Category Archives: Uncategorized

Inflation is neither some random thing that affects your finances nor exclusively the result of printing money; it also can reflect real-world phenomenon. Consider this UPI report on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s statement on inflation:

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell highlighted a significant yet often overlooked contributor to the persistently high inflation rates: soaring insurance costs. Powell emphasized in congressional testimony that various types of insurance, including home and car insurance, have experienced substantial surges in recent years, impeding the Fed’s efforts to achieve its 2% inflation target. He noted, “Insurance of various different kinds — housing insurance, but also automobile insurance, and things like that — that’s been a significant source of inflation over the last few years.”

Climate change is overwhelmingly attributed to our fossil fuel economy, in case you were wondering, and climate scientists have been warning about it for two or three decades now. Think about who consistently defends the fossil fuel industry, while denigrating cleaner technologies, when listening to some politician harp on and on about inflation.

This WaPo article never mentions the possibility, but I have to wonder if the time of the cows in America may be ending, to be replaced by camels.

The camels had thump-thumped for seven days across northern Kenya, ushered by police reservists, winding at last toward their destination: less a village than a dusty clearing in the scrub, a place where something big was happening. People had walked for miles to be there. Soon the governor pulled up in his SUV. Women danced, and an emcee raised his hands to the sky. When the crowd gathered around an enclosure holding the camels, one man said he was looking at “the future.”

The camels had arrived to replace the cows.

Cows, here and across much of Africa, have been the most important animal for eons — the foundation of economies, diets, traditions.

But now grazable land is shrinking. Water sources are drying up. A three-year drought in the Horn of Africa that ended last year killed 80 percent of the cows in this part of Kenya and shattered the livelihoods of so many people.

If, faced with the same climate conditions, would Americans stubbornly hold on to cows, or would we switch to camels? It brings in dizzying visions of the Strategic American Reserve of Camels.

Rep Byron Donalds (R-FL) steps forward with a claim:

Phreatomagmatic eruption:

Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain juvenile (magmatic) clasts. It is common for a large explosive eruption to have magmatic and phreatomagmatic components. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “Icelandic volcano erupts, turning sky orange and forcing evacuations,” Annabelle Timsit and Kasha Patel, WaPo:

Senator Vance (R-OH) would have us believe that Ukraine is doomed:

President Biden wants the world to believe that the biggest obstacle facing Ukraine is Republicans and our lack of commitment to the global community. This is wrong. Ukraine’s challenge is not the G.O.P.; it’s math. Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can field, even with draconian conscription policies. And it needs more matériel than the United States can provide. This reality must inform any future Ukraine policy, from further congressional aid to the diplomatic course set by the president. [The New York Times^[1]]

To which there is an answer that doesn’t involve dry statistics and other dreary things.

Senator Vance, you’ve forgotten one factor in your mathematical analysis.

We are the UNITED STATES. Together, we can do anything. We’ve gone to the Moon, we’ve sent probes to the planets and probes are on their way to other solar systems. We’ve rescued countries, and we have doomed other countries.

That’s right, we are capable of the greatest feats, and the greatest crimes. We can abandon Ukraine as we snivel about the penny-pinching cost of it all, or we can provide our aid, in support of another democracy, in support of international law, and in support of our national interest.

We can send more than enough arms to Ukraine to defeat those who threaten to oppress them, to rape them, to bully them, to eradicate them from their very homeland, many of them obsolete in our estimation – but not there’s. We can do this without sending troops.

Or we can turn our backs on them, our fellow humans who wish to control their own destiny, rather than capitulate to the Russian dictator.

Do you want to commit a great crime? Or do you want to accomplish the ‘impossible’ great thing, and set Ukraine free?

¹ Via Maddowblog, because I am too cheap to pay for subscriptions to both WaPo and the Times. And I don’t have the time to read both.

Perhaps a trifle cliched, but I’m busy today.

For those wondering how Mr Trump’s latest venture, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, is working out after a couple of weeks, well, ummmm, the stock market isn’t always the most accurate indicator. Hey? Yeah, well, it stinks:

That high point just before April? When it was announced that the merger between DWAC and DJT had been okayed by the SEC. It’s been downhill ever since.

