Here’s a photo from the Auth0 by Okta company offsite in Cancun back in March.
I need to break out the electroluminescent wire glasses more often.
It’s all too easy for we (temporarily) ambulatory people to treat special needs as a secondary concern, but as the comic above points out, accommodating people with special needs accommodates everyone.
(This doesn’t just apply to buildings — if you design or develop software or web pages, keep this in mind!)
2024 will be an election year in the U.S., and it’s probably be a nasty one. One particular candidate — who faces a boatload of indictments, pretty much committed an act of treason (and possibly more than just that well-publicized one) — still has plenty of followers who see him as either a means to entrench their lofty position in society, or as an avatar into which they can channel their resentment.
That candidate has already campaigned on the fear of rising crime, with crime often being a code word for “the coloreds.” The Southern Strategy still lives.
But actual crime, it turns out, has been dropping:
The problem is that it’s all too easy to sell the idea of rising crime. The general perception, according to a recent Gallup poll, is that crime is up, in spite of the actual numbers. And for those who keep carping about “the illegals” contributing to the not-rising-but-rising crime, the numbers say that they’re may be less of a problem than other groups.
Expect a nastier news cycle in the new year.
Recommended reading
- ABC News: ‘It is historic’: US poised to see record drop in yearly homicides despite public concern over crime
- Axios: Border cities see homicides rates drop
- New York Times: After Rise in Murders During the Pandemic, a Sharp Decline in 2023
- The Guardian: ‘Sitting on a powder keg’: US braces for a year, and an election, like no other
Thanks to Los Angeles’ best blogger, Tony Pierce, for the find!
The panel above is from 1979, and more specifically, issue 79 of the comic book Marvel Team-Up, a regular series that featured Spider-Man teaming up with another Marvel character. This issue featured Spidey collaborating with Red Sonja, who’s from the world of Conan the Barbarian.
But what’s of more interest to me is the ten-dollar Christmas bonus J. Jonah Jameson gave to Peter Parker. Is it as measly as it sounds? How much would a $10 Christmas bonus in 1979 be worth today?
Fortunately, we live in an era where finding out is pretty easy. There’s no shortage of inflation calculators online, and the one provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis says that $10 in 1979 is equivalent to $41.47 in 2023 dollars.
It would’ve been the band’s last official gig of 2023 for Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons — which includes yours truly on accordion and keyboards — but the venue, Jollimon’s Island, while covered with a roof, is pretty much an outdoor one, and it’s just going to be too cold tonight.
Under warmer circumstances, we’re the house band at JolliMon’s Tuesday “Raw Talent Nights,” where the stage is open to musicians who want to join in on the open mic fun. If you’re in the Clearwater area, come on down (temperature permitting) and enjoy some great live music!
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Just say “NO!” to non-Euclidean space!
Also: it has too many damned Cthulhus.
This one’s for my math friends.
