Yesterday, it was fairly quiet again. I had actually waited until morning to change the clocks, which I did when I got up, and also managed to change the newest one, which also shows date and temperature, from Centigrade to Fahrenheit. Let’s just say that was not intuitive. I know, it’s less scientific, but it’s more meaningful to me, being what I grew up with. And, because the degrees are closer together, it feels more accurate to me, although less scientifically useful.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Liz Cheney Brands Tucker Carlson ‘Un-American’ In Fox News Interview
Quote – “You know, it’s the same kind of thing that you hear from people who say that 9/11 was an inside job,” the Republican lawmaker said. “It’s un-American to be spreading those kinds of lies and they are lies. And we have an obligation that goes beyond partisanship, an obligation that we share — Democrats and Republicans together — to make sure that we understand every single piece of the facts about what happened that day and to make sure the people who did are held accountable.”
Click through for a video and a little more text. I realize Cheney msy have a personal interest in 9/11 not being a false flag – because if it were, her dad was involved. But she still gets some points for recognizing and avoiding hypocrisy.
AP News – Culture war fight finds mixed success in school board races
Quote – But across the country, culture and identity fights were less decisive. The political tracking website Ballotpedia identified 96 school districts in more than a dozen states where race education and masking were part of the debate. It found that at least one anti-critical race theory or anti-mask candidate prevailed in 35 of the 86 districts in which it has determined winners, or 40%. “Where they won, they won in really high numbers,” said Doug Kronaizl, a staff writer for Ballotpedia, noting that candidates who won on the issue tended to be concentrated in the same districts. “But overall nationwide they didn’t win that much.”
Click through for specificities. This is hish on my worries list. County, municipal, and school board elections here are “non-partisan,” as I suspect they are in most states. That sounds good, but in practice it means you have no idea for whom you are voting, and no way to find out how they think. And school boards, cities, and counties are where cndidates for state and federal office come from.
GWN (Good Word News) – The longest partial lunar eclipse of the century is coming: date, how to look
Quote – According to NASA, a three-hour, 28-minute partial lunar eclipse will take place on November 18 and 19 and people around the world will only have to walk outside to get a glimpse. Night watchers on the U.S. east coast will be able to watch the event from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. ET, according to NASA. Those on the West Coast can watch the sky between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. PT.
Click through for a bit of background. Midnight till 2 is actually not too bad a time for me, so I may actually be able to see this one. And it shouldn’t require sunglasses.
Food for Thought –
15 Responses to “Open Thread for November 8, 2021”
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I remembered to ‘fall back’ the night before, so that worked well for me.
Cartoon: A wonderful day to remember how X-rays benefitted the doctors (and patients), and the world.
ugh! The R’s constantly lie for their benefit. I’m glad to see (and read) that Liz is taking her talking points to the people, and standing up and commenting like she is.
GWN: This is great news to read and know about. I’m sure I’ll get a chance to view it as I’m usually up those hours. Thank you for the ‘heads up’.
FFT: So, so sad.
TJI: “TJI 1. “Millionaire star quarterback lies about being vaccinated, gets Covid and now complains he’s a victim of the ‘woke mob.’” No, sir. You’re just an asshat. ~ George Takei ~
2. “Tonight, I proudly signed the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and sent it to @POTUS to be signed into law. This bill delivers a once-in-a-century investment in our infrastructure, creates good-paying jobs and takes a crucial step to #BuildBackBetter For The People. ~ Nancy Pelosi ~
3. “The build back better framework lowers your bills for health care, child care, prescription drugs, and preschool. And families get a tax cut.” ~ President Joe Biden ~
4. “The infrastructure bill delivers for Texas: — $26.9 billionfor highways — $3.3 billion for public transit — $2.9 billion for clean drinking water — $1.2 billion for airports — $537 million for bridges — $100 million for broadband. This is a major victory.” ~ Joaquin Castro ~
5. President Biden: “I feel confident. I feel confident that we will have enough votes to pass the the Build Back Better plan.” Reporter: What gives you that confidence? President Biden smiling… says one word, “Me.”
~ Yamiche Alcindor ~
TJI #1 – Mr. Sulu tells it like it is.
TJI #2,3,4 – Yup.
TJI #5 –
TJI #1 – Yep
TJI #2, 3, 4, 5 – THIS is what Democrats need to be messaging to voters.
Comment from Mitch –
Changes: If they work for you, go for them.’Toon: As a kid, when we would go to the Buster Brown shoe store, I would stand inside the X-Ray contraption that allowed one to see one’s foot
bones.
LC: While her father was, and probably still is, a dirtbag, whose lying cost this country, and others, many lives, she is standing up for what Lt. Colonel
Vindman used as the title of his memoirs: “Here, Right Matters.” I just finished Vindman’s book, maybe two hours ago, and he characterizes the closed
session legislative questioning that he underwent, as showing partisan, “open, mutual hostility of the members,” across the aisle, to one another. The Republicans had apparently decided to support Trump, at any cost. “They weren’t there, I realized, to hear and weigh testimony.”
