Today's small adventure

I was winding down for the evening when I saw the library email that one of my holds had come in. I thought, too bad I didn't remember earlier since the library is only open late on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and then I realized it wasn't too late yet! And it's a lovely cool clear evening for a walk.

On the way over to the library I saw a free dresser on the curb with 8 small square drawers. The drawers worked well, and it was a nice shade of light green. Probably couldn't carry it home though... Picked up my books, and on the way back someone was standing next to it. I asked if he had decided to take it, and he said no, he couldn't carry it either.

I tried to heft it, and it was SOLID. Somehow talking with someone else about it gave me the extra nudge to walk home, hook up the bike trailer, and bike back up the hill to see if it was still there. It was, but 1) the drawers didn't come out, 2) I couldn't lift it enough to get it in the bike trailer and 3) while I was examining one of the lower drawers to see if I could pull it out, it smelled like scented candles, so I didn't want the dresser after all.

Which is fine, since I didn't strictly need it or have space for it, I just liked it enough to give it a try. I wasn't sure how I would get it in my house even if I did get it in the bike trailer. I hope someone manages to haul it home!

On the upside, I finally remembered to turn on the outside light switch when going out at night, and it turns out the lightbulbs I replaced do work after all! I had borrowed a telescoping ladder from the Oakland Tool Library to put them in, and then had returned the ladder while it was still daylight and couldn't test them since they're on a photosensitive motion sensor.

Links: Two fine rants

Culture isn't modular by jessicalprice. I've mostly given up ranting about "secular" Christmas (!) trees, but this post gets at the underlying problem.

A big part of why Christian atheists have trouble seeing how culturally Christian they still are is that Christianity advertises itself as being modular, which is not how belief systems have worked for most of human history.

There’s no going back, let’s adapt to our pandemic present and future by Josh Simmons. This sounds like it was written in 2021, but it's still all true.

All of this is why the WHO has updated their guidance to encourage masking in all crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated spaces regardless of local epidemiological conditions.