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November 24, 2021 10:44 PM UTC

Thanksgiving Weekend Open Thread

  • 57 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

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57 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Weekend Open Thread”

  1. November 25, 1510 – Portuguese conquest of Goa: Portuguese naval forces under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque, and local mercenaries working for privateer Timoji, seize Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate, resulting in 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule.

      1. Goa has the highest GDP per capita of all the Indian states. it also has the best rated infrastructure of the Indian states and the best quality of life, including the best beaches. The largest city in Goa still carries the name of Vasco da Gama, usually shortened to Vasco. If one is a philatelist, the collection and study of the pre-World War II issues of Portuguese India is a fascinating area, especially the very early “Native” issues.

  2. I’ve torn into the state numerous times over inept technology efforts. And so…

    I want to acknowledge when they did well. The myColorado app is damn close to perfect. Elegant design and flawless implementation. They should be very proud of the effort.

    The state needs to hang on to the people responsible for this.

      2. I’ve been using it since it came out.  At first, everything worked, and I too was impressed.

        Now:

        It’s the same glitchy login for touch-ID login, same infinite loop.  I use text notification on my iPhone, instead of email, so when they send the text code, I can maybe get in — after several attempts — if the Ping notification doesn’t lock up (which it regularly does.) 

        My fishing license has disappeared, and when I try to recover it with my same CID# that I’ve had for 35 years, I get a notice to contact DOW to renew my license (which hasn’t expired).  

        My vaccination information card no longer displays, just that “Fully vaccinated” QR code page (wonder who’ll accept that?).  

        Just now I tried to write a review, which it requested — I could input text in the Title field, but nothing in the Review field.  And, the damn thing wouldn’t “send” . . .

        . . . but, other than that, like David said, “damn close to perfect” (. . . I’m thinking perhaps, in the same galaxy as? . . . well, the “damn” part fer’ sure, anyway . . .)

        . . . My advice: don’t be fooled into leaving home without your drivers license, fishing license, vaccination card, and other needed documents . . . or photos of those stored on your regular iPhone Photos app.

        . . . I really do like the color-enhanced picture of Maroon Bells, though. That is awesome!

         

    2. The app had a 1.7 star rating when I got my COVID booster and was told "you can have your record online."  I tried to use it, got glitched in the ID process, and wrote a nasty note on both the review site as well as to the Office of Technology.

      I was told there would be a new version "by the end of the year." So, do you know if that new version arrived?

      1. Weird – I had none of the problems listed above. It was all very smooth. So maybe there is a new version out.

        I do think it's reasonable that you need to keep your paper copies for the next 6 months as this shakes out. Getting something like this perfect is really hard.

        And based on the above comments it looks like the problem is the login. That's actually a very hard thing to do well and they are trying to do it well (facial recognition, etc.).

        Those with problems, please post Christmas-time how it's working then. I'm very curious.

    3. CPR had a story on the myColorado app today …

      “This app was great (for) the first couple months. But now it’s super glitchy and won’t even open,” read a user comment posted on Sunday. Common glitches include a loop that leaves users stuck at the login screen, an endless “verification” screen and more.

      In response, state officials have suggested temporary workarounds and promised to make fixes. Read on for answers to frequently asked questions about how to get the app working — and to learn how to access your digital vaccine card without it.

      There are a variety of "workarounds" in the article.  Not exactly a vote of confidence when "State officials say you should keep a backup copy of your vaccine record on your phone, just in case the app doesn’t work."

  3. There is a lot my family and I have to be thankful for – good health, safe housing, warm clothing, nutritious and sufficient food. However, Hickenlooper winning the Democratic Senate primary remains one of those things I am NOT thankful for. Here he is again, standing up for the big guys: https://www.axios.com/democrats-omarova-occ-5755a0e4-c6a5-4ca7-b6c7-87d18d5491f9.html

    Five Democratic senators have told the White House they won't support Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, effectively killing her nomination for the powerful bank-regulator position.

    …

    In phone call on Wednesday, Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), all members of the Senate Banking Committee, told Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) — the panel's chairman — of their opposition.

    • They're joined in opposing her by Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
    • The five senators' offices either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    1. I saw the Axios story … and wondered about Hickenlooper's position.  Then, I read it again and realized Axios didn't even hint at the source of their "scoop."  

