Week Of 1/27

[roloma]

To maybe help bring a little levity when everything else seems like shit...I just saw an article that called T "President Good Brain" and it gave me a serious LOL.

[geekygirly]

What concerns me with the coronavirus (and probably why they are taking so many precautions), is that while it does only seem to have a 2% mortality rate, which doesn't initially seem like much, the flu mortality rate is generally around 0.1% (which equated to about 34,200 deaths in the US last year). So if it was to become as widespread as the flu, it would be bad. There is also no vaccine right now (although folks are already working on it). Currently it doesn't seem to be as virulent as the flu but we don't know a lot about it yet, so that is why it is so important to prevent its spread before it becomes a pandemic.

[byjove]

In case there wasn't enough news happening, the EU Parliament voted today on the Brexit deal and it overwhelmingly passed. Brexit Day is Friday. (wut?! that is fast- I triple checked that was true)

[cakewench]

Danica is amazing:

[blurnette989]

Jan 29, 2020 14:17:01 GMT -6 byjove said:

In case there wasn't enough news happening, the EU Parliament voted today on the Brexit deal and it overwhelmingly passed. Brexit Day is Friday. (wut?! that is fast- I triple checked that was true)

Yup. And I've been pinging HR all day to remind them that I work in the EU and currently am paid through their London office, so what do I need to do to get aligned to the Frankfurt office!!!

[byjove]

Jan 29, 2020 15:42:16 GMT -6 blurnette989 said:

Jan 29, 2020 14:17:01 GMT -6 byjove said:

In case there wasn't enough news happening, the EU Parliament voted today on the Brexit deal and it overwhelmingly passed. Brexit Day is Friday. (wut?! that is fast- I triple checked that was true)

Yup. And I've been pinging HR all day to remind them that I work in the EU and currently am paid through their London office, so what do I need to do to get aligned to the Frankfurt office!!!

Ah!! I hope that all works out for you!

[oreobitsy]

Ok, who writes for Buzzfeed News? Headline reads "Don’t Worry About The Coronavirus. Worry About The Flu."

www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/coronavirus-cases-deaths-flu

[layloo]

Pandemic is a new documentary series on Netflix and it’s really good and puts the seriousness of the flu into perspective.
I also liked that a lot of the scientists are religious. ( I’m not but I thought it was interesting to show you can have SCIENCE and faith.)

[milano]

Jan 29, 2020 8:00:52 GMT -6 fatpony said:

Wow

Look at the big grins in the background when he does that. Even his supporters are like 'WTF is happening'. Lady in the pink on the right is the best.

[oreobitsy]

Border wall blows over.

[LaRo422]

Jan 29, 2020 10:01:40 GMT -6 jaygee said:

Jan 29, 2020 9:50:02 GMT -6 jkjacq said:

Oh man

Matt Mauser, who is the husband of Christina Mauser who was killed in the crash on Sunday, is on CNN with Anderson.  Its heartbreaking. Hes trying so hard to not break down and bawl on national tv.

I haven’t been able to watch any of his interviews. I’m so overwhelmed with this story. It’s just so heartbreaking. I keep thinking of those young girls who died and breaking down.

Same with my husband and I. Even last night, we were watching interviews together and reading/listening to stories on the internet about Kobe. It’s just so unimaginable and overwhelming, and kind of hard to process. For me, I think a big part of it is being a parent and looking at it from that perspective. One of my kids is also 13, so I think about that. I think the parent part is hard for my husband, too, but he also lost one of his brothers in 2007 to a car accident. He was 15/16 and my husband was 19. He had to be the one to tell his parents and the rest of his siblings (he’s one of 6) and said he had to be the strong one. I think this is opening some old wounds for him because he keeps talking about how he can relate to life changing in an instant. He’s cried a lot in the few days. It’s just so hard to comprehend.

[jaygee]

LaRo422 I liked that for sympathy. Let’s both commit to staying away from the stories today for our mental health. ❤️

[jaygee]

It’s early here and I opened up twitter and cackled at this.

[roloma]

Jan 30, 2020 8:09:09 GMT -6 jaygee said:

It’s early here and I opened up twitter and cackled at this.

Should not have had a drink of coffee before looking at that.  Just perfection.

[dc2london]

Jan 29, 2020 10:07:31 GMT -6 roloma said:

To maybe help bring a little levity when everything else seems like shit...I just saw an article that called T "President Good Brain" and it gave me a serious LOL.

Love this. Stealing it.

[dc2london]

Jan 29, 2020 21:11:17 GMT -6 milano said:

Jan 29, 2020 8:00:52 GMT -6 fatpony said:

Wow

Look at the big grins in the background when he does that. Even his supporters are like 'WTF is happening'. Lady in the pink on the right is the best.

