April 26

 Frosty but not as much as yesterday when we had frost on the roofs and cars. We had frost warnings for the last couple of days which reminds me of why I try not to hurry up and plant. By next week the temperatures should be warmer but I still don't want to put anything in my containers till about Mothers' Day. I probably won't get everything in before sometime in June. At least seeing green leaves, and flowering trees and bushes has improved my mood--until I have to deal with computer problems which we still have.

John Ganz posted this interesting piece on his Unpopular Front substack site. Commentators have observed the growth of an "imperial Presidency" since the Nixon administration. As I read the post I remembered a theme I found in the various history books I have read: the stability of the society/government depended a great deal on the stability of the ruling line. The Roman Empire had its longest period of stability and relative peace (internally at least) between 98ce to 180ce. The emperors during this time came to power as adults with a record of competence after his adoption by his predecessor. Their succession was peaceful and uncontested. After the death of Marcus Aurelius that changed and the Empire was plagued with repeated contests between generals claiming the throne. During the Merovingian and Carolingian periods of Frankish history similar patterns developed. Kings often died leaving minor heirs who often died young, no heirs, or too many heirs in a system of inheritance where all male heirs had a claim to succeed. Democracies and republics have the same problems without the family drama (usually). Just because at least some portion of the citizenry can elect a leader doesn't mean that the chosen leader is wise, capable, or able to meet the needs of his time. We appear to be on the cusp of a time when the legitimacy of the "claimants to the throne" is questioned and we have no faith in the institutions which ensured legitimate succession.

Stray thought: I really can't believe that Justice Alito truly thinks they are making a "decision for the ages" in the case of Trump's claims to total immunity. NO decision is ever fully settled. Just look at the Dobbs hit job they issued. Roe v Wade was, according to Trump's three nominees to the high court, settled law--until it wasn't. I think several legal commentators had it right when they said it seemed more like the male, conservative justices simply didn't want to deal with the case before them so they shifted to more abstract themes. 

April 23, 25

Looking another sunny day. Still cool and likely to continue cool for another several days. We spent a bit of time figuring our schedule for errands over the next several days. I look at our grocery list and decide when and whether we need to go shopping--not this week. But this is the last full week of the month so we have to plan our trip to pay rent and do our banking--definitely some time this week.

Listened to an interview this morning where they were supposed to talk about the guest's new book on how to get rich but they spent 2/3 of the time on the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses and on the Hamas-Israel conflict. Two interesting things about the piece. First, in sync with several other pieces over the last couple of stories, they threw cold water on the anti-semitism them of earlier stories. The demonstrators, according to the commentators and reporters who have been at some of the demonstrations, were peaceful and included both Palestinians and Jews. They showed part of an interview where the respondent said that provocateurs not affiliated with the protest were responsible for any of the threats reported. I can accept that possibility. We saw a lot of that when outsiders tried to hijack the Black Lives Matter protests. One protest tactic which police and politicians should come down on hard are those tying up traffic. That is a public safety matter as well as disrupting normal life. Second, the guest tried to "put the situation [in Gaza] in context] by comparing it to other episodes involving the U.S.--Pearl Harbor and 9/11. The key notion was the small number of casualties (about 2500 at Pearl Harbor and about 3000 on 9/11) compared to the numbers we killed in response. The first wasn't a good comparison because the Pearl Harbor attack was part of the Japanese government's declaration of war. It was state-on-state violence. The second is a better comparison because it involved the response of a state to an attack by a non-state actor. However, that second instance didn't end well for us. I don't know that such a comparison either justifies the reactions (ours or the Israelis) or portends anything good for Israel.

Update: the sun has disappeared and we have clouds with a light wind. Rain likely.

25*********************************************************************

We had a couple of errands yesterday and a quick perusal of news/blogs etc. yielded nothing worth commenting on or linking to.

Stray thought: often the "conservative" group (MTG and allies) are described as "isolationist" or "anti-globalist." First, I haven't seen or read anything that convinces me that that group is trying to "conserve" anything. Several real conservatives define conservative as "small government, low taxes, and pro defense." That doesn't fit MTG et al. Second, what is their definition of "isolationism" or "anti-globalism?" Do they conflate immigration with isolationism? They do seem to be anti-immigrant but only, it seems to me, concerning certain immigrants (poor, dark, and from Trump's s**thole countries." How isolated do they want U.S. to be? Third, we live in a very connected world. What aspects of globalization are they upset with? And how much of their lifestyle are they willing to give up to become "de-globalized?" The only consistent position they seem to hold is anti-Biden, anti-Democrat, and pro-their own power.

April 22

Good morning on a sunny but very cool morning. The weather people keep promising that the warmer temperatures will return soon. Watching the Weather Channel I am glad I didn't yield to the temptation to get plants and put them in the gardens. So far I am still planning for around mid-May when our average last frost day occurs. I did check out what is happening in the containers and found that my mints didn't survive. I haven't seen anything in one of the containers that had Asiatic lilies while the other is going really well. I will have to separate the bulbs and replant in the fall. The valerian is also popping up also but not the indigo. If we get some warmer days I plan to get more sweeping and start on sorting out the shed. Until then I pulled out a needlepoint I haven't worked on for a couple of decades. Since I just finished the embroidery on a table scarf I can pull something else out to join my other WIPs (Works In Progress).

Naill Ferguson has an article in the Free Press on "The Treason of the Intellectuals." Some years ago the news covered one of several cheating scandals in one of the service Academies at the same time that a poll of college students revealed that a majority of them would cheat if they could get away with it. My thought at the time was that expecting professionals of any kind, military or civil, to be more honest than the society in which they live is ridiculous. The same can be said of the intellectual class with regard to any passionate movement within society. As Ferguson  notes at the end, intolerance comes in right leaning and left leaning political varieties--and probably in other varieties as well.

Over the weekend I watched Climate: the Movie which presents the case for "climate skepticism." It is always a good idea to checkout views that challenge what ideas that are currently dominant in society/politics/economics, etc. So what does the film challenge? 

