Today in history, greetings, and social banter here. (More)
Sergius III returned from retirement reclaim the papacy from deposed antipope Christopher today (904). Also, Stamford Raffles landed on the island of Singapore (1819), the New York Evening Mirror published Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” (1845), Victoria authorized the British award for military valor that bears her name (1856), Kansas became our 34th state (1861), Karl Benz patented the first gasoline-driven automobile (1886), 8 teams founded Major League Baseball’s American League (1900), Kansas’ Charles Curtis became the first Native American to serve in the U.S. Senate (1907), the Baseball Hall of Fame announced their first 5 inductees (1936), the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced their first 15 inductees (1963), French President Jacques Chirac declared a definitive end to his nation’s nuclear weapons testing, on the same day a fire destroyed Venice’s La Fenice Opera House (1996), a police officer and part-time clinic guard was killed and a nurse critically injured when a bomb exploded at a Birmingham, Alabama women’s health clinic (1998), President George W. Bush declared Iraq, Iran, and North Korea to be the “Axis of Evil” in his State of the Union Address (2002), the first direct commercial flights in 56 years were opened between China and Taiwan (2005), and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was removed from office following his conviction on corruption charges (2009). And 21 people died when SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashed near Almaty, Kazakhstan (2013).
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Yesterday on Campus
Morning Feature – The Squirrel with A Salon Full of Nuts
Midday Matinee – Linda Lee with I’ve Got Your Back
Campus Question – Will you miss Andrew Sullivan’s blog, and if so, for how long?
Today on Campus
Morning Feature – Hall of Mirrors, Part I: The Best of Times
Campus Question at 6pm ET
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Good morning! ::hugggggs::
Good morning! It’s currently a partly cloudy -12 here, with a high predicted to be in the lower 20’s. We’re supposed to get three or four inches of snow starting tonight, but it could be a little more. It looks like we’re going to be in the single digit to negative temps for the next week or so. Fortunately, just had my propane tank topped off yesterday, I’m all stocked up, so it’s mostly just “inconvenient,” not “life threatening.” 🙂
Politics: I think we’re seeing the end stages of Sarah Palin as “newsworthy conservative icon.” Even long-time supporters are jumping off the bandwagon. Long, long overdue, but we’ve always known they’re … slow.
After Linda’s map yesterday of the world, I found this one of the US: Nobody lives here. The big blotches up in Northern NY is where I am. 😉
The explanation for the blotches was revealing. Parks are often put in a census track with no population. In the Adirondacks the towns will show up as dots. This points to another problem, the census tracks are also used for transportation studies. A developed but unoccupied track can generate a lot of traffic.
Great point, Jim. Thanks for adding it. It wouldn’t have popped out at me (I never would have looked at it from this perspective) but it’s important to note. I hope future planners think of that.
Thanks Norbrook! I like his idea of flipping the question from where do people live to where don’t they live. The western US is pretty green.
It’s like here, in many ways. Not much in the way of easily accessible. There are some pretty large areas up here where almost no one has been.
Interesting map, Norbrook. I notice the devoid of population area just west of where I am in Fla. Everglades and Lake Okeechobee area. Didn’t realize how large it would be relative to populous areas.
Chris Hayes had same comment about Sarah Palin. Some of us knew this 6 years ago. She’s committed her political jump the shark moment.
We knew it that long ago, and if anyone had been paying attention to the Alaska bloggers, they’d have known that there were huge red flags all around her long before she was picked. Thank you John McCain.
My snark about “they’re slow” was because she has done nothing in the intervening time to show that she was anything but what her detractors said, and it’s only now that the conservative pundits finally caught on.
One of my cousin’s law school friends is a judge in Alaska. When Palin was nominated as VP the judge said, “You are all in for an experience in Alaska politics which is nothing like the rest of the country. Fasten your selt belts.”
I love it! “Fasten your seatbelts.” LOL
Over the years, I’ve known a lot of people like Palin. The only difference was that unlike Alaska, they were always local or in various groups where their idiocy was contained. (sigh)
Thanks for the map, Norbrook. It was fascinating. As for Palin… never too late to see the last of her. 😉
IDK, I’ve always regarded her as one of their leading intellectuals….
Looks like Fla has their answer as to where to go once rising sea level inundates Miami-Dade, Palm and Broward Counties – go west to the Everglades young man. Good luck finding potable water, though.
But heck, you can eat the gators and the pythons! Not to mention the skins make great boots… 😉
Good heavens! The rising sea levels will bring back the “River of Grass.” And the mosquitoes are awful. 😉
I’m about 30 feet above sea level, so I’m planning on having beach front property… 😉
Is there a way to zoom in on that map?
Good Morning. It is a damp 32 degrees. We had freezing rain over night. The decks are very slippery. The dog had a bit of trouble going out to P&P. I might wait a bit until I venture out.
We were watching the news last night. There was an interesting collection of human interest stories. One student at the U of M has measles, get vaccinated, a new kind of chicken, is this ice safe…etc. Finally my sister says, “I love watching the news when no one has died from gun violence. Look at all these weird and interesting stories that they have been sitting on.” She made me laugh. I hadn’t realized the absence of bleeding leads. Shows just how accustomed to violence we are that only one of us noticed it was missing.
