April 19

 Sunny today but cool. We are on that spring roller coaster. Had rain again last night. It is really pleasant to see green again--grass, bushes, trees. Even the largest trees are leafing. Those are usually the last to do so. Now to catchup.

I love Carol Michaels' gardeners math. We both here had a bit of a giggle reading it.

Lately we have seen a parade of Republicans shift from Trump critics to Trump supporters--although I have some nasty things I could say about their lack of backbones. One of the latest to do that Republican retreat from principle was Governor Sununu who brazenly admitted the maneuver claiming it wasn't about Trump but about getting a "Republican administration." Robert Reich put it most accurately on his substack blog yesterday: The Party Is Over. Meaning the Republican Party whose luminaries like Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan must be spinning in their graves.

CNN has an interesting story about China's sinking cities. Most of its coastal cities are sinking between 0.1 and 0.5 inches each year. They are experiencing flooding as the sea levels rise at the same time as the land sinks. Some areas where they have been pumping ground water out of aquifers to support their agriculture during recent droughts are sinking at a faster rate. In case you think they are alone the authors note that our eastern cities are in the same situation.

John Michael Greer continued his posts on lenocracy--government by pimps. 

April 16

 Another sunny day though thunderstorms are predicted for this evening. The forecast is for cooler, more "normal" temperatures.

I just had a frustrating and unnerving experience. For some time I have followed a blogger who is an American, who also has Russian citizenship, living in Russia. I liked getting a different perspective on both what is going on in Russia and the international tensions. But, when I got to his most recent post which continued the complexities and difficulties in arranging travel to the U.S. for himself and his daughter, my browser said it couldn't find the site. I had just been reading it. I tried several times with the same result and, finally, checked out one of the other sites I normally follow. I got connected there with no problem. So I am left with the question: WHY? (Update: I opened my old laptop and was quickly able to get the site and finished reading it. Again, WHY?)

Stray thought: I happened to catch reports on both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The contrast was startling. Biden did look old but fit and alert. Trump looked old but bloated, blotchy and fat. I don't think that was simply that Trump was caught on a bad day at a bad time. I remember thinking the same looking at pictures of Trump's rallies.

April 15

 Nice sunny day today. We just finished our grocery errands. I might go out and sweep on the patio later. Asiatic lilies are pushing up in one of the containers but not in the other yet. But everything else is still dormant or dead. Stores are putting out their annual plants. We are a month away from our average last frost date so I am restraining myself on planting anything. Besides I still have dead plants to clear. I left them over winter as ground cover.

Stray thought and pet peeve--the over use of "unprecedented." We seem to be in the Age of Unprecedented. We have never had a criminal trial of a former President but it is unprecedented in the narrow view of our own national history. We came close at least once but Warren Harding died before the full story of the corruption in his administration came out. Several cabinet secretaries and their aids did face trial, and at least one was convicted and served time. March was the tenth month in a row in which the temperature set record average high. That is unprecedented. Other environmental extremes also are coming at an unprecedented pace. We also have two candidates for President who will, which ever one wins, be the oldest person sworn in. And one of them, the incumbent, is already the oldest person to take the oath of office.

Second stray thought and pet peeve--the use of the term "loan" in the discussion of foreign aid to Israel or Ukraine. Aid is a gift to a country or person with which or whom you have a friendly relationship. A loan is a commercial transaction in which the lender provides funds to a borrower in hopes of gaining a monetary profit. Both sides in this "transaction" should follow Shakespeare's advice in Hamlet: neither a borrower nor a lender be. By the way--given the level of destruction in Ukraine how soon do you think they would able to clear any loans?

California has just cancelled the salmon fishing season for the second year in a row and has asked for a federal fisheries disaster declaration. (Story on the Weather Channel.)