      I find it hard to believe that Hickenlooper [and his office] would take a position before the nomination emerged from the committee. Why would he?  If it was going down because of other opposition, his position wouldn't matter. 

      Write or call in favor of the nomination.  If Hick winds up going public OR if the committee allows the nomination to go forward and Hick actually casts a vote against her, then rail about him (some more).  But since I don't trust everything Axios writes, I don't feel the need to bemoan Hick being less than supportive.– until it actually happens (which will be soon enough on SOME issue or nomination).

    2. Bloomberg and Cointelegraph had more background on the Omarova nomination, although they still source back to the Axios story. 

      Omarova has pissed off some big banks because she would regulate them  and force more transparency. Investment and financial firms are among Hickenlooper’s top donors. 
      Omarova is also signalling a desire to regulate bitcoin and cryptocurrency more, citing their potential to undermine the dollar. 
      These seem like worthy policies to me. ( and to Biden, apparently). 
      But to Hick, more transparency and tighter regulation of the banking industry may be a bad thing. 
       

  4. Was hoping for a day of cheer and thanksgiving until I ran across FNC where the headline was “Biden’s Lavish Thanksgiving on Nantucket” where they’re apparently dining on the local delicacy, lobster, while everyday Americans suffer at the gas pump. 
     

    Now I’m sad. Even though this has been a Biden family tradition for 40 years and they rent, don’t own, this home what is happening here? It’s not like TFG went to Mar-a-Lago every weekend and dined on lobster while ruining a perfectly good steak with ketchup? Anyway, dining on lobster on Nantucket is the equivalent to eating Rocky Mountain oysters while vacationing in Yuma County. 
     

    Back to our regularly scheduled programming (and have an awesome day PoleCats)
     

     

    1. HTG to you Michael…and all those who celebrate Thanksgiving. It is good to understand the story of the Wampanoag, the Narragansett, and the “Pilgrims”. Miles Standish was not who you may think he was. 

      ps..I recommend to all a movie called,
      “Saints and Strangers” . It appears to be a fairly straightforward telling of the story. Of course, I may be accused of promoting ” Critical Holiday Theory”…but hey…

      1. I’ll look that up, Duke! ‘CHT’, don’t give the red hats any more ideas 🤣 Have a great day (and for the record my statement above that I was sad was sarcasm!)

      2. The historian Heather Cox-Richardson's T-Giving letter included some Thanksgiving history that I'd never heard before.

        In 1841, a book that reprinted the early diaries and letters from the Plymouth colony recovered the story of that three-day celebration in which ninety Indigenous Americans and the English settlers shared fowl and deer. This story of peace and goodwill among men who by the 1840s were more often enemies than not inspired Sarah Josepha Hale, who edited the popular women’s magazine Godey’s Lady's Book, to think that a national celebration could ease similar tensions building between the slave-holding South and the free North. She lobbied for legislation to establish a day of national thanksgiving.

        And then, on April 12, 1861, southern soldiers fired on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston Harbor, and the meaning of a holiday for giving thanks changed.

        The Gettysburg address came in November of 1863, as the Civil War finally turned against the South.

        President Lincoln set Thursday, August 6, 1863, for the national day of Thanksgiving. On that day, ministers across the country listed the signal victories of the U.S. Army and Navy in the past year and reassured their congregations that it was only a matter of time until the United States government put down the southern rebellion. Their predictions acknowledged the dead and reinforced the idea that their sacrifice had not been in vain.

        In October 1863, President Lincoln declared a second national day of Thanksgiving. In the past year, he declared, the nation had been blessed.

    1. Actually, the American Statistical Association was founded during a five-day convention , Nov. 25-29.  On average, that meant it was founded on Nov. 27.

  9. Thought-provoking letter to the Air BNB industry vs housing crisis.

    It seems housing investors can make more profit from buying up housing stock and leasing it daily, vs. normal family / individual occupancy in which the investor only profits once from the mortgage, or monthly from the rent. 
    And this is a factor driving up the scarcity and expense of housing.

