Odds and Ends — 13 June 2021
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Blue States Will Meet Biden’s July 4 Goal
The United States looks increasingly unlikely to reach President Joe Biden’s July 4 vaccine goal. We need at least 70% of all adults to have one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and we’re on pace to have somewhere between 67% and 68%.
The overall picture masks, however, an underlying pattern: Nearly all of the states Biden won will make his goal, while all of the states he lost are unlikely to.
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
Nvidia CEO: We’re “on the cusp of” a blockchain and NFT-enabled metaverse
Social Security Weathered Pandemic Better Than Expected
Vaya Con Crypto – When the Levee Breaks
As each block is confirmed and the network grows stronger their power to tax and spend, thieve through inflation and bribe others to commit violence to enforce their will grows that much weaker.
Politics:
Trump Mostly Just Lies About the Election Now
Biden Scuttles Trump’s Dreams for Border Wall
GOP Attacks on Biden’s Agenda Not Breaking Through
Republicans have tried to beat the drum against the Biden agenda. For weeks Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has hammered away, echoing the critique from Larry Summers, former top economic adviser to the Clinton and Obama administrations, that the pandemic relief package spent way too much money and could prompt an inflation run.
But that message has, so far, been largely drowned out, especially in the conservative media echo chamber that is intensely focused on cultural issues that spark outrage and help ratings but do little to help win elections.
Garland: DOJ Voting Rights Push To Include Focus On Sketchy Audits, Election Worker Threats
Jared Kushner’s Deal Almost Led to Coup in Jordan
Serendipity:
Lake Meade: Largest US reservoir drops to record low
The West is the driest it’s been in 1,200 years — raising questions about a livable future
Meme credit: dellis (source)
The West is the driest it’s been in 1,200 years — raising questions about a livable future
This is why I prep ;-)
I just had to DuckDuckGo that:
https://www.postapocalypticmedia.com/no-mad-max-didnt-take-place-in-2021/
Hehe. The meme's are trollin' no doubt.
Still, the linked analysis only solidly supports an assertion that the story unfolds sometime after 1986. Mad Max can be set 2021-ish.
No. I don't assume narrative references to timelines in speculative fiction are relative to production dates. I take phrases like "a short time from now," "a long time ago", and "once upon a time," to fix the setting in reference to the audience's present.
Mad Max is always set in an apocalyptic future — even if you're literally living through it.
This to me is part of what makes the memes funny and relatable.
I don't think this is a definitive 19XX. The "1" is debatable and the "9" ephemeral. Remember we're looking at a still here, but the original moving presentation is meant just to be glimpsed, not read. In the accompanying dialog the children chant the inscription, omitting the date altogether.
These numbers were intentionally obscured to leave the timeline wide open, not open to a decade or century. If any precision were necessary then why not fix a year outright.
Moreover — even if it were 1999 at the latest — there's room for interpretations where decades have passed since the departure of Walker from Planet Erf because, as Savanah puts it:
This young cargo cult is clearly procreating. The oldest of them appear to be in their late teens or early twenties. It's suggested they're recounting an oral history rather than events remembered first hand. They seem to have been infants or not yet born when the rescue party left them there...hm, also weird that it's a "rescue party" and not a "search party" — maybe that's an Aussie thing, dunno.
Anyway, Hollywood's version of extended canon for this franchise carries no weight with me. I don't even worry whether Fury Road takes place in the same universe or an alt. It's got flamethrower guitars though.
Mileage may vary by POV. I applaud your skepticism.
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