malada

So the CEO of a major health insurance company was shot dead in NYC.

From the surveillance video The suspect used a big honking pistol with a 'silencer'.

The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were found on shell casings discovered at the scene,

Just off hand this *could* be a dissatisfied customer. It so, this would narrow the suspects to only several million people.

I swear, with all the f*ckery from health insurance folks I'm surprised this was the only CEO that's been shot to dead.

The last time I was down with a cold/flu type illness was just before COVID hit. I've been masking and isolating every since. I'm vaxxed to the max and all that good stuff.

I got that lung thing going around.

The first symptoms hit last Saturday when I was deep cleaning my room. There was a lot of dust and I discovered how badly my carpet was decaying. I pulled it out and washed the floor several times. There was a lot of carpet grit. My lungs starting hurting soon after and I developed a bad cough. I thought it was just the dust and dirt I stirred up..

My housemate had something similar starting the day before. She went to the clinic and was told to rest, rest, rest. I still went to work but was feeling poorly. By Wednesday I had to admit it was not dust but some kind of infection. I took some time off but still worked from home Although I have a fantastic trainee, there's stuff only I can do well so I really needed to do the work.

I've been trying to sleep more, nap more and do more fluids but I expect a long recovery period. Still, I've avoided most of the icks that have been floating around the past few years. It was only a matter of time before something broke through.

I know, I know... SpaceX has the reusable rocket that launches and lands on it's landing gear like all the old Sci Fi movies.

It's just... NASA was 'hopping' experimental rockets in the 1970s. The technology was just out of reach then but more money and for research and development might have ushered in the reusable rocket decades sooner.

I'm not knocking the great work the engineers at SpaceX have done, I'm busting Musk's reckless approach to rocketry. Look, I get it. Sometimes you have to fail to find out what you need to know but that's what wind tunnels and other advanced tools help you do before you light up your enormous firecracker.

Yesterday, the Super Heavy launched Starship. Lots of research got done, tons of data collected, the Super Heavy landed in the water and promptly exploded turning about 35 million dollars into scrap metal.

He got cheers and applause. If NASA had done that there would be Congressional hearings and heads would roll. "A waste of taxpayer money!"

*clears throat* Elon is getting tax payer money.

The unfortunate tact is NASA has become a giant job center for special interests. Yeah, we still got some cool science done but it seems that doing science and launching rockets has taken a back seat to providing jobs for Boeing, SpaceX and other companies in certain congressional districts.

Can we bring back the nerds and geeks so we can have launches that *don't* explode?

Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons (actually Soviet weapons from the Cold War) in exchange for security promises. Ukraine still has nuclear reactors for power and can get enough plutonium to start making low level nukes if it wants too.

Ukraine - presently not getting enough support to kick out the Russians - might start cranking out a couple of tactical nukes to drop on airbases and industrial plants. It might do a nuclear test just to show it's got the capability just to watch Putin squirm. If Ukraine actually uses it on an military site I'm sure Russia would react by nuking Kyiv. Ukraine has always hit military targets while Russia tends to hit civilians.

But a full scale exchange aimed at western European cities? Russia has been waving the nuclear option like a dick in the wind... but how capable is the Russian nuclear threat right now? If we look at the general state of the Russian army we see it is riddled with corruption, is poorly armed and badly lead. If we look at Russia in general, there's been a significant brain drain in the past decade(s) which doesn't bode well for keeping up those tricky nukes and their high tech delivery systems operational.

I"m almost betting that bits and bobs from the weapons system have already been stripped out and sold. The plutonium is probably still there but all the wires making the device go boom? Maybe not so much.

And this is rocket science. You need nerds, techies and eggheads. These are in short supply right now. Even the crew of Russia's only nuclear aircraft carrier is being sent to fight in Ukraine.

With Rump in the mix it's hard to tell what the American response will be. If Russia starts launching missiles and Rump does nothing he looks weak and limp and flaccid. He's already all those things but *shrug*. As for the rest of Europe... hard to tell.

But be ready for a world gone M.A.D.

The latest 'mistake' by the Democrats being pointed out by the no-nothing wags on the internet is losing the young male vote. The pundits clamor that we all should be listening to what the Men want. Let's take a listen to the Man-O-Spere and see what they want:

"UNLIMITED POOSY!"

"YES MEANS ANAL!"

"KEEP THE BABY FAITH!"

"HEY! NOT MY KID! AND IF IT WAS, IT'S STILL YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!"

"YOU'RE BLEEDING OUT YOUR WHAT? THAT'S DISGUSTING! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE TIRED FROM WORKING AND TAKING CARE OF THE KIDS AND COOKING AND CLEANING? I WORK TOO!"

"WE CAN'T AFFORD ANOTHER KID! GET RID OF IT!" *hands out coat hangers*

"YOU NEED TO WEAR MORE MAKE-UP! AND SEXY CLOTHES!"

"WHAT'S WITH THE MAKE-UP AND THE SEXY CLOTHES? YOU LOOK LIKE A WHORE."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I NEED A SHOWER? AND CLEAN CLOTHES? ACCEPT ME AS I AM! *chugs another beer*

"MAKE ME A SANDWICH!"

"WHERE'S DINNER, BITCH?"

"YOUR BODY MY CHOICE!"


Yeeeeeaaaahhhh, no.

To the world and especially Ukraine, I'd like to apologize for the re-election of Donald Trump.

The fight against fascism goes on and on.

I'm sleeping in Tuesday because I early voted today!

It was at our local library (it was not handicapped accessible) being in the basement, but there was a steady stream of people who were quickly processed and were out the door in a few minutes.

I will put out my American flag Tuesday.

I did not buy any of the books they had on sale - there was nothing interesting but I did browse a little.

In a secretly recorded conversation, Elon Musk remarked that he wanted the economy to crash so people would experience austerity and learn to live on less. Some privileged, coddled rich boy who hasn't worked a real jog in his life wants others to suffer. He claims short term suffering will result in long term growth.

Let me explain this to you, dumbass:

People who are already poor, just scraping by and suffering will be pushed into things like bankruptcy, starvation and homelessness. Don't forget skipping those important doctor's appointments and medicine.

Everyone else will be forced to deal with less so, goodbye Tesla, goodbye Starlink - people can't afford your high speed satellite internet or your expensive cars or your ugly, broken trucks.

Vacations? Outings? Forget about it.

With people cutting back on spending all those service industries will close. More people will be out of work, causing a further downward spiral.

And with no money for basics... how can people save? There will be no long term growth.

What an dipshit.

After two weeks I'll be returning to the office to work instead of working remotely. The new color scheme looks good (in pictures) and they'll have a better desk for me. I'll miss working from home but I'm okay with returning - I sort of miss my fellow workers.

I'll be seeing another dermatologist this week. Creams and lotions and pills don't seem to a whole lot but full body light therapy cleared me years ago. They new place has some form of light therapy so we'll see what happens.

My hips hurt.

My office is being deep cleaned and repainted - a thing which hasn't been done in decades, really. I've asked to keep most of the furniture but the deep yellow and dark red walls - they're getting repainted.

The whiteness... the whiteness.

I took my work laptop and monitor home with me, along with all the paperwork I usually need.

I prefer working from home. The bathroom is closer, the coffee is better, I don't have to drive and if I want to take a nap after lunch no one is going to mind or notice. During the Big Snow and the Lock Down when I was working from home I'd often take a nap after lunch. I did Monday because I have not been sleeping well.

I tend to drink less coffee at home. At work I drink coffee because I'm tired, or I'm cold, or I'm bored waiting for people to get back to me so I can finish my tasks.