August 8, 9

 Another sunny day and the forecast, as of this morning, is for several more. I checked the patio pots and they are moist enough I should not have to water til tomorrow. I did see a couple I should add soil to but that will wait til tomorrow also. I spent about three hours working on a cross-stitch piece this morning which drove me to swearing. I like the pattern but I hate that it is pre-quilted. When I bought the set of pre-quilted place mats and matching napkins I forgot how much I hated the last pre-quilted piece I did thirty, maybe forty, years ago. After this mornings' bit of work I am only about three inches from finishing the first place mat. I will change how I do the rest of them to make things easier on both my fingers and my eyes. Hopefully I will finish the rest before the end of the year. The napkins are already done--they aren't quilted.

I just skimmed an article that claims that the U.S. is experiencing a rise in shoplifting. I am skeptical. The story follows the story line of the last pearl-clutching hysterical stories from a couple of years ago: criminal gangs hitting stores, post-covid return to pre-covid theft levels, stores facing such an extreme loss that they might have to close stores, failure of prosecutors to vigorously pursue the perpetrators, judges giving light sentences. The last time the whole narrative imploded after examinations of the "evidence" showed it was totally unreliable. The story today didn't have a date so I can't even be sure if it isn't an example of how the internet keeps various vampire stories alive.

I remember an article from, maybe, forty years ago about the effect of the news on how viewers/readers perceive the threat of crime. Basically, even people who never experienced a crime and who lived well away from where the described crimes were committed experienced heightened fear of being victimized by crime. There is an old saying that in news "If it bleeds, it leads." With the rise of the internet we also have the massive replication and re-transmission of the stories. Suddenly a single event becomes ten, or more.

09**********************************************************************************

Another sunny day and again cool enough to open windows and the patio storm door. I got all the pots watered. All the plants are doing pretty well. I just snipped off some of the spent blooms. I grow herbs mainly for the bees and for the smell in the garden. I don't dry them for my use any more but I do like providing something for the bees. A few need a bit of fertilizer and a couple of others will probably do well enough when I add potting mix to them to bring the soil level up again. I finished that place mat I worked on yesterday and started another. One down and three to go along with the last napkin

Robert Reich asks a question I have asked since the end of Trump's term and throughout this latest run for the presidency: why is the media ignoring Trumps dementia? EVERY media outlet mentioned every verbal slip, every evidence of forgetfulness, every sign of physical frailty Biden showed but most ignored Trump's increasing incoherence, increasing inability to string two thoughts together, increasing viciousness.