September 29

Not much planned for today. I did get a few things straightened out in our What-Not Room. Threw a whole bunch of cardboard boxes away. They were of a size that we save because they might be useful. But we had accumulated too many and we have some plastic boxes of a similar size. I found a bottle of fabric dye I am keeping out to refurbish a faded piece I use as a base for a door wreath. I have another I plan to do the same with. First, however, I have to get some work space cleared.

I saw a little "end of an era" piece covering the Netflix decision to end its "rent by mail" service. They won't be sending out anymore DVDs. They cite the growth of streaming services which has cut into their business. I'm not surprised. A while ago we were driving on our errands and Mom suggested we go to a DVD rental store we once used. I pointed to a shop and told her it used to be in that spot but isn't any more. But we have noticed a drastic reduction in the size of the DVD sections in our local big box stores. Even the section in Best Buy has shrunk. We tried Netflix but were very disappointed with the offerings which seemed to cover poor acting and ridiculous plots with gratuitous sex and violence.

Just saw the trailer on my computer that announced Sen. Diane Feinstein's death. It will be interesting to see who gets to replace her.

And this is so true: Sorry, You Matter To Much To Make A Living Wage. A post-apocalyptic novel I like a lot referred to certain people plugged into what ever unskilled slots needed filling as "corks." One is as good as another. The actual job might be necessary but any individual worker isn't. I remember a history article about the entrepreneur in late 19th century Utah who pioneered what became the big box department store. He hired young women as salespeople and after several months, when they had acquired some skill and experience, fired them. He could easily hire another "cork" and reasoned that the new experience and skills would allow his former employee to find more lucrative work. Doesn't work out that way. My mother used to talk about working as a licensed practical nurse. When ever she left a job she could be sure that she could walk right into another one. However, each clinic, hospital, care center, whatever started all new hires at their lowest rates no matter what experience they had. Though they were educated, licensed professionals they were corks.

Another stray thought and sarcastic observation: Rep. Comer, heading up that abysmal excuse for an "oversight and accountability committee, has designated the employees of the committee as "essential" so they will have to work without pay if, as appears very likely, there is no agreement to continue funding the Federal government. Somehow those workers will be reimbursed while the cafeteria workers who feed those momzers won't. It irritates me when Comer insists that they haven't found anything yet but with all that smoke there simply must be fire. All of his star witnesses told him in their testimony they had no evidence. But they continue to waste our money. And the idiots associated Gaetz and his wrecking crew are demanding that everyone kowtow to them on the budget or they will burn the place down. A shutdown, which is looking more likely as the minutes got by, will cost us much more money and a lot of people a lot of pain. But that doesn't matter to the psychological toddlers who are only focused on getting their own way.