Fruneau!

"Faucism" ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/213606.html

Another heroic dog. I like that they're careful to point out that he's a pitbull, and was taken in as a stray. Dogs are largely what you make of them. I'm sure there's a pithily relevant Mark Twain comment for this, but I can't find it.

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The President of Chad dies in combat against his people's enemies. My virtual hat is off to him. That's a fate more characteristic of a King than a President.

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India's going through another outbreak of the Chinese Doom. The reported death toll seems ludicrously small, especially with five hour lines to enter a crematorium, and reports of unclaimed bodies in the streets, and is almost certainly many, many times greater, probably by orders of magnitude.

It interests me that of the many thousands of words dedicated to analyzing the situation by the MSM, none of them mention India's giving away its vaccines via COVAX as a contributing cause. It's entirely the fault of a cricket tournament, a religious festival, election rallies, or general lassitude on the Indians' part. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/213403.html

So, tomorrow I should reach peak immunity. At that point, I think, I can eat out once again, for the first time in over a year, at a proper fast food place staffed by underpaid teenagers^1, with a no more than average risk of the food killing me. I would very much love to have a Subway Veggies n' Cheese footlong, soggy with oil and vinegar.

I still, however, have problems with the clumsy, greedy machinations of Subway's management. Their current plan is to require customers to install an app, then buy two subs, getting the second one for half off. First, I'm not going to install an app to order from. I'll cheerfully make exceptions for places like Wow Bao! automatic restaurants, where never seeing a human during your entire visit is part of the fun. For ordinary fast food, and especially for places like Subway that actually show the workers in their advertising as part of the reason you should come there, no. No chance whatsoever.

Second, I object, and object strongly, to being required to buy two sandwiches to get a discount. That's not even volume discounting. That's just being dicks, and trying to coerce customers into bringing a friend. I shouldn't wonder that they lose more business than they gain on that point.

I think that what I'll do tomorrow is to go to one of the Subways, and ask to buy a sammich for 25% off. We'll see if the manager wants the business or not (I suspect he will). Fortunately, with it being Subway, they're liberally scattered, so I'll prolly find one that wants the sale.


^1 At places staffed and supervised by adults, hence presumably safer, I've been somewhat more liberal in my conduct.

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I won't be going to Hardee's. There's something entertainingly ironic in their misfortune, as their advertising stresses that their burgers are prepared by being mildly charred by open flames. I was never a fan of eating burnt meat, although the practice has survived long enough that I have to suppose it's more than just some weird 80s fad.

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Africa, too, is getting back to normal, with the money they were given for the Chinese Doom being stolen and wasted. I suppose I should see signs of hope in the fact that they're arresting people, rather than just asking for replacement money. Certain commentators are suggesting direct remedies, as well.

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Vaccination seems to be gaining traction in Indiana. Unlike many others, Indiana concentrated on vaccinating those groups with the highest death rates first.

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A Dog rescues his friend from drowning.

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* ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/213120.html

In which we learn that My Little Pony, like literally everything else that has ever existed, is racist. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/212501.html

So, the county's had its first COVID death in six weeks. No word on who it is, of course. Our sacred devotion to privacy, and all that.

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The J&J debacle closed most or all of the Federal clinics. Meanwhile, our Indiana Dept of Health Clinic next week has announced that they're going to accept unscheduled walk-ins for Pfizer. Indiana rocks. DC sucks.

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* ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/212304.html

FDA halts the use of the J&J vaccine, allegedly over six people with blood clots. That's extremely suspicious. First of all, that's literally one in a million. Even if six people had toppled over dead with the needle still in their arm, after we've been repeatedly told that all normal standards need to be ignored because we're in a life-threatening emergency, that ought to be treated as a minor issue more than anything.

Secondly, this comes right on the heels of last week's announcement that the Federal govt will be cutting back 85% on the allotment of J&J for this week. No solid reason was ever stated for this that I've been able to find. Just "production issues". Certainly no cause for concern.

China admits the obvious. Their vaccine isn't too good. Moreover, the efficacy of the stuff seems to vary wildly, perhaps even randomly, from test to test. Are they having quality control issues? Are they perhaps diluting the vaccine to try and make more doses? Something else altogether?

Ontario may have to ration care. That's truly alarming. We ought to be doing something to help, but Biden's priority seems to be shovelling America's money and medicine into Mexico, Central America, and other unsavoury parts of the world. Too bad if America's actual friends are in trouble. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/212133.html

So, we've owned this house about thirty years or so. In that time, I've accumulated two dead Cats, who are buried out back in their little Cat Cemetery, where I can see them from my window. They each have a tombstone. It dawned on me today how appropriate it is that the stone for Flaster, absolutely the best-behaved Cat who ever was, is perfectly flat and square, exactly as it was installed, whereas the stone for rambunctious old Cleo, aka 'The Cat from Hell', is heaved up on one end and has somehow rotated about thirty degrees. This is just so much in character for each Cat.

Prolly gonna leave 'em just as they are.

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Purina released a new line of Qat Füd. Alexandra likes it well enough. They also released a cookbook to go the new varieties. My expectation was that it was recipes made using Qat Füd, but I was wrong. It's recipes along the same general lines of the Qat Füd, so you can have dinner dates with the Cat. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/211885.html

It's the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/211532.html

The curiously-named https://news784.com/ is a good place to start. It's based in St. Vincent, and has current, generally-reliable news.

Searching on You Tube for "Soufriere" gives mixed, but occasionally very good, results.

Most of the Dramatis Personae come from UWI - https://sta.uwi.edu/news/releases/release.asp?id=22236 Searching their names can get you information.

OVSM is centred mostly on Pelee (next island over's volcano), and of course they're French, but they often have interesting information. http://www.ipgp.fr/fr/ovsm/lobservatoire-volcanologique-sismologique-de-martinique

Volcano Cafe https://www.volcanocafe.org/ will have something, although not for a few days.

Same thing with Volcano News https://volcanohotspot.wordpress.com/

Smithsonian's news https://volcano.si.edu/gvp_currenteruptions.cfm is kinda sparse, but it gives a nice overview of what's erupting at any one time. ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/211335.html

Those so inclined may send their condolences to HM the Queen and her family in their Virtual Condolence Book at https://www.royal.uk/condolence ***** Original posted at https://rain-gryphon.dreamwidth.org/211054.html