{"id":4536,"date":"2021-01-23T21:12:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-23T21:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=4536"},"modified":"2022-07-06T19:24:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T19:24:04","slug":"another-daily-journal-masking-the-unmasked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/another-daily-journal-masking-the-unmasked\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Daily Journal: Masking the Unmasked"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I never wear a face mask while at my desk. Make that almost never. I did this morning \u2014 Saturday, January 23, 2021 \u2014 while taking that picture. \u25b3<\/p>\n

And I wore one I’d had at the hospital while taking a picture for “Back from the Hospital: The Masked Minnesotan Rides Again<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

<\/a>I took that other picture September 2, the day I got back from the hospital. \u25b7<\/p>\n

But I didn’t finish the post I’d taken it for until October 5, 2020.<\/p>\n

Taking the picture and getting it ready for posting took maybe 10 minutes, tops. Writing the post took about a month.<\/p>\n

Partly because it’s one of those where I talk about the main topic \u2014 whatever that is \u2014 plus the science, history and occasional weirdness behind the topic. Or around it, as the case may be.<\/p>\n

And partly because I’d been really sick. But not from COVID-19. I’d been experiencing an old-fashioned staph\/strep\/cellulitis infection. (October 5, 2020<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The face mask I’m wearing in today’s photo is from Sauk Centre’s Walmart. And that brings me to one of the two things I was going to talk about today.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The Masked Minnesotan, Unmasked! (or) Common Sense Strikes Again!<\/h4>\n

<\/a>This household does much, but not all, of its shopping at the local Walmart.<\/p>\n

That could mean we’re witless pawns of Big Store, mindless minions of a megalomaniacal mastermind \u2014 or folks living with a limited budget.<\/p>\n

I think it’s the ‘limited budget’ thing.<\/p>\n

But if the ‘Big Store’ conspiracy theory was right, I’d be a mindless minion: so what would I know?<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, I haven’t seen the ‘Walmart will destroy us all’ response to a company offering communities stable employment and affordable products presented as a conspiracy theory. Not that I’ve seen.<\/p>\n

Walmart as a dire threat to downtown business, yes. A fear of Walmart destroying businesses by attracting new customers into town identified as a conspiracy theory, no.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Moving on.<\/h5>\n

I had a few things to pick up in Walmart yesterday, was parked and in the store before I realized that I’d forgotten to bring a face mask along. Dummkopf!<\/p>\n

Walmart has a face mask policy \u2014 which probably has its own entourage of conspiracy theories, and I’m not going to wade back into that.<\/p>\n

Anyway, there I was. No mask. Unwilling to go home, get one and return. Which would have made sense.<\/p>\n

Instead, I rearranged my coat into a sort of oversized neck gaiter: went to the employee tasked with watching the entrance and told her this was her chance for telling me to leave.<\/p>\n

Instead, she handed me a face mask. The one I’m wearing in this morning’s photo.<\/p>\n

So I thanked her, re-rearranged my coat into its normal configuration, put on the face mask and finished my errand.<\/p>\n

I figure that free face masks explains a good fraction of the masked Walmart customers. But, since a great many have been wearing other varieties, certainly not all.<\/p>\n

I haven’t been keeping track, but it’s been quite a few weeks now that the vast majority of folks in Walmart have been wearing face masks. Which I take as a sign that common sense eventually prevails.<\/p>\n

Or maybe it’s proof that the Illuminati-Pixie-Walmart overlords have enslaved us all. By making us wear face masks. No, I do not think so. I really do not think so.<\/p>\n

Moving on again.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Dawn of My Daily Journal<\/h4>\n

\"John<\/a>I’ve had a ‘journal’ category for this blog since October of 2019.<\/p>\n

As the category’s description says, ‘journal’ posts are “… more about me, less about (almost) everything else.”<\/p>\n

That’s the idea, anyway.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The news was, as usual, full of election-themed sound and fury, topped off by their view of the January 6 U.S. Capitol incident.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some dude’s Ottawa dorm room project had grown into an “underground newspaper” and was reporting that THEY ARRESTED THE POPE!!!<\/span><\/strong> The story included the usual trimmings: sex, crime and The Vatican Suppressing The Truth.<\/p>\n

And enough folks were taking the guff seriously to warrant a ‘lets get real’ CNA piece.<\/p>\n

I talked about that on January 11, 2021:<\/p>\n