First, the very notion of "anthropogenic" climate change. The idea we constantly hear is that our climate is warming dangerously because humans are releasing huge quantities of CO2 which is a "greenhouse" gas. The scientists that appear during the 80+ minutes of the movie dispute that claiming that there is no causal relationship between increasing temperature and rising CO2 levels. Temperatures appeared to rise before CO2 rose. A case of "correlation not causation." 

Second, they challenge the very notion that the temperatures are actually rising dangerously and in fact that we are still in a cool period, a.k.a. an ice age. Maybe, maybe not. What they don't say is that there is a difference between the geological notion of an ice age and the human experience. At one point one of the presenters points out that at various times throughout earth's history the climate was considerably warmer but they don't mention that those points came before humans evolved. Over human history we have experienced both warm and cold periods. The Roman Climate Optimum (ca. 200BCE-200CE) was followed by the a climate shift that made the mediterranean basin dryer and hotter which had severe effects on Roman society.

I stop here with a note that when we are reading/viewing/listening to any information (scientific/economic/political) we have to ask for clear definitions of the terms and ask for clear evidence used to support the positions. Arguing about climate change from the perspective of geological time against those who are arguing from a human perspective (or vice versa) is disingenuous if not dishonest.

Tom Engelhardt posted an interesting item this morning: "Old Man World". Interesting and depressing. I think he reflects the feelings I had since 2020--we need new people and new ideas. 

April 20, 21

 Sunny for now but cold. It is only 38F and the high will only reach high 40s. But the low is right at average for April and the high is a bit below average, if the prediction pans out. We went out for pizza at our favorite pizza restaurant because we simply wanted to go out. Before the pandemic we went out for meals, maybe, five or six times a week. Over the last four years we have tried various frozen/you-bake pizzas and were very disappointed. Yesterday, the spinach stuffed pizza was a treat. We brought half home. Though we ordered a small it was still too much for us. We also ordered a small loaded pizza thinking it would be good for toady. Well, it is a pizza weekend with the left over stuffed pizza today and the other for tomorrow.

Bill Astore posted a piece that could have been featured in Brian Klass' book FLUKE. He tells how his father survived WWII because of an interesting series of accidental happenings, flukes.

An opinion in one of the blogs I read yesterday noted the disappearance of "civil discourse." It isn't respectful (i.e., civil) and not really discourse because the parties don't listen or talk to each other. Name any issue in modern life and all sides are rousing up their supporters with their trite and meaningless word salads while trying to shout down the other side.

21*******************************************************************

I wonder if others had the same problem with blogger I had yesterday. Suddenly I had a blank page here and a message that they couldn't find my data. I had just typed "Crooks & Liars" and everything disappeared. Frustrating--but too much of our technology has been frustrating lately. And so very inconsistent.

Crooks&Liars (this is where the interruption occurred) posted a parody song that so reflects my sentiments about a former reality tv host now on trial in New York (and Georgia, and Florida, and D.C.). Enjoy.

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.

April 5

 Cloudy morning and cold but dry--so far. Spending a lot of time trying to get our new computers up and running. It is a bit slow. We find that some sites we want to use on the new computers have changed or we forgot to update passwords. We got too used to the system we had going, until it became too unreliable, and were a bit lazy about updating information. I have also been trying to get our printer connecting to our computers through wifi. Made some progress but not fully up yet. I am using the process as a chance to eliminate a lot of stuff I accumulated but didn't eliminate when I no longer used it.

According to the news this morning

    1. No Labels is ending its attempt to field a slate of candidates to challenge the Republicans and Democrats. It is hard to get candidates on ballots in all states or even a significant number of states but I didn't hear about any candidates who interested me. And they never finalized any candidates.

    2. New Jersey experienced a 4.8 level earthquake this morning. New Jersey and New York officials are surveying possible damage.

    3. Taiwan had a more distractive quake yesterday.

    4. A boy shot and killed a 12-year-old classmate in Finland supposedly because he was bullied.

    5. NATO is 75 years old. My how it has grown from the original 12 countries. 

On to what I am reading

John Michael Greer introduces the term "Lenocracy" in his latest post on Ecosophia. The term means a government by pimp. He extends the term "pimp" far beyond the just a person who stands between a sex worker and customer taking a portion of the price while giving no additional value to the transaction. Pimps act throughout our government and economy. Are you a doctor? Well you have to deal with medical boards, licensing agencies, insurance companies, politicians, and other pimps who stand between you and your patients decreasing your profits while increasing the costs to the patients while skimming part of the transaction. Such skimming is pervasive.

April 2, 3, 4

 We got our errands done yesterday before any rain came in. The wind started increasing while we were out and got cold. More rain came in overnight and will continue today. The forecast indicates mixed rain and snow through Thursday. Luckily we don't have to do anything away from home for the rest of the week. Looking at the Weather Channel we are glad we aren't any more south than we are--they are getting severe storms with the possibility of tornados.

So far I have spent a little time stitching but far too much with computer updates. Mine went smoothly but, for some reason, Mom's computer was changed and we haven't been able to get it back entirely. Why I don't know. That is simply the latest of technology headaches lately.

The situation in the Israel/Hamas conflict keeps going from bad to worse to worse yet. Yesterday the IDF bombed the Iranian consulate in Syria killing seven military officers (and no reports indicate how many others) and a van load of aid workers with World Central Kitchen in Gaza. Now all of the pundits are wondering how the Iranians will retaliate.

03*********************************************************************

We have snow and rain today. I don't think any snow will accumulate. However, we have decided to hibernate til Friday when we will see the sun again.

Random thought: listening to the news commentary on the Israeli "accident" that killed World Central Kitchen workers. However, that strikes me like some mass shooter claiming it was an accident someone died because he wasn't aiming at that person. Bulls**t. They managed to precisely target Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers in the Iranian consulate in Syria and yet they "accidentally" hit a 3 vehicle convoy on a route previously arranged with the IDF.

