January 31

 Welcome to the end of January. The clouds should clear out later today and then usher in 40s and low 50s for the next ten days. No rain expected which is good because it will give us time to dry out. We have already shifted out of the news because there isn't really any news to listen to or speak (or write) of.

Aurelian has a long post which deserves a careful read. First, he pokes a very big whole in the "techno-enthusiast" notion that something new, expensive, and theoretically powerful is an actual game changer. He applies the argument to military technology but I would argue it applies to other systems as well. What is good in theory often turns out not so good in practice. Second, the reason the new tech is not as much of a game changer as the enthusiast expects is it is applied in real world conditions for which is isn't effective. Third, all technologies, military and other, need a network of supply and support in which it can function. Fourth, technology has to be applied to suitable strategic objectives which have to be clearly defined and are actually achievable. I don't think converting Afghanistan into a western style, democratic system was ever achievable. And we were up against an enemy who simply wanted us out of their country. Fifth, there is a cost to all technologies and the cost (in men, money, and materiel) may not be sustainable or the objective not worth the price. I could go on but I will leave that to you.

Bill Astore notes the resurrection (if it ever died completely) of the old "domino theory." Just change the Communist Boogyman to Authoritarian Boogyman and change the location from Asia to Europe and nothing changes. It seems to me that our foreign policy has us whipsawed between fear of overwhelmingly powerful autocrats who are salivating to conquer a weak, fragile West piece by piece and if they win anywhere we lose everywhere. At the same time we are feed the notion that we are powerful enough to project our power everywhere and bring every country under the umbrella of the "democratic" world order.

January 28, 29, 30

 Overcast and rainy today. Also fairly warm. Most of the snow is gone and we have little likelihood of getting any more any time soon. It has felt so little like winter that I think about taking down the winter wreath and putting up something else. But It doesn't feel like spring either so I am not inclined to put that one up.

Jan 29**************************************************************

Cloudy again today but no rain yet. The forecast says we should see the sun later today. It seemed mild when we started on our errands but I think the temps fell during our two hour circuit.

Jan 30

Wet, chilly, overcast--again.

In case you hadn't noticed there isn't much out there that is worth thinking or commenting on.

 The rage of the moment involves some of the whacky right wing commentators are going crazy ballistic over Taylor Swift and her football player boyfriend. They seem to think (using the term very loosely) that it is a conspiracy by the Biden people to gin up his popularity. I have given up trying to find a rational explanation for anything that group of nut jobs "think." But why are some in the more mainstream news even covering their reaction. They should leave all that to the celebrity tabloids.

The news has been fixated on the minutia of Trumps legal cases but the coverage is incredibly repetitive.

Another repetitive and utterly predictable story line is what is happening in the Middle East. You can reduce the plot to "tit for tat." It has been that since Israel was established. And notice how many of our actions fall into the same pattern. Right now all the talking heads can talk about is who hard we are going to hit whom following the deaths of three soldiers and wounding of some three dozen more. 

January 27

 Good morning--and it is still morning for another 30 minutes. We have been very lazy today and just sat around vegetating. We didn't want to look at the news so I have a stack of our re-runs to go through. The coverage has gotten to the point that they rehash everything and provide nothing new. I didn't even get the computer out until just a bit ago.

The first thing I saw after disposing of a bunch of ads was a piece by Bill Astore which was interesting for a couple of reasons. I won't link because I trashed it before I realized I wanted to comment. He writes that Britain is asking the U.S. to recover its resolve and continue funding Ukraine. Someone pointed out yesterday, I think, that the U.S. is actually fourteenth among the nations supporting Ukraine though many of the system they rely on are from the U.S. Astore suggests that the U.K. should send some $60 billion also instead of pushing the U.S. to save Europe from Vlad and his Russian hordes. Unfortunately, I don't think their economy (or the economies of other European nations can cough up that sum for long. And I doubt we can either. A writer, I forget who, said some decades ago that it is easy to be generous when you seem to have an excess. He was talking about the U.S. effort to fund a range of social endeavors (medicare among them) while fighting a war in Southeast Asia. It didn't go well. I have thought for some time that our economy isn't as robust as we have been told. We no longer have the heavy industry we once had. We aren't the only intact industrial power any more. The most basic question is can we afford to let Putin have Ukraine? Considering the legislation their Duma passed last week and which Putin signed directing that the Russian government begin to recover property lost over the last few centuries, maybe not. Among the "property" mentioned was Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, most of Eastern Europe, and Alaska. The we have the pairs questions of whether we, even if the E.U. stays on board, have the resources and resolve to stop Russia and whether Russia has the economic and military muscle to accomplish their aims.

Stray thought: is there any way to criticize Israel without being accused antisemitism. Israeli officials have accused the ICJ of just that. Over the years I have heard the same every time anyone voices any criticism however mild. Israel has traded on the Holocaust for the last 70 years during which time the character of Israel has changed. And American and European governments haven't noticed or have ignored.

