Ought to take a look at this

A timeline of the Earth's temperature, from XKCD 

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.

Is this what happens when those study guys do their studies from home?

Dogs Can't Tell Slight Differences in Words, Probably Don't Understand Everything You Say: Study

Well, it's something

EU leaders agree to reduce emissions after all-night talks

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.

Somewhere has always been a fairly decent place to be

'Cruise to Nowhere' Returns to Somewhere After Passenger Tests Positive For Covid-19

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.

I imagine I am not alone in this.

Not exactly a blizzard

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.

"The escalating coronavirus pandemic could reverse decades of gains in the fight against poverty, as U.S. government aid for the vulnerable dries up."

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.

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.