During the last month, I've developed the habit of listening to two USA historians during my lunch break on Saturday. On Saturday morning, they have an always-interesting discussion about the week's events. If you have a lunch hour (the videos are usually 30-45 minutes) where you'd like an educational distraction, then I recommend their talks to fill the time.

I came to these discussions because I would occasionally watch videos from the YouTube host on other historical topics. There's also a series of interviews with government figures, called "American Conversations". The most recent video in that series is with Elizabeth Warren. That interview is good, and I would have gladly voted for Warren for President in 2020 if she was the nominee. I wish there was a convenient url to link just to the duo weekend chats that I'm recommending now, but you'll have to look for the titles "What the Heck Just Happened?" from the Live broadcast list.

The host, Heather Cox Richardson, previously taught history at MIT. Near as I can tell, however, she chooses never to use an honorary title like "Dr.", because I could only ever find her referenced as a professor. She did get her Ph.D from Harvard in 1992, according to this broken MIT page. I like her videos because of the stoic rationality on display. I think that's why the duo on Saturday morning is so effective. In contrast, Joanne Freeman, history professor at Yale is an emotionally-expressive burst of laughter at absurd history unfolding before us. More than once, it occurred to me that "She's a hoot!"

The pair works really well together. I recommend watching their Saturday duo, if you can spare the time.

I woke up this morning wondering, "Why am I so cold?" I have the bed's heating mattress set on high, even though the temperature outside is only at freezing (well, 2C/35F anyway), but I'm still cold.

The cat demanded food, so I went downstairs to feed her. I checked the house thermostat. Ah! The batteries on the thermostat were drained, so the furnace was not running at all. I put the batteries in the recharger, but I have no AAA-sized batteries right now that are charged. It will be hours before I can get even a temporary respite from the cold.

I went back upstairs and checked the thermometer (the CO2 meter) by my bedside. It's 12C/54F in my bedroom. That's why I'm so cold this morning. Problem identified, and the fix is on the way.

P.S. The cat finished her meal, came back upstairs, and clawed her way under the sheets in my bed. I turned the heating mattress back on for her. I'm at my computer, wrapped in a thick bath robe for warmth.

Just 24 hours ago, I knew exactly what I was going to write about today for Moody Monday. Now, though, so I've seen so many things that it's hard to choose what topic to mention.

Like the Amazon internet outage that took out much of the internet for most of the day, including where I work. My first tech support phone call this morning was from the main in-person test center on the biggest campus. They called to report that multiple students were unable to work on quizzes in multiple courses. I confirmed it wasn't just them, the images in exam questions weren't loading for me too. Within an hour, we knew just how widespread the problem was across the USA. Eventually, the entire Canvas website (used for coursework and quizzes) itself was down, affecting universities around the globe. At least we got a semi-funny picture from their Canvas website about the outage, pictured in this news article. Eventually, our phone system was also affected, with me losing a caller mid-sentence then unable to call them back. I had to take my lunch almost 2 hours early, during a period that phones were simply not operational, because we anticipated the rush of calls when we would need "all hands on deck" when service resumed later. It was a frustrating day.

Even more important to me than the estimated 100s of billions of dollars in lost productivity, however, is the attempted bombing of one gay ice cream store here in Minneapolis.

There's a paywalled news story here. Before the paywall kicks in, maybe you can read some of the context and see a photo of the giant flag hanging on the front of the building that probably prompted the attack. If you can't see the flag there, then you can view it here in Google Maps. More interesting, however, is an eyewitness to the second attack who took photos of the accused-offender's car to give to police. It's posted here on Bluesky.

I did advocate that people move to Minnesota from other areas, anticipating the violence that Republicans would unleash (more on that topic next Monday, maybe) with a second Trump term. I still maintain that it's safer here than elsewhere in the USA for queer folk. Wherever you are, stay safe out there.

The one area where I am unable to reduce my plastic exposure is healthcare. Dental stuff, especially. Because of braces when I was young (and I had headgear that I wore at night), my teeth are crowded together, packed tightly. I have trouble using regular floss with my hands. I rely on those plastic picks, so I can "crunch down" on the plastic arm with my jaw to force the floss between my teeth.

I just crowdfunded a reusable plastic floss device. It wouldn't reduce my plastic exposure, but at least it would reduce my overall plastic usage. It would reduce my impact on the environment, even if not on my own health.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/619706607/flosser-y-fast-swap-firm-grip-flossing-perfected

Does anyone have other items they recommend? I'd likely buy more things to try out, until I find something that I know works well for me.