Petrarch, Shakespeare, Goethe, Iambic Pentameter, Iambic Trimeter And All That Jazz -- November 19, 2021

A reader sent me the link to this essay on poetry. 

My reply:

1. The eclipse was somewhat anticlimactic  (or is it anticlimatic?) LOL. Whatever. The eclipse in 1440 was a whole lot better, I suppose, mostly because no one knew it was coming -- except for a few Druids at Stonehenge -- and they couldn't explain it either.

2. But I digress. Yes, I was the only one standing outside in the parking lot with my iPhone pointing at the stars, identifying what was what with the "Skyview" app. I recognized the moon even without the app. Beautiful, beautiful evening. If it was cool or brisk I did not notice. It felt nice and the skies were perfectly clear.

3. With regard to Petrarch's woes. Wow, talk about a coincidence. I'm reading selected chapters in the two-volume biography of Goethe, as previously mentioned. Goethe was in Rome, trying to escape his mistress, it appears -- he was noted for Petrarchian woes -- the book is outside in my car right now so I'm not going out to get it -- but the last ten pages have been about the play he was writing and his woes. But I honestly can't remember whether the biographer references Petrarch. Can't wait to get the book later this morning and see.

4. However, continuing the conversation .... much of the last ten pages that I've been reading has been about Goethe writing his Iphegnia play initially in prose, and then re-writing it in Shakespearean iambic pentameter as opposed to iambic trimeter common in Greek and Latin classical poetry. Goethe struggled whether to go rogue and go with Shakespeare. I kid you not. Remember, Goethe was enamored with the Greeks and he was "Latin." And, of course, as a continental, he hated the Brits. LOL. So, it was a big deal to go with iambic pentameter and not trimeter. [Wow, I would love to go back as a substitute teacher for high school. I absolutely enjoyed those few years when I did that in San Antonio, TX.]

5. By the way, in his Iphengia, Goethe uses the "hanging by a thread" metaphor. Now I'm curious: who coined that? Shakespeare, or did Goethe plagiarize Shakespeare? We'll sort that out later. Obviously it was from a classical myth (https://www.grammar-monster.com/sayings_proverbs/hanging_by_a_thread.htm) but did Shakespeare popularize it or was Goethe the first to use it as a metaphor?

6. And so, another rabbit hole to explore.

7. Disclaimer: the above will have content and typographical errors. My proofreader was not yet up to proofread this note before it was sent.

Walmart Visit -- November 16, 2021

Interesting to note the empty shelves and gaps in shelves.

Lego: like Target, the Lego shelves were really, really empty at Walmart.

Turkeys, just prior to Thanksgiving:

• Butterball: $0.98 / pound (vs $0.99 / pound at Target
• Honeysuckle: 87 cents / pound

Bacon:

• brand (52 cents / ounce) to store brand (28 cents / ounce)
• about $8 for a pound of a bacon; $10 for a pound and a half

The Fufeng Gambit -- The Taiwan Connection -- Why China Chose Grand Forks, ND, For A Corn Milling Operation -- November 16, 2021

Why is China so interested in a corn milling program in a remote town in a remote state known for wheat and oil? But not corn. 

UND EERC: link here. A world-class energy research center. Where oil and technology came together to become part of the US shale revolution, perhaps one of the most amazing energy revolutions ever. China: looking for shale technology.

UND Aerospace: link here. Where Saudi princes come to learn to fly. The second-largest degree-granting college at UND, the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences operates one of the largest fleets of civilian aircraft in North America. 

Drone research:  US DOT selects North Dakota DOT for unmanned aircraft BEYOND integration pilot program. Link here.  That link is just the beginning. Click on "drones" in search at the milliondollarwayblog. You can start here if you want. If one is seriously interested in drones, one thinks Grand Forks, ND.

Bottom line: UND / Grand Forks is home to a huge drone program, a huge aeronautics program, and a huge connection to the US space program as well as the entire history of the US shale revolution, open to the public. 

Okay.

Now for the good stuff.

Grand Forks AFB: it used to be home for the B-52 Stratofortress bomber, part of the nation's nuclear triad. 

Now, GFAFB is even more important for the nation as it affects / regards China: GFAFB is home of the 319th Reconnaissance Wing which maintains, operates, and flies the nation's Global Hawk High-Altitude ISR mission (see below), more important to real-time events than even the nation's satellite reconnaissance program. 

RQ-4 Global Hawk: fact sheet. 

PAVE PAWS: does anyone remember this? Star Wars? Ronald Reagan? Reagan made the SDI announcement in 1983. Pave Paws developed in 1980. See wiki, does this get your attention?

PAVE PAWS (Precision Acquisition Vehicle Entry[a] Phased Array Warning System) is a complex Cold War early warning radar and computer system developed in 1980 to "detect and characterize a sea-launched ballistic missile attack against the United States". 

With the first solid-state phased array deployed, the system at the perimeter of the contiguous United States used a pair of Raytheon AN/FPS-115 radar sets at each site[3] (two sites in 1980, then two more used 1987–95) as part of the United States Space Surveillance Network. 

One system was sold to Taiwan and is still in service. -- yes, in the lede paragraph of the wiki entry.

The exact location: Cavalier Air Force Station about one hour north of Grand Forks AFB / Grand Forks driving time. 

So, an operating system to ""detect and characterize a sea-launched ballistic missile attack against the United States" and still in service was sold to Taiwan. 

Okay, ask me again, why is China so interested in a corn milling program in a remote town in a remote state known for wheat and oil?

A huge thank you to a reader who brought this to my attention. I would love to take credit for this but I have to give all the credit to my readers.

Amazon Is Way Undervalued, But Apple, Even More So -- November 14, 2021

Quick: name the company that generates the most income from the internet as defined by a contributor at ZeroHedge.