04********************************************************************

Computer problems--not mine; Mom's. This whole mess started because Xfinity forced us into getting the new modem/router/hub (whatever). Oh, we could have "chosen" to keep the old one but they would have charged us an additional $5/month to use it. Some choice!!! But that upset everything. Mom got on line easily enough but I had to get my own line for my laptop and iPad. Then her internet connection kept cutting out. Mine was solid. We tried to fix it but haven't really succeeded. She shut down her computer but now she can't find the password to get the machine running again. But in all this crap we also lost the connection between our printer and the modem and our computers. We can't print out anything because the modem doesn't see the printer. There are times when I really hate this technology.

Aurelien posted this long article that I have let ferment in my brain for a couple of days and have re-read a couple of times. It brings up several points about education that have occurred to me over the last three decades. First: education has been reduced to a series of hoops people have to jump through hoping that when the last hoop is done the former student will be on a career path to the middle class or better. When I was teaching many students had an attitude that irritated me: D for diploma. They thought that grade was acceptable if the course was not core for their major but chosen to satisfy the "electives" requirement.  Second: the commitments of time and money make it difficult for students to change paths even if the original path isn't suitable. Third: The cost in terms of time and money is unaffordable. Too many go into debt hoping that the "investment" will yield  a comfortable living before they die but that depends on uncertainties like a job market that has a jobs available that match their training and that pay a wage/salary that allows them to pay back the loan and leave enough to live on. I knew a young PhD candidate who looked for teaching positions while she finished her dissertation and described, in disgust, the options as "genteel poverty." Aurelien is right that the mission of education has been redefined over time and is in a muddled stage now because we don't have a defined mission any more because our culture is so fractured.

April 1

Hope everyone had a nice Easter however they celebrated (or didn't). We here don't celebrate many holidays. Most are so commercialized and we are more than tired of being sold to. It is now April 1 so the year is already one-quarter gone. It is also April Fools' Day so I am being more skeptical of stories I am reading.

One such set of stories appeared on The Bulwark's Morning Shots. One claims that the Miami Herald obtained an "extremely confidential" copy of an order in Judge Aileen Cannon's chambers setting a firm trial date for Trump on June 3. I am waiting for more extensive confirmation--especially since the alleged order is dated for April 1. Another claims that Mitt Romney is going to announce his exit from the Senate to join Biden's administration as a special advisor along with other prominent Republicans. However, on second (third and fourth) reading, I am pretty certain that it is a prank. I have linked to it in case you want a bit of a chuckle.

OK--now for something not a joke. Mehdi Hassan posted this piece on his new site taking apart Netanyahu's claim that only 13,000 Hamas fighters killed in Gaza. He took the Prime Minister's estimate that 1 civilian was killed for every 1 to 1.5 Hamas fighters and comes up with about 26,000 Gaza's killed. It appears that nearly EVERY male Palestinian corpse was counted as a Hamas fighter. Really?? That reminds me of the casualty figures that came out in the last years of Vietnam when "if it was dead and Vietnamese, it was VietCong." It gave the powers-that-were the illusion of success.

Found this by way of Naked Capitalism and it describes a trend I am not at all comfortable. I have said for sometime that I don't want my refrigerator keeping tabs on what foods I consume or telling me when I am low of anything. I don't want any of my other appliances reporting anything back to anyone. Today I replaced my "smart" phone with a flip phone which seems to have some of the same capability but will be easier for me to use. All I have to do is pick up the phone flip it open and put in a phone number (if making a call) or talk (if answering a call.) The features I don't use I can more easily ignore. Simple is better.

March 27

 Gray right now but hoping the clouds move out giving us sun. It is dry right now but we'll see if it stays that way. We have a couple of errands but should be done with them by mid-morning. 

The news continues to cover the bridge collapse in Baltimore. I noticed last night that a couple of the Republican knuckle-draggers were trying to tie the accident to Biden's "immigration policy." I guess they heard that the workmen who are now presumed dead were immigrants from central or South America. Despicable-but somehow not surprising. 

In the same category of despicable but not surprising is Trump's hawking of a "God Bless America" Bible that includes, as the news said, our "founding documents." For a mere $59.95+shipping you can have your own MAGA Bible.  He promises the proceeds WON'T  go toward his campaign. He doesn't say what they will go towards. I have nothing to say about Lee Greenwood partnering in this venture.

Another unsurprising development: Hamas rejected the latest Israeli offer of 800 Palestinian prisoners for 40 Israeli hostages. Israel continues to refuse their demand to leave Gaza. The talking heads noted that over the last few days Israeli troops went back into the Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza they cleared a couple of months ago. The experts noted that actually getting rid of Hamas totally is a pipe dream. But Israel continues to smoke that pipe.

Errands completed. Didn't take long but we only had 3 stops. Getting some sun but it is cold and a bit windy.

Surprised to see gas prices locally at about $3.69/gal. Highest prices for some time. Then I looked up when we have to switch to the summer blend and that shift starts in April. So it isn't that much of a surprise since we are in the last week of March.

March 26

We had (and still have) high winds. Also heavy rain overnight. The rain predicted finally arrived. I hope the system leaves and gives us dry and sunny weather for our errands tomorrow. Spent the morning finishing the embroidery on one pillowcase of a pair. The second is already on the hoop. We had a bit of sun for a brief moment before it disappeared.

Major stories this morning are the Supreme Court arguments over Mifepristone and the bridge collapse in Baltimore. Listening to the Justices' responses to the lawyers gives me some hope that this case will either be bounced because of lack of standing or because the "remedy" demanded in the suit goes far beyond any reasonable cure for the alleged hypothetical harms to the plaintiffs. As to the bridge collapse--that area is going to be disrupted for a good long while. I looked up a map of the area and the remains of the bridge is clogging the only passage to the port. And for the residents of the city, they will have many miles and much time added to their travel.

Update: heavy rain and wind now!! Mom had wondered, in the interlude between squalls, if we should have done our errands today.  Nope!

