I was very lacking in energy yesterday, and didn’t get much done. But now that I don’t have any impending doom (in the form of communication outage or inability to get to my vccinaton) hanging over my head, that’s OK. I can go slowly. There are a lot of “things” (you know, “stuff”) accumulated in my work space, many of which got migrated to extremely inconvenient places while I was attempting to deal with my internet outage, and all of those will have to either be returned to where they live or relocated somewhere else. But I don’t need to hurry, or to stress. I don’t think the lack of energy is a reaction to the shot (it might be a reaction to the stress lifting, but I kind of doubt even that.) In any case, I’m here, with news and later with videos.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
The Hill – Missouri becomes ground zero for COVID-19 battle
Quote – Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) this week slammed the White House over its door-to-door vaccination campaign in underserved communities, which is part of the administration’s efforts to deal with outbreaks in hot spot areas…. Parson pushed back on the Biden administration’s door-to-door coronavirus vaccination strategy, arguing that it was not a “welcome strategy.”
Click through for the story. I’m not trying to throw shade. But I want Nameless to be well and stay well.
Law & Crime – Capitol Siege Defendant Who Allegedly Wanted to Hang Nancy Pelosi Claimed to Be in Court ‘By Special Divine Appearance’
Quote – “Bring them out,” Bauer allegedly said when recorded by body cam footage from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. “We want them out here…You bring them out or we’re coming in. Bring them out now. They’re criminals. They need to hang. Bring her out. Bring Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang that fucking bitch. Bring her out. We’re coming in if you don’t bring her out. What are you trying to protect a fucking Nazi. Is that what you’re protecting?”
Click through for bizarre details. Aother example of why self-representing is a bad idea.
Reuters – Billionaire Branson soars to space aboard Virgin Galactic flight
Quote – Reaching its high-altitude launch point at about 46,000 feet, the VSS Unity passenger rocket plane was released from the mothership and fell away as the crew ignited its rocket, sending it streaking straight upward at supersonic speed to the blackness of space some 53 miles (86 km) high. The spaceplane’s contrail was clearly visible from the ground as it soared through the upper atmosphere, to the cheers of the crowd below. At the apex of the climb with the rocket shut down, the crew then experienced a few minutes of microgravity, before the spaceplane shifted into re-entry mode, and began a gliding descent to a runway back at the spaceport. The entire flight lasted about an hour.
Click through for story. Science has more or less arbitrarily decided that the 50-mile mark is where being up in the sky officially becomes “space.” One could argue, but I’m pretty sure that 50 miles is substantially farther than any measurable atmosphere extends. In any cas, that was Sir Richard’s mark, and he slightly exceeded it, and was the first to do so. Hey, better him than Jeff Bezos (though I grant Bezos was gracious about it.)
Food for Thought
13 Responses to “Open Thread for July 12, 2021”
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Cartoon: Thankfully, Mr. Eisenhower got the job done looking ahead to the future.
The Hill: How sad. Yes, Nameless…take good, good care!!
Law & Crime: Uhh…I find her to be one scary lady. imho
Reuters: How exciting is this? Pretty exciting!!
FFT: Great Question – Yes, how come? lol
Thank you, Joanne for your post.
This just in: TJI “The Republican congressman Chip Roy says he wants to curtail governing for a year and a half, create ‘chaos,’ and make sure Congress can’t ‘get stuff done.’ Dems should believe him.” ~ Rachel Maddow
2. “Thank you! @Maddow for featuring our ad with @JakeAuch and 10 other members of Congress who are asking that we keep our promise to make sure Afghan interpreters are brought to safety. They were therefor us, we must be there for them.” ~ Vote Vets~
3. “Cable stations that intentionally report lies as the truth should not be allowed to call themselves news.” ~ Tucker Carlson ~
4. “Let’s roll the tape repeatedly on what Trump said – “I understand the tax code better than anybody.” ~SandyinPac ~
5. “Both Katie Porter AND Stacey Plaskett should be on the January 6th select committee. They’ll leave no stone unturned.” ~ Jake Lobin ~
Scary … but no lady.
