Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, October 17, 2023
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36 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Had a sleep study done last night. Now I have to catch up on my sleep.
Both stories are worth the quick reads that they are. Oh yeah, almost forgot this part:
I am looking for a blog recommendation. I try to follow stuff with a variety of viewpoints. Way back when I started setting up blogs to follow, I added Jezebel, which was supposed to be feminist, but these days it’s more celebrity gossip than anything else. What are some good blogs that represent the feminist viewpoint?
I would also be open to any other blog recommendations in general.
@Reformed Republican:
For political insights, perhaps this:
https://yastreblyansky.blogspot.com/
For culture, movies tv etc,:
https://www.pajiba.com/
This site is run mostly by trans lesbians, LGTBQ+ with a focus mostly on the “L”.
https://www.autostraddle.com/
Good for recaps of shows like “Yellowjackets.”
Really? Liz Truss? She who couldn’t outlast a head of lettuce? That Liz Truss? No wonder you have loser stank all over you Ted.
Yeah, don’t get your hopes up, this is Texas we are talking about.
Hmmmm… Than again, a football player in football mad Texas? He just might pull it off. But I’m not gonna hold my breath.
News from Poland that has cheered me up a bit:
Looks like the populist/conservative PiS are going to lose power. They got most votes of any single party, 35.4%, but not enough, in a proportional representation chamber to govern, or any others who’ll coalition with them.
Civic Party (centre/left), led by Donald Tusk, has 30.7%, Third Way (centre/right) 14.4 and Leica (left) 8.6% and already have a coalition pact agreed.
@JohnSF:
Saw an article this AM that stated that there are observers in Poland who fear that PiS won’t give up power. We’ll see.
@Bill Jempty: Same here. I never sleep well during a sleep study even though I’ve been using a CPAP machine for about 20 years and have had several sleep studies done. For some reason, it’s stress inducing for me.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I wrote a novel about art theft (which I’ll be re-releasing one of these days) in which I reimagined art theft to make it profitable. TLDR: turn theft into extortion. Steal the Mona Lisa and where the hell are you going to sell it? Resale value: 0. But steal the Mona Lisa and threaten to burn it in 24 hours unless a ransom is paid? That makes economic sense.
@just nutha: I have trouble sleeping but that is mostly due to pain. Docs recommended I do a sleep study and the more I thought about it I realized any results would be truly meaningless and besides, the study was just a tool to convince me to get a cpap which I would never get anyway. So yeah, I cancelled it.
@Sleeping Dog: I’ve read they have already conceded.
@Michael Reynolds: Crypto would be perfect for it.
We’re getting fall weather finally. Yesterday it was overcast all day, and temps didn’t get above 18 C. At night it dropped down to 9. This morning it was 11 on the drive to work, and I even turned the heater on!
Better yet, I was able to fall sleep quickly, and slept through the night.
Monday was the first time this fall I wore the long handles.
Today’s weirdness
My latest ebook has both a fiction and a non-fiction sales ranking at Amazon. I double checked, I didn’t accidentally categorize it as Non-fiction.
The book is fiction.
@just nutha:
Around 15 years ago, I went to have a sleep study performed. It was a disaster. I had a small personal accident as it was only just beginning and had to leave. This time around everything went smoothly,
@OzarkHillbilly: Some sleep studies test for phenomena other than sleep apnea. But yeah, if you’re disinclined to use a machine but your doctor thinks sleep apnea is the issue, the sleep study may be wasted.
ETA: It’s not all about CPAP anymore though. Some sleep studies are about qualifying the patient for an Inspire implant these days. 😉
Why does your doctor suspect apnea? Snore? Wake up gasping? Morning headache? Narcolepsy? (By the way, I was 4 for 4 on those before treatment.)
@just nutha: I snore, always have. Never had any of the other symptoms you mention. Pain is the main driver of my broken sleep as I have to roll over/straighten a limb/or jump up to scream and shout as another agonizing charlie horse drives me to the edge of suicide.
McCarthy just voted for Jordan.
Per C-SPAN 20 Republicans did not vote for Jim Jordan.
What are they going to do?
@Mister Bluster
A couple of Dems have floated Geo. Bush’s name.
@Sleeping Dog:
President Duda is a PiS pol, and will remain in office until 2025.
He may be tempted to appoint Kacsyski as PM to give them first shot at forming a coalition.
But that just delays the inevitable; they just don’t have the votes in the Sejm to sustain a Cabinet.
Unlike the US, the Polish President is head of state but NOT head of the executive.
So what would be the point?
I really can’t see Duda attempting a autogolpe, though it’s a certainty there will be butting of heads between Prime Minister and President over the next couple of years.
Most likely Duda will try to preserve the PiS instutional power-base to enhance it’s chances of a comeback in the next parliamentary elections in 2027.
@Michael Reynolds:
@OzarkHillbilly:
With the possible twist that when the FBI, let alone the Big Ear and the Big Eye, look hard enough, there are indications that crypto ain’t quite as cryptic as it’s more naive enthusiasists fondly assume.
@Sleeping Dog:..Geo. Bush…
The Republicans could do no worse than nominate the corpse of Richard M. Nixon vs. the corpse of George H. W. Bush for Speaker of the House then hold the vote on Halloween.
It may take that long for these phantoms of political responsibility to get anything worthwhile accomplished.
Something I read years ago & really enjoyed. It’s a complex story and I am thinking about dusting it off on a rainy day (fingers crossed) and going another round with it to see what I might have missed the first time.
https://theoxfordculturereview.com/2015/07/22/review-an-instance-of-the-fingerpost/
@Mister Bluster: Henry Kissinger is still alive. If the goal was just to find the most evil man possible for Speaker… you would have a hard time finding worse.
@Gustopher: Diane Feinstein….Too soon?
@Gustopher:..Henry Kissinger is still alive.
Kissenger at 100 has me conviced that karma (what ever that means) is firmly entrenched with the wicked.
@Gustopher:
DEAR GODDESS! STOP MANIFESTING!!!
Don’t you know, we’re in the dumbest timeline. Don’t make it worse.
@Beth: The job of Speaker is going to be Hell On Earth. Since I don’t believe in an afterlife, I want Kissinger to experience that.
@Gustopher:
I don’t think that’s enough suffering for Hank and too much for us.
Speaking as a 65 yr old union carpenter, I can attest that if the gods really wanted to punish me, they would keep me around for a 100 years or more.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-publishes-video-it-says-proves-failed-rocket-launch-caused-gaza-hospital-blast/
@charontwo: Like Hamas cares about Palestinians?
@charontwo: we have a Palestine thread. I think we should let people have their silly fun open thread whenever possible.
I’ve screwed up once or twice and posted to the open thread over the past week, but I try. I encourage you to do the same (try, not screw up… few of us need much help screwing up)
(I was on my iPhone, got distracted, had no idea where I was on the site, and tiny screen didn’t show me enough of the page)
@anjin-san: I read that and enjoyed it when it came out, and I have occasionally considered rereading as well. But if I may offer an alternative suggestion, if you’ve never read Charles Palliser’s The Quincunx it is as long as Fingerpost and even twistier, a brilliant Dickensian mystery that never stops astonishing.