Darkoshi

The local news is on TV (ABC, CBS, and NBC) here at 7pm and again at 11pm. I try to catch it when I can, at least the news part of it, not the weather or sports parts. It's on at 6pm too and at 10pm on another channel, but I hardly ever watch at those times. The tone of these local news broadcasts is usually pretty calm. Watching the local news doesn't bother me unless the content itself is quite upsetting. (There is a trend however, when reporting on weather events, to perhaps over blow them. All these "alert" days, as they call them.)

The national news is on TV here at 6:30pm. I like to catch it when I can too, depending on my mood. In recent years I started noticing how the tone of these newscasts affects me. The tone of voice used by the newscasters from the major networks, as well as the video clips shown (often the same thing repeated over and over again like a clip of an ambulance driving away with lights flashing), and even the intro music (boompa-da-doom type stuff), almost always seems to shout *URGENT* *IMPORTANT* *DANGER* *CRISIS*.

I know this is done precisely because it makes people feel that they should watch the broadcasts. But it affects my mood negatively, riles me up, and can be emotionally draining.

So recently I've started watching the PBS News Hour instead at 9pm, on those days when I can catch it. Those newscasters tend to talk calmly, which is such a nice thing. The PBS News Hour used to feel rather boring to me in comparison to the other news shows, and I rarely watched it. But now I like it.

For fuck's sake
For fuck's sake
For fuck's sake
For fuck's sake



2022/02/07 Edited to add context:

Minneapolis police murdered yet another black man

(Of course, plenty of other world and local news is also horrible too.)

Why must so many news reports about COVID-19 include video clips of vaccine needles being pushed into and pulled out of arms? I'm only a little needlephobic (I avert my gaze when getting shots) and a little bothered when I see those videos. But I imagine many people are a lot more disturbed by seeing it, and might avoid watching the news because of it? Seeing all those needles may be adding to their anxiety about getting vaccinated instead of relieving it.

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Another thing that oddly irritates me is hearing or reading the British term for it, "jab". The word "jab" makes me think of 2 friends walking down the street, and one of them giving the other a friendly shove of an elbow in the side. (Why do I associate it with that? Dunno.) So when I hear it used about the vaccine, it sounds like an attempt to downplay the fact that it's a needle piercing your skin. It sounds like a word you'd say to a small child to keep them from being afraid of it.

I have this reaction even though I know that's simply the term used in Britain and not a euphemism. And I know the word "shot" doesn't really describe an injection better than "jab".

WSJ has this intriguing-sounding article, but it requires a subscription to read: ‘Jab’: A British Term for a Covid-19 Shot, but Born in the U.S.A.

The newly imported name for a vaccination actually originated on this side of the Atlantic ...
It might not be the most important point of contention in the pandemic era, but a British-style, three-letter word for a vaccination shot has proved irksome to many Americans: “jab.”

So I'm not the only American irritated by that word?

Here I found a screenshot of the article on twitter.

Hah, so just like that flu of 1918, the word "jab" started in the U.S., spread out in Europe, and then came back.

..
Damn:
SC tops entire country for COVID case rate as hospital reports record COVID patient count

MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY - Sundance Film Festival: Columbia

Overlooked by history, Pauli Murray was a legal trailblazer whose ideas influenced RBG's fight for gender equality and Thurgood Marshall's landmark civil rights arguments. Featuring never-before-seen footage and audio recordings, a portrait of Murray's impact as a non-binary Black luminary: lawyer, activist, poet, and priest who transformed our world.

The "non-binary" descriptor caught my attention. While we can only guess what currently-used descriptors someone in the past might have used for themself, and I'm not familiar with Pauli's own writings, the Wikipedia page on Pauli Murray describes them more as a trans-man than a non-binary person.

I'm curious to watch the movie, but it doesn't appear to be available yet through streaming, and I don't feel like going to the Sundance showing at the local theater. It sounds like that will be indoors, with social distancing and mask wearing.

