It keeps Heating Up

 Don't worry about oceans rising. It's the heat that will get us.

Heat Death

 In India, 33 election workers have died from the heat.

LPG Tanks

We used to have two 12 liter tanks of LPG (liquid petroleum gas), one for the on-demand water heater and one for our oven and range top  When one ran out, after about a month, I'd call Pak Eka and tell him we needed a full one and he'd bring it over on his motorbike and take the empty one back. We kept one small 4 ltr tank that I'd switch for a big one when the gas ran out if we needed to be using it before a new tank arrived. The small tanks were three times smaller but five times cheaper than the big ones because they're subsidized for home use. The big tanks are thought of as commercial. Then a few years ago the price of the big tanks doubled and that of the small ones remained the same. So we switched to the small ones. They have to be changed about once every ten days. I told Pak Eka we wanted two more small ones so we had backups while waiting for the refills. He said only two per family. So I called Gus who hustles all sorts of stuff and he had a truck drop off two more small tanks for us. For the last half year it's been hard to get the small tank refills at times. We've got a M-W-St housekeeper-Kadek-and a T-Th-Fr houskeeper-Ketut. When we couldn't get a small tank from around here, Ketut would bring refills from the area where she lived. Yesterday it seemed all the shops were out of small tanks. We had three empties. Ketut could only find one small tank and she brought it over. I gave her money to come back with two more on Tuesday when she'll come next - if she can find them. Katrinka said this is too much trouble. Just get the big tanks. I said they cost ten times more for three times more gas and we should only do that if we really can't get the small tanks. Then Kadek apologized for not making more dog food. She said her home has no gas now. All of a sudden I realized that we were being like welfare cheats. Those small tanks are government subsidized for local people. We have resident visas but we can afford the big tanks and leave the small tanks for locals in need. I called Pak Eka and ordered two big tanks. Kadek went home with one small full tank for her home. Ketut will get one and Nyoman, our local driver will get one. We'll keep one to use in transition between empty and full big tanks when needed. Back to where it was. I sent Gus a message saying what we'd done and he sent back a heart emoji. I felt like that emoji meant good for you - you finally did the right thing.

Good energy news

 Clean energy now 30% of world energy production - CNN

Hope for Plastic Solution

Scientists have developed a plant-based plastic that actually biodegrades. 

This is a big deal because people are not going to stop using plastic. There is nothing good that can be done with the plastics we have. Recycling makes more micro and nano plastics. It's a much lower grade and more polluting fuel than gasoline. Hope this new plastic passes the test of time. 

thanks Gregory Johnson

Style Preferences

Single-mindedly working on getting this book done. Just sent the following note to Peter and Wendy who are going over the parts as they get them.

Movie names should be italicized. I haven't been doing that. So please put an xx after them. You don't have to write "italicize." I'll know what to do. I think you know that I don't like quote marks around names so even if it's a short story or article or anything that's supposed to have quote marks I'd rather use italics or nothing. I also don't like quotes around words used as unfamiliar terms, nicknames, or words used as words if the meaning is clear without them. Quote marks around quotes are fine of course. So anything I've neglected which is most of it, please just xx.

I think I got my aversion to quotes from reading people's year end letters that were full of them with such sentences as <We all had a "wonderful time" this summer.> Really. It drove me batty.

One word that's been lost but which I like and miss is fewer. I don't like to see less used for number but it's locked in now. (See - it doesn't need quote marks because it's obvious.) I like may as in "may I borrow this" though "can" doesn't bother me. (I thought can needed some help there.) Can has been accepted for may since I was a kid so people can't answer to "Can I go with you?" anymore with "I don't know, can you?"

As James Kirkpatrick pointed out forty years ago, "We've lost the word 'gay.'" (He would have used the quotes around gay there.)

The worst to me that is close to becoming accepted is "I" as the object as in, "He gave the book to JIm and I." It's everywhere. 

I don't know what to do about who and whom. I can see whom is going out of style and sometimes it seems stodgy. But I can't say "for who the bells toll." 

My father had a problem with who and whom going out of style too - but in a different way. He was into diction and his generation pronounced the H in who and whom and other words that began with wh. It had H air in it like an F sound has F air. He used to grill me on it. I was hopeless though.

An ideal Situation

This message was sent to me by an anonymous person who asked me to post it. 

I am a woman trapped in a man's body. That's one strike against me in today's world so I keep it a secret. It's not so difficult to do so because I am attracted to women. I am a lesbian - that's the second strike against me - a lesbian trapped in a man's body. I did not think it fair to have a female mate and not tell her so I was celibate, celibate until I met an unusual woman, one I could confide in. It turned out that she was a gay man trapped in a  woman's body. I shared my situation. We are a perfect match, each other's soul mates. Please publish this so that others with my condition can know that there is hope. Thank you.