People who steal masks

I consult for several publishing companies, and all of them have been very generous with their Covid-related coverage. They feel it’s a public duty to provide that information, so they don’t charge for it.

That’s the right decision. There’s nothing wrong with getting paid for your work, but there are times when you just pitch in.

Today I went to Home Depot to pick up an order. They used to have a station near the front door with free masks, so I left mine in the car. (Where I live — close to the border of four counties — the store on one side of the river requires a mask, while the store on the other side does not. It’s rather comical.)

The masks were gone. Customers have been stealing the boxes.

Stealing is a crappy thing to do in the first place, but stealing masks seems like a particularly wretched thing. And I say that despite the fact that I don’t wear them unless I have to. I’m not a huge believer in the masks — and besides, I’m bullet-proof as far as Covid is concerned. (I hope.)

Is it a journalist’s job to “speak truth to power”?

This morning I saw a post on LinkedIn about how journalists “speak truth to power” — which you hear from time to time. It made me wonder if that’s part of the cause of the mess in journalism today.

Think of it this way: what is the journalist’s orientation and mission? Is it …

(1) to educate / change / challenge those in power, or is it

(2) to inform subscribers about what’s going on in the world?

Maybe the grandiosity of #1 is leading journalists astray — to have agendas and messages, and to think of themselves as “fighting the power.” Maybe journalism would be better if they focused on telling us the truth and otherwise getting out of the way.

Does Florida now get praised by the MSM? I doubt it

Florida Reports Lowest Daily COVID-19 Cases per Capita in US

Could it be higher vitamin D concentrations, because they’re out in the sun more? Could it be that more people have developed natural immunity?

Doesn’t matter. It’s all a game of politicians blaming / taking credit for things they likely don’t have much to do with.

Why modern movies are terrible

When it comes to shitty behavior in modern films, there’s few more egregious offenses than bringing back established, well-known, heroic characters — beloved by generations of moviegoers — and systematically degrading, discrediting and destroying not just who they are now, but everything they once were: usually in a desperate attempt to elevate some cheap, soulless carbon copy replacement that lacks everything which made the original so appealing in the first place.

See Why Modern Movies Suck – They’re Destroying Our Heroes.

Also Why Modern Movies Suck: They’re Written by Children

Both those videos are worth watching in their entirety.