Few people celebrate Euler's number, but for normal people it's the natural thing to do.

The two stories in The Atlantic I'll be reading today...

What If World War III Has Already Started?
I understand why democratic countries are reluctant to fight. But I worry that the Western world is in denial.
By Veronika Melkozerova
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/what-if-world-war-iii-has-already-started/627054/

America’s Hesitation Is Heartbreaking
As the leader of NATO and of the free world, the United States needs to think much bigger than it has thus far.
By Eliot A. Cohen
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/ukraine-united-states-nato/627052/

@4 it is strange how agog the US is to dive head first into unjustifiable wars but when there is a legitimate threat to the world it's all of a sudden time to be concerned about appearances and nuance

Continuing my comment @4. The answer to Ms. Melkozerova's question is yes, WWIII has already started. And the longer it takes us to realize that, the bigger the war will be. In this respect, the parallels to WWII are eerie. Of course, some of you will say, "But Hitler didn't have nukes."

And to those of you, I ask, "Have you really thought through the ramifications of Vladimir Putin's nuclear blackmail and what will and won't cause him to threaten the use of nukes?" Hint: his use of the nuclear threat is not a function of our crossing some line that was honored during the Cold War. His nuclear saber rattling is a function his sense that he cannot lose this war. He wants to present us a choice: "Heads I win, tails you lose."

If we really want to view things on his terms, then we should immediately stop sending the Ukrainians what few arms we are sending them, and we should end the sanctions now. All we're doing now is acting like we're a little bit pregnant. And no, I'm not talking about sending ground forces into Ukraine or even establishing a no-fly zone just yet, at least not with our own pilots.

In that Walgreens’s defense, the location at 23rd and Jackson probably deals with more violence, crime, and general insanity than any other location in the city. I can imagine the long-suffering pharmacy crew there had reasonable doubts about a person who rolled up in a tricycle asking for drugs.

Implying that these veritable saints, who put up with immense amounts of shit day in day out, are somehow biased against disabled people or whatever is totally absurd and completely unfair.

Brent Gumbo @5, there was another piece in The Atlantic about this war:
We Have Reached a Hinge of History
Out of the righteous rage of this moment, perhaps a new world can be born.
By Ben Rhodes
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/ben-rhodes-alexey-navalny-maria-stepanova/627049/

And Rhodes said something that reminded me of you. "Out of this kind of righteous rage—shaking democracies from complacency, forcing citizens to discard the luxury of cynicism, rejecting the inevitability of autocracy—perhaps a new world can be born." "The luxury of cynicism."

Y'know, cynicism is the easiest thing in the world. It's the way people who know nothing and refuse to know anything can put up the pretense of looking smart. It's the way people can completely wash their hands of having to take any personal responsibility for climate change. It's one reason Donald Trump was elected in 2016.

The Ukrainian people are showing us right now that there is an alternative to cynicism. And it's the opposite of easy, although for us it wouldn't be so hard as it is for them.

Preemptive apologies to Brent Gumbo @5. Perhaps I was misinterpreting what he wrote: "but when there is a legitimate threat to the world it's all of a sudden time to be concerned about appearances and nuance."

If Vladimir Putin is not a legitimate threat to the world--if he is not the immediate overwhelming threat to the world--I don't know what is.

@5 it's one thing to rush into a war when you know the outcome is predetermined. There was no doubt Iraq or Afghanistan would offer any real resistance to the US military and it seems Putin though Ukraine would bear a similar result for Russia. The hesitation here is you would now go up against a real military force with a leader that controls a nuclear arsenal and is probably a bit unstable mentally. I don't have any issues with being cautious and playing a longer game.

@3 I don't know if you've been to Bothell lately but there is no way Matt is affording a place there either and I seriously doubt his obnoxious, condescending brand of snarkiness would go over well there. I think Burien is more his speed at this point.

@7 Agree with the defense of Walgreens. Is there a reason Mr Tricycle can't get off his ass and go inside to get his scripts?

Not covered today. A mentally ill homeless man with over 20 convictions assaulted a 62 year old nurse on the light rail by throwing her down two flights of stairs breaking three of her ribs and her clavicle. Everything is completely fine downtown though as TS loves to remind us.

“paid sick leave, something
nearly every country in the
world offers but the US
does not.”

look no further than our own commentariat for all the Good Reasoms to make poor people Pay for their own poor Choice -- of getting Sick (or Injured). (or being Born that way).

“The Legislature just approved a proposal to spend $200,000 studying hallucinogenic mushrooms.”

that’s gonna be
quite the Partay!
expect 90% of Rs
to jump ship to D.

