Thanks, all! Say, aren't there Buffistas who work/ed for Duke U.? If so, I'd love to chat a bit, back channel, please. Profile addy's good. Thanks.

As for public coverage of police violence, this was a front page story on the Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday

Killings by Utah police outpacing gang, drug, child-abuse homicides

[link]

It's still at the top of the Popular Story list on the website.

Salt Lake City has two major daily papers, because the other one, the Deseret News, is owned and run by the Mormon Church, and the coverage can be charitably called "filtered". Unfortunately, that means there's a hell of a lot of money behind the Deseret News, and the Trib is suffering the typical financial problems modern papers are dealing with. The managers of the Trib keep making distribution and production deals with the DN, and there are rumblings that editorial power is shifting as well. The Trib pretty much singlehandedly brought down a corrupt Attorney General and brought enough attention to on the previous AG, the corrupt AG's mentor and predecessor, to bring serious bribery and corruption charges against both of them.

Utah pretty much needs the Trib.

Good luck, Calli!

Congrats, Tom!

I am having trouble with my brain not working this morning. Perhaps more coffee will help. In any case, got my car over to the place where I bought the battery, they are going to test whatever they can test and then we'll see. Meanwhile, my dad has loaned me his truck so I can get around. Maybe things will work out conveniently and I can return it on Thanksgiving, that would be nice.

Have I mentioned that I am glad I had the car logistical shenanigans to keep me from watching the news yesterday afternoon/evening? Because I am.

I weakened and bought a new mobile phone -- still using Virgin Mobile but this has 4G instead of the 3G and more memory/diskspace. Over the last few days, my old phone has frozen up too many times when I'm driving.

It turns out that the Uber system relies more on cellphones that I even imagined. Texting riders when you've arrived (if they're not already standing on the curb) is necessary, and having a phone that dies when you try to text is not going to help much.

Dear god, I'm a lousy draw-er. But Noah doesn't seem to mind.

FWIW, I've found 4G to be a battery-draining PITA, and mostly have it turned off on my phone. I'm not sure if that's because the coverage isn't great, so the phone is always searching, or what.

Ferguson, why are you a name that brings such pain. .. remember that Colin Ferguson? Can you imagine my face at hearing that news piece? Because of course it was on the radio, so no pictures. But now CFerg's Google his outnumber the (of course) jamaican killer.

But this is injustice, and that's different from crime.

I encourage you to use the other day's m-w word of the day, Job's comforter:

discourages or depresses while seemingly giving comfort and consolation

Danny, a reliable Job's comforter, assured Shane that the girl who'd broken his heart had always been out of his league.

"It's a blessing for me, he said, that my joints are frozen solid with the arthritis, because if I tried to run around like I used to, my heart would give out sure. I told him he was a Job's comforter, what good is keeping my heart going like a watch that won't tell time if I can't get up and cook." — Ross Macdonald, The Ivory Grin, 1952

For purposes of Ubering, I can keep it on the charger in the car -- so long as I have better connectivity, it's a big win.

remember that Colin Ferguson? Can you imagine my fave at hearing that news piece.

Speaking of whom, did I see him on Major Crimes last night?

what is Uber's competitor with a similar app presence? I want to try them sometime. Begins with an el.

How To Get Away With Murder--is that considered a procedural?

They caught serious bad guys on Brooklyn nine nine. Clearly a procedural.