A mixed bag
All posts in the A mixed bag category
Oh No! A Blacker Cat
Published August 13, 2025 by Nan Mykel
www.popularmechanics.com › science › a65625078A New Cat Color Is Defying Genetic Expectations. What does it mean?
According to The Washington Post, which tracked our current president’s lack of) truthfulness during his first term, he lied an average of 21 times a day for four years, totalling 30,573 false or misleading claims. Respected historian David Brinkley called him a “serial liar.” (Thanks to dianeravitch’s blog)
_________________
OOPS! Musk Forgot – Musk, last year the richest man in the U.S. (or even more, maybe), who as The Week of May 2, 2025 writes, has taken on the mission of “helping seed the earth with more human beings of high intelligence.” Elizabeth Bruenig in the Atlantic reminds us that Musk is driven by the conviction that “intelligent people in particular ought to be breeding more” to compete with their genetic inferiors. Mahdawi of The Guardian writes that Musk believes women are nothing more than walking wombs.” OOPS! Musk made a logic mistake? Remember, women are often intelligent, win prizes in research, etc. To remove them from the intelligent clique would be…well, unintelligent. ALSO, in his theorizing Musk includes our president among those with high intelligence….?
No Joke : Hong Kong
Published August 13, 2025 by Nan Mykel
________________________
Maddow Blog: Pete Hegseth amplifies pastors with a message: Women shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
________________________
WHICH REMINDS ME OF HELEN REDDY’S “I Am Woman”:
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back and pretend
‘Cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna keep me down again
Whoa, yes, I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman (ooh)
You can bend, but never break me
‘Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
‘Cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul
Oh, yes, I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman (ooh)
I am woman, watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin’ arms across the land
But I’m still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until I make my brother understand
Whoa, yes, I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
I am woman (I am woman)
I am invincible (I am woman), I am strong
I am woman (I am woman)
I am invincible (I am woman), I am strong
I am woman (I am woman)
I am woman (I am woman)
Source: https://www.songlyrics.com/helen-reddy/i-am-woman-lyrics/
________________________
Songwriters: Ray Burton / Helen Reddy I Am Woman lyrics © Buggerlugs Music Co., Irving Music, Inc.
____________________
What Would Your Psychologist Say?
Published August 11, 2025 by Nan MykelSince time is hanging heavy at present, and while I was re-reading my first book, “Time Wrinkles,” I thought I’d share what I found on my computer one Thanksgiving season, and copied. I titled it “Psychologists Under Stress” :
The main challenge in reporting the following true story was not getting sued. I hope I have avoided that pitfall by changing first names and dropping lasts. It all started on Thanksgiving Eve, 2000, at 4 p.m. The secretary of a prestigious organization for psychologists sent out a welcome to the first issue of an informative professional newsletter. The final sentence in her e-mail was “Again, welcome.”
What happened next, and its effects and repercussions and revelations is the story. Deleted from the following are a great many e-mails requesting to be removed from the mailing list immediately. Grammar is uncorrected. Beginning on page 63, the list (not totally included here) extends to pg. 72.
At 8:47:21 Thursday: “The attachment contains a virus. Delete it immediately.” –S. At 9:02:33 Thursday: “Apparently no one is home [at the office]…I hope we can assume that the problem will get fixed Monday. STOP sending mail or replying to these messages. It only compounds the problem…PS-I am just a lowly licensed psychologist on their list. I have no official capacity, am not (blush) even a member.” -J. At 9:34:02 Thursday: “Please unsubscribe me NOW!” -W. At 9:40:00 Thursday: “Please advise…I have received some 17 memos from you on this Thanksgiving Day. At an email address of which I do not give out–it belongs to my cousin. How did I get on this list or is it simply a mistake?” -C. At 10;25:15 Thursday: “What is the content of me_nude; I can’t seem to get it up and running with my system.” -R. At 10:38:09 Thursday: “Hello…Members, While we’re all waiting for [the organization] to correct the problem, I thought I’d take this opportunity to let everyone know about a FREE booklet…Thank you on this lovely Thanksgiving Day! Blessings” -C. At 12:21:29 Thursday: “I am getting lots of your mail that says ‘unsubscribe,’ Is everyone getting all this mail? If everyone gets this letter, DO NOT let me know.” -E.
