election timeline. The results of the election are not officially final until the votes of the Electors are counted by Congress, and that happens, by law, on January 6.
Everything's working just fine.
Duluth warms up once a Century (or so)
"The temperature at Duluth International Airport reached 75 degrees Friday, snapping the previous record high for the month, set on Nov. 3, 1903, when local thermometers rose to 73 degrees, according to National Weather Service data."–Duluth News Tribune
And now, not only iPhone 13 but…
…to go with it, maybe?
China Launches World's First 6G Experimental Satellite
It will be used to verify the performance of 6G technology in space as the 6G frequency band will expand from the 5G millimeter wave frequency to the terahertz frequency. The technology is expected to be over 100 times faster than 5G…
Maybe this Warp Speed thing got out of control.
11.06.2020
And I've known New Yorkers who felt the same way
Zoo monkeys prefer traffic noise to natural sounds: study
The soundtrack of vehicles rumbling past proved overwhelmingly the most popular choice for the animals, who sometimes slept or groomed themselves and each other inside the sound tunnel—something they did not do for any of the other sounds, Hirskyj-Douglas said.
What is a Pyrrhic victory?
"Pyrrhic victory is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC and the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC, during the Pyrrhic War."
There is never a tomorrow, there is only a today
Today is, apparently, the first day to pre-order a brand new iPhone 12. This from the Apple website this morning, Nov. 6:
You’re . . . early.
Pre-order begins at 5:00 a.m. PST. Enjoy the extra sleep.
11.05.2020
"Out of the Mountains"
Here's a wonky book that doesn't seem to belong on the reading list; it's difficult to read, in some places even dull. But it has some fascinating things to say a about cities—how they fail and how they thrive, and how they break out into unrest and, even, war. And about how the modern electronic atmosphere enables, enhances, and embodies unrest and strife.
So, mentioning.
No, it's true, it happened*
Trump and allies spread falsehoods to cast doubt on election
*To be clear: The election happened. Fair and square. It's over now. Get used to it.
11.04.2020
Actually, no
Presidency hinges on tight races in battleground states
WASHINGTON (AP) — The fate of the United States presidency hung in the balance Wednesday morning, as President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battled for three familiar battleground states…
They're not battling for anything. The battle's over. Now they're just adding up the score, and that could go on for quite some time. In several states, mail-in ballots needed to be postmarked by Nov. 3 but needn't be delivered for several days yet. In California, they're not due until the 20th.
The AP has long been the gold standard in election reporting but even they can't entirely resist the horserace simile.
This thing will work itself out, pretty much as expected, in time.
But the vaccine…
The Latest: Russia reports records in new infections, deaths
Russian officials have reported 19,768 new coronavirus infections and 389 new deaths, both the highest numbers since the beginning of the pandemic
11.03.2020
Call of Duty
Meet the Wyoming National Guard’s one-man Election Day cybersecurity army
More than 15 states have activated or plan to activate National Guard troops in connection with Tuesday’s election. Texas and Massachusetts, for example, both plan to have 1,000 personnel on standby in case of civil unrest.
By comparison, the Wyoming National Guard is activating one soldier: Chief Warrant Officer 4 Warren Burgess.
Here's a nifty little bit of trivia
"In 1846, five daily newspapers in New York City pooled their resources to cover the Mexican-American War. The result of this cooperative effort eventually became known as the Associated Press."
How the Associated Press Plans to Determine the Winner of This Year's Election
(The AP is not just for stodgy newspaper readers like myself; TV stations and, yes, even web sites use it too.)
All right then
After a week of gloom and rain I walk out of the grocery store this morning with a bag of bright-colored peppers. The sky's bright too, the wind brisk, and Mozart on the 'pods.
Things are looking up.
Disturbing by any other name is, well, disturbing
As a divisive election arrives, the National Guard prepares for unrest and softens descriptions of a new unit
The National Guard Bureau has established a new unit made up mostly of military policemen that could be dispatched to help quell unrest in coming days, after a turbulent summer in which National Guard members were deployed to several cities.
