Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Spoiler alert: I am talking about books in this essay. One is non-fiction and I don't think that revealing its contents will ruin the reading experience for anyone else. The other book, however, is a novel; surprise is essential to the narrative experience. I tried to talk about the main lesson in this story without… Continue reading The Daily: 18 April 2024
Tax Day April 15th is Tax Day for the United States. In most years taxes are due on this date, though exceptions are made for weekends and recently COVID seems to have added on extra days now and then. I don't know anyone who puts it off that late because the penalties for missing the… Continue reading The Daily: 15 April 2024
Has anyone else noticed the weather forecasting gaslighting? Or whatever is happening... Is this AI? Perhaps a computer generating models based on measured conditions maybe several days in advance and then sticking to it regardless of what actually transpires? Maybe not even based on measured conditions at all but on averages for the date? (Based… Continue reading The Daily: 26 March 2024
World Water Day is 22 March 2024. This annual observance was organized by the United Nations in 1993 to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and to promote sustainable freshwater management. Each year a different theme is chosen, centered on topics relevant to clean water, sanitation and hygiene. The theme for 2024 is Water… Continue reading The Daily: 22 March 2024
The Ides of March & Anna Perenna Today marks 2068 years since Julius Caesar was deposed and murdered by about 60 members of the Roman Senate. Shakespearean drama notwithstanding, this was not just a few disillusioned subjects. The plot was broadly supported and intricately planned. The ruler was stabbed 23 times. We still associate this… Continue reading The Daily: 15 March 2024
The storm that was not supposed to be a storm ended up dumping over a foot of snow on Central Vermont. My son's town had no power for eight hours on Sunday. Many rural locations did not have power until Monday evening. There were blips all weekend, knocking the electricity out which knocks out computer… Continue reading The Daily: 12 March 2024
This past week, I was reading a book that was written by a feminist author in 2017. I suppose I had forgotten just how gutted and anxious we all felt in those days. In the pages of this book I heard echoes and almost felt those emotions again. We all thought the world would end.… Continue reading The Daily: 7 March 2024
Participatory Democracy Today is Town Meeting day in Vermont. For the uninitiated, this is the day when Vermonters pack themselves into school gyms and various meeting halls to vote on town governance for the upcoming year. Officials are elected. Laws are debated and passed. Budgets are assigned. If there are complaints or disturbances, these are… Continue reading The Daily: 5 March 2024
I was last-Tuesday-years-old when I learned that brassicas are effective phytoremediators. I suppose I should have deduced this from all the mustard that grows lushly on Superfund sites, enlivening the soil after we've made our messes and left the locals for dead. But I never made that connection. I also never noticed that, as I've… Continue reading The Daily: 4 March 2024
After yesterday's diatribe, I feel rather talked out... but there are a few points that did not get made... somehow... In all the discussion of capitalism and its discontents, there is one thing that is often brushed away, like an annoying gnat. Capitalism is horrible. We acknowledge that. We know that it is destructive. It… Continue reading The Daily: 27 February 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 