March
1 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
WOW the low this morning was 49.3° and it was over 50 while we were doing our walk. That will not last however, tomorrow morning is forecast to be 41 then Tue & Wen 37 with a chance of rain both of those days.
But after that rain the experts think it is going to warm up and become perfect Chamber of Commerce temperatures with the highs in the lower 70s and lows in the 40s. "March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb." That ignores the winds that will increase in strength during the month.
I have Desperado's cab to clean up today. I also have a pot of lentil, baby lima beans and canned chicken boiling in a chicken broth. That is going to provide me with future 'linners' that will alternate with something else not yet determined. That is all that I have going on here today.
If I were the President of Mexico I would close the northern border with the United States. As of 29 February 2020 there were 70 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and 4 cases in Mexico. It seems to me that Mexico is the one at risk of contamination.
The United States is considering shutting off the country's southern border with Mexico to control the spread of the new coronavirus, President Donald Trump said on Saturday, as his administration announced new limits on travelers who have visited Iran and recommended against travel to hard-hit areas of Italy and South Korea. - Source
2 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I got Desperado's cab cleaned up yesterday. Didn't vacuum the little bit of carpet but devoted a lot of time to washing the inside of the windshield. I'll only know how good, or how poor, a job I did when the sun hits it at just the right angle. While I was in the mood I washed the refrigerator mirrored doors and the mirrors in the bathroom. That is enough of that!
Cooking up some garbanzos for future 'linner' salads. Maybe finish the book that I have been reading on Kindle Fire today, tomorrow for sure. I think I'll then finish the one that I have started on Paperwhite before starting another one on the Fire. That is all that is planned for today.
The Coronavirus® is getting all the headlines with 86 confirmed cases and 2 deaths in the United States as of 2 March 2020. The CDC issues weekly reports during the flu season and the media treat those deaths just like they do the total automobile carnage in this country. Coronavirus® is just something else that The Establishment thinks they can use to bring president Trump down. They may be right but the media hype is laying it on too thick and too soon.
CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] estimates that so far this season there have been at least 32 million flu illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 18,000 deaths from flu. - Source
3 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
The forecast was that there would be rain this morning while we were doing our walk. Fortunately the forecast was wrong. There had been some rain starting yesterday at about sundown which lasted until after midnight then a shower around 4:00 am this morning for a total of only 0.13".
It was also a lot warmer than the forecast while we we out there with the low (36.9°) happening at around 4:00 am. It looks like we will get more rain before the day is done and it is going to be cold with the forecast high to be only 50. A good day to stay close to the Wave 6 and read.
This is the first of two books in the Dublin Saga. A good historical novel as have been all of Rutherfued's books. I'll read the second one soon.Dublin: Foundation (also known in North America as The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga or sometimes simply Dublin) is a novel by Edward Rutherfurd first published in 2004 by Century Hutchinson and then by Seal Books and Doubleday Canada.
It is a work of historical fiction and centers on a number of families and their descendants in and around the area of Ireland that is now Dublin. It begins in AD 430 with the love affair of a prince (Conall) and the daughter of an Irish chief (Deirdre) from the area of Dubh Linn . It concludes in AD 1533, with the disappearance of the Staff of Saint Patrick. Historical characters include Saint Patrick, Brian Boru, Strongbow, and King John of England, among others. - Wikipedia
I think it would be prudent to put Judge Royce C. Lamberth on sucide watch since he issued his Memorandum Order. I have quoted the news release by Judicial Watch first and then the opening paragraphs of the Memorandum Order. This judge is NOT in Clinton's pocket so the media is keeping his ruling as quiet as they can.
Judicial Watch today [2 March 2020] announced that U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted their request to depose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her emails and Benghazi attack documents. The court also ordered the deposition of Clinton’s former Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills and two other State Department officials. - Source
MEMORANDUM ORDER
On December 6, 2018, the Court ordered discovery into three main areas: (a) whether Secretary Clinton's use of a private email while Secretary of State was an intentional attempt to evade FOIA; (b) whether the State Department's attempts to settle this case in late 2014 and early 2015 amounted to bad faith; and (c) whether State has adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch's request. Although discovery in FOIA cases is rare, the Court again reminds the government that it was State's mishandling of this case—which was either the result of bureaucratic incompetence or motivated by bad faith—that opened discovery in the first place.
Discovery up until this point has brought to light a noteworthy amount of relevant information, but Judicial Watch requests an additional round of discovery, and understandably so. With each passing round of discovery, the Court is left with more questions than answers. What's more, during the December 19, 2019, status conference, Judicial Watch disclosed that the FBI recently produced approximately thirty previously undisclosed Clinton emails. State failed to fully explain the new emails' origins when the Court directly questioned where they came from.1
1On February 12, 2020, Judicial Watch informed the Court that a recently obtained Clinton email—produced in an unrelated FOIA case involving State—strongly suggests that Secretary Clinton and her Deputy Chief of Staff, Hume Abedin, conducted State Department business via text messaging as well. Pl.'s Notice Suppl. Information I, ECF No.
Furthermore, State has not represented to the Court that the private emails of State's former employees who corresponded with Secretary Clinton have been searched for additional Clinton emails. State has thus failed to persuade the Court that all of Secretary Clinton's recoverable emails have been located. This is unacceptable.
4 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
We managed to do our regular afternoon walk yesterday and stayed dry. There were showers off and on throughout the day with one coming soon after we got back to the shelter of Desperado. This storm brought a total of 0.33" and could be the last rain that the area will get until the monsoon comes again. At least I can hope that it is the last before I leave.
Into town this morning with a lot of running around to do. I started by going to a new to me restaurant, Papa's 50's Diner. There I got their Greek Omelet which was very expensive for what I got. I may go back and get something different because their home fries are good. I wanted to give it a try and today seemed like a good day for it. I had a 9:00 appointment at the VA which disrupted my usual routine. Stopped at Fry's and filled Desperados's tank with gas but didn't have enough time to do my grocery shopping. Did that after the VA appointment.
This was to be a VA Telehealth Services appointment at the Sierra Vista Clinic connected to the Dermatology department at the Tucson VA Hospital. However, I really had nothing to show Tucson. The very red skin from the flare has mostly gone away with the ibuprofen treatment that I went on immediately when I saw the flare. I did have a good talk with Robert, the VA Clinic Team nurse, and we agreed on what I should do IF I have another flare while here in Sierra Vista of any of my other camps during the next 12 months.
I complained to my Senator MCSally about VAs policy of only setting appointments using a telephone. She got the VAs attention and I received a Secure Message from the Clinic here that I should have my hearing tested again and to get an appointment. The Senator has stirred the pot!
Went to my UPS store and had Passport photos taken and sent off the application for my Passport renewal. Also picked up the two packages that were waiting for me. Then last but not least I went to the laundromat where I would have usually have started my day if I were following my usual routine.
A busy day for me when I usually do nothing!
This quote is from a letter written by James A. Robb, an American pathologist and molecular virologist, detailing his advice on how to avoid contracting Coronavirus® and similar diseases. On March 2 several sources posted the letter online and it went viral. It was forwarded to me.
With all the pictures of people wearing surgical masks I thought this was the most important advice that he had to give. Most of those people wearing the masks have NO idea why they are wearing them or have the wrong idea.
Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch our nose/mouth 90 x/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this virus can infect you - it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth - it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.
5 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
An above freezing (36.1) morning after yesterday's just above freezing (32.2). The high temperature for today is forecast to be 72 which is great Chamber of Commerce weather. The Snowbirds will be out in their gravity chairs like a flock of birds on the power lines.