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Biden wastes no time shooting down Trump guidelines on LGBTQ rights

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Windows smashed in, possible gunshots heard...

Pro-Trump protesters storm US Capitol amid debate

Pro-Trump mob storms US Capitol as armed standoff takes place outside House chamber

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Over the last months, I keep thinking in response to things like this, you just wait and see HOW MANY F*CKING PROTESTORS YOU WILL HAVE ALL OVER THE COUNTY if the election were to somehow get overthrown by Trump supporters, or if they succeed in any way in taking over government offices.

Some people have called what Trump's been doing a "coup". When I first heard that it surprised me to think that we are now like a 3rd-world county that has coups, but yes, it surely does seem like a coup attempt.

C-SPAN is still broadcasting, with message at bottom of screen, "HOUSE & SENATE IN RECESS AS U.S. CAPITOL IS LOCKED DOWN".

.

Update after watching a couple of Trump's video messages to his supporters:

He is TOTALLY attempting a coup. F*cking Fuck.

"The coronavirus pandemic was given a deadline of midnight last night to sign the agreement."

That's it for you, you virus, if you won't sign the agreement, you're done for!

Listening to it again, the whole thing was:
"RyanAir, which owns Laudamotion, was threatening to close the Vienna hub [...] The union representing the workers, who are currently on shorter hours due to the coronavirus pandemic, was given a deadline of midnight last night to sign the agreement."

..

There's another news item I've heard twice now, which didn't make sense either time:
"[Trump's] been angered by the speed of reopening in some states, pushing governors, in particular Democrat ones, to speed up plans that he felt were too slow in spite of a spike...."

But I get it now. The first use of the word "speed" meant "slow speed" rather than "fast speed".

Wow.
I was working too late the past few days to notice it, but today I saw the 3rd episode of this on TV:
Jimmy Fallon And His Family Put On "The Tonight Show" From Their Home, And It's Perfect

https://www.youtube.com/user/latenight/videos

Jimmy Fallon and his family are filming it themselves from home. No studio, no band, no audience.
Wow. These really are unprecedented times.

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On Monday my company told all employees who don't need to come into the office to do critical work, to work from home instead. So I only beat them to it by 4 days.

As mentioned last, schools and colleges have closed, with some transitioning to online instruction.

Most church services and other gatherings have been cancelled. Including the annual St. Patricks' Day parade.

On Tuesday, the state governor suspended dining in at all restaurants and bars; only take-out and delivery is allowed.

On Wednesday, the city enacted a curfew from 11pm to 6am. I'm not quite sure what that is meant to accomplish beyond the other ordinances... people who otherwise might go shopping at late night grocery stores will need to do it during the day instead, making the stores more crowded. But I suppose it's such a small percentage of people and stores, it won't make much difference. The stores themselves have been shortening their open hours as well, to provide extra time for cleaning and restocking.

Today the news informed that the hospitals will no longer allow visitors, except a single one for certain cases (pediatrics, obstetrics, neo-natal, end-of-life).

My mom did get hired for the Census, and had her first 3 days of training this week downtown (which surprised me somewhat). But as of today, it sounds like that has been suspended.

SC workers who have been affected by the shut-downs can get 6 weeks of unemployment pay, although the employers have to apply for it first.

I'm relieved that the pandemic is being taken seriously here. Only a week ago, I wasn't sure it would be before it was too late and the hospitals were overwhelmed. Hopefully it won't still come to that. Although it sounds like it's going to be a long ordeal, whatever happens.

As of today's numbers, 81 positive tests in the state (yesterday 60, the day before 47), and still only one death reported.

I still have this tight feeling in my throat and upper chest. Maybe stress. Maybe it's always there and I don't normally pay attention to it. At least now I have a pulse oximeter to tell me that my blood is still 98 to 99% saturated with oxygen.

