Zorral

Justified, and Peaky Blinders, must be on the list. So sue me but the Sopranos was not anything appealing to me, and I actively hated the therapy and dream stuff, like I always hate that stuff wherever and whenever it appears. (I first noticed this the first run-through of the volumes of Simone de Beauvoir memoirs -- she told us of her dreams in tremendous detail, going back to childhood!). Peaky Blinders though -- Tommy Shelby, that's a really cool dude, whether evil or not.

So you want someone to perform dentistry on you who got all her execution from reading a book? Or a pharmacist who got her expertise from reading a book? Who never formally studied and practiced the techniques and was tested on them in real life? You want a kid castrating you favorite puppy who knows how to do it from a book? We already have internships -- and these the student PAYS for. Sheesh, get into the real world out there. Very few people are seeking higher education degrees in liberal education these days. And ya, only people who can afford that elitism, as it is perceived now, are the ones who have legacy places at Ivy Leagues and so on. But if you want to keep the hospitals and courts still populated with competent, talented people, they are going to come from the 'lower classes' at whom you're sneering.

Another sign of the times: five empty apartments in our building over these last months. A new tenant is moving in today. Though alas, the sort of tenant who calls her mom and tells her, "We can't get the couch in. It won't fit up the stairs. So I'm throwing it out. It only cost $3000 anyway and is two years old." In the meantime: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/how-public-health-messaging-backfired/618147/ And just for fun, but the humor writer nails it, nails it, nails it, including what I've been saying about this bs of outdoor dining structures all along: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/ideas-outdoor-dining-structures/618160/

Why do they have so much debt? Because it costs so much to go to college. Also for a lot of disciplines, you can't just go to any college and be qualified for the chosen profession. Librarianship, for instance. Accredited library schools are not at 4 year colleges, for instance, but at large, highly regarded universities. They are very expensive programs that involved ever more hands on expertise with ever more varieties of technology and devices. To start with, these aren't Bachelor degree programs, but graduate programs. Most library students chose a specialty such as medical, legal, art, etc. These are by definition, already, like law school, medical school, veterinary school, really expensive too. BTW, it costs even more to qualify as a veterinarian than an M.D. And there are specialties with that as well. Do you know how much tuition alone is for the dental school at NYU? My dentists teaches there -- as an adjunct. So much talent at NYU as adjuncts! He's all about staying up-to-date with the latest progress in the field at all levels, including what he doesn't do himself. This is so he can guide the students, influence the method and what is taught according to his very exacting standards, and have first dibs at hiring the best and brightest for his practice. So, you know, how are you going to find a vet for your beloved kitties or help for your rotten teeth without students taking on debt? You could say, well, then, choose something that's cheap for accreditation. Again, then, I ask, where will you find a vet or a dentist? P.S. My dentist and his crew are just THE BEST. They are pricey, but they do such terrific work and they are genius at pain management, always shooting for 'painless.' P.P.S Medical and dental school in Cuba is free for Cubans.

Our podster amigo neighbor got his second vaccination this morning. We're running over some tylenol. He got sickie almost immediately.

Ah. YA. Which explains. YA is utterly not my cuppa, hot or cold. Never has been. Even when I was a YA myself. Yet, and yet, I will be watching this, while hoping it isn't one of those multiple fantasy disappointments Netflix has consistently presented us, like Curse, which I couldn't get past the second espisode, they are so dull and dreary in the actual execution. I will hope it's more like Witcher, which wasn't GRRRRRRRRRRRRR8, but once past that first awful episode -- o goddessas! those awful scenes of manufactured naked females in a geezer wizard's garden of paradise), it got more intriguing, at least in parts. (I find the Witcher fiction unreadable too -- though it might be due to translation? ) There is so much richness for fantasy in early Russian history, before it is Russia, particularly when the Mongols and the Turks and the Poles-Hungarians and Byzantines all collide -- omygawsh!