The unit, which also could be used to respond to natural disasters and other missions, was formed in September and initially described as a rapid-reaction force. But as one of the most divisive elections in American history closes in, National Guard officials have softened how they characterize the service members, instead referring to them as "regional response units."
If you haven't voted yet…
…get on it. Time to get this thing finished. Finally.
Or.
It won't end anytime soon. Here's my guess. Mind you, I said guess, not prediction.
Trump won't mind losing. Maybe even wants to. All the frenetic campaigning has been theater, all the chaos and uncertainty of the coming weeks a setup of his next act.
What Trump really wants to be is president in exile. An American Romanov. An Anglo de Gaulle. Leader of the @realResistance. All the golf and none of the blame. All the adulation, none of the work.
The wronged man. Cheated out of his rightful place.
Presumably he'll still have Secret Service protection. A taxpayer-funded allowance for expenses. A presidential library (oh, the opportunities that will bring). And, if the record of the last four years is correct, nearly 40 percent of the public behind him.
Not. Going. Away.
11.01.2020
What if
What if, I'm just asking, they mixed up their soundtracks and played the laugh track at the football game and the crowd noise tape in your favorite sitcom?
Would it be more, or less, anoying?
10.30.2020
As though you haven't already heard enough trash talk about AI
Soccer match ruined when AI-controlled camera mistakes ref’s bald head for ball
To make matters worse Scotland is under strict social distancing measures. With no fans in attendance this was the only ways for fans of Iverness and Ayr United to watch the match, and instead they were treated to 90 minutes of head watching.
Lizards lose it at 40ºF*
How frigid lizards falling from trees revealed the reptiles’ growing cold tolerance
*the coldest night in south Florida in a decade
Another of my periodically occasional memos re: link rot
Clicking on some links in our Work Avoidance Hall of Fame may produce a scary warning, *this connection is not private,* blah blah, and warn against proceeding. This is because your web browser or some browser plug-in is noticing an ancient http address, rather than a newer, more secure https.
The problem here is, of course, that the people who created the work avoidance web sites have avoided the work of maintaining them. Similarly, although I do now and then check a link or two and delete those that don’t measure up, I avoid the work of maintaining the list as a whole.
Your browser, on discovering all this, will (wisely) advise you to turn around and go back the way you came. You might as well take that advice, since you’ve probably already avoided enough work for today.
Leave the extreme sloth to the pros.
Oh. It. Is.
Snowing. This stuff is not coming at us from the west, over the mountains; it's sideswiping us from the sea.
Last time it snowed on Halloween, trees crashed all over town and we lost power in this house for a week. That's because if it snows enough this early, when the trees are still mostly full of leaves, the weight of it all wreaks havoc.
Not likely to happen this time, at least that bad. Plenty of leaves, but not that much snow in the forecast. Anyway, the tree that fell on us last time can't fall again, and the wires are strung in a better place to boot.
In this part of the country the slightest glitch of weather, any kind of weather, can knock the power down. That's because we're still using the electric grid the Pilgrims built. But if it happens today, around here, it'll happen somewhere upstream from us, where it will get fixed way faster.
Still, I'm charging everything chargeable, up. And keeping a few cups of coffee in a Thermos.
Nobody understands us, Facebook says
Thousands Of Biden’s Facebook Ads Are Stuck In Limbo
“We provided the same instructions to everyone, and found advertisers across the political spectrum and both Presidential campaigns were confused by our guidance…"
I've never looked to Facebook for guidance on anything, but still.
Meanwhile the phrase, "thousands of ads," is what Facebook and Google and web platforms in general are up to. That's targeted advertising. That's why you and your next door neighbor and the guy across the street could all be getting different ads from the same candidate at the same time on Facebook. If you like Chinese food, well that candidate is right with you on the pork fried rice, while if the guy across the street prefers pizza, hey, the thinner the crust the better. And none of you the wiser.
While Facebook's guidance may be confusing, its interests are clear.
