> Biden shared his thoughts and reflections on these subjects and more in a wide-ranging sit-down interview with the Washington Blade on Sept. 12 in the Oval Office, which marked the first time in which an LGBTQ newspaper has conducted an exclusive interview with a sitting U.S. president.

Regarding book bans: “These guys want to erase history instead of make history.”

https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/09/16/the-washington-blade-interviews-president-joe-biden/

First-ever mRNA vaccine halts pancreatic cancer in its tracks

"Importantly, these patients demonstrated delayed recurrence of their pancreatic cancers, providing tantalizing evidence that the T cells activated by the vaccines may be effectively holding the cancer at bay."
https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/first-ever-mrna-vaccine-halts-pancreatic-cancer-in-its-tracks/

I lost my thesaurus the other day. I couldn't find the words to describe how I felt.

A tee-hee of the afternoon...
I was visiting my daughter and son-in-law last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.

This is the 21st century, she sniffed. We don't waste money on newspapers. Here, you can borrow my iPad.

I can tell you, that bloody fly never knew what hit him.....

"Fiber optic cables that line ocean floors could provide a less expensive, more comprehensive alternative to the current buoys that act as early warning systems for tsunamis, says a University of Michigan researcher." https://news.umich.edu/fiber-optic-cables-effective-way-to-detect-tsunamis/

9 Unforgettable Breakup Letters From History
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/best-breakup-letters-history

This is hard reading, but it helps to understand what's going on. Sort of.

"I started going to rallies this year because I wanted to talk with people face-to-face in hopes of understanding their points of view. I have discovered how unique of a phenomenon Trump rallies are — and what you see on TV isn’t even close to the full story."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-rallies-mainstream-media_n_66e07063e4b0f6ea72e2b59c

"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the Complete Works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true."--Robert Wilensky, University of California

Within a few years, the fleet will have expanded to 60,000, most of them electric models, serving as the Postal Service’s primary delivery truck from Maine to Hawaii. https://apnews.com/article/postal-service-next-generation-delivery-vehicle-a2ebbfc7afec0eea2e036eef93bee4d9

Ford Motor Company is seeking a patent for technology that would allow it to tailor in-car advertising by listening to conversations among vehicle occupants, as well as by analyzing a car’s historical location and other data. NOPE NOPE NOPE https://therecord.media/ford-patent-application-in-vehicle-listening-advertising

Tapedeck.org is a digital archive that features hundreds of cassette tape designs.
https://www.openculture.com/2024/09/a-digital-archive-features-hundreds-of-audio-cassette-tape-designs-from-the-1960s-to-the-1990s.html

I made this beef stew. It gets points for being easy and tasty, but the instructions are confusing. Treat it as a template. Just brown the meat, then bake with its other ingredients for four hours.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef/meltin-mustardy-beef/

**The ‘Super Emmys’ flopped 50 years ago. But that shouldn’t minimize this historic ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’ win**

>>This bizarreness shouldn’t minimize the work that Silverman’s episode did, both in front of and behind the camera. The main category win made her the first woman to receive the comedy writing Emmy solo, without sharing a byline with a male partner. And its plot is still prescient.

(Transparency: Treva is my cousin. I adore her.)
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2024-09-12/super-emmys-50-years-mary-tyler-moore-show-win-historic-treva-silverman

My review of Orphans of the Sky by Robert Heinlein
4 stars. Not his best work, but still enjoyable.

https://amzn.to/4e5mTvL

I use a similar recipe from the 1980s-era Cooking in a Small Kitchen; it adds thyme and a few stalks of celery at the bottom of the pot to prevent sticking.

It is brain-dead easy. And yummy, as long as everyone in the family eats it.

I usually cook ratatouille alongside, FWIW.
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chicken-with-40-cloves-of-garlic

A Chilling History: On the science and technology of portable coolers.
Yeah, you'll like this.
https://www.sciencehistory.org/collections/blog/a-chilling-history

First documented in the 14th century, the oina is now almost entirely forgotten. According to some, oina is the precursor of baseball, brought to the US by Romanians from Transylvania who emigrated there. https://www.romania-insider.com/forgotten-romanian-national-sport-oina-baseball

"Over the last several decades, a quiet revolution has taken place in American fiction: The novels recognized by major literary prizes have largely abandoned the present in favor of the past. Contemporary fiction has never been less contemporary." https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/historical-fiction-awards-essay/

It’s rare enough to find a plant encased in amber, rarer still to find part of a dinosaur – so imagine paleontologists’ surprise when they discovered this feathery "flower" was in fact a feathery tail that once belonged to a juvenile theropod. https://www.iflscience.com/this-beautiful-plant-trapped-in-amber-turned-out-to-be-a-dinosaur-tail-75679

"Harris is flipping independents as well. Before Tuesday’s debate, Harris trailed Trump by 9 points (35% to 44%) with that crucial bloc; she now leads by 10 (47% to 37%)."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/new-yahoo-newsyougov-poll-after-debate-harris-surges-to-5-point-lead-over-trump-among-registered-voters-in-head-to-head-matchup-122213811.html