lauowolf

I was searching through old posts to find a specific quote about a faraway earthquake*
I don't know what keyword I used at first but came up with this post from 2019 of Richard Stallman defending Epstein. Still yikes, after 6 years.
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/569943.html
At the time of the supposed release of more JE info this morning, I will be with the knitting group but might follow along online.

* https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/17757.html
In the case of the recent earthquake in Afghanistan I already donate monthly to several of the usual suspects, like Unicef, but I will try to track down a specific fund.

Too young.

Heather Cox Richardson's history letter (I keep wishing she'd move away from substack)
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-31-2025?
One of the things I took from that article was the need for music when marching.

These have singing, not a band, but maybe just as good?
"Bread and Roses," as sung in the movie "Pride" (not that I think there should still be coal mining).
A few of the words are captioned incorrectly. Tears are streaming down my face, as sometimes happen when I watch this video.
https://youtu.be/D6hIMsd6BlQ?feature=shared

I must have had the auto-play on. The next song that popped up, unbidden, was Dolly Parton singing "9 to 5."

Instead, have the ILGWU TV commercial song (the ad changed a little from year to year). Start at about 20 seconds in
https://youtu.be/7Lg4gGk53iY?feature=shared

Possibly not a union shop, although as they say still family owned, I was glad to learn that there is one (1) of the original Massachusetts shoe factories still in business.
https://www.aldenshoe.com/
There used to be so many, even during the time I've lived here, not just in the 19th century.
The shoes in the icon are Saucony, which at one time had a MA factory as well. One pair of Saucony sneakers that I own used to look just like those, now more holey, but I think it is time to take them out of circulation. The treads have worn smooth. When Flo was a toddler, the little Converse high-tops she wore were locally made too, I think. The corporate headquarters is in Boston, but I don't think shoes are made here any more. New Balance, also.

They are not producers, but my local supermarket has a poster near the door reminding us that they are a union shop. I'm glad.

The day after I got back from the Cape, I went to visit Flo and family for a couple of days, in the opposite direction. On Thursday Flo & I ate on the covered porch of a restaurant (the children slept beside us in their car seats for most of the lunch). Friday we and the babes went to walk over the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls
https://www.bridgeofflowersmass.org/
(the children did not walk. They were strolled across) and again ate commercially prepared food outdoors, this time felafel wraps at a picnic table.
The outings were very pleasant but helping load them in and out of the car set off back annoyance. I have had careful training in healthy body mechanics, but leaning into a car holding a heavy weight (11 pound child plus the seat) is hard to do safely. It was interesting to me that I could (and still can) do most of my usual activities without pain (tai chi, rowing machine, ringing, walking, planks, washing dishes) but getting in and out of the bed still hurts (ok once I'm lying down). Looking down at certain angles still hurts.

After all that driving over a few days plus the joy of having the new bus schedule led me to abstain from car use. The car has been in the garage unused for a week now, and I hope that will be true until next Thursday.
Mixed results - some of the buses were exactly on time but I had a ridiculous experience yesterday - I met a friend in Bedford to walk. We had arranged the meeting time based on the schedule, so that was OK. I didn't pay much attention to the reverse schedule, so we finished our five miles not long after a return bus had passed. I resigned myself to sitting in the convenient bus shelter for 38 minutes, according to the schedule. Rain had started before we finished our walk so I was really glad of the shelter. I noticed an interesting thing - the shelter is all metal and it seemed to be amplifying the traffic noise somehow. I did Duolingo (1) for a long time, then noticed that the arrival time kept getting later. As it happened, the bus was 15 minutes late. After I got on it was pretty speedy, and by the time I got off at the Stop & Shop stop the rain had stopped, so I could walk home with my few purchases home neatly.
Today on the way home from ringing lunch I went to the ART to buy a ticket for a performance in mid-September. I was about to step onto the Red line train when I thought "Where's my sword?" (2) I went back to the theater lobby, where they had it in the lost and found nestled in with the umbrellas people had left behind. So I missed the intended bus from Alewife and had to wait for the next one. Aside from the rain incident the weather this week has been amazing. These kinds of mess-ups will be a lot harder to be cheerful about in the winter.

(1) I keep meaning to quit Duolingo because I don't like using AI, but it does help pass the time in some bus circumstances. Also I was amused to hear that the company had to issue an apology because the German course had the sentence to translate "We like Harry Potter but don't like the author." They should have stuck to their guns, but I'd guess that a living person created that sentence.

(2) I have mentioned several times over the years that I carry my sword (in a scabbard but not in a carrying case) all day on Saturdays, on public transportation and walking and into public places, including the entryway at Old North. If you want to have total strangers come up to you with questions, carry around a sword. I average three people a Saturday. Some of the questions are more informed than others. A couple of weeks ago a woman in the Davis Square PO asked if it were a ceremonial sword. I am not sure I even know what that means. At Alewife today someone asked if it was related to a local college. I have a little routine in which I show them how non-sharp the blade is, for example.
I was pleased to find this picture, from an article about old people in Mainland China exercising. It's the kind of move I might do, although they are dressed more formally than I would be (often in my Davis Square Martial Arts t-shirt). I can't tell whether they have the bottom-of-the-line sword that I do or not.



https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-05-26/China-moves-to-improve-basic-elderly-care-as-population-ages-1k7K7tKyfEA/index.html

Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill was one of the seasteading guys?

Donald Trump has a purple spot on his hand that is sometimes covered up with bad makeup (I don't have any matching or blending skills either, but doesn't he have a regular makeup person?).
Many online are hopeful that it predicts his imminent demise. Nah. A number of people have replied to these posts that it's obvious the posters don't know any old people with circulatory issues. People on certain kinds of blood thinners can look like this for years. NBD.
I mentioned that when QEII died
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/710292.html

Kim Taehyung of BTS (stage name V) threw the first pitch at the Dodger's game this evening. Whatever the usual numbers of tickets sold on a Monday night, it was sold out tonight due to BTS fans, some of whom had not been to a baseball game before. I didn't subscribe to the MLB service to watch the pitch, but did go to YouTube to see all the news stories about it. Some of those were from Japan, the Philippines, and other places around the world. Somebody who provides live commentary on Dodgers games from his home (watching it online) claimed that BTS makes dance music for teenaged girls who wish they were Asian. I had a moment of fury, but wasn't about to log in and subscribe so that I could send him an angry correction.
I should have just stuck to my problematic pal twitter, which immediately had video of the pitch the second he threw it.

>>Youtube has admitted that they are altering people's videos without permission, or a way to opt out.
This quote is from the MSN article about it
“No GenAI, no upscaling. We're running an experiment on select YouTube Shorts that uses traditional machine learning technology to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity in videos during processing (similar to what a modern smartphone does when you record a video),” Rene Ritchie, YouTube Creator Liason.<<