Nurses check on a patient in the COVID ICU at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, on Wednesday.
Photo: Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group via Getty Images
At present, there are two big anchors to conventional-wisdom thinking on the
Delta variant: that those already vaccinated remain exceedingly well protected against the new, more transmissible strain, and that those who aren’t remain
exceedingly vulnerable.
2/. You won't know this from the media, especially TV, but China's major cities including
Shanghai will get up to 32 inches
of rain from a typhoon this week....disaster coming....
Days after record-smashing rainfall brought suffering, misery, and death to Henan Province and the
city of Zhengzhou in central China, the region is now on alert once again from catastrophic rainfall.
Typhoon In-Fa has made landfall and has killed 56 so far.
Two hundred million people on China’s coast, including the heavily populated Shanghai, Hangzhou,
and Wenzhou, will face landslides, up to a mind-blowing 32 inches of rainfall, infrastructure failure,
and suffering on a massive scale. You likely won’t hear about it from the media, you know it’s only
the Chinese, and some of us have been programmed to hate them, but you can read about this looming
typhoon here until the media comes around to report about it finally.
3/. Probably the finest rendition of "Stairway To Heaven" ever done....."Heart" with a full
orchestra, in front of the surviving Led Zeppelin band and then President
Obama with Jason Bonham [John Bonham's son] on drums.....a wow....
4/. Andrew Sullivan on the ethnic cleansing of the Uyghurs in China....and why we can't do anything about it....
There’s a story in a recent Atlantic memoir by a Uyghur refugee that lingers in the mind. The Chinese authorities in Xinjiang Province now regard the possession of any
religious literature, including the Koran, as prima facie evidence of terroristic activities.
Terrified Uyghurs in Urumqi, the regional capital, have learned these past few years to
quickly dispose of any such items — some throwing out books into the streets overnight
so they could not be traced to their households.
5/. This is a frightening article from HuffPo.....about anti-vaxxers and QAnon believers.
Although nobody knows for sure, there may be up to 15% of the country that have been
sucked into the black hole of QAnon conspiracy theories. I believe it, because I recently
learned some acquaintances I have known for years are indoctrinated, and there are a few
others in our small town that are blatant about it....
For Lucy, a 59-year-old metastatic breast cancer patient from Washington state, getting vaccinated against COVID-19 was a matter of life and death. After undergoing aggressive chemotherapy for months, the coronavirus almost certainly would have killed her. Yet as relief washed over her upon receiving her final Pfizer dose in March, she knew she’d have to keep it to herself. Her husband had begged her not to get the shot.
6/. And on the same lines, this is the political cost of the alternate reality that is "right wing
world"....love the title....
The idea that the right can be motivated by driving a wedge between them and scientific or medical
experts isn’t new. See George Wallace sneering about “pointy-head college professors” or Richard
Nixon calling Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau “a pompous egghead” or Spiro Agnew making
more than one reference to “an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as
ntellectuals.” There is an unbroken bridge from the John Birch Society shouting about fluoride in the water as a Communist plot to QAnon supporters looking for the tunnels connecting pizza parlors and
7/. At this point you need some comedy, so watch "Meet Your Second Wife" again, one of
SNL's funniest skits, with
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.....five great minutes....
8/. The next two stories need to be read in sequence.....
The Guardian article is fact - starting this week, July 26th another "heat dome" will bring
punishing heat to most of the country....
The next one [Umair] is speculation based on the events that have been alarming us about
the climate for a long time, which now seem to be coming to fruition....
Get depressed folks....
The most extensive heatwave of a scorching summer is set to descend upon much of America in the coming week, further roasting areas already gripped by severe drought, plunging reservoirs and wildfires.
9/. Umair with [believe it or not] a fairly restrained column....same theme...
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the world is on fire. That’s a symptom
of a grim trend. We’re losing the battle for the future. Is there going to be
much of a future? What will it look like? Let me give you a few visceral
examples of how we’re losing the battle for the future, and then we’ll
discuss those questions a little bit https://eand.co/were-losing-the-battle-for-the-future-241b0b8c47a6
10/. There are a number of possible prizes for this video, "Around The World" from
Daft Punk...
Strangest video? Most boring song? Weirdest costumes?
However.......you won't be able to forget it....
11/. Michael Wolff has just written a best selling book about Trump, but this is a column
from the Times where he says
he absolutely knows Trump will run in 2024....
To write three books in four years about Donald Trump has been an
immersion into his obsessions and fixations. This is why I know the
obvious: Donald Trump will run for president again.
12/. CNN's Elle Reeve went to Arkansas to interview a nurse who is vilified by her
community for trying to get people vaccinated, and also
talks to some hard core anti vaxxers....
Watching this reminds me of the old phrase "you can't fix stupid"....
13/. A pretty good summary of where we are with climate warming, and the only way to
defeat the forces pushing back.....people action.
The author [Peter Mazza] is right, but we live in a country where 50% are Trumpies who
by the way have all the guns, so good thought, but it ain't gonna happen....