I'll be inside in my recliner reading. I have the same book on Kindle Fire now that I had on Paperwhite. I prefer to take the Paperwhite with me when I go to town and can use it while eating breakfast and waiting for appointments. I like the Kindle Fire better for at home reading.
The DNC, with a complicit media, has managed to completely redact Tuksi out of the narrative matrix this presidential campaign. However, I think you are going to hear a lot more from her in the years to come unless she does an 'Epstein' (Epstein did not kill himself).
The establishment narrative warfare against Gabbard’s campaign dwarfs anything we’ve seen against Sanders, and the loathing and dismissal they’ve been able to generate have severely hamstrung her run. It turns out that a presidential candidate can get away with talking about economic justice and plutocracy when it comes to domestic policy, and some light dissent on matters of foreign policy will be tolerated, but aggressively attacking the heart of the actual bipartisan foreign policy consensus will get you shut down, smeared and shunned like nothing else. This is partly because US presidents have a lot more authority over foreign affairs than domestic, and it’s also because endless war is the glue which holds the empire together. - DNC Scrambles To Change Debate Threshold After Gabbard Qualifies, Caitlin Johnstone
This is not the first time that Caitlin has posted about Biden's undeniable symptoms of incipient dementia. The Establishment does not care, all they want is someone other than Trump that they can tell what to do and he will do it. Someone with dementia would be perfect.
If you do a live Twitter search for the word “stutter”, you will as of this writing see that word being tweeted multiple times per minute on the social media platform as Democrats scramble to defend Biden from people who are accurately highlighting the indisputable fact that the former vice president is showing signs of cognitive decline. In my interactions with Biden supporters over the last 24 hours I’ve had this irrelevant word suddenly start getting thrown at me, because narrative managers in the mainstream media and the Biden campaign have been aggressively promoting the talking point that Biden’s increasingly frequent neurological misfirings on the campaign trail are actually the result of a longstanding speech impediment.
This is false. While it is true that Biden has periodically exhibited signs of a stutter, the inability to hold on to his own train of thought, forgetting where he is and who he’s with, grossly incorrect use of language, and inappropriate behavior are not symptoms of a stutter. - Stop Calling It A “Stutter”: Here Are Dozens Of Examples Of Biden’s Dementia Symptoms, Caitlin Johnstone
6 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 6, 1932
This morning the low was 45.1° but that happened after we finished our walk. While we were out there it was in the 46-47° range with no wind which was very pleasant. Since the 1st of March we have been doing our morning walks on the same routes that we have walked in the afternoons, just a bit shorter distance. The first 10 minutes are not quite light yet but enough IF there is no cloud cover.
I have started another book on Kindle Fire that is an ePub file but poorly done. It is much more like a PDF file that has been created using an optical scanner. Not as bad as those but certainly not up to the ePub standards that I usually read.
This was another of Verne's sci fi adventure novels. The plot is far fetched today but had to have been very exciting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An entertaining read.This book was published in 1877 in France with the title Hector Servadac. There have been many translations over the years. The one I read was published in 1911 by Vincent Parke and Companythat omitted Part II, Chapter 3. Parke used the title Off on a Comet, and since that time the book has usually been referred to with that title instead of the correct one, Hector Servadac.
Kunstler has another good post, I have quoted his opening paragraph as a teaser. Recommended reading.
The shadow of Coronavirus creeps ever-darker across the scene like a cosmic messenger from Karma Central telling mankind to stop and assess. We’re about to find out what we’ve wrought with the wonders and marvels of globalism. Is there anything you can think of over at the Wal Mart or the Walgreens that isn’t made in China? I mean, everything from a dustpan to a lint brush? I can’t say for sure, because I’m not over in China, but the place is apparently not open for business these days. One must surmise that a lot of activities in the USA may not be open for business much longer, either. This Ain’t No Foolin’ Around, James Howard Kunstler
7 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I cooked up another pound of navy beans on Thursday and mashed them up in my mortar and pestle. This time I added a little olive oil to some of them as I mashed which seemed to make the mashing easier but did not do much for the taste. I need to try making hummus from them which I have been approximating.
Those beans have been added to my 'linners' to provide more fiber which is claimed to reduce cholesterol. I am giving them a try but have found that what I eat does not make much difference in my cholesterol levels. What I want even more is to find something that is anti-inflammatory. My psoriasis flashes are inflammatory and ibuprofen seems to knock them down but what I eat has not prevented them. Turmeric is claimed to be anti-inflammatory but the added supplement has not prevented a flare.
Green tea is also claimed to be a very good anti-inflammatory. I tried drinking that some time ago and couldn't acquire a taste for it. A couple of weeks ago I saw AriZona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey, no sugar added, and gave it a try. It was sickeningly sweet. Not from the honey which was only added in a very small quantity but from sucralose which is about 320 to 1,000 times sweeter than sugar, three times as sweet as both aspartame and acesulfame potassium. Just to make sure that it is sweet enough they add some acesulfame potassium that is about 200 times sweeter than sugar.
I therefore went to work developing my own formula. I brew up two 12 oz cups of tea (one tea bag in each cup) with not quite a teaspoon of honey in each one. This goes into a 32 oz container with water added to fill it plus three caps full of lemon juice. I keep it chilled in the refrigerator and it has proved to be a refreshing drink. Is it doing anything to combat inflation, I have no idea.
That ePub book that I started to read on Kindle Fire was downloaded from Z Library and I was using ReadEra as the reader app. This has been my favored reader but not for this download. I went to archive.org and downloaded their protected ePub for the same title which I can read using the Aldiko reader that I have on Fire. It is much better with my only complaint being the font size that I think is built into the ePub book and the reader can't change - at least I can not change it.
Did you know that in 2018, a total of 9,025 tuberculosis cases were reported in the United States and in 2017 there were 515 deaths? As of 7 March 2020 there were 340 confirmed cases of Coronavirus® in the United States and 14 deaths. Which one of these merits headline News? Why?
8 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I didn't get my wish, we got more rain. I could hear rain on Desperado's roof when it was time to get up so I knew it was raining hard. Stayed in bed for another 45 minutes until I could not hear the rain very well but Patches had to go. We did a short potty walk where I stayed reasonably dry with an umbrella and Patches got wet. The forecast is for rain through the morning with a mix of sun and clouds in the afternoon. My regular route is going to be muddy so if we get to walk it will be inside the Park.
With more and more 'talk' about Hillary getting a back door nomination as the Democrat Party's presidential candidate this book could be a timely read. I downloaded it today. "We came, we saw, he died." - Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States wars are getting repetitive. Always the same old scenario. The mainstream media alert public opinion to the latest villain supposedly threatening to slaughter his own people . The U.S. does the job instead with its drones and missiles. The new villain is soon forgotten, but his country is left in a shambles, with competing fanatics vying to dominate the chaos. Something new is needed. How about a Woman War President? Hillary Rodham Clinton has painstakingly groomed herself for the role. Her record as Secretary of State shows that she is fully qualified to be the first woman to be known as the mother of all drones or even to launch World War III. - Book promo
"It’s American exceptionalism. You all think you’re such special people that you’re going to do it right. If socialism comes here, don’t worry, we’ll make it happen in the correct way. Not true! Ten years ago if you had told me I would be seeing this in the US, I would have laughed in your face. But now it’s happening. I’m seeing it happening to my friends. It’s like their minds are disintegrating." - From an interview with Clarissa
Clarissa is a pseudonym used by a professor that fears being fired if she speaks what is on her mind. She emigrated to the US from Russia as a young woman, a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. She has a blog that is interesting.
