December 23, 24, 25

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 We may get out of this storm with wind and a couple or three inches of snow. The Weather Channel has changed the forecast to snow petering out today and tomorrow with little more accumulation. The biggest problem will be the cold. The forecast says we won't break 0* today and will remain in the single digits through Christmas. By the time we have to go out again the temperatures will be back in the 30s and 40s and (glory be) even a possible 50.

I saw a different report on this yesterday. Over the last two years our society has lost almost two and a half years in life expectancy at birth. I like Improve The News because they tear into the data and give critiques of the most important narratives spinning the data. COVID did contribute but there are other strong currents that added to the situation which the "Establishment" view wants to diminish but which are likely to persist.

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Temperature is -1F at the moment with wind chill of -20 or lower. The forecast says we will get a high of (maybe) 12. Some possible flurries but the high winds may make it look like a blizzard. The Chicago Bears have a game today and the news is warning people planning to attend to be very careful of the low temperatures.

I skimmed this piece first thing this morning. Though it didn't tell me anything I hadn't already figured out on my own or read on other sources, I was increasingly irritated remembering all of the economists and finance/business pundits who focused on working people's demands for higher wages. I am quite sure none of them would refuse a pay increase to ensure the profitability of the company and the "health" of the "economy." But those who get less are expected to consume prodigiously while shivering in the cold, deciding whether to buy food or pay the electric bill, whether to buy medicine or pay for gas to get to work. Our economic institutions have done a great job of moving income from the bottom to the top for the last 50 years. Maybe it is time to move some of that back down the pyramid to the base that supports all of it.

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Merry Christmas

Mom said recently that it just doesn't feel like Christmas this year. Holidays just haven't much meaning for me--too much commercialism, too much attempts to sell me crap I don't really need. Christmas and Easter don't really mean much to me because I haven't claimed to be Christian for many years and Christmas is the worst of the commercialized holidays. Years ago I said that Christians lost the battle for Christmas early in the last century when commercial interests took it over and just "putting Christ back in" wasn't going to reverse that.

I finally put the winter wreath on the door and took the fall wreath down. I will have to refurbish them and do up new spring and summer wreaths over the next year.

I noted above that this doesn't feel like Christmas. Part of the reason is the dearth of good Christmas themed commercials. I have seen a lot of car commercials which is quite normal. But a lot of the the gadget commercials are are strange. They are the usual buy now to take advantage of the "limited time offer," and offering double the product for the same price if the customer simply pays for the postage. But all of them say that the company will or has already stopped production because of cost increases and/or "supply chain shortages." That is new. I have often wished fervently that the advertisers would stop bastardizing old favorite Christmas songs this year it feels like they have done just that and it feels odd.