Meditation on the Flaw

 

Happy Halloween! 

It was a quiet day here in this pile of bricks on a hill.  I took my bi-daily walk in the afternoon (does bi-daily mean twice a day, or every other day? I mean the latter). I walked the local, Beltline route today instead of driving to the Chattahoochee trails, as I didn't want to be too far from home for some reason. 

No trick-or-treaters this year. There was a gathering of neighbors down by the corner - beer, burgers, pizza, and lots of kids in clever costumes. I distributed my candy there to the young ones bouncing around their parents and to the teens who swooped in to gather sweets and then disappear off into the Georgia night. Made small talk with the grownups, all of whom assiduously tried to avoid discussing politics.

Another presidential campaign, my sixth in this house, and no neighbors have put up political yards signs in their lawns. I don't think it's apathy, but just a desire not to offend neighbors who may think differently. FWIW, the precinct is overwhelmingly Democratic, but there are a few folks whom I suspect of being mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers.

Day of Hummingbird Night

In a taped statement from the White House concerning the "island of garbage" remark during a recent Trump rally, President Joe Biden stammered something to the effect of “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."

Once again, I find myself in agreement with Joe Biden. 

Acts of the Counter World

 

Agent Orange boasts that he’d deploy the U.S. military on domestic soil to suppress protests he deems riots, patrol Democratic-run cities he deems to be crime infested, and to hunt for undocumented immigrants. He also says he would use the F.B.I. to investigate and prosecute his political foes. He tried to do this and more in his first term but was thwarted by advisors and the courts. However, recent Supreme Court decisions have made it easier for him to succeed if he gets a second chance.

He wants to mobilize the military and law enforcement for what he calls the largest deportation operation in American history: He’d round up millions of undocumented people and hold them in camps to await expulsion. Obviously, some documented immigrants and even native-born Americans would inadvertently get caught up in such a sweeping deportation operation (collateral damage).

He talks about eliminating federal income tax and instead imposing broad tariffs on all imports to fund the government. This would essentially be a new tax system, one that places a greater burden on low-income Americans. A greater burden on the already impoverished would lead to both more crime and more protests, as well as civil and political unrest, which would lead to still more military presence in American cities and further prosecution of adversaries. 

I do not want to live in that America. I want to be free.

Eleventh Ocean

 

Are the bigoted "jokes" by the so-called "comedian" at Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden last night, such as calling Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean" - as well as the other vile garbage spewed from the stage - the October Surprise that finally and irrevocably tips the election in Harris' favor? 

If that line wasn't bad enough for you, at the same rally Tucker Carlson called Harris a "Samoan-Malaysian, low-IQ, former California prosecutor."

And Stephen Miller channeled an old KKK slogan by declaring, "America is for Americans and Americans only.”

Some businessman on stage, referring to Harris, said, “Her and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.”

A conservative radio host called Hilary Clinton a "sick bastard," and went on, “What a sick son of a bitch. The whole fucking party, a bunch of degenerates, low-lives, Jew-haters and low-lives. Every one of them. Every one of them.”

If you're still on board with those speakers after all that, well, I don't know what to say to you. If they have such obvious and dep contempt for this country and its citizens, why would one think they'd govern it fairly?

If after all this, you still vote for Trump, you're condoning this rhetoric, and I don't think we can be friends.

The Long Sleep

More evidence that Harris is going to win the popular vote: on my walk today - 7.6 miles through an affluent part of Atlanta's Buckhead community - I saw several "Harris/Walz" yard signs and not one single Trump sign. Not one. Zero. 

Of course, it's also my belief that even though a plurality of  Americans will cast their vote for the Harris/Walz ticket, we'll never know the election totals. Conservatives and Republicans and MAGAs will contest each states' elections and litigate the matter until it's finally elevated to the Supreme Court. And then our unelected overlords will tell us who our next president is (hint: they'll pick Trump) and that will be the end of America as we knew it. Nice little 248-year run we had there, but that will be the end. 

Day of Arcane Light

 

Late post, but I was without power for part of this evening. A tree limb fell, apropos to nothing - no storm, no rain, no winds - about a block away and took out an overhead power line. We made it through Hurricane Helene without a power loss, but then this branch randomly falls on a placid autumn evening. Go figure. 

Despite what the polls say, I believe Harris is going to win the election and win by a lot. That's a gut reaction - I have no secret data or access to arcane information. I'm just a patriotic American - I love my country - and can't believe that a majority of Americans would willingly vote for a person so clearly in mental and spiritual decline and with such obviously ill intent for the country. And then I see the size and enthusiasm of the crowds at Harris' rallies. I know we all live in bubbles, myself included, and that many of the Cheetos' supporters say the same thing about their candidate for much the same reasons, but that's still my gut feeling. 

Plus, I still struggle to accept how catastrophically harmful another Trump term would be for the country, for the world. I can't accept that he might win for sort of the same reason that I don't think an asteroid is going to collide with the Earth any time soon, or that the Yellowstone caldera might erupt or the Cascadia subduction zone will swallow up the Pacific Northwest - seismic calamities are so rare that one can safely assume the chances are so remote that the probability of occurrence in our lifetime is close to zero. Again, the other side says much the same thing, but their ignorance doesn't affect my gut feeling.        

Call of the Swan

 

Probably the most terrifying moment of the video game Fallout 4 occurs at the Swan Pond in Boston Common.  

More terrifying realities: the Chinese have been trying, possibly successfully, to try to hack into Trump and Vance's phones. Both Trump and Elon Musk have  been in telephone communication with Vladimir Putin. North Korean troops are assembling in Russia's Kursk region for combat against Ukraine.  The dots may or may not be connected, but any one, alone, is cause for concern. 

The Gaming Desk wants to say that we've faced Swan twice and beat him both times without dying, even on survival mode one time.