If you bought stock, I wish you well. Good wishes are rarely good for rescuing you from unfortunate financial situations. Unfortunately.

Photoed a day or two ago…

Daily Kos‘ Joan McCarter remarks on the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that a law dating from before Arizona became a State is still a law:

Fascinoma:

But the duration of Sternlieb’s infection, its location in a uterine fibroid and the recurring hives made the case something of a fascinoma — medical slang for an unusual and unusually interesting case, a status that would be enhanced by the discovery of its source. [“Medical Mysteries: Years of hives and fevers traced to a startling cause,” Sandra G. Boodman, WaPo]

This week’s nominee is conservative media personality Byron York! As WaPo’s Dana Milbank provides important context, we’ll take it from him:

Steve Benen is puzzling over the Republican National Committee’s behavior, now under the management of Mr Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump:

Great. Buy solar panels last year, run across this article this year:

Researchers from Lehigh University have developed a material that demonstrates the potential for drastically increasing the efficiency of solar panels.

A prototype using the material as the active layer in a solar cell exhibits an average photovoltaic absorption of 80%, a high generation rate of photoexcited carriers, and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) up to an unprecedented 190%—a measure that far exceeds the theoretical Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit for silicon-based materials and pushes the field of quantum materials for photovoltaics to new heights.

“This work represents a significant leap forward in our understanding and development of sustainable energy solutions, highlighting innovative approaches that could redefine solar energy efficiency and accessibility in the near future,” said Chinedu Ekuma, professor of physics, who published a paper on the development of the material with Lehigh doctoral student Srihari Kastuar in the journal Science Advances. [TechXplore]

Furballs.

Mutable:

able or likely to change:
the mutable nature of love
Language is not static, it is mutable.

Noted in “April 9, 2024,” Heather Cox Richardson, Letters From An American:

The [Arizona Supreme Court] explained: “A policy matter of this gravity must ultimately be resolved by our citizens through the legislature or the initiative process…. We defer, as we are constitutionally obligated to do, to the legislature’s judgment, which is accountable to, and thus reflects, the mutable will of our citizens.”

Are you afflicted? Citizens of Turkey are positively aflame:

Turkey’s Central Bank, in a unexpected move, hiked interest rates Thursday by another 500 basis points, from 45% to 50%.

The monetary policy committee cited a “higher than expected” surge in the country’s year-on-year inflation last month, which hit almost 70%. The embattled Turkish lira strengthened immediately after the surprise announcement, trading more than 1% up on the day at 14:30 p.m. local time. [AL-Monitor]

A bit hard to borrow money. And this in an Islamic nation? I thought charging interest was against Islamic law?

For those readers confused by claims, often emanating from Gen Z, of identity with a group with which they are either evidently, or admittedly, not, here’s Katherine Dee on Default Wisdom:

… as acceptance of minority sexual orientations and gender identity have grown, these categories have become much more nebulous. Rather than being guided by physical experience, one’s sexuality and gender identity are now determined by something much harder to define: feelings. The YouTuber Contrapoints may have put it best in a now-deleted tweet: “Gen Z people are hard to figure out. They’re like, ‘I’m an asexual slut that loves sex! You don’t have to be trans to be trans. Casual reminder that your heterosexuality doesn’t make your gayness any less valid!”

But to our hypothetical Gen Z member, though, I’d have to reply, Sorry, dearie, but you’re not thinking clearly.

Here’s the situation: there’s an assumption that some bundle of feelings or vibes is inseparable from the group to which it’s associated, be it gays, lesbians, or the asexual.

But this assumption has some hidden troubles. Feelings and vibes are not spontaneously existing things that are independent and unaffected by the surrounding societal context. Consider a comparison of two pairs of men. Each pair is bonded. One pair is living in 1950 in New York City, and, for simplicity, the location of the other pair is also New York City, but in 2020.

The former pair, on average, daren’t reveal their quasi-married status and devotion to each other, except to a few close friends, due to strong societal disapproval, such as losing their jobs or even their lives. The gentlemen of 2020, on the other hand, may have had 200 guests at their wedding, and, if they lose their jobs because they’re gay, they have a solid legal basis for compensation.

