lauradi7dw

The Finnish Olympic women's hockey team has 14 members with Norovirus. I don't know if anybody is testing for anything in advance of travel, or doing any kind of disease prevention. We live in a pro-disease world.

The good news is that measles cases are slightly down in SC because previously reluctant parents suddenly decided to get kids vaccinated.

A civics lesson disguised as style rules

>>Do not abbreviate the names of U.S. territories. There are 16 such territories; 11 of them are small islands, reefs or atolls in the Caribbean or the Pacific, without native populations. The others — Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa — are self-governing, unincorporated territories. They send nonvoting representatives to the U.S. Congress.
Residents of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Marianas are U.S. citizens; American Samoans are considered noncitizen U.S. nationals. Residents of the territories cannot vote in presidential elections, though their delegates participate in national political conventions to choose the nominees.
For datelines, use the community followed by the unabbreviated name of the territory: SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico.<<

I know ballet dancers are exercising hard, but sitting here in multiple layers, my first response to seeing the costumes was "aren't you cold?"
https://www.bostonballet.org/

I got a reminder text from an endodintist about an appointment that I don't remember making. I called the office and was told that it's the one year follow-up after a root canal revision on number 30. I have had a bunch of root canals over time and don't remember a checkup of this sort. I asked if it would cost anything. She said if it was just an xray it would be free. No dental work is free. She probably meant my insurance will cover it. She reminded me that if they need to use the 3D scan I'd have to pay out of pocket (dental insurance doesn't cover those in general, not just this time). My inclination would be to say no, I don't need a followup, but in the perverse way of my teeth, if I skip it the tooth will probably fall out next week.

Due to strikes by Russia, there is a total blackout in Kyiv currently - dark, cold. The temperature outside there is about the same as the temperature outside my house, but I have heat and electricity inside. I was planning to take the bus to a memorial service this morning but am probably going to use the car instead. I am not tough, is what I'm saying.

Most of the weather emergency info I've been getting has been about the eastern and central US. I know how big that is. I have learned that there are many people in Mozambique who are cut off from food and healthcare by massive floods. Do I have any idea how big Mozambique is? No. My ignorance of geography is profound. Thank you to journalist Yousra Elbagir (who mostly covers Sudan, I think) who helpfully mentioned on twitter that just the flooded area is comparable to the size of Lebanon. So Mozambique must be bigger than Lebanon. I really am terrible. I will look at a map.
When I hear Mozambique, I tend to think of Bob Dylan. In fifty years since the song was released, shouldn't I have learned more?




I do a monthly donation to Unicef and a couple of other charities that I hope are helping. That's why I do a monthly donation - bad stuff happens year-round. Shout-out to the UNHCR ad people who decided that instead of images of dying babies we should see inside their warehouses of supplies. I feel terrible about the starving babies (and their older families) but seeing what is actually being done is helpful.
The warehouse in Dubai was supplying goods for Syrian refugees

Three years ago I posted about flag football for grownups.
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/729969.html

This morning I learned that the NCAA has made women's flag football an emerging sport eligible for scholarships. Here's the roster of the Alabama state team (I don't know any more about them than this link from someone on twitter)
https://bamastatesports.com/sports/womens-flag-football/roster/2025

I have misplaced the social media post, so I can't tell you the author. I like being a native speaker of English, but I don't consciously think of myself as part of the "Anglosphere." I'm not sure what that means - wouldn't anywhere colonized by England be that? The context was that the UK has had its measles elimination status removed, Canada had that last year, and the US probably will in April. The person posting blamed "misinformation in the Anglosphere" IIRC the exact wording. Surely the Anglosphere would include Australia, which continues to have high vaccination rates. Its caseload was way up last year compared to previous years but at 162 cases in 2025 it is still not about to lose its status.

from Chris Murphy:

>>Two statements that are compatible.

a. I don't think concealed carry is a good policy.

b. I do not believe that someone carrying a gun in compliance with a state's gun laws gives federal law enforcement the right to murder them.<<

I apparently am not clearing snow right now, late by my own schedule. The plan is to do half an hour at a time, come in and warm up, go back out, probably for most of the day. Car worship. I have a long driveway and a Tuesday haircut appointment that I haven't figured out how to get to by bus. I am skipping my volunteer gig this morning due to the mess, as agreed yesterday with my supervisor. The buses are on a snow emergency route schedule. My Korean class this evening is not happening. I expect the Cambridge Center for Adult Education goes along with the public school schedule and the Cambridge public schools are closed.

Update: first bout of snow dealings is done. Planning on another five at least.
I got this from Heather Cox Richardson, quoting someone else

>>President Rob Doar of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center noted that Pretti had the right to carry a gun in that situation and that it shouldn’t be necessary “to choose between exercising your First Amendment rights or your Second Amendment rights.” He expressed concern that “our government and agents of our government are not engaging in good faith with what we’re seeing with our own eyes.”<<

I often thing/say/write that I never expected there to be a [fill in the blank] but of course there is. Do gun owners in Minnesota need a Law Center? I wouldn't have thought so before now, but the answer seems to be yes.