When you’ve spent nearly 25 years largely focused on efforts to prevent climate
catastrophe, and a heat dome parks itself over your head generating the
is grief. I’m feeling it, as are many of us.
14/. Don't be paranoid about your food expiration dates.....as this good article from
Vox says trust your nose and
eyes to judge whether or not to toss food....
Maybe you know the routine. Every so often, I go through my refrigerator, check
labels on the items, and throw out anything that’s a month, or a week, or maybe a
few days past the date on the label. I might stop to sniff, but for my whole adult life,
I’ve figured that the problem was obvious — my jam or almond milk or package of
shredded Italian cheese blend had “expired” — and the fix was simple: Into the
garbage it goes.
Groaner time.....best if you sing the second line....
Today's video - magician Shin Lim with a tribute to the Paris bomb attacks, with playing cards - he is rated the #1 sleight of hand
magician in the world.....a truly amazing four minutes....
Today's Irish joke.....
Paddy has broken his leg and his buddy Mick comes over to see him.
Mick says, "How you doin?"
"Paddy says, "Okay, but do me a favor mate, run upstairs and get me slippers, me feet are freezing."
Mick goes upstairs and sees Paddy's gorgeous 19-year-old twin daughters lying naked on the bed.
He says, "Your dad sent me up here to have sex with the both of you."
They say, "Get away with ya.... Dad would never say that...Prove it."
Mick shouts downstairs, "Paddy, both of em?"
Paddy shouts back, "Of course both of em, what's the point of just fu*kin one?"
Today's blonde jokes
A robber comes into the store & steals a TV. A blonde runs after him and says, "Wait, you forgot the remote!"
There was a blonde who just got sick and tired of all the blonde jokes. One evening, she went home and memorized all the state capitals.
Back in the office the next day, some guy started telling a dumb blonde joke.
She interrupted him with a shrill announcement, "I've had it up to here with these blonde jokes. I want you to know that this blonde went home last night and did something probably none of you could do. I memorized all the state capitals."
One of the guys, of course, said, "I don't believe you. What is the capital of Nevada?"
"N," she answered.
A guy was driving in a car with a blonde.
He told her to stick her head out the window and see if the blinker worked.
She stuck her head out and said, "Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes..."
A blonde, wanting to earn some money, decided to hire herself out as a handyman-type and started canvassing a wealthy neighborhood.
She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any jobs for her to do.
"Well, you can paint my porch. How much will you charge?"
The blonde said, "How about 50 dollars?"
The man agreed and told her that the paint and ladders that she might need were in the garage.
The man's wife, inside the house, heard the conversation and said to her husband, "Does she realize that the porch goes all the way around the house?"
The man replied, "She should. She was standing on the porch."
A short time later, the blonde came to the door to collect her money.
"You're finished already?" he asked.
"Yes," the blonde answered, "and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats.
"Impressed, the man reached in his pocket for the $50.
"And by the way," the blonde added, "that's not a Porch, it's a Ferrari."
A blind guy on a bar stool shouts to the bartender, "Wanna hear a blonde joke?"
In a hushed voice, the guy next to him says, “Before you tell that joke, you should know something. Our bartender is blonde, the bouncer is blonde. I’m a six foot tall, 200 lb black belt. The guy sitting next to me is six foot two, weighs 225, and he’s a rugby player. The fella to your right is six foot five, pushing 300, and he’s a wrestler. Each one of us is blonde. Think about it, Mister. Do you still wanna tell that joke?"
The blind guy says, “Nah, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times."
Today's Scottish joke
A young Scottish lad and lass were sitting on a low stone wall, holding hands, gazing out over the loch.
For several minutes they sat silently. Then finally the girl looked at the boy and said, "A penny for your thoughts, Angus."
"Well, uh, I was thinkin'... perhaps it's aboot time for a wee kiss."
The girl blushed, then leaned over and kissed him lightly
on the cheek.
Then he blushed. The two turned once again to gaze out over the loch.
Minutes passed and the girl spoke again. "Another penny
for your thoughts, Angus?"
"Well, uh, I was thinkin' perhaps it's noo aboot time for a wee cuddle."
The girl blushed, then leaned over and cuddled him for a
few seconds.
Then he blushed, and the two turned once again to gaze
out over the loch. After a while, she again said, "Another
penny for your thoughts, Angus."
"Well, uh, I was thinkin' ... perhaps it's aboot time you let me put my hand on your leg."
The girl blushed, then took his hand and put it on her knee. Then he blushed.
Then the two turned once again to gaze out over the loch
before the girl spoke again. "Another penny for your thoughts, Angus."
The young man glanced down with a furrowed brow. "Well, noo," he said, "my thoughts are a wee bit more serious this time."
"Really?" said the lass in a whisper, filled with anticipation.
"Aye," said the lad, nodding.
The girl looked away in shyness, began to blush, and bit
her lip in anticipation of the ultimate request.
Then he said, "Dae ye no' think it's aboot time ye paid me the first three pennies?"
