I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Linkee-poo Thursday

"The Royal Canadian Mint has launched a new toonie to commemorate the legacy of Haida artist Bill Reid, more than 20 years after his death… The new $2 coin, which marks 100 years since Reid's birth, enters circulation Tuesday." And here's a link to the Royal Canadian Mint page with the coins. Goddamn it, Canada. You do this the year after I'm in your country and months after the border is closed? And I want that (it looks like brass) challenge coin, but I can't find it on your site. Is it the gold coin (way more than I can spend)? Also, it looks like you're out of the non-painted rolls, ARGH! So now, what, I need to stalk the money exchanges to find them?

"In a way, Yuki Morono and his team of researchers at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology flipped that experience around by giving modern food to some old organisms. But their case involved bringing up ancient mud from the seafloor and adding some food to see if anything was alive in there… There were, in fact, bacteria in the mud, which likely doesn’t sound surprising. But given the environment and the age of this stuff—100 million years—it’s actually pretty remarkable." It's like these scientists have never seen a movie in their life.

They've figured out where the sarsen stones in Stonehenge came from. "English Heritage said the opportunity to do a destructive test on the core proved "decisive", as it showed its composition matched the chemistry of sarsens at West Woods, just south of Marlborough."

"California, Florida and Texas, the three largest U.S. states, all set one-day records for fatalities from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a Reuters tally showed, and the Miami-area school district said students would not return to classrooms when the new academic year begins as deaths from the virus spiked nationwide."

"NIH: 'No replicating virus' in lungs of 87.5% of vaccinated monkeys after COVID exposure." This was two days after exposure (and after 2 doses). I'd wait to see results from a text done 10-20 days after inoculation.

"Well, it turns out that the housing market is in the rudest of health. Traffic on the real estate website Redfin is up about 40 percent, and the National Association of Realtors announced that pending home sales are up 15 percent from last month." I'm movin' out.

"Now, many of those power shut-off moratoriums are expiring, including Georgia Power's, which ended on July 15. And this comes as Americans who are still struggling face the end of another lifeline: supplemental unemployment benefits that are set to lapse."

"'The typical places where coin enters our society have slowed or even stopped the normal circulation of coin,' said the Federal Reserve, which manages coin inventory, in a June statement." Remember the economy is the movement of money. When money sits, the economy suffers. Sometimes is suffers in more concrete ways.

"More than 1.43 million people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, according to weekly data released Thursday by the Department of Labor. It's the second-straight week that the number has risen, and the 19th week in a row that the U.S. has seen more than a million claims… The extent of the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic was further revealed on Thursday, with gross domestic product for the second quarter sinking by a record 32.9 percent annualized, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis." So much winning. That pretty much wipes out any growth for the past 10 years.

But someone is making money. "Procter & Gamble on Thursday reported strong quarterly revenue growth as consumers stuck at home bought more Tide laundry detergent and Mr. Clean products."

"A federal judge delayed the unsealing of a deposition of Jeffery Epstein's former girlfriend and alleged accomplice to allow her time to appeal its release… US District Judge Loretta Preska denied Ghislaine Maxwell's request to block the release of depositions from a 2016 civil lawsuit Wednesday but delayed the unsealing until Monday so Maxwell could ask an appeals court to review the matter, according to court documents." Things aren't looking good for her.

"US Rep. Jim Jordan questioned Google CEO Sundar Pichai about allegations of anti-conservative bias in Google's practices. After a colleague characterized his questions as 'fringe conspiracy theories,' Jordan lashed out and interrupted lawmakers." Rage and anger is all Jim has left.

"President Donald Trump's decision to pull nearly 12,000 US troops from Germany triggered an onslaught of disapproval from Republicans, Democrats and former senior military officials, who said the move will benefit Russia, degrade US national security and military readiness, cost US taxpayers billions and undermine US relations with Germany, NATO and Europe." Waves to my Russian friends.

"But Reuters/Ipsos polling this month shows white suburban Americans are far more worried about the economy and healthcare than crime, a sign that Trump’s strategy could be at odds with the priorities of the critical voting bloc he narrowly won in 2016 and must win back to secure a second term."

"Donald Trump has suggested November's presidential election be postponed, saying increased postal voting could lead to fraud and inaccurate results… He floated a delay until people could 'properly, securely and safely' vote." He would have to get Congress to agree. And that's doubtful.

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