The saga of “what’s broken now” continues. Yesterday, the plumber finally arrived to fix the outside spigots. I had managed to stay awake all morning waiting for him. Fortunately, Kat was home by the time he finally gathered everything he needed and started working. He managed to finish shortly before the kids arrived home from school. This should stop the constant flow of water outside the house and lower our bill dramatically. The only real challenge is that I’ll have to actually watch and refill the water bowl the dogs use outside.
Today, the same plumber returns around 8:30 this morning to replace the water heater. Why? Because when he opened the closet where the water heater is, looking to turn off the water for the house, he noticed that there were multiple leaks. There wasn’t any question about it. Water was dripping everywhere. This repair is going to be more of a big deal. Chances are pretty high that he’ll have to take the water heaters in/out of the front door. You know, the one we never use because five litter boxes are sitting in front of it. I asked G to clean up around there last night, but I noticed this morning that there’s still a bit of work to be done before they get here. I’m typing as fast as I can.
Kat made a wonderful dinner last night! I have to take a moment and brag. She’s been making homemade chicken broth for the past couple of weeks so that she has soup to take to work with her. The side effect of that was that we had extra chicken breasts that needed to be cooked. The chicken, the wine-based sauce, over very nice rice, beat out any restaurant that I’ve been to. I’m not sure the kids appreciate how lucky they are that their mom is such a wonderful cook.
There’s a lot that kids don’t notice about their parents, though, such as how tired and rundown they get trying to take care of everyone. Everyone knows that being a parent has never been easy, but now it’s been codified. The US Surgeon General made it official that being a parent is bad for your health. Cue the childless cat ladies who are now grinning from ear to ear. This puts a spotlight on how parents are treated at work, the difficulty of getting time off to care for sick kids, the need for personal days away from the kids, and the overwhelming cost of childcare. The entire report is here if you’re interested in reading it.
Have you been following the whole kerfuffle over the Orange Felon’s campaign taking pictures at Arlington Cemetery on Monday? I’d been largely ignoring it because, at its core, it’s just another incident where the Felon is showing disrespect for the military. he’s good at that. The only reason he was even at the cemetery on Monday was trying to score political points over the way troops left Afghanistan. Now, it seems that cemetery officials had warned the campaign beforehand that they were not allowed to take pictures. That takes away the “we didn’t know” excuse. Don’t be surprised, though. This whole campaign is built on lies and deceit. Expect it, but don’t fall for it.
SpaceX had a boo-boo and now it’s grounded. Literally. the FAA grounded all Falcon 9 launches pending an explanation of why one of them fell over and burst into flames while landing. This immediately affects a number of planned launches, including that one where the billionaire is going to try walking in space. No one was hurt in the accident and peripheral damage was minimal. Still, after having completed several successful missions where the returning rocket didn’t fall over, having one do so raises some serious safety questions.
Journalism took a serious hit yesterday. A Hong Kong court on Thursday found two editors of the now-defunct Stand News media outlet guilty of conspiring to publish seditious articles in a case that has drawn international scrutiny amid a security crackdown in the China-ruled city. Stand News was once a beacon of what a Free Press could do. As China has increased its chokehold on Hong Kong, though, those freedoms have been severely stifled. Be sure that China wants this case to serve as a warning for anyone else who might want to challenge its dominance over the city.
China hasn’t exactly been playing nice for quite some time. Yesterday, a top Chinese military official told White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that the US needs to stop “colluding” with Taiwan. China desperately wants to reunite Taiwan with the mainland. Taiwan, however, doesn’t want to go and the US has long held that China doesn’t have the right to take away their independence. I think it’s pretty certain that the US response to China will be a big “fuck you,” only in more diplomatic language.
Greedy investors caused AI stocks to stumble a bit yesterday after chip maker NVIDIA posted gains that dramatically beat forecasts, but not as much as investors had hoped. Mind you, the company reported a net income of $16.6 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, net income was $16.95 billion. Revenue rose to $30 billion, up 122% from a year ago and 15% from the previous quarter. The problem? “Well, it wasn’t as much above forecasts as other quarters have been.” Greedy much? Growth forecasts for the entire industry are still quite strong. There’s plenty of time here for investors to squeeze out insane profits and buy all their yachts before there’s even a hint of a downturn.