And so it goes, for 4 1/2 pages more, until it really gets nasty…. At 16:23:30 Saturday: “You have a hell of a lot of nerve sending me email at someone else’s email address, I believe that it is illegal for you to use someone else’s address for your purposes. I will check with the FCC. In the meantime unsubscribe me from the list. I do not want to be a part of this service. I did not ask for this service and I certainly will not abide by any rules you have set up. If I receive any more garbage from you I will make sure that your system crashes,” -K.
TO RELIEVE US BOTH i DID NOT LIST THEM ALL.
___________________________
Laugh Instead of Cry?
Published August 9, 2025 by Nan MykelThe E.P.A. said this week it would revoke its own ability to fight climate change. It’s the latest move in an extraordinary pivot away from science-based protections. -nytimes
It has come to my attention that I have an “inappropriate laugh.” I’m pretty sure it’s an unconscious trade-off that actually works pretty well, except for those caught in its crossfire, accidentally. So it’s no surprise that given my helplessness, and being so near the end of myself, I have to see some dark humor in the little rich boy getting richer at our expense (I speak for the lower tax brackets) and messing the world up as he goes out. Just for instance, destroying AIDS food, then acting horrified at resulting starvation. in Gaza. Can’t you see a little humor in that? I guess not, huh.
Another situation that almost makes me grim is the current spread of lying, modeled by Donnie whose advice to other men was, “never admit. Never.” I was reminded today on the news of his having told someone that he prefers married women because it’s so “wrong.”
The lyin’ AI and the ubiquitousness of purposeful misrepresentation and embrasure of lying has spread, even to discredit science. [Suspect science papers submitted]. What would be an apt metaphor for our current reality? OH! I don’t have to make up one! It’s right before us, via usatoday: Denmark’s Aalborg Zoo says donate your pets to feed our predators.
____________________
A FORMER HELPER WROTE THIS:
87
And times short
She might not remember
today, tomorrow or a minute from now
Something important for the next generation
A central tremor waves the lines of each written letter
But she’ll never surrender
Just Hold down the fort
condo 1004A
Stockpile the amo!
Half a dozen pens and pencils
Between the bedsheets
Notebooks and tissues
Magazines and books afloat the unmade bed
A trail of trail mix down the hallway
fiery passion
And a zest
Words of wisdom are held captive on the page
Waiting to be released
As each one of them is read
And that’s how you win a war with time
While sitting in bed.
(Thanks, Carrie from 2023.) In September I’ll be 90…or not.
Short Fiction
Published August 4, 2025 by Nan Mykel
TARGETS
My folks were unable to accompany me to the meeting with my rapist, since they had retired to Costa Rica. The Restorative Justice people made an exception and allowed a friend to join me in the session, for emotional support. They didn’t realize that Mitzi had also been raped by hairy Harry Findley, the perp.
I’m Allison, another survivor. I first met Mitzi in my living room, when she attended a small women’s consciousness raising group composed of women survivors of sexual assault who were slowly learning not to think of themselves as victims, but as survivors.
We waited for Hairy in the prison psychologist’s office at Newcom State Prison. The phone had been pulled to avoid interruption, and Mitzi and I had to wait ten minutes, alone, in the office. An effort had been made to bring a little cheer into the office: a cacti arrangement and a large Vermeer print. A one-way mirror across the room offered reassurance of safety. I remember wondering at the time who the reassurance was for; him or me, since although my rage had cooled during the last year, I knew it was capable of swift re-ignition. For all my moxie, I was conscious of a dry mouth and banging heartbeat.
Mitzi and I both wore loose shirts, loose jeans, and tennies, presenting as asexual as possible for the session. The stated purpose of Restorative Justice was to heal, not dissuade reoffending, but my purpose was the latter. I’ll admit, however, that the motivation for the meeting was (I thought “confrontation” was a tad murky–I wanted to look my attacker in the eye.
We heard a small click, the doornob turned and a corrections officer ushered Harry in, handcuffed, and sat him in a chair opposite us, across a table. He was anything but appealing as he sat slouched in his bright orange prison suit that revealed long black hairs that covered his arms and the back of his hands. A five o’clock shadow had apparently sprouted in the past hour or two, but his head was shaved. The officer left us alone, hopefully behind the one-way mirror.
Although I assumed his presence was due to the hope of making an impression on the parole board someday, I said, “Thanks for coming.”
He dropped his head in acknowledgement, without making eye contact. My ears started ringing and I had to briefly shut my eyes and get centered. I said, “Why are you here?”
“Here? Do you mean in prison or in this room?”
