Les Holt
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lesholt.bsky.social
Les Holt
@lesholt.bsky.social
270 followers 590 following 310 posts
Wordsmith. Working in / on that window of regulation; squeegee conversations abound.
🌐 ✍️ 🇨🇦
Banner image: The word systemic together with its phonetic /sĩ-stēm'ĩk
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lesholt.bsky.social
Later before they left Brian made certain I understood that whatever sphere of discourse I fancied I shared with any interlocutor, I was wrong.
Brian said (admiringly, I thought),
"Did you write that story?"
I started to answer, when he continued,"Or did you type it?"
—The Writing Life
Annie Dillard
Photo of the book The Writing Life by Annie Dillard on a table top A favourite quote from the book: Later, before they left, Brian made certain I understood that whatever sphere of discourse I fancied I shared with any interlocutor, I was wrong. Brian said (admiringly, I thought), "Did you *write* that story?" I started to answer, when he continued, "Or did you type it?" — The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
January 13, 2025 at 6:54 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
Housing First

Pathways Housing First Institute

Dr. Sam Tsemberis founder

Housing IS A HUMAN RIGHT

Five Principles

and a video

Rain City Housing First
youtu.be/pwdq2VWavtc
Pathways Housing First Institute https://www.pathwayshousingfirst.org Dr. Tsemberis founded Pathways to Housing in New York City in 1992 based on the belief that housing is a basic human right. Based on the belief that people experiencing homelessness and struggling with mental illness or addiction should not have to prove they are housing ready. And based on a program philosophy founded on love, respect, and creating possibilities. ​ At Pathways to Housing, Tsemberis and a team that included program participants and advocates for consumer rights and housing rights, developed the model that came to be known as Housing First. A program that provides immediate access to permanent housing and person-centered supports to people experiencing homelessness and struggling with problems of mental health and addiction. ​ Dr. Tsemberis leads the Pathways Housing First Institute which provides training and consultation to service organizations, city, county and national governments, and collaborates with provider agencies and educational institutions across the globe. Pathways Housing First Institute https://www.pathwayshousingfirst.org Dr. Sam Tsemberis Housing IS A HUMAN RIGHT As developers of the Pathways Housing First model the Institute is the premier provider for training, implementation support, program fidelity assessment, and research. We provide workshops, webinars, program site visits, and consultation. As a co-host of the Housing First Partners Conference the Institute is a resource for national and international networking among providers of Housing First programs and a resource for publications, videos and other educational training resources. Pathways HOUSING FIRST INSTITUTE https://www.pathwayshousingfirst.org Dr. Sam Tsemberis HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT FIVE PRINCIPLES CONSUMER CHOICE: Choice in housing and services emphasis self-determination SEPARATION OF HOUSING AND TREATMENT: Immediate access to housing without treatment or sobriety as prerequisites  PROVIDE SERVICES TO MATCH NEEDS Program provides or coordinates services RECOVER ORIENTED SERVICE PHILOSOPHY: Ongoing, positive, hopeful, affirming support SOCIAL COMMUNITY INTEGRATION: Supporting a life in the community like everyone else
January 5, 2025 at 6:55 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
Merriam-Webster:
Misinformation
“as in lie”
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
fact
honesty
truth
truthfulness
confirmation
veracity
truism
verification
validation
verity
authentication
substantiation
Merriam-Webster Misinformation “as in lie” Antonyms & Near Antonyms fact honesty truth truthfulness confirmation veracity truism verification validation verity authentication substantiation
December 28, 2024 at 5:55 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
A note to self (mostly):

Am surprised at lack of data on literacy

@ourworldindata.org with @maxroser.bsky.social is phenomenal, yet a 2023 literacy set has “No data” for Canada, USA, Australia, NZ. Online News Act, maybe?

