Waiting for the bus, two blocks in the distance I saw a woman approaching, with two small kids. When they'd walked a block closer, I could see that the woman was Muslim, wearing the head thingie I later Googled to know how to spell (niqab). Her two kids were apparently girls, 5ish and 7ish, because they were also wearing niqabs. Full-body drapes, all three all covered, everything but their eyes, and it was gonna be a hot day, too.

It's amazing to me, the things people do for their gods.

When the family crossed the street, still approaching me and coming closer, I noticed that the mom was pushing a baby stroller. They didn't join me at the bus stop, they kept walking, but as they went past I noticed that the infant in the stroller was not wearing a niqab. Congratulations, it's a boy, I guess. Or maybe girls don't have to cover up until they're old enough to walk, and then for the rest of their lives...

At that same bus stop a different morning, a rooster crowed in the distance. It's an urban neighborhood, so you really don't expect that sound. Someone's raising chickens in their back yard. Cock a doodle doo.

I'm tempted to add a crack about —yum— fresh eggs for breakfast, but eggs fresh from the chicken are all wrong. Me and the wife once bought a dozen fresh eggs from a lady who lived on a farm but worked in the city, and they were better for us, no doubt — all-natural and free of hormones, speckles all over the shells, and inside every egg the yolk was a bit different in color from all the other all-natural eggs — but there was one kinda big problem. They didn't taste like eggs.

Well, I guess they tasted exactly like eggs, but they didn't taste like the processed, hormone-fed, factory eggs we'd eaten all our lives. Our reaction was, ick. We decided it would probably take months of eating those weird eggs before they'd maybe start tasting like eggs to us, and anyway they were more expensive than ordinary grocery-store eggs, so we switched right back to ordinary grocery-store eggs. We didn't even eat the entire dozen 'real' eggs we'd bought. Just trashed 'em.

So you can keep your fresh eggs from the back yard chicken coop.

At the perpetual construction site almost literally across the street from my rented room, one of the excavators is pink. Same as the several others, it's another giant machine with jaws-mouth for digging and scooping and moving dirt, only it's pink. It was never there until yesterday. Or it got painted.

Is it owned by someone gay? Owned by someone female? I don't know and don't care enough to ask, but construction has such a male macho image, that piece of machinery sure stands out, and I'm declaring it cool.

"Support for NPR comes from" [this giant corporation that's destroying the world], followed by the corporation's motto, or a brief sentence or two about how marvelous the corporation is.

And then, "Support also comes from [another giant corporation that's destroying the world], followed by that corporation's motto, or a brief sentence or two about how marvelous that corporation is.

This continues for what feels like two minutes, listing several monstrous corporations and telling the audience from coast-to-coast how marvelous each corporation is.

When these commercials on the non-commercial network finally finish, we're given a bland news report containing no news I didn't already know from reading newspapers and surfing the net. When that story ends, there might be another story just as bland, but it's all just filler, until very soon comes the information that really matters — when again we're told that "Support for NPR comes from [the giant corporations that are destroying the world]. By now, I think we all know that.

Walk to the bathroom in your bare feet, stand in front of the toilet and pee, and begin to realize that you're standing in someone else's pee dribble at the base of the toilet. Ah, life in a shared house.

Ah, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Seven movie reviews were ready to go, and somehow I lost the file. I don't even remember what six of the seven movies were, but I'd put some time into the writing and now it's gone and I'm angry — at myself. At some point, I must've forgotten to hit 'save'.

Twenty minutes later, it occurs to me that I probably have a back-up version on a thumb drive from a few days ago, so I've edited out one of my fucks, above. Still, I'll have to re-write at least one review from scratch. Fuck.

♦ ♦ ♦

And now, the news you need, whether you know it or not…

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King County Elections calls for removal of unauthorized signs near ballot drop boxes

Republicans' lies and fears and bullshit are so tiresome. There's nothing worrisome about ballot dropboxes. They make it a smidgen easier for people to vote, and people who believe in democracy want people to vote. Republicans don't, and don't.

♦ ♦ ♦

State legislators passed abortion bans. These corporations sent checks.

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Amazon to buy primary care provider One Medical for $3.9B

I lack the inside info to list why and how this is going to screw people over, but this is going to screw people over, or Amazon wouldn't be doing it.

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Internet Archive is facing a Big 4 Publishers lawsuit

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Bizarre vintage tobacco advertising that made smoking seem healthy, 1920s-1930s

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One Seattle restaurant staff's walk-out raises the question, 'How should a tip pool be distributed?'

It sure sounds like management was stealing tips, and I'll bet that happens at a lot of restaurants.

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San Francisco surrenders, shuts down Mission District plaza

Not smart, not funny. When they give up and padlock public space, it's the ruin of society. And sadly, I see lots of padlocked public spaces, everywhere.

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Tennessee State Park unveils new trail made of illegally dumped tires

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Secret Service turned over just one text message to January 6 panel, sources say

Whatever really happened on 1/6/2021, it's starting to look like the Secret Service was in on it.

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FBI successfully forced a criminal suspect to unlock his Wickr account with his face

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The worst All-Star Game ever

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US National Park Service:

What are these weird creatures that washed up on the beach?

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One-word newscast, because it's the same news every time...

• climate • climate • climate

• cops • cops • cops • cops • cops • cops

• Republicans • Republicans • Republicans • Republicans

♦ ♦ ♦

The End

• Ho Wang Lee

• Gerald W McEntee

• Barbara Thompson

7/21/2022
Tip 'o the hat to Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, Meme City, 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, Wynn Bruce, and always Stephanie...