Guess what I did Friday Afternoon?

Stood in line for a good 45 minutes in 90 degree sun, and it felt really good after two hours in the library at about 70 degrees. I had my baseball hat on and was able to stand with my arms behind me in sort of a parade rest, so no sunburn.

I didn't expect much of a line for 2:15 in the afternoon!

Most people, like me, were masked, the voting stations were distanced and were cleaned between users. Even the pens were dumped in a bucket to be disinfected, so the virus was definitely being taken into account.

Early in-person voting started Tuesday in New Mexico at the County Secretary's station, and I was in the 1300s. Mail-in early voting started earlier, I wanted to do it in-person. Additional voting stations open in about two weeks.

Absolutely no griefing, no poll-watchers, no interference of any sort.

This is so funny: Irish Supreme Court rules that Subway's sandwich bread is not bread!

It's like the German Beer Purity Laws, which I absolutely respect. Ireland has strict laws regulating what constitutes bread. Subway's "bread" (according to Irish law) has too much sugar, and cannot be called bread.

I guess it is a bread-like substance?

It all boils down to a VAT dispute, and the corp that owns Subway in Ireland says they shouldn't have to pay VAT on sandwiches that were sold as take-out.

To quote the article: "According to the Subway Ireland website, the chain's six-inch and footlong subs are available on six different kinds of bread, including nine-grain multi-seed, Italian white bread, Italian herbs and cheese, nine-grain wheat, hearty Italian, and honey oat. And, according to the country's Supreme Court, all six varieties are too sugary to legally be called "bread" at all.

The court case itself is a slightly confusing one unless you're well versed in Irish tax policies, but it started when a Subway franchise owner challenged the tax authorities' decision not to issue a refund for value-added tax (VAT) on some takeout foods. Galway-based Bookfinders LTD said that it shouldn't have to pay VAT on hot coffee and tea, or on the hot sandwiches that weren't eaten inside the restaurant.

Its argument was that since the sandwiches contain bread, they should be considered a "staple food" and shouldn't be taxed. But the five Supreme Court judges countered by suggesting that those sandwiches aren't served on "bread" at all, at least not under the "statutory definition of bread."

According to the Irish Independent, the judges ruled that Subway's bread is not a staple food because its sugar content is 10 percent of the weight of the flour in the dough; the Value-Added Tax Act 1972 stipulates that sugar, fat, and "bread improver" cannot add up to more than 2 percent of the weight of the flour. (Those limits are in place to prevent things like pastries and other sweet baked goods from being labeled as "staple foods" and exempt from being taxed.)

Justice Donal O'Donnell dismissed Bookfinders' appeal on Tuesday, although he did acknowledge that some of the arguments presented on their behalf were "ingenious." An Appeal Commissioner also said that Subway's hot sandwiches were not eligible for a zero-percent tax rate, so Bookfinders was doubly denied."

ROFL!

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/subway-bread-sugar-content-ireland-court-ruling

The Lancet: Exaggerated risk of COVID from fomite transmission?!

Basic argument being that the testing takes place with ridiculously high concentrations of infectious material that can't take place in reality.

Myself, handling inter-library loan material, all of my books spend at least five or more days in the mail or in courier transit. I'm not isolating those materials. I'm wearing a mask and being careful taking them out of their packaging and disposing of said USPS packaging, and I wash my hands thoroughly with soap when I'm done. And I've been doing this for three or four months. We're continuing handling in-person and book drop returns with three-day isolation routines.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30561-2/fulltext