I got caught up in a really good book last night.
I didn't stop coloring until 2:00 am this morning.
9 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I was much too conservative in my estimate of how fast the Coronavirus® would spread in the United States. On 25 February I said: With the sanctuary city policies in the United States I expect to see the confirmed cases in the United States to exceed those in Japan by the end of March. As of this morning 9 March the United States had 566 confirmed cases with 22 deaths moving ahead of Japan with 511 cases and 17 deaths.
Congress passed an $8.3 Billion virtue signaling bill to combat the Coronavirus® and president Trump signed it. That did not get the president off the hook however, the media and The Establishment still say that 'it's all Trump's fault'.
Of the four Arundel books I liked this one the least. This one and Lively Lady, the two that were set at sea were the two that I liked the least. In the book promo it says that Captain Dorman's daughter was taken prisoner. That is not correct, she was not aboard the ship when it was captured. I sometimes wonder if the person writing the book promo has read the book.
In this conclusion to the Chronicles of Arundel, the year is 1812 and America has declared war on Britain. The American ship Olive Branch is waylaid by a British cruiser. In the ensuing fight, Captain Dorman is killed and his crew is taken prisoner, including the captain's pretty and strong-willed daughter, Corunna. With his keen eye to detail Roberts weaves a colorful tale of swashbuckling and sea battles. He portrays the bravery of American and French seamen, their sufferings at the hands of the British the invention of the Gangway Pendulum, and the sailor's dangerous and dramatic escape from the prison hulks. - Book promo
10 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
This morning my breakfast stop was at Cafe' Ole' where I decided to get something different. I selected their #6 Special with no gravy, That is a mostly vegetable omelet with some crumbled sausage plus hashbrowns and a flour tortilla for the toast. I may have it again!
Then gather groceries at Fry's where I had a couple of new items on my list but they were easily found. It was the wait at the checkout that took most of my time. There was not that big of a crowd but the ones that were there had the two checkers backed up.
The wait there kept me from waiting for my UPS Store to open at 9:00 so it was wait one place or the other. When I got back to the Park I backed into my space and immediately dumped holding tanks and added water. The pump was sucking air from the water tank, I needed to add water.
I can not think of a better description of what has transpired with President Trump and 'his' foriegn policy. As far as that goes this seems to have been true of every president since I have been alive and probably even farther back than that.
A president with no strong foreign policy vision who reacts to unexpected events in unfamiliar places is inevitably manipulated by advisers with an agenda. In the American oligarchy, the President is a temporary chairman of the board who is there to take responsibility for actions decided in private sessions. He is there to sell policy more than to make it. - Queen Of Chaos, Diana Johnstone
11 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
The forecast was that it would rain throughout the night and this morning. We did get some rain last night (0.08") which was enough to make my dirt roads 'tacky'. We stayed in the Park this morning and hope there is no more rain before this afternoon and the roads can dry. It looked like it could rain and the experts give it a 40% chance with it staying cold all day, expected high of only 54.
I think I'll get a salmon fillet into the Roaster, cook the fillet and add heat to the interior of Desperado. I did some experimental cooking yesterday. Made some date syrup. Not a lot of work but takes a lot of time and uses a lot of propane. I wanted to know if I was going to like the finished product which I do. Therefore, I'll spend the money and buy it from someone that can make it and do it at a profit. They deserve it!
I'm also experimenting with Greek Gods Yogurt. I got hooked on Greek Gods Honey Vanilla and ate it with added fruit for some time. Switched to their Honey and added vanilla to suit me. I'm now trying their Plain and add honey and vanilla to suit me. Their Honey gets most of its sweetening from cane sugar plus brown cane sugar rather than just honey. So far my version is good but it is certainly more tart than their Honey offering. I may try some other brands of Plain as well. I also need to make sure I'm buying raw honey vs honey.
12 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Either I or Weather Underground made a mistake yesterday. When I checked their site later in the day the forecast high was 70 which matched the high for yesterday. A lot of clouds this morning but no rain yet with a 70% chance this afternoon and tonight. If that happens that will have me walking in the Park again, the dirt roads are still very damp with muddy spots.
The review that I have quoted is the one that best describes what I thought of this book. The title refers to Hillary but she had a lot of help. The United States Department of State is probably the deepest part of the Deep State. Nomi Prins wrote about the close ties between the bankers and the government. Johnstone does the same thing with regard to the State Department and the lobbyist in Washington D C or the NGOs in foregn countries.Diana Johnstone's Queen of Chaos is an excellent source of information for Hillary Clinton's political rivals But it's much more than that. It offers very perceptive accounts of US foreign policy of the last 25 years, particularly the complex and highly controversial cases of Libya, Yugoslavia, Honduras and Russia, as well as the issue of women in power. 'Is there something wrong with American women,' Johnstone asks, 'that they need Hillary Clinton as President to make them feel better?' — William Blum, author of Killing Hope
On the domestic front, almost nothing is possible other than small tweaks. But on the world stage, U.S. military power offers enormous prospects for “doing something”: from rousing speeches against “dictators” to bullying whole countries, punishing them with sanctions, overthrowing their governments… all the way to great big wars. History can be made here. - Queen Of Chaos, Diana Johnstone
OK, this Coronavirus® in the United States has now become serious. The NBA has canceled their entire season because a Utah Jazz player has tested positive. Does anyone remember what happened when Earvin "Magic" Johnson revealed that he tested HIV positive? He retired but then played in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game plus he played as a member of the 'Dream Team' in the 1992 Summer Olympics. We just thought HIV/AIDs was bad obviously Coronavirus® is far worse.
13 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 13, 1932
I did an unscheduled trip into town yesterday morning after taking a shower and seeing that I had another psoriasis flare. A long wait in line just to reach the receptionist which took far too much time notifying Robert, the Team RN, that I was there to see him. He took a look at the flare and made a bunch of notes and then handed me off to another guy that took pictures. They will be sent to the VA in Puget Sound and I should expect some reply within three days. I am doubtful.
It was raining at the time of our usual afternoon walk. We went out about 30 minutes later into a light sprinkle and did a potty walk. Got a little wet but would have been very wet by the time we finished our usual walk. This morning we stayed in the Park because the dirt roads are far too muddy. Maybe we can walk them this afternoon if we get plenty of sun. The forecast is for partly cloudy but Weather Underground is making 'improvements' again and I can not access any history.
Putin played a big part in driving the wooden stake when he refused to cut production. That move is going to be a serious payback for all the sanctions that the United States has imposed and arm twisting the EU to go along against their own interests.
I say that, readers will recall, because it really all comes down to the energy inputs available and that part of the picture has gone pretty grim in just the past week. The convergence of world events has driven a wooden stake through the heart of the shale oil business. From the get-go, shale oil was a loser because it just cost too much to get that oil out of the rock it was trapped in. It only worked as a financial stunt during the low interest lending orgy of the past decade. It was a magnificent stunt, you understand, goosing US production to 13 million barrels a day — energy independence, with all those short-term feel-good vibes — but it was just a stunt and now it’s over. The reality of this has yet to penetrate the American hive-mind. - Black Swans, Dead Cats, Live Bats, and Goodbye to All That, James Howard Kunstler
This is "Uncola's" third post about Coronavirus®. He asks a lot of questions that the media should be asking and have not. Well worth reading.