I silently gritted my teeth. “I know why you’re in prison, believe me. But why are you in this room with me?”
He paused. “Curiosity.”
“What do you want to know?”
He was silent.
“Do you regret the sexual attack?”
“I regret prison.”
“But not causing the physical and psychologcal harm you did to me?”
He did not answer.
“Have you ever been raped? I hear that sometimes happens in prison.”
He rolled his shoulders and snarled, “Not likely.”
“Were you mad at me? Did you want to hurt me?”
“Yes. Yes, I wanted to hurt you and all women that play so hard to get. I belong to Intel, and women won’t have anything to do with us. We can’t get any!”
“Any–love? Tenderness? Friendship?”
“Pussy!”
I had read about this group of men who clustered on an internet blog, and that their activities have been referred to as “weaponized misogyny.” Mitzi, beside me, was squirming uncomfortably as he ranted.
“It’s true,” I said in an aside to MItzi. “Evolution scripts females to be attracted to males with the most regular features.”
Hairy’s face turned red and he emitted a subdued roar when he heard me speaking to Mitzi. “It isn’t fair.”
“Nor is it fair to rape and destroy a woman’s healthy sense of self for a life structure she’s a victim of herself!” I frowned. regretting have used the victim word myself.
Hairy didn’t respond immediately, but began fingering his fly, whereupon I rapped sharply on the one way mirror. I was glad ro note that Hairy wore a puzzled expression on his face as he was led out to rejoin the prison population. Mitzi sighed. I squeezed her hand and sighed, myself.
By Nan
___________________
HORIZON
The train doesn’t stop here anymore,
but tonight it did, and the conductor
was impatient for me to board.
The ride was free but the destination
unknown. Goodbye, my dears.
CLIMATE NEWS!…?
Published July 27, 2025 by Nan MykelTrump’s EPA now says greenhouse gases don’t endanger people, per NPR….
_______________
NEW BOOK
I’ve been reading Douglas Rushkoff’s new book, Survival of the Richest, about what he calls the Mindset of the wealthiest, and read today that “we” now have 902 billionaires in the USA, as reported by Forbes. It is difficult to assess how many are wed to AI, but Rushkoff suggests that the leading edge are both enamored and encouraging of it [and perhaps already profiting from it?].
He quotes Gabe Newell, billionaire founder of the game platform Valve in Wired, the human body is a mere “meat peripheral” that is resistant to upgrades or repair and “not at all reflective of consumer preference.” Virtual reality will give users more “choice” over their perception and experience of the world. “The real world will seem flat, colorless, blurry compared to the experience you’ll be able to create in people’s brains.”
Oculus Rift Chief Technologist Officer John Cormack explained on the Joe Rogan podcast, “VR [virtual reality] is the new solution to climate change–or maybe the ultimate surrender to its inevitability. As resources vanish and economic conditions worsen, technological simulations can fill in where real wealth has disappeared [from you?] The author says, “After all, it’s called an iPad, not an usPad.”
This is not to say that all the 902 USA billionaires want great things from AI.* They do appear to plan to reject (and use) those with lower intelligence than them. (But it’s money that anoints them, not an IQ test?). Musk explained in a Vanity Fair article that one of his reasons for colonizing Mars is to have a “bolt hole” if AI goes rogue. [How many people of less wealth and intelligence will be included in the bolt hole?]
Could the new regime be getting even with God? Who else? …And in my book the destruction of baled, ready to go food in the face of human starvation is not a ticket to whatever pleasant afterlife there might be. Bearing false witness, murder, adultery, theft…. In his final chapter, Rushkoff writes that there’s “no escape, and there is no later. If we’re not doing it at the moment, we’re not doing it at all.”
*With very few exceptions
______________
SHAMED BY MEXICAN LARGESSE
Check out Google for descriptions of many recent instances of Mexican firefighters aiding their U.S. neighbors, and apparently continuing to do so.
______________
POEMETTE
Look Upward
Each dances to its own beat
separately: grape vine leaves
in the sky, kissed by wind–
oh my!
No, not in pairs; all alone
together, sparkling the day
as the air shuffles through.
