Quick Update on dad- the bad news is he is cranky and in the hospital. The good news is he is cranky which means he is mentally fine, and they have not found anything after multiple tests and scans and whatnot, and he no longer has afib, but they are keeping him just to make sure.
Other than that, I have nothing. Joelle and I went to the community pool after work and had a nice swim. Only $1.25 to swim as long as you want!
I realized today that Trump has any easy out if Elon starts to become a pain in the dick. Just have Vivek use DOGE to cut all the Tesla and SpaceX subsidies. He’ll be gone in no time.
leeleeFL
Then, someone needs to punch Vivek in the junk?
Andrya
I like your last comment, but having a government contractor in a budget roll is a HUGE conflict of interest.
leeleeFL
First, really!?
WaterGirl
Cole, I didn’t intend to step on your post with the pet calendar post!
But I’m leaving it up anyway.
It’s a good chance to plug the calendar again. :-)
Starfish (she/her)
We went to the pool AND the ocean today. The ocean had turtles in it.
WaterGirl
@Starfish (she/her): Wow. Pool and the ocean. You are supposed to share.
satby
Glad to hear Dad Cole is better.
Leto
Glad to hear your dad is doing well.
Mrscoachb
Glad things are working out..Afib is weird..comes and goes..sometimes a big problem sometimes not. Hubby’s Dad had this but never severe enough for specific action. He’s had it way longer than we realized, but tomorrow he’s 86…comfortably on hospice until his time comes
raven
I had an afib episode right before I got diagnosed with MS. The shocked my heart back into rhythm and all is well on that front.
dmsilev
We got my dad home from the hospital on Saturday, and at too-fucking-early-o’clock Sunday morning, I got off the plane and headed to the house. He’s in a walker probably for the next month or so, but all things considered we’re lucky. He’s using the walker we bought several years back when my mom got hit by a car and cracked her pelvis. History repeats. Sigh.
Keith P.
Remember when Musk wore a bomber jacket on stage, and Vivek wore one at every campaign stop for a month after? He won’t touch Tesla subsidies.
Sandia Blanca
I like how you kept the maybe-typo from your Bluesky post about a “pin in the dick”!
Poe Larity
I hear gov’t orgs are freezing hires in anticipation of a hiring freeze.
Aziz, light!
NASA and DOD depend on SpaceX to launch crews and military satellites, so that funding won’t be touched. As for all those scientific missions to explore the solar system or study the environment, who cares?
Suzanne
I got about an hour and a half of time by myself, in my house this evening. Got to listen to music of my choosing (Jon Batiste) without TV.
Lord. Luxury.
Poe Larity
Two decades back, Marshall Brain, the creator of HowStuffWorks wrote a short story about a fictional future where AI and robots had devastated the middle class.
https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
It was pretty influential on the generation now delivering that dystopian dream. He (apparently) committed suicide earlier this month and it may turn out related to conflicts with his university.
Joy in FL
I’m glad your dad is feeling good and cranky.
mali muso
@Suzanne: Good choice! After he was the “musician of the month” in kiddo’s music class last year, she quickly got into his music and now names him as her favorite. Multi-talented guy to be sure. Did you see the Netflix doc that followed him and his wife during her cancer treatment?
Sure Lurkalot
@dmsilev: I can’t even with both of your parents being hit by cars. But sadly not surprising as pedestrians are way down the chain as to how much space and right of way we humans have ceded to automobiles.
I got sideswiped on my bicycle a couple of summers ago and the woman who hit me wasn’t even going to stop. The person behind her did and that was the only reason. She was extremely pissy when I told her that we were on a bike route street and maybe had she yielded for no more than 10 seconds like the guy behind her I wouldn’t have had to tell her to fuck off. Luckily, I just had some bruises and scrapes but I regret not calling the cops.
Good to hear your Dad is back home and rehabbing.
