Clear Thoughts

The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye. - from Jimi Hendrix's final poem, The Story of Life (September 17, 1970)

It's the 18th day of September, 2021.  It's the 261st day of the year and 104 days remain until the end of the year.  Today is the day for clear thought, which eliminates the poisons of greed, anger, and delusion.

On this day in 1970, guitarist Jimi Hendrix died.  Details of his last day on Earth are unclear and widely disputed, but an ambulance was called to a London apartment at 11:18 a.m. that morning. When they arrived, they found Hendrix alone in bed, covered in his own vomit.  At 12:45 p.m., Hendrix was pronounced dead at the hospital.  He was 27 years old. Impermanence is swifter than the wink of an eye.

I was 16. I remember where I was when I learned of Kennedy's assassination in 1963 and where I was when I heard about John Lennon in 1980.  I also remember where I was when I heard about Hendrix - my Mom told me she that had heard it on the radio as she was picking me up from a friend's house.

The sun rose at 7:23 a.m. this morning (same time as yesterday) and will set at 7:39 p.m. this evening (a minute earlier than yesterday).  The moon is nearly full (94.5%  illuminated) and will rise at 6:50 p.m. tonight.  It will set at 5:50 a.m. tomorrow morning.  

They finally gave that storm out in the Atlantic a name - Odette.  It's now reached the latitude of Washington, D.C. and is heading out to sea.   It won't make landfall anywhere in North America, but two other storms are sneaking across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean and may be heard from before they're done.

The delta wave of covid infections has definitely peaked in Georgia.  Yesterday, the average number of new covid cases per day (5,730) is down 38% from the peak on August 31 (9,244 new cases per day).  With some more vaccinations (Georgia is only 44% vaccinated) and a little more indoor mask use, we might be able to finally beat this thing.

Fewer than 500 people, many of them journalists, rallied in Washington today for “Justice for J6” (the failed January 6th insurrection attempt).  Counter-protesters reportedly mixed freely with the crowd. Given all the paranoia and security measures surrounding this event, it turned out to be much ado about relatively nothing.

Today, I'll be watching SEC football. The No. 2-ranked Georgia Bulldogs host unranked South Carolina tonight, and later this afternoon, No. 1-ranked Alabama plays No. 11 Florida in Tallahassee.  If Florida can pull off an upset win over Alabama, and Georgia beats South Carolina, Georgia will be the No.1-ranked team in the country.