Partly cloudy today and, according to the forecast, for most of the rest of the week. But the temperatures should be warmer. I shut off the heat this morning because it came on when the temperature was still reasonably comfortable. I even opened one of the windows a crack. I go out and removed a couple of trellises and dead plants but it was still a bit cool to work without warmer clothes than I had on. I have to look at my arrangements also because the power company is changing the meters to allow quicker and more remote readings. They can't reach the meter with the table/potting bench in its current place. I have an idea I hope will work well because it might also reduce the amount of seeds the birds can scatter in my containers. The local grocery store has its early plants out, pansies and such that can take everything short of a freeze. I might go over to the one of the garden centers and see what they have sometime next week. I might make a side trip to Michaels and Barnes & Nobel as well.
I spent a couple or three hours playing with crochet edgings for some pin loom pieces. They were early efforts and I can use them as everyday hot pads or placemats. I haven't yet found a way to connect the squares that I like but I am using the pin loom to use up ends of yarn left from finished projects so I will continue experimenting.
I found this post on BLOOD IN THE MACHINE yesterday and kept in on my feed to comment on later. Later has arrived. Therapists at Kaiser Permanente have been on strike for several months and spent a week on a hunger strike. They are protesting "efficiency" measures which limit the time they can spend with patients. I have read a lot about doctors and other medical practitioners who aren't happy with the "industrialization" of their professions. But industrialization means pushing through as many "products" as possible with as few "inputs" as possible. In this case products equal patients and inputs equal time spent by the workers on the patients. The process doesn't consider the complexity of the conditions or any other factor which would under other systems be relevant. Doctors are expected to diagnose a common cold vs a serious pneumonia (viral? or bacterial? who knows) within the same 15 minute appointment. Over the last couple of years we have had appointments for an eye exam and seen more technicians that optometrists. And Mom had an eye infection which was treated by a nurse practitioner without ever seeing a doctor. I had looked up Mom's symptoms and was pleased that the diagnosis confirmed my own lay opinion. I wonder how many are doing the same thing and skipping the medical professional.
Evidently I am not the only one who noticed a similarity between the Chinese system of social monitoring and how the U.S. is progressing on an intercepting course. Don Moynihan has a post which includes a few points I didn't think of. And take a look at this MIT article on the "social credit" the Chinese developed and how it is used. We should be afraid, very afraid. If you comfort yourself with the notion that wouldn't target U.S. citizens review some of the "off hand" comments officials have made recently. I just wonder to what hell they would send citizens. Can't be good.
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