Of the Lunging Outer Space

 

You don't know what fun is, or what entertainment is, until you've lived in a swing state in this election cycle. Constant advertisements, text messages, and emails from both parties, and a mailbox constantly stuffed with agitprop. Not to mention non-stop rallies and events and the attendant traffic congestion, especially as a candidate is coming from or heading toward the airport.

And then you learn that at a Turnip rally here in Georgia on Tuesday, Tucker Carlson said Agent Orange is going to give America a “vigorous spanking,” and that he said it in the creepiest way possible.

He said that under Democratic leadership, the country is like a “hormone-addled 15-year-old daughter” who gives her parents the finger and slams her bedroom door. Trump, in his metaphor, is the strict, disciplinarian father.

“When Dad gets home, you know what he says?, Tucker asked. "You’ve been a bad girl, you’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now. And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it’s not. I’m not going to lie. This is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You’re getting a vigorous spanking because you’ve been a bad girl.”

He told the crowd that they shouldn't accept the election results if Harris wins. “At the end of all of that, when they tell you they’ve won, no!” he said. “You can look them straight in the face and say: ‘I’m sorry, Dad’s home, and he’s pissed.’”

For the record, research has found that over the long term, spanking leads to anti-social behavior, mental illnesses, and anxiety later in life, which pretty mush describes a lot of Republican politicians and their MAGA followers.

Perhaps realizing what a creep he was being, Carlson tried to deflect the label and called Liz Cheney “Dick Cheney’s creepy little daughter.” He also described Democrats as “the party of weak men and unhappy women, one of which leads to the other, by the way.”

Freud would have a field day with Carlson.

Day of the Bruise

 

Numbers . . . 2, 2½, 3, 4, 9½, 29, 109, 132, 2,020, 2,024, 2,000,000, 5,000,000. Can you use those in a sentence, or sentences?

The Boston Celtics crushed the Knicks last night, 132-109, and tied the NBA record for the most 3-point buckets in a single game (29).

I understand that as of today, over two million people have voted in Georgia, with almost two weeks still left before Election Day. Compare that to the five million total votes cast in 2020 for some idea of the interest this election cycle has garnered.

I keep pushing my every-other-day walking distance a little further. Today, I totaled 9½ miles by taking in the Sope Creek Trail loop (3 miles) from the Cochran Shoals Trail (4 miles) from the Interstate North parking lot (2½ miles). Record distance for 2024, and I got to view a scenic pond. 

Day of the Fall

I did my part to flip the State of Georgia blue today and cast my early vote. There were no lines at the polling place, but the tiny parking lot was full and there were a line of cars outside waiting to enter the lot. But idiot that I am, I didn't realize that's what they were doing and I drove right past them, pulled into a lot and quickly found a spot while someone else was leaving. Sorry folks, I didn't mean to cut you off - I didn't realize you were waiting in line until I left.

But in any event, my vote is cast. Can't wait until Election Day  and voting again (just kidding, ha ha).

Also, my new iPhone 16 arrived today, my first new phone since 2017.  Small amount of drama setting it up and moving my old settings over to my new device (old men and technology). Something to do with a software update during initial setup but nothing unsolvable and at least I don't have to answer calls with "New phone, who dis?" for the next month.

Finally, and this is the Sports Desk talking now, the 2024-2025 NBA season starts tonight. The Celtics vs. the New York Knicks are on TNT tonight. Repeat Boston championship, anyone?

And that's my fun-filled Tuesday, this third day of Hagwinter.  

The Frosted Cathedrals

 

When Hurricane Helene passed near Atlanta last month, it dumped nearly 12 inches of rain. Since then, it's been exceptionally sunny and dry, good weather for walking and hiking.

In fact, there's been zero rainfall in Atlanta in all of October and none is in sight. There's never been a month in Atlanta before with no rain since record-keeping began in 1878. We've had some very dry months in the past, but it's conceivable that we end this month with 0.00" for the very first time.

Climate change? We were warned about "global weirding," wild swings in extreme weather from floods to drought, from heat wave to deep freeze. Here in Georgia, we're experiencing one of those weird precipitation flip-flops. 

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation system, the ocean's primary current taking warm water from the tropics up toward the poles, along with the atmospheric Gulf Stream, is the main protective force redirecting oceanic hurricanes away from the North American shore. Elizabeth Kolbert recently pointed out in The New Yorker that a 2021 study published in Nature Climate Change found several “early warning signals” that the AMOC was close to a "critical transition.” A 2023 study in Nature Communications went a step further and predicted that the AMOC could tip into a new state within decades, and another study estimated that the AMOC could shut down completely sometime between 2037 and 2064.

"Were the AMOC to collapse, heat would build in the Southern Hemisphere. Global rainfall patterns would shift, storms in the Atlantic would become more destructive, and warm water would pile up on the shores of the eastern U.S., leading to rapid sea-level rise. Places like Britain and Scandinavia would, perversely, grow much colder; according to one recent study, temperatures in London would drop by almost twenty degrees, which would give it a climate like present-day Siberia’s. Farming in much of northern Europe would become impossible."

Collapse of the AMOC would be a global catastrophe of epic proportions, but one single descriptor, be it "global warming," "next ice age," or "rising sea level," doesn't cover all of the impacts. The best catch-all term would probably be "we're fucked."  

Mysteries of the Sandman

 

First off, introducing the Winter Hag, the new avatar for the next 73 days of Hagwinter. 

But today's post is from the Sporting Desk. As you've undoubtedly heard, last night the University of Georgia Bulldogs, winners of two of the past three National Championships and 52 of its past 55 games, beat the (formerly) undefeated, No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns in their home stadium in Austin, 30-15. Given that one of Texas' TDs came following a controversial interception call by the clearly biased referee crew, a more representative score would be 30-8, but that's not the point of this post. I just needed to get that off my chest so we could move on.

In some sports, such as boxing, rather than have a playoff or a complex balloting method, the champion is deemed to be the competitor who defeated the preceding champion. If a challenger knocks off the champion, they're awarded the champion's belt. If that challenger subsequently gets defeated, they turn the belt over to that new champion. 

