Good morning seekers of the Good News here at the Great Orange Website of Kos Every Day (AKA DailyKos!) While DailyKos is at the corner of the Internet leaning into Left politics, progressive ideas and being Proudly Persnikety about being rude about runaway capitalism and particularly SOB capitalists, everyone needs a little refresher. Therefore this corner of DailyKos tries to Daily Corner bits and pieces of hope, uplift, reasons for celebration, jokes, comments, digressions and explanations of digressions, which are explained by digressions of explanation. HOW all that sorts out is a daily thing to behold but the impact on visitors like you is nearly always a positive pop.
-----------— (You can skip to the next section for the “serious stuff”. This is an update for friends and fans of the History Corner of the Good News Round Up.)
Now on a personal note, back around the start of July yours truly and Rascal the Cat (a very spry 18) together moved from near Eau Claire Wisconsin to St. Paul. SageHagRN’s mother passed away in the fall of ‘19 and I was able and willing to house-sit and cat-sit (a triple assignment at the start.) Little by little the house got fixed up and/or updated (Esp. main bath and kitchen.) Both Mama Tippy and Fuzz went over the Rainbow Bridge. Then, after 4 dumpsters in 2 years, 3 garage sales, a Big Giveaway of “Stuff”, and a loading and moving of yet other “Stuff” to St. Paul’s basement of the Abode, it was time.
Rascal had to leave the only house he ever knew, move to a totally new place with just Me as the “Two-Foot” who smelled familiar…..and there was Toby. Toby is a 5 year old, part-Russian Blue who strayed around the neighborhood, never learned to “Meow” (he DOES “Squeak”) who SageHagRN took in a few years back as a new feline in a newly cat-less house. Also, Toby has rarely seen other cats and has never had one on the house before.
So things have gone…….at times, to hell…..at times, in a rough-play, tussling sort of way. The Kitchen is a Romulan-Federation Neutral Zone because there is FOOD here, as well as a bubbling water fountain. There have been 2 am fights…...some romping…..a fair bit of Toby poaching Rascal’s food bowl and stiff arguments on who gets to lie on WineRev’s chair in the presence of the other. And now…...after most of 3 months, they are, in the last week or so, settling down for mid day naps on my bed….together…..inches apart (To be fair, the “settling in” has been noisy on occasion.)
Just the other day, SageHagRN snapped the photo above. Rascal (on the right) was laying in the sun in the sunroom in a long sprawl. Toby (on the left) came in, eyed him, then backed down a bit when SageHagRN growled at him (See? We can speak some Feline too...) He then sauntered over, sniffed Rascal’s tail…..and then sat on Rascal’s tail! Rascal gave him a “must you?” look, layered with haughty, and then laid his head down for a nap. We THINK they may be getting there…..
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Nuggets in the Raw
>>>>>>» How hopeful are the coming of the EVs as a major piece of addressing Climate Change? Getting more hopeful all the time. One of the understandable concerns has been about the battery, as this is rather newly applied technology on a mass scale that we have not seen before. Will there be enough lithium? Can other elements work as well….or better? How long can I go on one charge (range anxiety)? How long/How fast can I recharge?
And, a bit longer range, doesn’t a rechargeable battery kind of wear out? That it doesn’t hold as strong a charge after, say, 487 “fill ups”? How soon will the battery need to be replaced? How much will THAT cost?
Canada’s Globe & Mail Newspaper is up with a FRESH ARTICLE HERE on some new research. The data seems to say that after 100,000 miles of driving an EV, the battery will still recharge up to 90% of its original capacity! IOW, the battery looks like it will outlast the car its mounted in. And THAT is a game changer that Exxon and Saudi Arabia fear in the dark of night……
>>>>>>>We who are defending Democracy face many foes, domestic and foreign. There are times when looking over at that screaming, red-hatted mob, supported by heretical Xians (yeah, I called them the “H” word…...and I’ll do it again out loud as needed….whenever needed) and backed up by all sort of money in $5000 suits. But it’s good to take a glance around along the battle line. We Gnusies are here to shout down the nattering nabobs of negativity and numbskullery, and we offer each other and extend to all hope, uplift and consolation. And we attract allies. Now comes a new group, composed of retired military, high officers, astronauts, who have formed up a group calling themselves Operation Saving Democracy. Here is a YouTube of our newest enlistees…..and we greet them with a hearty “Huzzah!”
