On Giving -- Charity -- December 7, 2024

From a reader on giving:

Today's note to my extended family....

---

Greetings from the Western Front.

Hi all.  It is that time of the year when I'm inclined to focus on matters financial.  In this instance, inheritances and such things.

Take a close read of this link:  https://www.boldin.com/retirement/average-inheritance-how-much-are-retirees-leaving-to-heirs/

Forget about the "average" and focus on the "median." Then reflect upon the current value of ***, Inc. and the cash each of us has been fortunate to have received over the last several years. 

Obviously each of us has been unbelievably blessed and, with any luck at all, will continue to exceed the median.  You are all "winners" in the lottery of life.

However, this brings with it an unwritten obligation.  Being far more fortunate than the "average bear,” it is incumbent upon each of us to support those less fortunate.

In this Christmas season of sharing, I'm asking each of you to look deeply into your soul, count your blessings and do the right thing~

Merry Christmas.

*******************
My reply:  "Indeed."

*********************
The reader's reply: Indeed!

I'm pretty sure this notion isn't exactly in sync with your earlier postings stating, (in effect)  "the best charity is to family.”

While I agree with the objective, I wonder at what point it is no longer pertinent.

My guess is that your extended family should, could, and probably does, contribute to the unwashed masses far more than you'll ever confess to!

That's what I'm thinking about the goodness of mankind!

**********************

My reply:

That's a great question ... when does it become no longer pertinent?

Forever and ever folks have talked about "saving for retirement."

I have always hated that concept. I never want to retire. I want to stay active until "the end."

My son-in-law engaged his two adult daughters and me into taking a course on personal finance, and again, the theme was "saving (or investing) for retirement."

I had an epiphany during that home-made course (based on the BYU course in personal finance).

An aside: the BYU course on personal finance is centered on giving, tithing. And the BYU course is the course used by the Harvard Business School as a requirement for all first year students.

The epiphany: for me, the goal is not "saving (investing) for retirement." The goal is to become financially independent -- have enough passive income / mailbox money -- to do the things one wants to do and not have to worry about money.

In a roundabout way, in which I cannot articulate, it's the same thing when it comes to answering your question, "at what point does limiting one's charity to one's extended family" become no longer pertinent?

"My extended family" extends well beyond blood relatives and in-laws. The number of folks I remember with gifts (not always money -- because some are not allowed to accept money as gifts) continues to expand.

Recently I sent a check to a friend of the family going to college whose father gives him little/no financial support. Long story how I met him. The first time ever I got a note from the bank that the check seemed suspicious when the individual came into to cash the check, and wanted to verify if I wrote the check. I had, and the check cleared. First time it ever happened, and it was because the check was significantly larger than what I regularly write.

I give -- in cash -- a significant amount of money every month to an elementary school teacher -- another long story -- she is incredibly thankful for the money, and neither of us really understand why or how this happened. But I've been doing this for two or three years now and my plan is to increase the amount that teacher gets and to continue it as long as I live. I may include in her in "instructions to to the executor of my will." She's not "family" in the true sense of the word but she is certainly "family" to me.

My "giving" is year-round, the season does not make a big difference -- in fact, I have come to dislike the emphasis on celebrities serving one dinner a year to the homeless (which we see every Thanksgiving).

The biggest impediment to giving money by check to large, well-known charities (including political parties, PETA, etc) is the "mailing list" phenomenon. I would like to donate to Wikipedia but I don't want to end up on their "mailing list." 

My father, RIP, was an incredible philanthropist, but incredibly gullible. He gave enough money -- and this is a true story -- he was told there is a girl's dormitory in some African country that has name on the dormitory. One of my sisters had to actually threaten Lutheran Services with a court order to "cease and desist" meeting with our dad for continued contributions. Had she not stepped in -- no one in the family knew he was doing this -- he would have bankrupted the family.

The amount of "good work" that can be done by the billionaires in this country is a much bigger story. I recently pointed that out on the blog. Buffett says he plans to give away 90%+ of his wealth.

From November 26, 2024, on the blog:

Philanthropy: at this rate, Buffett will be 150 years old before he gives away his billions. 