Stay warm and stay safe.
Sounds like a fun night of news watching. 🙂
You stay safe, too. Ice is awful and deadly. It should melt soon, shouldn’t it?
I think the sidewalks and trails will be slow to melt. The roads should be okay with traffic.
Hopefully, the ice disappears. Freezing rain is always the worst when it comes to slipping.
We had a crawler on the local news this morning about an Irish policeman who was on vacation in NOL and was shot. Made me think 2nd Amendment & USA! USA! smh
Well, we’re enjoying “Chamber of Commerce weather” down here: it may get chilly at night, but daytime highs are pretty much pegged in the upper 60s to mid 70s for the next week. Delightful breather for those of us who live here year round.
Although I must say, in all fairness, I think parts of the Northeast get hotter and more humid than we do here. I remember summers on Long Island where August just about killed me. The Gulf moderates us, so while we may get humid we rarely get terribly hot. Listen to me defend the only defensible thing about this state….
Hugggs and good morning!
Oh, and P.S. to Mike: do you have any knowledge or experience of real life comparisons between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans? If you do and wouldn’t mind talking about it, I can give you my e-mail address.
I can remember one summer up north where the campground cleared out with 95+ degree days and night temps in the 80’s. Used to be reliably cooler in the north woods. The humidity was awful.
Glad you are enjoying wonderful weather 🙂
I think it depends on where you are in Florida as well. I remember going to Homestead for a friends wedding in June, and being astonished by the heat and humidity – and I was coming from DC, which is not exactly “chilly” in the summer.
(edit) Clarifying: This was 25 years ago. 🙂
You’re right of course. I just remember a few years ago we had a conference in Orlando in July and all my northern friends were worried about the weather. I sent them stats showing we wouldn’t be any hotter at the conference than many of them would be at home around the same time. They were happy and made their trips to Disney World and Universal Studios. 🙂
One of the more shocking “differences” I experienced was a conference in New Orleans in July. We left upstate NY early in the morning when it was 50 degrees, and when we left the terminal in New Orleans to get on the hotel shuttle, it was 100 degrees and about 90% humidity. Talk about feeling like “walking into a wall!”
I know that feeling. 🙁 It sucks.
Do you mean in terms of their relative efficacy? Which plan is better from a consumer perspective?
Yup. The HMOs worry me. I got screwed on that once before when I had an emergency hospitalization.
Not really. We have traditional Medicare just because of fears of what you wrote. The private companies can say, well this stinks why are we offering plans. It’s like the ACA exchanges: companies wondering yes or no to enter markets, or changing their benefit packages willy-hilly. Folks in exchanges were counseled to shop around even if they liked last year’s plan because last year’s plan might change to something less beneficial to them. We chose traditional Medicare because of the consistency, except for out-of-pocket changes.
Thanks, that’s what I’m thinking, too. Plus, as I discovered, once you’re in the hospital you aren’t asking who’s on your plan. You’re getting what’s available.
Thanks, I appreciate your input!
Also learned something else, in case anyone else is following this: Advantage plans are made up of providers who are willing to accept less than Medicare level reimbursements. Which explains the narrow networks.
Which also explains why one plan I looked at had only one doctor who was listed as speaking English. If you speak Gujarat or something else, you’re in luck!
Ms LI Mike and I went to see “Selma” yesterday. As advertised, excellent movie. I mentioned here many moons ago that a Dem activist on Long Island, Bob Zellner, was active with SNCC. There was one or two scenes in the movie and I wondered if Bob was there. Probably. His book, “Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner In the Freedom Movement,” was under consideration for movie making. Haven’t seen him in a while though so don’t know what happened to that project.
Meanwhile, 50 years later we’re still fighting for voting rights,
Still remains a mystery to Ms LI Mike and me how people get so hate-filled. Even the explanations leave us shaking our heads.
It’s a mystery to me, too, Mike. 🙁 Glad you enjoyed the movie, though.
Good morning!
We have clouds, gusty winds, and 46 degrees, the high for the day, or so they say…. Spent yesterday with PW and Adler. You don’t wanna open a triple cheeseburger anywhere near him! Bite! Bite! He’ll demolish it for you… BTW, I only get one slice of cheese, but dang, he must like ’em that way too! PW feeds him the stuff he’s supposed to eat while I drive to McD’s, after that, all he wants, usually, is another bite of CB. Hee hee hee!
Gonna grab a bowl of cereal and hit the woodshed project. Have decided that the bulging back wall needs to be straightened, and to do that, will have to remove the last rick on the side that has all the wood in it. This’ll be tough, there’s very little room to work. PW has said she’ll help. Pop used to say, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” Now I have that ringing in my ears, so OK Pop, this one’s for you! 🙂
Hope all are well!
Best, G
My Dad said the same thing and I have that echo too. I’ll bet your kids will have the same echo. 🙂 Good luck with your project. Sounds pretty ambitious.
🙂