School Starts: The Power of Love

 The power of vaccination is the power of love. It shows your commitment to the health and well-being of yourself and, more importantly, to all those around you. According to the school calendars I saw, students in Pierce and Ware County start back August 4th. I continue to pray that every teacher and staff person is vaccinated.

Masking may seem unpleasant, but while the Delta Variant is surging, and so many remain unvaccinated, it really is the smart thing to do. The local school systems and the Governor (Kemp. DeSantis) are not like to make masks mandatory, but if you are a parent, I urge you to support masking for the sake of your children and for the sake of all.

No one wants to be dragged backward into the pandemic. We all want to move to a different stage. And the best way to do that? Get vaccinated!

I'm not trying to be political. Honest! But the science is clear. The way out of this is masking and vaccination.

If we don't, we run the risk of even more virulent variants emerging. And I fear one of those may endanger our greatest treasure - our children.

So....

Mask up.

Get vaccinated.

Love,

T. M. Strait

The Silence of the Olympics

The Summer Olympics are here!

After a year's delay, the Tokyo Olympics have arrived!

 

Well, sort of.

After waiting to pick the right time, or what seemed like the right time, is actually during a surge featuring the more transmissible Delta Variant.

It's strange.  Almost surreal.  All the events are being played out without spectators.  It has an odd, haunting quality to it.

We've lost a good number of athletes who have either contracted the virus or had to be quarantined.  The part that I find most astonishing is that athletes and staff were not required to have been vaccinated.  That's not good.  It's just begging for a disaster to happen.

Should the games have been held?  Probably not.  But once the commercials winds are soaring, it's hard to bring them back down.  

We may be seeing more of this.  Many, especially in the United States, have mentally put this behind us.  No amount of evidence otherwise will cause them to move to vaccine requirements or lockdowns or even returning to mask-wearing.

So, the Olympics are here, and right or wrong, I choose to watch them.  At least a tiny portion of them (watching all the coverage would take mammoth DVR capacity and several months of dedicated viewing).

Competing, even for the best, is extremely stressful.

I can't imagine how stressful it is to perform in the Olympics, especially for those we've built up to be super-human.  The burdens they carry are tremendous.

Simone Biles is arguably the best gymnast of all time. The things she does defy what we previously thought of as human limitations.  But she is a human being, and like all of us, she has a threshold that may cause her to break or doubt herself.

She reached that in withdrawing from the team competition.  She felt her anxiety was holding back the team, and right or wrong, she thought their score would be better off without her.

But she's not the only one whose high expectations handicap them.  Naomi Osaka, the number one ranked female tennis player in the world, competing in her home country, faltered and was an early loser in the tennis competition.  In both the women's and men's Taekwondo competitions, I saw the number one players in the world lose in early rounds. In addition, the USA men's basketball team looks shaky for the first time in decades.

These disappointments happen every Olympics.  But they do seem more egregious this year.  Perhaps the additional complication of COVID is contributing.  I don't know.  But I sympathize with them all, both those who fail expectations and the underdogs who exceed expectations.

The thrill of following the unusual.

One of my favorite parts of the Olympics is following sports that don't get a lot of play in America.

When the '96 Olympics came to Atlanta, the one sport Alison and I saw together was a team handball game.  It featured the United States playing a premier European team (unfortunately, I have forgotten which one).  The American team was not very good.  The European team looked buff and athletic.  The United States looked like overfed frat boys who had gotten together as a lark. Our goalie reminded me of John Belushi and John Candy.  He didn't, but you could almost picture him drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette while he was trying to block shots.

I fell in love with the sport, at least as far as Olympic events went.  And with my multiple streaming services and unlimited cloud DVR, I've been able to watch more than ever this year.

But that's not all.  I have also seen - table tennis, taekwondo, rugby, water polo, equestrian dressage, the women's triathlon, and so much more.

Follow the numbers

Yes, as hard as it is for me to admit it, I have an accounting/numbers side to me, mostly in relation to statistics.

