The Ledes

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

How often we are oblivious to the heroes who walk among us.

New York Times: “Richard A. Cash, who as a young public-health researcher in South Asia in the late 1960s showed that a simple cocktail of salt, sugar and clean water could check the ravages of cholera and other diarrhea-inducing diseases, an innovation that has saved an estimated 50 million lives, died on Oct. 22 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 83.... In 1978, the British medical journal The Lancet called [the] innovation [devised together with another American doctor] 'potentially the most important medical advance this century.'”

New York Times: “Murray McCory, who founded the outdoor equipment company JanSport while still in college and whose signature innovation, a lightweight backpack, revolutionized school life for millions of students, died on Oct. 7 in Seattle. He was 80.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Monday, November 4, 2024

New York Times: “Quincy Jones, one of the most powerful forces in American popular music for more than half a century, died on Sunday in California. He was 91.” At 3:30 am ET, this is developing.

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

New York Times: In a collection of memorabilia filed at New York City's Morgan Library, curator Robinson McClellan discovered the manuscript of a previously unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin. Jeffrey Kallberg, a Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania as well as other experts authenticated the manuscript. Includes video of Lang Lang performing the short waltz. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Times article goes into some of Chopin's life in Paris at the time he wrote the waltz, but it doesn't mention that he helped make ends meet by giving piano lessons. I know this because my great grandmother was one of his students. If her musical talent were anything like mine, those particular lessons would have been painful hours for Chopin.

New York Times: “Improbably, [the political/celebrity magazine] George[, originally a project by John F. Kennedy, Jr.] is back, with the same logo and the same catchy slogan: 'Not just politics as usual.' This time, though, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and passionate Trump fan is its editor in chief.... It is a reanimation story bizarre enough for a zombie movie, made possible by the fact that the original George trademark lapsed, only to be secured by a little-known conservative lawyer named Thomas D. Foster.”

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

Page Links
Tuesday
Apr242012

Neither Snow nor Rain ...

... But Republicans will stay these couriers.

Matt Taibbi is right about this:

... Politics ... plays a huge part in [the financial woes of the U.S. Post Office]. In 2006, in what looks like an attempt to bust the Postal Workers' Union, George Bush signed into law the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006....

The transparent purpose of this law, which was pushed heavily by industry lobbyists, was to break a public sector union and privatize the mail industry. Before the 2006 act, the postal service did one thing, did it well, and, minus the need to generate profits and bonuses for executives, did it cheaply. It paid for itself and was not a burden to taxpayers. Post offices also have a huge non-financial impact: In a lot of small towns, the post office is the town....

This is a classic example of private-sector lobbyists using the government to protect its profits and keep prices inflated. Sen. Sanders is pushing a bill that would delay the end of Saturday delivery for two years, and prevent a number of post-office closings, but the writing is on the wall, unless there's a public outcry.

On the other hand, postal workers can be their own worst enemies. I installed my mailbox about ten years ago after some workers ran into my old one. Before installing it, I went to the Post Office to find out the specifications on where to place it. (I would have phoned, but you can't phone the local offices here. Very convenient.) A postal worker told me the distance from the street & the height. The base had to be from 36" to 42" from the ground, he said. I installed it at 38", and over the years it sank about two inches, which is not surprising, considering it was sitting on a bed of Florida sand. That seemed fine with the P.O.D. for a decade.

Shortly after I had my latest eye surgery, I found a notice in my box from the letter carrier telling me I had to raise the box 10 inches. He chose to drop this missive on IRS Day. Perfect!

When I went to the local P.O.D. to ask if I could get a reprieve, the postmistress (what a quaint term!) told me that if I didn't raise the box within a few days, the carrier would stop delivering mail. I took off my shades & showed her my black eyes & said -- truthfully -- that my doctor told me not to do any heavy lifting for a month. She said then I should purchase a box at the P.O.D. or forget about getting mail.

I called my useless Congressman, Connie Mack (CoMa) (RTP-Fla.), to see if he had received other complaints about the P.O.D.'s new requirement. A nice young man told me this was news to him, but he'd take my information. The only info he wanted was my Zip code, not even my name, so obviously, CoMa had no intention of following up with the Post Office. That's constituent service, CoMa-style.

My husband told me there was no way I could lift the box as I had done too good a job cementing it in. Last Friday, the P.O.D. stopped delivering our mail. So I spent a good part of Saturday digging a huge hole around the post & got it loose. Luckily, a neighbor happened by when it came time to lift the box, and he helped me remove the post & reposition it at the new, U.S.P.S.-approved height.

This is obviously a minor matter, but it's a good example of why people hate the gummit. (Yes, I know the U.S.P.S. is not technically the government.) Every contact with a government agency is an encounter with a stone wall. I'm just thankful I didn't have a serious problem, as so many people do when they contact a government representative. If Democrats want to "sell" the government as a positive force in society, they would do well to encourage their employees and representatives to act a little less like autocrats and a little more like the human beings they probably are when they get off work.

Please feel free to share your own run-ins -- postive or negative -- with the government. Change your name if you must!

Comments Off

Reader Comments (1)

It seems as if the postmaster/postmistress sets the tone for the quality of customer awareness and customer service at his/her respective post office. I live in one medium-sized town and never use the post office there because of the rudeness and laziness of the staff. I work in another medium-sized town where the post office is widely known for its courtesy toward its patrons, as well as its willingness to help the old or the confused, as well as ones with other difficulties. I haven't the slightest idea how you can either complain about a postmaster/mistress or have one replaced. The job appears to be a lifetime sinecure. So, Marie, I guess you're stuck with the one you've got, unless, like me, you can go to the adjacent town to do business.

April 25, 2012 | Unregistered Commenterjhand
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