“The difference in CO2 emissions per unit of electricity generated between states is just mind-boggling”

‘Global Warming’?!
my Feet are Cold!
it’s silly* when Re-
publicans control
things.

when you take the Bus to Walgreens
or to the Bank and the lobby’s Closed
but the drive-thru’s Open what do
ya gotta Do – rent a Car? would a
Yugo do?

*read: DANGEROUS

@12, very crisply, concisely stated. If I were the Russians, this is just the message I would be wanting to get out to Americans.

Apartment developers are getting so desperate for land that they are now buying environmentally-risky properties to make a buck lol.
You won't find me moving in on an old laundromat lot, or automobile repair shop, or gas station...long-term health effects abound lest the property is purchased through a reputable lender who requires (costly) ground water and soil remediation. Many less-reputable banks will overlook these risks, or attempt to cover them up by hiring a shady contractor to come in and "test" the soil and water and give it the OK before approving the loan.

What Russia wanted ahead of this invasion of Ukraine was for Kyiv to implement the Minsk agreements. That plan would have included changing the Ukrainian constitution and recognising that Donetsk and Luhansk are autonomous, introducing a special provision to this effect in the Constitution.

The other thing that Moscow wanted was to make sure that Ukraine would never be admitted to NATO.

Now that Russia has invaded, the stakes have gone up significantly. Their bottom line is now considerably worse from the perspective of Ukraine than prior to the invasion.

Now the Russians want Ukraine to recognise the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk, presumably in their current borders, which are larger than their previous borders, and recognition of Crimea, in addition to Ukraine vouching that it will not be joining NATO.

Those are extremely high demands that the Ukrainian government will find really difficult to accept, especially now that Russia is invading their country.

The outcome for now, despite the fact that some countries are trying to mediate–Turkey is one, China is another–is that the two sides appear so far apart and the stakes are so high.

For Putin to back down now and to accept defeat would be very difficult politically. He’s quite likely to persist and turn Ukraine into a bloodbath on his way to securing an acceptable victory for himself.

https://therealnews.com/back-to-the-cold-war-an-interview-with-sergey-radchenko

My first job outta college a couple decades ago was with one of those unlicensed social work agencies that provided community based support services to people with disabilities, mostly helping them find jobs and volunteer opportunities. The people we supported varied significantly and some were pretty high functioning and fun to work with. One of the guys had a job at Home Depot that we helped him get. He got off work one day and stopped by the Taco Bell drive thru on foot, but they wouldn't serve him food. So he went back to HD, grabbed a forklift, and drove it over to get his dinner.

@2 oof

@7 I've seen enough fast food threads on this topic to believe that it is more of a liability issue of not being able to serve non-car users there than anything else - also, Amazon Fresh is there now; it's officially gentrified ..

@12 touche

@17: Are you referring to Tucker Carlson?

@18: I trust he was fired the following day.

RE: CO2. The Northern Great Plains states are in may respects poor colonies in terms of resource extraction. The gold, copper, coal or whatever is mined and refined / burned and then the wealth is exported to richer states, leaving behind the environmental and social costs. So when you sit in Seattle breathing the lovely Puget Sound and air turn on your lights and fire up your computer using coal generated power from Montana or Wyoming, maybe trying to expand your view of what is really happening.
RE: The Atlantic. Who really needs a monthly mag filled with thoughtful in-depth analysis, mostly free of ideological cant, when The Stranger is really all you need for informed discourse?

@#2: Leonhard Euler also developed "Euler's Slenderness Ratio". (Google it) He was a busy guy, and should be celebrated.

@4: I sympathize with your wish to do something for the persons suffering in Putin's imperialist war. The simple fact is the United States and NATO have no interests in Ukraine sufficient for them to wade into a potential nuclear war with Russia. President Biden has already said NATO will defend the territorial integrity of all member states, which is in the interests of the US and NATO.

For all of the hyperventilating about "WWIII," the reality is that Russian Imperialism predates the United States, and there is little evidence any Russian military success (if it ever happens, however it gets defined) in Ukraine will lead to more Russian imperialism elsewhere. If anything, the Russian Army's lumbering to a hollow victory over an ungovernable Ukraine full of partisans will tend to stifle Russian imperialistic ambitions elsewhere.

In the development of an earlier imperial charlie-foxtrot, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson cited "the lessons of Munich" in justifying American involvement in Viet Nam's civil war. Not all WWII analogies are accurate or useful.

Finally, anyone who served in the Cheney-Bush mal-administration (Eliot A. Cohen) has absolutely no standing to advise us on the perils of extended military actions in faraway places.

I hope this new development means we'll finally get a traffic light at Olive and Harvard, or at least some kind of ped crossing signal. Many, many years overdue.

tensor @24: "The simple fact is the United States and NATO have no interests in Ukraine sufficient for them to wade into a potential nuclear war with Russia."