January 25

 The temperature is definitely going up. Last week we couldn't get a temp above 10F and today we are headed for 40 or better. We had some fog earlier and sporadic rain continues to melt the remaining snow. I finally got the last of the ice away from the gate area and the gate post shifted to its original position--in other words I could close it again. I think the subfreezing temps and heavy snow did in most of the hardy plants. I look at the patio and start thinking of what I will have to do when spring comes and the soil thaws out.

I linked to an article about the rise in measles (and other childhood diseases) here in the U.S. This piece in Euronews describes a big rise in measles in Europe. In 2023 they counted 30,000 cases after a 2022 number of 941. That includes 21,000 hospitalizations with 5 deaths. Although the E.U. has high rates vaccination the article says the rates are still suboptimal. Four of the deaths were among unvaccinated patients (3 children, 1 adult).

Stray thought: I think the death penalty is inhumane largely because of the propensity for error. I came to that conclusion when I was in 8th grade. The teacher told of visiting a cemetery in a ghost town where one of the headstones read "Sorry, we hung him by mistake." This story illustrates a major problem with our system. There really is no humane way to execute someone. I often think our search for supposedly humane ways of death dealing is more an effort to sooth everyone's sensibilities--to say "see, it isn't so bad after all. We gave a terrible person an easy way out." But suffocation isn't easy.

We had a bit of a chuckle over this story which can be filed in the "failed good intentions" folder. We have a stack of both canvas and the heavier plastic bags and we have been trying to get back into the habit of taking them with us when we go shopping. We did that before the pandemic but, after the early reports came out that COVID was spread by touching contaminated surfaces, the state health department ordered all stores to not allow customers to use their own bags. That order was not rescinded even after the evidence showed it was actually airborne. The plastics industry also hyped the supposed hygienic qualities of their products. Even after the worst of the pandemic was over one of the stores used a carousel system to speed up the cashier's lines so bringing our own bags just gummed up the process. Another store used to give a 5 cent discount for every one of your own bags you used. They don't anymore. We are almost back to reliably taking our own bags again. And the single use bags we still get are not single use for us. We use those bags we still get as trash can liners and for cleaning our cats' litter boxes.

January 24

 The melt has started. The patio path to the gate is clear and the snow has diminished by about half. I tried to put a letter in the mail box yesterday morning and gave up. I told Mom that, after slipping four times before getting to the sidewalk going to the street and wasn't going to even try that slope--and I wasn't letting her try it either. Shouldn't be a problem today. The forecast today predicts on-and-off rain with temps in the mid- to high 30s.

Well, Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary with a final tally of about 54%. However, his coronation has been postponed because Hallie came in at a bare 11% below him. It wasn't the blow out win he wanted and the poor baby is unhappy because she refuses to leave the field to him and him alone.

Improve The News posted this piece abut a leading cancer institute retracting or correct recently published studies. I remember looking at news stories about hopeful scientific/medical "breakthroughs" and deciding I would wait until a "trustworthy" source confirmed the results. Now--I am even skeptical of what were once trusted sources.

I find I skim more of the news posts--sometimes just the headlines. My interest in politics is dwindling fast. Too much inflated egos and too little policy. And most of the policy is terrifying. 

Stray thought: watching the news recounting the demonstration that interrupted Biden's speech demanding that he somehow stop the war in Gaza and I am, again, amazed that the demonstrators think the American President can simply lay down the law and Israel will roll over and do what he says. And, of course, it is Israel they think he should bully because no one expect Hamas to stop fighting. I remember, way back during George W.'s administration, the surprise in the pundit corps and the Media, went to Saudi Arabia and begged them to increase oil production and lower the price because the high prices were hammering our economy. They cut production almost as soon as George W. left the country. The Saudis were, and some think still are, our allies and, we thought, should accommodate us. There are limits to a president's power and to a country's power. That is a fact our leaders and most Americans have been able to ignore for the last half of the 20th century. 

January 22

Found on Jan 20

I love this piece "Boomers: Worked. Gen X: Irked. Millennials: Shirked." The author is anxious to see what Generation Alpha does. I remember falling into the "do whatever the employer wants," show up for mandatory meetings that were "off the clock," go the "extra mile," expecting that the effort would be rewarded. It never was. I remember being told that you should send "thank you" notes after an interview. Since then my caustic remark that we "work ourselves to death to make a living" changed to we "work ourselves to death and still can't make a living." I am a boomer who worked, got irked, and wish I had shirked. I am glad to see trends that say that workers are setting rules and boundaries. I want to see more of it.

We are getting a bit of snow but the temperatures should be going up and the are promising rain. If that comes through much of this snow and ice should go away. Several communities from west of Chicago to east of here are watching because their rivers a both high and ice clogged which might change to flood. We plan on hibernating for the week since the forecast is for rain and/or freezing rain til Friday.