I used to spend a lot of time with medal counts, coming up with my own valuing system to see who the true medal leaders are. I assigned 3 points for gold, 2 points for silver, and 1 point for bronze.

I don't do that much anymore.  If I did, I could tell you who the top five were at this moment -

United States    61 pts

China                55 pts

Japan                49 pts

ROC                  42 pts

Great Britain    32 pts

Good thing I'm not doing this anymore.  

Let them wear what they want to wear

The Norwegian beach volleyball team made a team decision to switch from bikini briefs (emphasis on BRIEF) to shorts (they look to me similar to the shorts cyclists wear).  They made this decision in a European Handball League.  It was the European Handball League that fined them, not the Olympic executives.  You may not like the decision.  That's understandable.  But please understand where it came from.

The Olympics deals with teams all over the world, and modesty standards vary.

This is a picture of a beach volleyball contest.  Can you see a difference in what each team chose to wear?  The Egyptian team is dressed one way, and the Italian team another. Can you tell which team is which?

The point is, I don't really care as long as it is the athletes themselves who choose what they wear.  I have heard some commentary from female beach volleyball players that they have reasons for wearing what they wear, and it is for competitive comfort and not to be vavavoom.

I take them at their word.  Let them wear what works for them, and the rest of us shouldn't judge one way or another.

Are sports sexualized?  Maybe.  But...spoiler alert...humans are sexualized.  Ask some women who watch the oiled-up shirtless flag-bearer from Tonga, divers, wrestlers, swimmers, or water polo players.  If they're honest with themselves, some of them are sighing.  It's hard to get around.  Heck, the original Greek Olympics were done naked (or so I hear - I wasn't there).

What you don't want to see is athletes forced to wear what they don't want to (important proviso - team sports have to make a decision AS A TEAM).  

I hope that is one thing we can all agree on.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some beach volleyball to watch.

BILLIONAIRES IN SPACE!

 

I make no apologies for it.

It's true.  I am an independent progressive.  I believe that we as a people, and our government as our agents (ideally, WE THE PEOPLE are the government), should be doing everything we can to alleviate poverty, end discrimination, and ensure equal opportunity.  I believe in Medicare For All, the Green New Deal, and a living minimum wage.

But I also believe, with all my heart and soul, in the importance of space exploration.  I want a station on the Moon.  I want us to go to Mars.  I want us to find out about Europa and Titan and any planet or moon where life may exist.  I love the space program.

So, when I hear my fellow liberals whine about how much the space program costs and how they think we should spend that money improving things here on Earth, it makes me a little verklempt. Of course, sometimes conservatives will make their own arguments against it, using the same logic, but maybe different programs should be supported (or just keep the money for themselves).

What a croc.

It's not either/or.  The space program has never been all that expensive, given the federal budget as a whole.  At its very height, during the space race of the 60s, NASA's budget was 4.41% of the Federal Budget.  More current numbers show it at 1/2 of 1%.*  If NASA's budget was zero, it wouldn't really solve a damn thing.  So, 1) it ain't enough to reallocate to make a dent, and 2) you really think Republicans and corporate Democrats are going to see it as a savings and spend it on helping people?  They are more likely to spend it on the Pentagon or reduce the federal budget.

Also, the benefits from the space program have been huge.  A simple google search displays articles that talk about dozens of inventions and technologies we have due to the space program.  Advances in computer technology alone justify its cost.  They even include things like memory foam, invisible braces for teeth, and tap water filters.  The list goes on and on.  Check these out for yourself.

I love the alternate history series, For All Mankind (color editing done by my son, Greg), and its depiction of a faster space race, spurred on by the Russians being first to land on the moon. Another fascinating variation on history is that the Russians were the first to have a woman walk on the Moon, spurring Americans to do the same, and the subsequent equality in the astronaut core accelerating greater equality in the US. It took us a little longer, but in the 80s and 90s, we broadened out to include the full range of Americans.

