Happy Pi Day everyone.

HuffPost put out a nice obituary for Stephen Hawking who died early today.

This is a court cast I will try to watch more closely. As the article says the science of climate change is settled. It is happening and has been for a while now. We can go back in the climate record and see what happened before and compare current conditions to that record. What isn't settled is exactly when changes will happen and how we will have to adjust. Perhaps that case will go the way this one has.

Mother Nature News has an article on the beneficial effects of "crafting." I can relate to the author's observation that her craft work improved her outlook and made her happy. Doing needle work always made me feel better even when everything else in my life seemed to be going down a black hole. The worst times were when that black hole seemed to suck all my time in and I wasn't doing any needlework.

Well, I'm back. Didn't see anything I really wanted to comment on or link to over the weekend. Sunday, of course, was a do-as-little-as-possible day because of the time change. I really, really, really do hate that and wish the whole thing would disappear. Yesterday was shopping and errands so little else was done.

I found this quirky little gem at Delancey Place. Fifty-five percent of the Korean population share five surnames and all trace back to a period 1400 years ago when the country was unified under one kingdom. By contrast--I looked up the most common English surnames in the U.S. and found that the top five occur in less than 5% of the population all together.

And in another quirky piece from Task and Purpose a few of the things we could provide for homeless veterans for the low-end-estimated cost of #45's ego-stroking military parade. This isn't about veterans or our country in general. It is solely about #45's vastly inflated ego and I, for one, am tired of the pandering. The whole idea is actually one step below my opinion of the "Thank you for your service" nonsense I have written about before. At least that bit of perfunctory, meaningless blather is cheaper.

Somehow, this story, also from Task and Purpose, doesn't surprise me. In fact, it reminds me of that flash-in-the-pan scandal over the contract to supply meals in Puerto Rico which was awarded to a company with only one employee (the owner) and a history of several government contracts cancelled for failure to fulfill those contracts.

Rude Pundit gets rude on Betsy De Vos who was totally incoherent on the 60 Minutes interview. I read excerpts of the interview and I rarely have ever seen such a thoroughly incoherent and unprepared interviewee. But, perhaps, that is why she is still Secretary of Education.

So--what am I reading today (3/8)?

Starting off with this piece on Tom Engehardt's blog.

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Well--it is now 3/9. I simply didn't get back to posting yesterday. Let's see what happens today.

It has been cold and icy with rain, freezing rain, and snow sometimes all at once it seemed. Winter is definitely reminding us it hasn't left yet. The temperatures have been just high enough that much of the ice and snow melted. At least we aren't out on the east coast. They are looking at a possible third nor'easter before completely digging out of the last two. I finally finished straightening up the all-purpose room--a good name for a storage/plant/sewing/whatnot room. I hope to start going through the file cabinet today.

David Kaiser recaps the last 13 years since he started his blog History Unfolding. Not a pretty account and not a hopeful prognosis.

It has been cold this morning. We had a sprinkling of snow overnight then a bit of rain by the time it was light enough to see outside followed by rain/snow mix then mostly snow finishing (as of now) with very light rain. Winter, it seems, has decided to remind us that it ain't out of here yet. I haven't yet begun to map out the gardens for this season which is probably just as well because my ideas have changed twice. Both times because the containers developed cracks. I plan to replace one with an arrangement of pots with a stool supporting some of them. The second I will replace with three 5-gal buckets. Both changes will make rearranging pots easier.

We had a nasty surprise when Mom got her prescription refilled. All the time we have been here the medication she still takes has never cost more that about $30 for her 90-day supply. This time is was a bit over $100. Thank you, Aetna; Thank you, CVS. She is considering options and, right now, those don't include either Aetna or CVS. Why the jump? CVS bought Aetna and moved her medication from a tier 3 to tier 4 which more than tripled her cost.

Ronni Bennett has a piece titled "Small Pleasures." Amen to almost all of it. Cat watching is particularly fun with two new young cats. A good book is always a pleasure but I think I am getting very picky nowadays. Too many fall into the "Not that again" file. Ice cream--of course!! I am not crazy about snow though. I don't have to go out driving in it but I do need to shovel it and clear off the car. One thing Ronni didn't mention: if we don't want to do something we generally don't have to do it.

