Weekend Reading: A Sad Day Edition

The news was sad today - Brexit happening, key Senators lacking the backbone to insist on witnesses... but we had beautiful weather here, and I got out for a very nice rollerblade. I'll take the good where I find it these days.

I've been thinking a lot about the state of things, how I'm going to handle the November election with my kids, why I'm a bit unhappy about how the Democratic Presidential primary is shaping up, how perhaps my decision to "sit out" involvement in the primary and focus on other things was maybe not the right one, and how the shouty-est people are crowding the rest of us out these days. Not super happy things to be thinking about, but useful.

Anyway, let's get to the links.

First up, I ran a free promo on Actic Adagio this week. If you act right now, you can probably still get yourself a free copy.

Honestly, Alexandra Petri's take on impeachment is not that much more ridiculous than the actual arguments some of the Republicans made for why they didn't want to allow witnesses.

And that's all I'm going to say about impeachment. It was always going to come down to us. This year's election is unbelievably important. Figure out what you're willing/able to do to help win it, and do what you can! I think I'll write a full post about this later.

I don't see any reason for Americans to freak out about the Coronavirus outbreak yet, but Laurie Garrett's recommendations for how to stay healthy are equally valid for other illnesses that might be spreading. I'm not going to start wearing gloves everywhere right now, but the reminder to avoid touching your face is one I am working on because there are a lot of respiratory illnesses going around here right now.

Vox's Dylan Scott went to other countries to report on how they provide health care, and this is a nice summary of what he learned. The Weeds podcast episode on this was also good.

Speaking of podcasts... this episode about how Germany became a leader in solar panels is really good, too.

This list of best hikes in every National Park makes me want to plan a road trip!

This is a delightful series of tweets.

You are mistaken, Mr. Contracting Officer, if you suppose that the mode of your rejection affected me in any other way, than as it spared the concern which I might have felt in cursing a partner, had you behaved in a more comprehensible manner.

— Cyd Harrell (@cydharrell) January 30, 2020

Here's a bunny:

pic.twitter.com/0s1BP0YDfD

— うさぎ島の写真bot (@rabbit_isle_bot) February 1, 2020

Have a good weekend, everyone!