CUPE Fact Sheet: Literacy Stats in Canada, Sep 2024
cupe.ca/fact-sheet-l...
https://ourworldindata.org/literacy Contents Literacy rate, 2023 The share of adults aged 15 and older who can both read and write.
November 26, 2024 at 3:07 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
Thanks for this.
May I always remember those of us with “Broken Words.”

“Illiteracy doesn't sit on its own."
— Peter Calamai

1987:
BROKEN WORDS
Why five million Canadians are illiterate.
The Southam Literacy Report

Table of Contents direct and revelatory

“Typesetting”
BROKEN WORDS Why five million Canadians are illiterate. A Special Southam Survey [The Southam Literacy Report 1987] Front cover of 82-page booklet, all words in blue type on a blueish-gray background. The first word “BROKEN” is scored through as if it’s a paper torn thru its middle from left to right. There is a photo of a hand holding a pencil on a lined page. A paragraph is being written, its words are faint, and difficult to read. The title is legible—it reads “A Magic Ending” BROKEN WORDS Why five million Canadians are illiterate. A Special Southam Survey [The Southam Literacy Report 1987] Foreword by Peter Calamai This booklet contains articles about literacy that originally appeared in newspapers across Canada during September, 1987. Many are based on the extensive findings of a national literacy survey of 2,398 Canadian adults commissioned by Southam Inc. While the survey provided the first real statistics about the state of literacy in the country, interviews with more than 100 literacy workers and learners also put a human face on a problem that affects one in four adults. Illiteracy has often been called the hidden problem. In Canada, it's not so much hidden as ignored. As these articles make clear, both the provinces and the federal government have received repeated warnings about widespread problems with reading and writing. But Canadians don't have to wait for government to act. Individuals can make a difference. Some ways you can help are described in this booklet. What the reader won't find here, however, is a simple answer: that low literacy can be blamed on a lack of phonics in the primary grades, or on immigration, or on some ill-defined "learning disabilities" If the solutions to illiteracy were that simple, Canada wouldn't have five million adults who need help. Peter Calamai BROKEN WORDS Why five million Canadians are illiterate. The Southam Literacy Report 1987 Table of Contents Foreword Acknowledgements Five Million Canadians Functionally Illiterate How the Southam Literacy Survey Was Done Jury still out on what determines functional illiteracy Profile of a typical illiterate Newfoundland: highest illiteracy rate, least able to cope Immigration boosts Canada's illiteracy rate Bilingual Canadians more likely to be literate Literacy programs need tremendous commitment and energy Universities graduate functional illiterates Women more literate than men National cost of illiteracy incalculable Sweat by day, teach by night: heritage of Frontier College Better literacy skills crucial to Canadian workforce Getting nowhere fast: one worker's experience LITERACY vs literacy; conflict in approach Federal record on literacy: opportunities wasted, warnings ignored Government publications often so dense they're unintelligible Plain language crusade can save government money Prison inmates insist "carrot-and-stick" programs don't work Competency in military skills is no guarantee of literacy Canadian youth score lower in literacy survey than American counterparts What's N.Y. stand for? Dreams in technicolor: glitterati support literacy In the U.S., high profile advocates, no funding The failures of formal education In their own words: writings from students in adult language classes Boredom a reason for high dropout rate What works to combat illiteracy Tipsheet on tutoring Peter Calamai Typesetting and design by Southam Communications Limited Lithographed in Canada by McLaren, Morris and Todd Limited, a Division of Southam Printing Limited Peter Calamai Even for a journalist used to big projects, it was an overwhelming assignment. Peter Calamai spent five months criss-crossing Canada and the United States, interviewed more than 100 literacy experts, educators