Do you remember the H1N1 “Swine Flu” pandemic that took place in 2009-2010? By March 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated “that about 59 million Americans contracted the H1N1 virus, 265,000 were hospitalized as a result, and 12,000 died".
But there was no hysteria back then, was there? At least not like we are seeing in today’s headlines.
So why the panic now? Perhaps because much of COVID-19 reeks of sheer politicization. - Take a Chill Pill and Come Back Tomorrow, Doug “Uncola” Lynn
14 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
The Weather Underground site appears to be working again. I was able to bring up my usual reporting station and found that the last storm provided another 0.27" of rain. I also found that some of my dirt road routes were still a bit muddy. The one I walked yesterday afternoon was mostly dry but I got into some mud this morning. All the routes should dry out today with plentiful sunshine and a high of 68.
I have nothing planned for today other than maybe dry mop Desperado's floor. I have tracked in some grit that is painful on bare feet. It is surprising that the new floor is doing that so much more than the old floor.
I have also been doing a lot of web browsing. Looking for new foods. Not so much a new diet just to replace some of the things that I have been eating. Such as my experiments with Greek Gods. I'm now moving toward the elimination of dairy, Greek Gods being one dairy that I have been eating so giving it up will be a change.
15 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
This book has also been published under the titles of The Black Indies, The Child of the Cavern, Strange Doings Underground. or Black Diamonds. It is a good read but more of a mystery with only a bit of sifi mixed into the plot.The Underground City, by Jules Verne, is a novel about the fortunes of a mining community at Aberfoyle which is near Stirling, Scotland. Miner James Starr, after receiving a letter from an old friend, leaves for the Aberfoyle mine. Although believed to be mined out a decade earlier, James Starr finds a mine overman, Simon Ford, along with his family living deep inside the mine. Simon Ford has found a large vein of coal in the mine but the characters must deal with mysterious and unexplainable happenings in and around the mine. - Book promo @ goodreads.com
We are expecting Chamber of Commerce weather today and tomorrow with the highs in the lower 702. That is going to bring out the Snowbirds in the gravity chairs for sure. But then by Wen and Thu it will be down into the 50s for the high and maybe a light freeze for the low. Even more rain forecast for Wen. I have been surprised that the winds have been moderate so far in March with more rain. Evidence of climate change or simply Cochise County weather in the spring?
16 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I went to town this morning with a stop at Sunny D's along the way for breakfast. I got their Veggie Omelet with home fries which was very good. I never can tell when I may be able to get their home fries and when I can not.
Then on to Fry's. It was a madhouse, it took me almost an hour to do what I usually do in half that time. There were restrictions on how much of many things that you could buy. The only restriction that applied to me was for water where I could only buy one gallon. I also wanted garbanzo beans which were not restricted; they simply did not have any. The entire shelves where dry beans are kept was bare - nothing.
I noticed a lot of other shelves were bare as well. Surprisingly, the produce section was as well stocked as always. Does that tell you something about American buying patterns and what they think they can not live without?
Poe published this essay in 1840 but it could have been yesterday. Nothing has changed except for it getting worse.
"We [people in the United States] have no aristocracy of blood, and having therefore as a natural, and indeed as an inevitable thing, fashioned for ourselves an aristocracy of dollars, the display of wealth has here to take the place and perform the office of the heraldic display in monarchical countries. By a transition readily understood, and which might have been as readily foreseen, we have been brought to merge in simple show our notions of taste itself...
The people will imitate the nobles, and the result is a thorough diffusion of the proper feeling. But in America, the coins current being the sole arms of the aristocracy, their display may be said, in general, to be the sole means of the aristocratic distinction; and the populace, looking always upward for models, are insensibly led to confound the two entirely separate ideas of magnificence and beauty. In short, the cost of an article of furniture has at length come to be, with us, nearly the sole test of its merit in a decorative point of view—and this test, once established, has led the way to many analogous errors, readily traceable to the one primitive folly. There could be nothing more directly offensive to the eye of an artist than the interior of what is termed in the United States—that is to say, in Appallachia—a well-furnished apartment." - The Philosophy of Furniture, Edgar Allan Poe
17 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
If my experience at Fry's yesterday was a harbinger then my choosing to modify my eating habits now was the thing to do. I have decided to eliminate dairy. Was there a restriction on yogurt yesterday, I didn't look? What I wanted was some almond milk yogurt and that was available although there was not a lot of it.
What I am now going to have for my 'linner' dessert will be cooked hulled barley with frozen fruit, almond milk yogurt, vanilla and honey. When served I may add a dash of almond milk as well; I'll be giving this a try with today's 'linner'.
I have quoted only the first two paragraphs of Fred's post and he was just getting warmed up. It is classic Fred, don't miss it!
Oh God. Oh God. We are down to Biden. I think. Bad. Bad. But maybe no worse than any of the other dwarves and surreal curiosities offering themselves as our managers Look, if you can bear it, at what we started with. Two billionaires, three women, two Jews, a black, a self-proclaimed Indian, two threshold octogenarians in mid petrification, an advocate of busing, a poofter, and an utterly unqualied small-town mayor with the additional electoral handicap of being documentably intelligent. It’s nuts. What are we doing? At Biden’s age he probably had trilobites as house pets. Never mind, though, as he probably can’t remember them.
The only one fit to be seen in public with was Tulsi Gabbard, but she was a threat to military budgets and so snuffed like an unwanted candle.These frightening candidates have dropped out like rotten peaches from a tree until Stochastic Joe is the only dropping left undropped Oh help. - Democracy Inaction, Fred Reed.
In Fred's posting he included the quote that I have shown below in red. He did not identify the source but I was able to find it and thought that Asimov's article was worth quoting in its entirety. So I have done so just because I can. What Asimov said in 1980 is even worse today.
A CULT OF IGNORANCE
It's hard to quarrel with that ancient justification of the free press: "America's right to know." It seems almost cruel to ask, ingenuously, "America's right to know what, please? Science? Mathematics? Economics? Foreign languages?"
None of those things, of course. In fact, one might well suppose that the popular feeling is that Americans are a lot better off without any of that tripe.
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of antiintellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
Politicians have routinely striven to speak the language of Shakespeare and Milton as ungrammatically as possible in order to avoid offending their audiences by appearing to have gone to school. Thus, Adlai Stevenson, who incautiously allowed intelligence and learning and wit to peep out of his speeches, found the American people flocking to a Presidential candidate who invented a version of the English language that was all his own and that has been the despair of satirists ever since.
George Wallace, in his speeches, had, as one of his prime targets, the "pointy-headed professor," and with what a roar of approval that phrase was always greeted by his pointy-headed audience.
BUZZWORDS: Now we have a new slogan on the part of the obscurantists: "Don't trust the experts!" Ten years ago, it was "Don't trust anyone over 30." But the shouters of that slogan found that the inevitable alchemy of the calendar converted them to the untrustworthiness of the Over 30, and, apparently, they determined they would never make that mistake again. "Don't trust the experts!" is absolutely safe. Nothing, neither the passing of time nor exposure..., to information, will convert these shouters to experts in any subject that might conceivably be useful.
We have a new buzzword. too, for anyone who admires competence, knowledge, learning and skill, and who wishes to spread it around. People like that are called "elitist". That's the funniest buzzword ever invented because people who are not members of the intellectual elite don't know what an "elitist" is, or how to pronounce the word. As soon as someone shouts "elitist" it becomes clear that he or she is a closet elitist who is feeling guilty about having gone to school.
