Commentary: Another Morning Cup Of Coffee “News”

“A Little of This and That – Part Two”

By Dannie McIntire

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

Good morning Indiana, time to review news items that caused me to go back to the kitchen for a splash of Jim Beam In my morning coffee

California continues to be at the top of the list of states I would never move to. Those who enjoy entering the water at the beaches in Southern California are being bitten by swarms of aggressive sea bugs which have an appetite for human feet.

The bugs, which are tiny water isopods referred to as “mini sharks”, can form swarms of more than 1,000 individuals.

Beachgoers who are attacked by the isopods describe their bites as being painful pinpricks, saying the swarms of bugs resemble a group of tiny piranhas attacking their extremities.  

Well, I certainly wouldn’t wade in waist-deep in loose-fitting trunks!

Now I tried hard not to turn this snippet of news into anything political, but let me be the first to extend an invitation to Nancy Pelosi to enjoy the refreshing waters off the coast of Southern California; perhaps someone would care to dunk her.  

I’m back from refreshing my cup of coffee.

Well, rest easy my fellow Hoosiers; I’m here to report our tax dollars are continuing to be well spent. I’m sure you remember the $1.9 Trillion dollar American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) passed by congress in early 2021.

Apparently, it’s not as easy to spend 1.9 trillion dollars as you might think, but they’re trying for the “good of the taxpayer”.

The city of Seattle budgeted $2.5 million of those ARPA dollars to upgrade over 25 miles of their neighborhood greenways. Now I could possibly view that a reasonable expenditure of our tax dollars if the intent is to supply shade to their many homeless encampments. 

New York City budgeted nearly $4.9 million of its ARPA funds for a “No Stopping New York” ad campaign. I’m just saying to me that was an unnecessary expenditure as I have no plans of ever “stopping In New York”.

Another cup Of Coffee; Well the rush to go “green” seems to be progressing with just a few hiccups.

Amazon, the online retail juggernaut, has temporarily shut the rooftop solar panels at all their US facilities due to “critical fire or arc flash events” that have occurred at six installations.

One such fire broke out at an Amazon warehouse in Perryville, Maryland, in June 2021 and caused $500,000 worth of damages.

After California recently banned the sale of fossil fuel vehicles after 2035, there are apparently seventeen states that have rules, and laws, setting their state’s vehicle emission standards to match those in California.

Many of those states are located in our country’s northeast which usually in winter have more severe winter temperatures. Outside temperatures affect electric car batteries when the temperature falls below 20 degrees.

Triple AAA did a study that found that if you use your electric car’s heater while driving in cold temperatures, your mileage can be temporarily cut by as much as 41 percent.

Hey, I have a promotion idea for all-electric car dealers in our northern states, “buy an all eclectic vehicle and receive a free fleece coat”.

One last cup of coffee this morning;

Well, with the passing of Labor Day the old saying of “don’t wear white after Labor Day” comes to mind. Is it time to put away your white articles of clothing? 

One theory on the origination of the above saying is that wearing white in the nineteenth century distinguished between those that came from “money” and didn’t have to work from those that did have to work, as white clothing would more easily become dirt stained if one worked.

Now I could be wrong, though it’s highly unlikely, it seems to me since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and government money giveaways a lot more people seem to be wearing white.

FOOTNOTE:  The City-County Observer posted this article without bias or editing.