Praise the Capital Police, Please

If there is a best place to display an effective, non-violent state response to an armed mob, then it’s the People’s House. I can’t think of a better place for this type of policing to happen. It actually makes me think there is hope for this country. The most powerful symbol of our democracy didn’t succumb to the use of violence to protect itself, and instead chose non-violence and patience. The state chose life over things. It gives me chills. I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime.

December 18, 2020

December 18, 2020

After taking the new dog to get spayed I made an empathy joke about what I felt like when I had my lady parts removed. Megan looked at me suspiciously and Henry, being very serious, told me that I never had lady parts.

To both I replied that at least Henry should have understood that I was joking, as he’s one of only four people on earth who gets my jokes.

Henry replied, ‘Aaaaaaaand who are the other three?’

Megan says, ‘oh, burn.’

And they laughed and laughed and laughed. Together. At me.

Megan almost never gets my jokes. Suddenly I’m realizing she’s been laughing at me not with me this whole time. Yay! My marriage is based on laughter!

The America’s Cup is being run in New Zealand this year. There are a series of preliminary races, one of which ran today. During one race one of the 75 foot sail boats achieved 49 knots of speed in 12 knots of wind.

They’re sailing more than four times faster than the wind. I still can’t figure out how.

If they reach top speed, which is just theoretical at this point, and two boats approach each other head on they will have closing speeds of well over 100 miles per hour. 

Our Governor laid out some guidelines to encourage school districts to reopen where the pandemic counts are low. In our area we have a substantial number of people who refused to mask or took ill advised risks, so it won’t be soon for us. But, I’ll be ready, as I’m sure the kids will be, too, for that school bell to ring.

I really thought I wanted to homeschool the kids until I had to homeschool the kids.

We keep hearing the phrase, ‘back to normal’, and I find myself wondering why we would want to go back to normal when normal is what got us to this abnormal.

Speaking of jokes, my friend asks ‘how many conservatives does it take to sell off the National Forests?’ The punchline is in the question.

That was part of the national GOP platform for a number of years, btw. Along with ending public education, and a host of other public services, privatizing the National Forests is still a major goal of the forces funding and informing the Republican Party. 

I’m not going to pretend that Biden and the current (same old) crop of neoliberal privatizers is much better, but they are a little better if you want to be able to go camping sometime in the future, anyhow.

I remember when the federal government started charging just to get into the forests—another issue GOPs and neoliberals agree upon. Going to the forest used to be free, but now It costs twenty bucks just to go to the Grande Canyon. I feel for the poor kids whose parents can’t take them to see the Grande Canyon or really any forest, anymore. 

The Grande Canyon is one of those places that should be beyond the market, however sacred the market may seem to our ideological market believer brothers and sisters.

https://youtu.be/zSt1Dj9tPRc

Eating to Virus

“Without preventative strategies, pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, kill more people, and affect the global economy with more devastating impact than ever before” — IPBES WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY AND PANDEMICS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, pg. 5.

“The underlying causes of pandemics are the same global environmental changes that drive biodiversity loss and climate change. These include land-use change, agricultural expansion and intensification, and wildlife trade and consumption.” — ibid 5.

“The majority (70%) of emerging diseases(e.g. Ebola, Zika, Nipah encephalitis), and almost all known pandemics (e.g. influenza, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19), are zoonoses – i.e. are caused by microbes of animal origin. These microbes ‘spill over’ due to contact among wildlife, livestock, and people.” Ibid 5.

     

On Ageing in Face

My children wanted to name a stuffy that had lost an eye, One Eyed Willy. 

My daughter, 6, beat me in chess. That’s not a difficult task for any half competent player, but six?

My son, 10, is much quicker than I am at assessing the worth or not of cards he’s drawn from the pile. He scoffs, and huffs, and laughs at me as I scratch my head and calculate.

So I’ve started cheating on the little buggers. Age and treachery beat youth and speed, for now.

I’m in a foul mood

I hate chickens.

We only know about the failed chameleons.

When I Pee -- A Poem

When I Pee

When I Pee
I sit down
It is a sacrifice I make for the females in my home

I can't always sit down
Convenience, you know
And pride, of course.

When I stand up
I very precisely hit the edge of the bowl where the water meets the porcelain
and the stream slips in just at the edge
so there is almost no sound

I pee elegantly

Not like one of those men who crush the water
and the house rumbles

My son rumbles.

In the morning he clomps into the hall
rubs his eyes awake
slams the bathroom door
and rumbles.

I told him to sit down or clean the toilet.
He does neither

Me civilized admonishes him
Me hooting primate, though, HOOT HOOT!
Fire up that testosterone and rumble while you can son.

Rumble while you can.

Gadsden Banana

I dreamt I wore a huge banana costume to a protest and carried this flag. The interview I gave to the reporter was very serious. I made sure to spell out B a n a n a   P e e l.