Ed note: I’ve been avoiding Madison when going to Madison Park or to the Safeway on Madison (at 23rd). This can be done by traveling south when leaving Skyline, turning L on James (which turns into Cherry going east), then turning L on 23rd or MLK back to Madison depending on your destination there. It’s a bit longer but quicker bypassing the construction!
It might be helpful to point out that the chaos stemming from the Madison BRT construction project has begun to hit home.
For any of us who are returning home from Capitol Hill or Madison Park etc., our traditional route of coming down Madison to 9th and turning left, has been nixed. Last week the SDOT folks put up ‘no left turn’ signs at Madison and 9th and Madison and 8th. (They may have also put on in at Terry, I did not notice.)
So for the time being the only legal options are to use the left turn light at Madison and Boren, then take Boren to Marion and cross over to 9th or 8th. (Columbia or Cherry are options, but sometimes are blocked by construction activities.)
The other option would be to turn right on Terry to Spring, then left one block to 9th, then left on 9th. (This won’t work for 8th since Spring is one way west
of 9th.)
Posted inTraffic|Comments Off on Navigating Madison Street Construction
Groundhog Day is on Feb. 2 every year. In 2022, Groundhog Day will be on a Wednesday.
What is Groundhog Day?
On Groundhog Day, the world looks to Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog, to tell us if we’re in for a long and dreadful remainder of winter or if we can expect spring-like weather to come sooner. If Phil sees his shadow, we can expect more cold, dreary weather, and if he doesn’t, early spring is allegedly on the horizon.
How did Groundhog Day start?
It is believed that Groundhog Day has its origins in the Christian tradition of Candlemas Day, which would take place halfway between the first day of winter and the vernal equinox (the first day of spring). It was believed that if Candlemas took place on a day with clear, pleasant weather that it was actually indicative of a long winter to come, and clergy members would distribute candles to worshipers in different sizes depending on what the weather prediction was. Hedgehogs would be used to further predict the weather, and German settlers brought the tradition to Pennsylvania.
The first Groundhog Day of known record in the United States was in 1886, and the first celebration of it in 1887 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhogs were hired as our meteorologists stateside simply because they were much more common here than the other critters—and the typical hibernation cycle for male groundhogs ends in early February when they emerge from their burrows to find mates.
From Fox News by Adam Sabes. Thanks to Ed M. for sending this in.
Ed Note: How much does our everyday language have historical bias against those of color, those with disabilities or those with a different sex identity. At first glance this list (click of the link below) looks over-the-top, but try reflecting on some of them and see how much our everyday language can disrespect those different from ourselves (but please still call me grandfather!).
The University of Washington Information Technology department released an “inclusive language guide” that lists a number of “problematic words” that are “racist,” “sexist,” “ageist,” or “homophobic.” According to the guide, words such as “grandfather,” “housekeeping,” “minority,” “ninja,” and “lame” are considered “problematic words.”
Posted inDisabilities, Education, Race, Social justice|Comments Off on UW language guide says ‘grandfather,’ ‘housekeeping,’ ‘spirit animal’ are ‘problematic’ words
Ed note: KN95 masks will soon be on sale in the Corner Store. It’s helpful to know that they can (carefully) be reused as noted in this NYT article.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its mask recommendations to align with what experts and many other people have long known: N95s and other respirator masks (when they are legitimate and fit properly) are more protective than most cloth face masks are. But these disposable respirator masks cost $1 to $3 apiece, and throwing them out as quickly as you would paper cups can add up, especially if you’re masking your entire family. You might also be concerned about the environmental cost of disposable masks, which are constructed from nonrecyclable materials. Fortunately, for most people and in most situations, you don’t need to chuck your mask after each use, or each day. Here are some answers to common questions about reusing your disposable mask.
How can I safely reuse a mask?