The Georgia Bulldogs won National Championships in 2021 and 2022. If the CFP followed the system used in boxing, the Dawgs would have two championship belts to show for those achievements. They went undefeated in 2022 and during the regular season in 2023, keeping their belts, but then lost to Alabama in the 2023 SEC Championship Game. Following the lineal convention used in boxing, the Crimson Tide would have been awarded the Bulldogs' two championship belts.

On January 1, 2024, Alabama lost a CFP Semifinal game in the Rose Bowl to Michigan, 27-20. Therefore, Michigan was would have received Georgia's two championship belts from the Tide.

People with far more time on their hands than I have traced the history of a hypothetical all-time lineal championship belt all the way back to the very first known college football game, a November 6, 1869 game in New Brunswick, New Jersey between Rutgers College (now University) and what was then called the College of New Jersey and now known as Princeton. Rutgers won the game, 6–4, but the game more resembled soccer than what we call "football" today, hence the unusual (for football) score. 

A week later, the two teams played again and Princeton won the rematch, 8-0. Princeton defended the title (and theoretical belt) for 11 games, but then lost to Yale, 2-0, in 1876. And so on and so forth, the theoretical championship belt traded hands from Ivy League team to Ivy League team. In 1896, Lafayette College was the first non-Ivy to win the belt (it's sometimes considered a "Little Ivy") and was also the first to employ the huddle and use a head harness, precursor to the football helmet. Navy won the belt in 1904, and in 1918, Michigan became the first state college to win the belt. And so on and so forth, the belt changed hands over the decades, until at the end of the 2023 regular season, the Washington Huskies had the belt.

On January 8, 2024, one week after Michigan beat Alabama to win Georgia's two championship belts, the Wolverines beat Washington, 34-13, in the National Championship Game. As a result, Michigan got the lineal championship belt and unified it with Georgia's two championship belts. 

Last September 7, Texas beat Michigan, 31-12, in Ann Arbor and won the unified championship belts away from the Wolverines. The Longhorns defended the belts for the next four games, so that when Georgia beat Texas last night, the Bulldogs claimed the lineal championship belt and took back their own two championship belts. 

Sweet.

While I was writing this, the Associated Press rankings for the week were announced, and Georgia moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 with their defeat of Texas, and the Longhorns fell from No. 1 to the new No. 5. Undefeated Oregon is the new No. 1, and the Ducks are likely to stay at No. 1 for the rest of the regular season, as the toughest team remaining on their schedule is No. 20 Illinois (6-1). But they'll still have to play the Big 10 Championship game in a probable rematch with Ohio State and then face a tough roster, possibly including Georgia, in the expanded 12-team playoffs.

So, yes, last night Georgia won the biggest game on their regular-season schedule, a game they were widely expected to lose, and are the new No. 2 team in the country. But most importantly, the Bulldogs have their two championship belts back and are the current holders of the all-time lineal championship belt. Go, Dawgs!

Fifth Day of the Hammer

It's been chilly recently, with morning temperatures in the low 40s and even in the 30s up in North Georgia. That may not sound frigid to those in northern climes, but here in the south that's surprisingly cool for October. 

As you now, for most of this year this blog has been following the Universal Solar Calendar. The USC divides the year not into 12 lunar months but into five seasons and today, Fifth Day of the Hammer, is the last day of Fall. Tomorrow is the first day of Hagwinter.

Like the Julian lunar calendar, the USC starts the year in mid-winter. The USC calls the winter season at the start of the year "Childwinter," and the winter season at the end of the year, "Hagwinter" (the other seasons are simply Spring, Summer, and Fall).  Tomorrow is the first day of Hagwinter.

As you've also seen, I've been using AI to create images for each day of the month, with avatars to impersonate each season. I didn't start doing that until Spring so I don't have an avatar for Childwinter, but I did have Earth Mother for Spring, Sun Girl for Summer, and Fall Guy for, well, Fall. Today is the last appearance of Fall Guy, which I'm thankful for, as it was initially modeled after myself and sometimes made me quite uncomfortable as it went through its permutations.

The obvious avatar for Hagwinter is an old hag, and unsubtle motherfucker that I am, that's my choice for avatar for the next 73 days.  So without further ado, it's time to morph the Fall Guy into the Winter Hag, as Planet Earth's Northern Hemisphere morphs into the winter season.  

Glad to finally quit that ugly Fall Guy avatar and having to look at his stupid face every day. Let's see how it goes with the old Winter Hag.

Fourth Day of the Hammer

 

Georgia early turnout hit one million voters this week. People online are saying that waits are generally down to 10 minutes or less. I'm going to vote early next week, but not this weekend - I suspect there will be long lines of working people taking advantage of Saturday voting. Besides, college football. 

538.com's forecast suggests that if Harris carries Georgia, she would have about a 9-in-10 chance of becoming the next president. Trump, on the other hand, would only have a 3-in-4 chance if he wins Georgia. We're doing what we can here, America, so please help us take Harris to the finish line! 

Third Day of the Hammer

 

After spending 120 hours listening to my complete and unabridged Big Ears playlist, the festival added four more acts this morning and now the playlist is 123 hours long. Working my way through the new additions even as I write this.

Early voting started here in Georgia on Tuesday, and on the first day over 300,000 people voted, shattering all previous early-voting records. The latest Quinnipiac poll gives the orange turd a 7-point lead over Vice President Harris in this state, but polls are often wrong. I have no idea what the early-voting turnout portends, but conventional wisdom says that Democrats are more likely to vote early than Republicans.  Georgia flipped blue in 2020 and may surprise the pollsters by doing it again in 2024.

