2024, A Pivotal Year? You Bet! :: Essays On Attention Paid

As relieved as I was, I also knew we had only stopped the advance of the threat of authoritarian rule at that moment. We had not turned it back. As has been clear for some time, hard right conservatives had no use for a democratic republic form of government.

From today’s walk…

Artisinal toy creatures from Clutter.co

Sunrise clouds above a residential building.

Sticker on an iron pipe for <a href="https://micro.blog/izzy">@izzy</a>

Three cigarette buts on asphalt and concrete pavement. The line between asphalt on the left, and concrete on the right runs at a slight diagonal from top to bottom in the middle. Cigarette buts are arrayed along the line.

Sunoco gas station pumps on the right, convenience store on the left, sunrise sky above with fair-weather clouds. Made with very wide angle lens.

Graffiti on top of blue newspaper dispenser box. A sticker with the word “free” on the lower edge of the dispenser top. Concrete and asphalt paving below.

Six empty Stella Artois bottles standing next to a concrete curb in a parking lot. The left most bottle has a plastic cup inverted over it.

Day 3 of photo challenge, precious: This vase is both beautiful and, at $1k, precious. 📷

Day 2 of the photo challenge, buildup…

September 1, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

Today’s attempted restriction of those who are supposed to be equal citizens from leaving extremist states raises a whole factory of red flags.

Really important read from HCR this morning…

September 1, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

Meanwhile, Republicans continue to focus on ending abortion, and their determination is leading them to assert power over citizens of Republican-dominated states in a way that is commonly associated with authoritarian governments.

I love especially, “By a Lover of Her Sex.”

Photo Challenge Day 1: Abstract 📷

Having a rancid morning. Getting nothing done. Technology resisting me. Foul mood as a result. Maybe I should go back to bed.:(

From yesterday…

Cloudscape on a stormy day.

Sunoco gas station on the other side of a street.

Front end of a car with cracked adhesive residue.

Rectangular stone slab running diagonally across frame from lower right to upper left. Grass.

Wildflower going to seed.

From yesterday…

Streetscape. Gas station and convenience store.

Brick wall painted gray, steel fence gate painted blue, curb painted red and yellow stripes.

Bug sticker on a steel column painted blue with graffiti. Sticker says IZZY.TATTZZ.

Woman’s floral print dress with horizontal lace bands at 1-2 foot intervals and buttoned bodice.

Plant branches with small oval shaped leaves alternate spaced either side of branch.

Landscape of trees, weeds and vines with fire escape ladder running from bottom to top of frame on the right side. The right side of the ladder is covered by the vines.

Idalia intensifies to a dangerous Category 4 hurricane ahead of its landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast - CNN

Hope M.b peeps in Florida have found refuge from the storm. Thinking about you.

D.H. Lawrence on the Hypocrisies of Social Change and What It Actually Takes to Shift the Status Quo – The Marginalian

A rich man with a beautiful house is like a jewel on a leper’s body…. Our business is not in jewellery, but in the body politic…. What good is it to a sick, unclean man, if he wears jewels.

–D.H. Lawrence

Got a card reader that allows me to transfer images from my Nikon to my iPhone and iPad for editing. Travel game changer!

From yesterday…

Interior of vintage clothing store with soft glow of table lamp illuminating vintage items and a soft blue light reflected off the window at the left and right edges.

Signage for Vails Gate Laundry &amp; Dry Cleaning.

Landscape with “tree of heaven” sapling in foreground, clouds and mountain in background.

Chainlink fence post with three clamps one on top of the other clamped to nothing.

Brick will of building, window with floor lamp on the right, railing leading into the frame from middle bottom to middle left, street, car and buildings in the background on the left.

Restaurant courtyard with hearts chalked onto the brick pavers, tables and chairs, deflated balloons in the background.

music.apple.com/us/album/…

This is an amazing song…

Last night we watched the first episode of The Morning Show. Wowa, hope it continues to be as good. Never been a complete fan of Jennifer Aniston, but she’s pretty good. And I am a huge fan of Steve Carrel, and Rise Witherspoon is pretty good too. And the writing is good too.

that science that was to teach me everything ends up in a hypothesis, that lucidity founders in metaphor, that uncertainty is resolved in a work of art. What need had I of so many efforts?”

— The Myth of Sisyphus (Vintage International) by Albert Camus a.co/9aEIGQ3

Great feelings take with them their own universe, splendid or abject.

— The Myth of Sisyphus (Vintage International) by Albert Camus a.co/fst48cL

Notes on Complexity: A Buddhist Scientist on the Murmuration of Being – The Marginalian

Complex systems, including human bodies and human societies, can change their behaviors in the face of the unpredictable. That creativity is the essence of complexity.

Notes on Complexity: A Buddhist Scientist on the Murmuration of Being – The Marginalian

Each day, we eat food that becomes us, its molecules metabolized into our own as we move through the world with the illusion of a self. Each day, we live with the puzzlement of what makes us and our childhood self the “same” person, even though most of our cells and our dreams have been replaced. Each day, we find ourselves restless miniatures of a vast universe we are only just beginning to fathom.

fios By Verizon, A Contemporary Take on The Myth of Sisyphus :: Essays On Attention Paid

When we got home, we discovered we had no internet. “Oh no!” I thought. I called the store across the river and asked if they had disconnected our service. “Yes,” they said. “But why?!” I said, “I didn’t ask for that!” “A misunderstanding,” they said. “But we’ll get it back for you.”

From yesterday…

Silhouetted branches of a chestnut tree with most of its leaves gone and a scattering of chestnuts hanging from the branches.

Subtly striated cloudscape running diagonally from lower left to upper right. Soft gray, yellow, orange predawn colors.

Glass antique vase in a shop window with reflective silver inside and a gradation of dark to light turquoise green from top to bottom. Vase is circular with sides widening out uniformly two thirds of the way down, then gently curving down and in to the narrower base.

Blouse and pants on a female mannequin in a shop window. Blouse is white cotton knit. Pants are a rainbow circles print with shades of dark to light blue making up the rainbow swirls.

Yellow woven purse in a shop window.

Purple and orange matte finish large scale beaded neckless in a shop window.

Brick wall with window, signage, car vacuum vending machine, garbage can, on or in front of it. A rectangular shadow of a building projects in from the lower left corner, the shadow of a street light projects in from the lower right corner.

fios By Verizon, A Contemporary Take on The Myth of Sisyphus :: Essays On Attention Paid

There was only one problem, the ugly white signal extender tower sitting on the floor of our living room. It’s ugly we said. “It’s powerful, the technician said. “It will cover the whole house,” he said. “No need for your Eero mesh network,” he said. “Ok, we’ll try your ugly white tower,” we said, “maybe it’s better.” It wasn’t. So we unplugged it and plugged in our Eero mesh network. Strong signal everywhere. “Yay! Let’s return the ugly white tower!”

August 26, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

And now women are the crucial demographic going into the 2024 elections. Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg noted in June that there was a huge spike of women registering to vote after the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion, and that Democratic turnout has exceeded expectations ever since.