news of the world

1. The increased transmissibility of the Delta variant, its increased general permeation of the environment, plus, even though I'm vaccinated, my being slightly more susceptible to a serious infection than most people, have led me to back down slightly from my June-July willingness to take outings. But if any of these clowns become governor and model our pandemic response after Florida's, I'm going into full hibernation.

2. A Pentagon police officer was assaulted without provocation and killed with his own gun. The NRA is always telling about attack situations which, however improbably, could have been stopped by a good guy with a gun. Well, here's a situation in which the good guy might have survived (he was also stabbed) if he hadn't had a gun. I suspect that cases where the bad guy gets hold of the good guy's gun outnumber the other kind, but if there's statistics to prove it, they'd hardly be released.

3. Greenville - I've been there, though only a long time ago - is now the second California town to be completely destroyed by fire.

4. And here's an unexpected victim of global warming: the trees that make the best violin wood. We may have to make them from carbon-fiber from now on.

5. In other music news, Michael Tilson Thomas has been seriously ill. He's had surgery, so let's hope he gets better.