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Greg Colley's avatar

The Americans was such a great show. I loved how they made it historically accurate like when President Reagan made his "the bombing starts in 5 minutes" comment. I'll have to find it and binge it.

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Steve's avatar

I binged all 6 seasons last winter over 2 months wondering why I never watched in the first place. Great show, perfectly casted.

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John Fees's avatar

Bill - great post. Really enjoyed the Starbucks part. Another unforced error by Starbucks.

CIA insights were interesting and so were (like usual) your "7 other things worth knowing today"

Keep up the good work!

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Darrell's avatar

Each of today’s 7 Other Things taken together paints a troubling picture of life in the United States.

- ultra major weather events

- political parties using people’s lives in times of peril as political pawns

- justice (and our laws) not served

- bizarre leadership choices

- 1st Amendment hypocrisy at FB

- continuing increase in chronic health issues

- even more “You are not serious people.” (Logan Roy of Succession)

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Jeff's avatar

Is it me? Am I the only one? It seems to me that 7 Things has more political stories than in the past. Rather than the quirky, off the grid, stories we may have missed.

It could be me. The insanity, in my opinion, of what is going on in US politics has turned me right off political stories so maybe seeing them is a trigger. Or I'm just having a boomer moment.

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Steve's avatar

It seems that way; these are the stories that dominate the news cycle. I feel like I already know the content without clicking based on the headline alone. This is why I promised myself to stop doom scrolling and watch only the first 15 min or so of NBC national nightly news. So far so good. Ultimately, “worth knowing” is subjective. With respect to politics, it’s been more challenging to draw a line between knowing information based on an article or being influenced by it. Gen Xer here having more of these moments.

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Crixcyon's avatar

I haven't been in a starbucks in about 4,713 days (including drive thru) and man, that's a long time to hold it in.

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Lisa Maniaci's avatar

There is nothing more annoying than someone who thinks the gym, diner, train, park bench, Starbucks, is their own personal living room and that it's ok to facetime, do a full photo shoot or watch videos without ear buds. It shows how rude people have become and how much self awareness has gone by the wayside. I read something yesterday: "What quietly disappeared over the last 20 years and no one noticed?" The answer was SHAME

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Lisa Maniaci's avatar

Bill, thanks for the book recommendation today too.

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Matthew Kurtz's avatar

Thanks for the show and book recommendations. Always looking for new read. Bill, fill us in regularly on what you're reading. I bet we'd find it interesting.

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ivy chan andrade's avatar

I used to live in Los Angeles for many years. To hear politicians discuss holding back aid because they think California has mismanaged forests or has displayed bad behavior (this is what I've read and heard) is appalling. Did we question whether or not New Orleans, North Carolina, Florida or any number of Republican-leaning states should get aid when they had natural disasters? NO.

You can warn people about floods, hurricanes, earthquakes (anyone?), and more, but people will not be prepared nor will they mitigate most factors that can make things worse when a disaster strikes.

I don't plan to live near brush or by a mountain or hill where it will be difficult to leave in an emergency but I don't think most people think about these things when buying a home. Maybe they will now. A go bag is not a bad idea for everyone either. I'm going to put one together soon (even though it should have been done already).

And as far as the Starbucks and the CIA, thanks, Bill for sharing this. As for names given to Starbucks for a drink, I had an instance in NYC where I gave my name and later heard "ID" being shouted out. That was for me; I guess ID is close. Giving your real name doesn't make a difference if they write it down wrong!

Yes, The Americans is a great show. I saw it in reruns (ha!) and wondered how many Russians are still undercover here.

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ivy chan andrade's avatar

Oh and I forgot to mention that someone from Wisconsin (senator on NPR today) cannot know what needs to be done in terms of infrastructure and forest management in California, so they shouldn't be putting their 2 cents in based on partisanship and vengeance against a state that has many industries which are crucial to the U.S.

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