what I am thinking about this May Monday

Today is the 2nd day of the 21st week, the 20th day of the 5th month, the 141st day of 2024, and:

  • Be a Millionaire Day
  • Blue Jeans Day - In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets
  • CSCMP's Supply Chain Professionals Day
  • Eliza Doolittle Day
  • Everybody Draw Mohammed Day
  • Flower Day
  • Independence Day - East Timor from Indonesia in 2002
  • International Clinical Trials Day
  • International Human Resources Day
  • International Red Sneakers Day
  • Josephine Baker Day
  • National Psychometrist Day
  • National Quiche Lorraine Day 
  • National Rescue Dog Day
  • National Streaming Day
  • National SugarBee Apple Day
  • Pick Strawberries Day
  • Victoria Day
  • Weights and Measures Day
  • World Autoimmune Arthritis Day
  • World Bee Day
  • World Flour Day
  • World Metrology Day
  • Voyager I is 46 Yrs 08 Mos 15 Days and 15,131,111,183 mi/24,351,170,534 km/162.77752097 AU from Earth

Quote of the day:
"There is no influence like the influence of habit."
~  Gilbert Parker [AKA Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker] - Canadian novelist and British politician 

Blogger is acting rather oddly today.  For one thing, everytime I highlight a couple of words and put a link on them, the words are duplicated.  For another, I cannot highlight a phrase and change the font color as I usually do with parenthesis and explanations of the holidays [which is why there are none today]

On this day, 15 years ago, I had a telephone interview with HR that resulted in an in person interview, and a job offer that I took.   At the time I was settling, taking a substantial cut in pay and responsibility because I was unemployed during a recession.  But what I found was that in return, I received back about three hours of my day that had been taken with commuting and working extra time.  That seemed worth it to me.  As a result, despite my original intent when accepting the position, I have stayed even when other organizations tried to recruit me.  Of course, the fact that I liked the people I was working with, and got along with them quite well was also a big incentive to stay put.  Now, at 74, I can't imagine going elsewhere.  Although I would like to retire, I do need to work, so I'll be at the same place for as long as that is feasible.

Today I decided to aggregate all my social media posts in one place again, turning off the firehose of information with which I sometimes spam my followers as I read email newsletters and check the news.  Please note that where there is a paywall [ie an article from the NY Times or the Washington Post], these are gift article links.  

Judd's Popular Information is one of the must reads of my morning.  Today his column points out two things:  1]  crime isn't as bad as the dystopian ultra right likes to paint it, and 2]  DC is actually quite able to govern itself if Congress would just get out of the way.  It's pretty obvious that the only reason the District isn't a state is that Congress doesn't want to let the residents a say in said Congress...  

https://open.substack.com/pub/popularinformation/p/the-truth-about-crime-in-dc?r=4ge5d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I guess that it should be somewhat comforting to know that the US isn't the only place where anti-immigration, anti-LGBQ+, and anti-globalism is being loudly espoused by would-be fascists, but it isn't.

https://apnews.com/article/spain-far-right-eu-elections-99d69ee4255214c5386625350432e9f5?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

The Starliner keeps pushing back the launch date.  I have said it before, any astronaut that gets into a Boeing spacecraft has to be worried about all the recent publicity about Boening's failed quality controls...

https://spacenews.com/helium-leak-further-delays-starliner-crewed-test-flight

Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American puts today's politics into a historical perspective.  Today she touches on the shift of the Democratic party from supporting Jim Crow to getting behind the Civil Rights Act, then gives a synopsis of POTUS' speech to the graduating class

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/may-19-2024?r=4ge5d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse is another resource I rely on to unravel the legal implications of the news, and every Monday she lays out clearly what is ahead for the week

https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/the-week-ahead-614?r=4ge5d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

And then there is Jay Kuo's The Status Kuo, which does skew a bit left in its coverage.  One thing that he points out continually is the uneven coverage of the Trump and Biden age issues when they occur 

https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/two-things-the-media-didnt-report?r=4ge5d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I don't always agree with what this this gentleman posts, but I continue to read him for his down-to-earth attitude and legal insights.  Today's commentary disturbed me because I honestly feel that if #45 becomes #47, there might never be a #48, but that doesn't mean he isn't right....  I have been saying for the past four years that Democrats have to work on their messaging!