All right, then, forget my ingenious question. America's right to know does not include knowledge of elitist subjects. America's right to know involves something we might express vaguely as "what's going on." America has the right to know "what's going on" in the courts, in Congress, in the White House, in industrial councils, in the regulatory agencies, in labor unions—in the seats of the mighty, generally.
Very good, I'm for that, too. But how are you going to let people know all that?
Grant us a free press, and a corps of independent and fearless investigative reporters, comes the cry, and we can be sure that the people will know.
Yes, provided they can read!
As it happens, reading is one of those elitist subjects I have been talking about, and the American public, by and large, in their distrust of experts and in their contempt for pointy-headed professors, can't read and don't read.
To be sure, the average American can sign his name more or less legibly, and can make out the sports headlines—but how many non elitist Americans can, without undue difficulty, read as many as a thousand consecutive words of small print, some of which may be trisyllabic?
Moreover, the situation is growing worse. Reading scores in the schools decline steadily. The highway signs, which used to represent elementary misreading lessons ("Go Slo." "Xroad") are steadily being replaced by little pictures to make them internationally legible and incidentally to help those who know how to drive a car but, not being pointy-headed professors, can't read.
Again, in television commercials, there are frequent printed messages. Well, keep your eyes on them and you'll find out that no advertiser ever believes that anyone but an occasional elitist can read that print. To ensure that more than this mandarin minority gets the message, every word of it is spoken out loud by the announcer.
HONEST EFFORT: If that is so, then how have Americans got the right to know? Grant that there are certain publications that make an honest effort to tell the public what they should know, but ask yourselves how many actually read them.
There are 200 million Americans who have inhabited schoolrooms at some time in their lives and who will admit that they know how to read (provided you promise not to use their names and shame them before their neighbors), but most decent periodicals believe they are doing amazingly well if they have circulations of half a million. It may be that only 1 per cent—or less—of Americans make a stab at exercising their right to know. And if they try to do anything on that basis they are quite likely to be accused of being elitists.
I contend that the slogan "America's right to know" is a meaningless one when we have an ignorant population, and that the function of a free press is virtually zero when hardly anyone can read.
What shall we do about it?
We might begin by asking ourselves whether ignorance is so wonderful after all, and whether it makes sense to denounce "elitism".
I believe that every human being with a physically normal brain can learn a great deal and can be surprisingly intellectual. I believe that what we badly need is social approval of learning and social rewards for learning.
We can all be members of the intellectual elite and then, and only then, will a phrase like "America's right to know" and, in-deed, any true concept of democracy, have any meaning.
Asimov. a professor of biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine, is the author of 212 books, most of them on various scientific subjects for the general public. - Newsweek: “A Cult of Ignorance” by Isaac Asimov, January 21, 1980, p. 19
18 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Almost every year that I am here I see a heavy hauler tractor-trailer stop overnight in front of the Park. This year they were hauling just the counter weight for a Cat® Mining Shovel which weighed 230,000 pounds. The total on the road weight per ADOT was 660,000 pounds. They are taking it to Houston, TX where it will go onto a ship. They then turn around, go back to Green Valley, AZ and pick up some more of the Shovel.
We were lucky to get our morning walk in, the forecast is that there is a good chance that the walk this afternoon will be rained out. "Showers early, becoming a steady rain for the afternoon. Windy. High 59F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Higher wind gusts possible. - Huachuca City, AZ Weather Conditions, Weather Underground" If we get 0.25" then I'll be walking in the Park tomorrow.
I see more and more articles that are now saying that this Coronavirus® pandemic is TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) which is exactly what Strauss and Howe claimed that a Fourth Turning to be.
In many ways, the daily details are fast-becoming deck chairs on the Titanic. In the terminology of Strauss and Howe’s “Fourth Turning”: If the 2008 financial crisis marked the Catalyst for this current Fourth Turning and Trump marked the Regeneracy phase, then it appears COVID-19 may be the Climax. The authors Strauss and Howe defined the Climax as “the death of the old order and birth of the new“. - They Should Have Called it CONTROLavirus, Doug “Uncola” Lynn
I read Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD prior to this book and have not included a cover picture. His program is far too unforgiving for me to attempt but his book led me to this book. What the Cambells say makes a lot of sense and since there is no cure for psoriasis it is worth giving what they say a try. I have read some online postings that claim that eating a whole food, plant based diet has improved their psoriasis. I am most concerned with reducing the inflammation. The experiment has begun.The China Study is a book by T. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. It was first published in the United States in January 2005, I read the revised 2nd edition published in 2016.
The China Study examines the link between the consumption of animal products (including dairy) and chronic illnesses such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, bowel cancer and autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis. The authors conclude that people who eat a predominantly whole-food, plant-based diet—avoiding animal products as a main source of nutrition, including beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, and milk, and reducing their intake of processed foods and refined carbohydrates—will escape, reduce, or reverse the development of numerous diseases. - Edited Wikipedia
19 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
The storm arrived later than was forecast so we almost got to do our regular afternoon walk. However, when we were about 15 minutes into the walk I looked to the south and could see rain starting to obscure the Huachucas. Beat a hasty retreat to Desperado and only got a little damp. It was from then until soon after sundown that we got most of the 0.47" of rain. That had us in the Park this morning and I doubt that the dirt roads will be dry by this afternoon.
I have nothing planned for today. Cooking my 'linner' will take a little longer than it has in the past because I have not yet developed a routine of preparing them in bulk. I found that the almond milk yogurt that I picked up on my last shopping trip is very good. But like Greek Gods they use cane sugar as a sweetener. That is not so bad, it is the milk protein that I am trying to eliminate. I am going to look closer and see if they have any plain almond milk yogurt and I'll add my own sweetener.
I have quoted from a posting at Clarissa's Blog.
On Russian-language FB [FaceBook], people are befuddled.
“Why toilet paper???” they ask. “Why are Americans buying off all the toilet paper? This must be something cultural. Or maybe they have a secret method of fighting the virus that involves toilet paper? The bastards! Give it to them not to share it with the world!”
This goes on for days.
Finally, one woman clocks on to the real reason.
“Guys!!!” she writes. “I think I figured it out! Americans are buying so much toilet paper because they really, honestly don’t know what to do when there is a shortage of toilet paper!”
“Wow,” everybody says. “That’s so bizarre. Surely, that can’t be true.”
But confirmations kept coming in until finally one kind soul created a helpful aid for Americans. I now share it with you.
Many Russians do not understand: “Why toilet paper???” I also did not understand, even tried to google it. Then my western colleague said:
“Imagine, you are in a toilet, but there is no paper!” I gave him a blank look. Then slowly a realisation began to appear in my head. Some westerners really do not know what to do in this situation. Apparently there are very few westerners left who had experienced total absence of toilet paper in their life. I am not a westerner, so I have experienced it a lot.
20 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 20, 1932
The low was below freezing (30.7°) again this morning and stayed below for most of our walk. I have had enough of it but it could freeze again before the end of the month. The forecasters don't expect it but I think it will, at least one more time.
I have four appointments within the next two weeks. I received a reminder notice from my dentist office which sort of provided encouragement that they are going to be open. I wonder if the other three will be? I think Fry's will stay open but have no idea if I'll be able to buy anything.
The restaurants that I usually go to on my shopping days are also questionable, maybe open or maybe not. Perhaps I'll have to go to Mexico when the United States locks down?
The United States was #6 in reported cases of Coronavirus® as of this morning. We leaped ahead of South Korea and France and will probably pass Germany, Spain and Iran within a week. That will leave only Italy and China that will have more confirmed cases but I think we being an exceptional country will have more confirmed than those two countries by Easter (12 April 2020).