JoyceH
Just back from Italy and I test positive for COVID. First time. Feels like day one of a cold. Doctor gave me Paxlovid. Plus steroids and an inhaler for “as needed”.
Jackie
JC, glad to hear your dad is cranky! I assume that means he’s hopefully ornery enough to get sprung in time to be home for Turkey Day! 🤞🏻
Suzanne
@dmsilev: Damn. I’m glad he seems to be doing, uhhhhh, not “well” per se, but at least as best as can be expected.
Suzanne
@Sure Lurkalot: A couple of months ago, I was running, and I went to cross at a controlled intersection when I had a WALK sign. Good thing I was paying attention, because someone ran the light. I jumped back just in time to avoid getting hit, but slipped a bit (roads were wet from rain earlier) and I landed on my butt in the intersection. A couple who were nearby saw the whole thing and made sure I was okay, and they looked over, and said, “But you had a WALK sign!”.
Yeah, some people get behind the wheel and turn into idiots and rageaholics.
Sure Lurkalot
@Suzanne: WRT the Black Friday thread, Athleta is having a sale on leggings, even fleece lined. I’ve also had good luck finding decent quality ones at Nordstrom Rack and Sierra Trading Post.
Suzanne
@Sure Lurkalot: Oooooh, THX for the tip! Their leggings are nice.
dmsilev
@Suzanne: Pretty much. We’re still trying to adapt everything. Thankfully they installed grab bars in the tub in the master bath a couple of years ago, so we don’t have to do that in a real hurry. Other stuff is straightforward, foam cushions on chairs to elevate the seating level, moving some furniture around to clear space, rationalize his pill system (previous: ‘take one from the first column of bottles, one from the front of the fourth column, one from the back of the fourth column…’. It worked for him but is hell on mom or me trying to pick out the right pills), etc.
We’re managing.
narya
@Suzanne: I get a lot of stuff from Title 9, but no Black Friday deals…
Suzanne
@dmsilev: As SuzMom slowly regained mobility last year after her hip surgeries, we installed some grab bars at strategic locations, like stairs and raised thresholds. It’s a process. Good luck to him, and y’all.
Starfish
@mali muso: She has a memoir about her struggle with cancer. It is called Between Two Kingdoms.
Kristine
Good news about your dad, Cole. May it continue.
Another Scott
Glad pops and you are doing well. Hang in there.
Meanwhile, … Ivy Main at Virginia Mercury:
Dominion is a huge player in Virginia politics from their political donations. It’s hardly surprising that rate payers are – yet again – prospective victims of their antics to keep pushing renewables farther out into the future (residential and industrial-scale).
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
When we were kids, we were told to look both ways before crossing a street, funny how I don’t see white people of a certain age here in the city do that. Walk signs don’t mean shit. Sure, you might be “in the right” but what good is that when you’re dead or maimed? Better to be safe than morally superior.
I run, lots, in a major metro area. I make sure nobody’s coming for me. I don’t give a shit what their mental state is, that’s immaterial and a distractive statement from the point. As a long time motorcyclist, I simply assume they are out to kill me, nothing personal, that defensive mindset translates into being a pedestrian in a major metro area. So it’s up to *me* to look out for *me*. Not somebody else. That kind of thinking (it’s their responsibility to look out for me, not mine) is what entitled white people from suburbs bring to the city.
RevRick
Apropos of some preThanksgiving good news, two Democratic House candidates in California have taken leads over incumbent Republican Representatives. Since remaining ballots are Dem friendly, the odds are the next Congress will be 220R*-215D, a gain of two for Democrats. Meanwhile, Trump’s national lead continues to shrink. It’s now barely over 2.4 million votes, for a 1.55% plurality.
*Includes Gaetz and two Rs Trump has elevated to his administration. So, January 3 will be 217R – 215D
Fake Irishman
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
So it’s entitlement to expect not to be killed crossing the street?
