A quote from the piece marks an otherwise blank front cover: "The destruction that Kennedy has wrought in 1 year might take generations to repair, and there is little hope for US health and science while he remains at the helm."
The journal's editorial board catalogues many of the controversial actions taken under Kennedy's watch, including the dismissal of agency employees, "revisions of guidelines and recommendations contradicting decades of established science," cuts to cutting-edge scientific research, the undermining of vaccine policy and promotion of "junk science and fringe beliefs."
Gotta get the shit out in fields before the ground gets too soft as they say, with lots of rain coming this next week, hopefully to wash the snow of the rail trail and have everybody in hick towns everywhere going Moo! Moo! Moo!
Some of the bananas 🍌had a rough ride home from Wally World on my overpacked bike yesterday, so I used a bunch in banana pancakes this morning which were extra sweet and greasy with the bananas. Tasted good, and the carrot fibers 🥕 added a lot of substance to the pancakes. Going to need a another 5-lb bag of carrots before you know it again, should have gotten that at Wally World too while I was there but yeah, I already had too much crap on my bike. Plus I forgot to get toothpaste. 🪥🦷More pinto beans are cooking down on the stove, I got my 10 Hoopla reads out of the libary yesterday, including yet another Hunter Thompson book. I’m through all their Edward Abbey books at this point. 📚
Decision time ⌚ on the big truck, 🛻I need to start reviewing Ford incentives now that they’ve been released and start reaching out to dealerships about their out-the-door prices and scheduling a test drive, maybe Tuesday this week. They are closed today, but Monday I should collecting info and getting towards making a decision. So far Ford hasn’t posted the March programs yet, just noting truck month ends on March 2nd. With rain 🌧️ expected the second half of the week and the 8-14 day outlook predicting above normal temperatures, ☀️ with the normal being around 45 degrees, chances are good winter and road salt is coming to an end, and I got to start building my new camping rig so I can start slinging some mud, having some fires, burning shit and hauling cans and bottles to the recycling center. ♻️ In the meantime, there is roadside trash and recycling bins, parents compost pile and just not buying a lot of junk.
Doing a little cleaning this morning, 🧽 and dad is coming to pick me up around 11:30 AM for a visit and lunch. 😀 It will be nice to get out of the city for a while, though I did enjoy my ride out to Five Rivers last night, but it was not as sunny and mild as I had first thought by the forecast. Tomorrow though I think the rail trail after the weekends melt and how well packed it was on Friday will be fine to ride to work, avoiding the hassles of the Delmar Bypass or Second Avenue. Tuesday if I look at trucks, I’ll probably take my bike in on the bus, then check out DePaula’s in the morning, and then ride back down Clinton Avenue or Albany Shaker Road to work. Wednesday through Saturday look like rain showers, ☔ so I’ll take it day by day. Heat is back on, it’s much colder today, though I’m not sure I actually heard the radiators operating. Second half of the week I’ll turn the heat back off, as as long as it’s not getting well below freezing, I don’t mind the cold, especially with my heated blanket – and I’m at work all day, followed by cooking downstairs on a warm stove. 🛏️
At the heart of that debate is a bigger question: Is AI a tool—a silver bullet to answer hard questions or find new efficiencies? For the Pentagon, that might look like a way to combat swarming AI drones launched by an enemy, for example. For businesses, that might look like a way to free up workers from busy work so the company can do more.
Or is AI something more? For many in Silicon Valley, that might mean AI will develop a consciousness of its own, become a godlike power—and replace human labor altogether.?
People act like it’s the greatest disability not to own a car in city. Don’t you know, the only people who don’t have own cars and drive everywhere are those who are on THE POGEY or live in a high-rise in Manhattan?
I often make fun of myself not owning a vehicle right now, but it’s worked out fine lest the flat tire I got last night, but whatever I got it fixed, rode to Walmart and now carry only a new tube on the bike. I ended up with $85 in groceries and supplies, my bike seriously overloaded on trip home. Damaged some of bananas, I guess going to have to have lot of banana pancakes and maybe banana bread in the few days. Noticing on the well loaded down bike on way from Walmart that my wheel is further out of true, but I have a spoke key and can adjust. Maybe there is a broken spoke I didn’t see in earlier inspection. I can fix that too. Rode out to Five Rivers this evening, enjoying the rural landscape and watching the sun set as I passed by Meads cows. There fun, some day when I move back out to country, I should get myself some cows.
Even if I do get that SuperDuty in the coming month, I am probably still going to rely on my bike to get around town primarily, as such a big truck is going to be expensive to drive around town and difficult to park and get in and out of traffic. But I like riding the bike, it gives me far more freedom then a car would, as I can pull over, sneak through back ways and over sidewalks, and developed recreational trails. One of the great things about living in the city is you don’t have to drive everywhere. It just seems like you would be very trapped if you had to rely on your vehicle to get everywhere. For so many people, they use their car to get everywhere, it’s one big search for parking spots in between the endless traffic lights and cops taking pictures of you, looking to hand you tickets. I am not opposed to moving back out to country, but not until I retire. I want to retire young, even if I do spend a lot of time working on the homestead and doing smaller, remote work type projects from home…
I do miss getting out of the city, and who knows if I’ll get out to visit my parents tomorrow with more snow coming. It might have been a decent weekend for a trip out to Rensselearville State Forest if I still had Big Red on the road, but next winter with the new truck, I’ll not just have the cab but also a diesel heater which will make winter camping even more pleasurable. And maybe finally break down and get skis, though after this cold and snowy winter, probably next year winter will be snow free. Not only winter camping, but also I am looking forward to many adventures this summer, hopefully gas won’t be too expensive, but whatever, I make good money these days, and if gas is really pricey, I just need to plan longer trips in wilderness where said ginormous truck stays parked. I doubt Trump will tolerate high gas prices for long, it will be very bad politically for him. And once I have the solar and batteries all wired up, assuming the campsite has reasonable sunshine, I won’t burn any fuel for days, just parked and riding my mountain bike everywhere from camp.
I’m going to shower and put the heat back on. It was nice how mild it was and I could keep the heat off the past two days. And an almost full moon to boot!
It’s bad enough already with the traffic trying to get through Manlius on NY 92 at rush hour. Plus it’s such a charming little hamlet with many of the buildings over 200 years old and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Don’t worry if the traffic engineers had their way, they would have extended I-681 around Fayetteville and Manlius via the old rail grade, and bypassed Oran completely. Good ol’ NY Route 20SY, which became NY Route 92 back in 1961.