AP: “Mixed success” is a good thing, but the foes of truth will not rest, because they see truth as the enemy, as Lt. Colonel Vindman found out.
GWN: I expect to sleep soundly through the whole thing, but like the idea that the eclipse may excite many people about the sky.
FFT: Exactly!!!!!!!!
MItch
I’ve wondered about thermostats in countries that use Centigrade. Are they calibrated by at least half-degrees? Otherwise there’s a big difference. I mean changing one degree Celsius is roughly a two-degree change in Fahrenheit.
Liz Cheney Brands Tucker Carlson ‘Un-American’ In Fox News Interview
AMEN!
Culture war fight finds mixed success in school board races
Somewhat encouraging. One of the main problems is that MSM luvs a train wreck. They’re more than happy to gin up a controversy.
The longest partial lunar eclipse of the century is coming
Good to know – I wasn’t aware of that.
1.6 degrees, to be exact, but still a big differece to those of us who are used to the smaller ones. I don’t know the answer, but I expect Lynn or Lona does.
Older thermostats have a gliding scale so you can try to be as accurate as possible, but modern remote controls of air-conditioners only have full Centigrades, as the cooling / heating is only to the approximation of a desired temperature, varying across the room you’re in.
Where it does count is on thermometers; all the modern ones have one decimal accuracy. Strangely enough, all the thermometers I remember from my youth had a Centigrade scale and a Fahrenheit scale on either side of the mercury container.
I can understand why you changed the temperature indicator from Celsius to Fahrenheit, Joanne. It is so tiresome to keep converting it in your head to something meaningful, isn’t it? I’m so glad Australia went metric years ago (The change to Metric measurement conversion was commenced in 1969, and was completed in 1988.) The change was felt most acutely for speedometers. For several years cars had to be equipped with two; one for miles/hour and the other kilometres/hour.
Cartoon: like so many medical discoveries, the scientist responsible for the discovery probably never realised, or was applauded for the many lives their discovery saved or changed for the better.
C&L: Liz is working hard to become the voice of reasonable Republicans. After typing this, I realise this is a contradiction in terms.
AP: Everything has become politicised in America; it’s gone completely overboard. I was flabbergasted to learn that people are expected to vote on school board members even when they have no kids attending the school. In other countries, only parents/caretakers of children attending a school can vote for a board and neither the vote nor the candidates have anything to do with politics.
GWN: The article said the eclipse can be seen in Australia, so I’ll have to look further for the time at which it is visible on the East Coast.
FFT: Too true!
I was brought up to believe that public schools were everyone’s business, because the quality of public schools determines in the long run the quality of the retail people you deal with, your doctor and his staff, tour dentist and his staff, your insurance agent – you mane it. That’s why it makes sense for me that everyone (at least every property owner, as schools are usually financed through property taxes) pays taxes to support public school. And if, as they said in 1776, “No taxation without representation,” why wouldn’t you expect to be able to vote for the school board? I’m perfectly happy for the election to be bipartisan, but I would like to know where candidates stand on hot button issues – and there always are some – just now I’d like to know where they stand on vaccination. In fact, that might be enough. Although “CRT,” even though non-existent at the public school level, is also a hot button just now. My future quality of life will be affected by that. And that is ignoring the additional fact that people who have been elected to school boards are likely to be looked at first when political parties look for candidates to municipal or state office. And those who have won municipal or state office will be looked at first when parties look for candidates for Congress..
Hi guys!
First, as to conversions from Celsius to Fahrenheit, it is C x 1.8 + 32. I do the quick and dirty 2 x C +30 which is an approximation. Of course the higher the temp, the greater the distortion. No matter where you are, -40 C = -40 F and is damn cold by anybody’s standards. Having lived up north where average winter temperature was -40 C and winter went from early September to late May, you really need good woolies!
A quick update — I had the staples removed today and got a brace for my arm/wrist. It is definitely going to take time to heal. The brace remains for at least 4 weeks and I have some exercises to do. 2of them are going to be difficult and tiring. I have already tried to do a few things like using my mouse and that is painful. Must go and put my hand in cold water for swelling.
I know I am grateful to you for keeping us up to date. Even if the news isn’t exactly jubilant, it’s good to know you are making progress. Thank you.
I don’t think Nameless was asking about doing the conversion, but about central heating. When you tell your thermostat how warm to make the house, can you tell it, for example, 21.5°? Or must you choose between 21° and 22°?
But Lona answered that, at least for Australia.
It was for Europe too, except for Great Britain, of course.
Hi Lynn,
Sorry to hear that you’re in so much pain. Hopefully with the staples out, your arm will start healing faster and the swelling will go down. You’ve been in my daily thoughts and prayers and it shall continue, Do take care.
Keep us posted.
Thanks Joanne and it was in your state that I first read about the Koch brothers putting money into school board elections about a decade ago…and one is among the funders of the CRT so-called parents.
Right. More information to file under “No shit, Sherlock.”