(Traffic calming can help a lot, and has made a huge difference in many cities, even with the increase in dangerous driving during Covid. Got several pedestrian refuges and a lane reduction with protected bike lanes on the big street near my house two years ago. My six year old loves riding in the lanes to piano lessons, and now most drivers actually stop for pedestrians and cyclists crossing. Injuries and crashes are down, even accounting for the dumbass drivers who ocassionally hit the barriers.)
Fake Irishman
@RevRick:
Those two Florida seats are out of reach, but that NY one, if you squint just right…..
Jackie
@RevRick: THAT’S AWESOME NEWS!!!
And, maybe by the time TCFG is in office, voters will realize what’s going to happen to democracy and Dems will rally to WIN FL and NY open seats.
RevRick
@Fake Irishman: The only uncalled races are the two in California and one in Iowa. I’m not sure which ones you are referring to.
Fake Irishman
@RevRick:
I’m talking about the special elections to fill those three republican vacancies.
Fake Irishman
@Another Scott:
“Small nuclear reactors” LOL.
Or you could just build solar and batteries for a third of the price….
RevRick
@Jackie:
@Fake Irishman: Oh, Jackie clarified that you were talking about the GOP open seats. But they probably won’t be filled for several months until the special elections.
ETA: you beat me to it, F.I.
Martin
@Poe Larity: Francois Truffaut said ‘there is no such thing as an anti-war story’. No matter how hard you try to embed the message, someone will find the glory in the war side of things. As much as I like dystopian sci-fi, the message of ‘you should stop the oppressors’ gets internalized as ‘you should be the oppressor’.
I think we need to learn to tell stories that show the world we want to build, not the ones we want to avoid.
Martin
@Fake Irishman: It’s not even the price. The US (and some other leading industrialized nations) have largely lost the capacity to do large scale projects. Any kind of complex project has too many veto points – many in the financial sector, many in the legal. Even if nuclear were even cost with solar, the solar will be built because it’s easier to finance, easy to permit, harder to sue, etc. You can deploy it on the smallest of scales (a rooftop) if need be.
NotMax
@Starfish (she/her)
For whatever reason, they don’t seem to build natatoriums any more.
Martin
@NotMax: My city has two, my HOA has 17. I don’t think there’s a house that’s more than two blocks from a community pool, though a few are designated adult pools and designed for lap swimming.
NotMax
@Martin
Glean from your comment those are fresh water pools, not ocean water pools, which I was rather inexpertly hearkening back to, Ocean water pools were a sort of a big thing during the first half of the last century.
Jay
@NotMax:
Salt water is hard on everything. All the Vancouver pools that were salt water, are now fresh water. It was a good idea at the time if the pool was next to the sea, but stainless 316 isn’t cheap, zinc’s aren’t cheap, maintenance isn’t cheap and so far, nobody has figured out Roman Concrete, that just get’s stronger and better in salt water.
NotMax
@Jay
Line it with the same plastic used for soda bottles. That stuff will bob on the ocean for years.
;)
Martin
@NotMax: The 17 are all saline pools, not ocean water, so kind of splitting the difference. They’re pretty nice. One of the 17 is indoors, some are heated, two have sand beaches around them. Of the city pools both have heated/indoor/outdoor components. I suspect they’re chorine treated as they’re used for regional competitions – stuff like that (two 50m pools with spectator seating). Maybe they’re saline by now.
My understanding is that the ocean water pools had serious problems with maintenance over time due to trouble dealing with the alkalinity of sea water.
Martin
@Jay: Oh, we have figured out roman concrete. Needs volcanic ash or substitute of comparable chemical makeup and a very specific kind of manufacturing that includes lime clasts that can reseal cracks when water enters. Turns out the ‘these guys were pretty primitive in how they mix this stuff’ wound up being ‘oh, that non-homogeneous mixture is what makes it strong to water’.
We know how to make it, but not how to manufacture it. Not sure there’s an economic incentive to solve that either.