Yesterday, it was announced Buffett gave $1.5 billion in BRK stock to his family's charitable foundations. As of October, 2024, Buffett's estimated net worth was $149.7 billion. I guess, like "regular" Americans, it's emotionally difficult to give up one's legacy.

My wife gives a significant amount of money to a family in California that is really, really, really distantly related to us. Another long story. Makes all the difference to them -- last year they wrote to tell us they were able to afford a Christmas present the 9-year-old really, really wanted because of my wife's generosity.

I wouldn't expect to get that kind of feedback from Wiki. I would expect to get put on a "mailing list."

So many stories I could tell about "giving." But I've rambled long enough.

Oh, which reminds me, if one really wants to talk about annual giving, one should see what US Air Force members do when it comes to charity. I assume their method is used by the entire DOD, but I only know about the USAF. That's another huge (positive) story about giving, in which I fully participated.

But, as noted, charity begins at home. My home is getting larger and larger -- see next two examples ...

One last note: I do bring in boxes of yogurt to my dentist and his staff on a regular basis (not quite weekly but at least monthly) -- they don't accept my dental insurance (from my Air Force medical / dental insurance plan) and dental work can be incredibly expensive without insurance -- but they helped me when I had a dental emergency -- and I needed a dentist quickly -- and like the mouse that removed the thorn from the lion's paw, I've become their mouse, bringing them yogurt. LOL. And, yes, the bill was incredibly expensive -- but worth every penny. 

On, and I bring in donuts on a regular basis to the Firestone service center who takes care of our cars. Trivial,  but it all adds up.

Bruce 

Poetry -- From A Reader -- January 28, 2023

From a reader.

Mary had a little Ford
In it she used to frisk
I thought she was a silly girl
Her little *

Hoecakes = Griddle Cakes -- September 11, 2022

From a reader:

Now that I've hit the big time (;>)  Thanks for the blog mention.

...........

We would have cornbread for supper occasionally during the winter.  Breakfast was always a big meal.  Dinner was bigger.  So, by the time supper came around, we were occasionally at wit's end.  When we did cornbread it was always in a 9 x 12 pan.  We served it with whatever ... sausage, bacon, ham, eggs and lots of hot syrup.  The men loved it.  

But, we referred to it as Johnny cake - and never made it to accompany any other meal.

So, when I moved to New Mexico, I discovered cornbread as a more common offering.  Furr's Cafeterias have individual loaves of Jalapeno Cornbread.  You can select that instead of a dinner roll.  It is delicious.  So, the hunt was on and I discovered a recipe in a small booklet previously offered by the local version of MDU.  It was the best cornbread I'd ever eaten.  It has a cup of creamed corn in it and as many chopped jalapenos as you hanker.  I made it for years and then one day some dinner guests (she's from old countryesque Florida, he's a Georgia boy) suggested I melt a stick of butter in my cast iron skillet before adding the batter.  The heavens shone brightly!  Sometimes I just add half a stick - ha!  But you want the skillet preheated and everything mixed and handy.  That butter browns quickly and you have to add the batter instantly before it turns from brown to black.

Felt pretty confident that that was the best cornbread in the world and I can make it in my sleep....

Pride goeth before a fall.

 

------- set up a barbecue place for a [local] family.  This was well underway when I moved here.  He ended up without a share of the restaurant, and they had his recipe.  Grrr.  Anyway - great pork ribs, slabby steak fries.  Best pork ribs I've ever had.  The beef wasn't.

So, after his ouster, he'd opened a little joint in the South Valley - looked like it must have been an old Tastee Freez.  I'd go down there and get meat to go.  There was no place to sit inside.  One day he asked if I'd like a few hoecakes to go with that.  He wasn't chatty - it was a one-man operation, so he was normally busy.  I had no idea what he'd even asked me, but I said "Sure" - because his food was fabulous, so there was no risk.  He just poured 6 or 8 batter circles about the size of a hamburger patty, flipped them and threw them in a sack that normally would have held fries.  To die for.  Not on the menu.

