Rio Bravo Fall

I took a long walk to the middle of the Rio Bravo bridge to see the color in the riverside forest.

On the way back I was met by the flashing lights of a sheriff's car.  The sheriff said someone had called in a report of an old guy hobbling across the bridge.  I hadn't seen anyone like that, and I thanked the sheriff for his concern.

Photo Murals

 Chip Thomas murals at the Albuquerque Museum

Watch his larger than life story in a PBS video.

 Or, watch the talk Chip gave at the University of Colorado at Boulder about his time as a doctor in the Navajo Nation and the development of his photo mural project.

Dead Morning

 A quiet morning in Old Town as preparations were being completed for the final day of Day of the Dead celebrations.

The Nash Metropolitan is an American automobile assembled in England and marketed from 1953 until 1962.

Everything to be known about the little Metropolitan is in the Wikipedia page.

Evidence

 There was a brief flurry of action at this nearby street corner last night.  As has been the case for many years, however, none made it to our front door.

Two Idiots enter an intersection...

 We approached this intersection at Lomas and Broadway this morning about 11:00 AM on a sunny morning.  The traffic was light, we were in the center lane heading west.

Google Earth Pro

I saw a sporty red car coming up fast on my rear.  As I expected, the driver swung over in the right lane to pass and then moved leftward as he entered the intersection.  Just then a gray sedan in the oncoming turn lane lunged forward. The red one caught the gray one right in the middle,  caving in that side of the car.  The gray car was pushed up against the corner curb, while the red one came to rest at the divider with its right front fender nearly ripped off.

I thought it was a pretty good demonstration of the current state of traffic affairs.  None of the other drivers in the vicinity were behaving inappropriately at the time and the scenario might have accommodated one instance of poor judgment, but not two simultaneously.

If, like me, you tend to travel somewhere close to the posted speed limits you will find yourself being passed by most of the drivers on the road.  Speed limits on highways and city streets seem to be treated as mere suggestions, and they are mostly ignored.  That means that any small deviations from expected traffic movements become potential sources of accidents as a few milliseconds of response time are lost.  I'm pretty sure Albuquerque is one of worst places to drive a car in the country, but I'm guessing the situation is not a lot better anywhere else.

------------

Same day in northeast Albuquerque:

Police investigate 6-vehicle crash in northeast Albuquerque

Bernie's thoughts on the choice, including Gaza and Lebanon

 

How can I vote for Kamala Harris if she supports Israel’s war? Here is my answer

Bernie Sanders

Politics Endangers Health

 I doubt the title will provoke an argument, particularly this year.  

A couple of things have brought the issue into sharper focus for me.  Trump is scheduled to visit Albuquerque on Thursday and will hold a rally at the Albuquerque Sunport.  As it happens, there is a high probability that the airport was where I contracted Covid during our recent five-day trip to Boston.

There were many opportunities for contagion at the stops along the way, but the long and densely packed security lines at our trip's beginning should have been a red flag.  Covid booster shots shortly before traveling seemed worthwhile, but did not stop the disease this time. A guide from New Mexico's Department of Health illustrates the possible precautions in addition to vaccination:

 

The first safety practice is likely the most important: Avoid large gatherings.  The next, Social Distance, is not available in airport security lines.

In relation to two of  the specifics applicable to the upcoming Trump rally, mask wearing and vaccinations, there can be little hope of compliance in the Trump crowd.

Public health tracking of Covid is very sporadic at present.  If you google "political rallies covid" all the links refer to a study from around the time of the last election four years ago:

(from a CNBC article)

  Researchers looked at 18 Trump rallies held between June 20 and Sept. 22 (2020) and analyzed Covid-19 data the weeks following each event.

   The researchers found that the rallies ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

   They also concluded that the rallies likely led to more than 700 deaths, though not necessarily among attendees.

 That study was conducted near the height of the pandemic, so the results are likely not accurately predictive of what will be produced by the Sunport rally.  It is also unlikely that the poor level of monitoring now in force will give a true picture of the public health outcome.

Update:

It turns out that Trump could have staged his rally in Albuquerque's Convention Center if he had paid the $440,000 he still owes the City for the last time he was here.  Just as well for public health as it  now looks like Thursday's event will take place on the tarmac near CSI Aviation, so a better ventilated venue.