and bureaucrats, and devoted countless hours talking to illiterate Canadians. Add to that seven revisions of the Southam Literacy Survey questionnaire that eventually went into 2,398 Canadian homes and you get a picture of Calamai's life since March. The 44-year-old national correspondent for Southam News says it was the most satisfying - and rewarding - assignment in a career that began with the police beat at the Hamilton Spectator in 1966. "I had no idea how pervasive illiteracy is." What impressed Calamai most about his assignment was the diversity of illiterates in Canada. "I met a lot of people I would never have guessed were illiterate. These are articulate and seemingly confident people who simply cannot read or write very well. "Some illiterates were total wrecks. But even then their illiteracy was part of a larger group of problems. Illiteracy doesn't sit on its own." Calamai is one of Canada's most honored journalists. He is a three-time winner of the prestigious National Newspaper Award, most recently in 1985 for his reporting of the Supreme Court of Canada. He joined Southam News in 1969 as an Ottawa-based science writer. Four years later, he began a series of postings in London, Vancouver and Nairobi, ending up back in Ottawa in 1983 after eight months on a Southam Fellowship at Massey College in the University of Toronto.
November 26, 2024 at 2:35 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
What a beautiful piece of writing Preaching to The Choir is! I am grateful for your gift this evening.
You not only write beautifully but also pose essential questions, and help us in reaching answers, solutions, without which action would be limited or impossible.
Thank you.
HARPER’S MAGAZINE November 2017 Issue [Easy Chair] Preaching to The Choir by Rebecca Solnit https://harpers.org/archive/2017/11/preaching-to-the-choir/ “What matters is that some of us act. In 2006, the political scientist Erica Chenoweth set out to determine whether nonviolence was as effective for regime change as violence. She found, to her surprise, that nonviolent strategies worked better. Organizers were enthralled by her conclusion that only around 3.5 percent of a population was needed to successfully resist or even topple a regime. In other words, to create change, you don’t need everyone to agree with you, you just need some people to agree so passionately that they will donate, campaign, march, risk arrest or injury.” HARPER’S MAGAZINE November 2017 Issue [Easy Chair] Preaching to The Choir by Rebecca Solnit https://harpers.org/archive/2017/11/preaching-to-the-choir/ The choir is made up of the deeply committed: those who show up every Sunday, listen to every sermon, and tithe like crazy. The time the choristers spend with one another, the sum of their sympathy and shared experience, is part of what helps them sing in unison and in tune. To win politically, you don’t need to win over people who differ from you, you need to motivate your own. There are a thousand things beyond the fact of blunt agreement that you might need or want to discuss with your friends and allies. There are strategy and practical management, the finer points of a theory, values and goals both incremental and ultimate, reassessment as things change for better or worse. Effective speech in this model isn’t alchemy; it doesn’t transform what people believe. It’s electricity: it galvanizes them to act. “Our lives are governed by great questions.” Artwork ~ Photography Les Holt In June 2005, at a conference set on the harbourfront of Lake Ontario, the thirteenth largest lake on the planet, Barbara Marx Hubbard, the great visionary and futurist, began her remarks to us with, “My life has been governed by great questions.” Her words, the indisputable truth of them, have stayed with me since. May I always remember them. ~~ Additionally, the great quote of Clementine Paddleford: “Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” ~~ The words combined inspired me to this piece, drawings of the human spine manipulated to form question marks. ✌️
November 24, 2024 at 4:04 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
I listen to the recording of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech “Beyond Vietnam — A Time To Break Silence” yearly.

