Our car is 20 years old, with 200,000+ miles on it. As I move to Seattle, the old Chevy needs to go 2,000 miles in a straight line with nothing falling off or blowing up, so I took it into the shop and gave them the (financially terrifying) instructions to fix whatever needs to be fixed.

They called the next morning with the estimate — $1,100 — and I asked a few dumb questions but OK’d it, and let’s hope that’ll be the biggest expense of the move.

I don’t think it was related to that phone call or the auto work, but later in the morning I slipped into an hour of simple terror. Just a whole lot of holy shit — it’s all happening and it is scary.

When I left Seattle thirty years ago, I was saying goodbye to a boring, frustrating life, and hoping for an adventure. And it was a frickin’ great adventure. And things turned out far, far better than I’d imagined.

But this is the opposite of that. I’m leaving a place where I’ve been happy for a long time, to return to the place that bored and frustrated me — Seattle — and I hear it’s only gotten worse, but it’s be home for the rest of my life. 

But you know what? This too shall pass. In a few months I’ll be comfortable, employed, and having a good time.

♦ ♦ ♦

You know what else is weird about these last weeks in Madison? When I go shopping, there’s no ‘stocking up’ when something’s on sale.

And the day before yesterday, I backed out of an online purchase, because shipping was slow and the expected delivery date would be after my expected departure date. Guess this is really happening.

♦ ♦ ♦ 

And now, news and amusements, from my internet history for yesterday…   

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Human Rights Campaign rejects Disney donation “until meaningful action is taken” against Don’t Say Gay bill 

Excellent. Heck, if I had a job I’d send a donation to Human Rights Campaign, just for this.

♦ ♦ ♦

AG Marrick Garland says he’s working hard on January 6th conspiracy

I don’t believe him.

♦ ♦ ♦ •

Russia’s anti-war protesters are terrified, and still marching. 

Despite the risks, many protesters were drawn out for the first time, outraged by their government’s invasion of a country they considered fraternally bonded to Russia. But all spoke with growing fear about how the government, already notorious for crushing dissent, may punish them. 

It takes a great deal of courage to stand up for what’s right, when what’s wrong is in charge. I wonder whether I’d have the guts, and hope to never find out.

• Goldman Sachs pulls out of Russia 

Of course, this is a business decision, not a moral decision, same as McDonald’s and Starbucks and the rest, only more so. Also of course, it’s probably a lie, and they’ll continue investing in Russia, just secretly.

The canary has flown the coal mine, though. Goldman Sachs is the face of money, and if they’re leaving Russia, or even pretending to leave Russia, rigor mortis is next for the Russian economy.

• Russia says its businesses can steal patents from anyone in ‘unfriendly’ countries 

• Cloudflare says shutting down in Russia would give Putin what he wants 

• WHO says it advised Ukraine to destroy pathogens in health labs to prevent disease spread 

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Trendy bakery unleashes robots in San Francisco parks 

This coverage seems full of itself, and counterfactual — these are remote-controlled cookie vending machines, operated by outsourced workers, so they’re not robots.

Whether a remote-controlled cookie vending machine is a good idea seems more debatable than the reporter acknowledges, and even in San Francisco, $7 for two cookies (described only as “trendy”) is asking a lot.

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Black Panther director mistaken for bank robber in Atlanta 

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AT&T breaks pledge, directly donates to Republican objectors 

♦ ♦ ♦•

‘Our state is terrorizing us’: Texas families of transgender kids fight investigations 

• Parents of a trans child who reached out to Attorney General Ken Paxton over dinner are now under investigation for child abuse 

• The inside story of how Disney turned its back on the LGBTQ community 

♦ ♦ ♦  

Did George Washington have an enslaved son? 

The article doesn’t convince me that the answer is yes, but it seems obvious that George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, now a major tourist attraction, is run by wealthy white people who are casually racist. 

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I didn’t know that Google, PayPal, and Logitech all started in rented offices at the same address, 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto.

That’s a block from the Stanford Theater, one of my favorite old-movie venues when I lived in the Bay Area. 

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Oh, look, a new Star Trek show 

I’ve lost track of how many Star Trek shows are on now, none of which I’ve seen. This one’s going to be about the original Captain of the original Enterprise, Christopher Pike, before he was disabled in the original timeline, or whatever the heck happens to him in the J J Abrams do-over timeline.

Eventually, every character from every episode of every Star Trek series will get his or her own Star Trek series. Can’t wait for The Adventures of Harry Mudd.

This new show is called Strange New Worlds, and will it be any good? Well, Star Trek has worked its way into my genes, so I hope it’s good, but I won’t be watching unless a lot of people tell me it’s frickin’ awesome. I once saw a preview for Lower Decks, which convinced me that Star Trek is over.

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America’s first black female federal judge: Constance Baker Motley 

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Thousands of police officers march through streets to mourn cop who was shot while scratching ear with gun 

♦ ♦ ♦ 

Baseball finally stopped shooting itself in the foot 

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One-word newscast, because it’s the same news every time…
• cops
• cops
• cops
• cops
• QAnonsense
• QAnonsense
• QAnonsense 

♦ ♦ ♦

I’ll stash this way at the bottom, cuz it’s only me being a grumpy old fart, but — I’m at a newspaper’s website, and here’s a headline that gets my attention: At least 13 reportedly injured after CalTrain from San Francisco catches fire in collision.

Click it, and you land at an article with the same headline, of course: At least 13 reportedly injured after CalTrain from San Francisco catches fire in collision.

Under the headline, there’s a full-screen picture of a CalTrain on fire.

The picture’s caption reads, A CalTrain caught fire after striking a vehicle in San Bruno, Calif. on March 10, 2022.

Finally, the article begins: A CalTrain caught fire after striking a vehicle in San Bruno on Thursday morning…

In light of our ongoing global crises and collapse my complaint ain’t much, but — they could tell us a train’s on fire 3 times instead of 5, with no loss of news value.

♦ ♦ ♦ 

 Mystery links 

— Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

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