China on Thursday [19 March 2020] marked a major milestone in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic as it recorded zero domestic infections for the first time since the outbreak emerged, but a spike in imported cases threatened its progress.
The stark reversal comes as nations across the world have shut down in a desperate effort to contain the pandemic, with more people now infected and having died abroad than in China. - Source
The United States has suspended the Peace Corps, probably will not re-establish it, and most likely will be bringing Coronavirus® infected volunteers back into this country.
The Peace Corps is telling its volunteers around the world that it is suspending all operations globally and evacuating all volunteers in light of the spread of the new coronavirus.
21 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Nothing happening here. I'm sheltering in place just like always. I will have to risk going into town tomorrow and get some groceries. I'll also risk having breakfast at a restaurant if there are any open.
I don't think Coronavirus® panic has reached the same level here as it has in many other locations. Example: "In short it read that all tourists have 24 hours to vacate town. All lodging, including Rv parks, will be shut down, as well as all restaurants and businesses except markets and those considered essential. Do not come to Moab, we are closed till further notice. Reading on it said something to the effect...All public lands in Grand County are closed for camping and/or public use. Only residents and ESSENTIAL personnel, i. e., people who are employment based in Grand County, are allowed to remain...until further notice."
What does a full time RVer do if all RV parks and public lands are closed? Something to contemplate!
22 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
The first confirmed case of Coronavirus® in Sierra Vista was an employee at Ft. Huachuca on 20 March 2020. He is now at home in Tombstone recovering. Where there was the one I suspect many more will soon follow.
Not directly related to Coronavirus® is the cancelation of my 60th High School Reunion that was only in the planning stage. One of the planners is moving and the other two planners do not have the willingness to carry on.
Directly related to Coronavirus® is the cancelation of my dental cleaning that was scheduled for 1 April. I received an email from the dentist yesterday that said they were canceling and would reschedule. Maybe I will be here and maybe I will not.
On 20 March 2020 I said that the United States would surpass Germany, Spain and Iran with the number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus® within a week. It only took two days! The United States is now #3 in the contest for which country has the most confirmed cases. I still stand by my prediction that we will be #1 but Easter, after all we are the indispensable and exceptional country how could we be anything less than #1.
There was less on the shelves at Fry's this morning than there were last week. Still a restriction on many items but most of the restrictions were meaningless because they had none of the items that were restricted. I got one gallon of water, not what I wanted but what was available. No garbonzos and maybe a dozen packages of beans of all types, I bought none. Even the non-dairy yogurt was well picked over, I got three small cartons of an almond milk yogurt in a flavor that was available.
This week the frozen fruit was almost gone. I also noticed that the frozen vegetables were also mostly gone. However, the fresh produce section was as well stocked as it is in 'normal' times. The bread shelves were almost bare and this week the tortilla shelves were also almost bare whereas last week they were close to 'normal'.
The Landmark was open for business but only for take out. I got a spinach omelet with home fries and tortilla to go. Took it to Desperado where I was able to sit down to eat it. The Landmark has some outside seating but the police said that they could not serve people inside OR outside. It seems that it is acceptable to stand inside or outside while waiting for your take out order.
From there I went to my UPS Store and picked up a package that had an order of date syrup in it. I'll be giving that a try in my green tea and the barley dessert that is now with 'linner'. While I was there I went next door to Safeway and checked their shelves. I did not check for much but the few aisles I went down looked to be just as bare as at Fry's. They did have more water than Frey's and the limit was two gallons per household so I got two gallons.
23 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
This morning's low was 50° which is the first time since 11 & 12 March that it has been so warm. That plus the wind blowing harder in the afternoon offers hope that spring is on the way. Not yet however. The forecast low on Saturday morning is 34 which I expect to be below freezing. Then the following week the forecast lows are in the 50s so maybe that will be the last freeze - maybe.
I think it may be time for me to start next month's Will Rogers weekly article preparation. Patches has a bath appointment tomorrow then in a few days there is laundry to be done. Don't know if the laundromat will be open or not. I'll just go and see. If it is closed then my only choice might be to wait for a machine here at the Park.
I have been making hummus for the past few days using my mortar and pestle. Have been adding tahini to the garbonzos with a dash of almond milk and grinding, grinding, grinding. I have looked for a no oil recipe but all I have found so far include tahini which has oil. One of them suggested that when the oil separates that it can be poured off. Most of the recipes also assume that I will be using canned garbanzos. What I am trying to do is really 'old school'. I'll keep experimenting knowing that it will never be creamy and fluffy while using a mortar and pestle.
I don't think this is Coronavirus® related.
"I tried donating blood today...NEVER AGAIN!!!
Too many stupid questions.
Who's blood is it?
Where did you get it?
Why is it in a bucket?"
24 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I was going to get a breakfast take out from Papa's 50's Diner this morning but they were closed. This did not surprise me. I went on from there to a big parking lot near where Patches was to get her bath. Since I drive my house I just parked and made my usual breakfast; remaining sheltered in place. There is going to be a lot of bankruptcy as a result of this Coronavirus® economy shut down with marginal restaurants at the top of the list.
Now, under the shadow of the coronavirus, everybody has been sent home to wait and see what happens next, hostages to the flat-screen, where the cable networks show little besides a non-stop real-time horror movie called The End of Your Future. It’s hard to keep morale up when you realize that all the usual conveyor belts of stuff you need to keep going are breaking down. It’s not hard to imagine fights, sure to come, over that dwindling stuff, which we will struggle heroically to allocate because we are really not all bad. Goodness abides, even in that America we managed to so deeply profane. Let’s hope there’s enough of it.
When these convulsions are over, we’ll have to reorganize those real conditions of life very differently in North America. - Freaky-Deaky, James Howard Kunstler
Thousands of cruise ship passengers across the world have been quarantined in recent weeks after outbreaks of Coronavirus® onboard. Why have there not been any cases of Coronavirus® confirmed onboard US Navy ships? There have been cases reported in jails but I have not read that there have been similar reports from US military camps. Why is that, the virus is most likely to be transmitted at close quarters which seems to define those 'populations'?
This is what we 'mature' citizens in the US have in our future. There is a benefit for doing it in the United States. If the mortality rates continue then one of every seven people over 60 will die. That will help extend the Social Security payments for the six that survive.
Israeli medical doctor Gai Peleg told Israeli television that in northern Italy the orders are not to allow those over 60 access to respiratory machines. - Source
I got a Secure Message from my VA Clinic Team that told me what the Dermatology people in Puget Sound have prescribed for the red flare that showed on my butt.
They seem to think it is a rash based on the drugs that are being sent to me. I need to talk to my NP (nurse practitioner) when I see her for my annual checkup in April. Right now the flare is gone as it always has been after a week or 10 days if I take nothing.
25 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
After getting Patches bath yesterday I went to the Arizona DMV to make an appointment for my driver licence renewal. The governor gave me a six month extension but that really did not do much for me since I will not be here during that six months.
I'll put this up now as today's post and then write about the day tomorrow.
I'm starting the Southern Victory Series and very pleased with this book. It is alternate history at it's finest by Turtledove.How Few Remain published in 1997 is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove.
It is the first part of the Southern Victory saga, which depicts a world in which the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War. It is similar to his earlier novel The Guns of the South, but unlike the latter, it is a purely alternate historical novel with no fantastical or science fiction elements. The book received the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1997, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1998. It covers the Southern Victory Series period of history from 1862 and from 1881 to 1882. - Edited Wikipedia
26 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I went to town early for my DMV appointment with the intent of getting a haircut. Can't do it, locked down because of Coronavirus®.