You can re-wear a mask after you have stored it in a paper bag for a few days, according to the CDC and multiple experts we’ve interviewed for our respirator guide. The agency provides a simple strategy for healthcare workers that involves rotating used masks in brown paper bags, a variation of which was employed during the N95 shortage in the early days of the pandemic. The coronavirus has an expected survival time of about 72 hours, so waiting for, say, five to seven days should be enough time for it to be inactivated.
Personally, to keep track, I have five masks on rotation and seven brown paper bags marked with the days of week, lined up on my windowsill. I place my mask in the appropriately labeled bag between uses during the day and at the end of it. After a week has passed, I either take the mask out to wear or move it to an eighth bag marked “Ready to Use.”
Is it really safe to reuse masks right now, considering how infectious Omicron is?
Yes, reusing a mask is safe. Masks work the same way on any variant—by trapping virus-containing particles in their layers. Also, the coronavirus is transmitted mainly through respiration; you’re less likely to catch it by touching an infected surface. That said, it’s safest, and just good hygiene, to handle your masks with care, touching only the elastics and washing your hands afterward.
What if my mask gets wet?
Moisture, even from your breath, degrades the mask little by little, and that process will probably hasten if you’re wearing the mask to work out at the gym or if you’re in a humid room or climate. If your mask is wet due to condensation from breathing, you can reuse it. Keeping those paper bags in a dry spot (ideally by a sunny window) can help enhance the viral-deactivation process, said Christopher Sulmonte, project administrator at the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit, a facility for patients with emerging infectious diseases. If your mask gets drenched (say, you get caught in the rain), throw it away.
Can I wash my mask or disinfect it with bleach or alcohol?
Though you may be tempted to rinse or wash your used disposable mask, even just to freshen it up, don’t try it. Getting the mask wet or agitating the mask with soap can damage the material.
You also shouldn’t attempt to disinfect your used mask with alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or other chemicals. A 2020 Emerging Infectious Diseases research letter reported that treating a disposable face mask with alcohol reduced the mask’s integrity and therefore its filtration efficiency. Hydrogen peroxide worked better, but the researchers applied it using a specialized machine, something you wouldn’t find outside a lab or hospital setting. Bleach or other disinfectants are a bad idea, too: Not only would they damage the mask, but “you don’t want to risk breathing in any disinfectant that remains on the respirator,” said Nikki Vars McCullough, a vice president at 3M’s Personal Safety Division.
What about treating the mask with heat or UV light?
That same paper published in 2020, amid the N95 shortage, found that dry-heat decontamination can be effective only one or two times, and UV for three times, before the mask’s fit and filtration may be compromised. Although these methods may be important in medical settings highly exposed to COVID-19 during a respirator shortage and in need of techniques to immediately zap away viruses, they require a strict protocol that’s impossible to follow for most people outside of a healthcare setting. You’re better off using the paper-bag method. “It’s a lot easier, less expensive, and there’s less of a chance that you’ll be hurting the mask,” said Sulmonte.
When is it time to throw out the mask?
“There’s no hard and fast rule,” said Sulmonte. The CDC paper-bag directive suggests discarding a disposable N95 mask after five uses. But that guideline was meant for workers in a healthcare setting. For everybody else, that may not be necessary. A mask is still wearable if its elastic bands continue to create a secure fit and the material looks clean and provides good airflow. (Dust, pollen, air pollutants, makeup, skin oils, and, yes, inactivated virus eventually accumulate and clog up the filter.)
Also think about where you’ve worn the mask and for how long. Someone who wears a mask in the subway every day, for example, may need to throw it out sooner than someone who wears theirs to the grocery store every once in a while. Whatever the circumstances, switch to a fresh mask if yours is dirty, thinning, damaged, or hard to breathe through, or if it no longer maintains a good seal.
Is there any situation where I should throw it out after one use?
Yes! Assuming replacements are readily available, Sulmonte advises throwing a mask away if you’ve been in a place where high virus exposure is expected—for instance, if you’ve been interacting with a COVID-19–positive person.
