A warm-ish, rainy Sunday morning seems like a good time to listen to a whole bunch of Junior Wells.
March 2019
I finally finished Valeria Luiselli’s novel Lost Children Archive last night. I have a lot of thoughts about it, and I think it will take me a while to collect them into something coherent.
Skype is a terrible app and I wish I never had to use it.
New typewriter – Hermes Rocket!
I picked up a Hermes Rocket from the typewriter shop this morning:
Based on the serial number, it was manufactured in 1948. There is a hand-painted inscription on the inside of the case that says “R.J. Hansen, Dhakran, Saud, Arabia.” The guy at the typewriter shop thinks Hansen was a journalist, but the minimal amount of searching I have done hasn’t turned up anything on him. I’ll keep digging.
This typewriter is a very minimalist machine, even compared to the Olivetti Lettera. It is not bad to type on, but it is a little louder than I am used to. I should note, however, that the two machines I am mostly used to are Quiet Deluxe and a Super-Silent, so nearly anything is going to sound louder.
The thing that really strikes me about the Rocket is its size. I knew they were small, but it is pretty amazing to actually see it in front of me. It wouldn’t be out of the question to drop this typewriter into a modestly-sized backpack and carry it around. The aluminum case snaps quite solidly over the top, so I wouldn’t be worries about it getting banged up.
Even with its diminutive profile, the keyboard does not feel cramped, but I guess I’ll see how it stands up over time.
The New York Times:
Aaron Olson, 40, a voter who heard Mr. O’Rourke the day before attending a Buttigieg appearance in Columbia, said Mr. Buttigieg was more policy-grounded than Mr. O’Rourke, who admits to working things out in real time.
“I think Pete Buttigieg is more down to brass tacks,” Mr. Olson said. “He’s more calm and reasoned. I think Beto has a dance track going in his head when he’s speaking.”
Well put, Mr. Olson.
This is sad news..
I guess I’m going to be listening to a lot of The English Beat today.
I think this four-page letter from the Attorney General is best thought of as the Barr Employment Continuance Document.
I am pretty sure I was just sarcastically mocked by our local Comic Book Guy.
Achievement unlocked!
Ugh:
Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and its owners, the Sackler family, will pay nearly $275 million to settle a closely watched lawsuit brought by the state of Oklahoma, two months before the trial was set to begin, a person close to the situation said.
More than $100 million will go to fund a new addiction treatment and research center at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa. The Sacklers, who were not named in the lawsuit, will contribute an additional $75 million over five years to the center.
More than $70 million will go to pay Oklahoma cites, counties and tribes and to reimburse the state for its litigation costs. The package also includes $20 million in medicine for addiction treatment.
The agreement is to be announced by the Oklahoma attorney general’s office at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
No.
No more settlements with these assholes. Settlements are how we ended up here in the first place.
I get that it generates money for the state bringing the lawsuit, but these pay-outs have allowed Purdue to keep the horrendous impacts of their drugs quiet for years.
Can we all please just agree that if there is only one item on the list, it is not a list and should not be formatted as such?