The View from the Hermitage, Day 328

I think I'll stick with news on the lighter side today. I'm not mentally ready to give deep thought to viruses or politics except to note that POTUS has said that Xpot should not get the daily intelligence briefings due to his "erratic behavior." That's probably putting it politely.

I learned that there exists something called the Forbes Pigment Collection at the Harvard Art Museums. It houses over 2,500 pigments. I learned this in the summary of an article on a new blue pigment, the first discovered in some 200 years. You can see a sample here, which is not the summary I read this morning. It's a very pretty blue, but I'm not going to spend $179.40 on a small tube of paint.

Here's hoping you weren't planning on an Alaskan cruise this summer. The Canadian government has extended its ban on cruise ships through February 2022, effectively shutting down Alaska cruises. Most of the ships sailing out of US ports to Alaska are registered in foreign countries. US maritime law says that foreign-registered ships can't go between two American ports without stopping at a foreign point in between.

POTUS has gone home to Delaware for a combination Super Bowl and son's 51st birthday weekend. Security and time-wise, the easiest, possibly only, way to get him there was via Air Force One. The Air Force One seen on most news blurbs is a Boeing 747. There is a second one, a Boeing 757, that is used to land at smaller airports, such as the one in Wilmington, Delaware. ("Air Force One" is the call sign of any plane holding the President.) The plane used by the Vice President is a Boeing 757, meaning that POTUS is familiar with that size plane. His comment on the one he flew on to Delaware? "A great plane. It's the same plane we had as vice president--only it's much nicer." I should hope so.

Finally, I found cited in a Facebook post some song lyrics from Paul Simon that seemed very relevant to the world today. 

God only knows                                                                                                                             

God makes his plan                                                                                                                       

The information's unavailable                                                                                                         

To the mortal man                                                                                                                            

We work our jobs                                                                                                                       

Collect our pay                                                                                                                         

Believe we're gliding down the highway                                                                                   

When in fact we're slip slidin' away 

Time to slip slide into tomorrow, the start of the 47th week of our personal lockdown here in our hermitage. And with five inches or more of snow forecast for tonight, we really might be slip slidin' tomorrow.