We decided to check out a "natural foods" store we hadn't been in for a long time since our favorite had closed in December. We had a couple of very nice surprises: they instituted a loyalty program with discounts, they gave us a discount for using our own bags, and they are going bagless in next month. I would like to see this kind of packaging added to all our stores. And no we don't live in the Netherlands so that isn't our store.

Now for something a bit on the weird side. A plant that doesn't have chlorophyll and doesn't perform photosynthesis. It is mostly subterranean and only emerges for a short time to flower. The flower looks almost like a spider or insect.

Many years ago I was listening to the radio on a long drive and I heard the host of the show (sorry I have forgotten his name) talk about an old man in Australia who was one of the last two speakers of his aboriginal language. Though he longed to speak it with someone else he couldn't have spoken with the other surviving speaker who live in a nearby town. She was his sister and the taboos of his people prohibited direct communication between siblings of opposite sexes.  I thought it sad. I wonder how long before that story might be repeated in other places. Or how often it has been repeated since the original story.

I am used to seeing pictures like these and stories of fighting over what little is left over here but in the U.K.!!! I can't remember ever being so concerned about a storm that I rushed out to the supermarket to engage in guerrilla ops to get anything. Over the last few years we take mental not of what we have on hand and realize we don't have to worry. We either have what we need or work-arounds for whatever might run out. This op-ed deals with the fall out from the shortage of chicken that closed a lot of KFC shops across Britain recently.

Sporadic stories about the saline bag shortage most often attributed to the destruction of the production plant in Puerto Rico during the hurricane. This story from Naked Capitalism indicates the situation has been on-going for at least the last 4 years and is more the result of corporate greed in a part of the industry dominated by only three major players. And anyone who thinks this is an unusual situation is smoking something that is very bad for their brain.

It turned brightly sunny but quite cold. The weather report said it is 38F but it feels much cooler to me on the patio in the shadow of the house. The hibiscus seems to love the stronger light where it sits in the south window. So does the rosemary sitting next to it. Both are showing vigorous new growth. I don't expect much on the patio because it will be in shade until the solstice when the sun will reflect off the fence.We will get some reflected light sooner when the north east and north west corners get light early morning and late afternoon respectively.

The only bit of clean up I did today involved taking apart 2 pillows and unraveling the crochet work on the covers. I hate wasting thread or yarn so I recycle when I can. Those particular pieces of crochet started out as a bedspread but before I finished the bed I intended it for was gone and replaced by a much larger one. I continued just planning for more motif squares but was stymied by a divorce which took all my enthusiasm for that project (and a quilt) away. Bit of each have found their ways into other projects with plenty left for others also.

If this is the way trade policy is made we are in deep....trouble. While reading this article I described #45 as "petulant" and Mom questioned the descriptor. I told her that "bat-shit crazy" was more like what I had in mind but was trying to be somewhat polite.

Welcome to March. We woke to steady to heavy rain which isn't helping the flooding along our rivers and streams. The rain should help wash out any ice remaining in my containers. I got the planting area in our storage/planting/craft room cleared and in order so I can start seeds next week. I also got a bit more done clearing off the table so I can do something on it. Mom got a lot of the office supplies and other miscellaneous items sorted and arranged also. A little at a time and we are getting things done.

What I am reading today:

The new post at Tomdispatch. Remembering Chalmers Johnson and introducing the "blowback president." I don't think you need any guesses to figure out about whom he is writing.

We can add "pharmacy desert" to "food desert" to describe some city neighborhoods. This article deals with Chicago. Additional info: bus tickets run above $2 last I heard and they don't give transfers. That means Emma Washington, the elderly resident of Chicago's Chatham neighborhood, would have to spend $8 round trip three times a month to get her meds. I can remember times when that kind of expense would have broken my budget.

From the Guardian: kids entering school don't have the grip strength or dexterity to use pencils or pens effectively. I know of schools where the problem would not even be recognized because the kids use touch screens or keyboards from the beginning. Some can't even read cursive script. Though I have also read some encouraging stories of school districts bringing back cursive handwriting.

And for a bit of humor there is always The Onion.