So, yeah, I am an unapologetic supporter of the space program.

That does not mean I am a supporter of Trump's idiotic Space Force,  which is just a ham-handed militarization of space, WHICH WE DO NOT NEED.

And that brings us to...

👉BILLIONAIRES IN SPACE!👈

I've read science fiction all my life (okay, from about 6 years old), and I am aware of the heavy influence that libertarian philosophy has on many major writers, particularly in the 40s and 50s. For example, there are many science fiction stories where the super-rich millionaire/billionaire would take the reins of the space program and do it themselves because...GOVERNMENT SUCKED.

What a croc.

How in the world can the space program be better if it is done for the betterment of one, instead of in the interests of all?  How is it better if the profit from all the innovations and advancements is concentrated in the hands of the mega-wealthy?

Yes.  I understand.  Many investments started out dominated by the wealthy.  Airplanes were toys of the rich until someone figured out how much money could be made with passenger travel.  Of course, any major innovation is often facilitated with government support and money.  No billionaire ever did it by himself.  Government builds them spaceports and other support.

And then there are the huge tax breaks billionaires receive for this and other reasons.

Do I want billionaires in space?  I would rather it be we the people.

There is a chance that space tourist travel will be popular and affordable, based on the groundwork being laid by Branson, Bezos, and Musk. However, it is even more possible that they will use this as a means to become wealthier - hell, maybe even trillionaires.

If they want to play at this, fine.  But first - 

PAY YOUR DAMN FAIR SHARE OF TAXES

PAY YOUR WORKERS A LIVING WAGE

STOP BEHAVING LIKE AYN RAND WANNABES

Most importantly, let's get our WE THE PEOPLE space program back on track.  Let's get a station on the moon.  Let's have manned missions to Mars.  Let's land something on Europa that can take pictures, sample soil, bring back information.  

Let's boldly go where no man has gone before!

* budget numbers are from federal budget numbers accumulated by Datablog.

Leading Them to Water

This is Ellie. 

After a brief visit outside in the Georgia heat, she came in panting.  I thought, "This dog needs some water."

So, I called her over to where the dog's water bowl is.  She stares at it for a minute, looks at me, and then walks away.

What's the saying?  You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink?

Don't worry.  Ellie is fine.  She eventually drank water, on her own time and impulse.

Not so in some cases. Sometimes there are dire consequences in refusing to drink the water.

And such as it is with the unvaccinated.

It doesn't matter how easy the access to vaccination is.  They will refuse to follow the path.

It doesn't matter how you talk to them.  You can be persuasive.  You can be friendly.  You can appeal to them based on your friendship and love for them.  They will listen to other, darker voices from their highly filtered and conspiratorial news sources and highly stacked social media feeds.

And sadly, it doesn't seem to matter that, in many sections of the country where the vaccination rates are low, cases are surging again.  That 99%+ of the hospitalizations and deaths are of the unvaccinated. For them, personal liberty trumps social responsibility.

Yes, Biden is President, and he bears responsibility for resolving this crisis and leading us out of this mess.  Our rollout of the vaccine has been among the best in the world.  Finally, we're number one at something again! His COVID bill has focused big dollars on vaccination and support for the medical community. Unfortunately, it has shored up weaknesses in our economic system.

But in the end, Biden and for those of us who care, we can lead people to the vaccine, but we cannot make them take it.

And that puts all at risk, as the virus continues to spread, and unchecked variants take over, variants that are more communicable and deadly.  Variants that may eventually break through the vaccine barrier.

We are in a race between vaccination and variants.  And if we don't achieve herd immunity through vaccination, we are going to lose that race.

I'll end with a plea that if anyone has successfully led someone to the vaccine and persuaded them to take it, please share your story and tell us how you did it.  We all need a little bit of hope right now.

History of the Trap Vol. 2: Chapter 3 - A Week at the Farm Part 5

 5

 

What an operation!  Where did all the animals come from?  I had thought that when they first came out, there were a few cows and goats.  Over time, there were pigs, chickens, rabbits.  There were even a few dogs and cats.