Well DeSantis is gone. Won't be missed. After all of the caustic remarks he made about so-called Republicans who oppose Trump and then cave and "kiss the ring," DeSantis set a speed record for doing the same.

We are doing what we can to cut the crap that is passed off as news. Saturday we got two soccer (football for those on the other side of the pond) games. And the BBC for a bit. Yesterday we had another two soccer games, the women's basketball game (I forgot which teams but it went into overtime, and the Lions vs Buccaneers (American football). Every now and then I put out a stack of our DVDs and we watch our re-runs.

January 19

 We had a fair bit of snow over night. It isn't light yet so all I could actually see is what is on the patio. A car's headlights showed a vigorous snow falling. 

Saw this first thing this morning which doesn't bode well economically. Market Watch provides more information here. Note that throwaway line where an official acknowledges that the water problem isn't just affecting the Canal--it is country wide. Actually, the drought is major factor in the immigration situation. The entire region has had a multi-year drought.

We shouldn't be surprised by this post by Susie Madrak on Crooks&Liars. All the "childhood" diseases are coming back as larger parts of our society reject vaccines. She does note that "exemptions" have been liberally allowed but pulling that back won't work. Most of the reason those diseases became rare is states and local governments and school officials mandated kids be vaccinated before going to school. I grew up before the vaccines were introduced. I and most of my cohort had measles, mumps, chicken pox. Thankfully, I don't know anyone who suffered severe complications but we should remember that those diseases decimated the native populations where ever Europeans arrived in the Americas and the Pacific islands. They can be deadly.

This is absolutely crazy. Some F&&king conspiracy theorist admitted at trial he started 14 of the Canadian wildfires. He said he wanted to test whether the governments were speaking truth when they warned about how dry the forests were.

Interesting piece by David Kaiser at his History Unfolding site. It reflects my own notions that no one is very happy with our politics and that both parties are more aligned with the financial powers than with voters.

I have read two posts over the last couple of days on the matter of trust both spring off the Davos meeting this week. One noted that the participants represent individuals and industries that have earned our distrust because of lies, predictions that fail, gaslighting (your economic pain isn't real because the numbers say something else), and other such self-serving tactics. The other today noted that we generally trust what touches us directly and that we can see. If you use something and it functions as it should, you trust it to continue to do so and the company that made. The farther the phenomenon is from your direct experience the harder it is to trust it. If you can see it and verify it, you trust it. The opposite is also true: if you can't verify it, you don't trust it.

So, our politicians mustered the gumption to pass....another continuing resolution kicking the budgetary can down to early March. One day they will run out of road. The potholes are getting pretty big already.

Major irritation: Nikki Haley trying to explain why the U.S. isn't a racist nation, and in her mind, has never been. Somehow she thinks the aspirational sentiments of the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution wipe out how people have actually lived. The fact of slavery. The fact of indigenous genocide. The fact of Jim Crow and the KKK. Not everyone was racist. But we had enough and they had enough influence to give the whole a tinge of racism. 

January 18

New snow again with lake effect probable. The temps won't exceed 32 til the middle of next week. I hope some of the ice under the snow will melt then. We didn't get the slush shoveled before the real cold set in. Every year such tasks get harder to do and easier to forget to do.

Bill Astore takes on the notion of an American turn toward isolationism. He  makes a good point that unraveling the net work of bases and the political/economic ties the U.S. has spanning the globe is a complicated project no one is honestly addressing--not addressing at all really. Reassessing our military footprint, our relationships world wide, and where our resources is not the same as retreating into isolationism. Conditions change and such periodic reconsiderations are necessary.

Another Republican thinks we should put kids to work. She has drawn up a bill that will allow children to leave school after graduating 8th grade. My grandfather graduated 8th grade in the 1890s which would have qualified him to teach. He preferred to work as a farmer. My father dropped out before graduating high school to enlist in the Navy during WWII. He worked as a truck driver. My mother dropped out though she had all the credits she needed to graduate (they refused to give her the diploma) to get married. Nearly 20 years later she took a GED test so she could go to Purdue and earn a nursing degree. My siblings and I have various histories. But by the time we came along my mother strove mightily to keep us in school to graduate. Statistics show that life time incomes increase as one completes high school and increases more with a college diploma. That would seem to be a good thing for the person, for the family and for our society. Evidently others don't think so. Stray thought: my mother and I have often listened to stories where some supposedly educated people spouted incorrect "facts" on some subject and wondered what the schools are teaching now. I often worked retail and found much younger colleagues who couldn't do basic math or make accurate change without the register telling them what the change should be. I have seen stories of young people who couldn't read or write cursive. Recently, I read a semi-biographical part of a blog written by a person who recounted how the parameters of his submissions have changed from articles of 4000 words to  nowadays a limit of under 1000 because the publishers think people won't read longer ones. I could accept letting kids leave school after graduating 8th grade if we had a rigorous system which provided kids with skills to go back to school later and learn other skills/degrees. I don't see that. All I see is politicians who think dumping kids on the labor market so that employers have a resource that will let them pressure adult wages downward.

