The news media is collectively shitting itself over the "polar vortex" that's due to hit this area this evening, dropping temperatures into approximately seasonal territory. It's projected to dump about a foot of snow up in Minnesota, but we're supposed to get rain and cold--in that order--rather than any serious winter precipitation.
Winter weather is just as predictable as any other kind. I can't look at an early freeze and say, "Whoa, this winter is going to be worse than last year's!" I know that even if it starts off frigid--snow on Halloween!--it might be 60° on Christmas Day.
I can remember when a weather system like the one that's heading this way was called a "yankee clipper" (or "Alberta clipper") rather than a "polar vortex" and they were a fact of life rather than Yet Another Result Of Man-made Global Warming.
*sigh*
Strange but true: after October it gets cold in north America, and sometimes it gets colder than others, and no one can do squat about it.
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My niece said, last night, "I want gay married couples to be able to defend their marajuana plants with guns." I didn't have the heart to tell her how hard-libertarian that opinion is.
Well, she'll find out eventually, I suppose.
I do not agree wholeheartedly with her opinion, though I support the notion of civil unions (not marriages) for homosex couples, but that's not a discussion I care to have via WoW chat. Then again, I am a conservative, not a libertarian. (Though I do want government to keep its nose--and other appendages--out of my ass.)
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The latest and greatest news from Fungus-land: there's no sign whatsoever of a raise in my latest paycheck, and since apparently no one is interested in doing reviews I have no idea what is going on. My pay rate is unchanged.
I suppose "greatest" is relative.
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The time I have for nonsense is limited, yet I find myself reading page after page of Not Always Right.
So far, the one I liked best was the woman who wanted a vegan steak. I am amazed at people who are utterly unclear on the concept of what vegetarianism or veganism is.
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Last night there was a big story on the news about toddlers being poisoned by detergent packs, the little pods that dissolve in water and have various things in them to get your dishes/clothes to be sparkle city.
The story meant to put a human face on the facts was about this young women whose baby had gotten a detergent pack and it popped, and she had to go to the ER in an ambulance because ZOMGPOISON.
Somewhere deep in the bowels of this UTTERLY USELESS STORY there was the information that the mother's grandmother had given the kid the detergent pod by mistake, thinking it was a teether.
...
Okay, in the first place, why the fuck are these things just laying around such that anyone could be confused like that? Why was the detergent pod not kept in its easily identifiable container somewhere out of sight?
And why does an incident like this mean that we have to have a big news story on the national news? Most people are smart enough to realize that if you have toddlers around, you put away the stuff that could hurt them, because they'll try to put anything they can pick up into their mouths. (Especially when teething. I've never had a kid and I know this!) So this means you keep the detergent pods in their original containers, out of sight, and preferably out of reach as well. This is not that difficult to understand.
...which is why I can't watch the news on TV. It raises my blood pressure too much.