Some years I need to listen more than once. 2024 is one of them.

Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, NYC

Recording plus transcript at
www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlk...
Martin Luther King, Jr. Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm “We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight. “Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message -- of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. . . . A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. . . . A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
November 21, 2024 at 1:31 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
TY

What @theonion.com & loved ones of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims have accomplished is powerful & humbling esp in the face of Jones who owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for endlessly mercilessly calling the massacre a hoax

www.sandyhookpromise.org/who-we-are/a...
Screenshot of expanded description from AP video: CEO of The Onion's parent company reacts to buying Alex Jones' Infowars Associated Press Nov 14 2024 Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron said satirical news publication won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax. Read more: https://bit.ly/3CoUW4i
November 17, 2024 at 1:37 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
Always in awe of our planet’s moon. No matter where we are on this vast globe, we stand beneath it, and all the while it is “shining”or not, waxing or waning, it is moving our oceans’ mighty tides, faithfully, endlessly. Imagine.

Here, three humble photos of our year 2024’s last supermoon.
“November’s Moon” 24-hours post full, the last supermoon of 2024 rises over an evening’s sparkling city scape. The shot is three-quarters charcoal grey sky lit up by the incredible moon, which is surrounded by a caramel tinged aura. No filters applied. Photo by Les Holt ✌️ “November’s Moon, too” Same setting moments later, it seems I set the camera to “blur” setting. (No such setting, no idea how I managed this hazy, out-of-focus shot. The brilliant full moon is topmost in the frame, almost fully in focus, but the rest of the lights from the faraway night time city scape have absolutely bounced into a full-on kaleidoscopic dance in the foreground, different tones and hues, looking almost like coins, all lit up and glowing. Magical. Quite a tableau, at least to me. Photo by Les Holt ✌️ “November’s Moon, Three” Much like the first—“November’s Moon”—but this one fuller and softer, as if a mist around the moon had expanded and swirled, and was cascading down to the city, where Taylor Swift is playing the second of six Eras Tour stops in Canada’s largest city. Photo by Les Holt ✌️
November 17, 2024 at 1:11 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
☀️ Yes, a little good news, for sure. Poetic, even.

Also, perhaps a PSA in a way.

(Related: TIL a clinical term I didn’t know existed: frank delirium.)

It’s great you’re here!
Psychiatric adverse effects of corticosteroids Thomas P Warrington et al. Mayo Clin Proc. 2006 Oct. Abstract https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17036562/ Psychiatric adverse effects during systemic corticosteroid therapy are common. Two large meta-analyses found that severe reactions occurred in nearly 6% of patients, and mild to moderate reactions occurred in about 28%. Although disturbances of mood, cognition, sleep, and behavior as well as frank delirium or even psychosis are possible, the most common adverse effects of short-term corticosteroid therapy are euphoria and hypomania. Conversely, long-term therapy tends to induce depressive symptoms. Dosage is directly related to the incidence of adverse effects but is not related to the timing, severity, or duration of these effects. Neither the presence nor the absence of previous reactions predicts adverse responses to subsequent courses of corticosteroids. Corticosteroid-induced symptoms frequently present early in a treatment cycle and typically resolve with dosage reduction or discontinuation of corticosterolds. In severe cases or situations in which the dose cannot be reduced, antipsychotics or mood stabilizers may be required. This review offers an approach to identifying and managing corticosteroid-induced psychiatric syndromes based on the type of symptoms and anticipated duration of corticosteroid treatment.
November 15, 2024 at 11:01 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
Clearance Rack:
🌎
PLANS
FOR WORLD
DOMINATION

Me: !!

Clerk:

Me: Is this the sale price?

Clerk: Yep. *Real* leather.

Me: Pretty good deal, world domination and all

Clerk: You know it's blank, right?

~><~

True story.

#StepRightUp
#EverythingMustGo

Forever grateful for
Tom Waits & Steely Dan
A photograph of a book on a clearance rack at a big-box bookstore. The book has a sticker price tag “SALE • SOLDE” $20.00 The book is a notebook only. It’s titled: PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION centered under a stylized logo of a globe.
November 15, 2024 at 8:32 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
We need a new alphabet.

Here’s mine.

“A New Alphabet”

(Spoiler: Z is always for Zebra) 🦓
A is for A New Alphabet: A is for Abundance thru Z is always for Zebra Les Holt 🐾 💕 A is for Abundance B is for Blessing C is for Caring D is for Dharma E is for Ease F is for Friends G is for Grace H is for Helping I is for Info J is for just K is for Kindness L is for Lift-up M is for Mercy N is for necessary O is for Open-hearted P is for Positive Q is for Quantum R is for Responsive S is for Sustenance T is for Truth U is for Understanding V is for Voice Validation Value & Vision W is for Wondrous X is for Xtra Special Y is for Yes and Z is always for Zebra 🐾 💕 LH January 2019 Continuing to work on A New Vocabulary
November 13, 2024 at 11:20 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
Thank you for this.