Matt Taibbi posted this article about censorship--specifically of Naked Capitalism. I have read posts often in the last few years about that site (and others) that I often read and I have always been perplexed as to why. I may or may not agree with what I read on any site but that is my choice. I have said before I like different sources of information and argument. Usually when I link to a piece I agree or think it presents ideas I want to think about. Writing something on it helps me organize my own thoughts and helps me pick it apart. Those who want to censor them deprive me of that and, frankly, that pisses me off. I have been an adult for a hell of a long time and am fairly well educated. I don't need minders.

March 24, 25

 Sunny this morning, and now afternoon. The temperature is cool but the weather reports say it will rise over the next few days. They expect rain Monday and Tuesday. We have to pay rent this week and we saw a couple of nice days for errands.

This story is one reason I try to find different voices and different sources of information. I read accounts of Hezbollah and the services it provided in its areas which the central government couldn't. Now Lebanon is very nearly a failed state. I wondered before why the Palestinians would tolerate them unless they provided desperately needed services which the Palestinian Authority either couldn't or wouldn't (or which Israel blocked). We have a habit of painting enemies as devils but that blinds us to everything that might make people support them. Our government officials and their allied politicians have lied often enough that I take what they say with a grain of salt.

25***********************************************************************

Cloudy with infrequent sun. No rain yet but it is expected later today and into tomorrow. It has been a lazy morning but unless we have errands or appointments they are all lazy. I spent the morning weaving a few more spares and finishing Jeffrey Deaver's latest Lincoln Rhyme mystery: The Watchman's Hand. As usual it is complex and convoluted. You may figure out part but then you find the main mystery has related mysteries spinning off of it.

Bill Astore said it all in the title to his latest post on his substack site: The Pentagon Ate Our Government. The Pentagon's share of the latest budget just passed increased by $27Billion.

March 23

Cloudy today but the temps should go to near normal--about 40F. We got light snow showers but nothing that accumulated. Northwest of us got much more. I spent most of this morning finishing two hot pads. I haven't yet finished getting the What-not room reorganized and put back together. I will get back to it tomorrow. I pulled out a stack of our DVDs because the news is focused on that attack in Russia, Trump, and whether another Speaker of the house will face a discharge petition while another member of that caucus decided not only to retire but to retire immediately. Evidently he also waited until his governor can't appoint an interim representative. The Republican majority is now only 1. Usually we would have gone to soccer or rugby games but the English Premier League had a break and the Six Nations Tournament finished last weekend--Ireland won. Soccer will start up again next weekend.

Stray thought: a lot of pixels have been scattered over the moral outrage over Israel's actions in Gaza but no one has any leverage over the Netanyahu government. Not even the U.S. government evidently.  However, I remembered a story I read somewhere about a British governor in Indiana who faced a deputation of outraged Indians over his edict to end suttee (the burning of widows on their deceased husband's funeral pyre). The Indians insisted the governor couldn't stop them following their traditions. The governor thought for a moment and then told them that the British also had a tradition. If men burned women, the British hanged them. The Indians were free to follow their traditions but the British would build a gallows next to the pyre and then follow their tradition. The tradition of suttee stopped. If the U.S. told Netanyahu (and his government) that they are indeed independent sovereigns and make their own decisions but so are we and we do not agree to support (financially, politically, or militarily) actions we find morally abhorrent. The weak U.N. resolution our government put forward is a tepid response that I hope will be followed by MUCH stronger actions.

This sounds way too Trumpian. Netanyahu seems to think that Israel's problem isn't that its actions in Gaza aren't really justifiable but that Israel's government doesn't have people who can's "string two words together in English." In other words, their spokespeople are having trouble explaining the inexplainable (or unjustifiable.) Hasbara is an interesting word and I am surprised it hasn't migrated into English.

Ben Krauss has an interesting proposal to break the deadlock in Congress: an anonymous Congress. As Krauss noted the idea could work under both Republican and Democratic presidents and, under certain conditions, might not work. But everyone is getting very tired of people WE elect and pay six figure salaries doing nothing to address real problems. I remember a character in a novel I like commenting on discontent with the Federal government: people want government to do two things--win wars and solve problems. But our government hasn't done either for a long time. The reaction to that is already noted in the conflict between Texas and the Federal government over the southern border and that isn't the only point of contentious friction.

March 21, 22

 Cloudy this morning and very chilly. They promised us sun but evidently Nature had other ideas.

22********************************************************************

Clouds and snow this morning--where the hell did spring go?  As you can see I didn't have much to say yesterday. We did our shopping which is what we do every 10 days to two weeks. That is how long it takes for us to have a list of items that we need, including some we can't really do without. Can you imagine what would happen if we ran out of cat food? Not good. As usual nowadays we brought everything home, put it away, and ...collapsed. On the way I noticed the price of gas was between $3.50 and $3.70. The price of oil is now sitting around $80/barrel. That is one 

I found this article on CNN this morning. On first impression it looks good for Trump but on a deeper read you find it leaves him in the same place: cash poor and asset rich. (Rather like a conditions I, in my much lower economic status, am familiar with but we called it "house rich/cash poor.") So much of Trump's "empire" it is highly illiquid.

Ted Gioia posted this State of the Culture post on The Honest Broker. So much in today's world seems to be simply distraction. And is so boring. We haven't been to the movie theater in 20 years and five years before that we stopped buying snacks. We find most movies totally uninteresting and the cost of the ticket is costs more than the pleasure we get from the experience. We usually buy DVDs but fewer than we did 20 years ago. The last one I bought was the new Dune 1 and the next will be Dune 2. So far nothing else is interesting. Note: I don't use TikTok, instagram, X (formerly Twitter) or any of those social media on any regular or prolonged basis.

Found another Gioia post on the importance of ritual in combating the addictive effect of our distraction culture. I read a number of pagan/polytheist blogs and many of them stress the importance of ritual in their religious practice and psychic health.

I started following this theme at Jeremiah Johnson's Infinite Scroll site.

March 20

 Sunny morning--still cool.

