Pariah

Too soon...?
 

Spider: "May I ask why you're so afraid of me?"
 
Human: "Well, all the reasons I had before have been replaced by the fact that you can talk...."

Especially when that week is the first week of a new academic quarter.   But yes, I will report ... in the fullness of time. Expect it when you see it.

My mother, a retired elementary school teacher, has a penance stare that still works. At a recent high school basketball game, some kid behind her was kicking the seat of her best friend (also an elem teacher). The friend turned and stared at the kid. He laughed and kept going. My mother turned and gave him the full "teacher's look" she calls it. He gulped, stopped kicking, and then pulled his feet up under himself.

66 F = 292.039 K 60 F = 288.706 K

Wife: So I've entered a broth challenge.
Me: Really?!
Wife: Yes. Are you interested.
Me: Most definitely!
Wife: I'm surprised.
Me: Why are you surprised?
Wife: Well, you just aren't a fan of broth most days.
Me: Broth? Like chicken broth?
Wife: Yeah. I make different recipes of broth each weekend, and drink 8 ounces a day. What did you think I said?
Me: Bra.
Wife: Bra? How would a bra challenge work?
Me: I don't know, but I really want to find out!

Then they won't plot against you. 

On this night in 2020, the NBA paused its season for 30 days.
 
This was, for me and I suspect many others, the "ohmigod, it's real" moment...the coronavirus was something Really, Really Serious.
 
It wasn't the first indication;  the WHO called it a pandemic several hours before, and the Warriors had already announced their game on the 12th would be played without fans.
 
But the entire NBA going on hiatus?  Wow.  Just......wow.  That blew my mind.
 
It became the straw that broke the camel's back, in the US;  on the 12th, the next day, the NCAA cancelled the conference basketball tournaments, and thus, the men's basketball tournament...arguably the single largest event on the spring calendar.  MLB shut down spring training.  MLS and NHL announced pauses.  
 
But it was 4 years ago tonight when reality hit.

Late this day (Leap Day) in 1992, my wife proposed to me.
 
My response was to get up, go to my dresser drawer, and hand it to her: I had already bought the ring.
 
(In what women have always derided as a Dumb Guy Thing, I was waiting to ensure that I'd have funding -- i.e., a job -- for the next academic year.)

Interesting suggestion that T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) may undergo outburst sometime in the coming 5  - 6 months.  It is a recurrent nova (similar outbursts having been seen in 1866 and 1946) and there is a report that it has undergone its foreshadowing "dip" that was seen prior to the 1946 outburst (see the light curve in the linked Wikipedia article).  If the suggestion is right, then it will go from about 10th magnitude (rather below naked eye brightness) up to 2nd magnitude or so (comparable to the stars in the Big Dipper).  Cor Bor itself doesn't stand out (it has only one 2nd magnitude star) but is quite convenient for observation from the US and Europe.  Once it undergoes outburst it will fade fairly quickly -- a few days -- back below the naked-eye threshold.

Given that the CEO's announced his departure?  Nope, fair game now.

Too soon...?
 

I'd rather have this as my spirit animal:
 

People frequently confuse "I don't like it" with "It's bad."

Back in the old Soviet Union, if you wanted a car you would have to order it several years in advance and pay cash up front. 
 
So having gathered his money for a long time, a man goes in one day to buy a car. He puts the money down and the clerk says, "Very good comrade. You will receive your car 5 years from today.'
 
The man asks, "In the morning or the afternoon?" 
 
The clerk says, "It's 5 years from today what difference does it make?"
 
The man says, "Well, the plumber is coming in the morning."

154 isn't particularly different from 162.  It would help a bit;  it'd cut 10 days off.  Shift the start of the season forward, and at least avoid November should the WS go deep.  (Game 7 is Nov. 2nd this year.)
 
But I'd rather target opening day to April 10th, and WS game 7 October 20th or so...if not even a bit shorter.  Lessee...6 division games (24), 4 games in-league (40).  Interleague, maybe 3 games against 12 teams, with alternating home field, and 4 game series (home and home 2 game series) against 3 teams, based on geography/natural rivalry.  Chicagos, New Yorks, LAs, KC/STL, etc.  That's another 48.  We're at 112 at this point...8 division and 6 in-league would add 28, so 140 games.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
 
But clearly, yeah, that's never gonna happen.  My traveling to Alpha Centauri is more likely.

I think my blood pressure spiked just watching them pour on all that salt.