{"id":15576,"date":"2015-07-08T08:41:42","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T15:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15576"},"modified":"2015-07-08T08:41:42","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T15:41:42","slug":"open-thread782015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/08\/open-thread782015\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread–7\/8\/2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday afternoon, I started to experience severe congestion.  I think I may have continued to treat myself with Ipratropium Bromide\/Albuterol Sulfate longer than I needed to and dried myself out.  For over 24 hours, I was unable to cough up the junk that collects in my chest, and I could not lie down without severe coughing, so I could not sleep.  I called my helper friend.  She came, did the most hated task, helped me get to the shower, fed me and applied hot compresses to my chest and back.  I thought about going to the emergency room, but decided not to, because I was not actually running a fever and my pulse oximeter read 95%, so I knew my lungs were not seriously compromised, as they would be if I had pneumonia.  I was finally able to cough up the gunk at around 3 PM yesterday, and I slept ten out of the next twelve hours.  I\u2019m still feeling week and tired.  Pardon my brevity.<\/font><\/p>\n

Jig Zone Puzzles<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s took me 3:44 (average 5:19).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  Today\u2019s took me 3:19 (average 4:44).  To do it, click here<\/a>.  How did you do?<\/font><\/p>\n

Fantasy Football Recruiting<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

We still need one or two new player for <\/font>Lefty Blog Friends<\/a><\/font>, our fantasy football league.  Viv and her Hillbilly Lefties are now onboard. How about you?  For more information, <\/font>click here<\/a><\/font>.<\/font><\/p>\n

Short Takes<\/strong>:<\/font><\/p>\n

From Alternet<\/a>: <\/font>John Oliver was off for the weekend of Fourth of July, or the \u201cannual American tradition of reminding the sky who runs shit,\u201d as the \u201cLast Week Tonight\u201d host more aptly called it. But that didn\u2019t stop him from uploading a brief \u2014 emphasis on brief, because we\u2019ll come back to that \u2014 web exclusive in the show\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not uncommon<\/a> for HBO to upload web exclusives to tide viewers over until the following week. What is uncommon: Oliver decided to cover 15 topics (\u201c15 shallow dives\u201d) in one minute instead of his usual 15-minute deep-dive.<\/p>\n