This

Sad. Vaccines work. Politics should not be put before science.

Republicans' excess death rate spiked after COVID-19 vaccines arrived, a study says

The other day

I commented to my friend that his dog comes around on my right and sits for her food when I feed her, so I put it down on her left. He said of course, per etiquette you always serve from the left, so he taught the dog to do it.

Is this really the way to go, Houston?

HISD to eliminate librarians and convert libraries into disciplinary centers at NES schools

"I just couldn't imagine that it could happen so quickly. I don't understand why this current administration doesn't see the value of libraries and what they do for literacy and reading," Hall said. "Libraries are much more than just books. It's about helping match the reader to the right book at the right time. By talking to the student, you can find a direction to meet their needs."

Former library spaces at some schools will be converted into rooms where students who misbehave will be relocated to watch lessons virtually, work alone, or in groups with differentiated lessons. Books will remain on shelves and students will still be able to borrow books on a honor code system.

Fascinating

Largest Family Tree Constructed From Ancient DNA Reveals Neolithic Society Was Monogamous

Despicable

This young man died in June 2022 of severe heatstroke, while his supervisor insisted it must be drugs and asked for a drug test when medics arrived. His family, of course, was devastated. A recent bill was passed in Texas and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott that nullifies any ordinances that require companies to allow a water break every four hours. Let that sink in. San Antonio did not have such an ordinance at the time of his death but was considering it when the bill was passed. He died in temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit with at least 75% humidity. His internal body temperature was 109.8 degrees F. He was only 24 and had just started working there. I am so sorry for his family, as well as Joshua Espinoza, his friend who tried to save his life. I'm sure it's been hell. I hope the company and any others who deny such basic requirements are sued till they are bankrupt.

RIP Gabriel Infante

Texas worker accused of being on drugs was actually dying of heatstroke

I am a bit frustrated

I sent the following e-mail to Dexcom regarding my latest problem with their G7 continuous glucose monitor system that I have been trying to use for three months now. I'd already put a service ticket in; this was supplemental.  Let me preface that each time they have sent me a replacement sensor at no cost, and their customer service has been excellent over the years.  Maybe it's my skin. I don't know.  But I hope they can solve my problem.

I just wanted to let you know this seems to have been an actual sensor failure. It was inserted, paired, warmed up, and was stuck well on my skin, but it failed after two readings, about 15 minutes after the warmup was complete.  However, I did notice when I took it off that I'd apparently hit a capillary or something, as there was quite a bit of blood under the sensor.  This has happened one other time (it actually fountained through the little hole, but that one remained working). This is, I believe, the fifth sensor I have had to contact you about.  I'm having difficulty keeping them on even with the over-patches (and larger third-party bandage over-patches on top of that, even).  I use a skin-tac pad prior to inserting and keep the liquid form with me in case the over-patch begins to peel. I am showering less so I don't have issues. I have just joined the YMCA because of the warm water/therapy pool but have been afraid to get in it because these things refuse to stay on my skin. This has all been within my first three-month supply. I have tried four different types of over-patches in addition to just your own.  I initially had trouble with the G6 but nothing like this.  Is there anything else I can do? I have read all the FAQs and watched numerous Dexcom and YouTube videos. I'm really frustrated. I have had exactly one do what it is supposed to do as far as sticking/working.  I like the G7. I like the arm (although I did better on insertion by looking online for pictures of people my size wearing it; the diagrams are a little misleading if you have any flabby skin).  I like the shorter warmup and the grace period, and I believe the readings are more accurate.  But every time I change my sensor it's very frustrating. Most of the ones which have fallen off have done so within a couple of hours.  One made it to the next day and had to have the skin-tac liquid applied.  As I said, only one did well, and that was with a third-party over-patch. I am using my left arm, which is not dominant. The one time I tried the other it fell off immediately. I cannot begin to tell you how much frustration and anxiety this is producing.  I just want it to work. This one really looked like it was going to stay on well and then within a few minutes gave up the ghost. Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Elisabeth Eilir Rowan

 

So sad

If I had finished my history graduate studies (I couldn't due to crippling anxiety for the thesis/dissertation defences), this is what I would have wanted to be when I grew up, a codicologist. I'm so sorry to hear of her death. The mediaevalist world has lost a bright light who brought her enthusiasm for mediaeval manuscripts and increasing access through digital projects to many both in and out of the field.

https://www.medievalists.net/2023/07/johanna-green-passes-away

This is a great video for one of my favourite songs from my favourite Linkin Park album

It's 'Burning in the Skies' from A Thousand Suns. RIP Chester Bennington. It's hard to believe it's been six years since you died.