Most of the "news" this morning concerned the unprecedented trial of Donald J. Trump and the fallout (real and potential) from Iran's "unprecedented " attack on Israel's home territory. The trial at the moment involves the housekeeping details of what evidence can be entered and under what conditions, and jury selection. Concerning Iran the speculation is on whether the revenge Iran tried to exact for the Israeli attack on their consulate, though Israel denies the site was a real diplomatic office and that the people they killed were "plotting." Already one of Netanyahu's cabinet members is frothing at the mouth for the obliteration of Iran. Israel promises revenge at a time of their choosing. One of the pundits worried that Iran's activities could push the Israeli government into a wider conflict in the area. Well, Israel doesn't need prodding--they will do what they do. And who says that conflict isn't already area wide and deepening?

Stray thought--saw a headline declaring "Michael Cohen is an admitted liar but he is the star witness in Trump's trial." So?? In the trial that went against the Trump Organization the judge found the admitted liar was more credible than the head of the company, a.k.a. Donald Trump. So another jury will get to decide which liar is more believable.

I don't like to wear t-shirts with logos and legends on them but I just saw a t-shirt I wouldn't mind having. The legend on it read: I googled my symptoms and just need Trump in jail.

April 12

 The weather is improving here. Temperature is in high 50s so far and it is sunny. The wind is picking up and the forecasters say showers should develop over night. But if it is dry and sunny over the weekend I hope I can get out on the patio and clean up some more.

The news is covering the death of O.J. Simpson. Hadn't heard anything of him since he was released from prison after serving time for trying to rob someone he thought had some of his memorabilia. He was passing quickly into a memory blackhole. Sometimes I find it surprising how people who garnered a lot of publicity at any time fade from our consciousness.

Jeff Jackson has an interesting post but not for the discussion of the hearing in the Armed Services Committee of which he is a member. His account doesn't give any hopeful that the House is going to vote on the Ukraine aid bill but he did give a list of bills that are supposedly on the table for next week. I will let you look at the list. I already have because I was curious about the titles of the bills. I am always amused at how the our politicians use and abuse terms like "freedom" and "liberty." There is a theme in all of the bills listed. They all want to prevent government actions to prescribe and enforce conservation standards, such as efficiency standards, for appliances. I will let you make of this what you will but it reinforces my view that the only changes we will make in conservation and energy efficiency will be on the individual level. Government and industry will not save us.

Stray thought: I have said for some time that one of our most intractable problems dealing with the world is that our politicians haven't recognized how much it has changed over the last 30 years. I was gratified when a pundit said just about that this morning in reference to the situation with Israel. Our diplomatic stance toward Israel was set in 1948 and into the 1950s and hasn't changed much since. But, to bastardize a saying, it isn't your father's (or grandfather's) Israel anymore and nor are the surrounding countries what they were either. 

April 11

We had heavy rain overnight and it is raining lightly right now. We are still getting used to the new computers which is a frustrating process. I can get on my Blogger page from this, my old, computer but haven't been able to do so on the new one. At some point over the time since I signed up for Blogger it was taken over by Google. I haven't signed on to Google for even longer and no longer remember either ID or password so I haven't been able to use the new machine. I did ask for a code to by-pass that but I didn't find it on my e-mail until very late yesterday evening. I checked out Wordpress but they only offer paid services. I will let that ferment in my mind for a while.

In the mean time here are a few thoughts from yesterday's readings I simply jotted down.

First--George Dillard on Medium asked "Why Malthus was wrong" and answered lacxter that Malthus wasn't really wrong. Humans have simply applied technology to the problem and moved the goal posts. The basic premise is still right: any species, humans included, increase their numbers until they break through the carrying capacity of the environment (that is, eat them selves out of hearth and home). Then the population crashes as individuals starve Our technology doesn't change that dynamic--it simply provides the food resources to, as I said, move the goal posts. I don't know if many remember the hopeful and exuberant celebrations over the Green Revolution in the late 1970s and 1980s. Eastern Africa experienced a devastating famine and the proponents advised the adoption of chemical fertilizers and pesticides along with the development of high yield grains to end famine forever. Well, East Africa is again experiencing famine due to a combination of conflict and drought which technology can't do much about. Malthus couldn't predict the technological advances but today's pundits haven't recognized the limits of technology. First, we need fossil fuels to produce fertilizers (because stocks of natural fertilizers are scarce now especially for industrial farming) and the costs of fossil fuels are going up making anything made from them. Second, the high yield seeds work well in the test fields but under other conditions (scarce water, poor farmers who can't afford chemicals, heat) they often don't produce well. And the pests the chemical (a.k.a., fossil fuel derived) pesticides were developed to combat are quickly becoming resistant. Third, more areas (urban and rural) are suffering water scarcity. All of those factors as well as social and political conditions will limit food production and distribution. And we are back to Malthus.