TJI #1 – Everyone should believe him. It usually has not been out in the open like this, but that is what they have always done. Republicans run on the idea that gvernment doesn’t work, and, when elected, they do their best to prove it.
TJI #2 – Thatn ad is getting some traction. CNN ran it also. ttention is being called to this issue, and that’s a good thiing. If only more people knew how badly we failed on it and for how long.
TJI #3 – Seriously? HE said that? I literally laughed out loud (and then considered sobbing).
TJI #4 – It will mostly matter in court. But sure. Why not?
TJI #5 – Excellent suggestion.
‘Toon: “Infrastructure helped our slaves get away to the north! If you notice, every 5 miles of interstate has a one mile straightaway. this was part of Ike’s plan, so that aircraft could land near where needed, in case of an invasion.
TH: Missouri, the northernmost state of Dixie! Did they vote this gov’r in, or did he do the GQP thing and have himself installed? Well, maybe in Mo. that was not necessary.
L&C: My system has other news stories blocking the right half of the page, but I can see enough to realize that this is a case of “Stupid is as stupid does,” on steroids.
Reuters: Nice, on one hand, maybe not so nice, given how all that $ could have gone to help so many of those down below. So, these guys will be taking other silly rich people on other rides, for their $’s. Is there any benefit to science, or the culture, embedded in this? Or, is this just another case of “My yacht is bigger than your yacht?”
FFT: Because they are mindless fools? Hmmm…on second thought…yup, that’s it. And, here may be their defining stance: https://www.sheilakennedy.net/2021/07/the-animosity-coalition/
Sometimes (sadly not always,) “printing” a page to a PDF file or docx file will remove the offending overlap. It doesn’t take terribly long and is easily deletale later.
John Pavlovitz also caused me to think that an “I Voted” sticker is itself a kind of participation trophy. I can see the GQP opposing them because they have been proven to influence and increase participation somewhat (not as moch as GOTV efforts, perhaps.) I can’t see why anyone else would oppose them.
Your link is excellent. I fixed it so it opens in another tab or page and I encourage everyone to check it out. Even the comments are civil. Even the anti-abortion troll is civil about it, though a bit snide.
TJI#1: What, a McTurtle clone? Of course the Dems should believe him!
TJI#2: VV is 100% right!!
TJI#3: The genius of asshats like him is their capacity to shamelessly project their worst characteristics on others, to happily encompass, and display, the most venal aspects of being a failed human. Canada does not allow Faux News into their country; the attempt to slip into the U.K. failed because, by Faux’s own admission, the folks there were not gullible enough. “Failed human,” I like that; fits him to a “T.”
TJI#4: Yes, let’s even encourage him to self-represent!!!!
TJI#5: “Yeah, that’s the ticket”
Cartoon: Great. Hopefully we can upgrade it today.
The Hill: Why are these people being so hard headed? Not getting the vaccine, they’re making it unsafe for everyone they come in contact with. Shameful they are so heartless.
Law and Crime: Hopefully she’ll get what she deserves…. a lengthy sentencing.
Reuters: Did watch it yesterday. Amazing what man can do today. Have to agree with Mitch regarding the money spent and where it could of been used for.
Food for Thought: Mainly because they are so wrapped into his big fake words. Like he has a trance on them. Wish they’d wake up from it. and get with the current program to better our country.
Hope you’re still doing well regarding your second vaccine and that everything is going smoothly for you, (Internet/landline).
Take care. Thanks Joanne
Yes, Mitch and Colleen, you certainly have a point. But, on the other hand, it no one funded any exploration until everyone was fed and housed and had health care, there wouldn’t be any developments which are exciting. Concrete example, we would never have been on the moon And while that may not be very critical, many of the developments which came from the space program have inproved the lives of ordinary people, including people without much money. And, if you don’t remember from your own experience, all you have to do is watch Antiques roadshow fairly regularly to be reminded how inspiring it was for the nation, and even for the world. Plus, seeing some people break these barriers inspires and gives hope to many. So I am not going to be a grinch about it. And as I implied, at least Branson has been involved with aviation all his life, so he is a pro, and this is a natural development for him. There’s even a chance he pays his umployees living wages. None of that can be said for Bezos.
