top of the heap to third world status in one generation

[Gry]

Its really messed up how we are approaching disease control from a partisan perspective. Shouldn't be that way.

You are so very correct.
We could and should have been the country that came up with a variety
of tests that work really well, very quickly at low cost.
We could and should have been one of the countries that responded
most effectively using the tried and true methods public health methods
that we developed here, as we pushed on with new and innovative approaches.

 

[Gry]

Informed Delivery® by USPS®

Informed Delivery is a free and optional notification service that gives residential consumers the ability to digitally preview their letter-sized mailpieces and manage their packages scheduled to arrive soon. Informed Delivery makes mail more convenient by allowing users to view what is coming to their mailbox whenever, wherever – even while traveling – on a computer, tablet or mobile device. To automate the sortation and delivery of mail, the United States Postal Service® (USPS) digitally images the front of letter-sized mailpieces that run through automation equipment. USPS is now using those images to provide digital notifications to users in advance of the delivery of physical mail. Informed Delivery benefits the entire household, ensuring that everyone has visibility into mail and package delivery each day. Informed Delivery allows users to take action before important items reach their mailbox, while offering mailers an unprecedented opportunity to engage users through synchronized direct mail and digital marketing campaigns.

https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action

 

[Zeez]

Been doing informed delivery for some time now. It's helpful, but it also gives an idea of the degree of 'monitoring" going on. They have scans of every piece of mail. Might as well have it do something for you.

 

[Gry]

Octavia Butler on How (Not) to Choose Our Leaders
“To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.”

https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/08/23/octavia-butler-parable-leaders/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

The Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World’s Oldest Continuously Run Libraries
Centuries-old texts were erased, and then written over, by monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...uously-run-libraries?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

The True History of Fake News
The concoction of alternative facts goes back to the ancients.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-true-history-of-fake-news?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

The Very Drugged Nazis

They demanded purity of blood, body, and mind. But nobody became more dependent on drugs than Adolf Hitler, and no armed forces did more to boost troop performance than the Wehrmacht did by using methamphetamine.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-very-drugged-nazis?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

A New Cold War Has Begun

The United States and China will be locked in a contest for decades. But Washington can win if it stays more patient than Beijing.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/a-new-cold-war-has-begun?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

What Does a Chinese Superpower Look Like? Nothing Like the U.S.

China aims to expand its influence from one polar cap to the other. Debt, demographics and a middle income trap stand in the way.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-does-a-chinese-superpower-look-like-nothing-like-the-u-s

 

[armedoldhippy]

Why There Are So Few Moderate Republicans Left [

still a few of us that identify as such. but...the worlds definitions have split into shards, and what we are called now depends on who you ask. ask a chump supporter, we are RINOs, at best, not worthy of being GOP. so be it at worst, we are called communist sympathizers, or socialists at best, with the charge of "treason" added in case someone had not noted our disdain for the current occupant of the Out House.
ask a democrat, and many say "what a dinosaur! i remember when the ground shook as massive herds of you thundered across the plains..."

 

[Gry]

The Scientific Answer to Amelia Earhart Is Lost in a Pile of Phantom Bones
“We work on bodies, not on phantoms.”

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...ile-of-phantom-bones?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Cannavore]

Why There Are So Few Moderate Republicans Left

https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...republicans-left/?utm_source=pocket-newtabAnd why that’s not likely to change.

They're called Democrats

 

[Gry]

They're called Democrats

Then we have our president, always the contrarian.

 

[Gry]

The Secret Order of Swiss Medical Saviors

In a country known for being modern and precise, an ancient healing practice passed down from the heavens has surprising staying power.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...wiss-medical-saviors?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

I know this dress I'm wearing doesn't hide the secret I've tried concealing
When he left he promised me he'd be back by the time it was revealing
The sun behind a cloud just casts the crawling shadow o'er the fields of clover
And time is running out for me, I wish that he would hurry down from Dover
He's been gone so long, when he left the snow was deep upon the ground
And I have seen a spring and summer pass and now the leaves are turning brown
At any time a tiny face will show itself 'cause waiting's almost over
But I won't have a name to give it if he doesn't hurry down from Dover, from Dover, from Dover

My folks weren't understanding, when they found out they sent me from the home place
My daddy said if folks found out he'd be ashamed to ever show his face
My mamma said I was a fool, she did not believe it when I told her
Momma, everything's gonna be all right 'cause soon he would be coming down from Dover
I found a place to stay out on a farm takin' care of that old lady
She never asked me nuthin' so I never talked to her about my baby
I sent a messgae to my mom with a name and address of Ms. ol' Grover
And to make sure he got that information when he came down from Dover
I loved him more than anything and I could not refuse him when he needed me
He was the only one I'd loved and I just can't believe that he was usin' me
He wouldn't leave me here like this, I know it can't be so, it can't be over
He wouldn't make me go through this alone, he'll be coming down from Dover
My body aches the time is here it's lonely in this place where I'm lying
Our baby has been born, but something's wrong, it's too still, I hear no crying
I guess in some strange way she knew she'd never have a father's arms to hold her
So dying was her way of tellin' me he wasn't coming down from Dover, from Dover, from Dover
Down from Dover
Dolly Parton, 1969
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_from_Dover

 

[Gry]

How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared

A federal lab found a way to modernize the grid, reduce reliance on coal, and save consumers billions. Then Trump appointees blocked it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...odernization/615433/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[armedoldhippy]

How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared

A federal lab found a way to modernize the grid, reduce reliance on coal, and save consumers billions. Then Trump appointees blocked it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...odernization/615433/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

"reduce reliance on coal? fuck, we can't have that! those poor bastards vote for me...lets burn more & dump the cancer-causing chemicals in the waste into the rivers & streams. that will teach those damned environmentalists who's in charge around here..."

 

[EsterEssence]

If he is still around, let’s hope not, when he starts losing land around his properties maybe he will realize we need to do something about sea level rising...

 

[St. Phatty]

If he is still around, let’s hope not, when he starts losing land around his properties maybe he will realize we need to do something about sea level rising...

he'll just get some fraudulent insurance.

 

[Gry]

I’m a Body Language Expert. Here’s What I Saw During the Conventions.
What did people’s faces and gestures tell us, rather than just their the scripted speeches?
https://www.politico.com/news/magaz...tions-rnc-dnc-404425?utm_source=pocket-newtab