A million here, a million there, pretty soon you're talking about real money

Fort Hood kept lights on during winter storm, and now has a massive electric bill

“Our renewable energy actually did pretty well. Our solar produced very similar to what it produced last February,” Dosa said. “Our wind was down about 25 percent for the month. There was some affect from those really cold temperatures out in the panhandle where our 22 wind turbines area (sic). But still we had good wind production during the month of February. It was just those really high conventional costs that was the driving force behind the high electric bill.”

 How big a bill? Somewhere around $30-36 million, give or take (Army accounting gets a little wobbly). For one month. February. The month of that little cold snap in Texas.

Other military bases around the state (there are a bunch of them) reported similar costs: $lots and lots.

Think of it as another stimulus bill, this one for the Texas power industry.

Iowa

I have never been to Iowa. I have seen Iowa from across the Mississippi River in Illinois, and I have flown over Iowa, or at least some place that claims to be Iowa, but until recently I assumed Iowa was not a real state, but more like some fictional Brigadoonish place that emerged from the mists of time for a little while every fourth year, held a caucus about something, and then disappeared again.

A while ago some neighbors of ours moved to Iowa and have not been seen since.

Recently, however, I have come to understand Iowa is a real state, populated by a lot of corn and some wind turbines, and people who go there do so because they want to be President.

That is the case, according to the Wall Street Journal, with Mike Pompeo, who is there now because he wants to run for President in 2024. Mike Pompeo is a former something in the administration of the former guy, who may himself want to be visiting Iowa before too long.

I haven't seen yet our former neighbors are running for President but I suppose it's still a possibility, as 2024 is still three years away.

One might think we'd have a little peace and quiet before starting in on a whole new election but apparently that's not to be.

The music, it's always the music

Arrest Of Neo-Nazi Rapper Highlights Threat Of White Supremacist Music

It's too black it's too white it's too dirty it's too clean and most of all it's too freaking loud. And apparently it's too much to ever stop talking about. 

I'm so old I remember when Elvis appeared on live TV (The Ed Sullivan Show) and the camera only showed him from the waist up because what was below that was too obscene. Really. Imagine that. 

Neo-Nazi's may be a threat, somehow. But the music? I doubt it.

Anyway, as everybody already knows, the only pop music that ever mattered was the music that happened when I was in high school.

Imagine our boundless joy

PHYSICISTS ARE ON THE BRINK OF REDEFINING TIME — STUDY

The research team reports continued refinement of atomic clock measurements using this model has the potential to redefine the second as we know it and can help physicists test fundamental theories of the universe — including relativity and dark matter — by measuring atomic perturbations even more precisely.

Also, we'll be able to figure out how late that Amtrak is down to 18 decimal places, instead of only 17, like now.

(Kamala Harris will be needing a new clock. The old 17-place master clock is at her house.)

90,000 pennies would cover a lot of thoughts

Penny dreadful: Georgia man receives final paycheck in coins

As in "A penny for your thoughts."

Surprisingly, not all of them grumpy.

“After the first shovel full, all we could do was laugh because this poor miserable man took so much time to be vindictive and cruel. We absolutely refused to let him ruin a single moment of ours.”

I know it was bad, but that bad?

 The great Grape-nuts shortage of 2021 is finally over.

Officially out of control

As Ivanka Trump Regroups in Miami, Speculation Bubbles About Her Plans

She [this is Ivanka Trump we're talking about here] reportedly wants her political re-emergence to center on criminal justice reform in order to cultivate a bipartisan appeal.

Political RE-emergence? Seriously? Did she ever emerge in the first place?

(I can see how she'd be interested in criminal justice, but still….)

Not bubbling here.

Feeding the media

Big Tech CEOs to be grilled over disinformation on their platforms and its role in Capitol riot

“Disinformation is driven by outrage. Every study of online rhetoric shows that outrage is the most important emotion to attracting and keeping readers."

Rule #1: The best camera is the camera you have with you

An outsider's eye, an instant camera and America seen anew

A cross-country tour from AP.

There's always a surprise (like Cracker Jacks!)

Nearly 50% of People Are Anxious About Getting Back to Normal, Pre-Pandemic Life — Here's How to Cope

A recent survey from the American Psychological Association found that 49% of adults reported feeling uncomfortable about returning to in-person interactions when the pandemic ends. Even 48% of who have received the Covid vaccine report feeling the same way.