Health
Should be a no-brainer: Humans should not be trying to "edit genes" outside of a sealed laboratory environment. Actually, I don't think we have any business trying to "edit genes" at all.
Hurricane
Wes Rhiner reports: Trailers are supposed to be on the way, but they're not there yet. Some people are still living in tents because they don't want to take federal aid. Why wouldn't they? Because FEMA trailers are being offered to people who want to sign over their homes and be moved into some sort of government "housing" block? The number of trailers ordered does not match the number of houses lost; people are living in sheds, in cars, with friends and relatives. Rhiner discusses the complications that make this situation possible. The federal government's one-big-system-fails-to-fit-most is involved. The government program was for people who lost their houses, which they owned. Well, no points for guessing, the people in greatest need lost other people's houses, which they rented.
Nobody here has any disposable money left. We have Christmas coming on. That sounds horrible, but, playing devil's advocate...people who can afford to shop have shopped in places where buildings were damaged, even if they've not driven all the way to Asheville to do that. The road system makes it a lot easier to shop in Abingdon or Johnson City, which did see significant hurricane damage--not enough to compare to Asheville, but enough to need cash infusions. People did truck food and water out to the food banks until the food banks cried "enough." People do need to connect with their own families, too.
I wanted to go out and do the report Rhiner's done, because I'm a penniless cat lady whose holiday plans consist of clearing spaces for Nephews to put sleeping bags and letting them drive to stores for extra groceries as needed; I have time to blog about news items. Rhiner has the equipment set up to vlog about it. Videos are accessible to people who no longer read. So Rhiner's done what I wanted to do, better, and that's good.
Those readers who are not penniless can still support relief missions. "Now is the time to go in and figure out ways to...get farmers back on their feet."
Phenology
The Roads End Naturalists sound like the well-off Carolinians Rhiner mentioned. FEMA's not going to restore their second homes in the hills (unless of course they sell the places to displaced farmers who really were too close to the rivers). The logical thing for many of them to do is to move away from North Carolina. The REN don't say that that's why they moved, but they've done it, anyway. Wildlife from their new home:
I'm pleased! Montana is a much better place to live if you like coyotes.
Poetry
Total Trump Derangement Syndrome, made funny. At least, I believe the writer really is a sore-loser D, but he has to be making fun of his panic. Trigger warning: mentions body parts that are covered by a bathing suit.
Shopping
More than ten years ago...Google is finally showing me the link. Actually, some of the vintage posts their glitch has pulled up are posts I saw the first time around. Meanwhile, they're not doing too well at showing the current posts from blogs I follow, today. But this oldie seems relevant at this time of year.
She's a Bobo at heart! Bobo is the marketing word for my style, so I'm pleased by that too. Bobos (Bohemian Bourgeois) are people who spend as much as possible encouraging individuals' creative work, and as little as possible on mass-produced mundane stuff like clothes. I could afford much better clothes, that have held up longer, from charity stores than I'd get by shopping in boutiques or making my own clothes. And, bags? Wal-Mart has some excellent ones woven out of recycled water bottles. I liked the black ones best. They match my favorite $5 black canvas shoes. I still have about a dozen, so no Prada bags needed here.
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