Thank you for sharing along the telling, the music.

“Incarcerated at Heart Mountain”

Its own, deep, deep remembrance
Dedicated to my "Japanese Grandma" Joy Teraoka and her bandmates in the George Igawa Orchestra who performed around the state while incarcerated at Heart Mountain, WY between 1942-1944. Thank you to Joy Teraoka, Denise Teraoka, Yone Fukui and the Mizutas for their interviews, friendships, memories and archives. Thank you to the archivists who look after the following collections for helping to preserve and teach this important American story: George Yoshida Archives at the Japanese American Historical Society Kondo Collection Okumoto Collection National Archives and Records Administration CSU Fresno TOMO Foundation National Museum of American History Washington State University Japanese American National Museum
November 11, 2024 at 5:19 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
“Mobile”
“Mobile” A ceiling installation of a mobile of five Great Blue Herons, cardboard cutouts, drawn and painted, suspended on very delicate string, thin wire. Some look like ink squiggles in shadow bas relief in the light bouncing off the ceiling. Calming, ethereal. — A gift from Wadmalaw Island, SC
November 11, 2024 at 4:53 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
Without downloading new pics where are you mentally?

(1995, The Unconscious Civilization, John Ralston Saul, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Massey Lectures Series)
Back cover of book text CBC MASSEY LECTURES SERIES THE UNCONSCIOUS CIVILIZATION Our society, John Ralston Saul argues in the 1995 Massey Lectures, is only superficially based on the individual and democracy. Increasingly it is conformist and corporatist, a society in which legitimacy lies with specialist or interest groups and decisions are made through constant negotiations between these groups. The paradox of our situation is that knowledge has not made us conscious. Instead, we have sought refuge in a world of illusion where language is cut off from reality. Reconnecting language to reality, clarifying what we mean by individualism and democracy, making these realities central to the citizen's life, identifying ideologies in order to control them, these are among the first elements of equilibrium which Saul proposes in these lectures. JOHN RALSTON SAUL is the author of the best-selling Voltaire's Bastards and The Doubter's Companion. His other books include the novels The Paradise Eater, The Next Best Thing and The Birds of Prey. He lives in Toronto.
November 9, 2024 at 1:16 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
…um, does this help?

“The difference is that the calm technologies offer me the space to focus my attention and perceive that shift happening. This experience is a joy, and an increasingly rare gift.”

www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

(A search result for info overload)
Screenshot of image from: The Joy of ‘Calm Technology’ - The Atlantic By Charlie Warzel August 23, 2022 https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/08/information-overload-calm-technology/676841/ “…started when I found an archived Instagram Live video that my favorite guitarist did during the pandemic: an introductory music lesson that includes an exercise he uses to warm up his hands to play. It consists of every combination of the ways you can move your four fingers on a guitar string, 36 sequences in all. I printed out a little chart of the combinations and started trying the exercise out.” 1212 1213 1214 1231 1232 1234 1241 1242 1243 1312 1313 1314 1321 1323 1324 1341 1342 1343 1412 1413 1414 1421 1423 1424 1431 1432 1434 3121 3123 3124 3131 3132 3134 3141 3142 3143 3212 3213 3214 3231 3232 3234 3241 3242 3243 3412 3413 3414 3421 3423 3424 3431 3432 3434 2121 2123 2124 2131 2132 2134 2141 2142 2143 2312 2313 2314 2321 2323 2324 234123422343 2412 2413 2414 2421 2423 2424 4121 4123 4124 4131 4132 4134 4141 4142 4143 4212 4213 4214 4231 4232 4234 4241 4242 4243 4312 4313 4314 4321 4323 4324
November 6, 2024 at 1:49 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
“Bird(s) on A Wire.”