The chickens were there from the beginning, even though I didn’t know it.  I swear nobody mentioned them until recently.  The others were found nearby, wandering in the woods near the farm.  The acreage around the farm seemed to be much bigger than when first discovered.  The boundaries of our Trap must have changed.

Like the plant life (vegetables, fruits, crops), the animal life seemed to breed and mature at an accelerated rate.  Odd, because we humans weren’t breeding at all.  Not that some weren’t trying, just that there were no pregnancies since the Trap fell.  And those who were pregnant at the time of the Fall miscarried the first day.

I had heard about the big red barn, but it was even more imposing seeing it up close.

The message in white lettering was still there: SEE BRONNER’S IN FRANKENMUTH THE WORLD’S LARGEST CHRISTMAS STORE HO! HO! HO!  I could see the picture of Santa, larger than life.  There were some spots where Santa’s paint was chipped away – nothing you would notice from a distance.  This was a sign meant to be seen from a roadway.  But the freeway taking you north to Huron, or South to Bay City, was nowhere in sight.  It had vanished, replaced by woods that the Trap electrical border would not let us explore in-depth.

Inside the barn were stalls for the cows, farm equipment (including a tractor), hay bales, and more. Initially, the chickens had been inside the barn, but chicken coops had been built, mainly for the hens to lay eggs. The chickens were able to wander the grounds of a large fenced-in area.

Probably the most impressive part of the Farm was the unexpectedly large basement.  There were at least four dormitory areas down there, room for a couple of dozen people in each one.  Three accommodated guys, but one was occupied by girls (a growing misnomer – more of us were 18 or older now).  They also had two large wash areas – including showers.  Water was never a problem inside the Trap.  It constantly flowed through the high school and the farm pipes -where it came from; we didn’t know.  Were we still connected somehow to the outside world? I’m not sure I ever understood how that worked.

They had a dining hall about half the size of the school’s – which still made it pretty darn big. I sat at a table with Ginny, Artie, and Robert.  We also had David Deneau and Annie Popper sitting with us.  Annie was my regular nurse when Ginny wasn’t visiting.  Like me, both Ginny and Artie resided at the school.

It was a fantastic feast—a salad featuring fresh carrots and radishes, creamy mashed potatoes, Salisbury steak, and sweet corn.  We drank sweet raspberry tea.  The dessert was a scoop of maple ice cream.  That was a surprise – did we have maple trees, or was this from the underground larder at the school?  I didn’t ask.  I just enjoyed it.

“My God!” I said, amazed, pushing back in my chair and patting my full belly.  “If I lived here, I would be about 300 pounds!”

“Trust me,” said David Deneau.  “If you were out here, you’d have plenty of work to help keep you in shape.”

“Speaking of which, it’s good to see you getting around.  Maybe you’re ready for the next stage of your recovery,” said Robert, a devilish grin creeping across his face.

“Sure!” I replied.  “What do you have in mind?”  They had done a lot for me.  I would not mind doing some chores. It might help me take my mind of Mark Granite and all his nastiness.

“Oh, I’d rather keep it a surprise.  Just be sure to get up bright and early tomorrow.”

Well, that part seemed less interesting.  I had gotten used to sleeping in.

When we got up from the table, Ginny and Artie approached me.  They were getting ready to go back to the school and wanted to say goodbye.  Artie shook my hand.  “Get strong, brother.  We still have a lot of challenges ahead.”

Ginny hugged me.  “Good to see you up and about, Lance. You take care of yourself, ok?”

I nodded that I would.  She kissed me on the cheek, then pulled back, giving me a warm smile. She then took Artie’s hand, and as they were leaving, she turned to look back at me, giving me a wave with her free hand.

I admit it.  My heart sped up.  I looked at them until they disappeared through the dining room doorway.

Maybe I wasn’t as over her as I thought I was.

 

Genuine Wednesday Wanderings

 What the hay. Let's start off today's blog with a stolen joke.