This is disturbing

Nebraska study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers: Exposure to Particles from Baby Food Containers Kills up to 75% of CUltured Kidney Cells

Experiments have shown that microwaving plastic baby food containers available on the shelves of U.S. stores can release huge numbers of plastic particles — in some cases, more than 2 billion nanoplastics and 4 million microplastics for every square centimeter of container.

Though the health effects of consuming micro- and nanoplastics remain unclear, the Nebraska team further found that three-quarters of cultured embryonic kidney cells had died after two days of being introduced to those same particles. A 2022 report from the World Health Organization recommended limiting exposure to such particles.

A good article

How Jimmy Carter has changed the conversation around hospice

Ever wonder what I'm talking about when I say 'I'm looking forward to the game this weekend'?

(Head's up, it's not football or any other sport). Here's an overview of how to set up a character in Call of Cthulhu and a little bit about the game itself.  I've been playing one continuous campaign for 32 years now (okay, we have a little extra umph in our concept rather than just ordinary people with guns who die or go mad quickly). I've enjoyed that immensely. This game really gave me a good sense of interacting with other people and having fun all at the same time. And this video is well done.

Look what I did on July 4th

This is why I didn't post on July 4th. I was quite busy.  It took me 12 hours to put the stands together, put the plants on them, water the plants, and sweep the room/clean up. I now have things ready to go out to storage, some shelves the plants had been on, four folding ones that had been face-to-face in the windows. I had to move things around later in the week, including a weird placement for the secondary nightstand, in order to get good sun to the plants. We haven't really had a nice sunny day till today to judge the light, but it definitely needed to be done. Oh, and since these were taken, I turned the boom box around to face the majority of the room.  Otherwise, the last pictures represent the current configuration.. Here it is in pictures:

As advertised:

Unassembled:

Put together:

Placed in windows:

Final placement:

So breathtaking and sombre at the same time

People Are Being Brought to Tears by 13-Year-Old’s Rendition of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”

The talented youth, named Cormac Thompson, released a video of himself singing the iconic piece to help raise money for a charity called Acting for Others, which provides financial and emotional support to theater workers in need. In the video, we see the British chorister vocalizing into a microphone, his melodic voice gliding into high notes with ease as a gentle piano accompanies the lyrics. Interspersed in the short film are haunting clips of coffins, solitary figures, and scenes of medical staff, all of which allude to the traumas brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tiring day "off"

I'm tired. I had a one-hour telehealth appointment (my doctor was really happy about my joining the Y and only suggested trying to eat meals rather than small amounts throughout the day) this morning and then I went to the second doctor's appointment this afternoon, and while the good news is we don't think it's congestive heart failure causing the swelling, so no echocardiogram or anything like that, the simplest and most likely culprit is my diclofenac--an NSAID that is time-released once-a-day, and which has been really good for my arthritis. So I have to stop taking that out and try to flush it out of my system. I accidentally forgot to take my meds yesterday (I didn't realise till I went to take this morning's and it was actually the Sunday pill reminder that was still full. Sigh. Anyway, there's no good alternative for what else I can take. Arthritis Tylenol (acetaminophen) has too much for my liver and we have to watch the NSAIDs for my kidneys. I finally got some regular-strength acetaminophen to take judiciously, as recommended by my liver provider. Diclofenac has been so good at dealing with my arthritis pain, although I've noticed less efficacy lately. Oh, well, it was good while it lasted.

I also got my insulin and Jardiance from the pharmacy, and I've taken those. My blood sugar went up to 350 last night as I'd run out of it and had forgotten to call it in. Lastly, I picked up a book from the library, a Pulitzer winner by Wesley Lowery calledÁmerican Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress.

