You haven't worried about this yet, have you?

Plastic Is Falling From the Sky. But Where’s It Coming From?

When a car rolls down a road, tiny flecks fly off its tires as part of normal wear and tear. This material isn’t pure rubber; it contains added synthetic rubbers and a slew of other chemicals. Tire particles, then, are technically microplastics, and they’re all over the place. One study in 2019 calculated that 7 trillion microplastics wash into San Francisco Bay each year, most of it from tires.

Luckily, this Wired story is paywalled so you won't have to read it. Unless you read it on Apple News+, here. 

(Or unless you subscribe to Wired, of course.)

On cleaning out those back corners of your kitchen cupboards

Ketchup Shortage Creates New Market for All Your Old Packets

Diners with the good fortune to have a stash of saved ketchup packets are listing them on eBay Inc. and Facebook Inc.’s Marketplace to make a buck off the pandemic’s latest supply-chain constraint.

Right there

I don't mean to be a cynic (moi?)…

 …but…really?

WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic House lawmakers said Thursday that they will attempt to limit the Taliban’s ability to regain power in Afghanistan by continuing to have a robust diplomatic presence there and provide economic support…

Words fail.

We are shocked…shocked!

Many Likely Skipped Massachusetts Travel Form, Records Show

Filing the electronic form was previously mandatory for anyone coming from a state with higher rates of COVID-19 transmission.

“If people know there’s not rigorous enforcement of that, they may be less inclined to worry about it,” Hamer said.

No kidding. Sort of like the speed limits. Sort of like that law that says if one buys certain things in a neighboring state with no sales tax, one must pay sales tax to this state when bringing it home.

(For the record, I have never bought anything in said neighboring state, of course.)

All those rules (they weren't just here) about people traveling from state to state during the pandemic were/are stupid and likely (should be) illegal as well.

There's been a lot of angst recently about people losing faith in the institutions of government; these are some of the reasons why.

Ever Given may be ever giving in the end

Egypt impounds Ever Given ship over $900 million Suez Canal compensation bill

Not the right word (IMO, of course)

Hundreds of Companies Unite to Oppose Voting Limits, but Others Abstain

Amazon, BlackRock, Google, Warren Buffett and hundreds of other companies and executives signed on to a new statement released on Wednesday opposing “any discriminatory legislation” that would make it harder for people to vote.

Discrimination in voting is of course to be avoided but the better word here is not "discriminatory," it's "restrictive."

Every American citizen anywhere in the world is entitled to vote—once—in every national election, Period. Election laws should always default to making that as easy as possible to do.

Nwrdlls

 No, it isn't age. It's more like youth.

A change of schools at a tender age interrupted my learning how to write cursive well enough to read (hence my taking a typing class at the earliest opportunity and assiduously pounding on keyboards ever since)…so when I write notes to myself they are often lost forever in the mist of what?

This is why I just spent nearly two minutes and lots of pacing around trying to figure out a note I wrote to myself only a couple of hours ago. It turned out to be "big box," and means I'm expecting a delivery from UPS today.

The most egregious example of this deficiency is the word "nwrdlls," which I found scrawled on a blackboard next to my refrigerator about 30 years ago.

It took nearly an entire day to figure out that meant "noodles."

Somehow (don't ask me to explain any of this)…

 …Biden doing what Trump promised to do has turned into a good thing. 

(CNN) President Joe Biden is carrying out some of Donald Trump's biggest campaign promises by leaving America's longest war, targeting economic aid at forgotten Americans and building an infrastructure plan that may actually happen.

Why did we bother?

(Granted, a promise from Trump didn't necessarily mean action by Trump—unless it did—but, well, I'm just confused.)

Dear old Nebraska

Gov. Ricketts designates Nebraska as 'sanctuary state' for gun rights

As soon as we were old enough for grades with numbers (1st, 2nd…) we learned the university's song…

There is no place like Nebraska
Dear old Nebraska U
Where the girls are the fairest
The boys are the squarest
Of any old place that I knew.

Every era ends

California Gold Rush town to remove noose from city logo

Some argued that it is part of the history of the town, but others said it is violent and gives the city a bad reputation, the station reported.

"Bad reputation" would be one way to put it, yep. 

An afternoon

Imagine our dismay

Eye-Gouging Capitol Rioter in 'Shock' Over Detention With 'Inner-City Crimes' Inmates: Lawyer

Webster has since been charged with assaulting police officers with a deadly weapon, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, knowingly entering a restricted area, disorderly conduct in a restricted area, engaging in physical violence in a restricted area and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, CNN reported.

Oh. Well then.

And in other animal news…

Bunny snatched: Record-holding giant rabbit stolen in UK

The force appealed for any information about or sightings of Darius, who is gray-brown and 129 centimeters (4 feet, 3 inches) long at full stretch. He holds the Guinness World Records citation for the world’s longest rabbit. Rabbits of his type are known to weigh about 15 to 20 pounds (7 to 9 kilograms).…

…and comes with a 2,000 pound reward. 

While you were worried about machines taking over your job…

Japanese toilets will measure your fatigue on a road trip -- and wow, it's weird

Specifically, "the tension of the sympathetic nervous system increases and the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system decreases," in a fatigued state.

When the outdoor chairs start stacking up on the hardware store corner…

…it's definitely spring. (Also, I saw my first dandelion of the season on this morning's walk.)

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In a long ago, ancient time…

White House says N.Y. suffering from ‘systemic’ infrastructure issues amid push for Biden’s $2T plan

New York is suffering from a “systemic lack of investment” in public transit, roads, bridges and a range of other infrastructure systems, causing excessive commute times and disparities in everything from housing and child care to internet access and drinking water, the Biden administration said Monday.

…what we now call infrastructure was called public works. Maybe that has something to do with my difficulty in understanding why we need federal money to repair our local roads, bridges, and transit lines, let alone child care and internet access. I get that federal money seems free, but it's not; wouldn't it be cheaper to just fix our own stuff and skip the red tape?

There is a credible argument, however, that some cities—especially major port cities—become so large they can no longer sustain themselves and descend into chaos. (You can read a lot more about that in a book called Out of the Mountains, by David Kilcullen, here.) Is New York City in danger of becoming one of those? Is it already?

Something about good intentions just aren't enough

No one in small southwest Missouri town voted on Tuesday*

The main ballot question was whether La Russell should annex itself into the Avilla Fire Protection District. With no voters, the question failed, Davis said.

Although, the story continues, “Everyone said they were all for it and they would vote.” 

*Last Tuesday, for the record.

Signs

So then, a $6 million bad guess?

Gone in 65 seconds: Pilot error led to $6 million loss in military drone crash

“These levers could easily be mistaken by an inexperienced, fatigued, or confused crewmember,” Prichard wrote.

The week that was, not

NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

All of a sudden, this happens

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