I hear you 100% Joanne. I’m proud of Branson and his accomplishments. The U.S. needs to continue advancing with space journeys and voyages to stay ahead of other countries, since tRump ignored it while he was in office.
As for Bezos, I still have problems with him avoiding paying taxes or his employees fair wages. Signed enough petitions, and will continue signing them, regarding his evil doings.
I’m sure your lack of energy is down to your COVID jab, Joanne, and I’m glad to hear it hasn’t gone beyond that. No allergic reactions, that’s good. Also good to hear that you won’t let yourself get stressed by getting your house back in order or getting the page up.
Cartoon: I bet all the big corporations whose profits depend on a good transport system aka roads never complained about Eisenhower’s plans and their realisation as long as they didn’t have to pay for it.
TH: Why doesn’t Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and his Republican friends come out with it and say they want COVID to “clean out” the hotspots first before the rest of the state is inoculated?
L&C: “I do not stand under the law. Under Genesis 1, God gave man dominion over the law.” How convenient when you want others to follow your laws: “Bring them out now. They’re criminals. They need to hang.” It looks like Pauline Bauer is trying to get off on an insanity bid. Perhaps she should be and instead be locked up in a very secure mental hospital for a long time because this lady is a danger to society.
Reuters: Now is not the time to have the rich kids play out their boy’s dreams, now is the time to save the planet and put their money towards that. Americans, nor anyone else, shouldn’t be inspired by leaving the planet but by ways of saving it from destruction for which we all are culpable on a daily basis. We should all want to do our bit.
FFT: That question nailed it.
the problem is, what’s left of the Green New Deal will have the largest carbon footprint of any domestic policy initiative since Ike built the interstates…just start with concrete (cement production emits 0.654 tons of CO2 per ton of cement, not including the needed thousand degree temps) and asphalt, which comes from tar sands…virtually everything else included has similar impacts…
Are you talking about traditional concrete? There are some new recipes – actually in use, not just theoretical – which dramatically reduce the carbon footprint Just one example.
I haven’t read anything like this about asphalt – but I also haven’t been looking – I’m speaking only as a generally informed consumer of news. I have read about various improvements to asphalt, just nothing specific about the crbon foot print. There are some developments regarding the way asphalt deals with sunlight, for instance.
i hadn’t seen the trick of capturing CO2 in concrete that you cite, Joanne, but i rather doubt that they’ll be using it for much of the infrastructure production coming out of the current bill..
concrete is made of various combinations of sand, gravel and cement…all the various types of cement have lime (CaO) as their basic material…that lime is produced by heating limestone (CaCO3) in a big kiln(often by burning coal) to produce lime and carbon dioxide (CaCO3 > CaO + CO2); while that CO2 could be captured, it’s expensive and no one does it unless they’re being subsidized…
the basic material for making asphalt is bitumen, also known as tar…bitumen is the thick goo that’s left over from oil refining…trouble is, oil from shale is so light (sometimes almost like gasoline) there’s little bitumen left over from refining it, so most bitumen now has to be mined from somewhere…we’ve got a few deposits, like in Utah, Kentucky, & California, but for any quantity we’d have to import from the tar sands of Canada or Venezuela..
The CO2 capture is new to me too, but apparently, the technique has been around for a few years and there are people using it. How many, and how pricey – yes, that’s a different story. And I was aware that asphalt is essentially tar, and I admit that so many gimmicks have been getting tried on asphalt of er thelast couple of decades that I wouldn’t have been able to follow them all even had I tried. Not all are designed to save carbon, but any changes they make have to have some kind of effect, good or bad. I live in Colorado Sptings and around 8-10 years or so ago they tested a mile of noise-reducing asphalt on I-25 near me. It was certainly pleasnanter to drive on, but how it stood up to our winters I have no idea. But other things are also being played with. Lightening the color for instance.
Carbon footprint is very important, but it’s also kind of important that people not die from driving over a bridge that collapses. I’m glad it isn’t I crunching the numbers.