Now I'm pooped. I've got a load in the wash, but otherwise, I'm going to rest while my roommate's on Zoom and then work on the Sunday chores I never got finished (or even started) yesterday. I also need to take some things out of my room to the car in order to go to storage and a fan that has given up the ghost to be disposed of.

I want to be a librarian like this when I grow up

The Unknown Librarian Who Saved Queer History: You probably don’t know the name Paul Fasana. But the librarian was instrumental in preserving hundreds of thousands of artifacts of queer history

A working-class gay man and first-gen college student, Fasana came out in the late 1950s, while getting a master’s of library science at UC-Berkeley (where he later established a scholarship for queer students). After rising through the ranks at the New York Public Library, he moved to Florida in the mid-’90s and began the herculean task of organizing SNMAL’s holdings. Since 1972, SNMAL has been a crucial safeguard of queer history—particularly queer Southern history—but like all independent queer archives, its fragile existence has long depended on volunteers like Fasana, passionate pencil pushers who perform the inglorious yet absolutely necessary day-to-day work.

By the time Fasana came on board, SNMAL’s holdings had grown precipitously, particularly as it rescued vast collections from men dying in the first wave of the AIDS crisis. Out of a jumble spread across three different warehouses, Fasana knit the collections together into one usable archive—an archive that has been powering queer scholarship and community in southern Florida and across the country ever since. Today, in honor of Fasana and his partner, Robert Graham, SNMAL’s collection is known as the Fasana/Graham Archive.

SNMAL is the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library in Florida, not connected to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, but it's 50 years old (founded in 1972). For more on them, see their about page.

This is...beyond terrible

Never mind that it's one apple slice but labelled 'slices': it's a terrible way to pollute the Earth's oceans.

McDonald’s sparks outrage with new ‘The Little Mermaid’ food packaging: ‘Surprised nobody has sued them’

The original post: "One apple slice in this plastic baggie, advertising a movie about the ocean..."

--sjdjenen

These apple slice packs are standard in Happy Meals. McDonald’s sells 4.1 million Happy Meals a day. Imagine 4.1 million of these wrappers in a pile.”

--Outside_the_Walls

I love this poem

 When she was a little girl 

    they told her she was beautiful 

but it had no meaning

  in her world of bicycles

        and pigtails

and adventures in make-believe. 

Later, she hoped she was beautiful 

   as boys started taking notice 

of her friends

  and phones rang for

              Saturday night dates.

She felt beautiful on her wedding day,

     hopeful with her

   new life partner by her side 

but, later, 

    when her children called 

          her beautiful,

she was often exhausted, 

     her hair messily tied back,

no make up,

    wide in the waist

        where it used to be narrow;

she just couldn't take it in.

Over the years, as she tried,

    in fits and starts,

       to look beautiful, 

   she found other things 

to take priority, 

    like bills

         and meals,

  as she and her life partner 

            worked hard

                  to make a family,

    to make ends meet,

        to make children into adults,

            to make a life.

Now, 

    she sat.

 Alone.

Her children grown, 

     her partner flown,

and she couldn't remember 

    the last time

       she was called beautiful. 

But she was.

It was in every line on her face,

   in the strength of her arthritic hands,

 the ampleness that had

      a million hugs imprinted

         on its very skin,

  and in the jiggly thighs and

                 thickened ankles

        that had run her race for her.

She had lived her life with a loving

   and generous heart, 

         had wrapped her arms

      around so many to 

            to give them comfort and peace.

  Her ears had 

             heard both terrible news

      and lovely songs,

and her eyes

      had brimmed with,

  oh, so many tears,

       they were now bright

           even as they dimmed.

She had lived and she was.

   And because she was, 

        she was made beautiful. 

~ Suzanne Reynolds, © 2019

Finally, flying cars! Cue the theme for 'The Jetsons"!

Well you've got to start somewhere... Even at $300,000 a pop.

