Category Archives: News

Начала конца Путина

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Photo by Pylz Works on Unsplash

Beginning of the end of Putin. — Alexander Vindman

Sit back, put your feet up, grab an adult beverage and a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the unfolding spectacle. Raise your glass and toast to the confusion of our enemies. Last year, the Russians expected Kiev to fall in three days, now it appears more likely that Moscow will fall in three days. Update: Putin reportedly flees Moscow. Machine gun positions erected around Moscow. Wagner convoy heading to Moscow. I do not know what is really happening over in Russia right now, or what will happen next, but remember, it is only a coup if it comes from the coup d’état region of France. What appears to be happening in Moscow right now is just a sparkling insurrection.

UPDATE: Well, that was weird. I should have remained an expert on undersea submersible and not try to become an expert on internal Russian politics too. I have many hours of experience playing Civilization V. Vladimir Putin should have known that when his national happiness fell below -20 he would start spawning random insurgents. Here’s what he should do next: Consider buying pikemen in his closest cities.

Wordle Hurdle

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Wordle by Nils Huenerfuerst on Unsplash

Yesterday, workers in the New York Times Guild asked you to break your Wordle streak. On Wednesday, Times union members announced a 24-hour digital picket line for Thursday and asked readers not to cross it while they are on their one-day walkout. 1,100 Times employees walked out after unsuccessfully negotiating with Times management for over a year. Chief among their demands is a corporate minimum wage of $65K. While, this may sound like a lot of money, New York last month was named the most expensive city in the world. I know this, because my son, moved to NYC, because LA just was not expensive enough.

News of this job action was not very well disseminated. I first learned of this digital picket line on Thursday morning from Twitter, after I had already perused the paper. I informed Anne when she got up and she shared the news with her sisters. Jay was already halfway through Wordle when she stopped, and Jane had already completed the puzzle before she first heard of the work stoppage. Later, I did miss using my subscription, when I was fixing dinner and could not access the NYT food app. I think that dinner suffered because of this.

Proceeding now, guilt free usage of the Times has returned. This morning, I again read the Times and Anne again played Wordle and the myriad of other Times games that she likes. My somewhat limited hiatus was no great hardship, Anne, and all her fellow Wordle nerds will see lasting consequences. Their Wordle streaks will be reset to zero, which is a real sacrifice, to hear all the wailing and gnashing of teeth going-on about this via Twitter. I think though that the reset Wordle score will become a badge of honor and a sign of solidarity. Going forward, Wordle streaks that exceed this interruption will be viewed askance and become subject to scorn. A few years ago, who could have conceived of these events?

Turkish Pavilion

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Turkish Pavilion, Tower Grove Park

Friday, we returned to Tower Grove Park. It had been quite a while since last we walked there. Plus, it had been a while since we had seen the sun, making our walk doubly enjoyable. I brought along the drone, while Anne looked for birds. I love being able to photograph again all of the sights around town from a new angle. Several of the pavilions were hosting costume parties, where people kind of, sort of maintained a social distance. With no wind to speak of and the temperature in the mid-fifties, it made for a very pleasant day.

Today, Halloween, the weather is expect to be even finer and we plan on getting out to a park again to enjoy it. This year, we have elected not to participate in today’s pagan holiday. Instead, we’ll draw the shades and hunker down. Today’s word for the day, latibulate, tells it all. It means to hide in a corner in an attempt to escape reality. That is not to say that a few little goblins won’t ring our bell in an attempt to exorcise us from any devilish candy. I’ll miss seeing the little ones all decked out, their corny jokes or their stage fright when they try to utter those magic words, “Trick or Treat!” These are scary times that we are living in now.

With a year like this one, you don’t need stories of some fanciful and frightening dystopian future to entertain yourself with. 2020 has all of that covered. Just, read the news. That will make your hair stand up. You may have goblins and ghosts, Freddy and Jason, but none of those old tropes scare me, because I’ve got politics and plague and if they don’t scare the bejesus out of you, I don’t know what will. I hope and pray that we make it through this year and to the next, because even with a full moon tonight, things are looking pretty dark out.