Posted inHealth|Comments Off on How to Reuse N95, KN95, and Other Disposable Masks
On Wednesday, January 19, by a vote of 8 to 1, the Supreme Court refused to block the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) from releasing documents produced by the Trump White House to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Last night, NARA handed over hundreds of pages of documents to the committee. Today, Betsy Woodruff Swan at Politico published one of them.
Hoo, boy.
It was an unsigned executive order dated December 16, 2020, just two days after the false Trump electors in seven states executed documents falsely saying Trump had won the election in their states. The executive order charges that there is “evidence of international and foreign interference in the November 3, 2020, election.” It went on to echo the lies that the campaign peddled after Trump’s loss.
Those complaints were used to justify using the National Guard to seize the nation’s election machines (ironically, the most intrusive possible federal interference in state elections from the leader of a party that just killed a voting rights bill on the alleged grounds it was federal overreach).
The order told the secretary of defense to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records” from the election. It gave the defense secretary power to call up the National Guard to support him and told the assistant secretary of defense for homeland security to provide support from the Department of Homeland Security.
The secretary of defense had 60 days to provide an assessment to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, suggesting that the process would continue after Inauguration Day.
The executive order also provided for “[t]he appointment of a Special Counsel to oversee this operation and institute all criminal and civil proceedings as appropriate based on the evidence collected and provided all resources necessary to carry out her duties consistent with federal laws and the Constitution.”
Aside from the eye-popping content, the executive order gives us some hints of who was behind it.
The document cites two National Security Presidential Memoranda—numbers 13 and 21—to justify the emergency powers Trump planned to assume. That citation revealed that this was no run-of-the-mill bananas proposition: the existence of Memorandum 21 was not publicly known. Its inclusion in this document suggests the author had access to sensitive government secrets. Tonight, Hugo Lowell of The Guardian noted that the National Security Council would not say anything about what National Security Presidential Memo 21 authorizes.
The proposed special counsel was likely Trump attorney Sidney Powell, who was lobbying to become a special counsel at the time this executive order was drafted. Indeed, she may have had a hand in drafting it, although lawyer Rick Petree noted that the important role of the secretary of defense suggests that Trump loyalist Kash Patel might have been involved as well. After he lost the election, Trump fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and replaced him with Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, making Patel Miller’s chief of staff where he exercised unusual authority.
Washington reporter for Reuters Brad Heath noted that people close to Sidney Powell said Trump authorized this executive order before his staff talked him out of it.
Tonight, Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn, who was subpoenaed by the January 6 committee on January 18 along with Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, told MSNBC’s Ari Melber that he and “the Trump legal team” were part of the plan to create the false electors. While he claimed that what they did was legal, he pushed responsibility for the plan onto Giuliani as the one in charge.
And today the election threats task force in the Department of Justice launched its first case against a man accused of threatening lawmakers. Today, the FBI arrested 54-year-old Chad Christopher Stark of Leander, Texas, who posted a message on Craigslist on January 5, 2021, offering $10,000 to kill Georgia lawmakers. He wrote: “Georgia Patriots it’s time for us to take back our state from these Lawless treasonous traitors.” “[I]t’s time to put a bullet” into certain officials, because “[i]t’s our duty as American Patriots to put an end to the lives of these traitors and take back our country by force we can no longer wait on the corrupt law enforcement in the corrupt courts.” In language that echoes that of genocidal movements, he wrote: “If we want our country back we have to exterminate these people.”
He concluded: “Remember one thing local law enforcement… we will find you oathbreakers and we’re going to pay your family to visit your mom your dad your brothers and sisters your children your wife… we’re going to make examples of traitors to our country… death to you and your communist friends.”
The story of January 6 came perilously close to a different ending.
As a follow-up to the Sky Opera and Live Opera presentations of the Magic Flute, you might want to see even more Mozart at a coming Town Hall event.
Thu 1/27, 7:30PM / $15-$20 / In-Person & Livestream Town Hall Seattle and Byron Schenkman & Friends present Mozart Birthday Toast A Traditional Tribute
Continue the longtime Town Hall tradition and pay tribute to Mozart with pianist Byron Schenkman & Friends, in-person at Town Hall!