Stray thought: Trump told Nigel Farage that NATO is more important to Europe than to the U.S. because we have a "big beautiful ocean" between us and them. Really? How well did that work in the lead up to WWI when Germany engaged in unrestricted submarine warfare? Or in 1941, when Japan traversed a larger ocean to attack Pearl Harbor? We still have submarines many of which can launch nuclear missiles. And each side has intercontinental ballistic missiles which can cross the distances between us and them in minutes. How stupid can Trump be?

Another stray thought: California has issued a warning to the patrons of a restaurant over--measles. That is a concern for those who, like me, have either had measles or the full course of vaccination. (I had measles and therefore have immunity and got the vaccination in boot camp as well.) The epidemiologists don't expect any of the recent outbreaks to become widespread because a sufficient number of people are immunized. I often wonder when (not if) a disease to which we don't have vaccines will come in. Our communal (non or counterproductive)response to COVID doesn't give me much comfort.

Evidently the retail giant Sainsbury in the U.K. had a problem: its cashless system crashed and they were only able to accept cash. The company had to cancel all home deliveries for one day. They attribute the outage to a software glitch because of an overnight download. Naked Capitalism has more complete coverage here. About a month ago we had a similar situation when we went to fill up the gas tank. The credit card system was down but the could take cash. Software, and other, glitches seem to be happening more frequently nowadays. The more complicated things become the more likely they will fail. See yesterday's link the the Charles Huge Smith post.

Bill Astore makes a good point: framing can make a big difference in how we perceive a story. In all the coverage I have seen about the growing famine in Gaza almost none mention that there are truck loads of aid waiting outside checkpoints on Gaza's border but they have been blocked by Israel. I choose to call the spade a spade--what is happening there is a human caused famine. Israel can, and does, block any aid they consider military or "dual use." Tell me--what can't be designated dual use. A tent can house a refugee family or a Hamas fighter. A sack of flour can feed refugees or Hamas fighters. Tell me--how do you tell the difference.

March 19

 Welcome to astronomical spring and Happy Equinox. Though the temperature is reminiscent of winter. It is sunny which is nice. I am still searching and sorting in the What-not Room. I still haven't found the unfinished pieces and patterns I have been looking for. Over the last 65 years I have done quilting, cross-stitch, embroidery, needlepoint, and crochet. I have also poked around with weaving and spinning. That means I have a lot of "stuff" and that is after paring the stash down for some time. There is an interesting acronym among needleworkers: SABLE. Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. Mine is definitely in that category. 

Stray thought: Supposedly Trump wants to debate Biden. William Kristol at The Bulwark says no. And I agree. The news this morning had file clips of Trump from just before and during his first campaign for the White house juxtaposed with some more recent clips. He definitely hasn't aged well. For all the right wing talk about Biden's "cognitive" abilities (not favorably) he is definitely several steps up from Trump. Also, I don't really need to see two old codgers taking verbal digs at each other.

Charles Hugh Smith has a really good post on the "crapification" by design of our goods and services. 

March 16, 17, 18

 Sunny today but only slightly above normal temperatures. I didn't do anything outside today and, if the rain the weather people predict will come in tomorrow, I won't do anything outside tomorrow. However, I got some stitching done on the pillow case I have on the hoop. I also cleaned out a notebook and transferred the list of possible books to acquire and read. As I am reading or listening I write down citations or references for later. Sometimes I simply decide that I won't pursue the item. Other things are more interesting. In the process I also tidied up my table caddy so I can easily find things again. It is also a baking day: cornbread to go with the beans and sugar cookies for a late snack. All done now and I am back to reading and cleaning out my e-mail.

First up: Charles Eisenstein's essay on his substack: Machines Will Not Replace Us. I can sympathize with his sentiments. I realized long ago that one of the reasons I like crochet is because it is the only kind of needlework which hasn't made the shift to machine work. There is something about thee pattern of looping threads and pulling thread through the loops that isn't easily mimicked by machines. Also hand stitched pieces have a substance to them that machine made pieces don't have. They are simply flimsy. But I have noticed the same decline in quality of many of the new books coming out. A couple of days ago David Kaiser, who has written a new book on Presidential State of the Union addresses, noted that those addresses we're once designed to propose a program and persuade the audience to support that program. Biden's State of the Union did some of that but it was also constructed around "sound bites" designed for our 24/7 news media which doesn't do depth very well (or at all).

17**********************************************************************

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Partly cloudy today and a bit below normal temperature--only in the 30s.

18*********************************************************************

It is cold again and we have flurries with it. There was also a pulse of snow yesterday. I don't expect any of it to stick around.

The "government shutdown watch" has recommenced on the news. I haven't seen much change in the attitudes of either side. We pretty much ignore the news. The "new" news, same as the "old" news. And the "analysis" is the same so why bother.

Caitlin Johnstone posted this depressing piece. It is depressing because it is very accurate.

David Kaiser provides a good overview of the Israel/Palestinian situation with a dollop of history as well. He says something I have thought and our politicians don't want to think: what we think doesn't matter much with the Israeli government. Advice, such as what our government has been giving, is worth its weight in gold. Our government has a problem. It has supported Israel for the last 75 years but now Israel is embarked on a course U.S. policymakers don't agree with. Part of the problem is political because we have a large and vocal population of Palestinian-Americans who still have relatives in Gaza and the West Bank under increasingly difficult (to put it mildly) circumstances. And part of the problem is moral--our politicians expel a lot of hot air on notions of equality, democracy, justice but their actions in both foreign and domestic affairs goes against those high flown sentiments. The U.S. has one lever of influence but our politicians have refused to pull it: the gargantuan amounts of aid we send to Israel. 

March 15

 The weather channel predicts a cool day with clouds in the morning changing to sun in the afternoon. I am still reorganizing the What-not room. That will be a prolonged program. In the mean time I am making progress on the two blankets on the hooks and the four embroidery projects on hoops. I totally sympathize with craft workers who have multiple projects but usually start new ones before all of the WIPs (works in progress) are done. I am trying to bust my stashes by incorporating as much on hand materials into any new project.

