December 15

 Half-past December and it is cloudy and wet. Too warm for snow so no one will be singing "I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas" any time soon. We are planning on a very quiet day at home and tomorrow I need to put the turkey breast in the refrigerator to thaw out over the next week.

Gizmodo put out this article this morning. We follow the weather with an eye on how it will affect us. We knew when the drought hit the Canadian prairie provinces and floods hit the U.S. Northwest that beef prices would go up. They did. We knew when drought hit various grain and hay producing areas that dairy products would go up. The clerk at the local dairy we frequent apologized for the increase in prices for milk, yogurt, and butter. We assured her we weren't surprised and would continue buying their goods as long as they could produce them and we could afford them. Think about this: if the projections for climate change are right the future will be worse.

Today's post from Crooks&Liars provides a really good discussion of the Moore v Harper lawsuit now in the Supreme Court. It gives a better account than I can but the title caught my attention: Chaos Agents On The High Court. The author makes a point I have made in conversations here at home: I haven't any idea of what makes the "conservatives" of today conservative. One would think that they want to the country to go back to some past social ideal they think was better than what we have today. But they really don't have any coherent description of their imagined Heaven on Earth no any idea that a lot of people would think their Heaven is really Hell. Worse I don't think they give a damn for those who don't share their vision. But the term "Chaos Agents" reminds me of a post from a Heathen blogger from a couple of years ago where the author took exception to a meme going around in the pagan/polytheist/heathen blogs describing The Former Guy as "Loki in the White House." As a polytheist with a particular affinity for Loki she didn't appreciate her god being associated with TFG. I understand her objection but in a way it fits. Loki was one of the gods associated with chaos and change. Others can also be used: Bacchus, Coyote, even Odin. If I did a quick Google search I could probably find such gods in every pantheon. Human history shows recurring cycles of chaos and stability. To get to a new stable condition we have to go through the Chaos and disintegration. And it will be decidedly uncomfortable--or worse.

I may not have mentioned the increase in Group A streptococcus infections I both the U.S. and the U.K.. The U.K. epidemic has taken the lives of 15 children under age 15 and put more pressure on the stocks of popular antibiotics like amoxicillin and penicillin. Amoxicillin is the preferred treatment for pediatric cases of RSV which are also rising. Evidently other cases of respiratory viruses that aren't COVID, RSV, or flu. This situation is described here. We are keeping our masks handy and still do our shopping at times when we are unlikely to encounter crowds.