THIS MORNING'S ADVENTURE

I almost burned the house this morning. Almost, not quiet. I was enjoying yesterday's Norfolk Daily News, this morning Omaha World Herald & Fox News Online, setting the newspaper on the coffee table, next to a scented candle. Apparently I moved the newspaper too close to the candle, but suddenly the paper erupted in flames. I was barely able to get it into the bathtub. And I scorched the bathtub. Lois is not particularly happy with me.

ROAD TRIP PREVIEW

We've already gone on one road trip this year. Last month we spent a week with Nathan, Laura, & the grandkids in Eagan, MN. Very, very early this MON morning our flight leaves for Tampa. We're actually driving to Omaha tomorrow & spending the night at a Sleep Inn next to the airport. At least we'll get 4 or so hours of sleep instead of 2 or so, if we left from Norfolk.

We're visiting Lois' older sister Kathy in St. Petersburg, returning on MAR 1. We spent last FEB with her, too. She sold her house & moved into a 7th-floor condo, also in St. Pete's. Lois' sister Anita from Ft. Walton Beach will join us for a trip to Key West. From there we're taking a boat to Dry Tortugas National Park. 

For those of you who enjoy reading my travelogs, I plan to start posting them on Facebook, beginning MON night.

G.O.M.E.R. *

* Grumpy Old Men & Their Elucidating Rant

What do I think about the Olympics? Glad you asked. Given China's aggressive foreign policy, threats to Taiwan, reneging on its promises re:  Hong Kong, ruthless crackdown on dissent, persecution of Christians, & relentless genocide against minorities, I think we should have boycotted these Olympics. We won't be watching any of the events, although, to be fair, we don't get network t.v. anyway. I will be boycotting any YouTube highlights. So there.

TRENDING

"STUDY:  Humans feel more comfortable interacting with 'female' robots." Drudge Report

PANDEMIC NEWS

"World likely sicker than has been in 100 years." Drudge Report

"Once a hallowed political position, the case for masking in schools has now crumbled. Even so, as of last week, 15 states and the District of Columbia mandate face masks for students. Because of the prevalence of these mandates in population centers, over half of American students wear a mask every day. The CDC still encourages universal masking of all students over the age of two ... 

"There simply is little to no evidence that masking in school mitigates the spread of Covid. A study last year in Georgia found that masking children was not statistically significant. The few studies that do exist touting the efficacy of masks on children do not “isolate the impact of masks specifically.” In other words, other confounding variables — vaccination rates, social distancing, community spread, air ventilation, etc. — could just as easily explain the positive correlation.

"Lacking evidence for masks is a sufficient reason to justify their removal — compulsion should not continue without reason — but this paucity is only half of the question. Without the positive case for masks, there is still the issue of what negative consequences they bring. Quite simply, face masks perpetrate real educational and emotional harm on students. Faces are crucial to academic and social development. Wearing a mask is not just another piece of clothing. For children in particular, it’s not a minor inconvenience. There is a trade-off." Daniel Buck, National Review Online

"The use of lockdowns is a unique feature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns have not been used to such a large extent during any of the pandemics of the past century. However, lockdowns during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic have had devastating effects. They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy. These costs to society must be compared to the benefits of lockdowns, which our meta-analysis has shown are marginal at best. Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument." Mario Loyola, NRO

HERE'S TO YOUR HEALTH

"STUDY:  Heart attacks 'turbocharge' mental decline, dementia." Drudge Report

BALANCING WORK, LIFE, & HIGH JINKS *

* Compliments of Reader's Digest, Oct. 2021

"A guard at a Wisconsin Bath & Body Works was so bored one morning around 2 that he began fiddling with his handcuffs, eventually slipping them on his wrists. He soon discovered he'd left the keys to the cuffs at home. Suddenly, his dull night became very interesting. After calling the police who freed him, he hid the cuffs from himself so he wouldn't be tempted to pull the same trick again."

OLYMPICS, CONTINUED

Communist Olympic Events This Year *

* Compliments of Babylon Bee

> Uyghur Luge:  Competitors slide down the side of a mountain on live Uyghur prisoners.

> Competitive Virus Making:  A competitor from Wuhan is the current favorite.

> Women's Vanishing Tennis:  A variant on mixd couples. But you get shot.

> Men's Snowboard:  It's like waterboarding, but with snow.

> Bobsled Across Border to Freedom:  It's like the standard bobsled event. But you get shot.

> Kneeling Before President Xi (On Ice!):  Half figure skating, half oppression, all fun!

"Unfortunately, some of the most powerful people in the world are saying that the Games are about international peace and understanding, and that discussing human rights would unnecessarily politicize them. IOC president Thomas Bach repeated that refrain, with which he’s deflected criticism of his organization, during a press conference yesterday: “If we are taking a political standpoint, and we are getting in the middle of tensions and disputes and confrontations between political powers, then we are putting the Olympics at risk.”

"The IOC has hugged the Chinese Communist Party leadership, defended the decision to host the Games in Beijing, and failed to speak out about the ongoing atrocities. It partnered with a Chinese company under U.S. sanctions for complicity in the genocide and worked to deflect criticism of the party for its detention of tennis star Peng Shuai." Jimmy Quinn, National Review Online