These highly differences, in key ways, of society’s reaction will undoubtedly strongly influence the feelings of these men of self, towards their partners, and towards society.

To suggest that feelings/vibes and group identity are inseparable is a difficult, even impossible, proposition to defend in view of the fact they change so easily.

Take it another step: are the feelings and vibes originating from belonging to one group broadly unique? Why would they be? Is it possible that, in the years from the above example, a lesbian pair would feel quite similar?

I think so. The pair of a status and a society, and its mapping to a vibe or feeling portfolio, can hardly be considered to generate a unique such portfolio. Just as dread can occur when faced with a wild tiger or the loss of a job, so can the feelings of being part of some group.

So when I suggest our Gen Z member isn’t thinking clearly, I’m specifically referencing the logical error Affirming the Consequent, in which a system supporting the assertion if (a) then (b), and then b is observed (to be true), and thus a fallacious conclusion of (a) is drawn. That is, just because you feel like you’re gay, asexual, or whatever, you’re not unless you substantially follow the physical practices of said group.

I shan’t speculate on the motivations between such poor reasoning, as none of the conclusions are pleasant; I’ll just suggest that a class in rhetoric may be in order.

Paul Newman and Meryl Streep star in ….

Bulldog Drummond’s Bride (1939), part of the canon of Bulldog Drummond, is a rather dreadful effort that depends on the charm of the lead playing Drummond, John Howard, to carry the load. Howard gives it the old college try, but between American accents ascribed to British citizens, French police rather than gendarmes, and a silly plot centering around a bank robbery and a would-be bride, eager for the role, chasing after an ADHD Drummond, this short movie was difficult to take seriously.

Fortunately, I doubt it was ever anything more than a filler.

Reading Andrew Sullivan’s condemnation of the far-left and far-right for going anti-Semitic, following the incendiary invasion of Israel, with its attendant mass murder and kidnapping of civilians, by Hamas, then in control of Gaza, left me gloomy. Don’t get me wrong: Hamas’ actions, whether taken in a supposed defense of Gaza or, as mooted about in AL-Monitor and other publications, an attempt to break up an imminent rapprochement between Israel and its adversaries, such as Saudi Arabia, certainly constitutes a pure, distilled evil.

But for years, even decades, the activities of Israeli settlers, slowly pushing Muslims out of their long-held homes, has been unsettling as well. Indeed, the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, a leading figure in the Oslo Accords, thought to be leading to a two-state solution, by a far-right Jewish Israeli, might be considered a signal clue as to the arrogance and, yes, evil that may exist is Israel.

For those readers who may be thinking that I hardly know what I speak of, you’re quite right. The events of the Middle East since the establishment of Israel following World War II by, or at least with the backing of the Allies, as led by David Ben-Gurion, have been curious, even to those conversant with the various religions active in the area; for an agnostic with only a passing interest, the claims, the maneuvering, the actions can all be downright puzzling.

But tonight it occurs to me to take a step back while thinking about the motivations of both sides. The extremists on each have amply demonstrated their extremists’ belief in a Divinity, some sort of force that represents good.

And we know that thinking you are part of a tradition of a Divinity can often lead those in that tradition to think their actions, grim as they may be, are sanctified. Certainly, the more mature individuals will recognize the fallacy; but many do not. They believe in God, they believe the rules only apply to their interactions with others in the tradition, and outside of that tradition?

Much anything goes.

And so we see one of the dangers of believing in a divinity: an illusion of the sanctification of some of the worst, most disgusting actions of human kind. All because of a belief that the Divine favors the perpetrator.

It’s something I’ll be keeping in mind in the future. And it helps explain my gloominess at understanding this situation.