So I went to Fry's and did a walk through just to see if they had put anything back on the shelves. They have not, the shelves that were bare last Sunday were still bare.
I had plenty of time so went to Wal*Mart and did a walk through there also. Their shelves are also bare but not quite as bad. I was not in desperate need but getting low so when I saw a two rolls of paper towel package I picked it up. Fry's has not had and paper towels since before 15 March.
I sent Fry's an email expressing my disappointment with how they have responded to this 'crisis'. Suggested that they close the store until they have it restocked. I'll be going to Safeway for my next grocery gathering. They are also out of much that they once had for sale but I'll see how much of it is something I want.
The appointment at DMV went off much better than I expected. They took me in at the appointment time with only some slight confusion on my part. I was out of there about 5-6 minutes after going in. License renewed!
Stopped at my UPS Store and picked up a package from Amazon. There were four items in my last order and Amazon shipped one yesterday, two are included in a package that arrived late yesterday and the fourth is from a vendor that will arrive sometime. Oh for the days when you could place an order and it would all arrive in one package.
It was only on 24 March that I wrote about no Coronavirus® cases aboard United States Navy ships. Yesterday I read that the Navy reported three cases on Tuesday aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. Then today:
A rising number of sailors serving aboard the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt have the coronavirus.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Tuesday that "three cases of COVID-19 have been identified among personnel currently deployed and underway on the USS Theodore Roosevelt," adding that "these are our first three cases of COVID-19 on a ship that is deployed."
The number of coronavirus cases on the ship jumped to eight on Wednesday as five more sailors tested positive, a Navy official told Insider. - Source
27 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Read Will Rogers column 88 years ago: March 27, 1932
Since Tractor Supply can not keep Earthborn Meadow Feast in stock at their Sierra Vista store I ordered three large bags from Chewy. They sent me two emails apologizing for not delivering in their usual 2-3 days but I received them yesterday. I think they were delivered by FedEx but did not see the truck and did not hear them being delivered. Found them in two boxes by my steps when I took out the garbage.
So much for Tractor Supply here in Sierra Vista - who needs them. This failure to maintain a stock at the store is not a Coronavirus® issue. I have had a problem with this store for at least the last three years. Ask them to hold for me and they don't do it. Did an online order to be picked up at the store and it was not there. No more!
A second Cochise County resident has been diagnosed with COVID-19, officials said Wednesday [25 March 2020].
County health officials received confirmation Wednesday morning that the woman, who "just returned from overseas travel," had tested positive.
The woman "followed all self-isolation guidance and is recovering at home. A contact investigation has been completed and no threat to the community has been found," officials said.
An earlier case in the Arizona county, southeast of Tucson, "is recovering at home and remains in self-isolation," officials said Wednesday. - 2nd Cochise County coronavirus patient reported, Dylan Smith
President Trump tested the waters by suggesting that the economic lockdown be removed by Easter. That was the date that I chose to say that the United States being an indispensable and exceptional country would exceed Italy and China with the number of confirmed Coronavirus® cases. I was far too conservative once again, the United States became #1 yesterday. "What a country" - Yakov Smirnoff
To be clear, I think that test and trace is the way to go regarding Covid-19 and that we shouldn’t restart the economy just yet. My point is that if we wait three months, that there will be no economy left to restart and ~20 million or so deaths from that alone are likely (no, I do not care what economists say; as usual, they are wrong). - Test And
This book was published in 2008 and Mz Browne died in 2013. It has become a best seller once again because of this prediction:In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the bronchial tubes and resisting all known treatments. Almost more baffling than the illness itself will be the fact that it will suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived, attack again ten years later, and then disappear completely.It is not a very good book and I do not recommend it. That one prediction was more a lucky guess than any real psychic powers. She has included a lot of other predictions that have not come to pass. I do like this one that may still come true:
The year 2020 will mark the end of the U.S. presidency and the executive branch of the government. Let’s just say the American public will finally be fed up by then and leave it at that.The legislative branch will essentially absorb the responsibilities of the executive branch, with a streamlined body of elected representatives, an equal number from each state, forming the new legislature, which will be known simply as the Senate. The “party” system of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, et al., will un-complicate itself into Liberals and Conservatives, who will debate and vote on each proposed bill and law in nationally televised sessions.
The Apocalypse. The Rapture. The End of Days. Humans have long been concerned with the ultimate clash of civilizations, but never more so than now. The world has become a scary place; religious wars, global terrorism, and genocide are all over the news, and thanks to the Internet, the Information Age has ushered in the Anxiety Age. Who better to lead the way out than Sylvia Browne, the most popular psychic working today?
In End of Days, she tackles the most daunting of subjects with her trademark clarity, wisdom, and serenity. She does not shy away from the most daunting and difficult predictions about what will happen to the human race. And throughout she comments on all the End of Days prophecies and predictions that have people speculating that the end is indeed near.
For anyone who has ever wondered where we're headed, and what 'if anything' we can do to prevent a catastrophe of biblical proportions, End of Days is a riveting and insightful must-read. - Book promo @ goodreads.com
28 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
Into town again this morning with my first stop at the laundromat. Fortunately it was open. You never know if a business is going to be open or not now that we are living in a Coronavirus® world. It reminds me of my time in Bulgaria. The United States may even digress to that same level and everyone can enjoy living that way.
From there I went to the Landmark which is the only one of my three regular restaurants that is serving take out. This morning I got the Popeye with home fries, tortilla and coffee which I took back to Desperado.
Then on to Safeway to do some grocery gathering. I got most of what I wanted there but their produce did not look very good with a lot of missing items. Went to Fry's to get produce and got what I wanted except for garlic. I guess people are making necklaces?
The advantage to shopping at Safeway is I can park and go there and to my UPS Store without moving. I had a couple packages to pick up there. One of them had a 30 gallon airtight storage container that I'll be using to hold hulled barley or oat groats. I have ordered a second one so there will be one for each grain.
The disadvantage of shopping at Safeway is they also have bare shelves. The new order seems to be that I need to shop the three grocery stores in town to get what I have on my list for the week.
A third case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Cochise County. The County’s Health & Social Services Department received confirmation of a positive test last night (March 26).
The individual is an adult male who recently returned from domestic travel to a neighboring state. He has been self-isolating and is recovering at home. A contact investigation has been completed and no threat to the community has been found. The County will not be releasing any further information about this individual to protect their privacy.
There is no connection to the two previously confirmed cases, who are both also recovering at home. - Source
My next planned camp is in a county that is reporting two cases of Coronavirus® per the information I can find online. So it does not seem that I'll be moving to a 'hotspot'. However, medical treatment there will probably be less likely than here.
Mr. Kunstler has written another very good posting to his blog. I have selected only one paragraph from it but recommend reading it all.
Perhaps the key is how long the ordinary folk agree to their orderly confinement, even in the face of the coronavirus. That moment may be a bit further out, with the melodrama mounting especially in New York City right now, numbers of sick people going all hockey-stick, and frightful scenes in the hospitals. But then, whether it’s a week from now, or Easter Sunday, or sometime after that, what will the ordinary folk do when they decide en masse to de-confine and come roaring out in the streets? - Forced Liquidation, James Howard Kunstler
I have not quoted from this Newsweek article but include a link and suggest that it be read.
