Today has been an extremely busy and extremely crappy week. From big things like having two research projects blow up to smaller things like my single utility stock putting a hold on dividends. And a lot of stuff in between that I can’t even keep in my mind (also far worse stuff happening to other people). Also DC2 has a slight fever and runny nose (but fortunately seems happy on the couch cranking through Geronimo Stiltons). I’m hoping next week has far fewer unpleasant surprises.
GOP Senate Candidate explains how he truly does want a world where women are barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen.
Satanic Temple wins important victory for religions freedom and abortion rights.
Once again, Russian Bots are controlling the political message.
Continue the fight for dreamers. But at least CHIP has been funded for 6 year. Thank goodness. Negotiating with Jello. Here’s how negotiating with Jello went down. (Was this only a week ago?)
Available at 12:01AM https://t.co/P0smk3Svsc—
Capitol Lounge (@CapLounge) January 19, 2018
Paul Ryan collected $500,000 in Koch contributions days after the House passed the horrible Tax law that saves the Koch family enormous amounts of money. This is a mockery of our political system.
Why don’t DACA eligibles “just come legally”? An explanation.
Cutting legal immigration makes no fiscal sense
Stealing away immigrant’s rights does make fiscal sense if you are one of the lawful evil crooks directly benefiting from stealing their stuff, but it will also increase prices for everyone else. This thread makes fascinating parallels to the causes and consequences of Japanese Internment.
Speaking of no fiscal sense, the new tariffs on solar panels piss me off. On a personal level, I hope that our roof lasts long enough to wait this out. On a human level, I hope that China takes up this opportunity to increase solar technology so the world can save itself sooner. On an American citizen level, I think this is terrible because we’re making it easier for China to become the new hegemon. But maybe we no longer deserve that status anymore. Not that China does at the political point it’s at right now, but perhaps with its new power it will become more of a force for a positive future. :/
An assessment guide for the perplexed by David Eubanks (p.4)
More op-ed spreads the NYT will be publishing after “letters from Trump supporters” Asking Trump voters if they still support the President, McSweeney’s style.
RIP Ursula Le Guin.
I mourn the print edition of Teen Vogue
Not in general interest’s time may not be my time, but I’ve had Rudy Valley stuck in my head all week. Which, I guess, isn’t such a bad thing.
Simplifying to a three fund portfolio
Pros and cons of using a Roth IRA for college savings
Congratulations, Senator Duckworth!
Popular science does unscientific trials of probiotic deodorants. Where do I find a less stinky person willing to give me underarm cells?
#2 identifies with this one
Puppy!!!
In today’s comments, tell us: what are some books by which other people would know you?
January 27, 2018 at 2:44 pm
Thank you for the mention, Nicole and Maggie. Untangling that mess of a portfolio and whittling it down to a three-fund portfolio (or as close as we could get) was very satisfying.
Also, the a capella show was a lot of fun. There was a group of a capella singers on a cruise we took, and I made sure we caught as many performances as we could. Much fun.
Cheers!
-PoF
January 27, 2018 at 2:45 pm
Thank you!
January 28, 2018 at 10:13 am
Thank you for Saturday Link Love. I always learn a lot and see things I otherwise would not have seen. This helps.
January 28, 2018 at 1:57 pm
As far as all-time most re-reads, for me it’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Also enjoyed it most of the series upon reading it aloud to my kid.
Another I re-read a large number of times was “An Acceptable Time” by Madeline L’Engle. Not sure I’ll re-read that to my elder kid though- I have a feeling a lot of resonates better if you read it as a teenage girl. Despite my excitement for the movie, A Wrinkle In Time did not improve with age. I *did* enjoy A Swiftly Tilting Planet as a read aloud though. A Wind in the Door is good for me, but not so good for Roo (age 8).
Summer of the Great-Grandmother I read just after my Mom passed, and it was too impossibly hard to imagine re-reading at this juncture, but it was really valuable.
I also really enjoy re-reading the fairy tale series by Mercedes Lackey. It is a good go-to “the world sucks and I need to escape” for my adult-self.
I also intend to re-read The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. There are others of hers I have not read and want to, but I have trouble remembering which ones I’ve already read.
I re-read most of the Anne of Green Gables books a number of times as a young person, and want to go back and re-read them again now, after watching Anne with an E (which I loved- I saw a lot of the critiques of it, and it *is* a dark version of Anne, but it is a *light* story compared to most of Netflix these days. What is wrong with the zeitgeist??).
For non-fiction, I feel like Microbe Hunters (Paul de Kruif), and Nobel Prize Women of Science (Sharon Bertsch McGrayne) were pretty central to my development, even if I don’t re-read them. Also, Riverhorse by William Least Heat-Moon was transformative.
I guess that’s not exactly 10, but I’ve never been good at following instructions when discussing books (as a kid, it was being *extremely offended* by the question of “What’s your favorite book?” I mean really. Do you have a favorite number? How can you possibly pick?)
January 28, 2018 at 2:27 pm
Thanks!
January 28, 2018 at 10:56 pm
That Mitch McConnell thing seemed crazy, like something more must have happened, so I tried to find out what happened next. Actually, McConnell didn’t just object. He said “Reserving the right to object. We passed similar legislation during the shutdown in 2013. My hope is that we can restore funding for the entire government before this becomes necessary. I’m going to object for tonight but we’ll discuss again, tomorrow. Therefore, I object.” So, it’s not as bad as it looks here, which is nice for a change. Here is the longer clip I found: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4710215/mccaskill-military-amendment
January 29, 2018 at 7:00 am
huh, though there’s been a lot of Republicans saying, “we’ll fix this later” and then not actually fixing it until after people have been hurt (see: CHIP, DACA etc.)
January 29, 2018 at 10:14 pm
So, so true. :-(
January 28, 2018 at 11:15 pm
Books by which other people would know me:
_The Tightwad Gazette_ – She has some good explanations about how even some crazy-seeming frugality hacks can be not-at-all crazy depending on your goals and what you enjoy doing.
_No Impact Man_ – A guy feels powerless and guilty but then tries things over which he has actual control. He succeeds better than I do, but I do those kinds of things for the same reasons.
_Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ – When Charlie makes his birthday chocolate bar lasts for weeks by taking just a tiny nibble each day.
_About a Boy_ – I identify a bit with the grown “boy,” not really getting how just being there for someone and expressing sympathy without actually helping them in any way actually can help. Heck, even accidentally swearing about something that the actual boy had to deal with made the actual boy feel better. (I don’t actually remember if the book matches the movie in those ways anymore.)
_The Hunger Games_ – People don’t say thank-you enough, but when Katniss’s new ally/friend Rue was killed, she took time to honor her in thanks and then Rue’s district sent her something in thanks.
January 29, 2018 at 1:08 pm
Hahaha!