World's first fully electric flying car approved by FAA; company now accepting preorders

This is a very neat programme

California library uses robots to help kids with autism learn and connect with the world around them

About one in 36 children in the United States is on the autism spectrum, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the Santa Ana Public Library is one of the first libraries to provide the pricey program for free. The initiative has been spearheaded by head librarian Cheryl Eberly, who said that she launched the program during the pandemic and hopes to fill gaps of services for children of color, who are often not diagnosed with autism until they're older.

"Every time I see a kid on the spectrum or a neurodivergent kid lock in and interact with the robot and get that moment where they are bonded and they understand, it's amazing," Eberly said. "It's like validation that this works."

They are not equipped to live in the wild

The heartbreaking reason why you should never release doves at your wedding: ‘So cruel’

King pigeons, homing pigeons and ring-necked doves have no survival skills out in the wild, according to Palomacy. Thus, they will likely suffer and eventually die.

“The ‘dove release’ business perpetuates the idea that white birds can be ‘set free’ and they will just fly away and live happily ever after. Even under the best of circumstances, trained ‘wedding doves’ are hurt, lost and killed trying to get home,” the group’s website states.

“Never buy and release birds for weddings, funerals, prayers, blessings, as a ‘kind act’ or other ceremonies. White doves and other birds (like King Pigeons) sold to you have no survival skills and will suffer and die, bringing neither joy nor honor to any occasion. Releasing store-bought birds is both cruel and illegal.”

Worth a watch, I think

Eldorado is one of those documentaries that gives texture and context, faces and voices, to a well-chronicled period and set of circumstances. It does so with style, sensitivity, and a respect for the history it examines. Here we experience the decadence that thrived before the fall, at a hideaway for those whose differences would soon mark them for prison, exile, or, in many cases, death (it is estimated that between 5,000 and 15,000 gay people died in the concentration camps for violating Paragraph 175). We can’t change what hate looked like then. But it remains essential to take note and try to stop its encroachment now.

Netflix Exposes the Secret Gay History of Nazi Germany

So sad...grad student shot in Mexico for being in the wrong place at the wrong time

When I first entered college in 1984, my plans were to study social impacts on the environment and was majoring in biology heading towards a specialisation in oecology, as well as sociology as a second major. I never would have dreamed it was dangerous at all. My heart goes out to the family of this graduate student, Gabriel Trujillo. He sought to make the world better by finding a way to bring back the buttonbush to its native environment. Such an innocuous but important endeavour, and he died being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

U.S. Grad Student Brutally Killed on Mexican Field Trip: Gabriel Trujillo’s father says his 31-year-old son was shot seven times.

[PS While I kept the sociology major and paired it with history instead of biology, the change was because during Animal Biology my teacher chloroformed a lab rat in front of me...and dissected it right then. I was sick and dizzy. I love animals. This seemed so cruel. I got out of biology the next semester, although I loved it otherwise. I cannot abide that sort of indifference to animals.]

First workout in awhile

So I joined the YMCA again. This is my first workout since joining (since we had our for for a week). Did 10 minutes on the Nu-Step (reclining elliptical). I made it 10 minutes, but hey, baby steps. Since I'm so out of condition I don't want to do too much too quickly. But I got my heart rate up some and got sweaty, so I guess I did okay. My right knee hurt during it, so I lowered the load a bit, but it feels better now that I'm sitting and hydrating. Trying to decide if I want to do anything with the warm pool today or wait. The weather has closed the aquatic centre outside, so I'm sure the kids are in there.

PS Thanks to my coworker Darren, whom I ran into at the Beaumont Kroger and who guided me to a new lock for the locker room. I'm not familiar with that store as it's across town. Of course, it's got a lot of non-food items so of course I got other stuff, much more than I planned on (I really just came in for the lock and a bottle of water). I have a regular lock but have no idea where the keys are, and I can't remember the combination on one I finally got rid of, which is typical.

Please think first about securing pets--and skipping fireworks

The Lexington Humane Society shared this sad but important story from the Bowling Green/Warren County Humane Society on Facebook. Please put your pets up during the upcoming holiday. And rather than fireworks, celebrate the Fourth of July by donating to a shelter. Fireworks are over in minutes, but go on all night (and other ones too) with pets assailed by large, scary sounds. And like Moose, many get out and run at the sound, sometimes to be found, often not. This family found Moose, but it was too late.