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/05/the-polls-probably-arent-lying

The four day work week continues to be an idea that some people love and other's hate - it all depends on how it is implemented.  The idea of working 10 hours days is not at all attractive to me; the idea of increasing my pay by 20% by reducing the work week to 32 hours is not at all attractive to bossman.  

https://www.fastcompany.com/91035931/best-kept-secret-to-productivity

Of course, there are those who seem to believe that you do not work to live, you live to work, and that a six day week is needed to increase productivity

https://wtop.com/business-finance/2024/05/is-a-move-to-a-6-day-workweek-tone-deaf-survey-says-some-companies-may-try-it/

The US really has to do better in Africa.  First Niger kicks out the American troops that have been stationed there, and now the Congo is saying Americans are behind an attempted coup - not a good way to win friends and influence enemies!

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/19/world/africa/congo-coup-americans.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tU0.UnaD.4YjNVrd2z_nJ&smid=url-share

On the one hand - having the state collect past due funds from lottery winners makes sense.  On the other hand - having the state whomp up charges is overkill

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/florida-mom-lottery-win-turned-100500496.html

The current Supreme Court seems aggressively partisan and I think all of us were surprised to find out that they consider themselves above the rules that govern every other federal judge when it comes to ethics.  Obviously it is a direct backlash to the "liberalism" of the Warren court, but I don't remember hearing about such flagrant disregard for appearance [much less actual conflicts] of interest from that previous court

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/20/supreme-court-alito-flag

The loss of the Key Bridge has been quite a blow to Baltimore, and it is nice to know that harbor access has been a priority.  Should be interesting to see how the ship owners try and get out of paying damages....

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/us/baltimore-bridge-collapse-ship-relocation

VR has a steep way to go to hit the mainstream - the main barriers being price, not only of the equipment but of the rig needed to run the equipment.  Apple has sidestepped the latter by making their unit a standalone.  A secondary issue is the vertigo it can cause [certainly that is something I am extremely sensitive to!] and I don't know how they are going to resolve that one.    

https://deadline.com/2024/05/apple-vision-pro-virtual-reality-disruptors-1235914441/

Despite the editorializing, I find that my sympathy is definitely with the stay-at-home spouse who is holding down a work-from-home job, wrangling kids, taking care of a household, and resents getting told they are basically sitting home and doing nothing after juggling what amounts to two full-time positions

https://percolately.com/mom-lets-children-disrupt-husband/

Gotta luv Randy Rainbow

https://youtu.be/MMRxhfYSdhc?si=8YgYFg4SYwmzRTHT

Water management is not just a controversy that impacts our western states.  Locally, there is a lot of issues caused by the damning of a local river

https://wapo.st/3UPnNnL

I will admit that it is somewhat sour grapes that has me ignoring the Blue Origin spaceflights - I really really want to go and there is no way short of winning one of the supersized MegaMillion jackpots that will enable me to afford a ticket.  I totally blew off the publicity surrounding the flight that took William Shatner into the space where Captain Kirk made his home, and I ignored the hoopla about returning after a two year hiatus.  But I have to admit, letting an astronaut who never actually made it to space with NASA take the ride got my attention

https://www.npr.org/2024/05/19/1252354052/blue-origin-rocket-ed-dwight-astronaut

One good thing about Mondays, is that I get to work from home.  Bossman has made noises about getting rid of the current hybrid scheduling, but he rather grumpily admits that is is extremely popular and he often takes advantage of it himself [altho of course he knows he is working when he is home].

Triscuit does come and check on me now and then during the day, but on the whole, she is neither impressed with my working nor my ruminations

And the day winds down.

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