Look, I'm no language snob

Or mostly not, at least. Almost mostly not.

But still. Whatever happened to "succulent"? Or "savory"? Or "flavorful," "palatable," "delectable," and "appetizing"? "Mouthwatering"?

Is "yummy" really the best we can do?

The fake-news gremlin strikes again

Major news networks halt Russian broadcasts after Kremlin moves to jail reporters

There are no words. 

About that internet-connected toaster you've been wanting

Low on gas: Ukraine invasion chokes supply of neon needed for chipmaking

Ke Kuang-han, a semiconductor analyst at consultancy Techcet, said the reaction has been “immediate,” adding: “I’ve heard spot prices have jumped several-fold.”

Also, don't sell your old car just yet. 

Just got back from the drugstore

There used to be a schoolyard rhyme that went like this:

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar…

Now it goes like this:

Two bucks, four bucks, oh, just put it on your card.

And aisle after aisle of magical potions to choose from.

First off, who would put an egg in a cage?

I don't know. But in this state, since the first of the year, all eggs sold are required to be cage free.

A cage free egg is a happy egg, I guess. Almost hate to crack 'em.

Stupid is as stupid does

Sen. Graham says it would be ‘a great service’ if a Kremlin official killed Putin

Look, you don't have to look too far back in this blog to find a litany of bad takes. Opining on a rapidly evolving situation such as the one in Ukraine today is a fools game: As I am human, I was born that way.

But I'm fairly sure of this: Summarily destabilizing a government that has some 7,700 nuclear warheads is dumb. Really, really dumb. Especially if it's a government that could use what it might make from selling off a dozen or two. Or even just, you know, get pissed off.

I'm all for putting Russia back in its box but I'm not keen on blowing us all up in the process. We need to do better than Sen. Graham. At least.

When I win the lottery…

…I'm going to start a fund to send some of our local talent to graffiti school. In the meantime…

Truth is the first casualty of war*

Russia begins blocking media outlets that deviate from state narrative on Ukraine invasion

Ukraine asks for Russian web domains to be deleted

OK, maybe not exactly first this time but still right up there.

* https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/04/11/casualty/

A modest query

 If anybody's watched Dr. Strangelove recently: Does it belong on our Movies With No Kissing list?

Everybody loves them a Good War

Russians, Belarusians out of Paralympics amid boycott risk

"It was a very rapid escalation which we did not think was going to happen. We did not think that entire delegations, or even teams within delegations, will withdraw, will boycott, will not participate."

The first instance came when Latvia said its curlers would refuse to play against the Russians in a scheduled group game.

Seriously. Those Russian curlers.

Me, I'm too old to sign up again: I'm taking a pass.

A note from the publisher

 I broke a finger the other day. Or maybe just bent it more than it's supposed to be bent. On the mend, no worries, but typing has been a little more awkward than usual. Hence a few more than our normal quota of typos. Sorry about that. Assuredly, better soon.

Wet blanket-er

 Continuing this thought from yesterday, about our financial assault on Russia (and when I say our I'm speaking from the US here) —continuing, what we have devised (without an act of Congress I'm aware of, simply by a series of executive orders) is the 21st Century, cyberconnected equivalent of Hiroshima. It is demonstrating to every other country in the world —or most of them, at least —that as long as we dominate world finance with the US Dollar we can crush them like so many bugs. 

How does that not blow back?

Severe

 I said last week the sanctions threatened by the U.S./NATO alliance against Russia seemed neither swift nor very severe. Certainly, now that so many have climbed on board, they are indeed severe. I mean, after the Batman premier is pulled, how much worse can it get?

But — and apologies for being a wet blanket here — what we have on our hands now is an entirely new form of warfare. Naval blockades have long been considered acts of war; what we have here is a financial blockade and, arguably, a cyber blockade as well. 

Acts of war tend to come with repercussions, sometimes self-inflicted. And repetition. How this one will play out we'll just have to wait and see.

No, I did not need to wake up to this

These large, invasive spiders could spread throughout the eastern U.S.

Turns out they're not too much to worry about – the spiders – but please, could we just have one week without some kind of worrisome event?

The American way of war

Beloved East Village diner Veselka attracts crowds offering solidarity with Ukrainian people

Let's eat at a Ukranian restaurant.

Oh, and don't forget to pour out the Russian vodka.