I found this post on Medium and was intrigued to see what the author had to say about "saving the planet from your kitchen." As you might guess the topic is "how to reduce food waste." Although we don't have much food waste here, I like seeing what others do. A lot of what the author lists we already do however, I found a few points I disagree with or that we do slightly differently. I have never been good at meal planning beyond two or three days and even then it isn't unusual that a different mean is inserted to the list and the planned meals shifted to a day or two later. Also most of my cooking involves meals that will go multiple days. A couple of days ago we finished off a tuna casserole which lasted three days. Today we are going to finish the taco fixings we had yesterday. Tomorrow we will start on a pot of beans that will go two days with the remaining being frozen in one or two quart jars. The advice to avoid buying flavorings for one dish is good but I would go another step and look at what might substitute for the ingredients I don't have. She suggests that you don't "buy in bulk" and I would suggest that you selectively buy in bulk but limit it to what space you have on hand and how quickly you use the items. We also have (over time) developed a system where when we use the next to last or last item we stock up again. We also resist sales unless we know we are low on something. Having said that most of what is in the article is good advice and my changes wouldn't fit everyone.

Caitlin Johnstone has a good point on Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's response to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's comments on the Senate floor concerning Israel's conduct of the Gaza war. Israel may think of itself as an "independent" nation and a democracy but if so then perhaps they should refuse any future aid of any kind from the U.S. Then they can do what they damned well please. The U.S. should recognize that once the aid is given it is up to the recipient what is done with it and the only real choice we have is to continue the gravy train recognizing we don't have control or stop the aid. I don't support Israel unconditionally and I don't condemn Hamas unconditionally. Neither side is clean.

The House of Representatives passed their bill requiring Byte Dance to sell TikTok or be banned in the U.S. Now it is awaiting action by the Senate. The proponents of the bill cite safety concerns which at the moment are more hypothetical than real--at least as far as the articles I have read. Most of the opponents were concerned with freedom of speech issues and the potential harm for business. I don't use TikTok so I don't have a dog in the fight but I wondered how much harm and how much benefit might come from banning the app. From this article on CNN about the experience of India after they banned it back in 2020 after a border skirmish with Chinese troops I would guess not as much as either side hopes or fears. The ban didn't affect safety either way. And U.S. tech giants stepped in along with local start ups to provide the same services TikTok provided. However, on the negative, the big tech companies quickly ran over the locals. And TikTok customers quickly found new options.

Stray thought: Last night one of the news/comment shows had a piece taking off on the theme of Victor Orban/Donald Trump/strongmen. The reporter asked Republicans at I forget which event about that and several said they were fine with strongman rule and that this country needed such a change. But I notice the reporter never asked a simple question: Why?

Robert Reich asks a question that occurred to me on the TikTok question: who do you trust (or distrust) most China or American Billionaires. I don't trust either. I wondered who would be buying TikTok if Byte Dance had to sell and noticed that one of the possibles shown on one of the news stories (but not named) was Steve Mnuchin who served ignominiously in Trump's cabinet. He is supposed to be trying to put together a consortium of investors. However, how much would TikTok be worth without the algorithms which Byte Dance owns.

Charles Hugh Smith has an amusing but all too accurate post today on "America the Snackable." I said amusing but in a dark way because everything, not just snack foods, has been reduced to empty bites that don't really provide intellectual or physical nutrition.

March 15

Stormy last night--thunder and lightning with heavy rain. Now it is simply rain coming in waves. Glad I got some of the clean up on the patio done yesterday--including moving my tub of soil and half-bag of potting mix into the shed. No--I didn't get the shed cleaned out. That is for the next dry day. Welcome to half-past March.

Today I hope to make some progress in the What-not Room. I got into getting it reorganized because I remember some partly completed pieces and the pattern books to go with them. I didn't find them in the usual places. Nor did I find them in a few unusual places. So I figured it was time  and--hey--it is Spring.

Naked Capitalism has another set of "Oh, Shit" climate graphs. Think about the fact that as the temperatures rise the GDP goes down.

I linked to an article by Martin Kulldorf yesterday, I think, in which he claims Harvard fired him because he questioned the "company line" on COVID: vaccines, lockdowns, and masks. This article takes his arguments on so I thought I would give you another side of the argument. I found the article annoying. Name calling is never conducive to discussion and neither are snarky barbs. So far nothing I have read convinces me that the vaccines were not effective though perhaps not at the level the early propaganda information from the drug companies gave us. But NO vaccine is totally effective. It is a numbers game: with the vaccine X cases/hospitalizations/deaths vs. without Y cases/hospitalizations/deaths. If X is less than Y then you do get some benefit. All other mitigation measures are judged the same way. We are still learning about COVID.

Found this Nature article by way of Naked Capitalism. It asks why so many young people are getting cancer. Good question. No firm answers.

March 12, 11

 Sunny this morning. Chilly but not cold. All I will need for the moment is my sweater. We have an errand later and, since it is so late, we will have our late meal out.

11***********************************************************************

Still dark outside--damn time change. Our high yesterday reached about 65. It is supposed to hit 70+ today. Time to do a bit more outside.

The author of this post on The Honest Sorcerer takes off from the post on Ecosophia John Michael Greer wrote a couple of weeks ago. (I linked to it a couple of days ago after mulling it over for about a week.) As I read it I remembered articles over the last couple of decades, which quickly disappeared without much attention, describing the aging of farmers and ranchers in this country. The average in that occupation group has gone from high 50s to mid 60s in that time. I followed a link in the post linked above to this article which contains and discusses a map of the world with the median ages of populations noted. And then, with a question tickling my mind, I found this article listing the average age of workers in various occupation groups. We are already experiencing disruptions from declining populations.