Very Russian historical looking. Impressive. You all say this series is based on a fantasy series? What is it called and who is the author, please?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/26/health-202-pharmacies-were-expecting-vaccine-shipments-manufacturing-winter-weather-delayed-them/ Which may well be a primary reason that the numbers of vaccinated for NYC seem to have hardly budged, or budged at all, in the last 10 days or so. OTOH, last night, going through the hubs and dashboards that I do searching for an appointment, I actually got a hit for APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE for the very first time at a hospital not that far from here. Of course, by the time I went through what one must do EVERY GODDAMN TIME to request the actual appointment, there are no appointments. This hadn't changed. OTOH, I'm hearing from all sorts of people I know they have received their first shot, have appointments for the second, or have, like dear pod partner across the street, receive as of today, the second vaccination. My bro's aeronautical company, in Illinois, where he is THE engineering poobah, is getting his now, because the company itself has set up a vaccination center in the campus for its poobahs. Sister and BIL in Denver have gotten their first ones -- they were even contacted by the places and told they had appointments. So, I'm starting to vaguely, faintly, hope ... sometime in April for us? But all I hear is what a challenge it is to vaccinate NYC, without anyone actually coming up with real plans to make vaccination easily accessible for all of us.

The thing is, with the pandemic, the demand for pets has been so high, that the shelters don't have animals. Lots and lots of stories about that here. Also, there are waiting lists to enlist professional dog trainers for new owners and dogs are as difficult to find and get an appointment as finding an appointment to get a vaccination is here too.

Just heard on NPR the CDC trackers see new cases rising. Again.

So two dates terrorist intelligence has to be monitoring -- March 4th, and the State of Union Address, whenever that date will be.

The only interesting thing really, reading the latest Penny, All The Devils Are Here, is how very different this book's milieu and concerns are from what brought us to Penny's Gamache novels in the first place, essentially interesting and variegated individuals, in long-time relationships and community with each other, in a 'normal' sort of place, particularly Three Pines. Here, in Paris, it's all very high-powered, very wealthy, multi-national, legal, enforcement and financial figures and milieu. This background on Gamache, his entitled and privileged family and guardians -- has not previously penetrated into the Gamache universe. I'm not hearing Gamache, I hear Clinton's voice, as in her What Happened, published post the 2016 election, constantly referencing her many internationally wealthy friends, their palatial estates in the DR, etc. -- with not a bit of sensibility about anyone outside of those circles, starting with the title. What Happened is exactly that -- no touch with what is really going on with people who aren't comfortably within her circles of involvement. It looks like Penny got star-struck by her new bestie. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/books/hillary-clinton-louise-penny-state-of-terror.html I don't like it, truthfully. It's off-putting, possessing nothing of what brought me back, book after book, to Gamache's world. That Penny had gone as far with that world that was possible shows so strongly in the previous two – three titles, which were tired and over-stretched, rather implausible and certainly lacking in the sort of engagement with the characters and milieu we loved in the long string of books that preceded them. So she wanting to do something different is understandable. But her choice to shoe horn her new interests – and her new, insider access, to a much wider and powerful mise en scene – into the world of Gamache, is a mistake, an error of sensibility that is the same as Clinton's, the failure which lost her an election.

DMC!

I recall some years back someone (not on this forum - thread) mocking the very idea of Afrofuturism as something that never has and did not exist -- simply because he, who was very well versed in the fiction of sf/f had never heard of it (meaning stuff mostly published before 1985 it seemed), so called me a liar for referencing it. Among the reasons were 1) Black people had nothing to do with sf/f and didn't care about it, while I referenced this:, which became outrage #2 I'd committed -- for one thing it seemed uncertain he had any idea who any of these three musicians are / were It was such an odd thing that I still remember that, trying to figure out wtf?????? Anyway, the latest in Afrofuturism: https://www.axios.com/afrofuturism-black-science-fiction-212fda33-59f1-4139-a1eb-228fc766eab5.html

Some of the They Say crowds are Saying March 4th is perhaps being organized to be the New! Improved! Real and Authentic! January 6th Sedition Effort. Why March 4th particularly? Partly because it was the original inauguration date. Still it is all as cray-cray as cam be, still https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22280323/qanon-march-president-trump-inaugration-conspiracy-theory