I think the opposition to the merger/takeover (however you might characterize it) is more politics than economics. The global steel industry has been subject of a lot of acquisitions, mergers, and sales. Ultimately, the largest threat to US steelmakers has been China, but the various tariffs on steel imposed by the Bush II, Trump, and Biden administrations have fended that off to a large degree, possibly at the expense of the consumers or the larger US economy. Locally in the Pittsburgh area, opposition does not seem as strong as some reports suggest, particularly among local US steelworkers who have legitimate concerns that the modernization of local US Steel plants could be jeopardized by rejection of Nippon's offer. The US steel industry saw some substantial takeovers by India's Mittal Steel earlier, but those were reversed when Mittal sold those holdings to Cleveland Cliffs, a US-based company. The major Russian steel company, Severstal, had significant US holdings in this century, but those were sold off as well. The world iron and steel trade is a very complicated marketplace, influenced not only by economics, but also politics and concerns of national interests and security. I think the name US Steel plays into reactions to the proposed merger because it sounds like a takeover of an industry, not a single company to people who know relatively little about it. Big Al

I took the "cross-grade" offer and is transitioning to Dorico. Just ran through a few of the demos that shipped with Dorico 5. So far so good. Dorico takes up even more (a lot more) disk space than Finale. If nothing else, at least Dorico is Apple silicon native -- something I suspect MakeMusic/Finale will not be able to do just because it doesn't look like MakeMusic can afford to invest enough to make the transition to Apple silicon. At some point I will also have to try to move some Garritan virtual instrument sounds/libraries that I have paid good money (to MakeMusic) for over to Dorico. MakeMusic says that will work, but we will see.

@Axtremus

That is fantastic! That is a parasail or parapente, not a parachute.

@wtg said in Jennifer Garner's house: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/step-inside-jennifer-garners-cozy-california-home Love it, just too tidy ... I suppose they all "clean up" before letting the photographer take pictures, just a matter of "how much" each has to do before picture time. :man-shrugging:

Glad to hear Mrs Ron and Mr WTG are bother doing better! @wtg said in At the hospital: The big guys like IBJI and ATI seem to have their therapists working with multiple people at the same time. We didn’t think that was optimal. That’s how it was when I was doing PT for my plantar fasciitis, one PTist was taking care of several people, and each time you went, you might or might not have the same person. At the time I remember thinking if my problem were anything more serious, I wouldn’t like that set up, so I can’t imagine doing it like that after a TKR. Meanwhile, my superwoman neighbor had her knee done a week ago tomorrow and said she drove for the first time yesterday. That means she’s not taking any pain meds. This is her second TKR, and she said she didn’t take pain meds the first time around. She has amazing recuperative powers…. Wow!!

Is there an emoji for dismay?

sic transit gloria mundi It wasn't long after this that the Enron and Worldcom collapses took Authur Anderson down as well. Perhaps worse than fiddling while Rome burns is fiddling when the fire fizzles out. Big Al

I like those a lot!

bump for @DeweyLOU Any chance your husband knows this violinist?

@Piano-Dad said in Well, hurry up and let's open it!: and other booze Ah, I see you are familiar with the technical jargon associated with liquor production.

Oh wow. I’m teaching a class for grad students on second language acquisition this semester, and we start with a unit on first language teaching and learning. We only do a pretty basic intro to the topic since it’s a huge topic of course, and we need to get into the second language stuff quickly. But we were just talking about the critical period and impacts on language development when children don’t have normal contact and exposure to language as babies. Heretofore, research documentation of that kind of lack of exposure that primarily been in situations of abuse. So it’s kind of heartbreaking to read about something similar happening not in the context of abuse but because of pandemic lockdown. I wonder what details in the US were different and what studies are being done in the U.S. now. Somehow I’m remembering that US lockdowns weren’t as long or as strict, but is that accurate?

@ShiroKuro Same pics as realtor.com....

Thank you!