The next time I went down I waited til there was an interval between customers and asked what that magic cornbread was.  Hoecakes like his Mom used to make out in the field was the answer.  I doubt a hoe was involved, but it was probably just some old heavy metal over a wood fire.  The Mexicans have had quite a bit of publicity making tacos/fajitas on old plow discs - same publicist.

He wouldn't have wanted a choregirl, but had he lived longer I would have made myself useful just to watch him and pick up a few pointers

............

I tried various hoecake recipes/techniques years ago and gave up.  Just went back to my big skillet of jalapeno cornbread.  

If you were going to make hoecakes for more than 1 person, you really need a good-sized griddle so I normally just make cornbread for company and freeze a slice for little old me.  A little butter and my trusty black cast iron pan warms it up good as new.  I love cornbread with smoked beef brisket.  

I buy some cheap white cornmeal in a big cardboard box at Smith's (a/k/a Kroger).  It's the best I've found.  Don't know the brand, because I decant it into a sealed container.  It's in an orange and navy blue rectangular box.  About the size of an old cereal box before they got so huge.

1 Cup All Purpose flour

1 Cup Cornmeal

1/4 Cup table sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

...............

Stir together:

 2 beaten eggs

1 cup milk 

8 ounces canned creamed corn

2 Tablespoons or more chopped, pickled jalapenos

1/4 Cup shortening, melted

Put dry ingredients in a big bowl.  Have wet ingredients - except melted shortening- stirred together and handy.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When ready to cook, Heat a 10 inch or larger cast iron skillet on top of the range.  After the pan is hot, melt the shortening and dump it in the wet ingredients. Then add to dry ingreadients in big bowl.  Stir all together.  

Add a stick of butter to the pan and let it get brown and fragrant.  Immediately add the batter.  The butter will bubble up around the edges.  Pop the skillet in the oven and bake about 15 minutes.

...........

Don't substitute oil for the shortening.  Don't bother with any pan other than a cast iron skillet.  Buttermilk is fine instead of milk. Don't use skim milk. I give all the wet ingredients a quick stir into the dry.  You don't want the shortening solidified.  Then I plop the butter in the skillet and finish stirring the batter.  You don't want to overwork the batter - just get it barely combined.  

I've done this outside numerous times.  Just have one side of the grill a little cooler and throw a lid on the skillet.    Actually easier inside, but there's times when you just don't want to crank the oven on - and other times when everybody wants to cook everything outside, whether or not it makes particular sense.

Summer Salad Recipes From A Reader -- May 28, 2022

From a reader:

If you ever do that salad - it's 2 big Delicious apples, one small ripe banana, a generous handful of mini marshmallows, 1/2 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts, and heavy whipped cream just slightly sweetened with powdered sugar and that dash of vanilla.

Only Delicious apples work - and our stores have had every couture apple known to man - Fuji, Gala, etc. etc., and lots of tart green apples - but no Delicious apples.  So, when I saw D's I bought them immediately.  That "salad" was a staple for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.  Garnish with a stemmed maraschino cherry to the eternal delight of children and the young at heart.

Anyway, the powdered sugar has a little cornstarch in it, and if you use heavy cream, the salad won't weep.  It's best made no more than a couple hours before eating.  Don't peel the apples.  But if you have it for a noon meal, it'll be perfectly fine for supper.  It tastes great the next day, too, but may look a little glum.

................

Anyway, years ago I was talking to a fellow banker who later became a great friend.  She said she didn't like Waldorf salad.  We were talking about holiday meals.  ND's always had a huge relish tray.  Watermelon pickles, pickled crabapples, pickled beets, a plethora of olives, pickles etc.  She was raised in Florida and that wasn't a thing there.  Well, some years later, she and her husband were guests for Tgiving or Xmas.  She raved about the salad and asked what it was.  I said "Waldorf salad and you don't like it".  We howled.  There is another Waldorf salad made with mayonnaise ... no wonder!  

