Thursday, May 16, 2024

May 15, 16

 Good morning on a cloudy and cool day. The forecasters say we will have showers today. After Mom's appointment yesterday we took advantage of the sunshine and went to look at plants. I came home with about half of what I need to fill my containers: one hibiscus, green oregano, sweet basil, the emerald tower basil, spearmint, peppermint, balloon flower, four diplodenia and a small flat of moss rose. I am sure I forgot a couple. I want to see if my sunflower seeds will sprout; they are well past their date. However, we expect rain til Saturday. I will wait til then (or Sunday) and hope things dry out.

I found a cartoon this morning which explains a lot about American higher education. Check it out at Bill Astore's Bracing Views. The summation down at the right is a bull's eye: The road to hell is paved with good corporate donations.

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My energy ran out so quickly yesterday I got very little done and very little read. I hope then showers hold off for the morning so I can get a start on planting the transplants potted. We'll see. 

First major irritation of the day: Mitt Romney told reporters that Biden should have pardoned Trump to stop the criminal trial. I guess Romney forgot that the trial that is nearing its conclusion is a STATE trial and no president can pardon anyone for state crimes. But I get really tired of the notion that a past president should be pardoned for anything which seems to have grown up in the Republican Party since Ford pardoned Nixon. If crimes are alleged against ANYONE, they should be indicted and tried. If found guilty they are entitled, like all convicted criminals, to appeal and/or argue for a pardon.

It has been a productive day. I got about half of the transplants in before it got too hot to continue. I guess I will have to get out really early sooner than I would have thought. The weather forecasters predict rain later today and overnight so I didn't water anything. I will check everything in the morning and water if needed. Tomorrow should be dry so I will try to get the rest of the plants in. When we do our shopping next week I need to get a bag of potting mix and some general use fertilizer.

Although I have a big library of e-books which I have purchased and downloaded to my iPad I don't rely on the "cloud." I have been and am skeptical of putting anything I can purchase in some arrangement I may not be able to access. Primarily I was and am concerned with what happens when the internet connections go wonky for any reason. This Guardian article addresses the problem I recognized long ago: what happens to your "purchases" when the vender disappears or drastically changes the terms of the arrangement.

Bill Astore posted about what he calls "the sham debates between Biden and Trump." I am surprised Trump agreed, at least for now, because the ground rules decree "no audience" and "a microphone kill switch" so the moderator can cut off the candidate who exceeds his time. Given Trump's past actions on the "debate" stage, I don't mind either rule. However, the exclusion of the "third party" candidates gives the illusion that our only choice is between Trump and Biden. I don't really expect a real debate because issues don't matter. Haven't had such a debate for at least 30 years.

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