Thanks.
I am vaccinated, four jabs. Last in August. So far, holding up w/o treatment other than Aspirin 500 my once a day.
Feeling better after two nights which were terrible.
What really sucks: friends of ours from the LA area are stopping over at an airport near me on Thursday. Haven’t seen them since what, five years?
And now I’m inconvenienced? Does this really need to be this way?
That is a massive Fuck Today. 
Martinez, CA. Looks close to Oakland.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/fda-eyedrops-brands-recalled-due-risks-97684402
The Food and Drug Administration posted separate recall notices for certain eyedrops distributed by Pharmedica and Apotex after the companies said they are voluntarily pulling several lots of their products from the market. Both companies said the recalls were conducted in consultation with the FDA.
Sigh, here we go again.
That’s fucking awful… I’ve been hearing about this the past couple of days.
“Data from the 6abc Neighborhood Safety Tracker shows assaults have been on the rise in the area of the attack. In the last three years, there has been an average of 180 assaults per year. But in the last 12 months, there have been more than 200.”
It’s going to be horrible on that corner come August.
Damn it…
Ashton’s 4th rule of pediatrics would apply here:
Don’t fix what ain’t broke. Corollary: Never let “perfect” become the enemy of “good.”
The amount of chlorine necessary to make drinking water safe is so minute that it’s safe to use in septic systems (where you have to be careful not to kill the helpful bacteria running the system). You can’t taste it, and it’s not harmful to humans. Ask me how I know!
If you’ll excuse me, I suddenly need to go burn everything down.
A broadcaster admits under oath to spreading known lies for ratings. State legislators and governors pass laws barring expression that they themselves have participated in and enjoyed. Members of Congress call for sedition and then take seats on governing committees. And despite fomenting insurrection, engaging in targeted harassment of citizens, and public promises to pardon any offenses against the law and the state committed in his name, the former occupant of the Oval Office easily establishes another campaign for the presidency.
Yeah, you might say that American politics has an accountability problem.
Of course, the failure to hold the powerful to account is hardly new—we’re creeping up on the 50th anniversary of the Nixon pardon, after all. But something about this era feels different. The harm and damage are brazen; the perpetrators are unapologetic; the impact is catastrophic, and there’s little to no collective interest in imposing order. Where once a single instance of plagiarism could sink a campaign, now candidates can manufacture whole identities and win their seats without fear of expulsion.
Sunlight doesn’t disinfect; it just shows the extent of the filth in full Technicolor.
No small portion of this change can be laid at the feet of Donald J. Trump, whose 2016 campaign killed the concept of political shame with an assist from then–Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Between the naked venality, corruption, and abuse of the Trump campaign and the blatant hypocrisy of the hastily invented “rule” that SCOTUS nominees can’t be considered by the Senate in an election year, our political culture became entirely detached from cause and effect. As a certain subset of voters reveled in the callous disregard for norms as an affirmation of their own power, the lesson learned was that never apologizing could convince people there was nothing to apologize for.
From there, the feedback loop of offense and immunity cycled into culture and society. It’s the habit of representative government to reflect the interests of the people it governs and for the people to display their interests to the government, so it’s no surprise that the lack of inhibition was mirrored between the two. New efforts at accountability like Me Too were characterized as moralistic mobs, while traditional checks and balances were branded “fake news.” From the interpersonal to the societal, harm became something unanswerable and unquestionable. Not only was it wrong, even hubristic, to hold someone to account, but it was a greater violation to ask the perpetrator to consider their behavior. Experiencing any consequence became the same as facing the worst of them.
I’ll bite!
I sometimes wonder if my Brita pitcher is filtering out, along with the bad, good things that I should try to replace with vitamins or something. And like, does anything nasty gather and grow in that constantly wet thing?
I have a well, and on top of the softening system that is necessary to adjust the chemical balance (so as not to ruin the pipes, etc.) and the reverse osmosis process to create drinkable water, there’s still the problem of harmful bacteria. We’ve been able to determine that it’s not from the actual well, but there’s a lot of piping where bacteria could hang out, so a chlorine injection system guarantees potable water. And of course, it has to be compatible with the septic tank and field system we also have to maintain, or we’d just be trading one problem for another.
I used to pay $72 every 2 months for water and sewer. When red states brag about how much lower their taxes are, remember that’s because individual taxpayers have to do, and pay for, everything themselves.
