Moving mathematically
Or at least cataloging. A substantial gift of recent books on mathematics and physics. At first glance, these seemed much too scholarly and we thought we should offer them to one of the nearby colleges. But when I looked more closely I realized that they were mostly popular works. I have started through them one by one, adding about half to the collection as I go. We are supposed to have a focus on math, astronomy, and physics according to a collection development plan we made up in cooperation with other nearby libraries some years ago. We also got military history and science, and history and travel for Oceania out of that. I think everyone has forgotten it but me at this point.
Polls are closed, the incessant robocalls have stopped. I'm really sour about the idea that democracy does anything functional in the US any more. As someone pointed out earlier today, so folks are dissatisfied with the performance of the firemen they brought in. That's understandable. But why do they think matters will improve if they put the arsonists who started the problem back into control? Why do Americans persist so stubbornly in believing that there can only be two choices, both of them bad, with no alternatives at all? Every election we end up voting AGAINST people rather than FOR anyone. I predict that this one will end in a gridlock situation very much like what we had in 1994, with a right wing-dominated Congress whose leaders simply scream "No, No, No!" at every suggestion, regardless of what it may be, and a harried and hog-tied executive branch that can only veto the reactionary attempts of Congress to move us backward to the post-World War 2 status quo. Why do people ask for these things? Can't they understand what they are actually doing? Apparently not.
Anyway, on the good news side, progress continues apace.
Nanowrimo word count: 3576 (1820 today)
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Story draft available here.
Polls are closed, the incessant robocalls have stopped. I'm really sour about the idea that democracy does anything functional in the US any more. As someone pointed out earlier today, so folks are dissatisfied with the performance of the firemen they brought in. That's understandable. But why do they think matters will improve if they put the arsonists who started the problem back into control? Why do Americans persist so stubbornly in believing that there can only be two choices, both of them bad, with no alternatives at all? Every election we end up voting AGAINST people rather than FOR anyone. I predict that this one will end in a gridlock situation very much like what we had in 1994, with a right wing-dominated Congress whose leaders simply scream "No, No, No!" at every suggestion, regardless of what it may be, and a harried and hog-tied executive branch that can only veto the reactionary attempts of Congress to move us backward to the post-World War 2 status quo. Why do people ask for these things? Can't they understand what they are actually doing? Apparently not.
Anyway, on the good news side, progress continues apace.
Nanowrimo word count: 3576 (1820 today)

Story draft available here.
no subject
Woo...Republicans promised me more beer money in my pocket and more guns! Woohoo! Who cares about health care or the standard of living, education, the environment or any of that crap, I'm getting drunk on Saturday and go shoot me some deerz! Yeeeehaw!
no subject
I understand the GOP house leadership is already setting the stage for some "grand" hearings into the "global warming fraud." Nothing like bias before you even begin work.
Earlier in the week, someone pointed out that voter reaction in this election could be summed up as "These firemen didn't put the blaze out yet. Let's show them our disapproval by putting the arsonists back into power."
Sane news analysts are right, I hope, when they say that people are in for a nasty surprise. Business as usual for the republicans means they'll be trying to repeal everything that happened in the last two years and find some excuse to impeach the president. A lot of noise and drama while the economy and the nation crumble around their ears again, just like the Clinton years.
Here in Illinois I'm pleased to see that the Green Party got a surprising number of votes. They fielded a sane candidate for governor and quite a few reasonable alternatives for lesser offices. It's going to take forever to get voters to pay attention though and not think of voting outside the two empty-headed major parties as "wasting your vote."