Let's begin today in the small, rural town of Bemidji, Minnesota, a place that seems a world away for most city slickers. But it turns out we all have something in common. Boxes. More specifically, Amazon boxes. But the pile of Amazon boxes is a bigger problem in many out of the way places that depend on the USPS to handle last mile delivery. The fire marshall in Bemidji recently visited the local post office "because the Amazon packages were stacked precariously high." Locals have seen their other mail delayed by days. And thanks to a package deal Amazon swung with the postal service, the system is breaking down. At least the mail carriers are... "Dennis Nelson, a veteran mail carrier, said he got so frustrated watching multiple co-workers 'breaking down and crying' that he staged a symbolic strike earlier this month outside the post office where he has worked for more than 20 years. 'I have to do something,' Nelson said. 'It feels like we should be wearing shirts that say ‘USPS: Brought to you by Amazon.com.'" WaPo (Gift Article): A rural post office was told to prioritize Amazon packages. Chaos ensued. 2Brother in Arms"The phone call came early that morning from a friend from her home town—Springfield, Oregon. He stammered something about having bad news and hung up. Soon afterward, another friend called and told her that there had been a shooting at Thurston High School, where Kristin had gone and where her brother, Kip, was in ninth grade. 'Is Kip hurt?' she asked. She didn’t get an answer. Then a third friend phoned and blurted out what nobody else wanted to say: Kip was the one who had opened fire at Thurston. As Kristin would later learn, he had killed two students and injured another twenty-five." Jennifer Gonnerman in The New Yorker with a very interesting look at What Happens to a School Shooter’s Sister? "There’s this tremendous need to be able to put us in a box with a label that’s different than the one you put on your family. Because if we’re similar that means this could have been you, too. And I think that thought makes people very uncomfortable." 3Cell Yourself"Dynamo inmates have keys to their housing unit and yard, which they can access at any hour and are responsible for cutting the grass. They have open movement to food service, jobs, library, recreation and canteen. They have access to a day room with a soft sofa, large television, washer and dryer, refrigerator, ice machine, plants and an aquarium to help alleviate stress. Most unusual of all, inmates have their own cells, which they can paint the color of their choosing — and are expected to clean." What happened when a group of prison longtimers were given a little more freedom and control over their lives? "Zero fights and no drugs, overdoses or violations." These Missouri inmates run their own corner of the prison. The warden is OK with that. 4Surviving Crunch Time"Voices — and crunching — are amplified when people are using headsets, which are often worn by gamers, many of whom spend hours at a time playing multiplayer video games. So the chip brand Doritos created Doritos Silent, a crunch cancellation software that removes the sound of chewing from voice chat, Zoom or any call that uses headphones. But it was really created for gamers." WaPo (Gift Article): The sound of crunching chips is annoying. Doritos has made a silencer. (Sadly, this doesn't work for the person sitting next to you on the couch.) 5Extra, ExtraExtension Struck a Chord: The Israel-Hamas cease-fire has been extended and more hostages have been released. Some of the hostages are now sharing their experiences. The Biden administration is pressuring Israel to be more surgical in its military efforts when the front moves to South. Here's the latest from CNN, BBC, and NBC. Some of the hostages are just learning about family members who were slain. Teenage siblings freed from Hamas captivity, only to learn their mother had been murdered. Meanwhile, a ridiculous GOP bill to expel Palestinians from the US has been rebuked in an effort led by two Jewish members of Congress. 6Bottom of the News"In Sweden, casual chattiness is seen as needless, since conversation is used for exchanging real, meaningful information." Why Swedes don’t speak to strangers. (I'll have more to say on this once I've moved to Sweden.) Get a copy of my 📕, Please Scream Inside Your Heart, or grab a 👕 in the Store.
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