Jay
@NotMax:
It’s not just the liner of the pool, it’s the pumps, filters, pipes, sensors.
The Vancouver Aquatic Centre was the last salt water pool in Vancouver. $228 million quote to referb for salt water, $16 million for conversion to “tap” water, and then, the SA, downgraded race times in regards to Competitive Records as there is an advantage to swimmers in salt water vs fresh water.
Kit’s Pool, one of the most popular pools in Vancouver is on a short leash. Rising sea levels and storm damage. It will be gone in a few years. Was a salt water pool back in the 70’s.
Jay
@Martin:
Thanks. Now I have a wormhole to go down.
df
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: White people brought “expecting everyone to follow the law” from the suburbs? I don’t understand.
Martin
@Jay: I find the saline pools to be awfully nice – less irritating than sea water. Not as fun as having a sea otter come visit you, but pretty nice.
Martin
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: So, there is a growing community of pedestrians that are pushing the ordinances in an effort to maximally inconvenience motorists to make driving less convenient.
I’d describe it as ‘if drivers are going to drive increasingly irresponsibility toward pedestrians, etc., we’re going to make driving harder to do by forcing you to pay attention and sometimes scaring the shit out of you’.
YY_Sima Qian
Van Jackson on the nature, ideology, worldview & disposition of the forces that Trump has marshalled:
I believe Adam L. Silverman has in fact been describing the modern conservative movement as waging revolution, & has been using the tactics of revolutionaries to achieve their ends.
Martin
@YY_Sima Qian: Yeah. Not sure why our focus is so passive here.
NotMax
@Jay
Coastal towns at one time built outdoor pools right in the ocean, enclosed either wholly or partially by walls or jettys. Tide going in and out flushed and refreshed the water.
Jay
@NotMax:
They had that at 3rd Beach, back in the day. Lasted 15 years before the sea claimed it.
And there were several incidences where the tide just didn’t change the water in the pool.
.
TBone
Donold’s Emotional Support Printer Natalie Harp (she of the “Unified Reich” comment) has taken over Lara Loomer’s empty seat and will be using Gateway Pundit “news” to wave away any stench at the White House. She will not print anything resembling truth.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jack-smith-plans-to-release-report-before-donald-trump-is-sworn-in-cnn/ar-AA1uNB4k
Garland “expected” to publicly release reports. We’ll see.
Liminal Owl
@Martin: I’m not sure these quite fit your specs, but have you read NK. Jemisin’s The City We Became and The World We Make?
I’ll try to think of otherswhen I’m more awake.
NotMax
@Jay
No one can explain it.
:) //
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@NotMax: I think Cape Town South Africa may have a public pool like that. There is one right on the ocean and I saw ocean swells overtopping the wall that separates it from the ocean. It’s got a spectacular view and when we were there around Easter 2022 it was rather uncrowded. Couldn’t believe a pool that nice with that view that was open to the public wasn’t completely mobbed. Temps were pretty moderate though so other outdoor activities were very pleasant.
Jay
@NotMax:
Sharks and jelly fish, no one can explain it.
Geminid
Democrat Adam Gray has pulled ahead of Rep. John Duarte in the California 13th CD race. Sacramento TV station KCRA reports that returns from .erced and Stanislaus Counties have given Gray a 182 vote lead.
NotMax
@Jay
We have Shark Week but not Jellyfish Week.
Unfair to marine life.
:)
Martin
@Liminal Owl: Oh, there’s lots out there. Hell, ST:TNG fits the bill quite nicely.
It’s more an observation for authors and showrunners – there is no anticapitalist dystopian sci-fi. Some people will look at that outcome as inevitable and decide what side of the fight they want to be on. You’re basically writing the playbook. That’s literally all cryptocurrency is – someone read dystopian sci-fi and chose to implement it.
The creators of Decentralland are open about taking their inspiration from Snow Crash and Ready Player One. There are a LOT of smart people who are utterly blind to subtext. We just elected two of them.