Stray thought: there has been a lot of space given to the polls which say people, generally, are pessimistic about the economy. I have mentioned some of them along with my own skepticism about statistics that are cherry picked and massaged. Over the last few I have seen another poll which reveals the importance of what question is asked. The pollsters asked their respondents the usual question about what they think of the economy and got the usual pessimistic responses. But then they followed up with the same respondents and asked how they felt about their own economic situation and found most people were both satisfied and optimistic. Interesting. I can relate to that because we are in that position--skeptical about the over all direction of the economy writ large and satisfied with our own economic situation.

Stray thought: the article title proclaimed that Trump was "denied" access to evidence that doesn't exist. That seems a bit moronic. No one can deny access to what doesn't exist. I didn't read the article.

Charles Hugh Smith has a post about trust in American Society. Spoiler: there isn't much any more.

January 17

 Let's see what is going on besides more of the same. It is still very cold. I had to put out-going mail in the box. A lot of the snow on the sidewalks has disappeared--probably blown away. However, that is on the south side of the house. On the north side the ice and snow are still there. I forgot that Monday was a holiday and trash pick up is delayed by one day. I struggled to get the gate unlatched and then struggled to  roll the tote out to the street for pick up--and then remembered that it won't be picked up til tomorrow. Well, it is staying out there til after the trash trucks come by. I can't close the gate because the frozen ground has shifted the gate post up. Oh, the joys of winter. Even through my gloves my hands were ice cold when I got back inside. (UPDATE: I guess the company our landlord uses to collect trash doesn't celebrate the MLK holiday. They picked up trash today.)

The continuing effect of the drought in British Columbia: reduced water flow in dams and rivers=reduced power production, dry wells, dangerous low water in reservoirs. One of the local power companies is importing power at a hefty cost and offering customers who reduce their usage by 10% this year compared to last year a nice credit.  Stray thought: this situation is and has been repeated over wide geographical areas for several years now and show the weakness of relying on one form of power generation. Hydroelectric plants require a certain water flow, solar requires a certain level of sunlight, wind requires wind at certain speeds, natural gas requires the supply of gas and can be interrupted by breaks or freezes in the lines. I could go on but the lesson here is to have back-ups for the back-ups for the main systems. I wish we had backups but we don't own our place.

Doomberg carried this article which shows the problems around government agencies mandating types of technology. Electric vehicles, or Zero Emission Vehicles as the Canadian government calls the technology, are perfectly good for certain environments--but, and it is a big but, not all.  I live in a medium sized city and I have seen several gas stations have put in charging stations. I still wouldn't want an EV. Or, rather, I wouldn't want to only have an EV. If I had to go outside the city I don't want to worry about whether charging stations are available. Also I have no idea how much it would cost to charge the vehicle. Too many unanswered question--sometimes the questions aren't even asked.

Found this substack post by way of my Facebook feed. I linked to a BBC (it think) article on the pains of self checkout technology. The piece today makes a few other good points. First, the technology is all about reducing the numbers (and therefore the cost) of minimum wage employees. Second, it isn't really labor saving because the customer has to do the work cashiers did--without pay. When gas stations introduced the practice of "letting" customers pump their own gas, they gave a choice for those who wanted full service and an incentive of a bit lower price for those who didn't mind doing the work for themselves. Now you don't get a choice and you don't get a price break. The retailers putting in self-serve kiosks do keep the choice because you can still, for now, go to a cashier manned station but they don't offer any price cut for those willing to do the work themselves.

Heather Cox Richardson made a couple of points about the Iowa Caucus before those of us who wouldn't vote for Trump unless he got a conscience implant (and maybe not then) start having palpitations. The turnout was considerably less than the previous Caucus turnout. It only represented about 15% of Iowa Republicans Trump's "win" amounted to 51% of 15%. The pundits keep reminding us that Iowa is not representative of the rest of the states. I am amazed the his supporters can't see him for the con artist see is. But my amazement has given way to a realization: he is a sound track for some people's grievances (real or imagined) and/or he is the vehicle for some peoples hopes for various changes they want (dismantled "deep state," "restoration" of a country they imagined once existed, creation of a society in which they would get what they think is their due, etc.) Those supporters don't give a thimble of warm spit for his moral failings.

January 16

 Good morning. It is still cold and we can really tell it because of how often our furnace turns on. The birds quickly realized I had filled the feeder. The feeder has six perches and at least five of them were occupied most of the time while several other birds sat on the fence waiting for an opening. I don't know why none tried to take the one empty place. The cats, of course, were mewing at the door wanting so much to get out among the "chew toys." 

Watching the postmortem on the Iowa caucus. Nothing much added to the commentary in real time last night.