Schenkman has assembled a delightful program that includes: Mozart’s Violin Sonata in C, K. 296 Trio in B-flat, K. 502, featuring violinist Teddy Wiggins and cellist Eli Weinberger plus variations on Papageno’s famous aria from The Magic Flute by Josepha Barbara Auernhammer (Mozart’s student, colleague, and duet partner) In-person tickets include a special treat to upwrap at the end of the evening! More info >
Posted inMusic, Opera|Comments Off on Honoring Mozart at Town Hall
From the New England Journal based on FDA recommendations
Ed note: Soon we will have RDTs sent to us if we’ve requested them. If you have symptoms, for sure test yourself or get tested at one of the sites available. But what if you just had an exposure? The following guidelines should be helpful.
“When should an RDT be performed in an asymptomatic person with a known exposure to SARS-CoV-2?
In persons with exposure to SARS-CoV-2, testing is generally not useful in the first 48 hours after exposure, since the virus will not have achieved a sufficient viral load. The most appropriate window for testing is generally considered to be 5 to 7 days after exposure, which is the average peak of symptoms and viral load. For a two-test strategy, which is the FDA-approved indication for most RDTs for asymptomatic screening, a second RDT should be performed 2 days after a negative test.”
Posted inHealth|Comments Off on If you’re asymptomatic but exposed to COVID-19, how should Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) be used?
Agenda CEG Meeting – January 21, 2022 4:00 pm Mount Baker & Zoom
-Rick Baugh, Facilitator -Rick Baugh, Minutes
Report of Last Month’s Activities – Past events: -David Domke Talks (Peggy Newsom)
Coming events:
DATE/TIME
EVENT
Place
Feb 18, Fri – 4:00 p.m.
CEG Meeting
Mt. Baker & Zoom
Pros & Cons of CEG being an SRA committee
Status of Important Legislation
Updates on Involvements in Civic Organizations:-WACCRA – Legislation to Support in 2022 Session: Rick Baugh
SB 5247: Multistate Reciprocity Nurse Licensure
HB 1616: The Charity Care Act
HB 1732: Relates to the Washington Cares Act,
HB 1802: “Nothing About Us Without Us Bill”
HB 1646: Continuing the work of the dementia action collaborative
HB 1854: Relating to requiring coverage for hearing instruments
Discussion on Future Activities-Ideas on topics and speakers for future meetings. -Steve Hobbs, Secretary of State Other Reports of Civic Activities Individuals Involved in the Community-Interview of Mary Ann Hagan: Her years of music Involvement -Interview of Jim Sanders: His years of involvement with elected officials. (Time permitting) Next CEG Meeting (New Meeting Date – 3rd Friday of the Month) Fri., Feb 18, 2022 at 4:00 Mt. Baker. CEG Coordinators:Rick Baugh & Katherine Graubard
Thanks to Gordon G. who notes, “This “domestic” robot will be featured at this year’s International Robotics Conference. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were one in every Skyline apartment?🙂”
Location set to debut Jan. 19 as co-op reaches 100K member milestone. It’s located in Rainier Square at 1320 4th Avenue. (between Union and University).
Thanks to Janet H for letting us know.
PCC Community Markets has revealed that it will open its long-awaited downtown Seattle location on Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 9 a.m., as the community recovers from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are thrilled to welcome PCC to downtown Seattle,” said Downtown Seattle Association President and CEO Jon Scholes. “This is an exciting opening for thousands of people who live and work in downtown, and it comes at a critical time as we look to welcome more office workers back and more residents call downtown home than ever before. PCC and its commitment to community is representative of the spirit of downtown Seattle. Last year they stepped up and provided grants to support food access for area nonprofits, and now they will be opening their doors to downtown residents and visitors with a terrific neighborhood full-service grocery.”