One thing working in our favor is that the courts have dismissed a lot of those crazy election rules here that MAGA extremists on the Georgia Elections Board tried to install (e.g., all ballots must be hand counted, counties are empowered to conduct inquiries into the voting process before certifying the results, and they can request any information and documentation they deem necessary for their inquiries). The chances for a free and fair Georgia election went up considerably with the recent court decisions.

I swung by my local early-voting site yesterday but turned away due to the crowds. I didn't see any lines of people waiting to vote, but there were lines of cars waiting to get into the parking lot for the site, and people illegally parking on the side of a busy, four-lane street. There was a person using his phone to take pictures of the tags of the cars along the street, and I don't know if he was trying to report the illegal parking or to intimidate voters (he wasn't uniformed). In any event, I drove away and I'm going to wait until next week to cast my early vote after some on the initial enthusiasm has died down.

Second Day of the Hammer

I like living what I consider a sane and rational life, making decisions based on logic and, if not common sense, then what we'll call "uncommon sense." But sometimes, folks, sometimes I like to throw all caution to the wind and do something so irrational, so over-the-top OCD, that it calls my very sanity into question.

Today, I finished one if those illogical feats and completed a listen to all 119 hours and 42 minutes of my Big Ears 2024 Spotify playlist. 

Last month, the Big Ears organization announced its lineup for the 2025 festival. As per usual with these annual announcements, I was familiar with most of the headliners and a good number of the other performers, but there were also many of whom I had never heard. To assist my own musical education and so that I can make better decisions as to which sets to see next March, I made a playlist containing each and every performer.

There are several similar Big Ears playlists out there, but they usually select one or two "representative" songs by each artist. That has the distinct advantage of cutting down on the running time but, personally, I find that one or two songs isn't really representative of many of the eclectic and diverse jazz and experimental artists in the lineup. So instead, my playlist contains a whole album by each performer. Usually, it's the artist's most recent album, as that's where their head is at right now and probably what they're currently touring to support. But in some cases, following the set descriptions on the Big Ears website, I chose some other, previous album or collaboration. For example, for the performed Kate Soper, I didn't use her 2024 LP The Hunt, as the website clearly clearly states she will be performing 2018's Ipsa Dixit. The German musician Michael Rother has some dozen albums currently on Spotify dated 2014 to 2022, but the website says he will be performing the music of his seminal electronic bands Neu! and Harmonia, so my playlist includes Neu!'s 1972 self-titled album and Harmonia's Live 1974.

Also, the playlist is a living, malleable thing. I've made several changes to it since it was first created and expect to make more in the future. Since I created the playlist back in September, several of the artists released new albums from which I expect they will be playing during their March sets. For example, Immanuel Wilkins' Blues Blood and Jenny Scheinman's All Species Parade both dropped just last week. So where appropriate, I replaced what I had for those artists and included their newer music. 

In the case of jazz pianist Kris Davis, I had to include two albums - her most recent Run the Gauntlet (2024), and 2019's Diatom Ribbons, as the latter features several side musicians (Nels Cline, Esperanza Spalding) who will be playing at Big Ears 2025 and other Big Ears veterans (Ches Smith, Marc Ribot) from years past, any of whom might possibly join her on stage next March. 

Also, in some other cases, as I learned more about the artists, I've had to revise what I originally included in the playlist. For example, did you know that there are two separate bands that go by the name "tilt?"  When I first created the playlist, I included an album by the punk-pop band Tilt (with a capital "T"), but the actual artist slated for Big Ears 2025 is the experimental outfit tilt (lower-case "t"), led by trombonist Kalia Vandever, who's also separately performing at next year's festival under her own name. 

I've discovered a lot of great new music in this process, things I probably never would have heard otherwise. I also have to admit I heard some things I couldn't stand, but I played through anyway in the off chance that at some point I'd "get it" (that rarely happened). But as of today, I've heard - at least once - all 120 hours of the playlist. It's taken over a month to complete, and I don't think I'm going to get any kind of award or prize for my effort, other than the invaluable treasure of discovering adventurous new music.

Give the playlist a spin if you've got a month set aside with nothing else to do. Be patient: the playlist starts with all three discs and 3½ hours of Philip Glass' Music in 12 Parts, followed by Soper's avant-garde Ipsa Dixit, which may be an acquired taste. But if you like Ipsa Dixit, you might also want to check out The Far In, Far Out World of Shelley Hirsch (2002), although if the playlist is played in order, Hirsch won't come up until weeks later. Neither is my personal cup of tea, but to each their own and at least someone's doing with own, original, non-commercial stuff.

Of course, you can also play it on random, shuffle play, or select just those tracks that sound interesting to you. In that regard, here are a few recommendations to the casual scroller: the soulful gospel of Joy Guidry's Angels,  Mike Reed's funky One of Us, the spacey ambiance of Kramer's Lendrick Muir Bible Study Weekend, and the otherworldly harmonies of DahkaBrakha's Dostochka.

You'll need to have a subscription to Spotify to hear the whole tracks, and you'll also have to open the widget below in Spotify to hear all 1,322 songs (the widget only contains the first 100). 

Enjoy!            

Day of the Hammer

 

I walked yesterday (6.2 miles) to make up for the day I missed on Sunday, and then again today (5.6 miles) to get back to my normal every-other-day schedule. My weight dropped back down by over a pound after yesterday's walk, and my blood pressure similarly dropped back into the "normal" range (less than 120/80).

But I feel like the odometer on my iPhone is short-changing me, as I know my walk today was over 6 miles. On the same route last week, I recorded 6.6 miles and I didn't take any shortcuts today.

Despite the short-changing, my cumulative mileage now extends to the north from my Atlanta home to Milwaukee and to Philadelphia. Going south, the mileage takes in the entire Florida Keys all the way to Key West, and to March Harbor on Great Abaco island in the Bahamas.   