Ten minutes ago (an hour ago now as I post this) I heard what sounded like gunshots, 6 in total, much closer than usual. After the initial shock, I looked out a bedroom window (thinking to myself, this really isn't the smart thing to do; that would be to get away from the windows. But I was curious.)
There was something odd going on 2 houses down. It looked like a car parked in the street, and then another one drove up and parked. It's hard to tell as it is dark; maybe they are on the side of the road, not in it. There was a flashlight flickering by their driveway. Maybe it's unrelated to the shot noises.

I anticipated hearing police sirens. But no, it's been quiet since then. I guess no one called the police.

No dogs barking, even.

Now I'm wondering if it could have possibly been a car engine back-firing. But, no. It wasn't anything like that.

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This evening's news was somewhat bewildering.

An escaped inmate was shot dead by a homeowner after breaking through her back door and coming to her bedroom door with a knife. (That sounds like an ad for the NRA.)

An motorcyclist driving on the interstate shot at a car with 6 people in it, including 2 kids and a baby.
(Why??) (That sounds like an ad against guns.)

An intruder was trying to drown their grandson in the bathroom (WTF?) so the homeowner shot him, but then police shot the homeowner. (That sounds like... uh...) Wait a minute, that story is from August. Why did they report it on TV tonight?

During one of the clips on President Bush's funeral, I had the sudden thought. When Trump dies someday, flags will be lowered to half-mast for a month for him, too. Whoa.

I've been trying to support independent journalism by getting paid accounts on some news sites whose articles I occasionally read (even though most of the time, the pages I read are ones that other people have linked to).

I had made a note that Slate.com charges $49 for a year's subscription. Today the site even shows an introductory price of $35/year. So I decided to sign up. But after fighting with their website for the last half hour, I've changed my mind.

First problem: The Join Slate Plus page says what the membership costs and what special perks you get. But there were no fields for signing up, and no link or button for any sign up page. I had to click NoScript's "Temporarily Allow All This Page" icon 4 times for the fields to finally be displayed. (Each time you click that icon, NoScript allows JavaScript for the domains that were previously blocked, but then encounters additional domains which the page indirectly references, and for security reasons, NoScript doesn't allow them until you click again. And so on.)

Furthermore, the fields that show up aren't for buying a paid account, but rather for "Try it Free for 2 Weeks!" That's not what I wanted.

So instead I used their normal Sign Up page to create an account. It asks for an email address, display name, and password. It took me a while to decide on a display name to use. Upon submitting my info, the site then brought up the Terms of Service. But there was no Accept button. I repeatedly clicked the "Allow All This Page" icon, until 30 or more domains were unblocked (and my laptop fan started spinning on high speed from all the crap it was trying to load each time, because underneath the ToS, the page showed a bunch of news articles), and still no Accept button displayed. Yet when I tried to go to my account page, it kept re-displaying the Terms of Service, like it was waiting for me to accept them.

Then I tried a different browser without NoScript. That way, I was able to log in and open my account profile. The account page has a "Manage subscriptions" link. But when I click the link, it only opens the slate.com homepage. So I can't see whatever email lists they may have added me to by default. Hopefully I'll be able to unsubscribe from them somehow, supposing they did add me to any lists.

Then I tried logging in from my normal browser again. But when I click the login button, it ...

(oh thank goodness for Dreamwidth's AutoSave. I just closed both browser windows, to see if I was only having trouble because I was still logged in from the other window, not realizing that I was also closing the tab where I was writing this post.)

When I click the login/account icon, nothing happens. I have to again allow JavaScript from a bunch of domains, just to get the login fields. But then when I enter them, I still don't get logged in. Sigh.

This is way too much trouble. I no longer like their website, so I don't want to give them any money after all. The articles I see on their site today don't seem so great either (or is that sour grapes speaking?).

This is very disturbing: Chechnya’s president: I will eliminate the gay community by the start of Ramadan

Rainbow Railroad - a Canadian organization that helps LGBT people escape persecution and violence. They are making Chechnya a priority right now.

American Friends of the Rainbow Railroad - if you are a U.S. tax-payer, this site lets you make tax-deductible donations to the Canadian organization.

Other ways to help