    As a society, I think we need to treat housing as part of the “Commons” – shelter is the most basic of human needs, after all. We subsidize housing for the poorest people, but there are never enough units. We assume that realtors and developers have a “right” to maximize profits at the expense of increasing affordable housing stock- 10 $4000 month rentals are considered more desirable than 40 $1000 month rentals that need to be tax- subsidized. 
     

    The housing crisis will never be solved under pure capitalism; as long as profit is seen as more important than social good, we can anticipate more evictions, more shantytowns and tent cities, more people living in cars, and all the accompanying crime and substance abuse. 

     

     

      1. We did, indeed. But the speculators buying up housing stock for the express purpose of turning them into short-term rentals is a strong contributing factor

        1. Look at the vote we just took in denver to forbid housing on the old golf course.  Capitalism,  sometimes with subsidies like section 8, would happily solve the housing problem.  But nimbys ban high-_density housing and then complain about the lack of high density housing.

          i voted for developing park hill because I want more affordable housing.

          misguided actions have consequences.

           

           

          The hysterical prophet cited by kwtree warns that “hundreds of millions,'” will be evicted by airbnb speculators, who will then grab their pitchforks to overthrow their oppressors.

          somebody is on bad crack. There are only 330 million people in this country and the majority live in their own homes. We ain’t got no hundreds of millions of renters.

          If you do somehow evict 200 million renters — the minimum for the plural “hundreds of millions” who occupy these houses 365 days a year – you create 70 billion vacancy days that you have to fill with tourists. Assuming each tourist spends 20 days a year traveling, that means you need 3.5 billion tourists to replace the 200 million renters you evicted.

          How you gonna do that in a country of 330 million people?

          Long before the rabble grab their pitchforks the housing speculators will be in bankruptcy court.

          Actually, I doubt if today’s rabble even knows what a pitchfork is, let alone how to use one effectively.

          But anyway, the math doesn’t work. Airbnb is at worst a minor contributor to a housing shortage that is caused by government through restrictive zoning practices.

          Nimbyism creates homelessness.

          1. Nuance is everything. The housing crisis has many causes, and will take a multifaceted solution. Investors buying up single family homes to create air B&Bs is one factor. ( Homeowners that only use part of their home as income isn’t a problem factor; but that’s only 8% of the AirB&B market).

             NIMBYism is one factor. Restrictive zoning is one factor. Racist housing practices such as redlining and blockbusting are still factors, although technically outlawed these days.
             

            The inherent capitalist profit motive for developers, speculators, and the real estate industry is, as I wrote, a factor. In my opinion, it is the underlying and foundational factor for all the other factors.  The housing crisis will never be solved as long as profit is given more importance than social good. Or, as the Viennese say, 

            "The Viennese have decided that housing is a human right so important that it shouldn't be left up to the free market," says a 2013 article in Governing magazine.
             

             

            1. I’ll make you a deal.  If you admit that what you called a “thought-provoking letter” that predicted “hundreds of millions” of evictions when we don’t even have hundreds of millions of renters was actually written by a bombastic imbecile, I won’t point out that you consider profit the root of all evil up to and including male pattern baldness. “

              Of course, I will also have to stop advocating higher pay for teachers. That would mean they are “profiting” from doing good, which we all know is impossible.

              In fact, however, the governing article, unlike the imbecilic diatribe letter against airbnb, actually points out the flexibility of the profit motive in solving problems.

              Vienna owns about 25 percent of the city’s housing stock. But the public housing is built by private developers and heavily subsidized by the city – with 35 year loans at 1 percent.

              In California, Denver, and elsewhere NIMBY forces restrict high-density development and favor mcmansions for the few. In Vienna, the city itself uses its power to promote quality high density housing, thereby solving the soluble portion of the homelessness problem. The profit motive — as expressed in homebuilders and developers — is the solution to the housing problem when teamed with government subsidies and pro-housing policies.
              It’s called a public private partnership and it’s different from socialism in one key way : it works.

        2. Isn't that the story line of It's a Wonderful Life ???  Buying housing stock and controlling mortgage loans to make certain banks make money on both rents and the few loans they provide to occupants?

          1. Yup, and it's worth pointing out that the film shows the evils and benefits of capitalism very well. George Bailey, our hero, runs his Building and Loan as a social good. He makes loans at affordable terms, and builds up the town. But because the social good is his primary value, he never gets to travel or live out his dreams.