I can't justify spending time debating you. I'll just ask you this. Are there any further actions we could take that would not entail wading into a potential nuclear war with Russia, as you say?

I do find it interesting that you wish to make Vietnam be the history lesson you want to point to when, as you say, that was a civil war.

@26: If you have time to write multiple, off-topic comments on Slog, then you have time to consider whether the statement you don't like is true or not. That you avoided doing so does not speak highly toward your opinion of your position.

"Are there any further actions we could take that would not entail wading into a potential nuclear war with Russia, as you say?"

Sure. Continue squeezing Russia's oligarchs with sanctions. Continue declaring Putin's friends and business buddies persona non grata in their favorite Western haunts. Slowly expand our economic sanctions upon Russia generally. There are many more options which are preferred to getting involved in a shooting war half a world away.

"I do find it interesting that you wish to make Vietnam be the history lesson you want to point to when, as you say, that was a civil war."

From the point of view of Russian imperialists, the current war in Ukraine is also a civil war. (Also, see above for the "no US land war in Asia" thing.)

@27: "If you have time to write multiple, off-topic comments on Slog, then you have time to consider whether the statement you don't like is true or not. That you avoided doing so does not speak highly toward your opinion of your position."

You're perfectly welcome to interpret it that way. Have a great day.

@22 "So when you sit in Seattle breathing the lovely Puget Sound and air turn on your lights and fire up your computer using coal generated power from Montana or Wyoming, maybe trying to expand your view of what is really happening."

When I turn on my lights and computer, I'm using power from hydroelectric plants. Am I doing it wrong?

@24: Some of the better minds comes from those who've served in both good and bad presidencies, and provide wise guidance from their learned experiences.

@29: Yes, you are doing it wrong. SCL is part of the Western Interconnection, and buys electricity as needed on the grid. Ignorance is indeed bliss.
"City Light does not have coal or natural gas resources in its power supply portfolio. It does make market purchases to balance or match its loads and resources. These purchases, along with market purchases made by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), may incidentally include coal or natural gas resources, which are assigned to the utility."

@33
I am glad we agree that at times, and in some (relatively small) amounts, SCL does indeed purchase power from thermal (that means coal and gas) projects. The power and money go elsewhere, the environmental and social burdens stay put.

@31 Yeah, SCL is on Western Interconnection, like every other utility on the West Coast of North America.

SCL, however, trades through the CASIO EIM, which does not include coal supply in any meaningful amount. Here, take a look: https://www.caiso.com/todaysoutlook/Pages/supply.aspx .

@28: If you're advocating for Americans to come home from Ukraine with PTSD, and/or without limbs, or in body bags, or not at all, then you'd better have a justification so incredibly solid, you don't utterly abandon it at the first (and slightest) challenge.

@30: Read the utter garbage overflowing from the second url @4. The author repeatedly claims the United States is at war with Russia, despite not being able to produce a declaration of such from Congress. Apparently, he believes his former bosses' imperial military misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq were just peachy. How many Americans died in the Graveyard of Empires, and to give Iran more influence?

@32 - do the NextGen reactors produce no high-level waste? I kinda doubt it.

"These pies are dairy, gluten, and soy-free, and vegan."

You could have just said "repulsive."

@25: Right on. I'm amazed there have not been more pedestrians hurt at that intersection. The lone meager traffic-calming device there requires all traffic to make a right turn from Harvard onto Olive Way. Drivers routinely ignored those signs during the entire quarter-century in which I patronized that dry-cleaning shop.

Speaking of which, Phillip worked there for many years, until he started his own place, at 1000 E. Madison Street. For the entire rest of the time I lived in Seattle, I would not trust my fancy clothes to anyone else. He was simply the best, and I hope he still is!

RIP William Hurt. For those too young to have seen his earlier work in the up-and-coming-hottie years of his career I’d recommend checking out his films “Altered States”, “Body Heat”, “The Doctor” & “Gorky Park”. A talented actor, gone too soon.

Rest in peace, William Hurt. Condolences to your surviving family and loved ones. You'll always be Vietnam veteran Nick Carlton to me. It's a good night for viewing The Big Chill.
A little movie trivia: William Hurt would have turned 72 on March 20, 2022. He was three years and a day younger than his fellow Big Chill cast member, Glenn Close.

@7 schmacky and others: the Walgreen's on 23rd and Jackson sounds every bit like the nightmare of a Walgreen's location in North Bellingham. It's a real mess on Sunset where the average pedestrian is considered roadkill. I'm glad I don't have to shop or work there.