We're both good cooks and have eaten lots of meals together.  Her Dad had a country store, meat market, gas pump in rural Florida.  Lots of similarities in country cooking even 1800 miles apart.  The difference seems to be that all vegetables there met one of 2 fates.  They were either dredged in cornmeal and fried, or they were thrown in a pot with a ham hock and boiled to smithereens.  In ND, we just creamed everything.  I had told her that we worshipped the first baby lettuce from the garden and made a dressing with cream.... The first time she had that was an epiphanical moment for her.  She had never had creamed green beans nor creamed new potatoes and baby peas until she met me.

So, we creamed everything green.  They either fried it or dissolved it in "pot likker".

Oh - I'm also making calabacitas.  I made the 3 bean salad and went to put it in the fridge - spied the zucchini, and realized I had planned another side dish.  Grill the corn cobs, halve the zucchini and grill that.  Grill onion slices and of course, the green chile is already charred.  Anyway, that stuff all just gets a good char.  I strip the corn from the cob, chop the zukes and onion and actually finish cooking everything in a skillet on the grill.  In the winter I may occasionally skip the grill manuever, but it's a much better dish if each component has been charred. A dear friend of mine's Mom is from a family who's been in NM all 300 years.  She adds a little finely diced carrot and that's lovely.  What a treasure to get to know her.  She's been dead for several years now, but just folded me into her family and let me help in the kitchen.  I was honored and her 3 daughters (4 sons) told me that it was nearly unheard of to be allowed to cook with her.  She taught me lots about traditional NM food.  Guess I'll go buy a carrot - ha!  Not for holiday meals, but at other times, she would garnish the top of the bowl with a small amount of grated white cheese.  I would have happily have made a meal of her calabicitas and a tortilla... or her pinto beans and a tortilla.  They always had a full complement of holiday dishes - ham, turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, etc. - but she also added the NM dishes.

Rambling Response To A Reader Regarding The Bakken Blog -- March 24, 2022

A reader commented on my Bakken blog. 

I replied but the reply was too long as a comment. 

So, I have moved that comment here:

The blog started simply because I grew up in Williston, saw several "boom and bust" cycles but was never involved in oil. The closest I ever came to energy was working as a "gopher" one summer with MDU, helping to build and maintain utility lines (think: Glenn Campbell's "Lineman for the County." LOL).

In 2007, I would retire from the USAF; I was aware of the Bakken in Montana and maybe (I forget) some activity in North Dakota). I sensed that somehow this "boom and bust" cycle would be different. I have no idea why I thought that.

But I was really, really curious. I really, really wanted to learn about "oil" was all about. I was going to follow the Bakken but it was going to be with a word document and hyperlinks when I realized doing it in HTML was made for this.

The USAF taught me how "to do" HTML and how to establish a website -- well, actually, a middle-aged civil servant in one of the IT departments gave me a book to read and told me to figure it out myself -- she said it was insanely easy.

And, so with nothing more than a lot of time, the internet, and a website, I started following the Bakken. I knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about oil, conventional or otherwise, although I had read "The Prize" by Daniel Yergin some years earlier.

Two things happened, which confirmed that I made the correct decision.

One, a few readers started sending me comments anonymously and through direct e-mail which steered me in the right direction. I learned a lot from my readers and still do.

Two, I realized that a lot of mom-and-pop mineral owners probably had no clue what was going on and I wanted to help explain the Bakken at that level. I've said many times on the blog that my level of "reporting" has not improved much since I began. I don't have the resources to do better, but, in fact, that's good: I've tried to keep the writing at a level average mom-and-pop mineral owners can understand.

Since I've began blogging, I've become a much better investor but almost entirely outside of companies drilling in the Bakken. I made some huge investing mistakes early on but was quick enough to get out or move in another direction.

Sometimes one thinks they know too much about their subject which can lead to bad investment decisions. That's the same reason, I have almost no investments in the health care arena even though I spent 30+ years in medicine.

My energy holdings were almost all acquired between 1984 and 1990, well before the Bakken. And if any did well, it was purely serendipity.

So, any "monetary" (investing) interest I might have in the Bakken has absolutely nothing to do with blogging but does have something to do with the altruistic (?) joy I have sharing what I think I know about the Bakken.