10.28.2020
Hey, if I had any frequent flier miles I'd chip in
Is President Donald Trump a Flight Risk?
Earlier this month, at a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia, President Donald Trump mused aloud to the crowd about what he might do if he loses the election on November 3. “Maybe I'll have to leave the country, I don’t know,” Trump said.
Walking home in the rain
I see a cop car parked on the pad of a donut shop that's been closed for six months. Maybe the officer inside is hoping for a miracle, maybe just suffering an attack of nostalgia. It gets me thinking about donuts, myself.
Maybe the pandemic fatigue thing is getting to be, well, a thing.
10.27.2020
I'm always pretty confused…
…but sometimes I run across a sentence that makes everything more confusing, like this one in the current issue of Forbes:
"Most of its franchisees run unprofitable businesses that have worse profitability than the industry average."
Yeah, this is way too spooky for me
Here's the lead graph of a CNN story datelined this moirning, Oct. 27, 2020…
(CNN)Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign is making a late push into deeper-red states in the final week before the 2020 election, chasing a number of possible paths to 270 electoral votes…
…and here's a NYTimes story dated Oct. 17, 2016 retrieved from my hard drive.
Showing Confidence, Hillary Clinton Pushes Into Republican Strongholds
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is planning its most ambitious push yet into traditionally right-leaning states, a new offensive aimed at extending her growing advantage over Donald J. Trump.
And here we are again.
10.25.2020
10.24.2020
One of the best laugh lines…
…(yes, there were a few moments of levity) in that presidential "debate" the other day was Biden's: "Americans don't panic."
Yes, we do, In fact, we excel at it. Panic is practically a national pastime. Always has been, doubtless always will.
Still, it's probably a good idea to at least try not to.
If There's No Election Night Winner, Don't Panic
Just when I was hoping…
…maybe we will run out of bad ideas, this:
Some doctors fighting the pandemic now have another thing to worry about
A proposed rule could make it more difficult to renew J-1 exchange visitor visas, which allow scholars, doctors and others to live temporarily in the US while they study or receive training.
Kicking doctors out of the country? Now? Really?
10.23.2020
It took me all day…
…to recuperate from that debate last night and I only watched the first 15 minutes. I don't want to think about what might have happened if I'd watched more.
It'll only take one good breeze…
…to blow them all down now. But for the next few days we have a festival of color in every direction. This from the base of a neighbor's driveway.
10.21.2020
So wait, it's not just the Russians any more? (If it ever was)
A website wanted to restore trust in the media. It’s actually a political operation.
This faux news site has a strategic niche: pumping up moderate Democrats elected to Congress in 2018 in Republican-leaning districts.
Even pre-now, the Post Office has had its slow days
With 1920 postmark, mail is delivered to Michigan home 100 years late
“Dear cousins,” the letter starts. “We are quite well but mother has awful lame knees."
Let's try for three
Pat Robertson predicts Trump will win election before asteroid strikes earth
Robertson has twice before incorrectly predicted the world’s end, the report said.
10.20.2020
An echo from a long time ago
"In German, oder Englisch, I know how to count down
Und I'm learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun.
The great—well, maybe you hadda be there but I say he's great—Tom Lehrer has released a substantial number of his songs into the public domain.
When you're remote learning and it's a snowy day, do you have to go to school?
WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP/DESE) – The Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary education released their snow day guidelines. Giving school districts the option to go remote for snow days or not. Meaning snow days as many people remember them; no work, sledding all day, may be over.
Apparently, it depends.
I haven't been on a bus…
…or a train or a plane in quite some time but somehow this seems so commonplace good sense I'm amazed it even qualifies as news. And now, CDC?
ATLANTA — The CDC is strongly recommending passengers on planes, trains and buses wear masks, but it’s stopping short of requiring it. (Associated Press)Maybe it's just I've been in the bubble for so long. We've been wearing masks in public spaces since March. And we've been a hotspot state for nearly that long, but in the rural part of the state, where I live, the virus seems pretty much under control, not an immediate threat.
I, for one—and we, in general—would like to keep it that way.
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