As always in my life, for the most part I kept quiet, nose down, did my work at the job for the past almost-9 years. By my choice, nobody there ever saw anything about me except my skin and clothes and hair.

It's a rule: Always, I keep my distance.

As our days counted down toward the layoffs, I ignored the chirps of Let's keep in touch, Here's my Facebook page, Here's my phone number, and all that routine rot. Except for a few of them.

One was a co-worker whose wisequacks had kept me from decking a few senior executives. Toward the end, she asked if she could list me as a reference when she started job-hunting, and I said something like, Sure, but don't you know any responsible adults?

One was an ex-co-worker who'd long ago transferred to a different department, but we'd continued e-chatting about work, life, almost the whole shebang, though of course (unlike here) I always held back anything too revealing.

One was my former boss — not my last boss there (she was awful), but the boss before her. I replied to him when he said "keep in touch," because (a) he was a decent dude, and (b) he's made of boss-stuff, so he'll be a boss until he's dead, and maybe he'll call and hire me some day.

A dozen people gave me the "stay in touch" shtick, but those three sounded sincere, so a few days after the job ended, I did what we'd said, and "stayed in touch." Sent each of them an email — just a few lines, upbeat and funny. It's been almost two weeks. No reply.

Can't tell you how disappointed I'm not, because it's what I expected. Your job is not your family, and your co-workers are not your friends. That's why I don't show myself, at work or out in the world.

Once in a while, though, you gotta gamble on people. No regrets about taking a chance on three out of twelve, because when you stop taking chances you're dead already.

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2 SWAT team members involved in Jaleel Stallings case were part of Locke raid

Two officers on a SWAT team that was caught on body camera video firing at citizens without warning from an unmarked cargo van just days after the police killing of George Floyd were involved in the raid that led to the police killing of Amir Locke Wednesday morning.

Those cops should've been fired a year ago. They should be fired now. They should be fired after the next atrocity. They weren't, they aren't, and they won't be, which is why you can count on the next atrocity.

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This article tells how Seattle gentrified and modernized itself by getting rid of SRO hotels — "Flophouses. Flea bags. Skid Road." The only surprise is that anyone was surprised at what happened. Exactly what you'd expect would happen: With no place to check in, the poor became homeless, by the thousands.

The city went from having one homeless street person in the 1970s — a woman who used to live in the portal to the Public Safety Building — to a few dozen by 1980, to 400 in the mid-’80s to 1,200 in 1990 (these are estimates of people rough-sleeping outside, and doesn’t include those staying in overnight shelters). Today Seattle is up to nearly 4,000 [people living] outside — and that count was from before the pandemic.

Single-room occupancy hotels, or SROs, or what I called 'em — rez hotels — were once quite common in big cities. They're how I survived the 1990s. For a cheap price, anyone could rent a small room with a locking door, a sink, heat and electricity, and a bathroom and shower down the hall. No applications, no credit check, no damage deposit, no luxuries, and no questions asked. If you had the money, you could rent a room.

Of course, SROs attracted the dregs of humanity, the mentally damaged, beggars and bums and worse, and sure, with low rents and low profit margins, many SRO hotels devolved into squalor. A rez hotel isn't classy, but for some folks and in some situations, 'classy' is not required.

There's always a lot of hand-wringing about homelessness, but the answer is easy: Rebuild SRO housing — a last-gasp place to go, a safe haven between abject poverty and the streets.

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Declassified documents shows the CIA is using a 1981 executive order to engage in domestic surveillance.

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The lasting legacy of redlining

It’s been over 80 years since the lines were drawn in Fairfax and over 50 years since the use of redlining was legally banned, but the impact of redlining is still felt in cities like Cleveland, where redlined neighborhoods are some of the most starkly segregated in the country.

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MLB goes to universal designated hitter

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"Pussy", "pupal" and "agora" among words removed from Wordle after move to New York Times

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Who was the real St. Valentine?

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One-word newscast:

• cops

• QAnonsense

• Rogan

• Trump

Dead:

• James Bidgood

• Jeremy Giambi

• Ian McDonald

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Mystery links — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

—①—

—②—

—③—

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♫♬ Sing along with Doug ♫

"Mannix" — Lalo Schifrin

2/12/2022
Tip 'o the hat to All Hat No Cattle, Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, National Zero, Ran Prieur, Voenix Rising, and anyone else whose work I've stolen without saying thanks.
Extra special thanks to Becky Jo, Name Withheld, Dave S., and always Stephanie...
Cranky Old Man