Walking the hills of the highlands.

Leonard Cohen territory.

youtu.be/BqGArXHDOKY
“Bird(s) on A Wire.” photography les holt Deep in the end of December, six years ago, twelve birds huddled high over head on one of three wires running above the treetops, a bank of bushy bushy evergreens coated with snow. The tone is matte, the hue almost a silvery black~white. Sky filtered deliberately to sepia. Walking the hills of the highlands that day. Leonard Cohen territory. https://youtu.be/BqGArXHDOKY
November 4, 2024 at 1:29 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
“Heart”
“Heart” Markers on paper; then scanned in order to add a lavender-and-blue coloured, pebble-and-sand look, digitized background wash. Doodling is one form of therapy for me. Here, ribbon-like concentric circles with an open heart in their middle. Colours of the rainbow. Original art by Les Holt
October 30, 2024 at 2:01 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
Chloe, your painting “Telly” is broadcast perfection—a full summary without words of television
❤️
Brings to mind Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves To Death
and
Kurt Vonnegut’s spoken intro
to the song
“Racing Away”
on 1 Giant Leap by
Jamie Catto & Duncan Bridgeman

www.jamiecatto.com/1-giant-leap
RACING AWAY ~ 1 Giant Leap Jamie Catto & Duncan Bridgeman Spoken Intro Kurt Vonnegut TV is enough. It’s providing artificial friends and relatives to lonely people. What, what it is is a recurrent family. It’s the same friends and relatives [and they] come back week after week after week after week. And they’re wittier and they’re better looking and they’re much more interesting and they’re richer than your real friends and relatives. https://www.jamiecatto.com/1-giant-leap
October 23, 2024 at 5:31 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
“Following CBC’s Liberal majority projection, former PC cabinet minister Jeff Carr, who resigned under Blaine Higgs’s leadership, said Higgs should apologize to Liberal premier-designate Susan Holt.”

www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
Higgs should apologize to Holt, says former PC cabinet minister 2 hours ago News https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6541969 Duration 1:51 Following CBC’s Liberal majority projection, former PC cabinet minister Jeff Carr, who resigned under Blaine Higgs’s leadership, said Higgs should apologize to Liberal premier-designate Susan Holt.
October 22, 2024 at 2:14 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
Tho Politico chose to run it, the article-headline is AP

Still, we read of a pogrom in process, the decimation of a people

Eiland: “The water will dry up”

DN!: “Israel…killed four water engineers who were traveling to make repairs to the water infrastructure”

www.democracynow.org/2024/10/21/g...
“FOREIGN AFFAIRS” Netanyahu mulls plan to empty northern Gaza of civilians Israel’s prime minister would also seal off humanitarian aid to the region. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/13/netanyahu-mulls-plan-to-empty-northern-gaza-of-civilians-00183574 By ASSOCIATED PRESS 10/13/2024 11:25 PM EDT “They will either have to surrender or to starve,” Eiland said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to kill every person,” he said. “It will not be necessary. People will not be able to live there (the north). The water will dry up.” He believes the siege could force Hamas to release some 100 Israeli hostages still being held by the group since its Oct. 7 attack that triggered Israel’s campaign. At least 30 of the hostages are presumed dead. Human rights groups are appalled. “Collateral Damage”- Hundreds of Patients Trapped in North Gaza as Israel Intensifies Siege | Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2024/10/21/gaza_dr_ayaz_pathan AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Pathan, we just have reports that Israel has killed four water engineers who were traveling to make repairs to the water infrastructure near Khan Younis. According to Oxfam, they were traveling in a clearly marked vehicle when they were attacked. If you can talk — I mean, the horror of them being killed is horrifying enough, but the fact that they were trying to fix the water infrastructure, what that means, how devastated the infrastructure is, leading to disease, including polio? DR. AYAZ PATHAN: Yeah. So, absolutely. I think water and the safety of the water is something that UNICEF has looked at, and I think on the order of 98% of the water that is available is not considered good for human consumption. So, now you take an injured population, a sick population — even in the cases that are medical, for example, say, pneumonia or something along those lines — the ability to be able to take care of these patients without something as simple as water, to be able to clean wounds, to be able to hydrate people, is a huge issue.
October 22, 2024 at 12:52 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
Ah yes, and the Ministry of Ketamine, hailing from planet Ketaminian.

