10/23/24

 Wednesday, October 23, 2024

1943 First Jewish transport out of Rome reached Birkenau

1973 Richard Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge John Sirica

1983 Suicide terrorist truck bomb killed 243 US personnel in Beirut

1991 Clarence Thomas was sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice

In bed at 9 an up at 5 to let Lilly out into the cold, windy morning.  The wind is WNW at 15 mph gusting to 30 mph.  Thousands of tiny locust leaves are falling like ochre snowdrops caught in the light of our outdoor light fixtures.  Lilly wasn't so hesitant to leave the house today or to step off the sidewalk onto the north lawn to do her business.  I let her out again at 7:30, in daylight, and no hesitancy.  I saw a neighbor wearing a winter jacket walking her dogs on Wakefield.  The "feels like" temperature is 40°. 

Prednisone, day 162, 5 mg., day 13/28.  Prednisone at 5 a.m.  "Morning" meds at 4 p.m.  Bad day.

I want to scream or to break something.  I just tried to call the cashier at the checkout counter at the Fox Point Best Buy where I purchased an adapter for my external microphone for this laptop. I may have left the microphone on the counter; in any event, I can't find it.  I called the store and connected with a computerized voice giving me several options, none of which would connect me with the cashier.  After trying a couple of times to have my call transferred, I was connected to someone in India  When I explained what I was trying to accomplish, she told me I would have to call the Fox Point store directly, which I had just done.  I foolishly tried again, connecting with the computerized voice and got nowhere.  ARRGH!!!  Modern life.  Computers.  Businesses doing everything they can to avoid paying human beings to provide customer service.

Despairing.  The election is less than two weeks away.  In hiw op-ed today, Nate Silver said that the election is up for grabs, 50 - 50, but his gut tells him Trump will win and he suspects that the guts of a great many Democrats are telling them the same thing.  My gut too.  According to Silver's model, there’s about a 60 percent chance that one candidate will sweep at least six of seven battleground states.  Considering that Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona are in that mix, is it even conceivable that Harris will sweep six of these states?  I don't think so.

Words fail me.  That I should have lived so long as to see such a possibility or probability.