Two things:

I am truly humbled when many folks who know this subject much better than I do, actually write me and don't call me an idiot.

Second, I am often embarrassed with regard to what I write that does not pertain to the Bakken and my political views which should not be on the blog. But it's impossible for me not to write some of these things. Having said that, I feel I am much more fair and balanced in my comments; I hope I have grown a bit over the years.

Before I started blogging, I was part of a "Bakken discussion group." I had no minerals, no experience, nothing, and I was pretty much told to leave the discussion group since I was clearly an outsider. I learned a lot from that discussion group but was eventually banned ("kicked off the island" as they said at that time).

Much, much more could be said. My biggest worry now is (not) stepping on the toes of my readers so I'm sure I disappoint others with my wishy-washy comments; or my flip-flopping, but it is what it is.

That's why I have no subscription fee. I don't want to feel I have any conflicts of interests. It's bad enough as it is trying not to step on toes of regular readers.

Much more could be said.

Laundromats -- January 8, 2022

Laundromats were recently in the news.

A reader did some internet searching on laundromats in Mt Vernon, NY, yesterday, and sent me what was found.

My reply:

My dad was going to open a laundromat years ago. Had he done it, it would have been a super-duper laundromat. He never went halfway on his projects. He was the "Harold Hamm" of little projects. LOL.

Except "Hooterville" in Williston. Dad ought an entire block of houses that should have been condemned, but rented them out as is, and did very, very well (based on how long he held that property). The rent was in the range of $50 - $150 / month (in today's money -- LOL --probably a bit of hyperbole but not much).

The city was constantly on his back to bulldoze the entire block and do something else --- anything else --- with that lot, even a big parking lot.

Our family was very, very embarrassed every time they drove by but I don't think anyone in Williston -- except the tax department, city council, and a few real estate agents -- knew who owned it.

Interestingly, he was a very good landlord. A lot of folks had difficulty making even those very small rental payments, and he never evicted anyone and never went after missed rent payments, as far as I know. If so, he wasn't very aggressive.

My hunch: he took a huge tax loss to lower his income tax. I don't know. But he was certainly appreciated by any folks over the years who really had no place to go.

With the boom, the area has been re-built.

Back to the laundromat: had he built that laundromat (that was before the boom) he would have become the Harold Hamm of laundromats in Williston. I don't know if folks recall but during the early days of the boom, "everyone" needed a laundromat.

Dickinson folks recalled Williston as one "big ball of dust."

Ten Best Performing Commodites Of 2021

Link to Alex Kimani. Commodity, 52-week change (2021), in order starting with best performing:

• lithium, 477%
• ethanol, 125%
• coal, 111%
• oat, 90%
• coffee, 78%
• gasoline, 62%
• naphtha, 62%
• propane, 61%
• heating oil, 60%
• crude oil, 58%
  

"Halved By A Horizon" -- January 4, 2022

Our oldest granddaughter has just completed her first semester at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. She brought home one of her books which she thought I might enjoy. After spending some time with the book, I wrote her the following note:

Your book Identity and Violence, Amartya Sen, ends with an interesting phrase:

"We have to make sure, above all, that our mind is not halved by a horizon."

 

Whenever  you see an interesting phrase such as "halved by a horizon" -- if you have not seen it before, or are not sure if you understand it -- google it. You may be surprised.

From Cultural Tensions and Hybrid Identities in Derek Walcott's Poetry: 

While trading the beginning of the Caribbean race, [Derek] Walcott is searching for a particular moment in history when "the mind was halved by a horizon" ("Names," 1.11).

By this phrase, Walcott means the introduction and the internalization of the binary opposition between the black and the white.

Your book by Sen was c. 2006. Derek Walcott wrote in the 40's through the 70's.

Many links on the internet to Derek Walcott, including this one:

http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1141/cultural-tensions-and-hybrid-identities-in-derek-walcotts-poetry

This might be a better site, considering your classes in poetry:

https://poemanalysis.com/derek-walcott/names/ 

From that site:

The black people may try to find their origins once again, but the poet ruefully admits that “the wind bends our natural inflections.” Walcott often repeats words and entire phrases to emphasize a search that seems to yield no results. When he repeats that “the mind was halved by horizon,” he, as an intellectual, perceives that his world has indeed been divided into white and black by colonial history, language, education, and racial prejudice.

