I shouls mention that this is the third day I have been able to keep food down. I don’t want to turn this into an aches and pains log – but then I shouldn’t have mentioned it in the first place. And it is getting better.
Meantime, I just wish I could do what this cat is doing
Happy New year, everyone.
Well, yesterday’s opera was a re-run – of a performance from 1952. It was selected because two – actually three, but the third is lesser known today – of the stars were born in 1923, so would, had they lived, been 100 this year. (Another of the stars, also lesser known today, died this year a month before her 99th birthday. ( No, the Met never throws anything out – and that’s a good thing IMO. Not that I don’t emulate it too slavishly myself.) Le Nozze de Figaro (usually translated “The Marriage of Figaro,” but “Figaro’s Wedding” would be more accurate) is exceptionally complex – certainly at least the first time one sees it one would benefit from a scorecard to keep track of who is seducing (or trying to seduce) whom. To me the highlight, at least for humor, is when this elderly lady is demanding Figaro marry her instead of Susanna because the terms of her lending him money included that he would marry her if he couldn’t pay. He gets out of it only because a birthmark proves she is his mother. That’s funny enough, but his fiancée, who has just raised the money, comes in just as he is hugging his mother, thinks the worst, and slaps him. The dialogue changes to “And this is my mother, she says so herself, she says so herself. And this is my father, he says so himself, he says so himself,” with just the right number of repeats to make it funnier and funnier. But there is plenty more to stimulate snickers and actual laughs. It’s all fun and games – unless you remember how much life and death power aristocrats actually had over their households – and even that kind of adds to the fun as the servants get the last laugh. Pierre Beaumarchais wrote three “Figaro” plays, and all three have been made into operas by different composers – I believe all more than once. But the two which have lived and the one which I hope will were all by different composers – first by Mozart with the second play, secondly by Rossini with the first play, and finally, the third by John Corigliano with the third play and his own touches (it’s weird – but it aputres the spirits of the Figaros and the Almavivas perfectly.
But enough of Count Almaviva. Let’s move to out own American Count, The Count. He has a timely message.
Well, I’m a bit better – I have some remedies on order and in the meantime hve cobbled together as best I could a recipe given to me by a former medical missionary who used to used it against dysentery in Africa. It’s not (nor is it intended to be) a miracle cure, but it’s helping. At that I may be lucky. Heather Cox Richardson’s latest column is about Wounded Knee today. Here’s one quote:
A dozen years ago, I wrote a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, and what I learned still keeps me up at night. But it is not December 29 that haunts me.
What haunts me is the night of December 28.
It is haunting. Those who most deserved to be haunted by it likely were impervious. Their descendants, and all Americans in Power, who are not impervious should be learning something from it (as some are and some aren’t.) Because
One of the curses of history is that we cannot go back and change the course leading to disasters, no matter how much we might wish to. The past has its own terrible inevitability.
But it is never too late to change the future.
Yesterday Maine did this in hope f changing the future (Lawrence interviewed the Maine Secretarty of State Las night on it)
Well, I did manage to get everything taken care of on the 21st, although it took till the 22nd before I was certain of it. And of course learned something in the process. I knew there were such things as FSAs, qhich are funded with contributions from the person who owns the account (and/or their eligible dependents) and must be used or lost each year. I knew there were such things as HSAs, which carry over from year to year, and I always thought that was what I had. Not so. An HSA, like an FSA, is funded by the person who owns it, and by their eligible dependents. What I have is an HRA, which is funded by a third party, such as a prior employer. The only circumstances under which I can put money into it are if I have accidently spent some of it on something that isn’t covered (or something that is covered, but I have lost the documentation for.) Why does it matter? Because HSA holders are required to fill out and sign documents giving yhe old provider permission to transfer their account to the new one. Since all the money in my account comes from USAA, USAA can take care of the authorization for me. What a relief.
Here are a couple of humorous videos. There’s no new information in either, they’re just for fun.
This was on the Late Show, so you may have seen it. I don’t care. Watch it again. (Sorry the CC isn’t better but the pictures help interpret it).
This one is from Parody Project. Good CC and high production values. And cannot come true too soon for me.
And here is a meme which is timely without being seasonal.
