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.

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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.

A Response

 I've been getting half a dozen emails daily from the Harris-Walz campaign asking for money.

I decided it was time for a reply:

 

 

 

Elon Musk's Contribution to the Night Sky

 This shot was posted on Flickr by Felip1 with the following explanation:

"won't make a long argument of it, but my mind is set firmly that the destruction of the integrity of the night sky for commercial purposes is a form of expropriation of common resources for private and privileged gain, and a kind of vandalism and theft.

This dashed line is a parade of Elonmuskalites across the dark sky a few nights ago. It is very uncommon these days to look at a dark sky and not see many such satellites."

I'll only add that if Musk can own the night sky, there is a pretty good chance he can buy the election as well.

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Update:

Europe In Talks With SpaceX On Tackling Space Junk (reuters.com) 19

Posted at Slashdot

Posted by BeauHD on Friday October 25, 2024 @06:00AM from the growing-problem dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters:
The European Space Agency is in talks with SpaceX about the possibility of Elon Musk's space venture joining an international charter designed to reduce a growing swarm of debris in space, Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters. The 22-nation agency is spearheading one of several efforts to roll back the mass of space junk swirling round the planet from past missions that poses a risk to active satellites. Aschbacher said 110 countries or entities have joined ESA's Zero Debris charter, which aims to stop any new orbital garbage being generated by 2030.

Boston

 We spent five days in Boston, staying in this old house in Newton Center.  The place was nicely maintained and provided a good idea of what was likely considered elegant living in the early 20th Century.  The heating and plumbing were a bit deficient by today's standards, though probably easy to get used to in a short time.

(Click on a picture to view full size.)

 

Fall was just getting started on our arrival.

 

We enjoyed visiting with a few old friends.  Aside from that I only had the time and energy to make a few shots of the neighborhood architecture on our morning walks to breakfast.

Many yards were ready for Halloween.  There were only Harris-Walz signs on view.

On the way to the election

Boston is a very civilized looking place with wonderful light just about any time of the day.  It would be a good place to be an architectural or real estate photographer; the multi-million house prices would enable a good living for an ambitious photographer.

We only spent time in a couple high-end neighborhoods and were not surprised by the absence of homeless encampments even though the city has one of the highest rates of unhoused people in the country.

Crystal Lake was just a block away from where we stayed.  Margaret biked there as a kid to swim in the summer and iceskate in the winter.  A friend said it was unlikely now that the lake would freeze solid enough to support skaters.

Temperatures had not yet dropped past freezing and there were quite a few flowers beside the walkways.

Boston seemed to me almost like another planet after our decades in the Southwest.  I was sorry we did not get to visit the many places Margaret would have liked to show me.  It would have been nice to have spent a significant amount of time there to really get to know the place, though I don't know how that would ever have been possible.

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Update: 

It seems I may have picked up Covid on the way home.  I'm not surprised if that is the case as we spent a lot of time in three airports, including some long security lines.  I'll test to make sure.  In the meantime I don't think reading this blog will endanger health.

Walking the Dog

 

Look Up!

 The weather reports show a good week for Albuquerque's annual Balloon Fiesta. 

It has been a long time since I felt tempted to brave the crowds and traffic at the event site.  My usual strategy is to keep a camera loaded with film and wait for some balloons to pass over my house.  The chances look a bit thin this year for that to work as the slight predicted winds are mostly pointing the wrong way.

The VP Debate

 I doubt anyone will claim that the needle was moved in either direction by the performance of the VP candidates in terms of the election outcome.  Vance may have earned himself a little less critical assessment by the "undecideds".  The thing is that he had a very low bar to clear.  All he had to do was not spout the wild lies about immigrants eating pets to look more like a normal person.  It was unsurprising that he also carried forward Trump's waffling about abortion, apparently betting on the idea that Americans' memory is already foggy about the fact that Trump packed the Supreme Court to undo women's right to chose.  He may be right with that assumption.