Thus, his search for a past previous to colonial history is futile. The exotic cities of Benares, Canton, or Benin that once held sway over the world are lost in the recesses of time. Again the poet asks the soul-searching questions, “Have we melted into a mirror, / leaving our souls behind.”

Sen attributes such ideas from Derek Walcott in the bibliography / writers he cites at the end of the book, and references Walcott in three places in this book.

So, there you go.

There was an interesting connection between your political science book by Sen and poetry which you also enjoy.

On a separate note, there seems to be a whole "school" of writers and thinkers writing about this issue, and Amartya Sen, part of the school, was moving the discussion forward. Among that school, there are probably a handful that were instrumental; it looks like Derek Walcott was one of them.

This book made my day. I learned something completely new and now it gives me something to explore.

Lutheran Social Services -- Bankruptcy -- December 31, 2021

From a reader:

Lutheran Social Services filed a petition for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday, May 13, four months after the organization’s board of directors determined it wasn’t able to continue operating.

Administrators have blamed heavy debts from Lutheran Social Services Housing, which provided affordable housing in rural areas, for the 102-year-old organization’s financial failure.

Lutheran Social Services invested $16 million and borrowed another $45 million for its housing program, which grew significantly during the 2010s in response to an urgent need for affordable housing in the Oil Patch during the Bakken boom.

The organization owned 20 housing projects and managed another 14 facilities in 22 communities in North Dakota, which provided housing for about 1,400 residents

The documents did not provide a total for secured debts held by banks, but include a foreclosure lawsuit seeking $8.3 million filed by First International Bank & Trust owed for the 124-unit Prairie Heights apartment complex in Watford City.

Several other banks have filed lawsuits seeking loan repayments.

Alerus Financial Corp. said Lutheran Social Services Housing still owes more than $4.7 million on a 2017 loan for a housing project in Stutsman County, and Cornerstone Bank said it owes more than $7.5 million on a 2016 loan for a project in Watford City, according to court documents.

Other secured debts, according to the bankruptcy filing, include a $5.6 million loan owed to the city of Maddock and a federal Payroll Protection Program loan of more than $2.5 million, for which Lutheran Social Services has applied for forgiveness.

Lutheran Social Services also owes Gate City Bank $591,975 and American State Bank & Trust $149,991, according to bankruptcy filings.

In the bankruptcy petition, Lutheran Social Services seeks approval from a judge in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fargo to use cash collateral to pay expenses as the organization continues what Otterson has described as an “orderly wind down,” which includes liquidating assets, paying creditors and transferring key programs to other organizations.

One important program is Luther Hall in Fargo, which provides residential treatment for children aged 10 to 17. Luther Hall has been sold to Nexus Family Healing, a nonprofit group that specializes in outpatient therapy, residential treatment and foster care for children with emotional and behavioral health problems.

Most employees were told their jobs were being eliminated when Otterson announced on Jan. 15, the day the board decided that Lutheran Social Services couldn’t continue to operate, that the organization was being dissolved. The organization had 283 employees as of mid-January.Several major real estate holdings are being sold off. Lutheran Social Services has an agreement to sell its Fargo headquarters, near the interchange of Interstates 29 and 94, for $4.9 million to Great Hall Partners, a real estate holding company based in Fargo.

In a May 14 letter to former employees, Otterson notified them that they were receiving payments, minus deductions, for unused vacation days. The payments were made possible by the sale of Lutheran Social Services’ Bismarck program center, which enabled the organization to make payments to its primary lender, Bremer Bank, he said.

“Many people invested their careers here,” Otterson wrote in the letter. “Many people turned to LSS in times of need. Unfortunately, decisions made two, four, even 10 years ago brought down this agency and forced hundreds of people to seek healing, help and hope from other sources.”

