A foggy night

File under More Stuff About Our Minimum-Wage Economy

Shortage of snowplow drivers hampers states as storms arrive

States from Washington to Pennsylvania, including Montana and Wyoming in the Rocky Mountains, are having trouble finding enough people willing to take the comparatively low-paying jobs that require a Commercial Driver’s License and often entail working at odd hours in dangerous conditions.

Maybe it's contagious—or maybe something in the water there

Delaware highway exit sign misspells the state’s name

Delaware’s transportation department and its contractor, Kiewit Infrastructure Company, say the sign was always meant to be temporary and has been replaced.

Newly added to our Work Avoidance Hall of Fame

Poweroutage.us

Keep track of where you might not want to be driving your shiny new EV today.

I get it not (or maybe I do)

In context: Joe Biden’s ‘fair share’ comments on gas prices

"Two weeks ago, I announced the largest-ever release of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to increase the supply of oil to help bring down prices. And I met with our friends around the world. Other countries joined us.

Isn't this exactly the wrong thing to do if you're trying to get people to burn less fossil fuel (e.g. petroleum)? 

Silly question, right? 

Found this on a left-behind napkin at McDonald's

US commander: Al-Qaida numbers in Afghanistan up ‘slightly’

“We’re probably at about 1 or 2% of the capabilities we once had to look into Afghanistan,” he said, adding that this makes it “very hard, not impossible” to ensure that neither al-Qaida nor the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate can pose a threat to the United States.

In the eye of the beholder…

Dozens of camels barred from Saudi beauty contest over Botox

Saudi Arabia’s popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, which kicked off earlier this month, invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66 million in prize money.

In December

A little ornamental snow this morning

I had a dream…

 …about a scrambled egg sandwich covered with ketchup.

Clearly I need more ketchup in my life.

Remind me to mention that to Siri.

From this week's early morning trek to the curb

And don't even start with misspelled

‘Cheugy,’ ‘omicron’ among 2021’s most mispronounced words

File under Stuff I'd Like to Know

" Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, President Biden assured that 'for the vast majority of the country' store shelves will not be empty…"

First, how vast is "vast"?

Second, is that majority of the people (the majority of people live in urban areas and does not include me) or majority of the area (me)?

Not that it matters terribly much in this instance, but in general I imagine if we could learn to speak about our common problems more accurately it might go a long way toward solving them.

No need to make it worse than it is

"Will Sunday be a new rock bottom for the Bears? Who will play quarterback? Will Kyler Murray light them up? Team Sun-Times answers those, among other, depressing questions."

Refreshing, the thought…

US drugstores squeezed by vaccine demand, staff shortages

Pharmacists say demand for COVID-19 vaccines started picking up over the summer as the delta variant spread rapidly. Booster shots and the expansion of vaccine eligibility to include children have since stoked it.

…of pharmacies being "squeezed," not emergency rooms.

On the other hand (or arm)…

Italian dentist presents fake arm for vaccine to get pass