The Harris - de Lint Recovery Fund gofundme. MaryAnne Harris is married to Charles de Lint, and is in the hospital with Powassan virus, a tick-borne disease. Even though Canada has a great healthcare system, it is not infinite and MaryAnne is in need of long term care for recovery. Her partner, Charles de Lint, is a seminole figure in urban fantasy and was once exceptionally kind to an extremely ignorant young author at a World Fantasy in Wisconsin. He is also a kickass author and MaryAnne is his first reader and editor. (Grokked from Lisa Nohealani Morton)
"Despite glitches for some people trying to watch via Fire TV Sticks, HBO announced that the first episode of its Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon recorded the network’s biggest premiere of all time, recording 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max streaming on Sunday night in the US alone." There were some rumblings online, and I think HBO is touting this number because, if I read the tea leaves correctly, next week's numbers will be down. I'm sure you can find the commentary if you want, but let me just note that HBO is going to be HBO.
"Firebaugh, Calif., sitting right on the San Joaquin River, is a great place to raise a family, says city manager Ben Gallegos. He's lived in this Central Valley community for most of his life… But now he's preparing the city for a force of nature potentially more destructive than the fires and drought Californians are used to — a megastorm." While I certainly agree with the concern of this city manager, I will also point out that preparing for a megastorm will also mean an infrastructure program (and spending) that will benefit the community in regular times. Especially if their infrastructure is about 100 years old now.
"With China’s biggest freshwater lake reduced to just 25% of its usual size by a severe drought, work crews are digging trenches to keep water flowing to one of the country’s key rice-growing regions."
"The world’s newest and biggest space telescope is showing Jupiter as never before, auroras and all… Scientists released the shots Monday of the solar system’s biggest planet."
"Two astrophotographers have teamed up to produce an out-of-this-world photo of the moon, capturing over 200,000 shots to create a single image… Andrew McCarthy and Connor Matherne collaborated last November to push their photography skills to the limit. Their finished product was posted online Saturday, and is currently gaining lots of attention on Reddit."
"The winged, spindly-legged bloodsuckers have long been the bane of backyard barbecues and, in tropical nations, carriers of serious disease. Now, with climate change widening the insect’s range and lengthening its prime season, more Americans are resorting to the booming industry of professional yard spraying."
"Ge Bai, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, recently published research on this topic and said hospitals in the U.S. often set their cash prices lower than the prices they charge to treat commercially insured patients."
"On Monday, the drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they've asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize an updated version of their COVID-19 vaccine — this one designed specifically to target the omicron subvariants that are dominant in the U.S."
"Dr. Anthony Fauci, who played a critical role in steering humanity through the two pandemics of our time, AIDS and COVID-19, announced Monday he is stepping down from his role in the federal government."
"Multiple states now mandate or encourage the buttons, and a growing number of districts are shelling out tens of thousands of dollars per school for them — part of a widespread scramble to beef up school security and prevent the next tragedy. The spending spree includes metal detectors, security cameras, vehicle barriers, alarm systems, clear backpacks, bullet-resistant glass and door-locking systems." Checks the internet, yep, teachers are still begging for help to buy basic school supplies like pens and paper.
"The euro has fallen below parity with the dollar, diving to its lowest level in 20 years and ending a one-to-one exchange rate with the U.S. currency."
"And it appears the company doesn’t want to halt its reach anytime soon. In recent weeks, Amazon has said it will spend billions of dollars in two gigantic acquisitions that, if approved, will broaden its ever growing presence in the lives of consumers."
"But over the last couple weeks, I've gotten a crash course on the black market for stolen cars, and I've come to learn that it's actually not the nice ones that are the most frequent targets. It's the clunkers. If you think about it, that's pretty messed up. It means that the people who can least afford to have their cars stolen are more likely to have their cars stolen."
"For the first time in nearly 50 years, the district's unionized teachers are striking, the Columbus Education Association (CEA) announced… On Sunday, the union voted to go on strike after weeks of negotiations over new contract language with Columbus City Schools went nowhere. The union says it was pushing for guaranteed air conditioning, 'appropriate class sizes' and full-time art, music and physical education teachers in the city's elementary schools."
"A former head of security at Twitter has filed whistleblower complaints with U.S. officials, alleging that the company misled regulators about its cybersecurity defenses and its problems with fake accounts, according to reports by The Washington Post and CNN."
"Germany’s natural gas storage facilities are now more than 80% full, showing steady progress despite a drastic reduction in deliveries from Russia amid the war in Ukraine." Hmm, sounds like Nord Stream 1 is about to have some more "troubles."
"An explosion in the outskirts of Moscow has killed the daughter of a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin… Daria Dugina, 29, was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser Sunday when the vehicle exploded. Authorities in Russia have launched a criminal investigation."
"A man has died after falling from a peak in the Austrian Alps as he was trying to take a photo of a companion with whom he had reached the summit, police said Tuesday." Auntie Mame?
"The chief executive of embattled Israeli spyware maker NSO has stepped down as part of a corporate reorganization, the company announced Sunday." Ah, we've arrived at the second envelope.
"More than 11,000 people like Cardoza have been released from federal prison in the last couple of years, to ride out the pandemic at home, often with their families and loved ones. But that situation can be precarious… Cardoza's return to prison turned the family upside down. She's now been back at Danbury for 14 months. Alvarez said she never got the chance to explain herself or challenge that single positive drug test."
"White House officials have been weighing -- and leaning toward -- the cancellation of up to $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower tied to an income threshold, CNN has learned… According to multiple sources familiar with the discussions, the plan is designed to offer the forgiveness to individuals who earn less than $125,000 per year."
"A school district in southwestern Florida has made headlines for rejecting a donation of dictionaries because of a freeze on new books in its libraries and classrooms… That freeze is temporarily in place while officials navigate a new state law that gives parents more control over the selection of reading and instructional materials in schools."
"Tennessee’s disgraced former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering with federal funds." Ohio feels your pain, Tennessee.
"A South Dakota ethics board on Monday said it found sufficient information that Gov. Kristi Noem may have “engaged in misconduct” when she intervened in her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license, and it referred a separate complaint over her state airplane use to the state’s attorney general for investigation."
It's not all Republicans, though… "A local North Carolina grand jury on Monday advanced its consideration of possible criminal charges against state Attorney General Josh Stein and two aides over an investigation into a political ad targeting Stein’s 2020 election opponent."
"Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano made national headlines this summer for his ties to Gab, a social-media site closely associated with the Christian nationalist movement, and once used by the man accused in the mass shooting at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue." On Christian Nationalism.
"Citing alarm toward the Republican Party’s widespread embrace of 2020 election conspiracies, a moderate GOP Colorado state senator has switched his affiliation to Democrat, enhancing that party’s prospects to retain its majority in the chamber in the November midterms."
"In a motion filed in federal court in Florida, Trump also is seeking to prevent the government from further reviewing the documents that were taken until a special master is appointed, and he wants the government to provide more details on items that were taken during the search."
"Fox Corp CEO and Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch — already busy fighting two multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuits aimed at Fox News here in the U.S. — has threatened a news organization in his family's home country of Australia with legal action… Now the Aussie political news site Crikey has a message: Bring it on."
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