MSNBC, over the last couple of days, featured a focus group of undecided voters discussing Biden and Trump. It was a case of nobody "liked anybody much." I was struck by the difference between the criticism of the two presumptive candidates. The criticism of Trump centered on his behavior while that directed at Biden centered on policies. Most wished Trump would shut up and behave in a more dignified fashion while saying they agreed with his "policies." I put the word in quotes because I doubt he ever has explicit policies. He was always testing which way sentiment was going and then getting on the train. And he never had the attention span to stick with any position or policy consistently for any length of time. Most criticized Biden on promises "not" kept (student loan relief) or on economic condition that are stymying their lives (interest rates, rising cost of groceries, cars and housing). I put that word in quotes because Biden did propose student loan relief which did make things easier for some borrowers but it was shot down by the Supreme Court. Not his fault. He is trying again so we'll see what happens. Interest rates are set by the Federal Reserve over which he has no real power. And no one, including politicians, wants to even consider that the economy is really beyond their control.

Learned a new word yesterday: hiraeth. It is Welsh and describes a kind of homesickness for a departed place or condition; a grief or yearning for a home or culture you might never experience again. I think it describes a pervasive condition in today's society. Consider Mark Robinson who is a Republican candidate for North Carolina's governor who would like to go back to a time when women couldn't vote because "they got things done." He is black but he didn't suggest going back to 1865. We have a lot of people who are yearning for an American Eden which never existed except in their imaginations. I found another term that is more apt: "anemoia," which is the yearning for a place or time you could not have experienced.

April 9

 Good morning. It is sunny and getting warmer. We didn't see the eclipse yesterday. The pictures on the news were spectacular but we didn't feel any urge to travel south where the path of totality crossed our state. We did see a dimming of the sunlight to about 80%. If the weather stays mild and dry I hope to continue cleaning up the patio and removing dead plants. I saw some valerian shoots emerging but nothing yet.

I think our computer woes are, I think, I mentioned that our system was completely thrown out of whack when we upgraded our Xfinity modem/router to their new "gateway." We decided it was also a good time to retire our old laptops (somewhere between 8 and ten years old) with new ones. They have become increasingly balky and unreliable. We got our new laptops going fairly well but couldn't get our old printer connected. Our computers and original printer communicated by wifi but I couldn't figure out how to connect the new printer to the computers by wifi. So I finally went back to the old way and connected my computer directly by cable. It worked beautifully. So finally the system is back to a new normal.

Stray thought: Is Margery Taylor Green some kind of time traveler? I thought the notions of eclipses and earthquakes being signs of some god's disapproval and our response should be societal repentance and reform (presumably in the direction MTG thinks god has told her) went out of fashion when the celestial mechanic showed how planetary motion created regular eclipses and geological studies showed how the motions of tectonic plates created irregular earth tremors. No deity require. But the notion is so medieval.

April 6

 Beautiful clear sunny day. Temps still cool but not cold. It is a slow morning. The cats let me sleep until almost 6am. Still working on getting the new computers set up. I have already noticed that the speed is so much greater in my new machine. Good morning for soccer. We are in the middle of a series of three games. After that we might put on the hockey. That reduces the amount of time we spend with the so-called news.

Infidel753 notes the story last week about Botswana threatening to ship lots of their elephants to Germany where the government is poised to pass a law prohibiting the anyone from bringing hunting trophies into the country. Botswana encourages (and profits from) outsiders who want to hunt and bag a trophy. Infidel makes a good point: our view of nature depends very much on where we are: urban or rural, affluent or poor.

Time to get back to putting what I want on the new computer. I have culled a whole bunch of items I no longer want to spend time on.