Why do they all look like rejects from The Sopranos cast

[LaRo422]

Jan 30, 2020 8:08:38 GMT -6 jaygee said:

LaRo422 I liked that for sympathy. Let’s both commit to staying away from the stories today for our mental health. ❤️

Thank you, and that sounds like a plan ❤️

[cakewench]

Trump admin to loosen landmine use restrictions:

Going to vomit.

[jaygee]

Heehee

[dc2london]

Jan 30, 2020 10:36:51 GMT -6 cakewench said:

Trump admin to loosen landmine use restrictions:

Going to vomit.

Legit, what the fuck is wrong with this person

[dc2london]

I use the term "person" loosely but I very much mean the fuck part

[Lakes]

Need a feel good local politics story?

I posted this fall that my son wrote to our local state rep and governor about bat conservation, heard back from them, got some political swag when he met our rep, etc. When I last saw my local rep around the holidays she said receiving his letter inspired her and her staff to reach out to kids and engage them in local politics. Since government is such an abstract concept for kids, they decided to put mailboxes in five of the local libraries hoping that having something more visible will encourage them to get involved. Well, the mailboxes showed up this week and they even used a photo of ds meeting with her on the information sheet!

I hope she gets a lot of letters. She’s been so responsive to community issues and has made herself very visible. We are a recently flipped district so I appreciate her hard work.

[jkjacq]

In tangentially related impeachment news, E. Jean Carroll who has accused 45 of rape is demanding a DNA sample to match the one she has on her dress.

www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/following-sexual-assault-allegation-carroll-seeks-trumps-dna?cid=sm_fb_maddow&fbclid=IwAR3xgtfirjXf-wCQ0Gb7GwE786k5yn44nOs2AbC-xnUnzVhizfbqGwp0A8c

[cnf]

Jan 30, 2020 12:38:35 GMT -6 Lakes said:

Need a feel good local politics story?

I posted this fall that my son wrote to our local state rep and governor about bat conservation, heard back from them, got some political swag when he met our rep, etc. When I last saw my local rep around the holidays she said receiving his letter inspired her and her staff to reach out to kids and engage them in local politics. Since government is such an abstract concept for kids, they decided to put mailboxes in five of the local libraries hoping that having something more visible will encourage them to get involved. Well, the mailboxes showed up this week and they even used a photo of ds meeting with her on the information sheet!

I hope she gets a lot of letters. She’s been so responsive to community issues and has made herself very visible. We are a recently flipped district so I appreciate her hard work.

That's amazing and one of the sweetest things I've seen. What a gem for wanting young kids involved. And how proud you and your DS must be ♥️

[richard]

Looking fit.

[dc2london]

Lakes that is the absolute best!!

[dc2london]

Jan 30, 2020 20:05:39 GMT -6 richard said:

Looking fit.

Oh he's been doing squats

[byjove]

The headlines this morning are just making me want to rage. Everything is falling apart.

[byjove]

On a separate note, anyone been following the saga around American Dirt? Thoughts?

The premise is that a Puerto Rican woman wrote a book about the border crossing experience of Mexican immigrants. I’ve read that’s both a very intriguing and fascinating story and also that it’s poorly written. She’s receiving death threats because she wrote this book and is not Latinx.

[blurnette989]

Jan 31, 2020 5:50:50 GMT -6 byjove said:

On a separate note, anyone been following the saga around American Dirt? Thoughts?

The premise is that a Puerto Rican woman wrote a book about the border crossing experience of Mexican immigrants. I’ve read that’s both a very intriguing and fascinating story and also that it’s poorly written. She’s receiving death threats because she wrote this book and is not Latinx.

The death threats are terrible.

But also I keep in touch with an ungrad lit Prof I had in uni. She posted Myriam Gurbas review of the book which I recommend reading because it explains why Cummins is being seen through the lens of a Rachel Dolezal. Check out this excerpt below:

tropicsofmeta.com/2019/12/12/pendeja-you-aint-steinbeck-my-bronca-with-fake-ass-social-justice-literature/

To fit the messyanic bill, Cummins re-branded herself as a person of color. A glance at recent interviews shows Cummins now identifying as “Latinx,” her claim to this identity hinging on the existence of a Puerto Rican grandmother. Cummins, however, is still breaking in her Latinx-ness because four years ago, she wasn’t.

I repeat: Four years ago, Cummins was white.

“I don’t want to write about race,” Cummins wrote in a 2015 New York Times op-ed. “What I mean is, I really don’t want to write about race…I am white… I’ll never know the impotent rage of being profiled or encounter institutionalized hurdles to success because of my skin or hair or name.”