Let’s look at some of the non-political Nuggets out there, in various fields of Good News. (As is my custom, you will also see there are BITS from the September 20ths of years gone by that fit rather well….and sometimes not…..into those fields and facets, just to give us all a longer view.)
Good News in Society and Politics
As an ordained professional person (Lutheran) it has chaffed on me at and since seminary days in the early ‘80s at the general drift among US Protestants toward increasingly blessing and baptizing certain political stances and even policies. “My country, right or wrong” has been extended and twisted to incorporate, “because my church/pastor/Jesus tells me so.” That way has been tried before, many times. The 30 Years War. The 100 Years War. The Crusades (“You people are the wrong religion and our king and our pope say you should die!”)
In a very good moment in America, the pen of James Madison provided us with the First Amendment, stating “NO, the State can NOT invoke the blessing of a given church for its doings”, while at the same time stating, “NO, a given church/denomination/religion can NOT invoke the power of the State against its religious foes.” Granted, there are many dreary instances when this pairing was honored in the breach: Madison himself saw Baptists lose land and home to Virginia Anglicans/Episcopalians without recourse to court, voting or representation (House of Burgesses was ONLY for Episcopalians in good standing.) Every denomination has a stained history of their treatment of Native religions. Roman Catholics have been shunted aside and ostracized (“No women, no children, no Irish need apply.” ) Slavery was excused and justified by certain “Christian” groups. Anti-semitism can still be easily found. The list is grievous.
THIS ARTICLE is a fine write up of the current situation in easy terms. The direction is disturbing, so it serves as a fine warning and alert. It may also provide something of talking points among friends, family and neighbors who may be trending a certain way who may still be reachable, both politically and as a matter of their faith.
Then too, in historic times, society and nations and even the arts (like films of 1954) wrestled with such issues that affect everyone.
1797 Boston, Massachusetts Following a major naval defense spending appropriation by Congress to build 6 frigates, today is the day in this town. The USS Constitution has been under construction, and President John Adams, Massachusetts Governor Increase Sumner and a large crowd are present for the launching ceremony. There are speeches, toasts, cheering and then the big moment: the ship slides down the ways…….27 feet and stops. Ooops! Her brawny construction (extra heavy oak) caused the ways (the supporting, sliding ramps) to sink into the ground. Two days later they try again…..and after another 31 feet, same problem. (Only 296 more feet to go for ONE ship length). Everyone went home and the shipyard spend a month rebuilding the slipways. She finally reached water on October 21. Had a good war record though…..and is the oldest ship on the active roster of the US Navy.
1863 Chickamauga Creek, Georgia Second day of battle between Union General Rosecrans and Confederate General Bragg. Bragg began the battle yesterday without waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from Virginia. (After having Lee turned back at Gettysburg and Grant capturing Vicksburg, MS to split the Confederacy along the Mississippi, they cannot afford a major defeat in the center of their territory. Jefferson Davis ordered Lee to reinforce Bragg by rail.) These 15,000 men under Longstreet begin arriving late the first day. Longstreet has to hunt down Bragg (who has gone to bed), rouse him at 11:00pm, get a description of the battle so far, bed down his men, and take them into battle this second day without seeing the terrain. Nonetheless, late morning Longstreet launches a narrow attack with 3 divisions on the Union center and shatters both their center and right wing. All these Union men go streaming back to Chattanooga, carrying General Rosecrans with them.
Union General Thomas stoutly holds out against repeated attacks (11 Rebel charges) the rest of the five hours left in the day, covering the retreat and earning immortality with his nickname of the ‘Rock of Chickamauga’. (That man Thomas simply could NOT be shaken!) A major Confederate victory, nonetheless the day leads to Rosecrans being sacked, Thomas promoted in his place, and Grant given charge of the entire Western Theater. (While this is a colorized photo, you can look in those eyes and see where his men found the courage to stand off another rebel charge…..and another….and another…..)
