So I did my Zoom COVID testing. It’s the strangest thing. You do the test in front of the “tele nurse.” Then she says goodbye and logs off. You wait 15 minutes without being observed by anybody, photograph the test next to your passport, and email the photo to the testing service. Which begs the question of why anybody needed to observe you in the first 5 minutes when you can easily swap your test for anybody else’s in the last 15 minutes.

I appreciate the great level of trust but can anybody explain the point of this exercise? Other than charging me $30CAD for the privilege of participating?

We are all participating in a weird charade for absolutely no purpose.

Because I’ve been away, my husband was forced to leave the house and discovered that we have a Chipotle in our town. It’s been there for over a year.

Chornobyl is back in Ukrainian hands, and a famous Ukrainian singer is performing inside the facility:

In the midst of everything, this is a small ray of goodness.

OK, I don’t get this. Several different groups of people worked for 6 months to invent MAGA? Which has existed since 2015? What is this even supposed to mean? Or was their great achievement that they tacked on “ultra”?

I understand giving kickbacks to friends and relatives. But normally nobody publicizes the process.

These people are all morons.

The Russian Orthodox Church is blessing with holy water an ICBM rocket called Satan II. This is the rocket that the Russians are promising to use to deliver a strike on the US.

I was always stunned by the extraordinary disrespect of the people who kept saying there was some sort of a religious revival in the post-Soviet countries. The smug ignorance of this idea was matched only by the consumerist nature of its approach to religion. As if faith were something you could lay aside for the better part of a century, and then pick up again, like nothing happened because it suddenly became fashionable.

I have spent 10 days, talking to people, making phone calls, consoling, offering and getting condolences, then talking to more people. And occasionally getting squeezed by people who want to express their condolences. Why this can’t be done without treating one like a squishy bathtub toy, I don’t know.

As you know, I’m a mega introvert. “Are you sure you aren’t going to feel lonely?” people ask in upbeat tones. Hmm, let me see. Will I feel lonely or not if I don’t have to socialize for the first time in over a week? It’s a mystery.

So? Was Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter a publicity stunt? Is he now refusing to buy it under some pretext? I have no time for the news, so I only hear rumors.

Any other important news updates?

This is the new great hope of Canadian conservatism:

Come on, buddy. Just say open borders. We know you want to.