“The Company’s overall goal is to solve the ketamine shortage problem in the U.S.”
“The Company’s overall goal is to solve the ketamine shortage problem in the U.S. and anticipates the commercial launch of ketamine in 2024, and will meet the FDA’s strict manufacturing guidelines and FDA-approved prescribing label. KETARX™ will be produced in the U.S. in a cGMP manufacturing facility that is DEA certified and inspected by domestic and international regulatory agencies, including the FDA and EU EMA. “Following the FDA approval and launch in the U.S., the Company will pursue international approvals to support the global demand for ketamine.”
October 20, 2024 at 3:15 AM
lesholt.bsky.social
Food insecure population USA:
44,151,000
—Feeding America 2022

Total population Canada
41,744,759
—StatsCan, today

Average meal cost USA
$3.99
Annual food budget shortfall USA
$33,119,578,000

Musk on Cybercab™️®️©️💲:
“These will go into production some time in 2026 and cost less than $30,000 a pop”
FEEDING®AMERICA 2022 Overall Food Insecurity In The United States “Overall” refers to all individuals, including children, regardless of race or ethnicity Food Insecurity Rates https://map.feedingamerica.org Map of USA, superimposed w graduated scale from light to dark green 0-13.0% 13.1-26.0% 26.1-39.0% 39.1-52.0% 52.1-65% FOOD INSECURE POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 44,151,000 AVERAGE MEAL COST IN THE UNITED STATES $3.99 ANNUAL FOOD BUDGET SHORTFALL $33,119,578,000
October 14, 2024 at 8:32 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
“Environs”
Photograph: “Environs” Walk-ups over store fronts. OLD OLD OLD neighbourhood. Lots of pigeons, roosting on roofs, eaves. Lots of lines: wires, lamp posts, gutters, downspouts, vinyl cladding, brickwork, shingles, satellite dishes, street signs, November bare tree branches, all lit up by a westward sliding sun, blustering, gathering cloud sky turning grey. Browns, greens, yellow-beiges. Did I mention lots of pigeons? Les Holt. Grateful.
October 14, 2024 at 5:48 PM
lesholt.bsky.social
Love at first listen: me & Steely Dan, not knowing then that life—compassionate life—is not a theory or ideology but a way of being

In Reuters yesterday,
the shuddering coupled words “luckless Palestinian” … why?
Why add luckless?

SD’s “luckless pedestrian” out of frame
youtube.com/watch?v=9YxK...
A quoted paragraph from article: Countdown to Middle East war? How the region can step back from the brink October 4, 2024 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/countdown-middle-east-war-region-can-step-back-brink-2024-10-04/ “The only reported death from Iran's two attacks was a luckless Palestinian hit by a missile casing that fell from the sky into the West Bank on Tuesday.” 1976 Geffen Records The Royal Scam Don't Take Me Alive Steely Dan Portion of lyrics “Agents of the law Luckless pedestrian I know you're out there With rage in your eyes and your megaphones Saying all is forgiven Mad dog surrender How can I answer? A man of my mind can do anything I'm a bookkeeper's son I don't want to shoot no one Well, I crossed my old man back in Oregon Don't take me alive” Definition of luckless adjective 1. Having or marked by a lack of good fortune; unlucky. synonym: unfortunate. Similar: unfortunate 2. Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune. "a luckless gamester; a luckless maid." Similar: unpropitious unfortunate unlucky 3. Unsuccessful, in a failing manner.
October 5, 2024 at 9:04 PM