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To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.

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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

The Ledes

Sunday, June 23, 2024

New York Times: “The end of the unusually early heat wave that gripped much of the United States over the past seven days is in sight. But first, the country will need to endure another day, possibly two, of scorching hot temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic States and along the I-95 urban corridor on the East Coast. The National Weather Service predicts that the heat wave, which has more than 100 million people under heat advisory alerts, will last through early this upcoming week.”

The New York Times yesterday liveblogged the Great American Heat Wave of June 2024. “On the first weekend of summer, a brutal heat wave took hold for a sixth consecutive day, continuing to scorch large swaths of the United States.... Heat-related emergency room visits spiked this week in regions of the United States that had been hit the hardest by the heat wave, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
The Ledes

Saturday, June 22, 2024

New York Times: “During the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, one of the most important events on the Muslim calendar, at least 450 people died under a scorching sun as they prayed at sacred sites around the holy city of Mecca. Amid maximum temperatures that ranged from 108 Fahrenheit to 120, according to preliminary data, and throngs of people, many passed out and needed medical care. The pilgrims, some who have saved their whole lives for the hajj, spend days walking and sleeping in tents during their journey to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims. The hajj is one of Islam’s five pillars, and all Muslims who are physically and financially able are obliged to embark on the pilgrimage. Indonesia has so far reported the most deaths, 199, and India has reported 98.”

Public Service Announcement

The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

Washington Post: “It was late into the night when the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago sent volcanic material over the beach at the ancient city of Herculaneum, where hundreds of men, women and children — and even a soldier — huddled in and around stone boat houses, awaiting rescuers who would never arrive. The A.D. 79 volcanic eruption had buried the seaside and left the beach out of reach to visitors, until now — when newly-completed restoration works mean visitors can set foot on the beach, as it appeared before the disaster, for the first time.” ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, over in Pompeii ~~~

New York Times: “Saturday Night Live” is set to enter its 50th season with creator/producer Lorne Michaels still at the helm.

New York Times: Explorer “Ernest Shackleton was sailing for Antarctica on the ship called the Quest, when he died in 1922. Researchers exulted over the discovery of its wreckage, 62 years after it sank in the Labrador Sea [off the coast of Canada. The Quest] ... was carrying him back to Antarctica when he had a heart attack and died in 1922. The Quest sailed on for another 40 years until it sank on a seal-hunting voyage off Canada’s Atlantic coast in 1962.... The expedition to find the Quest was led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society..., and cost 500,000 Canadian dollars, or about $365,000.... The Quest was the last missing artifact from the 'heroic age of Arctic exploration,' said Martin Brooks, a Shackleton expert....”

Liberals Are No Fun at All: ABC News: "Eight climate protesters were arrested on Wednesday [June 12] after being tackled on the field during the Congressional Baseball Game, U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. The self-described 'youth-led group,' Climate Defiance, took credit for the protest and shared videos on X of protesters rushing the field, calling the 'Chevron-sponsored' game 'unconscionable.' During the second inning, over half a dozen protesters hopped the fence to the field, wearing shirts stating, 'END FOSSIL FUELS.'" MB: Not sure why it took five ABC News reporters (including one contributor) to write this report. Maybe they all volunteered to be on the silly ball game beat.

"Countless studies have shown that people who spend less time in nature die younger and suffer higher rates of mental and physical ailments." So this Washington Post page allows you to check your own area to see how good your access to nature is.

Spam on a Plane. Some people just have, well, different fetishes. He's got the meats (or whatever Spam is). WashPo link.

Band of Lovers. Washington Post: In "the Battle of Tegyra in 375 B.C., a thousand Spartan soldiers, trained for combat from the age of 7, were returning from an expedition when they stumbled on a much smaller force from the rival city of Thebes. Rather than retreat, the Theban infantry charged, pulling into a close formation and piercing the Spartan lines like a spear. The Spartans turned and, for the first time ever in pitched battle, fled. The most fearsome military force of its day had been defeated by the Sacred Band of Thebes, a shock troop of 150 gay couples.... [The Theban commander] Gorgidas recruited 150 couples skilled in martial combat for his elite corps. This Sacred Band, 300 strong, became Greece’s first professional standing army, housed and fed by the city.... In the end, it took none other than Alexander the Great to bring [The Sacred Band] to heel."

Contact Marie

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Page Links
Monday
Sep202010

President Obama on CNBC's "Investing in America": Full Session:

New York Times: "It was billed as 'Investing In America,' a live televised conversation between President Obama and American workers, students, business people and retirees on the state of the economy, a kind of Wall Street to Main Street reality check. But it sounded like a therapy session for disillusioned Obama supporters." AND here's a page of CNBC links about the town hall meeting.

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