Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Good morning! Here’s the fresh-ground Daily Drip for Wednesday, October 24, 2018. Today looks dry, giving last night’s droplets a chance to evaporate ahead of tomorrow’ s heavier rain, with highs of 60 degrees. Kids are boarding the school bus in the dark, with sunrise at 7:39 AM, sunset 6:09 PM. Day 297, with 68 left to go in 2018, and we’re down to just ten and a half hours of daylight today. Lots of numbers, all of which point to the closing of 2018. Far above the clouds, tonight will be the night of the Full Hunter’s Moon.

OK, running down the morning compulsories. Up at 3 AM? Check. Daily Drip written? In progress. Vocal warmups from singing along with the 80s channel or yelling at the news? Soon! Because, just like you, I will be heading off into the usual workaday Wednesday, having somehow failed to win Mega Millions. The truth is that somebody did, and that somebody is in South Carolina. And there were 36 million-dollar runnerup tickets, but not a one in Oregon or Washington.

We’re relieved that people seem to be sore but okay, after a crash involving a school bus in the hazelnut orchards outside Donald at 8:45 yesterday morning. Some guy in a black SUV turned left directly into the path of a box truck doing 55, and the truck spun into a bus carrying 20 kids to North Marion schools. The SUV driver then sped away from the school bus crash he caused, but a witness gave Marion County deputies a good description, and the 40-year old man was arrested.

Willamette Week’s Nigel Jacquiss has come up with the Oregon Health Authority’s draft budget get for next year–and it includes some robust tax increases on alcohol and cigarettes. The tax on a pack o’ smokes would go from $1.33 to $3.33. Wine would cost you 10% more, and so would beer, darn it. But it’s only a draft.

Just for fun, with plenty of time until the deadline, let’s visit the Secretary of State’s unofficial vote-by-county tally: they’re up to 66,000 ballots returned, just the earliest trickle of the state’s 2.8 million registered voters. Wheeler County (pop 1441, smallest in the state) still leads the pack with, now, 17% of its ballots returned. Columbia County is on the board, but Yamhill County is not, yet, nor are Grant, Malheur, and Wallowa Counties. We know lots of people have sent their ballots in; it may be a matter of the information being phoned in to Salem.

A man was blocked trying to get through the TSA security checkpoint at PDX using a fake ID. Plus, his checked luggage was found to be stuffed with fraudulent identifications, and equipment to make more. But the guy got away. Port of Portland police, already stationed at the airport, were notified 11 minutes later, and the man was long gone. Why 11 minutes? Search me, but careful with that wand! By the way, PDX is a test airport for the TSA’s new Credential Authentication Technology, and that’s how this guy was flagged.

We all know we live in a place where there’s a good chance of a bad earthquake–but when it comes, we might be looking in the wrong direction. Our attention has been focused westward, toward the Cascadia Subduction Zone, but another risk has been discovered on majestic Mt. Hood. There are faults on both the north and south flanks, and if they were to give way, the Portland area would be shouldering the impact of a 7.2 killer, according to geologists for the State of Oregon and PSU.

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He said it: President Trump, to reporters, on the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia. “They had a very bad original concept, it was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups.” https:/

World Series Game Two is tonight at 5, same time, same station. Boston’s up 1-0, following last night’s 8-4 win over the Dodgers. Two great teams, fun to watch. By the way, here’s how I explained my prediction of a Red Sox Series victory in five games, buried in yesterday’s comments. The Red Sox had 108 wins in the regular season…LA had 92…Boston’s team batting average was .253…LA’s was .218…the Dodgers pitchers have a slightly better team ERA, 2.06 vs 2.17…so that’s why I don’t predict a sweep…but who knows? That doesn’t account for the Dodgers quest for redemption after dropping Game Seven of the series at home last year. It’s baseball, anything can happen! And as a Cub fan, I’m on the sidelines anyway.

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A little something to ease what troubles you may have…

–“Oregon Teen Wins Young Scientist Award With Artificial Intelligence Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer”

–“#MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men. Nearly Half of Their Replacements are Women.”

–“Stephen King sold the rights to one of his stories to some teenage film students for just $1”

–“Taylor Swift Just Gave a Major Donation to a Fan Whose Mother Is in a Coma”

–“Nobody shows up for 6-year-old’s birthday party. Local sports teams deliver in a very uplifting way.”

Details in the links, at the top of the comment section!

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That’s the report for this late-October morning, A reminder that I’m away on Friday–and most Fridays for the next month, as I use up some otherwise-lost vacation days. But I’ll start up a thread, so folks can be in touch with each other. Have a great day!