Interesting things

So let's begin withe US Media Anon I received early yesterday:

Later in the day we received the first official article in The Times. Here are two relevant tidbits:

Now the tea. Remember how confused I was about the negotiations? For the life of me I couldn't figure out the need for a negotiation. More on that later.

Then some weird details started to emerge. Remember when we first heard about a walkabout, it was only supposed to be The Prince and Princess of Wales. When the walkabout started BBC had a graphic ready and it was this. Notice who is missing:

And then this. Like the BBC, Rebecca would have been quickly briefed about what was about to take place.

Then some final weirdness:

Last but not the least, the article from Kate Mansey.

Sorry for all the puzzle pieces, let me finally get to the point. Notice how so much of what I posted was about William and Harry re-uniting? Notice that the BBC only mentioned Harry accompanying William and Catherine. Charles wanted William and Harry to reunite, not William/Catherine and Harry/Meghan.

Which brings me to the 45 minute negotiation. It is my theory that William extended the invitation to Harry, but Meghan showed up with him. Which set off the negotiation. Further more I believe that William agreed to Meghan accompanying them as long they only viewed the tributes/flowers and promptly returned back to their cars. The walk-about was always intended for only for The Prince and Princess of Wales. Meghan being Meghan, went rogue. As soon as she could she was out doing the walkabout. The withering look that Catherine shot her at the end makes all the sense in the world to me now. It explains why the aides kept trying to pull her away.

I think what added to all the confusion was M's Plan A. I do think she had alerted CNN and had her cameras on standby, which made the negotiations even more difficult. She probably was threatening to go out by herself if the new Prince of Wales didn't allow her the false equivalence moment with Catherine. It explains why the CNNi reporter had his talking points for H&M ready and only referred to W&C as the "other royals".

In the end I think William ended up doing his best to put out a building fire. In order to stop H&M from going out there on their own, a compromise was reached. The problem is that Meghan did not hold up her end of the deal. Which I why I kept saying yesterday that you do not negotiate with terrorists! I hope to God that William learns from this. I know now that he is not to blame, but I'd like to see him put his foot down even more from now on.

I'll add this point to shore up the theory: none of the other grandchildren's spouses attended the Balmoral walkabout.

Catherine is the exception as the heir's wife, but it wouldn't have been out of place if only Harry had accompanied them as the example had been set earlier that day.

their pans:

Non-stick pans and skillets are best for medium heat as they don't conduct heat as well, and for wetter foods like eggs and fish and pancakes.

On the other hand, cast iron pans and skillets don't have a built in protective coating. The metal will absorb grease and fats as they cook, building up an equally efficient non-stick coating of its own. And without the chemical coating that non-stick pans come with, there's no risk of any of it flaking off or melting into your food. They can handle higher temperatures without damage, and they get hot faster on the burner. Beef, pork, and chicken are best cooked on cast iron.

their pans:

Non-stick pans and skillets are best for medium heat as they don't conduct heat as well, and for wetter foods like eggs and fish and pancakes.

On the other hand, cast iron pans and skillets don't have a built in protective coating. The metal will absorb grease and fats as they cook, building up an equally efficient non-stick coating of its own. And without the chemical coating that non-stick pans come with, there's no risk of any of it flaking off or melting into your food. They can handle higher temperatures without damage, and they get hot faster on the burner. Beef, pork, and chicken are best cooked on cast iron.

- children and teens who cant get home until a later time have a safe, warm, well lit, populated area to socialize, charge devices, rest, etc

- children and teens have a safe place to go to stay away from danger

if you want this, you need to be at your local community government meetings. you need to be talking to your representatives.  you need to be out there Lobbying.

Just a few weeks ago, my library, me, my coworkers, we had to write letters, send emails, make phone calls, speak at council meetings, just to beg our aldermen to give us our usual funding. Which they didn’t even give to us last year.  Losing last year’s funding forced us to cut staff, hours, and all of our databases.  If we’d lost this year’s funding? two positions would have been gone and we would have likely had to close on Saturdays.  On Saturdays.  The day of the week most of y’all working M-F jobs actually have time to go to the fucking library.

And do you want to know how much money we were asking? We were asking for an increase of approximately 13 cents a person.

13.

Fucking.

Cents.

ACROSS AN ENTIRE YEAR.

No one seems to understand how libraries are funded.  It’s not just Free Stuff.  It’s your tax dollars being paid back into your community.  It’s crowdfunding.  The highest cost anyone in my community pays for the library a year is approximately $250.  Divide that up.  That’s just $4 a week.  That’s less than a coffee.  It’s the equivalent of purchasing about 10 hardcover books a year.  For that price, you could have access to every book that has ever been written, a place to go that’s not a bar, programs for kids, teens, and adults, educated staff that can help you find the answers to your questions, and so much more.

You want these late-night libraries?  You want all this stuff?  Start fighting for it.  Start showing up.  Start making phone calls.  It’s not going to come out of thin air.  Start fighting to erase the idea that taxes = evil.  Start fighting to spread the understanding that taxes are what help us build a better society.

Make sure the people who represent you know that you want this.  That this is where you want your tax dollars to go.  That this is what you want them to support.  That you are willing to see your tax bill go up a few more dollars for this.

Because otherwise?  None of this is going to happen.  Libraries are going to keep cutting their opening hours.  Keep cutting staff.  Keep cutting programs and databases and collections.

“The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.”  - Viola Davis

Lupita Nyong’o in Us (2019) dir. Jordan Peele

Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers (2019) dir. Lorene Scafaria

Awkwafina in The Farewell (2019) dir. Lulu Wang

So now I have to deliver a quiet lecture on the Standard Model every night. He loves lists of things, like all the streets home from daycare, or the train stations between here and Central, so he loves hearing the list of leptons and quarks and bosons.

Anyway, I made this poster for him, based on the CPEP ones we used to have at uni . 

Alas I ran out of room for antimatter, colour charge and confinement, but hey, maybe there can be a second poster later.

It’s funny though — on the surface of it, it seems like it must be far too advanced for a 3yo. But when you think about it, quarks and leptons are no more or less real to him than, say, dinosaurs or planets, and he loves those too. And he recognises the letters on the particles.

I am absolutely overwhelmed by the kind and sweet things people are saying about this, thanks everyone ❤️

Addendum: he has really grasped onto the “everything is made of atoms” part of this, so tonight he listed just about every object he could think of and asked if it was made of atoms.

“And my bed?” Yes, and your bed. “And that wall?” Yep. “And the armchair?” Yes, the armchair too. … … “And… the book case?” Y—

“And my home?” Yep, the whole apartment block. “And your home? Oh wait, your home is my home.” Haha, it is. … … “But is it made of atoms?” Yep. “And… [best friend]’s home?” Yes, it is. And [other friend]’s home, and [third friend]’s home.

“Is [yet another friend]’s home?”

Update from the other night:

“Is my… is… [extremely long pause] is my atoms poster made up of atoms?” —Yes! Yes it is.

I have never heard such a contemplative silence. I think the next poster will have to be on the philosophy of referential language.

Update from this morning: after listing everything in sight (mummy? daddy? fridge? milk? cereal? table? etc.) he asks “is [baby sister] made up of atoms?”

yep!