Otterson took the helm of the agency on Dec. 1, 2020 — six weeks before the board decided to cease operations — and has spent most of his tenure “winding down” the organization.

In a separate legal proceeding, the assets of Lutheran Social Services Housing, a subsidiary nonprofit, are going through receivership. The receiver, Lighthouse Management, is running the properties and will decide whether to sell housing assets, he said.

.......................

That did answer [the reader's] question.  They did own that Fargo building, it wasn't just a leaseback.

First International Bank is owned by the Stenejhem family - originally from Arnegard.  That's $8 million - and there's another $14 million owed to ND entities.  That's still just half of the $45 million debt listed.  Of course, I'd like to see the creditor list.  I pitched it to XXXXX XXXX as being of interest to western ND since there was ND property and lenders involved.  We'll see. 

Sailboat -- December 26, 2021

Link here. I have this set, recently bought it locally.

Cocktails

Wall Street Journal book review, December 17, 2021.

Sources

Make Me A Cocktail

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.

CRT -- October 31, 2021

 Link here: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ibram-x-kendi-tweets-then-deletes-tweet-study-undermining-white-privilege-narrative.

Author and prominent critical race theory

advocate Ibram X. Kendi has deleted a tweet after critics argued it undermined the racial narrative upon which he’s built his career. 

Kendi, a humanities professor at Boston University, tweeted an article Friday by The Hill citing a study that found 34% of White students who applied to colleges and universities falsely claimed they were a racial minority on their application and that 77% of them were accepted.

Kendi summarized on Twitter: "More than a third of White students lied about their race on college applications, and about half of these applicants lied about being Native American. More than three-fourths of these students who lied about their race were accepted."

Kendi’s critics pounced on the tweet, saying it undermined his life’s work. The Post Millennial, which first reported the tweet, asked, "If white privilege is such a decisive factor, then why do white students feel that their applications would do better if they pretended to be something other than white, and why would those applications be so successful?"

 

Covid-19 And Venn Diagrams -- October 25, 2021

Updates

November 22, 2021: this is so incredibly cool. The Venn diagram has crystallized a bit further. Three circles that do not overlap with regard to Covid-19:

• scientific
• investing
• emotional (includes "political," talking heads, even those with science backgrounds; also "irrational")

It's difficult to figure out in which circle one places Dr Fauci, for example. Dr Fauci would argue he's in the scientific circle, whereas his detractors would place him in the "emotional" or "political" circle.

Over the weekend, many readers sent me the mRNA (Moderna) - myocarditis association study. I believe the article was linked at The Drudge Report; otherwise it was hard to find. I was unable to find any "investing" stories over the weekend regarding Moderna put in a bad light. This morning Moderna (MRNA) surges on the stock market. Corroborates my "Venn diagram" conceptualization.

Original Post

Just so you all know where I stand at the moment on Covid. This was in reply to a reader who sent me an interesting article on Covid in Ireland:

This takes me back to my days in pediatrics with regard to immunizations.  I think I might have mentioned that --- a Venn diagram -- pediatricians were in the "science" circle; parents were in the "emotional" circle; and schools were in the "administrative" circle.

In a Venn diagram, the circles were all supposed to overlap and some "common ground" was found. But over time, the circles moved farther apart and everyone stayed in whatever circle they started in or belonged to. Parents selected what vaccines (if any) their kids would get; schools did their thing; and pediatricians broke up into two groups ... those who maintained some semblance of integrity and kept to the science; others, just let the parents decide. The former (those who tried to remain some semblance of integrity) remained pompous and became very bitter, angry, frustrated, and refused to go out for a beer on Friday night; the latter (those who no longer cared, LOL) looked forward to a Michelob weekend.  I was in the latter group and absolutely enjoyed my time in the Air Force.

The same thing has happened to Covid. At the end of the day, we all have our own thoughts on the subject and probably no one is going to move much. Whatever circle we are in, that's where we will stay: the mask/no mask circle; the vaccine/no vaccine circle; the herd immunity works/herd immunity doesn't work circle; etc.