Along with the new store, the co-op is also marking the growth of its membership program, which now has more than 100,000 members. While anyone can shop at PCC locations, members who pay a one-time fee of $60 receive a lifetime membership offering exclusive access to in-store offers, invitations to unique events, discounts from partner businesses with similar values, the ability to earn toward a potential annual dividend, and the opportunity to guide PCC by voting in its annual election to determine the board of trustees.
Downtown PCC Store Director Jai San Miguel, who joined the co-op in 2020 and was most recently the director of its Central District location, brings more than 20 years of grocery management experience to his latest role. “I am honored to open our newest location where my passion for team-building and supporting our local communities can be a focus every day,” noted San Miguel. “As the anchor grocery source for a vibrant Downtown, we are excited to be a part of the revitalization of the neighborhood and are committed to becoming a trusted member of the community where people come to enjoy a cup of coffee, catch up with a friend on a lunch break and pick up dinner.”
The new store also brings job opportunities to the area, as well career advancement for existing staffers. In fact, 40% of the location’s leadership roles have been filled by existing employees who were promoted to support the store. PCC partners with UFCW Local 21, who has represented the co-op’s non-management store staff for almost 40 years.
As with the grocer’s other stores, Downtown PCC’s shelves are stocked with food and nonfood products made without artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, nanotechnology or synthetic biology. Using those same ingredients, PCC chefs make salads, soups, hot entrées and side dishes fresh from scratch daily onsite in the PCC Kitchen. The store includes a fresh salad bar, a hot bar and a hot soup bar, along with a made-from-scratch deli; a 95% organic produce selection; 100% organic, non-GMO or grass-fed fresh meats, responsibly sourced fresh and frozen raw seafood; a self-serve bakery featuring homemade items; 12 private-brand lines sourced from local producers, in addition to nearly 200 supplements and vitamins packaged in recyclable brown glass to stay fresh; an ample bulk selection, including flours, rice and nuts; and a carefully curated selection of 100% Pacific Northwest-produced spirits to complement its collection of exclusive wines and local beers and ciders.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you take an at-home test:
If you begin having COVID-19 symptoms like fever, sore throat, runny nose, or loss of taste or smell, or
At least 5 days after you come into close contact with someone with COVID-19, or
When you’re going to gather with a group of people, especially those who are at risk of severe disease or may not be up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines.
THIS MORNING, MY 79-YEAR-OLD DAD was out in the winter dark shoveling a path through a half-foot of fresh snow to ensure his hummingbird feeders were full of fresh, sugary liquid by dawn’s first light. And it wasn’t the first time.
He’s one of a legion of residents across southwestern British Columbia and Vancouver Island on a crusade to ensure resident Anna’s hummingbirds don’t perish in the unusually cold weather gripping the region the past few weeks. People are flocking to hardware stores to hunt for specialized warming bulbs and feeders. My father can attest from personal experience there are none to be found at stores near him.
And the internet is awash with social media posts from people trading advice, tactics, and photos of the contraptions they’ve rigged to keep the feisty little birds fed and warm. Some are tucking lit non-LED lightbulbs in aluminum baking pans taped to the bottom of feeders to keep the nectar from freezing. Others are encasing feeders in socks stuffed with hand-warmer heat packs. Incandescent Christmas lights wrapped around the devices are a big hit, too.
My dad’s method involves preparing a bulk batch of fresh sugar water each night and bringing in the feeders for defrosting and cleaning. Each morning, at least a half-hour before sunrise, he ensures the feeders—swaddled with every washcloth in the house—are dangling on their hooks in the birds’ favorite haunts beside the camellia bush and beneath the grape arbor.
Then, every couple of hours for the rest of the day, he braves the cold to substitute the old feeders with warm reserve ones. This from a man who fled to B.C. to escape Ontario winters as a young man. I’m not sure I can swear my sister and I ever got that level of care and feeding.
Apparently, my father’s devotion to B.C.’s hardiest hummingbird species is not unusual. MARS Wildlife Rescue Centre in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island is fielding a rash of calls from people looking to help or save their tiny charges.
“It requires a tremendous effort.”