We do have an abundance of Hunters in the area.  Hunter may be the new Bubba.

Benjamin's name is somewhat rarer, although there were at least a couple others in his public school grade.  It gets even rarer, though, because many shorten to Ben, or even (gulp) Benji.

----------------------------------

We are in the thick of a warm, wet summer.  I haven't seen projections for the next two months, but I'm guessing it will be hotter with less rain.  That has been the trend in recent years.

I don't think we've had a day yet where the high temp has been over 100.  Those days may be yet to come.

Unlike many here in Southeast Georgia, we don't want to go SOUTH for summer vacation (Florida, Caribbean, Cancun). Instead, we like to go north, where it might be cooler. Had we done that this year - boy! Would we have been fooled!  The Pacific Northwest, a favorite spot to think about, recently had temperatures soaring into the 110s!  Another area we like, British Columbia, got hot enough to cook the shellfish on its shores!

There may be no escape now from the effects of global warming and climate change.

---------------------------

Despite my best efforts to change, the rhythms of writing continue to elude me.

As I age, my goals and focus shift.  Yes, I would like to phase out my accounting career, but I am less sure about what takes its place.  I am trying to come to terms with my lack of success as a creative talent and am slowly learning to find joy in simpler things - life, family, church.  

That missing gap, where I need to earn a certain income range to properly contribute to the family's well-being, continues to only be filled by my part-time accounting career.  I may need to be happy just doing that.  I may need to learn to accommodate it, at least for now.

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I'm not sure why the filibuster is needed.  The Senate is already heavily weighted towards smaller populations, highly conservative states. 

The whole idea that one party will ever have 60 votes, enough to stop a filibuster, is a fantasy.  It is also a fantasy that the Republican Party will ever compromise and work with the Democratic Party on anything significant.

If the filibuster was used rarely and done by Senators holding the floor (ala Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), I might favor it.  But it is used as a default position to end any legislation.  And we have too many problems in this country for the Senate to be trapped in permanent paralysis.

----------------------------

Maybe we'll see Black Widow this weekend.  If so, it will be my first time back in the movie theatre since January 2020, when we saw Doctor Doolittle.

I still am queasy about COVID-19.  There are so many unvaccinated in our area, and cases are starting to rise again.

Please get vaccinated for the sake of yourself, and for your family and friends.

Let's git-er-done, America.  We can lick this thing if we all work together.

Good Cookies!

Our church, Grace Episcopal, recently held a cookie decorating taught by the talented Papani Saini.

Our family participated. It overwhelming shows where the artistic talents lie.

Spoiler Alert:

It is not with me.

Tom's Cookies

I got an A for creativity and a D- for execution.  OK, it'd not do much creativity as I didn't follow the rules.  Patrick was actually supposed to be a kaleidoscope of colors, as you'll see from Alison and Benjamin.  

USA is supposed to be a red state/blue state division based on the 2020 election. So I had a blue dot in Nebraska and a red dot in Maine.  I also tried to show Georgia as a sea of blue in an ocean of red.

Alison's Cookies

Here’s the cookies Alison decorated as part of Grace’s cookie decorating class. She received much higher grades than I did. And deservedly so!

Benjamin's Cookies

 From the cookie decorating class, these are the cookies my son Benjamin done did. You will see these cookies no more. He done et them all.

He did not keep Hope alive.

The Authoritarian Slide: Saturday Political Soap Box 275

 

Wheee!

Ok, not really whee.

More like... OH NOOOOO!

We are losing our country.  It's not certain, but the threat is real, and the overall odds not good.

We clutch to the railings of democracy, but find them harder and harder to grip.

We are sliding towards authoritarianism in this country.  Every day the downward momentum is pulling us away from democratic institutions and their safeguards.  All the things that we thought would slow our descent are being threatened and chipped away.