Cha cha cha
Nan
Homefront News
Published July 24, 2025 by Nan MykelStill living from pillar to post. I’ll protect the name of one motel we stayed at briefly, following the second flood of my basement condo. The toilet must have been built for potty training and the door would not open or close when one sat on the throne. Since I am not of potty training age, I could not arise from that throne but had to go on my knees, crawling out into the main room. BUT from my position on the floor, by the bed, I could not arise, not even with the aid of my daughter. Finally I asked her to call the police. She did and they connected with a free EMT and lo and behold three hefty weightlifters appeared and lifted me to the security of my motel bed. Two of the three wore uniforms which I thought were police uniforms, and the third was a young professional in training with a jolly disposition. I had thought to call the police because not long before, a groundhog had gotten his head under, but not out, of, strong fencing around a locked trash enclosure. A neighbor knew to call for help. Two men I assumed were police had wirecutters with them and also the strength to lift the edge. See that grateful groundhog run! He had been trapped with his head under the wire for more than a day.
I’m still out of my condo but this time staying with a friend in her updated trailer home that has an adult potty. Recently there was major sewer work on West Union, by my condo, and they suspect workmen may have sent a wrong sewer into and through my condo. I finally got my computer back from the condo. Thus endeth my personal report. Now for real news:
_______________
1995 NEWS/VIEWS on WOMEN — We found a March 21, 1955 Time magazine in the library’s free book shelf : From A Piece of Equipment in The Farm Quarterly: “When a farmer buys a cow, wrote Farm Editor R.J. McGinnis, he looks at her long and carefully, goes over her point by point and weighs his pocketbook against her virtues and her faults. He should be no less calculating when he takes a wife…This flint-hearted approach ….will appear to many, especially the female sex, as a way of saying that a wife should be regarded as a piece of farm equipment. That is quite right.” (Other good remarks but some more proper wording is suddenly suggested by Word Press’s Gutenberg AI, I presume: 12 ways to show deep respect for your wife....Go figure.)
_____________
OH, THAT’s WHY!
I was puzzled by the sudden drive against aliens (and those not so alien) in recent months, and still am.
As I’ve come to understand, via The Week of May 2, 2025, that Musk wants to seed the earth with more human beings of high intelligence “before the apocalypse.” I wonder if he assumes the high intelligence should come from the male or female parent. If that’s the case, why is he so against public school and university survival? Does intelligence mean being uneducated? Did he select the women of his fourteen children on the basis of intelligence or fecundity? Maybe hooking the brain up to AI would take care of all that? I hear that’s being developed.
_____________
Pope Leo will bless same-sex unions: LGBTQ Nation Newsletter
_____________________
OH DEAR…
Did Netanyahu really nominate our president for the Nobel Peace Prize, or is that a Saturday Night show joke? I can’t tell these days.
ANSWER: Jill Dennison says it’s true…INCIDENTLY, read her blog today! (About our 902 U.S. billionaires)
_____________
Poem by Milton Ploghoft, 2013:
DESTINATIONS
Where will we go for the sweet bye and bye?
No doubt we will aim for a Heaven on high.
But astrophysicists with views telescopic
Suggest that man’s gaze is gravely myopic.
There is plenty of space beyond cloud and star
But how to prepare from that which we now are?
Will eating and breathing be as we know here?
And will we bump into old friends so dear?
Will we greet kin from centuries ago
Or meet only family whom we so well know?
So many questions, who can tell
Will all the doubters go straight to Hell?
TID BITS
Published July 21, 2025 by Nan MykelRED-FACED – The previous post (Dog Camp) was my first attempt at a video and it posted itself before I added more. My helper, Shannon, helped get this much done but left the balance to me. Ho Ho!
__________________
Beginning in August, you can buy a new Presidential smartphone! -The Week 6/27/25
___________________
POEM
A nurse in the hospital 53 years ago gave me this poem when my “special child” was born. It is by Edna Massimilla. reprinted in an old “Dear Abby” column by abigail van buren:
“Heaven’s Very Special Child”
A meeting was held quite far from earth
“It’s time again for another birth.”
Said the angels to the Lord above,
“This special child will need much love.”
His progress may seem very slow
Accomplishments he may not show
And he’ll require extra care from
the folks he meets way down there.
He may not run or laugh or play
His thoughts may seem quite far away
In many ways he won’t adapt
And he’ll be known as handicapped.
So let’s be careful where he’s sent
We want his life to be content
Please, Lord, find the parents who
Will do a special job for you.
They will not realize right away
The leading role they’re asked to play
But with this child sent from above
Come stronger faith and richer love.
And soon they’ll know the privilege given
In caring for this gift from heaven
Their precious charge, so meek and mild,
Is heaven’s very special child.
________________
NANMYKEL.COM 