The Endlock Series

 Life's fragile balance: I broke with my diet routine at brunch yesterday, eating an omelet with home fries and a couple slices of buttered toast with the young-man-who-could-have-been-my-stepson. That was it all day, other than a few pieces of fruit and a couple handfuls of peanuts. Afterwards, I didn't take my walk even though it was a walk/hike day, but instead chilled on a suburban deck with my daughter and the young-man-etc. This morning, my weight was up by 1½ pounds and my blood pressure was 10 points higher than yesterday's, moving above 120 into the "elevated" range (123). 

Life's fragile balance: A broad area of low pressure is likely to form in the next several days over the southwestern Caribbean, the same area that spawned Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Development of the system is possible while it stays over water as it moves slowly northwestward towards northern Central America. Locally heavy rainfall is possible across portions of Central America later this week. Meanwhile, a separate storm producing showers and thunderstorms is currently located in the mid-Atlantic This system is forecast to move generally westward toward warmer waters, and a tropical depression could form as it moves west-northwest toward the Leeward Islands. On its current trajectory, it may not get deflected away from the North American coast by the Gulf Stream.

Life's tenuous balance: FEMA and other government officials in devastated portions of western North Carolina areas have had to contend with a barrage of online conspiracy theories and falsehoods, including unfounded rumors about government plans to bulldoze neighborhoods to make way for mining operations. Those unchecked rumors have consequences -  FEMA had to direct its employees to stop going door to door to help survivors amid various threats of violence, and several agencies were directed to evacuate Rutherford County due to threats received by the U.S. Forest Service. On Saturday, a North Carolina man was arrested and accused of threatening emergency responders. The man was arrested at a supermarket where a FEMA bus was parked, and had a handgun and a rifle in his possession.

Tenth Ocean

 

Life's unexpected turns: I had brunch today with a young man who, if life had turned out only slightly differently, would have been my step-son.  

The Final Knowledge

 

The Northern Lights - aurora borealis - were visible last night in parts of Georgia and are expected to be visible again tonight. I didn't see them - far too much urban light pollution here, much less the tree canopy that blocks most of the sky above my house. But isn't the fact that the lights are visible here in the Deep South just further evidence that the Dems are using the Jewish Space Lasers to control the weather?

I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I joke, I joke. Chemtrails are evidence of the JSLs, not the aurora. 

I had to turn the heat on last night - first time this season. Yesterday, I had to put on a flannel shirt. Winter is coming. The Earth crosses the tenth ocean for the endlock series before dropping the hammer of winter upon us. 

Under the Rose

 

And the 66th day of Fall shall be known as Under the Rose, and eight more shall be the remaining days before the hammer falls to mark the start of Hagwinter. Or as Ned Stark used to say, "Winter is coming."

I had to wear a long-sleeved flannel shirt this morning for the first in a long, long time.

I'm back on my every-other-day walking/hiking schedule, with meditation (90 minutes) on the days in between. I actually only missed one day in the routine, for some reason not walking last Monday, but it was the first day missed in over six months so it felt more momentous than it probably actually was. But I've  got my rhythm back now, so all is good. 

 

The Lines Displayed

Well, it seems Hurricane Milton somehow managed to miss Mar-a-Lago. Maybe next time.

Not that the storm wasn't without tragedy. Around a dozen of more people were killed, many by tornadoes that spawned far from the eye of the storm. Millions lost power, although it's already returning for many. The Florida governor says that his state dodged the worst possible outcomes of the storm.

Meanwhile, people up in western North Carolina are still recovering from Helene. Singer Taylor Swift has donated $5,000,000 to Feeding America, a nonprofit providing food and assistance to the storm victims there. On the other hand, Elon Musk, arguably the richest man in the world, is actively interfering with rescue efforts through disinformation and outright lies.

Day of the Blood Sun

In retrospect, I had a pretty idyllic childhood, at least until about the age of 13 or 14. After adolescence kicked in full force, things got a bit rockier, but this post isn't about that.

As a preadolescent, I felt I had everything I could want. My parents weren't rich. Far from it - they were just then entering the middle class, my father starting a career as a public-school teacher and my mom a stay-at-home mother.  But Dad managed to buy a house with a G.I. Bill, and I had a roof over my head, three meals a day, a warm bed, and a mother to tuck me in at night until I was old enough that I didn't want to be tucked in anymore.

We weren't rich, but I didn't know I was lacking anything. Every weekend from late spring until early autumn, my parents would take us kids to the beach, where I would play in the waves, bask in the sun, and watch girls in bikinis as they walked by. Heaven. What more could I want?

Mom and Dad somehow managed to find a tiny little house but with just enough bedroom for their four kids (provided we were willing to share rooms) in Head of the Harbor on Long Island. The town is now and was even back then a weekend and summer retreat for the wealthy of Manhattan, a hillier and less ostentatious alternative to the Hamptons. We were most decidedly not among that mansion-and-sailboat crowd. But some of my classmates were and I grew up a low- to mid-middle class child among a lot of income inequality.  

I hardly noticed. I had the beaches in summer, and woods and ponds full of turtles and frogs in the spring and autumn. In the winter there were hills to sleigh ride and ice for skating. While other parents gave their children high-end toys and amusements, my parents gave me the Atlantic Ocean. I grew up feeling I got the better deal.

Sometimes I'd bring friends along to the beach for our weekend trips, but honestly it was as much fun if not even more fun without them. I'd dive into the surf and get tumbled about by the big waves, I'd body surf the biggest crests back to shore, and when I was exhausted, I'd go back to the family's blanket-and-umbrella encampment where Mom would have ice-cold lemonade to wash the taste of salt out of my mouth.

Sometimes friends would invite me over to their homes and I'd notice the stark difference in house size. One girl in my class lived in an ultra-modern redwood-framed ranch with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the surrounding woods. Her father was always home playing at a grand piano - it was only later that I realized her Dad was jazz musician Mose Allison. But for all the cool sophistication of their home, I was happy for our humble and loving abode.