I wish I had something pithy and cute to end with this morning, but there’s nothing really that interesting in this morning’s headlines. The rain that seemed inevitable yesterday morning never developed, staying well to our North. Our next chance for moisture comes with the cool front moving through Friday night. We’ll see how that goes.
I have to get things moved around for the plumber now, so you take the day and run with it, okay? It’s all you. No pressure.
Morning Update: 10/02/24
Slowly, we’re recovering from the power outage. I am amazed by the outpouring of generous help that we’ve received. Hopefully, we’ll have everything restocked by the time the kids go on Fall Break next week and devour everything in sight. Life will remain a bit hectic as we try to get caught up on laundry and other chores. The weather looks decent for the remainder of the week, so perhaps we’ll get the lawn cleaned up and have a chance to make sure we’ve not missed any damage.
Tipper is mad at me this morning because I won’t let her go to a friend’s house after school. Why am I being so mean? She didn’t finish the dishes last night. She was warned multiple times of the consequences. She only made excuses. And, in her 14-year-old mind, it’s all my fault. I’m laughing inside as I type this because what she left are probably the easiest dishes to wash: plastic Rubbermaid containers. None of them were stained with tomato sauce, so it wouldn’t have taken more than five minutes to finish up. But no, I’m a horrible person for asking her to do so much.
We’re trying to finalize arrangements for G to spend his fall break in Florida with a friend. The biggest sticking point at the moment is no one is sure how much damage the area about an hour North of Tampa received. I think we’ll get that figured out, though, and then we get to deal with the anxiety that comes with letting our 15-year-old (almost 16, he would say) go that far from home without us. He’s responsible. The family he’s going with is cool. Still, if Kat and I suddenly disappear next week, you’ll know we got a message and are on our way to pick him up.
Information about the devastation from Hurricane Helene continues to pour in. The death toll stands at 166 this morning and it’s only going to go higher. In the small town of Erwin, TN, 11 workers at a plastics factory were swept away by surprise flood waters. Only five have been found. I’m sure there are going to be more such stories as rescuers make their way into the remote areas of Tennessee and North Carolina. Sadly, first responders who were attempting to help the victims are among the dead. There’s no amount of aid that can fix this. No one can bring back the lives lost, the families whose entire existence was swept away. This was one of those events that reshapes a region. The people and the places may rebuild in time, but nothing will be the same.
Last night’s vice-presidential debate was too polite for aggressive Americans, apparently. Personally, I was in bed and asleep. I think that was a better use of my time. If you’re interested, here are 13 different reviews of the debate. Or, you can jump straight to the required fact-checking. You know politicians lie. You need to know which ones are completely false. The list is always much too long.
Israel, Iran, Jordan, and Gaza are all being controlled by war hawks who have absolutely no concern for the number of innocent lives they are taking. Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes have killed at least 51 people in southern Gaza overnight, including women and children. India warns its citizens not to travel to Iran, and quite honestly, I think one would be an idiot to be caught in any of the affected countries at this point. Of course, Yemen’s Houthi rebels are looking to gain from continuing conflict in the Middle East because there are far too many people in the world who look to take advantage of others’ suffering. Every last bit of this war is unnecessary and the “leaders” all have blood on their hands.
Suffering is everywhere, though. A Typhoon bringing heavy rain is slowly heading toward Taiwan, where 4,000 have evacuated. In Japan, a WWII-era bomb exploded near an airport runway, canceling 87 flights. And making matters worse for everyone, Fentanyl makers are exploiting holes in US trade law in an effort to kill as many Americans as possible.
There have always been bad people in the world, but the glut of information we now possess gives us the ability to be more aware. There’s a very interesting article in this morning’s NYTimes about the “billionaire preachers” who control Texas. For me, the phrase “billionaire preachers” is a rage-inducing oxymoron. If preachers are billionaires, then they’re obviously not taking care of people in the manner scripture demands. This isn’t new for Texas, though. Religious leaders have been taking control of the political scene in that state since 1972. That’s one of the reasons I could never live there and one of the reasons I don’t want anything to do with Christianity.
After looking through all the news this morning, the one thing that stands out is the need to hold government leaders in every country to a higher moral standard. Not a religious standard, mind you, but one that puts human rights at the top of everyone’s focus. Governments should help, not hurt. Governments should enhance life, not delete it. Governments should make lives better, not try to make a profit off of pain. You and I must make this standard a priority when we vote, and object like hell when our government steps out of bounds.
I started early with the coffee this morning. I’m in no mood to put up with political bullshit.
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