I still follow certain metrics but not much any more. The whole thing has become incredibly absurd. Tomorrow I will be on a plane, admonished over and over to wear a mask or risk going to jail or worse, being put on the no-fly list, and tonight I'm watching 100,000 unmasked fans in a stadium watching the New Orleans Saints play the Seattle Seahawks. [Oh, the craziness -- a close up of the NFL Saints cheerleaders -- wearing masks. Why? No one else is.]

By the way, speaking of wearing a mask in the airport, those who really refuse to wear masks, will wear a mask around their neck and then walk through the airport with a huge bowl of stir-fry and eat noodles and rice with chopsticks. They have learned to check all their baggage so as to leave both hands free.

For me personally, I carry my mask and wear it on my neck and put it on whenever it seems the "socially-accepted" thing to do, like going into Walgreens to pick up some photos. I particularly enjoyed visiting our granddaughter in Nashville, TN, some weeks ago where no one wears a mask and I wore my mask everywhere. Just to drive them nuts. Oh, I forgot, that's right -- on campus everyone was supposed to wear a mask; off campus no one wore a mask. The virus apparently stopped at the street separating the campus from the rest of the city.

I will get a booster every four to six months. Even though the rules say just one booster at six months, my hunch is that the pharmacy tech at the grocery store no longer really cares who gets what when. I don't know whether the vaccine will make any difference but like the folks who aspire to visit every Starbucks in the Lower 48, I'm going to see how many boosters I can get.

I'm hoping the WSJ will interview me.

The Donald, Nothing More, by Joe Biden

Donald, Nothing More
By Joe Biden

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore —
While I nodded, nearly napping, rapping at my chamber door.

“Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door —

Only this and nothing more.

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And that was twenty-twenty, more than a year before,
Eagerly, I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Algore

Whose climate warnings were so much better than Fauci lore

Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrill me — filled with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door —
Some late visitor entreating entrance as my chamber door; —
This is it, Covid, nothing more.”

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

But the fact I was napping, and so gently you were rapping, 

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you — here I opened wide the door; —
Covid there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
    But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
    And the only words there spoken was the whispered words, “Fauci lore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Fauci lore!”—
            Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
    “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
      Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
            ’Tis Fauci lore and nothing more!”

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately ghost of the saintly days of yore;
    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
    But, with mien of lord or lady, moved above my chamber door—
Strutting upon a bust of Phallas just above my chamber door—
            Orange, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this Trumpian ghost beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be long and golden, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient ghost wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Mar a Largo shore!”
            Quoth the spectre, “Donald, nothing more.”

Much I marvelled this towering specter to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
    For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
    Ever yet was blessed with seeing Don above his chamber door—
The orange man upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
            With such name as “Donald, nothing more.”

But the orange man, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
    Nothing farther then he uttered—not a word then he uttered—
    Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have gone before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have gone before.”
            Then the ghost said “Donald, nothing more.”

 Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store
    Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
    Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
            Of “Donald — nothing more.”

But the orange man still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat before the spectre, and bust and door;
    Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
    Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous man of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous man of yore
            Meant in croaking “Donald, nothing more.”

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the man whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
    This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
    On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
            He shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Pelosi whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
    “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
    Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Algore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Algore!”
            Quoth the spectre, “Donald, nothing more.”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of doom!—prophet still, if man or ghost!—
Whether Melania sent, or whether Ted Cruz tossed thee here ashore,
    Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
    On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Wash, DC?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
            Quoth the spectre, “Donald, nothing more.”

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of hope!—prophet still, if man or ghost!
By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
    Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant holy book,
    It shall clasp a Nobeled man whom all Stockholm name Algore —
Clasp a rare and radiant laurete whom the angels name Algore.”
            Quoth the spectre “Donald, nothing more.”

“Be that word our sign of parting, man or ghost!” I shrieked, upstarting—
“Get thee back into the Tower or the Mar a Largo shore!
    Leave no orange plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
    Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy word from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
            Quoth the spectre “Donald, nothing more.”
 

And the spectre, never moving, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Phallas just above my chamber door;
    And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
    And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
            Shall be lifted—Donald, nothing more!