Stray thought #1--the commentators said that those who were hoping an alternative to Trump (I guess I will have to give up "The Former Guy" because he may be The Future Guy) were disappointed. Well, I have to wonder why because none of the candidates were true alternatives. Christi dropped out and Haley is simply Trump with heels. They all, even Christi, were in the same philosophical bucket.

Stray thought #2--one of the reporters said that a couple (no idea how many) of voters claimed that they voted for Trump because he was the one who would return THEIR country, the country God has given them, to their control. I would be shocked at this if I hadn't read enough history to see it as the latest iteration of the "City on a hill" notion expressed by Puritan Preachers which later morphed into the American civil religion incorporated in Manifest Destiny and into Madelynn Albright's concept of America as the "indispensable nation" in world affairs. Those evangelicals want to return to a country (and a world) where God's people call the tune and everyone else dances to it.

Stray thought #3--I remember a scene in the Dune series movie "The Children of Dune" where Alia, ruling as regent for her brother's minor twins, becomes more and more repressive in the face of growing opposition to her government. The voice over tells us she is "unable to recognize the true forces arrayed against her" and so responds with increasing political violence. I see a parallel between Alia and our politicians who fail to see that our local problems are local manifestations of global problems. Look at any of the events here (migration, labor unrest, economic problems, environmental crises, etc.) and you see similar occurrences world wide. We have a globalized society. The competing demonstrations for and against Israel or the Palestinians demonstrate that. Vladimir Putin has tried, with some success, to characterize his war in Ukraine as one of a virtuous Russian conservative society resisting a decadent West. The Houthis buy sending drones and missiles against ships flagged in, owned by, or shipping to Europeans and Israelis are doing the same in solidarity with the Palestinians. Like Alia our politicians can't see the real forces arrayed against them.

More frequently over the last couple of decades I have found that new technology simply isn't convenient, or reliable. I recently got a "smart" phone and the only thing I like about it is I have it set up so I can access my bank account easily--thanks to a very nice, patient, young teller. Next week I plan to get a new flip phone on a new number. We never liked the self check outs in the stores that have put them in. We usually have far more items than the stores want to pass through those stands and we like to talk to the cashiers. This article on BBC indicates that the technology hasn't delivered on any of its promises and some retailers are removing some if not all of them.

One good outcome from the Iowa Caucus is that one of the Trump clones has suspended his campaign. Good bye, Vevek Ramaswamy, we hardly knew you and didn't really want to.

January 15

 Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Temperature is -8 and will not get out of single positive digits today. Not going anywhere. The Weather Channel has a reporter in Mississippi and they are also cold with snow/sleet.

Found on MSN this morning. Another power company's gas storage/transport operation failed over the weekend as the huge area it serves is suffering through brutal winter conditions. A couple of points interest me. First, the recognition that the U.S. has aging utility infrastructures. I put that last in plural because we don't have a single, unified system. Perhaps that is a good thing. Just imagine a nationwide outage rather than more local, though large, one. Second, though the Federal Government approved an expansion of the system no new infrastructure has been built because there is a battle over how the money should be spent. Some want more investment in so-called "green" technologies opposed to those who want an expansion of current infrastructure. In the mean time nothing at all gets done.

I found an interesting opinion piece on Boston Globe this morning. (No I don't subscribe but I do sometimes get such things and can sometimes read part of the article.) The piece "We are all plagiarists now" looks at the increasingly difficult problem of defining exactly what is plagiarism. The author cites another writer who tested a popular A.I. program for detecting plagiarism with one of his own articles. It resulted in a 7% probability that he had lifted some phrase from another author. He realized that he had never read the article in question which was posted on a site he had never visited. Then he checked out a passage from the Book of Job and found that God was a plagiarist. The program labeled as plagiarism future uses of the original material.

Green Prophet put out an article on how to tell "real" honey from processed or adulterated honey and explains why you should care. For years, since the first articles about "fake" honey appeared, we have bought honey from local sources. It costs a bit more but worth it. We do the same for maple syrup.

I am still digesting this post by Lambert Strether on Naked Capitalism. I can see about half and am doing my usual "yeeeees, but..." dance for the rest.

Evidently the COVID tests many people turn to if they suspect they might have the virus aren't as reliable as they once were. People test at the first appearance of symptoms and get a negative reading only to take a second test a few days later which comes back positive. The experts say that it is taking longer after infection for a person to test positive. Here is the link.

January 14

Half past January and it is cold. I did brave the cold for the few seconds it took to take in the bird feeder and then to put the filled feeder back out. The birds haven't found it yet and are probably staying in warm nexts. I think my thermometer on the fence is frozen. It surely isn't 40F out there. We have sun right now. But the next few days are supposed to be in single and low double digits.