Big Tech companies have quite the influence over our lives. That influence is becoming difficult to ignore, and draws increasing media and political attention. And some see this attention as a plausible explanation for why Facebook changed their name—to dissociate from their old one in the process. 

One tangible measure of this influence is the massive amount of revenue Big Tech companies bring in. To get a better sense of this, we can look at Big Tech’s revenue generating capabilities on a per-minute basis as well:

Look at the per-minute revenue gap between:

• #2 and #3;
• #5 and #6
• in each case, not even in the same ballpark.

Two takeaways:

• Amazon is way undervalued; and
• Apple is way, way undervalued.

The Southern Surge -- November 13, 2021

This is a work in progress. 

I've struggled with the "southern surge."

But I'm starting to come to terms to it. 

This is the background that helped crystallize my feelings with regard to the southern surge:

• visiting Shilog National Cemetery;
• re-reading Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant
• the American response to masking, social separation, and vaccines;
• coming to terms with Covid-19

I don't blame President Biden or the vice president for the current situation. It's an impossible situation and until there's some tipping point not much will change. 

The problem goes back decades. With regard to presidents, I assume it's gone back as far as Abraham Lincoln. I do not know when the modern era with regard to the southern surge began. Was it with Jimmy Carter? 

Whatever the southern surge was or whatever it was to become, became so because of ambiguity of the American government, as well as the American electorate. Even Texans living along the border have been ambiguous in their response to the southern surge. 

Modern presidents:
Bush II: too many other things on his plate; no time to deal with the southern surge;
Obama: politically astute; knew it was not worth wading into this political morass
Trump: the least ambiguous of any modern president but the media framed the story and Americans, in general, were ambiguous in their druthers. And to put an exclamation mark on that the American public voted Trump out of office
Biden: the southern surge was just one of many issues for this president; Americans knew what they were getting; and they are getting it. From what I can tell, the American electorate remains ambiguous with regard to their feelings about the southern surge; even the most ardent Pelosi democrat remains ambivalent with regard to the southern surge. Interestingly enough, the most ardent conservatives have been unable to make this story go anywhere, which suggests Americans remain ambiguous.

IN PROGRESS

Daylight Saving / Savings Time -- November 7, 2021

 

Yes, I couldn't be in a better mood.

Texas is well beyond all of this. Masking is 100% optional except for federal agencies, airports, airlines, etc. It appears indoors it's about 50-50 for those wearing masks, those not.

The summer of 2022 is going to be a blow-out summer for everyone, especially the investor class.

I went to REI yesterday to look at a new bike. They said they had one of their best years ever -- folks loved the out-of-doors during the year of the plague.

Apparently the airlines have sold out of seats for Christmas holidays. They furloughed way too many pilots and the airlines never expected travel to open up so fast. Flight attendants are eager to get back to work; more can be trained fairly quickly. Older fight attendants don't retire.

Pilots cannot be trained overnight. They retire at the drop of a hat when given huge payouts, which they were a year ago to keep the airlines from going under.

I spoke to a Brazilian yesterday who runs US operations for some big Brazilian manufacturing company in the US. He travels regularly to five European countries: Poland, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain. He and family arrived here March, last year, just when all travel was locked down. He and his family have not been able to visit in person for the past year. But, on November 18, 2021, the "embargo" ends and Brazilians can fly to the US. His father and mother have booked their flight and will be here for a stay of 40 days (and nights). This is just the tip of the iceberg for international travelers. Especially from Mexico, South America. His father, I assume, founded the company, and is probably retired but somehow still runs things.

Spoke with a United Airlines flight attendant yesterday: hiring back 5,000 flight attendants this month. This month. She's based in Newark, NJ; has put in a transfer for Houston, which she will get this month or next.

Our apartment complex held a "wine and whisky" tasting event yesterday. It was the second tasting in less than two months. I missed the first one because I was traveling. That's where I ran into these folks. The Brazilian family I have known for the past year. They are in their 30's I suppose; both are drop dead handsome/gorgeous and their two daughters age 2 years and 6 years are incredibly precious and gorgeous. The 6-year-old knew no English when she arrived last March. She is now fluent in English; her first language is now English; no accent; very, very outgoing. I think she has seen it all. She spoke to me non-stop for ten minutes about her life. And it was all about her school here in Texas. He has to be very, very wealthy and yet very, very down-to-earth.

The nearby elementary school: whites may be a minority, not sure. Indians are definitely the number one non-white ethnic group. Ranked as one of the best elementary schools nationwide ranking. Although a lot of schools make that claim. Three huge apartment complexes feed kids into that system, and all the folks coming from overseas who end up in this area, seek these apartments for the schools. Housing very limited.

The flight attendant and her mother: they came to Texas eighteen years ago from San Diego. California priced them out. That was eighteen years ago. African-American. Articulate, pretty. We enjoyed sharing stories about masking on planes from her point of view; my point of view. We were on same page, so it was a very pleasant conversation. Bottom line: get along to get along.

It was kind of funny. Everybody recognized me because of Sophia. Everyone. And it's a huge apartment complex.

Biden needs to "own" "Let's go Brandon." The economy has been on a tear for the past year (except for a few sectors yet to catch up) --- he needs to use "Let's go Brandon" as his marketing tool every time he crows about the economy. A lot of rappers have changed their names.

The biggest story I'm following now is trying to sort out Harold Hamm / Continental Resources entering the Permian. All cash deal. He used his own cash: $3.2 billion. All cash, no stock dilution. Unprecedented. I'm following it here, but it's under construction:

https://permianclrmdw.blogspot.com/

I'll probably write more later today. We got an extra hour today. As the native Americans tell us: only Americans can cut an inch off the top of the rug, add it to the bottom of the rug, and tell us we have a longer rug.