Well, I have the prescription transfers solved, and the current one that is needed paid for, and I should receive it by the 26th, so that’s a maximum of three days without it, and all I need to do is avoid overexertion for those days. The new HSA custodian is a different kettle of fish entirely. I have it figured out now at least. I’m not thrillled with what I need to do, but financially it’s a no-brainere. I’ll have it done by the end of the day.
This is a good news article. I realize – in fact I’m probably one of the bigger grinches on this subject – that nominating and running is not the same as winning. But without running, there can be no winning. (Oh, yeah, it’s substack.)
Jeff Merkley is the Senate sponsor of this bill, and that’s a pretty good indication it’s a very good one. I do however want to note that raising Congressional salaries might be necessary. Sure, I could live like an Empress (here in Colorado – maybe only like a princess in California or New York) on the lowest starting salaries. But I don’t have to pay a staff, nor two residences and the travel between them which is necessary to do the job well – keeping in touch with constituents. Realistic research needs to be done on the actual financial costs of serving in Congress. Maybe some things need not to come out of salary, but be reimbursable expenses – and maybe some already are – and that’s something I should already know, and I don’t. i expect it’s available – but it’s certainly not common knowledge.
Not that anyone who only learned about Judge Lutting through the Jan 6 Committee findings has much respect for Judge Lutting – but –
This is far from the most profound cartoon today – but it certainly is accurate (and funny).
I’m having issues getting my HSA moved to a new provider, and with it I’m having issues keeping my part D on track. I think the Part D is resolved now, but the HSA is going to require a phone call and they say the best times to call are Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. (The Part D required a phone call too, but I was able to make an online appointment with them to call me, which they did.)
I realize this article, with all the comments, is basically an echo chamber of random people who belong to Democratic Underground. But it’s an echo chamber I agree with on almost every point.
This article, on the other hand, is the product of informed analysis and should you happen to be talking to anyone who is rational could be very helpful.
Here is Beau with some reporting from Pro Publica. He says it will get picked up widely, and this is already starting.
God, how I miss real journalism! Yes, ProPublica does it, and they do it well, and I’m grateful to them for it. But I still miss being able to count on it – being able to read a newspaper for facts – or turn on the TV and see Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow and be confident the reporting had been researched and confirmed – and in the rare instance something did slip through, there would be retractions and apologies. Remember those days?
It’s a quiet weekend . but I wanted to share this ad – I may have mentioned it, but it wasn’t easy to find in a form I could embed it fully and without interruptionn – and without enriching Elon Musk (not that YouTube is much better, if at all, but at least they don’t interrupt embeds – yet)
This is from Mothers for Democracy, and it must have been hard to make, because it’s hard (at least for me) to watch. But it’s necessary to be this blunt. And it’s about time someone was.
Here’s a thought for the season (and I’m betting that everyone gets it) …
Yesterday, after posting here (including the update), I felt enough better to look up today’s radio opera – it’s “The Magic Flute” in the abridged English language version aimed at kids – and who doesn’t love that! There are five-year-olds out there getting kicks out of singing the Queen of the Night’s aria (and pretty durned well, most of them.) Sure, it’s sexist, but no worse than Disney, and it does have goodies, baddies, and figures of pure humor of both genders, which even Disney doesn’t consistently do.
I also listened to the full RBG CD. You know how CDs come with booklets with some backstories and with lyrics sometimes – this comes with two booklets – one of each, lyrics and backstories. The poems were selected to give a mixture of history, humor, and heart. I thought the funniest one was about Ruth’s son Jamie stealing the elevator at his prep school (yes, the same James who now owns the record label which put it out) and the most heartbreaking was Marty’s note to Ruth written in hospital shortly before his death. But I will not argue with anyone who thinks the pot roast recipe is the funniest (I’d surely love to taste that pot roast.)
Also, Robert Hubbell put out a second day of analysis. I know it’s not the same as getting my take, but at this point, he is paying attention and I’m not.
And Mary Trump posted and emailed this – I held it for a couple of hours but have found out it is a real story – it was carried at least by CNN and y’all may have heard it – but her viewpoint really is like no one else’s
I was thinking about looking for a cartoon … but so little happened on December 16 through history that “On This Day” was reduced to reporting that, on this date in 1997, Bill Clinton named his Labrador Retriever “Buddy.”
Here’s a Christmas vid for the animal lovers –