“People are really, really being wonderful trying to save these birds,” says Jo Stiles, a MARS animal caregiver. “They are being really attentive with their feeders so hummingbirds can make it through this cold. But it requires a tremendous effort.”
The birds, which weigh less than five grams, need to constantly eat to maintain their body weight and energy, she adds. Since Dec. 20, the rescue center has received 14 tiny feathered patients that need extra care, Stiles says. To survive the cold, hummingbirds often go into torpor, a hibernation-like state where their body temperature may drop from 107 degrees Fahrenheit to as low as 48 degrees.
People may think the birds are dead in this state, as they can be found hanging from a perch or immobile on the ground. The best remedy is to put the hummingbird and a feeder in a covered box indoors and somewhere quiet until they warm up, Stiles says.
“Let them have some time in there, and when you see them back to being active, then they can be released,” she says. “Unless it’s late in the day, then keep them overnight with a feeder and let them go the next morning.”
Birds that don’t seem to revive within half an hour indoors should be taken to a local rescue where they can get more specialized care, she adds. “That may be an indication that it’s gotten very dehydrated or so hypoglycemic that it can’t reactivate its own system and so it may need some additional help.”
The best thing people can do for the jeweled birds during winter is to make sure they have lots of warm, clean food, but be warned: Anna’s hummingbirds are notoriously territorial about their feeders. My father has given an unmentionable nickname to one pugnacious male that sits on the line across the patio equidistant from both feeders so he can easily chase off interlopers.
Bird lovers are making extraordinary efforts—such as getting up at the crack of dawn to hang warm feeders—to save Anna’s hummingbirds during a recent cold snap. ROCHELLE BAKER / CANADA’S NATIONAL OBSERVER
The bold little birds also aren’t particularly gracious to their caregivers, either. They wait on my father each morning. The moment he cracks open the door, the iridescent green and scarlet-throated aerialists are zooming and chattering about his head as if to hurry him up. My mother can’t understand why he puts so much work in for such aggressive little birds. “I don’t like them. They’re too much like humans,” she says.
But if you start feeding hummingbirds, you have to commit because they become reliant on that food source, says the SPCA. And my father is nothing but committed. He’d never admit it, but he’s forgoing a short trip to a friend’s for New Year’s citing poor weather. But I suspect the real reason is he doesn’t trust my mother to coddle his beloved hummingbirds carefully enough.
Posted inNature|Comments Off on Saving Canada’s Hardiest Hummingbirds Requires Extreme Care
Former child prodigy and the last-living pupil of Sergei Rachmaninov, pianist Ruth Slenczynska celebrates her astonishing nine-decade long career with a new album.
The devil whispered to me, “I’m coming for you.” I whispered back, “Bring pizza.”
Me: (sobbing my heart out, eyes were swollen, nose red)…I can’t see you anymore. I am not going to let you hurt me like this again! Trainer: It was a sit up. You did ONE sit up.
I t’s weird being the same age as old people.
Life is like a helicopter. I don’t know how to operate a helicopter.
Never sing in the shower! Singing leads to dancing, dancing leads to slipping, and slipping leads to paramedics seeing you naked. So, remember…Don’t sing!
During the middle ages they celebrated the end of the plague with wine and orgies. Does anyone know if there is anything planned when this one end?
I see people about my age mountain climbing; I feel good getting my leg through my underwear without losing my balance
I f you can’t think of a word say “I forgot the English word for it.” That way people will think you’re bilingual instead of an idiot.
.Cronacoasternoun: the ups and downs of a pandemic. One day you’re loving your bubble, doing work outs, baking banana bread and going for long walks and the next you’re crying, drinking gin for breakfast and missing people you don’t even like
.I ’m at that age where my mind still thinks I’m 29, my humor suggests I’m 12, while my body mostly keeps asking if I’m sure I’m not dead yet.
I ’m getting tired of being part of a major historical event.
I don’t always go the extra mile, but when I do it’s because I missed my exit.
You don’t realize how old you are until you sit on the floor and then try to get back up.
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