I found this JAMA article by way of Naked Capitalism on a surge in childhood illnesses, especially measles. On the whole I am not very surprised having seen articles for several years about such new infections. I am surprised that the article mentions that the latest clusters appear to be in middle to high income areas with parents who generally have college degrees. Those demographics have historically vaccinated their children. COVID vaccine skepticism didn't begin the anti-vaccine movement but it did accelerate it. I have wondered if part of our problem is that the vaccines against measles, mumps, chicken pox, rubella, and whooping cough were very successful. I read stories of outbreaks since 2000 where doctors didn't recognize the diseases when they saw them in their examining rooms. The diseases had become so rare that doctors had only read accounts in their medical texts. Naked Capitalism included a post from a reader that had an account of the death of Roald Dahl's 7 year old daughter. We forget that children died from these diseases. But most of us don't have remembered experience with them.

Ugo Bardi posted an interesting piece about science and our ability to use what we understand as science to explain our world. Several decades ago I remember a controversy which changed the way certain medical studies were conducted. The typical procedure was to test drugs or treatments using a "double blind" system where neither the participants nor the researchers knew who got which treatment, placebo or which dose of drug. Usually the test subjects were men because the researchers were striving for repeatability and the monthly hormonal changes in women complicated the study. The they simply applied the results to women without checking whether such a program was safe and effective. Often it wasn't. That is why in the COVID trials they tested on men, women, women who were pregnant, children of various ages, etc. I often said that medicine was trying to be a hard science like math or physics (although some disciplines in physics have been yielding strange results) but medicine can't be a hard science because the subjects of medicine are so variable. We are finding that the larger and more variable the components of any system (economy, ecology, climate, people) the less likely we are to be able to study it scientifically in controlled conditions.

Ian Welch wrote a gloomy post about the sun setting on the American Empire. I thought a couple of weeds ago, when the Houthis began lobbing missiles and drones against shipping in the Red Sea that the map shown on a couple of the news programs resembled maps I saw in Alfred McCoy's book TO GOVERN THE GLOBE. He showed the choke points European countries fought to control since the 15th century and most of them are under attack: the South China Sea, the Red Sea and Suez, the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Sea. The trade passing through those points is lucrative and, in our present, necessary to the smooth functioning of our economies. Twenty percent of trade passes through the Red Sea. Already the situation has forced major maritime transport companies to avoid the area and re-routing around the southern tip of Africa incurring two weeks travel time and all the extra costs in labor and fuel. That means we all pay more. As the Houthis targeted more ships that weren't Israeli, linked to Israel, planning a stop in and Israeli port but were European and headed to European ports I thought that the conflict has already expanded into an East vs West contest.

Stray thought: it isn't just the Old World choke points that are under pressure. The Panama Canal is severely restricted how many and how large the ships that traverse the Canal because the area is in a drought. Without the fresh water they can't effectively work the levels and locks. I just noticed that one of the quotes refers to this situation.

January 11, 12

Good afternoon. I had errands and an attack of laziness this morning so I am a bit later than usual. We have a bit of sun right now but that is supposed to change. The weather forecast for the next two or three days is absolutely miserable as winter Storm Gerri is supposed to roll through. If we had any plans we would have changed them but since we don't have anything that will take us out of the house we are set. 

GZero has a good article on why 2024 is a year we might not want to remember when it is done. I don't think we will get off so lucky because the consequences of the year's events will constantly remind us of it.

Jan 12*****************************************************************

The predicted storm has arrived. I am looking at heavy, wind-driven snow at the moment. When I woke the first time and came down stairs to finish the night in my recliner (the cats double teamed me to get me out of bed) the pavements were clear and most of the last snow had melted off the south-facing grass. Now everything is covered again. I just saw a snow plow go by. We plan to hibernate for at least the next week.

A stray thought come to mind as the news is still going on about the contest between The Former Guy and Judge Engoron over his attempt to make his own closing argument that comes out of a story in English jurisprudence. A man was in court because of some misconduct by his wife. The justices told him the law demands he "control" his wife. He replied that if the law demanded that of him "the law is an ass." The Former Guy's lawyers are in the same position when the Judge ordered him to "control your client." Yeah, like that will happen. No one controls The Former Guy--not even The Former Guy.

It has been a good day for needlework. Worked on the embroidery on a pillow case. I am almost half finished with the first of a pair. Also spent a couple of hours on a new stash buster blanket. I saw the stitch pattern on line and started it a couple of days ago. I have about seven or eight inches done. I wanted to pull out some aida cloth squares I have had around for ages so I could thread in some grid lines and mark center. They would make some nice cross stitched pieces to incorporate into larger work. I guess I am going to have to dig into my stash and find them but that is a task for another day.

Is anyone surprised that the U.S. and U.K. struck at Houthi military sites overnight? After some time warning them and only getting escalating drone strikes against shipping, it was only a matter of time considering how much of the world's shipping goes through the Red Sea.

