Good morning friends, and welcome to our DD breakfast nook, where truth is truth, on Monday, August 20, 2018. We’re trying to live, breathe, and have our being under layers of ozone and particulate pollution, dry as the desert with highs of 90 today, 95 tomorrow, and a possible thundery rumble sliding down from the mountains into the metro area. This air quality alert comes with a strong recommendation that we avoid outdoor activities until it breaks. Looks like that should happen on Thursday, when a feel-good cool-down begins. Sunrise 6:17 AM, sunset 8:09 PM. I’m serious about doing some laps around Washington Square–and to resist the urge to fuel it with a Cinnabon!
There will be a “snow day” aspect to this, as we await cancellation announcements. In particular, families with student-athletes know what a wrench this tosses into the gears. And we have to remember that some people have no choice but to work in this, and employers should have their facemask act together by now. What are some aspects of this that typically won’t be covered in the news, but that the Drip community should know about?
Portland firefighters jumped hard and fast on a propane explosion in an RV rental yard in Southeast. It contributed some acridity to a sky that didn’t need it. Neighboring businesses were in danger, but not for long.
Fred Meyer’s parent company, Kroger, is being sued by four Oregon customers who claim Freddies charged them 10-cent bottle deposits for unreturnable paper cartons, and pocketed the dimes. Their lawyer has made the same charge against Walgreens and is looking for others.
Labor Day is two weeks from today. School begins in Portland one week from today. One year ago it was Eclipse Eve!
I’ve heard but haven’t seen jets roaring around, gets of varying engine sounds. Guard playing war games in the skies off the coast with out of town units.
Voyager 2 was launched 41 years ago today, and is now 11 billion miles from earth, with its Carl Sagan-curated recording of earth sounds.
If you haven’t, grab a read at a story in the Oregonian (linked below) about the Sunday Night street racing culture that is both an outrage and a thriving phenomenon attracting participants from up and down the coast. These races flagrantly defy the law by closing down the Fremont Bridge, and represent a serious threat of sending a car into a crowd. Arrests are rare; police are already stretched thin by understaffing and a summer of protests. BTW this story was done by an intern, Anna Spoerre, whose Journalism degree is from Southern Illinois, and she is now leaving for the Chicago Tribune! and good for her!
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Maybe we’ll get a verdict in the Manafort trial today.
On Aug. 20, 1968–50 years ago today–the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the ”Prague Spring” drive for freedom. Tour guides point out the bullet holes. Glad Moscow has given up its invasive ways. (Insert sarcasm imoji here)
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Let’s throw a few links on the blog, available on the all-new Daily Drip Link Farm, clickable on the nifty logo below! Copy and share that link with friends and skip the Daily Drip entirely! Just kidding.
–“Rival Gangs are Playing Softball to Make Peace in LA”
–“Police officer praised for breastfeeding neglected baby”
–“Two beer delivery men talk suicidal man off highway overpass ledge with offer to share a cold beer).” (Coors Light, but still.)
–“China’s wild giant panda population explodes after major effort to protect species” Note…adorable photos at the link!
https://k103.iheart.com/featured/john-ericksons-daily-drip/
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It feels like we’ve hit “pause.” We should! Last two weeks of summer. On vacation or not, all of us should allow ourselves an attitude of relaxation and recharging. Because in two weeks is the real New Year, when new beginnings begin. School, foremost, with new faces and new places, but also a time to buckle down and get stuff done. Maybe we’ll start a Daily Drip theme of New School Year’s resolutions!
Portland's Daily Drip 