When the first lockdown measures came to California about a year ago, the BLM-managed areas in my neighborhood were closed, making a lot of the local climbing routes inaccessible. My buddies and I instead climbed routes on land owned by the City of Los Angeles. The restrictions on BLM land didn't last long though.

Youths wouldn't stop using a closed skatepark in Dieburg, Germany. This week, after tape and barriers didn't keep skaters out, the mayor had a truckload of gravel dumped on the skating area.

As reported by Politico:

"I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election," McCarthy said after meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House alongside other congressional leaders.

Ionesco anticipated moments like this. His play Rhinoceros is often read as allegory for fascism and mob mentality. Kevin McCarthy's statement reminds me of this line:

My first attempt at making a screwdriver with a grooved handle. I have factory-made screwdrivers with three, four, and six grooves; this one has five. Five is a nice prime number.

Three, four, and six are tame choices, akin to how 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8 are safe, familiar time signatures. 5/4 is where it starts to get spicy.

My primary motivation in adding the grooves wasn't how they help with grip but rather so that the tool won't roll off a table.

Obamacare has made decent health insurance available to me as a retired person (with preëxisting conditions) shy of Medicare age. I don't have much income and the federal government subsidizes the premiums, more so in 2021 (one of several COVID relief measures). Last year I paid 14% of the premiums and the government paid 86%; this year the feds are paying for all of it. Even so, the insurance company drains $1 from my bank account every month so that I don't forget who is who.

Yesterday I got email from They Might Be Giants saying

For the next seven days, this very rare live duo show recorded at the Music Hall of Williamsburg is available to you for free.

I went to the band's website to take them up on the offer. I put the download for the show in my cart, it was priced at $0.00, but checkout wanted me to send $0.01 via PayPal. I declined but the offer is good for a week if I change my mind. I am somewhat curious to see if PayPal would eat the 1¢ or whether they'd initiate a withdrawal for that little.

An appeals court in California ruled this week that Amazon is responsible when people are hurt by unsafe products sold through their site.

From an LA Times article on the ruling:

An Amazon spokeswoman, requesting anonymity even though she's, you know, a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the new ruling or whether Amazon will appeal it to the state Supreme Court.

A branch died on a lilac in my yard and of course I had to see what the wood was like. It's really hard and finishes to a smooth surface. Wikipedia says as much (on the page for genus Syringa).

Lilac drawstring closure: Happy nineteenth, everyone.

I had a wild dream this morning. When stuff I was seeing didn't look plausible I considered whether I was dreaming but it was all so vivid and detailed that I was having a hard time saying it wasn't real. The phrase if there are no pics, it didn't happen crossed my mind and I took photos with my phone so I could check if they would be there later. They aren't.

I started reading The New York Times around 1977 and kept reading the paper when I moved to Los Angeles in 1981. I was getting papers printed in New York, flown to LAX overnight, and delivered to my office near the airport in the morning. Within a year, the Times started printing editions in California. When I lived in San Francisco in the 1990s, a youth delivered the paper arrived around midnight, I was usually awake and heard it land, and I'd wind down before bed by reading the next day's paper.

I forget what year I moved to reading the paper online. It was free to start but I subscribed when they started charging.

For a bunch of reasons, I switched to the Washington Post a few years ago. By that time it was owned by Jeff Bezos but the word was he was a hands‑off owner. Even so, you can't help but wonder what influence he has. I listened to an interview yesterday with the author of a recent book about Amazon. He said his friends at the Post are in a delicate position. Bezos isn't giving orders but at the same time reporters are concerned about writing too critically about Amazon. With how important lobbying and regulation are to his business, it's not an accident that the newspaper Bezos chose to buy was the biggest one in Washington.