Joshua Frank posted a good piece on Tomdispatch on the destruction of Gaza. My own thoughts: First, it is amazing how quickly the conversation has moved from the atrocities Hamas (and other Palestinians who also went through the fence) to an utter condemnation of Israel. No one has ever said how justice for those Israelis killed, kidnapped, or raped would be achieved. Second, I don't see any real path toward any justice for Palestinians who may not have been associated with Hamas. Third, somewhere early in Israel's war on Hamas it morphed into a war on Palestinians which shows just as much mercy for them as Hamas showed for Israelis. I don't know if the genocide charges will be proved legally but the situation can be considered genocide by any reasonable layman's definition.

This Goats and Soda article on NPR raises questions in my mind. First, who is the real recipient of food aid: the people in other countries who need food or American agribusiness (we don't have that many farmers any more). Second, can we really feel generous if pay tax money to our agribusiness for food which the recipients can't use, aren't really nutritious, or spoils before it reaches the people we are supposedly helping? Third, did anyone research what the potential recipients needed, perhaps by asking local people? If they didn't it seems the height of arrogance to assume what we chose to "give" was something they wanted or needed. I put the term in quotes because the "gift" was bought with our taxes. And, according to the story, our politicians are trying to double down on a dysfunctional system by forbidding any money or vouchers that local people can use to buy from local producers. It reminds me of my long deceased ex-mother-in-law who kept giving expensive gifts that were really not gifts but attempts to control us and our use of those gifts. We finally stopped accepting them.

January 9, 10

 Winter seems to have arrived--finally. The 2 to 5 inches of snow predicted looks like it has arrived. They say the winter weather watch will end about noon today. This snow will stay around for a while because the temps will stay at or below (sometimes far below) freezing for the next two weeks.

When the pundits write about our "kleptocracy" they usually refer to the upper echelons of our economy. However, this piece on Popular Information reminds us that the theft reaches deeper into the economy and many of those being fleeced are among the lowest paid.

Jan 10*****************************************************************

Most of the snow we got yesterday has been washed away in the rain and above freezing temps we got. It looks wet and the temperature is barely around freezing. 

That hearing in before the appeals court on The Former Guy's claims of immunity were spectacularly idiotic on the part of his lawyers. Their arguments, taken in isolation, made me wonder if they can think themselves out of a wet paper bag. First, they tried to turn the text of the Constitution on the impeachment process on its head. The text clearly notes that impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate doesn't exempt a former President from criminal conviction once he is out of office. Those clowns who are parading as educated lawyers tried to convince the judges that impeachment and conviction was REQUIRED for a criminal indictment. Clearly, by the text, it isn't. Second, their faces should have been covered by a paper bag mask in embarrassment as they evidently hoped that no one would remember that one of them had argued during the impeachment a conviction in the political arena wasn't necessary because the criminal justice system was waiting and knew how to handle a criminal case. I think you can see the logical inconsistency between #1 and #2. Third, watching them paint themselves into a corner was painful (in a schadenfreude way. I was amazed at the judges self-control because I was wishing I could have hit them on their heads with a 2x4 before telling them in very uncompromising language what utter idiots they were. I was remembering George Orwell's 1984.

A BBC segment yesterday noted that 2023 is officially the hottest on record with the average global temperature was just shy of 1.5C over the pre-1900 average. We have almost hit the limit set by the Paris Accords in 2015. Some pundit said we COULD still keep from breaking that limit IF we stopped burning fossil fuels IMMEDIATELY. With the politicians in the southern hemisphere sarcastically replying "What you mean, White Man?" it ain't gonna happen.

I have seen stories about "lab grown meat" for some time now. A couple of companies are actually trying to market it now. I am skeptical enough that I am not buying. And I am skeptical about all the claims about sustainability and about how much better such systems would be for the environment. This article on Green Prophet takes apart the claims made by the proponent of cultured meat. As with so many high tech solutions to meeting our needs for anything including meat, the high tech is also more expensive in this initial stage when the production requires pharmaceutical grade growth media. At the moment, traditional field production of meat animals beats their costs and environmental footprint.

Random thought: one of the judges asked a question of The Former Guy's lawyers that echoes a scenario his acolytes have threatened if the court denies the immunity claim: a future where past presidents face politically motivated prosecution for any act while in office. Two points: first, the courts could deal with this if the judges start vigorously weeding out frivolous suits, and second, there is an equally frightening possible future if The Former Guy's claims to immunity are granted where NO president no matter what criminal behavior he/she engages in can be held accountable. Each of those futures (and possibly both) are probable given the divisive partisanship so rampant in the country now.

Stray thought: a number of bloggers I read are supporters of either Israel or the Palestinians. Each side play the game of my side did bad but theirs have done worse. Somehow the tens of thousands who have died in Gaza wipes out the thousand+ who were murdered and brutalized in Israel or the converse where the thousand+ justify the brutality of the Israeli attack on Gaza. The attempt to distinguish between Palestinians and Hamas is a doomed enterprise. Too many of the hostages who were returned noted that they were housed with Palestinian families. Hamas had to have a significant amount of support from "civilians." War is never simply a matter of one military confronting another. Each has an infrastructure of psychic and material support. Neither Hamas nor Israel can continue without such support. I don't support either side and I won't play the game of deciding who is bad and who is worse. 