It looks like several countries are going through a serious "negotiation" over national identities. We have seen Putin turn to Russia's past to create a Russian identity that is opposed to the West and its "decadence." Modi in India is pushing "Hindu" nationalism and a new citizenship law. Here in the U.S. we have a struggle between those who support an "inclusive" society and those who are pushing "Christian Nationalism" (a.k.a., white supremacy. (I put these terms in quotes because they seem elastic depending on who is speaking or writing.) China, according to this article, is also having its troubles defining the soul of China. Like so many in this country they are trying to do so by erasing the not so valorous, not so heroic parts of their past as presented in modern literature. I wonder when they will try to do what some of our zealots are doing and move from restricting what people can read to editing their history. Maybe they already have but our information sources haven't covered it.

Stray thought: listening to Israeli politicians, especially Netanyahu, insisting on continuing the operations in Gaza until they destroy (obliterate??) Hamas and "win" the contest I remember a scene in a sci-fi novel where a warlord tries to educate a subordinate in the notion that you can lose the war by winning a battle and retreating isn't the same as losing. Will Israel have its own Pyrrhic "victory?"

This story about a former Harvard professor of medicine who took a contrary position on COVID, COVID vaccinations, and COVID lockdowns illustrates the problem with censorship, whether official on any level or informal) is a bad idea. It is also why I follow several blogs which try to present critical information that goes against the official position on our controversial topics. I might or might not agree but at least the information is there for me. That is why I also disagree with the current efforts to prohibit TikTok unless its Chinese parent company divests and sells it.

Bill Astore posted an interesting bit on his Bracing Views substack. He expresses thoughts I have had since not long after 9/11. We have had a long period where our government uses the military to enforce solutions international problems. They swaggered around the globe like some kind of modern cowboys. We needed (and need) leaders who can think on a different bandwidth. I also believed we needed to get beyond the Cold War but were still dominated by Cold Warriors. But that doesn't describe either Biden or Trump. Astore is right: they aren't the politicians  to formulate a new path for the country.

March 11

 Sunny and warmer today. It looks, according to the Weather Channel, like we will have a week of 50s and 60s. Good. I can get some more of the patio cleaned up and begin rearranging the containers. We had to return the old modem to the Xfinity store and Mom has an appointment tomorrow so I guess I won't get to it til Wednesday at the earliest.

Stray thought: Lindsey Graham (Sen.-Mar-a-lago) suggested that any aid given to Ukraine should be in the form of loans citing the $34Trillion national debt we have. WTF--how does he expect to repay loans any time in the foreseeable future? Especially since the price tag for rebuilding the country when the war ends is almost as much as our national debt last time I heard. And no one really knows where the resources for that will come.

A second stray thought: I have a nasty, suspicious mind listening to the news stories about our plans to build some kind of pier to get relief supplies from ships to Gaza. I could just see Netanyahu deciding to bomb that pier on the excuse that the supplies are going to Hamas.

James Howard Kunstler writes some thoughts I have had about how our high tech world depends on fragile and aging power systems. John Michael Greer and Gail Tverberg have also written on this theme in their various blogs and talks about catabolic economic collapse. About twenty years ago I read news stories about Alaska's government basically pruning most of higher education--actually completely up rooting it--except for the University of Alaska itself which was also pruned. The state was facing a serious budget problem as some of the oil revenues dried up. The University system in Ohio also suffered a similar cut back for the same reasons at about the same time. Yesterday I read that Duke is planning to close its Herbarium, a world renowned collection of plants and printed materials, because the cost ($25Million) to rehouse the collections in a suitable modern building was too much. (My own snarky question is how much their sports facilities cost and which would be more valuable to Duke's supposed purpose of education.) All of those stories center on the flow of money which seems to be slowing. Several months ago I described my shock at the condition of a city nearby which I remember from 50 years ago. It has lost population and, with population, tax revenues. The result was a scene that could be the set of a post-apocalyptic movie. Street lights were replaced by stop signs. The streets badly needed repair and the sidewalks were broken. The flow of money has slowed to a trickle. Under those conditions governments, companies, and individuals choose between expenses cutting those which are as good but not as critical as others.

March 10

Sunny today. So things might have a chance to dry out and warm up. Just finished putting together a tuna casserole which can sit on the counter for an hour before I put it in the oven. That should take care of today's and tomorrow's dinners; perhaps even Tuesday's. I know people who hate left overs. My late sister-in-law was that way. I plan on having multiple meals from one cooking session and any leftovers will be frozen to be incorporated in some future meal. Considering it is only Mom and me here that seems the most efficient.

As I read this report from Climate & Capitalism I stripped out the terms "capitalism," "Marxist," and "revolutionary." I didn't need the ideological or political overtones. Take a look at the list of novel (at least to Americans) diseases outbreaks. Take a look at the list of once familiar diseases we once thought extinct or at least under control. There are several features that have little to do with political/economic philosophy. First, the world population became more than 50% urban only a couple of decades ago. Crowding, especially in countries with inadequate or aging sanitary infrastructure. Two, in a global economy any place in the world is only a plane ride or two away from any place else. And more people are traveling. Three, a significant number of people in countries around the world have become skeptical of institutions that we once relied on to keep us healthy: medicine, science, public health, governments at all levels. Fourth, advertising has produced a befuddling amount of information, misinformation, mistaken information, and downright false information. During my lifetime I have seen nutrition ads that touted various artificial sweeteners over regular sugar. Many of those sweeteners are not at all as good for you as the ads claimed. Remember the ads touting pork as "the other white meat" after various studies seemed to condemn red meat. Or how eggs suddenly became a boogyman after studies panning cholesterol? Or the drives against sugar, fat, and almost anything that accounted for flavor in foods because of we had to cut calories? We always joked that we saw ads touting certain foods after the ads condemning those foods drove sales down. 