Ramada:

(US) A simple arbour or open porch, typically roofed with branches. [from 19th c.] [Wiktionary]

Funny, all these years and never have I run across ramada, excepting all those Ramada Inns, anywhere until now. I had assumed that Ramada Inn was named after their founder, whoever that might be. I noted it in “Archaeologists discover remarkable ancient O’Odham village and va’aki beneath Tempe,” Tamara Jager Stewart, american archaeology (Spring 2024), but the link is to a partial article that does not contain the usage; I suppose you’ll have to give money to the Archaeological Conservancy, as I do, and then ask them to send the Spring 2024 issue, if this concerns you. Here’s a very partial quote, all typos mine:

A giant steel ramada was built over the great house in 1932 — a New Deal project — to protect it from the elements, replacing an earlier 1903 wooden protective structure.

As a mark of ramada’s rarity in literary usage, the spell check in use by WordPress has marked ramada as a misspelling.

Looking at Mr Trump’s Truth Social company, known by its stock symbol of DJT, kos of Daily Kos reads DJT’s 8-K, and if I were an investor, this would concern me:

• Conservative former Congressman Devin Nunes is paid $750,000 as CEO, despite having zero experience running a tech or media company, and that will go up to $1 million next year. Prior to serving in Congress, he was a farmer. Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Gosh, that’s not a lot of money, and there’s no one more qualified at licking Trump’s boots than Nunes. What if he bolts?” Oh ye of little faith, you underestimate Trump’s grifting negotiating prowess! Nunes is also getting a $600,000 “retention bonus”! Keep that number in mind.
• The company’s chief financial officer Phillip Juhan and chief operating officer Andrew Northwall are getting $337,500 and $365,000, respectively. And you’ll be happy to learn that both of them are also getting $600,000 retention bonuses.

This is looking as this tree in my backyard.

And it doesn’t stop there. For a company showing a loss that’s huge relative to revenue, doesn’t appear to have a reasonable business model, has inexperienced personnel, some arguably incompetent, at key positions, and is not revealing key metrics, these are bright red flags, fluttering in the breeze.

And this is a company that, so far, is dependent on the charisma and reputation of a guy coming up fast on the end of his lifetime. They say they are trying to develop products beyond Mr. Trump, but given the lack of star quality leadership in technology, I have my doubts.

The red flags are thundering in the windstorm, in my opinion.

H.R.7845, a House bill whose sponsor, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), is today’s nominee, has the title:

To designate the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia as the “Donald J. Trump International Airport”.

Rep. Reschenthaler is either, or even both:

1. A truly devoted fan of Mr Trump, beyond all bounds of reason or taste;
2. An aesthete of enormous talent and sensibility. As his colleague, Rep Brandon Boyle (D-PA), noted, Dulles is an old, ugly airport that no one wants to see. So I think this is a fitting tribute to 45. But Rep Boyle failed to note how this fits into the panoply of Mr. Trump’s associations, as “old airports” are, unless properly updated, fourth class. Mr Trump never finds the first class associate, does he? It’s not in his personality, narcissistic and desiring adoration, for first rate people expend adoration upon their pets, who generally cannot abuse it, and not on people. Those they treat as appropriate: dignity, caution, loathing are some of the applicable adjectives. Their association with adoring people is uneasy, suspicious, and withdrawn.

My congratulations to Rep. Reschenthaler on his achievement.

Correction: The stock symbol of Trump Media & Technology Group is actually DJT. My previous post was wrong.

But I like it.

Craton:

A craton is a large, coherent domain of Earth’s continental crust that has attained and maintained long-term stability, having undergone little internal deformation, except perhaps near its margins due to interaction with neighbouring terranes. Stable continental crust is an end product of intense magmatic, tectonic, and metamorphic reworking; hence, cratons consist of polydeformed and metamorphosed crystalline and metamorphic rocks (e.g., typically “granite-greenstone terrains” in the most ancient cratons). [astrophysics data system]

Noted in “Why supersonic, diamond-spewing volcanoes might be coming back to life,” Robin George Andrews, NewScientist (23 March 2024, paywall):

There was just one problem. Almost all kimberlites are found within cratons, the colossal, 200-kilometre-thick cores of continents, which don’t experience [the rifts caused by continental breakups]. Cratons are several billion years old. Even when supercontinents are broken, these cores remain intact. That meant kimberlite magmas picked the thickest, toughest parts of the continents to puncture through – the path of most resistance – something most eruptive activity tends to avoid.