"Hi friends. As some of you know, my name is Moose. It was around this time last year that my mom and dad went to hang out with their friends one Sunday night. They knew how much I loved playing outside, so they let me and my brothers stay outside in the fenced-in yard while they were gone because we were cool big boys like that. We were having the best time running and playing with each other. My mom would probably croak if she knew how many holes we dug. I was definitely going to blame that on my brothers though. As we were outside, we started to hear these loud booms, and loud noises usually didn’t bother me because I’m a cool pup like that. I thought they would stop, but they didn’t. I kept hearing the booms and saw big flashing lights in the sky. That started to really scare me. That was different than the other loud noises I had heard before. I couldn’t seem to get away from them so I jumped over our fence and took off running. I kept running but when I looked up after the booms had stopped, I didn’t know where I was. I tried for 7 days to find my way back home as my mom and dad and so many kind people looked for me. After so many days of trying to find my way back home, I got so tired and I just couldn’t go any longer. I laid down and went to sleep. When I woke up, I had crossed the rainbow bridge. It was the prettiest place I had ever seen. There were so many other dogs there for me to play with. I can still see my mom and dad and all the people that loved me, just from a different angle now. I really wish those booms didn’t scare me. If they hadn’t, I would still be there playing with my new human brother. He would have loved me, because who didn’t? I just wanted to remind you guys that fireworks (I think that’s what Mom called them) are really cool to you guys, but very scary for us. Please keep that in mind and keep your furry, 4-legged babies inside as much as you can for the next few weeks. When the booms are gone, they can go outside and play as much as they want. If you promise to watch over your furry friends down there, I promise to watch over them from up here. Love and miss you guys.

-Moose

“Most of y’all remember my baby Moose. We had him since he was 5 days old. We bottle-fed him and he immediately became a crucial part of my family. He was the best snuggler and best brother to our other pups. He was so loyal and committed to protecting and loving his family hard, including his newborn human brother. We miss Moose terribly and it still seems so unfair. I still blame myself for thinking it was okay to leave him outside because loud noises didn’t bother him. Never in a million years would I have ever have thought we would lose him so soon. We came home one night and he was gone. We found him a week later in a field, and the only way we could identify him was by his collar which had his name tag and his microchip tag on it. I would give anything to go back and redo that night. I will never leave my dogs outside during this time of year ever again. Please trust me, and keep your sweet babies inside during these weeks and use a leash while taking them out to potty, even if they have never needed one before. I don’t want anyone to go through what we went through. We will never be able to thank you all enough for helping us look for our sweet Moose. We love you guys.”

-Maddie, Moose’s Mom

Thank you for reading this small part of Moose and Maddie's story. They're very special to us and when we asked Maddie to share this story, she said that it was hard to write and share, but if it prevented even one other pet and pet parent from going through this, it will be so worth it. Please share this post, keep your animals inside as much as you can these next few weeks, and take them out on a leash. We'll share some additional tips this afternoon to help you keep your pets safe during this time. ❤

Hope

In light of the Supreme Court decision, some hope. I was on both the IDR and PSLF programmes (you have to be on an income-driven plan before or at least while you're in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programme]. I was on the IDR programmes for most of my adult life, being underemployed as I have always been [as I librarian I was always part-time and had to get 1-2 additional jobs to make ends meet, and my current job, while I love it, only requires a high school education and I have bachelor's and master's degrees, but the master's was in a field difficult to get a job in within my area, something I did not know when I took out the loans, and I had obligations to stay here.] I was able to get my loans forgiven under the expanded PLSF requirements during the pandemic due to my work in non-profits. I would urge you to see if you qualify for either of these plans or the Teacher Forgiveness one. IDR has fewer qualifications but takes decades. PSLF is back to normal in terms of qualifications, but they've taken a lot of steps to 'fix' it as an NPR article a few years ago exposed it as a sham at the time (people were paying for years without their payments being counted, for example, with very few loans forgiven--that has been rectified, and it's part of the reason the programme was temporarily expanded.} Anyway, even with the decision by the Court, there is hope.

3 ways federal student loan borrowers can have their debt forgiven—without the Supreme Court