Is today Monday?

After deciding that today was Monday and successfully getting out of bed I had a great day at work. I took all of Kate's ideas, presented them as mine, and now they think I'm so smart. 

In addition, I think I just successfully added pleasure and intellectual accomplishment to my job. I'm going to take over teaching our group climate finance. Would you believe that there are actually people who want to learn this???? 

And then to wrap up a perfectly great day I got to talk with my mother-in-law about politics and she shared a bunch of good news that I did not know. Ex. Now I know what, "curing" is. ("....ballot rejections are largely the result of relatively minor voter errors, often associated with security measures that are designed to verify a voter's identity. That's why about half of states have a process in place to help voters fix their mail ballots if they do make a mistake. It's known as ballot curing."

Finally, Kendall told us Shutterfly was having a sale and now I get to see some of my pictures in print. :-)

I hope you've had a good day too. 

Do you remember the Russian whose daughter was assassinated? He and his daughter were both very hard-line, beyond-the-pale, wacko anti-Ukrainian. Polite company call them fascists. Aleksandr Dugin has done the unthinkable and criticized Putin by name. 

Putin has lost half of the men he originally sent to war. I don't mean they died, because this includes injured, captured, surrendered, or fled. He also lost nearly 6,000 pieces of equipment. Their elite units are devastated. This means they've lost skill and their conscripts can't replace it. Russians protested the war from the beginning. Many Russian soldiers, the ones who weren't evil, thought the war was pointless. Remember that they'd probably visited Ukraine and had Ukrainian friends and family. Ukraine on the other hand, has people who have been fighting since Russia invaded in 2014. It has a people who have mobilized en masse to support the war. They fund weapons, beyond just their taxes. They learned how to manufacture war supplies. Even those not in the military formed armed resistance groups that aid the military. 

One weapon the UK provided before the new invasion is the Next-Generation Light Anti-armor Weapon, or NLAW. (They call the weapon, "in-law?") 

It is portable and lightweight and thus great for hit-and-run attacks. It can penetrate 20 inches of Russian armor and thus destroy Russian tanks. 

Then we have the HIMARS which have allowed Ukraine to destroy ammunition depots, command centers, and supply lines. 

Starlink, no matter what we may think of Elon's terrible attempt at statesmanship, allowed Ukraine to communicate. Civilians and military stayed online. Satellite connections cannot be jammed unless you shoot down the satellite. It allows Ukraine to coordinate their defense. 

The war is costing Russia money too. Some estimates are that it costs Russia $1 billion a day. 

Putin is staying away from G20. Zelensky called it the G19. 

Canada is giving Ukraine $500 million and sanctioning more Russians so Russia has barred entry to 100 Canadians. Oh how sad.