1870 Rome, Italy France regularly provided troops to the Papal states of central Italy around Rome.
When war broke out earlier this year between France and Prussia France recalled her troops. Italian General Cadorna and his army slowly approached Rome; negotiations were underway between the newly constituted Kingdom of Italy and Pope Pius IX. After one day of fighting that only produced 70 casualties, the Pope surrenders to King Victor Emmanuel. This unifies Italy all of Italy as one political unit for the first time in centuries. This day also ends the 1,116 year (754 AD!) existence of the Papal States as a political body (excepting Vatican City, where the Swiss Guards are still on duty.)
1954 Across America (Yes, its only been 9 days since the birth of WineRev, and Mama and Papa WineRev are delighted at how well the little shaver eats and sleeps and blinks with his big brown eyes….awww; but there is actually other, far more minor, news this day as well.) CBS broadcasting puts on news, as well as entertainment programs. Some of these are light-hearted but some are pretty deep. On this day (later made into a movie) on their “Studio One” anthology show, the live TV drama "Twelve Angry Men" was presented as an episode.
Good News in Science and Engineering
Solar! Solar!! SOLAR!! OK, so solar energy won’t save the planet by itself but daggone it, all those photovoltaic chips are making and will make one hell of a contribution. Yes, yes, of COURSE there are problems and issues, but there are also great minds working on those as well.
For instance, take snow. You have a nice set of solar panels solaring and panelling away on your rooftop and fwoomp! Old Man Winter dumps 8 inches on them in January, and your inverse/reversing flow meter starts flowing inversely to tick up your electric bill (or at least offset the credit you’ve built up for the month.) OK yes, you can get dressed, get out the aluminum ladder and set it up 8 meters in the 15 below air temp with a 22 mph cross wind and reach those baked blue crystals with your grandmothers broom stick for a brushing, but would the Jetsons approve? 4th century broom on a 20th century ladder to wipe off a 21st century power source? That will leave you the laughing stock of next spring’s neighborhood cookout. So what to do?
Well a bunch of engineers at the University of Toronto (a city that, along with its American cousin in
Buffalo, knows a hell of a lot about snow) have a better idea. THIS STORY presents their “strip across the bottom” solution that melts off 90% of the panel by…..melting. So that now the panel can solarize again with electricity for your house and re-inverse the inversing reverser of your framistateur (2 official languages in Canada you know) to get your electric check going the right way.
Meanwhile, the home of Self-Assembling, your local IKEA store, is also trying to do the right thing, and via Solar. No, they are not at the point where you can buy a “Insert Tab A into Slot B” solar panel kit for your daughter’s doll house (although it wouldn’t surprise me to see “DIY Solar” aisles there very soon.) But THIS WRITE-UP recounts they ARE adding solar panels to some of their US parking ramps and distribution warehouses, and every bit helps, so YAY IKEA…..(and pass the solar-cooked, DIY assembled Swedish meatballs…..YUM)
Of course, U of T and IKEA have lots of examples and inspiration of science and engineering that happened on September 20ths of years past:
1859 (Look at that date for this invention!) Washington DC Local inventor George Simpson has carved grooves into a piece of soapstone. He runs bare platinum wires in the grooves and connects them to a “galvanic battery of the common type.” Simpson’s patent arrives today, the first electric range. The wires heat up and “warm the room, boil water and cook victuals”. (And once he adds the new invention of the electric plug, and finds an electric socket wired into a kitchen, things will really start to heat up…..)
1945 Huntsville, Alabama Having been on the receiving end of scores of V-1 and V-2 rockets during World War II, as part of ‘Operation Paperclip’ the US and Britain quietly round up as many German rocket engineers as they can find (including Werner von Braun.) They whitewash their Nazi activities (like von Braun), smuggle them into the US, and set them up in a quiet facility in a town where no one would think to look for rocket scientists. On this day, they set to work on both re-creating their work at Peenemunde and going beyond it and thinking of space travel.
1954 Armonk, New York The computer people are at it again. A team of programmers led by John Backus (I always think if John has a cousin named Jim…..you know, a near-sighted voice of Mr. Magoo, or a millionaire on a deserted island using a cover name of Thurston Howell) on this day test out the very first version of Fortran they have written. (Full program not finished and ready for primetime until 1957.)
It is a programming language program to help write other programs. (At the start of the ‘70s my geek friends joked when they got to college they would likely have to learn ‘Five-tran’ and help write “Six-tran.” Little did they/ we know their BASIC error, or how the mining discovery of a nickel-COBOL alloy would change things completely…..)