I didn't want for any of those things that I saw at my friends' homes. One kid had in his sleek, modern, stainless-steel kitchen about the coolest thing I had ever seen - a soda dispenser, that served Coca-Cola from a fountain instead of the one-liter plastic jug we kept in the fridge at home (and which would always go flat half-way through). I thought the Coke dispenser that always served effervescent, fully carbonated soda was just about the greatest thing one could ever have in their kitchen, but it never even occurred to me that we should also have one in our home. Humble as it may have been, our house was full of love and light, and was our launch pad for trips to the beach, to the woods.

Our television was black and white with rabbit-ear antennae on top. Other kids had wall-mounted color t.v.'s. I liked watching my friends' big color t.v.'s, but was content to sit on the floor in front of our b&w screen when I got back home. The father of one of my best friends built a large, above-ground swimming pool with an even larger deck around it in their back yard. I loved going over there and playing in the pool, but didn't feel that I had to have one in my own back yard. 

Today, I live as an urban monk in the upscale Buckhead section of Atlanta. I have a small, humble house, my pile of bricks on a hill, among larger, considerably pricier houses. My car is 15 years old but still drives fine, while my neighbors all drive around in recent-model BMWs, Mercedes, and other high-end vehicles. My furniture is comfy but shabby and no one would ever think that I had hired an interior designer for my home.  

But what need have I for this, what need have I for that? A cat keeps me company, I have my walks and hikes, and I have my own private zendo for sitting. I have a high-speed internet connection and access to books. I'm an urban monk, happy to spend my latter years in quiet contemplation and placid solitude, enjoying the entertainment of music, literature, cinema, video games, and sports between my daily meditation (zazen) and walks (kinhin). 

And for this gracious acceptance of things as they are, in fact this peaceful enjoyment of things as they are, I should thank my Mom and Dad.

Theft of the Stages

Is it wrong to wish Hurricane Milton would track a little bit further to the south and wipe Mar-a-Lago off the map once and for all and for good? 

The forecast for Palm Beach and Miami for tonight is cloudy with a 15% chance of rain. The "fun" stuff, high winds and thunderstorms, doesn't arrive until Wednesday afternoon. But the weather for this evening is good enough that the Florida Panthers are opening their NHL season with a home game tonight against the Boston Bruins. Miami International Airport remains open but many airline carriers have canceled or will cancel flights, and travelers are advised to contact their airline carrier to confirm flight information. It might be a bumpy ride home after the game for the Bruins, if they're not stranded in South Florida. 

Speaking of South Florida, my cumulative walking distance this year extends from my home in Atlanta all the way to the southernmost tip of the Peninsular Florida mainland. Any further south and you're on the Key bridges. 

Speaking of walking, I got yesterday's walk in today, 6.7 miles along the Cochran Shoals Trail along and near the Chattahoochee River. The weather here in Atlanta is delightful: sunny, dry, temps in the high 70, and it felt great to be outside and exercising. I regret not getting out yesterday and I'll walk again tomorrow to get back on schedule. 

The Channel of Distance

 

I didn't walk or hike today, and it was my designated day to do it. First day missed since last March.

No reason. I guess on some subconscious level, I just didn't want to do it. It was a beautiful day, practically begging me to be outdoors, but I kept finding distractions and diversions in the house. 

It's no cosmic sin and I'll make the miles up tomorrow. Nothing lasts forever, not even every-other-day walking schedules. Life goes on. Get over it. 

It seems Milton is turning into a real motherfucker. The eye of the hurricane is moving across the Gulf of Mexico toward the east and will approach the west coast of Florida Wednesday. Milton is a potentially catastrophic category 5 hurricane with sustained winds near 180 mph and even higher gusts. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles. I urge my Florida friends to take all cautions.

Day of the Legendary Duress

 

Tropical Storm Milton is now a hurricane and is expected to become a major hurricane tomorrow. Milton is forecast to move north of the Yucatan Peninsula and across the southern Gulf of Mexico Monday and Tuesday and approach the west coast of Florida by Wednesday. Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph with higher gusts.  Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles.

While I have sympathy for the people of Florida, the forecast here in Atlanta is quite pleasant for the next 10 days - sunny, with highs in the mid-70s. Picture perfect autumn weather.  Might have to take another hike in the North Georgia mountains.

BTW, why do people here always say, "North Georgia mountains?" There are no South Georgia mountains, and almost all of North Georgia is mountainous. You'd get your point across perfectly well if you just said, "North Georgia," or "the Georgia mountains."

Speaking of Georgia, the No. 5-ranked Georgia Bulldogs won their game yesterday, beating the Auburn Tigers 31-13. Two of the teams above them in the AP rankings, No 1 Alabama and No. 4 Tennessee, lost their games yesterday, but Georgia didn't move any higher in today's AP Poll and is still No. 5.

Probably not the stuff of legends, but that's about the only duress I'm under today.

Conflict of the Hosts

 

I didn't see any deer on my walk today (6.7 miles) or new evidence of the destruction caused by last week's Hurricane Helena, but I did see an eastern rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta), about three feet long, attempting to cross the beltline trail. He was about a third of the way across when I saw him but he apparently got spooked by all the noisy, fast-moving simians on the trail and turned back. Once off the trail, he climbed up the nearest tree with surprising ease and speed. 

Last Sunday, I noted a broad area of low pressure located over the western Caribbean producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental  conditions were conducive for gradual development of the system, which is now known as Tropical Storm Milton and located in the southwesttern Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to remain more or less in place through tomorrow night, then move across the south-central Gulf on Monday and Tuesday and approach the west coast of Florida by midweek. Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph with higher gusts and rapid strengthening is forecast during the next few days.  The tropical storm is expected to become a hurricane by early Monday and could become a major hurricane as it moves across the Gulf. 