In all our previous elections, the results have been accepted.  Granted, there is occasional grumbling and grousing. But in the end, the losing side accepts the results and moves on to the next election. Most famously, Al Gore lost an election due to some incredible shenanigans in Florida, but accepted the results as soon as the Supreme Court weighed in.

Now?

We have a losing candidate STILL nattering about a rigged election, despite myriad court cases and no evidence whatsoever of his claims.  He is even claiming he will be reinstated in August; he and Qanon acting like doomsday preachers, constantly revising their second coming predictions.

We have nutters conducting the umpteenth recount in Arizona, partisans whose only goal is to throw shade on the results, give the Republican-controlled legislature an excuse to overturn already CERTIFIED election results.  And this is not intended to be a sole exercise - they will use the template in other states if they can get away with it.

We have Republican state legislatures throughout the country passing strict, draconian vote suppression legislation.  These bills are aimed to minimize the votes for the Democratic Party, particularly with people of color. If you have a Republican legislature and a Republican Governor, many of you will find it harder to vote.

And that's not all.  If you challenge the restrictive state laws and take it to the Supreme Court, you will lose, as was demonstrated this week. The Supreme Court is 6 - 3 conservative, even though it should be 5 - 4 moderate (Merrick Garland and Biden picking Ginsberg's replacement).

I mean, good Lord, we had an insurrection at the Capital designed to STOP the certification of the next President!  They came closer to succeeding than we thought possible.  And they have so many apologists in the Republican Party that the room has been left open for future Trump-inspired acts of insurrection and violence.

We need two functioning political parties*, both dedicated to the principles of our republic, committed to the preservation and enhancement of voter involvement and participation to survive.

We don't have that now.

The vast majority of Republicans are committed to, first and foremost, doing whatever it takes to remain in power. There is no more ideology, no more commitment to the values we normally associate with the conservative movement. It even goes beyond their devotion to the interests of their wealthy donors, both individuals, and large corporation.**

No.  They are now almost solely driven by the desire to preserve the American Caste system. That is more important to them than the preservation of democracy.

And this is a problem that will not end with the downfall of Trump.  He simply articulated what many Americans were already feeling.  It is going to be easy-peasy for someone like Ron DeSantis to take his place.

And if you think that will go well, just look at his authoritarian executive/legislative decisions in Florida.

We need the Senate to act now in passing the Voting rights bill. But, unfortunately, arcane, antidemocratic legislative maneuvering by the McConnell-led Republicans is blocking it.  It needs to be unblocked.  Senator Joe Manchin, can you hear me?  Do the right thing.

Without this bill passing, we do not stand a chance.

Even with this bill passing, we are still in for the fight of our lifetime.

*multiple parties would be even better, but that is a topic for another time.

**this post is focused on voting rights, but there are many other authoritarian rabbit holes I could go do down, not the least of which is the oversize influence of lobbyists for wealthy interests.  And yes, this is a problem that also shows up on the Democratic side.

Biden Premium Update July 1

I promised that I would keep up.

I promised to maintain a Biden Premium, using the same analysis methods as I did with Trump.

Let it fall where it may.

If it doesn't show an improvement from Trump - well, all my Trumpeteer friends can dance around me and deride me.

I am not going to repeat all the math calculations.  I have shown the methodology several times, and if you are interested, you can find and read some of the earlier Premium posts.

To summarize:

Trump's Final Premium

288,285

That is the number of COVID deaths over what would have been expected based on our population, plus doubling it because....well, we have some people who don't listen very well.

Biden's May 1 Premium

11,513

This represented a substantial slowing of the rate from the previous administration.  It wasn't ideal - there was still a lot of resistance in the country.  But it was lower than the premium from just a couple weeks prior, which I estimated at 17,000.

Biden's June 1 Premium

(1,615)

Biden's July 1 Premium

(26,013)

Wait.

What?

Why is that number in brackets? And in red?

Because it's a reduction.  It's BELOW what we would expect, based on the same criteria I used for Trump.

That's right.

The US is now doing BETTER than you would expect, not WORSE.

Thank you, President Biden.