Archives for June 2021

Saturday June 5, 2021

If I have any “gift” it is that of connecting disparate pieces of information. Some call me a Renaissance Man, (never Mannerist, I wonder why? ) Whatever you wish to call it I have a wide range of interests and as a young man I remember reading about Roger Bacon who wanted “to take all knowledge for his province.” I always liked that idea and wanted to do the same. 

So today we set sail for enchanted lands and twisted ideas …

But first – Dr. Fauci.

Rachel did an interview with Dr. Fauci last night. She led up to the conversation by pointing out that it was Fauci in the 1980s when young gay men were dying from AIDS and demanding to be involved in the experiments of NIH and the Federal Government that he, Fauci, led the scientific community to do so. Not only did he get AIDS activists on the boards and participating in the experiments but he also got his fellow scientists to attend the AIDS activists’ meetings and listen to their concerns. Fauci took the brunt of the activists’ protests and complaints.

Dr. Fauci is once again being attacked, this time on Fox News and by Former President Trump. It’s not clear to me, nor to Rachel, what their compliant specifically is. There seems to be a belief that he lied. About what and for what reason is unclear. (Of course it is unclear because he didn’t lie, but I digress.) 

Fauci made a very interesting point comparing the two times. In the case of the activists he said they believed in science and wanted to be part of it. In the case of Trump and Fox News they have no interest in science. Excuse me, he was more specific, they don’t believe in science. ( Which is another way of saying they don’t believe in truth, but I digress again. ) He pointed out that the current attacks are not about the science and wanting to make it better or be a part of it. It is an attack on him and a searching for some hidden motive to not be truthful. 

The discussion turned to where did the Covid virus originate. It is not known. It is unclear, but there is no evidence, nor reason to believe that anyone was weaponizing a natural phenomena and that it accidentally escaped from a lab. 

He also pointed out that in January of 2020 was when his lab started hearing about the virus and they started working to understand it. Due to the money put into basic R&D in this area and due to their efforts and that of Operation Warp Speed they were able to have a vaccine by December. He talked about the mRNA techniques that helped to make this possible and that those techniques could in turn be used to develop even better ways to fight AIDS.

So to sum up. A bunch of numb nuts on Fox News and the chief numb nut are accusing a man who has spent his whole life trying to improve our ability to fight deadly pandemic diseases. They are accusing him of harboring some hidden agenda.

It seems to be a trend.

For instance the fake counting of ballots in Arizona continues and now some idiot Republican legislators in Pennsylvania are hoping to do the same thing in their state. 

I am working on the quantum physics book and trying to understand Bell’s Theorem. Bell and Bohr were both trying to tell Einstein that he was asking the wrong question(s).

Interesting. Asking the wrong question.

Speaking of which Don McGahn finally got to testify to a Congressional committee, under oath. Fortunately, Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz were there to represent the numb nut contingent. Jim “I’ve never introduced a piece of legislation” Jordan and Matt “she was a mature 17” Gaetz can be counted on to do the political equivalent of Beavis and Butthead go to Washington.

For some reason Rachel brought up topics like: statute of limitations, evidence listed in the Mueller report of potential crimes by Donald Trump, and the like.

Let me remind the audience that the crimes of Donald Trump are not subtle. They are not complicated. They are typically sited as “simple fraud.” His political malfeasances are similar. There is nothing subtle or hard to understand. In the Muller Report for instance, it outlines ten instances of a crime. To my understanding in criminal statute there are certain specific things one needs to do to be found to have committed a crime. Those things are listed in the statute. In the Mueller Report ten instances are listed. In at least four of the ten Donald J. Trump met everyone of the elements required to be charged with a crime. In other words, a prosecutor has nothing more to do than cut and paste from the Mueller Report.

With McGahn we should learn what he said in seven days. That was the deal on releasing his testimony. His testimony will outline even more serious stuff. You know, like Obstruction of Justice, malfeasance in office and stuff like that.

In a “funny” sidebar, Eric Swalwell has been trying to bring charges against Mo Brooks. You know Mo, the guy who stood up at the Trump Rally and told the crowd to storm the place where he works, The Capital. Mo was brave then but has stayed remarkably out of the lime light now. So much so, that Swalwell hired a private investigator to find him and serve him. What a big change from Brooks accusing Swalwell of cavorting with a Chinese spy! (Swalwell wasn’t. Brooks and others on the right are grasping at straws.)

This brings me to Dana Lamb and his book “Enchanted Vagabonds.” The 1930s journey down the western coast of Mexico to Panama in a handbuilt kayak/canoe/sailboat. The description of his adventures with his bride Ginger are so harrowing that it is hard to believe, but there is nothing in what I have read that leads me to think any is made up. 

Less than one hundred years ago there were Indians living in remote places along that coast. If you look at pictures now there are kite boarders and surfers along the beaches.

Lamb describes being mad with malaria. He and Ginger barely made it to an Indian village that for two months took care of them. They feed them and sent for someone who spoke perfect English who brought them more quinine (the cure for malaria at the time.) He also spoke of being given a native mixture to drink. It tasted god awful, but was more effective than the quinine, according to his account. 