I have let this post John Michael Greer posted on his Ecosophia site ferment for a few days. I grew up in the same time Greer mentions--when the pundits were hyperventilating over "The Population Bomb", which I read when it first came out. I remember when the Chinese government mandated one-child families and their concern over the pampered "Little Emperors/Empresses" and political/economic thinkers thought they might have a good idea. Things have changed radically in the last twenty or so years.  It has been a long while since demographers noted that the U.S. had the only growing population in the industrialized world--because of immigration. Germany and other countries welcomed the first wave of climate refugees from Africa but now as they face the problems of absorbing large numbers of people who don't know the local language and customs their attitudes have changed. I read a couple of histories which mentioned in passing the problem sudden population losses caused--taxes declined because fewer people meant lower revenues, infrastructure declined because fewer people couldn't maintain it, food shortages because fewer farmers were growing food. In some cases the entire area was abandoned.

March 8, 9

Rainy this morning but we have to go shopping. The canned cat food won't last the weekend and, believe me, the cats MUST be fed. Otherwise they WILL make their displeasure known.

Update: we are back home and the cats are pleased. We had heavy rain; heavy enough I let Mom off at the supermarket door, parked, and then went through the rain. And then let her tend the groceries while I went for the car. I will say that the grass is coming in very green with the rains we have had.

09********************************************************************

We had a heavy rain overnight but has stopped now. The sun broke through a bit ago but we now have more clouds. It looks like we will have a partly cloudy/sunny day. The temperature was quite cold this morning.

We have three soccer games today. We enjoy some of the sports because they aren't politics and they limit the commercials to focus on the game. We anticipate a good day tomorrow with three rugby games.

Yesterday the post mortem on the State of the Union dominated the news. The coverage ran pretty much along the commentators and media outlets political alignments. Those who were more Democrat (or anti-Trump)aligned thought it went well for Biden. Those who are right wing Republican or MAGA aligned damned with faint praise saying Biden managed to clear the very low bar they laid out for him. I am amazed at how abysmally stupid some of the Republicans are and how easily Biden baited them and embarrassed them. (I am talking from the clips the news played.) I don't give much weight to what is said in these speeches. They might present goals I agree with but they depend on 1) the mix of personalities occupying the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives and 2) what happens between now and then socially, economically, and in world events.

The House finally got off their butts and passed one of the two groups of fiscal packages they had to pass. They finally got enough cuts in programs they don't like to do that. The Senate showed they can move when they have to and passed it themselves Friday. Now we have to go through this again for the second package that has to pass by the 22nd of this month. Let's see if they can get their heads out of their butts long enough to do that.

In another act of the Republican Comedy Hour, George Santos has announced he will enter the primary race for the 1st Congressional district in New York. He can do that since he was only expelled from Congress not impeached and convicted. He is still under indictment for criminal charges but, hey, so is his mentor Donald Trump.

And here is a heart-warming story. A 102-year-old woman asked her community to celebrate her birthday by donating 102 food items to the local food bank/community. They came through with 400 items.Bill Astore has a position on our "aid" to Israel I can agree with: stop giving. Of course our arms manufacturers would object because they are the main beneficiary of the aid we send. If I didn't already have more books on my reading than I can keep track of I would look up that memoir Astore refers to in his piece. I had second thoughts--I will pick up that book. It would give a different perspective on the Israel situation. By the way, Astore also has a good take on both the SOTU and (the even worse) Republican rebuttal. As to the truth or untruth or whatever contained in either, check my third paragraph above. And truth is often like beauty--in the eye of the beholder.

And for our bi-annual OH, SHIT moment--I was just reminded that we will have to adjust our clocks forward. I hate those times because the furry clocks (a.k.a., cats) can't be reset and our own biological clocks are out of sync for at least a couple of weeks. I really wish our asshole legislators would simply pick either daylight (not)saving or standard and leave it.

Have I mentioned before that I really, really hate getting new equipment--as in phones, computers, internet gateways. I just spent an annoying (to put it mildly) getting our new Xfinity gateway installed and working. Then we found that Mom could get on line without any problem but I couldn't. We originally had a "family" plan that allowed both of us to log in. We tried every way we could think of to get me on also but no luck. Finally, I bit the bullet and signed up for my own paid separate access. This might be part of the move in the industry to eliminate any kind of sharing (of passwords or accounts). Luckily we aren't so cash strapped as we were when we first got the account nearly 25 years ago. Thinking about it (and getting my temper back) it might also be good from a security point of view. OH, well, we adapt--some of us more easily than others.

All of this sounds so familiar. 

March 7

 Good morning, all. Cloudy and frosty this morning. The frost on the roofs has gone. Not much planned today. The State of the Union is scheduled for tonight. We won't watch. It starts about the time we call it a day and go to bed. I don't think it is worth staying up to watch Biden's amorphous hopes for his agenda which depends on his own reelection and a majority of like minded Democrats being elect also. And I suspect we would see the usual ill-mannered Republicans acting up in spite of their Speaker asking them to behave like adults.

Reading this Business Insider article about a woman who warned of the meltdown in the derivatives markets a decade before the 2008 crash I remembered The Big Short which detailed another Cassandra, male this time, who saw the same danger much closer to when it became obvious to all of the people whose job it was to look out for such catastrophes.

EuroNews reports on a drug causing concern. Physicians have prescribed pregabalin for a variety of condition but patients have had problems from side effects and then even more severe symptoms when trying to get off of it. Studies in Sweden report a significant number of suicide cases had the drug in their systems.

Stray thought: It feels like we have been on a merry-go-round (or a gerbil ball) for the last three years. When the Senate held their "trial" of Trump's Impeachment Republican leaders (and Trump's lawyers) insisted that it really wasn't their job to do anything so drastic as find him guilty, on the political stage, of insurrection and bar him from further office. Instead they insisted that there is a judicial system which can hold him accountable of the crime of insurrection.  It is the DOJ's job. The DOJ took a long time to charge him for that and now the case is languishing waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on Trump's claim of Presidential immunity. Then when the courts in Colorado and the Secretary of State (backed by the courts) decide he is an insurrectionist and should be bounced from the ballot, the Supreme Court rules that ONLY CONGRESS can decide how the 14th Amendment should be administered. Isn't it so reasonable that the very institution that abdicated that job gets it back gift wrapped by the Supremes. And so it goes. Thomas Zimmer says pretty much that in his substack post.