Good News in Leisure, Arts and Music
Oh sure, space travel, ballistics, Fortran and computers the size of your garage are all very well, but can we just take a break sometimes? You know…...relax. Despite the Sheldon Coopers of the world (we know so little about his species anyway) people have been “taking a break” and “Having a little fun” for a LONG time. How long? Try 2500 years.
THIS ARTICLE tells of an archeological discovery in present-day Turkey that seems to be a game board….that uses dice…...(no word if there are square clay tablets of deeds to Parque Palazzia or the Shortus Linneus RailVia.) But yeah…...lets have a little tournament and some fun!
Of course, Sheldon Cooper isn’t the only sci-fi fan of the the Television wavelengths. There was also real-life person and comedienne Lucille Ball. Yes, Lucy made us laugh, in films going back to the 1940s and also on TV in the 1950s and 60s both in black and white and color and in endless reruns. But just as every “serious” person somewhere inside has a “lighter” side, so someone like Ms. Ball’s “lighter side” had a serious side. She had a head for business and an eye for talent and entertainment. She and husband Arnaz early on formed the DesiLu production company which had long-term success, and Lucy was in the thick of it.
In the mid 1960s, with the Jetsons (tee-hee) and “Lost in Space” (must we, Will Robinson?) and other films feeding off of NASA, Mercury, John Glenn and Gemini on the way to the moon, there came a pilot for a new TV series. The pilot bombed…..but Ball thought there was something in it that everybody else was missing. So, as THIS DELIGHTFUL ARTICLE recounts, Lucille Ball saved “Star Trek” from the cutting room floor. She got a 2nd pilot made and helped NBC buy the show…….which could then boldly go where no one had gone before….
Of course, in older times other forms of music and art also provided a respite from labor and the prosaic prose of humdrum existence. (Buffs nails….)
1874 Cheltenham, England Birth of Gustav Theodore Holst, composer. He was the 4th generation in a family of professional musicians and at age 5 or 6 was introduced to the piano and the violin. He liked the former, hated the violin. At age 12 his father made him take up the trombone on the theory it might help his asthma. Gustav got good enough on it he was able to support himself during his studies playing as a slideman sideman. At around 30 gave up performing and devoted himself to composing and conducting. Best known for his long piece (during World War I) "The Planets”, somewhat out of character for him but an immediate success. The stately main theme of “Jupiter” has become a well-known hymn among mainline Christians and practically a British national song. Also produced dozens of works of various genres: orchestral suites, vocal choruses (setting texts from Keats and from Walt Whitman for instance to music), some chamber pieces, and several efforts at small operas.
1980 Belmont Park, New York This is the home of the final leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, but today is not that race. Instead, the legendary jockey Bill Shoemaker is in the saddle on "Spectacular Bid." It was a clean start and “Bid” led wire to wire in a fine ride. Except…..no one won a dime betting on Bid…..or lost anything betting on someone else. At the Woodward Stakes today, three other horses scheduled to run dropped out, and there were only 4 entered. It was horse racing's first walkover since 1949……but “Bid” still gets a winner’s bag of oats and a notch in his stable wall.
1996 Across America In a “revenge comedy” Goldie Hahn, Diane Keaton (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin,and Dolly Parton team up to kick misogyny in the workplace along with Dabney Coleman right where it counts, and with box office success. This day “9 to 5” opens, to cheers, giggles and a whole lot blushing among all sorts of men uncomfortable at seeing a mirror held up to themselves at the office. (I was thinking of the OTHER anti-misogynistic, butt kicking movie, “First Wives Club.” Sheesh…..but ain’t a diary editing function grand?)
1998 Palo Alto, California Life can be different in California, even Goofy, like today. Palo Alto hosts the 2nd annual Sand Hill Challenge, a soapbox derby. But the high point of the day was assembling the world’s largest accordion band in the history of Guinness world’s records. They did and the 500+ players squeezed out a memorable rendition of “Lady of Spain” to finger their way into the record book.
Anyway, there’s a Wednesday Launch and Good News Round Up for you and yours! We all look for YOUR comments, grins, “aha”s, digressions, expansions, explanations and even your “Breaking” events.
May all your News be Good, comforting and inspiring.
Shalom.