Summer Drum

 

For those who wonder, "what do you do all day?" I present today, a typical day in the life of a contemplative stoic urban monk:

7:00 am - Clock radio comes on, but lay in bed until 8:45, listening to news, petting cat

8:45 am - Finally get out of bed, make coffee, and take vitals (blood pressure and weight)

9:00 am - Drink black coffee and watch morning news on television 

10:00 am - Breakfast (one English muffin, toasted, no spread)

10:15 am - More news, some internet scrolling, listen to music 

12:00 pm - Watch the Celtics' preseason game from Abu Dhabi 

1:00 pm - Halftime, make yogurt with berries (blue-, black-, straw-, and raspberries) for lunch

1:30 pm - Watch second half as Celtics beat Nuggets, 107-103

3:00 pm - 90 minutes of sitting meditation

5:00 pm - Update blog, listen to music

The rest of this is planned/anticipated:

6:00 pm - First Friday: neighborhood social get-together on street, mingle, chat 

7:00 pm - Listen of webcast of BU Women''s Ice Hockey game at Minnesota

8:00 pm - Dinner (salad) between periods of hockey game

9:00 pm - Video gaming (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) or Netflix

11:00 pm - Retire, read a few chapters of a book (A Life Like Any Other, by Darcy O'Brien) in bed, and then fall asleep 

Tomorrow will be much the same, with a long walk in place of the sitting meditation, and the Georgia-Auburn football game the main sporting event. Days that follow will alternate between sitting and walking (zazen and kinhin), and the video games and novels changing as they're completed.    

It's not a life for everyone, but it suits me well.

Day of the Invisible Facade

The Biolabs facility in Conyers, Georgia that manufactured chlorine disinfectant for swimming pools caught fire last weekend. Smoke from the fire caused an evacuation of nearby residences and shut down interstate highway I-20 for a while. Since then, the wind has shifted and the plume is reaching Atlanta. The chlorine smell here is expected to last through the weekend.

State agencies and the U.S. EPA have been slow to release updates and information, or any real assessment of the actual threat to human lives and the environment posed by the fire. This, especially on top of all the anxiety over the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene, has caused reactions here to range from concerned to panic, and a lot of misinformation has been spreading on social media, including Facebook and Reddit. 

Let's be clear and look at the facts: Chlorine is a heavier-than-air, greenish-yellow gas with a distinctive, pungent, irritating odor. The odor threshold for chlorine, the concentration at which it can be smelled in the air, is between 0.2 and 0.4 ppm.

For chlorine, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended exposure limit (REL) is that a concentration of 0.5 ppm should not be exceeded during any 15-minute work period. However, NIOSH RELs are just that - recommendations - and are not legally enforceable. The legally enforceable  permissible exposure limit (PEL) for chlorine is set by OSHA at 1 ppm, and is not to be exceeded at any time, regardless of duration.

Since the odor threshold (0.2 to 0.4 ppm) is lower than the exposure limits (0.5 to 1 ppm), you'd be able to smell chlorine in the air before it reaches dangerous levels. However, one has to be wary of "olfactory fatigue," the tendency for the mind to ignore odors after some duration of time. Chlorine, though, is also a very strong oxidizing agent, meaning it is a potent irritant to humans eyes, and the lungs and upper respiratory tract, symptoms difficult to ignore.  

Acute (short-term) studies have reported tickling of the nose at 0.014 to 0.054 ppm, tickling of the throat at 0.04 to 0.097 ppm, itching of the nose and cough, stinging, or dryness of the nose and throat at 0.06 to 0.3 ppm, burning of the eyes after 15 minutes at 0.35 to 0.72 ppm, and discomfort ranging from eye and respiratory irritation to coughing, shortness of breath, and headaches above 1.0 ppm.

Higher levels of chlorine have resulted in mild mucous membrane irritation at 1 to 3 ppm; chest pain, vomiting, shortness of breath, and coughing at 30 ppm; and toxic pneumonitis and pulmonary edema at 46 to 60 ppm.

The U.S. EPA has set up air-quality monitoring stations around the Biolabs facility. The air samples are not being analyzed by a laboratory (at least those posted so far online) but instead were performed using portable field instruments, specifically hand-held Multi-RAE analyzers, larger Area-RAE equipment, chemical-specific Draeger tubes, and SPM analyzers. There instruments are good for rapid, real-time measurements, but lack the accuracy of laboratory analyses. I'm not implying that they're "inaccurate," but their minimum detection limits (the lowest concentration they can detect) are higher than laboratory analyses, and the accuracy (e.g., +/- 0.00x ppm) isn't as precise as a lab. Still, they're useful, especially for gathering lots of readings in a short time period, and they're used by emergency workers to assess air quality before entering a hazardous environment. If firemen and first responders trust them with their lives, we can take their reported concentrations at face value. 

EPA has published the tabulated results of 12 of the monitoring stations online. Analyses are reported for chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, with some stations additionally reporting hydrogen chloride and phosgene. Of the most recent published readings (5:00 pm yesterday), only one of the 12 stations reported chlorine levels at a concentration (1.51 ppm) exceeding the OSHA PEL of 0.5 ppm. The other gasses were all below their respective action levels. 

Some people in Atlanta have expressed concern that air monitoring isn't being performed here, as that's the direction the prevailing winds are now going. But the Biolabs facility is some 30 miles away from Atlanta, and if nothing else, dissipation and dispersion will reduce the concentrations from their source area in Conyers. And since the concentrations in Conyers are below the PEL in all but one of 12 stations, and concentrations at that one non-compliant station are below levels with severe health effects, there's no reason to believe that concentrations in Atlanta will be worse, even if they can be smelled.

Here's a guide: if you're healthy and don't suffer from a respiratory illness, it's fine to go outside in Atlanta. You may want to stay indoors if you're asthmatic or suffer from some other  respiratory disease. If you can smell chlorine, that means concentrations have risen above 0.2 to 0.4 ppm. There's no reason to panic though, as you're still well below levels harmful to health. If you experience tickling of the throat or itching of the nose, move indoors or at least out of the area you're in (especially low-laying areas where the heavier-than-air gas might accumulate). If you're experiencing pain or discomfort instead of mere tickling or itching, you're approaching the dangerous levels and need to move indoors.  