            His nemesis, the evil Mr. Potter, sees no need for any regulation on banks, charges exorbitant rents, and buys up the Building and Loan and all competition in a monopolist extravaganza.

            IAWL was probably meant as some kind of social parable, definitely had an economic warning. The film's timing (1946) suggests that it was meant to reinforce FDR's New Deal policies.

            1. The New Deal was long gone and FDR was dead by 1946.  But there were still many liberal and even some communist writers in Hollywood.  If you want true commie.propaganda, rent Mission to Moscow, a wartime love note to Joe Stalin.

               

      2. Then there is that percentage of homeless who prefer to live on the streets.

        Anyone ever wonder how such urban campers manage to afford mountaineering and high-end camping tents?

          1. Well, the meth heads, the crack heads, and the drunks seem to prefer to camp out in public parks than to get clean and sober, and get a job, a place to live, and some dignity and self-esteem.

        2. ROFL . . .

          Come on, didn’t you know that Mike Coffman is not really homeless — he just sorta’ pretends sometimes???

          Seriously, CHB, I gotta’ hand it to you: that there is some top-shelf, genuine, unadulterated “real Republican” horseshit gibberish, in the very finest tradition of the Party!!! . . .

          . . . I’m gonna’ file that comment with, “Cadillac-driving welfare queens,” all those “employment shirking strapping young bucks dining on T-bone steaks,” and a recent new favorite, the hordes of innumerable “millionaires and billionaires jonesing to send their kids to tuition-free community college on my tax dime”. . . 

          Bwahahahahaha !!! . . . Good one! Really!!!

          1. You overlook the fact that I had a lot of homeless people in my workloads when I worked in Colorado social services. I’m still in contact with some of my former work colleagues who are still in the field.

            And neither of you (not referring to R & R) answered the question about the tents.

              2. two words ….>  thrift shops  <

                and the last time I went to a flea market, I found a nice The North Face jacket — as I recall, it was $10 early in the day.

            2. A significant minority of the homeless are homeless by choice.   Some will refuse shelter even when it is free, especially if it comes with rules against drugs or alcohol.

              I know that violates the old faith of Dio & ilk who believe every last homeless person was an episcopal bishop forced out of his software startup by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.  But you can’t argue with faith, CHB.

              1. I will only question your use of the word "many", V.

                "Some", certainly, are not able to cope with even the simplest of behavioral norms and choose to remain disassociated from domestic responsibility. 

                My sense is that the majority of homeless people would love to have a domicile, if it weren't so complicated. People who lose their way and their home are not a homogenous set of human beings, but they wind up in a similar circumstance.

                "Some" certainly "prefer" to remain as vagabonds, but we should not confuse an inability to cope with a desire for separation.

                1. By “many” I would guess 20 to 30 percent, Duke.  But as you say, it is a wide variety.

                  But your point is valid and I changed it to refer to a significant minority as homeless by choice.

                  When a whole family is homeless, it’s a safe bet that vile circumstance has put them in a situation they do not deserve.  But mental illness, alcoholism, drug addiction and steadfast belief in the utterances of Donald Trump all indicate incurable mental condition that make some incapable of functioning  in rational society.

                  Some of these unfortunates can be placed in Congress from the more benighted states.  For others, a gallon of Muscatel, a warm blanket and a MAGA hat is all you can do for them while they wait for the next opening on the U.S. Supreme Court.

              2. Yeah, . . . well, not really . . .

                . . . the tiny scraps of faith that I have somehow retained over these many years still naggingly inform my belief that nearly every other human being deserves to be valued and treated as such (regardless of their bank account balance, or where they happen to make their home).

                (. . . Can’t speak for the rest of my ilk . . .)

  11. Hemp-Based Efficient Energy Storage Solutions

    With the global push towards renewable energy, hemp-based carbon nanosheets are revolutionary, not only for their cost-effectiveness and availability vs the more popular graphene but because of their mass-market potential. Hemp is very environmentally friendly and sustainable, being easy to cultivate, and has been historically utilized in many things such as a source of food, rope, and textiles. 

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