August 17, 2020

The last five minutes of Hair: Let the Sunshine In (1979)

Lyrics:

We starve-look at one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes

Somewhere inside something
There is a rush of
Greatness, who knows what stands in front of
Our lives? I fashion my future
On films in space
Silence tells me secretly
Everything
Everything

Manchester England England
Manchester England England
Across the Atlantic Sea
And I'm a genius genius
I believe in God
And I believe that God
Believes in Claude
That's me, that's me
That's me

We starve-look
At one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes

Singing
Our space songs on a spider web sitar
Life is around you and in you
Answer for Timothy Leary, dearie

Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sun shine in...

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Galt-macdermot-the-flesh-failures-eyes-look-your-last-let-the-sunshine-in-medley-lyrics

August 17, 2020

I just cancelled something scheduled for today for the exact same reason.

My heart goes out to you and every DUer suffering from insomnia, because insomnia can really affect every aspect of life, including mood and cognitive function.

I'm trying a lot of different things but they don't always work:

Full spectrum CBD oil
Lemon Balm
L-Theanine
A product called "Sleep" put out by Nootropic Depot that contains Lemon Balm Extract, Uridine Monophosphate, Bacopa Monnieri Extract, Magnolia Bark Extract, Oleamide, PrimaVie® Purified Shilajit (this is not an endorsement or advertisement, since I can't yet tell how well it works)
Phosphatidylserine
Magnesium L-threonate

Sometimes I take a tablespoon of black seed oil, which relaxes the upper respiratory muscles for the kind of anxiety that makes you feel a little short of breath. Beet root extracts might also help with this.

Two things I have but don't use very often because they contain alcohol and valerian (valerian sometimes gives me restless legs syndrome): Anxiety Soother and Valerian tincture by Herb Pharm.

I suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome so some things like melatonin or any over-the-counter sleep aid that work for other people make RLS much worse, so I avoid those (but I really wish I could take them). Valerian may also set off restless legs.

Some DUers have recommended something called Ashwagandha. I have this but haven't integrated it into my sleep stack because I need to do more research.

On and off I'm experimenting with St. John's Wort, also for its mood benefits.

Best of luck to you and everyone else here who suffers from intractable insomnia.

If any DUers see mistakes or errors in anything I'm taking, or have other recommendations, please advise!

August 15, 2020

Here's a link

https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactForm

Yes, that's the contact form for McConnell. I know what you're thinking: What's the point?

Tell him to get the Senate back into session and save the USPS.

Tell him your personal story of why you need the USPS to function smoothly. You can do like I did and leave out any mention of the election or ballots. You can even fib and say you're a Republican. You can tell him you are incurring late fees from bills you didn't pay late. Or that you are in voluntary lockdown due to the virus and dependent upon the USPS for medicine and food.

It can't hurt and it takes thirty seconds.

August 15, 2020

There's also the accumulative impact of "let the mail wait another day."

Over a period of a few days, that once small or manageable pile of mail left over from the day before grows larger and more unmanageable. No overtime to catch up. Now multiply that times 80 days, and you've got a huge mess.

August 14, 2020

Yeah, I hate that he is so successful at this.

Russian Bounties are but a distant memory, despite the vow of many reporters to "Stay on this, not let it go," and so many other travesties are wisps of smoke.

I guess it could be the Durham Investigation, or rather Barr's perversion of the findings. I expect Trump to do something with that behind the scenes. There's Sen Ron Johnson and his efforts.

August 14, 2020

Thank you. I checked early this morning and didn't see it.

There's no discount! Oh well...



Don't forget: For $40 you can get a signed copy, with the proceeds going "towards a socially conscious, and relevant nonprofit."



I want his information, but I still don't exactly trust him 100%.

August 14, 2020

Here's a Twitter account worth following:

APWU National
@APWUnational
The American Postal Workers Union represents over 220,000 postal workers in the Clerk, Maintenance, Motor Vehicle Service & Support Service crafts at the USPS.

https://twitter.com/APWUnational/status/1294235278278885376?s=20

Text: Rise and shine everybody. There’s work to be done! hit the link and send a message. #SaveThePostOffice
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-during-this-pandemic-support-our-public-postal-service?source=twitter

I've written to my Repuke senator (twice) and congressman. I wrote to my governor twice.

This morning I wrote an angry letter to the New York Times criticizing the lack of seriousness of their coverage and making many points about why I think they should drop any pretense of "neutrality" and treat this like a life or death situation for our country.

nytnews@nytimes.com

There are some online petitions to sign, including one started by Daily Kos and sponsored by some important organizations.

I've written to Speaker Pelosi three times. She's easy to contact.

https://www.speaker.gov/contact

People laughed (probably rightly so) but I wrote an appeal to Jeff Bezos to get involved in the war against the USPS.

jeff@Amazon.com

Anything I can think of to do I'm doing, and constantly looking for new or better ideas.

August 13, 2020

He did spend $80 Million.

He's also doing this:

Bloomberg’s Gun Control Group Pours $15 Million Into Races in 8 States
The group, Everytown for Gun Safety, hopes to help Democrats flip three Senate seats, win control of state legislatures and lift Joe Biden to victory in Florida.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/us/politics/bloomberg-guns.html

How Bloomberg’s Digital Army Is Still Fighting for Democrats
With expensive data and tech heavy hitters, Hawkfish is backing the former mayor’s promise to take on Donald Trump.

https://www.wired.com/story/hawkfish-bloomberg-digital-army-fighting-for-democrats/

When Trump announced he was pulling us out of the Paris Agreement, Bloomberg flew to Paris the next day to meet with Macron and personally pay the United States' climate accord dues.

He's one of the good guys. It's hard to get that through to some people.

August 13, 2020

Working on the Dukakis Campaign...

We are graduates of The School of Hard Knocks.

You were smart enough to recognize it was depressing at the time. I didn't realize it was depressing until we lost. (Although making cold calls to "Democrats" who turned out to be Republicans was, actually, depressing now that I think about it, and getting hung up on.)

August 13, 2020

It didn't hit me how multi-faceted and serious this was until the early Clinton years.

Just out of college, I had been a precinct captain on the Dukakis Campaign, but looking back I realize I had no clue what I was doing or how truly serious this all was.

But it's really been an evolution rather than an event. But it was the early to mid 90s when I really began to tune in, watch political television, read books about campaigns and by political strategists. The anti-Clinton conspiracy stuff was something I'd never seen before--it was insane.