29 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
I unpacked the box I received from Amazon yesterday and found that there was an item missing. It took a long time on Chat but the fellow in India (my guess because of his English) did say that he was shipping me a replacement. Maybe get it when I go to town the next time. Hopefully the other airtight container will be there also. These containers are sold for storing dry dog food but I think they will work well for storing gain.
It was below freezing (26.8°) yesterday as I expected. The high of 64 felt a lot warmer than that and I saw that some of the migrant trees had leafed out. A few days of warm weather does not make a spring, I'll wait for the mesquite to leaf before thinking spring has arrived. The 10 day forecast expects the highs to all be in the 70s. That may do it.
There are plenty other examples in this blog post that show that the United States is using Coronavirus® as a weapon against those countries that will not bow down and become vassals to the US Empire.
The U.S. has currently two aircraft carrier groups in the Arab sea to threaten Iran. But those ships are of no use right now. They are 'cruise ships with guns'. Nuclear powered five billion dollar petri dishes for novel coronavirus outbreaks. Two U.S. carrier groups in the Pacific are already out of action because they have larger outbreaks on board. It is only a question of time until the other carriers follow...
U.S. foreign policy during the crisis has been abysmal. The U.S. angered China, the biggest producer of urgently needed masks and drugs, by calling the virus "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus", a practice that stopped only after a phone call between Trump and Xi Jinping. It angered Germany when it tried to buy exclusive rights for a potential vaccine that is being developed there. Requests for support by multiple European allies were left unanswered while China and Russia mobilized to help over 80 countries. Meanwhile Pompeo chastised Italy for accepting Cuban drugs and doctors.
There will be a large cost to pay for this when the pandemic is over. The U.S. has exposed itself as unreliable ally, as war mongering moron even at the worst time and as incapable of helping its own citizens.
China on the other hand defeated the epidemic at home and now helps defeating it wherever it can. This is going to be its century.
- It Is A Time Of Crisis And U.S. Foreign Policy Is Becoming Unhinged by Moon of Alabama
Now that's funny right there.
I'm sure that most of you recall when Playboy magazine reportedly offered Sarah Palin $4,000,000 to pose nude in an upcoming issue. And then National Geographic offered Michelle Obama $50.
Then KFC offered a Hillary meal to customers consisting of two small breasts and two large thighs. Now, KFC is offering the Nancy Pelosi special. It consists of nothing but left wings and chicken shit.
30 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
There isn't much happening here. Just sheltering-in-place until the end of April. Then I'll move to a new camp where I shelter-in-that-place.
President Donald Trump reversed himself on Sunday, extending national social-distancing guidelines to April 30 in effort to keep the projected coronavirus death toll in the U.S. from reaching a catastrophic, worst-case scenario. This was an extension from his previous statement that the country would be open by Easter. I'm guessing that there will be another extension and then maybe most businesses that are still in business will open by 1 June.
Two blog posts by two different bloggers that express what many people are thinking. Caitlin certainly gas it right, "normal" is gone for good.
Uncertainty can feel scary. Humans tend to be pattern-seeking, predictability-seeking animals, so the disappearance of reliable patterns can feel like our whole world is falling apart. But it’s an illusion. Our society has been insane since before we were born, and our patterned behavior has led our species to the ecocidal, omnicidal, oppressive and exploitative status quo we now find ourselves in. Unpatterning, in and of itself, is neither threatening nor helpful; it’s just change. What matters is where it all goes...
So it’s very possible that things will end up getting better in some as-yet unpredictable way. It’s also very possible that things can get worse. The only bet I personally would avoid putting any chips on is things ever going back to normal, because "normal" is gone for good.
We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. It’s Okay To Be Uncertain What’s Happening And Where This Is All Going, Caitlin Johnstone
Charity of the sort of aid flowing from the East will have consequences. The entire planet except for Israel and American conservatives is sick of America and its constant bombing, bombing, bombing, invading, sanctioning, tariffing, embargoing, threatening, attempting to destroy economies, and murder of officials. When the plague finally ends, Italy (et al) will remember plane load after plane load of supplies from eastwards, and that America provided nothing.
And that America blocked delivery of medicines and respirators to Iran. President Pompeo is a goddam [sic] monster, pulling Vice [sic] President Trump’s need-for-masculinity strings, and Pompeo is the face America presents to the world. Pop quiz. What country will Italy (and the others) regard as the desirable ally? Mexico in the Plague Year, and Reflection Northward, Fred Reed
31 March
Quail Ridge
Huachuca City, AZ
After getting the post written yesterday it was housecleaning time. I got the bathroom and all the floors cleaned. Maybe get to Desperado's cab and windows today plus the kitchen counter and stove top.
I also cooked a pot of pottage yesterday, it didn't involve much work at all. A cup of dry lentils, a package of frozen chopped spinach, a package of frozen cut carrots brought to boil in vegetable broth. I let it boil for a few minutes and then put it into my Thermal Cooker and it was ready by 'linner' time. I have plenty for additional 'linners'.
I think I liked this last Blade runner book by Jeter the best of the three that he wrote. I certainly liked Iris better than Decker, who was the main character in the first two of his books. I'll be reading some more of Jeter in the future.Ridley Scott's vision of Philip K. Dick's 21st Century Los Angeles was a masterpiece that has become a defining landmark on the SF landscape. And with his Blade Runner novels acclaimed author K.W. Jeter has added a body of fiction that is richly resonant of the original vision.
Fully authorised by the estate of Philip K. Dick and written by the author they felt best equipped to take forward the vision of one of the great names in SF, Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon combines the dark imagery, paranoia, tension and pace of Dick's original novel and the cinematic genius of Ridley Scott in a novel that takes the Blade Runner series into a new millennium.
Blade Runner has become one of the most recognisable and well-loved icons of SF and K.W. Jeter has only added to its reputation and impact. - Book promo @ goodreads.com
This is not going to happen overnight or as soon as the lockdown of the country is lifted. However, I think Mr. Kunstler is right. Maybe not right about everything but certainly right about 'This will be a different country'.
The big cities will not recover from the trauma and stigma of the virus, but that is only the beginning of their problems. What, exactly, will the suffering poor of the ghettos do, under orders to remain cooped-up until the end of April? These are people who are unlikely to have laid in supplies ahead of time, and a month from now they are sure to be very hungry. How will the big cities be able to manage their infrastructures with municipal bonds massively failing? How will they provide social services when tax revenues are down to a trickle? The answer is, they won’t manage any of this. They grew too big and too complex. Now they have to get smaller, and the process will not be pretty...
Then there is the question of how do we behave? You may not think that matters so much, but we’ve become so profoundly dishonest that it’s impeding our relationship with reality. On top of that we’re surly, impolite, clownish, blustering, greedy, and improvident. Believe me, that is going to change. Hardship is a great attitude-adjuster. When Americans awake from the corona coma like millions of Rip Van Winkles, it will matter again to be upright and to act in good faith. This will be a different country. People Get Ready!, James Howard Kunstler
Another blog post with the same theme. This has not gone mainstream yet but the Alternate News is replete with articles about how the status quo ante is not going to return.
For some time now, a general popular disquiet has been incubating. The question is whether, in the cold post-Covid-19 reality, Americans will begin to cease their acquiescence to – and their co-operation with – the status quo. This might mean trouble as America and some European states try to manage the pandemic through invoking the necessity of a war-time command-governance. Will people accept such a command system, if they see its principal purpose being the return to a failed status quo ante? - Is the U.S. Able to Handle COVID-19? – Global Prospects Hang on This Question, Alastair Crooke