He spoke of how an old woman sat outside their abode all night singing a low droning song. When he asked why, he was told so that the song would help them think about that sound and not let negative thoughts enter. 

He spoke of the way that the natives lived. That often they had an older relative who lived with them. That all the older people lived with someone, even if their own family had died. The old were taken in and cared for.

He spoke of transvestites. He said they could wear makeup and jewelry and whatever else but underneath they had to wear the clothes associated with their sex. (Ie Blue jeans for men. But blouses of a women up top were okay.) The transvestites worked with the women and were welcomed because their strength made carrying of water and such physically demanding chores easier on all.

He spoke of coming to San Cruz, which had been the western railhead for transporting goods across the from one ocean to another and how the town had been largely abandoned after the Panama Canal was built. Not that it couldn’t have survived, but there was so much theft and graft and crime that as soon as shippers didn’t need to stop there they didn’t.

The Lambs experience in San Cruz was so bad that they left before spending the night. There was a local gang of boys who kept throwing sand in their attempts to cook and they were pelted with rocks.

This was civilization.

Speaking of which, Lamb went int some detail about how the natives resented the white man their his puffed out sense of superiority. He mentioned how the natives had many medicines and cures, which he was sure a pharmacologist would be interested in.

It was about this time in the States that the notion that a five micron particle could not travel more than six feet before dropping out of the air. It was this mistaken notion that Fauci and others had mouthed in the halls of medicine after all these decades, before being disproven.

The natives Lamb went on valued attributes and honorable behavior, not gold like the white men did.

This is a similar story by Tim Cahill in his book “Please Pass the Butterworms.” In it he recounts giving a ride to a man in New Guinea. Clothed only in a penis shield, this man invited Cahill into his home where they ate and sang songs and were warm and in good company. Cahill compared this to the young drunks back in the town he had just left.

Which was more civilized?

Friday June 4, 2021

Turns out our Postmaster General, aside from trying to destroy the Post Office, doesn’t seem to be good at following the law. Aw – too bad. He may spend time in prison. He got irate when a Congressman asked him questions. He says he knows the law and he resents being asked questions that ask about his practices of raising money for political candidates. It’s similar to what Spiro Agnew did. It’s what’s called a kickback scheme. In this one De Joy gave people bonuses with the understanding that they’d either give him the money or they’d contribute to a political campaign. Either way it’s illegal. Maybe, he threw in a little intimidation like, “If you want to keep your job.” Or maybe it was “If you know what’s good for you.”?

Gee whiz, would he have to run the Post Office from his jail cell? So many questions.

Then there’s Anthony Fauci’s emails. He gets like 1,000 a day. The headlines were screaming that he hadn’t advised people way back when to wear masks. Yeah, that’s right. Because the scientific establishment got some basic physics about viruses wrong. They’ve been wrong since the 1930s. That was what, when Anthony was ten years old? Sorry, ten years before he was born.

Trump Jr. is doing birthday greetings for $500 a pop. Some wonder why? I’ll tell you why. He needs the money. I’m thinking I’d pay five hundred to hear him say terrible things about his father. Something like, “Hi, this is Donald Trump Jr. and my dad is a sleaze ball.” I think he’d do it for 500 clams.

Wednesday June 2, 2021

The other day a fellow posted in the neighborhood listserv comments relating to the economy.

Some tried to tell him that was not the place. His response, “Why not?”

Geez, because it’s a place to post about lost dogs, and where to find a “reasonable” electrician, carpenter or plumber. (Why do they always ask for “reasonable”? Why not outrageous?)

Well, in response to his economic questions I will respond here.

He made two points: 

1 – Why don’t we have a balanced budget?

2 – People need to stop getting handouts and get a job. 

Okay, I’m simplifying his comments, but that’s the gist of it. Many agreed with him.

Both cases miss the point. They are both based on fundamental misunderstandings. The first on economics. The second on economics, politics, and social.

Let’s go with the balanced budget question. Why don’t we have a balanced budget? Well, sometimes we do, normally when Democrats are in power, and sometimes we don’t – always when Republicans are in power because they always have an excuse why they don’t balance the budget and then howl and scream when the Dems don’t balance it. But it goes deeper than that.

Let me start with a thought experiment. Let’s say we pass a law saying we need a balanced budget every year. Then let’s say something like World War II happens. We need to go into overdrive to make lots of bullets, tanks, and airplanes. But we can’t because it will ruin the budget. Sorry, no bullets for you! 

Now, you may also say, “Yeah, well that’s different and ‘It won’t happen here’ “ but you’d be incorrect because it already happened here.

Have you seen the picture of the boat loaded with Jewish people fleeing the Nazis? They were looking for asylum. They weren’t allowed entrance into the U.S. because back in the 1920s we had passed a law that only allowed so many from those countries into ours. What happened? They had to go back to Europe and be slaughtered by the Nazis. Yup, We had laws. 

Imagine if we had a balanced budget law and something like WWII came up. What are we going to do break the law or not make bullets? 

The point is that a balanced budget makes sense for a household but not necessarily for a Federal government. In fact, it could be detrimental as is the case of WWII.