A lot of agencies have been advising that if you're indoor to avoid exposure, you should turn off the air conditioning. That's a boiler-plate recommendation for national advisories. Here in the American South, most AC system are central air systems and circulate indoor air instead of drawing it in from outside like the window-mounted systems used in the North. If you have central air (even with an outdoor compressor) there's no need to turn off the AC.

I'm not dismissing the risk, nor am I justifying the release from Biolabs. I'm as outraged and angry as anyone. However and on the other hand, I don't want people to experience unnecessary stress and anxiety over the issue, or to panic if they can smell chlorine.  As a point of comparison, your exposure to toxic gases, especially carcinogenic benzene, is greater every time you fill your tank with gasoline than being outdoors in Atlanta right now. 

I don't want people to panic nor do I want to lull them into false complacency,  but I do want them to make informed risk decisions.

Release from Dawn

 

More mysteries of the Universal Solar Calendar - Monday was Stone of the Dawn and, two days later, today is Release from Dawn. Don't know how the AI interpreted "release from dawn" to depict the Fall Guy avatar as some sort of hybrid corn stalk/wicker man.

Did you watch the VP debate last night? The Fox News pundits apparently watched it with the sound off. The headline on their website today says that a body-language expert claims Governor Walz was nervous and fidgety and displayed the body-language tells of lying, while Senator Vance was cool, calm, and collected, and appeared like a confident ship captain in control of the situation.

Right, whatever. If you actually listened to what was said, you'd have heard Vance flat-out lie and say that he never supported a national abortion ban, when there's ample videotape evidence of him saying very much the exact opposite. You'd have heard him petulantly complain that the moderators weren't supposed to check his facts after he lied about "illegal immigrants" overtaking Springfield, Ohio (the moderators pointed out to the television audience that Haitian immigrants were in Springfield legally). You'd have heard him try to change the subject without a direct answer when asked point blank if Trump had lost the 2020 election and try to maintain that Trump peacefully transferred power after the 2020 election, and is January 6th never happened.  

If, like the Fox News pundits, you went with the visual impressions, you'd have seen Vance do his imitation of the Dramatic Chipmunk meme whenever he was caught in a lie.

Of course and on the other hand, Huffington Post's headlines claim in bold, all-capital letters that "SPINELESS: VANCE WON'T ADMIT TRUMP LOST, CLAIMS DON PEACEFULLY TRANSFERRED POWER! SHIFTY & SLIMY: JD WHITEWASH WHIRLWIND! PLUS: FACT-CHECK FLIP-OUT!

My impression was that Walz did appear nervous and hesitant at first, but grew in confidence as the debate proceeded, while Vance tried his best to pivot toward the political center and appear to be a mainstream politician until his multiple lies caught up with him. But that's just my opinion - you're impression may differ. 

Day of the Rusted Machines

 

MAGA Republicans are trying to claim that the federal government is not responding to the crisis in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene because it prefers to spend money in Ukraine and on undocumented immigrants. 

Newsmax claims that FEMA’s top priority is not disaster relief but to instead push diversity, equity and inclusion. “Unless you’ve got your preferred pronouns spraypainted on the side of your submerged house—you won’t get a penny from Uncle Sam. Western North Carolina is just too Conservative and too Caucasian for FEMA to care.” 

Meanwhile, Trump touring Valdosta, Georgia, where people are still without power amidst the devastation. Trump claimed he had spoken to Elon Musk to get his Starlink satellites into North Carolina, even though FEMA has already provided 40 of the systems to North Carolina. Trump further claimed that Georgia governor Brian Kemp was “having a hard time getting the president on the phone. They’re being very non-responsive.” Kemp himself told reporters that Biden had called yesterday. “And he just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’” Kemp told him, “We got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process," adding "He offered that if there’s other things that we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.” 

Other Republicans have joined in the praise of the federal response:

• South Carolina governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, called the federal response “a great team effort…the federal government is helping us well, they’re embedded with us. There is no asset out there that we haven’t already accessed.” 

• Republican governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin told reporters that he was “incredibly appreciative of the rapid response and cooperation from the federal team at FEMA.” 

• Asheville, North Carolina, mayor Esther Manheimer told CNBC “We have support from outside organizations, other fire departments sending us resources, the federal government as well. So it's all-hands-on-deck, and it is a well-coordinated effort, but it is so enormous….” 

FEMA responded to a post claiming that FEMA was refusing to help certain Americans, saying: “This is a lie. We help all people regardless of background as fast as possible before, during and after disasters. That is our mission and that is our focus.” 

On NPR yesterday, I heard an interviewer try to corner Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas with "gotcha" questions. "Why didn't you get water to western North Carolina earlier? Predictions of the storm's path were quite accurate for quite a time before the storm?" That's simply bullshit. As of about 1:00 am last Friday morning, just before Helene made landfall, the National Hurricane Center was still forecasting the storm to track much further west, crossing directly over Atlanta and then up into Tennessee. I know this, because I was glued to my screen that night. However, after making landfall, the storm instead tacked significantly eastward, crossing over Augusta, Georgia and on up into western North Carolina. The NPR reported was working with "alternative facts," but hey, a "The government's not doing enough to help you" is a spicier story than, "They're doing all they can in a difficult, arduous situation."     

On MSNBC, I saw a victim of the storm up in North Carolina tell a reported "the government doesn't care about us. They're only interested in elections." Rhetoric like that of Newsmax and Trump is making things worse by crushing the morale of the people who most need help, and may even discourage them from seeking assistance from where they are most likely to get it. 

Alert readers will recall that when "president," Trump repeatedly withheld federal aid from Democratic governors—including North Carolina—after disasters in their states. No wonder he thinks that's what real capital-P Presidents do.

Thanks to Heather Cox Richardson for many of the quotes and much on the info cited here.