Notices by Bruce MacDonald (rationaldoge@hachyderm.io), page 2

This was a nightmare.

How-EVER, as they say in the investment disclosures, past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

(Norman's from Grand Rapids and oft-quoted around here; there's your #LocalAngle, Minnesota.)

Whatever we learn from history, maybe we're doomed to repeat it?

Or not. Who the eff knows?

Good column, if you like political history.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-07-20/joe-biden-2024-election-withdrawal-democratic-convention

#uspol #history #Minnesota

'The last time the Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, it was 1948 and young Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey pleaded for a civil rights plank in the Democratic platform.

'He asked the party to "walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights."

'You can hear his words in an Minnesota Public Radio documentary, "The Politics of Joy: A Radio Remembrance of Hubert Humphrey."'
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/26/mpr-documentary-the-politics-of-joy-a-radio-remembrance-of-hubert-humphrey

I found a trove of old News York Time from 2018 I had set aside to use as charcoal starter chimney newsprint.

It's a little amusing if not disheartening to read about all the things that "could" or "might" happen, written by people who were no better at foretelling the future than people are today.

We're all just portions for foxes, I guess.

'Welch Mill has sent tubers gliding down Cannon River for 51 years, ever since a 14-year-old Ross Nelson started the recreation business, charging a couple bucks a ride.

'But after recent flooding, it’s not tubes that have been traveling down the river.

'“We saw hundreds of trees go by,” said Jane Nelson, co-owner of the southeastern Minnesota spot and Ross’s wife.'

Rain and flooding dim Fourth of July spark for businesses, events
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/07/02/rain-and-flooding-dim-fourth-of-july-spark-for-businesses-events

#mnwx #flooding

@inthehands I still remember playing "Duck Duck Goose" in my elementary school basement with other like-minded inmates. This was Wisconsin, so it explains the disparity.

From the article, here's a file photo of what the Rapidan Dam looked like in happier times.

Caption: A view of the Rapidan Dam from 2022. Blue Earth County officials on Monday warned the dam was in "imminent failure condition" given the heavy rains and flooding on the Blue Earth River.
Photo: Hannah Yang/MPR News

The Rapidan Dam in southern #Minnesota near Mankato is said to be in peril from floodwaters.

Only two residents were identified in the emergency operations plan near the dam. Mankato is currently not in imminent danger of another flood, the Blue Earth County sheriff said.

“You know, it’s gonna raise the water level. But for right now, our main concern is debris in the water. But it is a mess currently,” he said.
—MPR News

https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2024/06/24/rapidan-dam-minnesota-imminent-failure-due-to-flooding

#mnwx #flooding

'The walls are closing in now. Prepare for a lifetime of ignorance. You will have to ask someone else what’s going on. Someone who is one of those rare things: a subscriber.

'“Poppy, where were you when the first dog was elected president?”

'“Granny, what was it like when we first made contact with alien life?”

'You’ll have to say to them gently, softly, “To be honest, I have no fucking clue. I was out of free articles.”'
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/youve-read-your-last-free-article-such-is-the-nature-of-mortality

I can't read a reference to "smutty books" without hearing the phrase as uttered by Hermione Gingold complaining about "Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám," in the movie version of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man."

Marian Paroo: "It's beautiful Persian poetry."
Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn: "It's a smutty book."

"That's right. Some of the characters from Maas' best-selling series A Court of Thorns and Roses are starting to pop up on baby names lists in the U.S. and Canada."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-court-of-thorns-and-roses-baby-names-1.7232325

'It’s one thing to get scooped when your competitors bust their humps. Or when they catch a lucky break one way or another. It’s quite another thing to get scooped when the story has sat in your notebook for 3½ years.

'And then it goes viral.

'This very scenario played out in recent weeks for The Post, which has sat back and watched the New York Times nail down a precious exclusive whose epicenter is a leisurely drive from its K Street newsroom.' #journalism
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/05/washington-post-alito-upside-down-flag/

"Lots of executives and managers, maybe even your very own boss, are listening to these companies’ sales reps as we speak! So the very first thing to understand is that, regardless of how this is framed in the media or McKinsey reports or internal memos, “AI” or “a robot” is never, ever going to take your job. It can’t. It’s not sentient, or capable of making decisions. Generative AI is not going to kill your job — but your manager might."
https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/understanding-the-real-threat-generative

Today in "What the hell?"

"A juror in the Feeding Our Future federal trial was dismissed suddenly Monday morning after a woman showed up at her door Sunday with a bag of $120,000 in cash and offers of a second bag of cash if she votes to acquit the defendants, attorneys said in court.

"This is completely beyond the pale," [Asst. U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson] told U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel. "This is outrageous behavior. This is stuff that happens in mob movies."
https://www.startribune.com/juror-in-feeding-our-future-trial-dismissed-after-woman-offers-bag-of-cash-to-acquit-defendants/600370620/

"Canada is the world’s fourth-largest producer of oil and fifth-largest producer of gas, a reality that sits uncomfortably with the nation’s pledges to protect biodiversity and lead the global fight against climate change. When burned, oil and gas release heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, intensifying the very conditions that help wildfires scorch millions of acres."
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/05/16/fire-threat-eases-near-canadas-oil-sands-hub-but-a-long-hot-summer-looms

'Jay Telegdi, who lost his home to that wildfire, watched from his balcony on Tuesday as the sky over downtown turned orange and black. It “burned your eyes” to walk outside, Telegdi said in a phone interview, adding that it was slightly easier to breathe on Wednesday.

'“You can grow accustomed to it,” said Telegdi, who works for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. “We’ve come to accept columns of smoke blocking out the whole sky and yet we’re still drilling for oil.”'

I don't know about you, but I'm glad to have a break from the #drought
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap.aspx

"The agreements were reached quietly as clashes with law enforcement and arrests soared at Columbia University, UCLA and other schools.

"Meanwhile, at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus and at the other schools, demonstrators ended their protests, allowing for finals and commencements to be held without any drama."
https://www.minnpost.com/national/2024/05/university-of-minnesota-deal-with-pro-palestinian-protesters-would-serve-as-model-for-other-strife-torn-schools/

@inthehands This reminds me: whenever I listen to Wagner I think he could have made a bundle composing film music.

That is to say, John Williams deserves everything he's earned.

Repaired, 46-year-old spacecraft radio equipment responds.

"A radio signal takes about 22 ½ hours to reach Voyager 1, which is over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, and another 22 ½ hours for a signal to come back to Earth. When the mission flight team heard back from the spacecraft on April 20, they saw that the modification worked: For the first time in five months, they have been able to check the health and status of the spacecraft."
https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/04/22/nasas-voyager-1-resumes-sending-engineering-updates-to-earth/

@inthehands @other_ghosts I liked this graf: "Saunders enlisted his partner for brainstorming help for each bench's theme, he said. He's been heartened by help from a loose affiliation of friends and acquaintances he's unofficially officially dubbed the Minneapolis Public Seating Authority."

"It's not a very appealing place at the moment," Saunders said. "There was more life, more people on the streets. It was more welcoming to people, and right now it's not." #Minneapolis
https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-man-behind-mysterious-wooden-benches-wants-folks-downtown-to-take-a-load-off/600360677/