The Federal government is different than your household budget. They also have another trick up their sleeve. They can make money by printing it.

Now, you may say that’s not a good idea – Inflation! 

And you’d be right – kind of.

Most economists agreed that a slightly inflationary economy can be a good thing. The trick is to not go up too fast or too much. In other words you want to be able to pay off some of your debt via inflation but not have it rise so fast that those on a fixed income can’t pay their bills. 

Let’s move on to the second point. People need to get a job. They shouldn’t be getting a handout from the government. They need to work!

Okay. Fair enough. But is that the problem? Do people not want to work? Would they rather get a handout from the government? Interesting question. I’m sure there are folks who would rather watch TV all day and not do anything. In any system you implement there will always be exceptions; things you didn’t count on, didn’t expect, and show the opposite is true. There are also false claims too. Remember Ronald Reagan and his concern about “Welfare Queens”? You might have been able to find a few fat black women with five kids living in a double wide, but the reality was it was mainly white folks in rural America. And were they really not willing to work, or was there no work to be had?

Well then the solution is they should go somewhere else and find another job, right? Remember Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck? In that novel he described people picking fruit. They got handbills saying there were better paying jobs in another place. They went there and discovered that no, it wasn’t true. The hand bills had been distributed to make sure that they had plenty of workers and then could force people to accept a lower paying wage.

What are you going to do if you live in a small town and there’s really only one place to work? What if they say they are only going to pay so much and you can’t live on that? You move. To where? Another town with another single industry. Same deal. How many times you gonna move? What if it’s the suburbs and Walmart? Same problem. 

Currently, the restaurant industry is experiencing a problem finding help. Why? Can you live on $2.13 an hour? That’s what they pay. Plus tips. Problem is people aren’t tipping for take out.

What’s the solution?

The rules of the game need to change. How do you do that? You even the playing field. A single worker can’t effect change with a big company. Either they need the ability to strike (ie strong unions) or the government needs to change the laws. Maybe that’s increasing the minimum wage, not letting goods made in countries with cheaper labor into the country, or here’s a idea that many people have a problem with but I’ll ask you in the form of a question, “What’s the quickest way out of poverty?”

I’ll put that another way. “If poverty is defined as having no money, what would be a solution to poverty be?”

If you said, “To have money.” You’d be correct. Does it matter how you got the money? Not really. So one way to eliminate poverty is to give people money. If that’s the solution the only question is, “How do you do that?”

I’ll leave it there for now.

Have a day: great, nice, or otherwise.

Tuesday June 1, 2021

We’re watching a show called Undercover Billionaire. Three billionaires are given an old truck, a phone, and $100. They are dropped in a city unknown to them and they have to create a million dollar business in 90 days.

I’m continuing to read the book on quantum mechanics. I’m up to the most famous scientific paper of all time – EPR, named for its three authors: Einstein and two others (Rosen?). It’s a thought experiment that tries to show that quantum theory is incomplete.

I’ve seen several different video clips on Facebook of various animals circling for the kill: jackals and a lion, wolves and a bear who is sitting on an elk carcass, and lions circling a wildebeest. None of them are heroic. They all try to attack from behind – cowardly.

And I’ve seen a picture of Trump, shown from behind. In handcuffs. I’ve also seen ads for hats: “Trump for Prison.” Two things: I ask myself, “Where would I wear such a hat?” (A “Stop the Steal” Rally?) and I want video of Satan frog marched out of Mar-a-Lago. Better yet, I want some cops to make him and his family lay face down on the hot macadam, zip-tied with their hands behind their backs, while the cops casually talk to their superiors wondering if they have the right people, etc. Welcome to America ( Mother – F*ers ). 

Okay,  where was I? Oh yeah the undercover billionaire show. The whole premise is weird and what the heck is someone going to do while a camera crew follows them around? Say no to a request? And why did any of these three agree to do this? The guy is some super salesman real-estate developer type. His initials are “GC.” It’s plastered on the tail of his Lear jet. They show him at some huge rally where he’s exhorting the crowd (to get rich? I don’t know.) What he has said in the recurring thought scenes is interesting to me. He repeats that everything you know about money is wrong. That fear is what holds people back. He says saving money, little bits at a time, won’t cut it. (Interesting.) It’s the fear component that is most interesting to me. I think it’s fear of making a mistake, or fear of not knowing. He says there are three things to getting wealthy: Show Up, Don’t Quit, and I forget #3. (Probably, the most important.) They show him having meetings with business people. He’s smart. He asks how can he help them. He finds out the guy at the RV place has his wife’s jeep he’s trying to sell. He offers to sell it for him. Okay. Can he drive it around? Sure. Smart.

Then there’s EPR. I can’t remember exactly what EPR was proposing. I know it’s a thought experiment. It led to the ongoing debate between Einstein and Bohr. I know it comes down to the point Bohr was making, that Einstein was asking the wrong question, He was asking it because he was making a false assumption. It’s an assumption that holds up in the everyday world but not the micro world of quantum mechanics. 

And this gets back to the undercover billionaire. If you are fearful, it may be that you are asking the wrong question. That your assumption is incorrect. 

Ah, grasshopper. Is that it? Are we asking the wrong question?