January 7,8

Overcast with snow today. Finally it is beginning to feel like winter. In another two months, no doubt, I will be wishing spring would finally show up.

Jan 8******************************************************************

It looks like the deadwood in Congress got their act together to at least get an agreement on funding the 20% of the government spending due to run out on the 20th of this month. However, they don't yet have the legislation written or voted on. And they have to figure out what to do with the 80% that will run out on Feb 2.

I just started a new crochet throw. I saw a stitch pattern that looks like a perfect stash buster. I have been a bit at a loss after finishing my last lap blanket. I have four projects on the hoop and one on the little loom but having one on the hook gives me a relief from the others. I have the yarn on hand so might as well use it.

Only one comment on this story: OUCH!!!!

Double OUCH!!! I have thought for some time that the Sickcare Industry is likely to implode. The time will come when people simply cannot pay for either the insurance or the care. I read last week that in states that were kicking people off Medicaid after the COVID expansion measures expired were moving to the ACA. But for how long can governments pay for the escalating costs?

January 5

It looks like we will get a little sun before the clouds move in giving us snow over night. The weather forecasts expect an inch or less. We'll see. The dental appointment went well after a bit of confusion as they had to cancel my original appointment for 9am and the it took a couple of tries to get a confirmed 10am appointment. At least it was the original day. Usually, I make the next appointment right after but decided to wait. I don't know what the idiots in Washington will do. Right now the Republicans are in the "government by ultimatum" mode and enough of them appear to be ready to burn the place down shut down the government. If they follow through I will have to tighten my financial belt because we are a household of retirees who depend on our Social Security.

Robert Reich continued his series on American capitalism with "How America's oligarchy has paved the road to fascism."

I don't know how many might remember Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN graphic novels. I remember them very well and at one time had the whole series. The story, based on Greek myths, followed the doings of a dysfunctional family, The Endless. The siblings included Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. Recently I re-read the volume which concerned Delirium and Dream searching for their missing brother Destruction who disappeared sometime in the 17th century. Delirium misses her brother and insists Dream help her although he feels it won't work out well for him (and it doesn't--but that is a different volume) and he suspects Delirium won't be happy with the outcome (she isn't because she can't convince Destruction to return but her disappointment is eased because he leaves her with his dog.) They finally do find Destruction who confirms what Dream suspected about his brother's motive. Destruction believed he no longer had a purpose on this plane because humans had become capable of as much, maybe more, carnage and devastation has Destruction himself was. I thought of that graphic novel from the the late 1980s to the mid 1990s while reading this post from Tom Englehardt.

January 2, 3, 4

Sunny right now and most of the snow is still on the north facing roots but gone from the sidewalks and streets. The temperatures are cold but still higher than normal for early January.

We had a shopping errand today. We have depleted our frozen foods and meats over the last three months or so. It was time to replenish. Soon we will do the same for the pantry. We usually split the large shopping trips and spread them over two days.

Jan 3******************************************************************

We have another shopping trip planned today. I expect to be pretty wiped out after we get back and get the groceries put away. I haven's seen much on the news or blogs to comment on. Same old, same old.

Jan 4******************************************************************

Our last errand for the week, because we rescheduled our visit to the local dairy to Monday, is my appointment with the dentist. Hopefully, it will go well. I still hate dental work it is just that I want to keep my teeth more.

Aurelien had a good post yesterday. I didn't post on it because I wanted to re-read it. It is well worth a second look.

Bill Astore's post is interesting for how much has, especially "national boundaries, have changed in the last century plus AND for how much has not changed, like the propensity for powerful countries to meddle anywhere and everywhere. George W. Bush once told us that "they," meaning adversaries in the Middle East, hate for our democracy. No they hate us for imposing our attitudes and so-called values on them. Note what Aurelien says (linked above) about our dysfunctional government (and our allies) lecturing other countries about just about everything.

January 1, 2024

 Welcome to 2024. We greeted the new year when our neighbors woke us with their fireworks. We finally got snow late yesterday and overnight. Maybe 3 inches. I don't know how long it will stay--most of the daily high temps are supposed to be above freezing for the next week.

First stray thought of the day: one of the segments on the news/commentary show we watched made an interesting point. The Former Guy is the center of a movement and the only way to defeat a movement is to build a counter balancing movement. But he, the interviewee didn't see any such a movement in either the non-MAGA side of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. The problem is that for most of us politics has become a "spectator sport." We have about as much connection to the politics and politicians as football fans. We show up on game day to view the contest. Some of us might spend a lot of time and money getting paraphernalia and decorations. How many of your politicians have you actually met? I haven't met any.