You know, Herman Cain attended a Trump rally maskless, and proudly posted a photo of himself hanging out with a small crowd of people, also maskless, and then was diagnosed with COVID-19 afterwards.
Now Herman Cain is dead of COVID-19.
Please, please, please take the pandemic seriously. Even you Republicans. It’s real. It kills people. Even people you might like.
For some reason (and this post will probably make it worse), social media have been slamming me with ads for model rockets. Maybe they’re digging way, way back into our commercial history, because I was last personally into them back in junior high — the early ’70s. I do have to admit, though, that these latest models look pretty sweet and tempt me into trying.
I’d probably face the same problem I did in junior high, though: I’d scrimp and save to buy a model to fuss over, and then I’d have no money to buy the engines you need to launch them. There were also all these accessories you needed, like an ignition system and a launch pad, and I couldn’t afford that, either.
Oh, well. Just mentioning this ancient interest means that Big Brother will helpfully dig up all kinds of pretty pictures of spaceships to sprinkle into my mentions. That works for me! Especially if they displace all the crappy ads for insrnce and fnerl services and mle enhncem*nt services I usually get.
Important news! Abe Drayton has a doggy, and she’s frolicking in parklands that are probably full of spiders. No spiders seen, but he was probably distracted by the big mammal.
Those of you who tuned into my youtube livestream yesterday know that the presentation was terrible — the audio was thoroughly screwed up. I think I fixed the problem now, though, so I’m going to test my setup tonight at 9pm, and just open the floor to any questions. If no one shows up and I only do an audio recording test, that’s fine too.
My wife is obsessed with our lawn, and I hate it. She sends me out to mow the stupid useless thing in the morning, a task made even more difficult because it’s covered with dew-speckled webs, and I have to destroy them.
It’s like a regular village out there, with all these little spider homes everywhere. And if you look closely…is that a hobbit hole?
Surely it is. It’s gone now, though — I scoured this little shire thoroughly, and now it’s just a wasteland of stubby, wounded grass weeping volatile semiochemicals into the air, the grieving survivors rallying and swearing to rebuild and maybe planning their vengeance.
Against me. Am I the implacable, inscrutable monster in this scenario? Would Sauron have felt a sense of relief when the oppressed rose up and destroyed him? I don’t think I would have minded if a swarm of spiders had scurried up to end my reign of terror.
I just returned from the optometrist, and it’s the last piece of the ensemble I need to complete the look.
I don’t know why Charles is hovering over my shoulder like that, but he keeps whispering, “Turn to the Dark Side!”
In addition to spawning a swarm of cute spider babies yesterday, I wish to announce that my oldest human spawn is having a birthday today. He’s cute, too. I think he’s turning…11? Maybe 12? I’ve lost track. Anyway,
Happy Birthday, Alaric!
Speaking of cute, another long experiment in genetics is developing nicely. The grandchildren are demonstrating that their grandfather’s homely genes have been successfully fully repressed, and only the maternal beauty genes are being expressed.
Mastering the art of puddle stomping
A boy and his dog.
I’m beginning to wonder if my wife reproduced parthenogenetically, because these grandkids are too adorable to be mine.
Reminder: I’m streaming a Minecraft session in about an hour. Or you could tune in to Jackson Wheat at about the same time and watch him wrassle with a creationist. I don’t know which would be more fun.
More like Mickey Rat, am I right?
And that poor child’s name was Roy Cohn. He was never the same afterwards.
Dismal news from the Minnesota wing of the American pandemic ward: our youngest death so far.
Minnesota has reported its first COVID-19 death in a child amid a rise in cases of the infectious disease among children and young adults.
The death of a 9-month-old baby from Clay County is one of the youngest reported in the U.S. in the pandemic.
The child had no underlying health conditions and was not hospitalized. State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm described it as an “isolated incident related to this infant’s very specific situation.”
Details and lab samples are being sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further investigation of why this infant died with an infectious disease that has taken a much harsher toll on the elderly. Of the 1,545 COVID-19 deaths so far in the pandemic in Minnesota, two have involved people in the 20 to 29 age range. But none until now had involved anyone 19 or younger.
We also added 922 new reported cases on Monday, the highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic. Stevens County, where I’m located, is holding steady at a total of 13 cases, but we’re less than a month away from a big influx of students. Maybe we’ll set some more records! How exciting!
I need to add one other detail to our situation. Relatively few young people are dying of COVID-19 around here, but one of the features of the rural landscape is that every town has an aging population and features at least one retirement home. Morris has four: Skyview Plaza, Skyview Court, West Wind Village, and Prairie Community Services. That’s where the pandemic will hit hardest, and that got me wondering. I’ve been selfish and worrying about what will happen to staff and students when classes resume, but will the university close down if the old folks start dying?
