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eseum

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Everything posted by eseum

  1. eseum
    "As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal."' "We now practically read it 'all men are created equal except Negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.'" - Abraham Lincoln in 1855, at a time when the Know-Nothings were increasing their political power in the Northeastern U.S. Their major appeal was limiting who might be able to immigrate, and their major political attacks were against the Irish among others..
  2. eseum
    The U.S. didn't reduce tariffs on masks and other medical supplies, from China, useful in combating the virus until March 5th. The U.S. seems to be falling all over itself in response to this problem. Hopefully we can get it together before things really go south. We don't go out much except for exercise. We have enough of everything important to last at least a month. I spend most of my time on the computer doing family research for a family genealogy. I also try to read for several hours every day. Thankfully, I purchased several hundreds of dollars worth of books from the bookstore before it shuttered due to the virus. I can recommend "The Martian" by Andy Weir. It is one of the best scientifically based scifi books I have read in a while. It is the basis for the movie. which I have not seen yet. For history, I am currently reading "The Immortal Irishman" by Timothy Egan. It chronicles the life Thomas Meagher and is quite an eye opener for English, Irish and American history. For those with a love of the strange, try "Killing Commendatorie" by Haruki Murakami, my favorite author of the weird, strange and yet somehow of the very human.
  3. eseum
    Unfortunately this country still has a problem with "otherness" that was, until recently, kept mostly under wraps. For many reasons it has become less onerous for certain people to express their racist and anti immigrant views. This has been the case since the country was founded and becomes quite noticeable during certain periods of our history. It has ranged from people being against any immigrants, regardless of their origin, to times when they targeted specific groups of immigrants. I believe that the number of these types of people are becoming less as time passes. That may be just my hope, but over the 67 years I have been living, it seems that way. Unfortunately, it will never dwindle to zero, but hopefully they will become a completely marginalized group that can't do any harm.
  4. eseum
    My wife and I go to a linear park every morning, weather permitting, and do a 5K round trip walk. The park follows a desert wash and is only 200 - 300 feet wide in most places. However, the amount of wildlife that inhabits the park is amazing. You can see a lot of different birds, including quail and hummingbirds, rabbits, ground squirrels, etc. This morning there were several ducks and some geese doing flyovers on their way to some nearby man made lakes. In addition to the morning walk, I run four days a week as well. My wife's daughter keeps telling her that we shouldn't be out walking. We're out the door by 6 a.m. so there are very few people around.
  5. eseum
    The governor here in NV has required nonessential businesses to shut down for 30 days. That includes casinos, which means my idea of just walking over to the neighborhood casino and taking a s...t, if we run out of toilet paper is no longer feasible. My wife, of course, brought that to my attention. I told her that if we ran out of tp she could always use the Chinese newspapers she brings home from Chinatown. She was appalled at that suggestion. I informed her that newspapers and pages of catalogs, like Sears and Montgomery Ward, were used not that long ago in lieu of tp. I also pointed out that it wasn't that long ago when there weren't that many homes that had indoor plumbing that included toilets. I remember my grandfather's house on the outskirts of Columbus, OH had a pump handle for water in the house, and an outhouse outside to do your business in. That was in the late 1950's. I told her she should expect getting toilet paper for her birthday and Christmas presents going forward.
  6. eseum
    I've been amazed that there hasn't been an explosion of virus cases here in Las Vegas. Hasn't kept my wife from worrying though. She's been going on about buying more food and other items, and complaining about stores being out of, you guessed it, toilet paper. We have no more room in our freezer, and we probably have at least a month of dried staples. I keep telling her that she only needs to start worrying if I tell her its time to do so. Hasn't helped. I, of course, found toilet paper and bought 24 double rolls. When I got it out of the car she asked why I didn't buy more. Made me pretty mad, so I told her if it looked like we might run out I would just go over to the local casino to take my sh....s. The extra toilet paper is now taking up room in a spare bedroom, because we still have a lot in the linen closet. I read this morning where Italy has locked down the entire country. Hope they have enough toilet paper!
  7. eseum
    Should make the casinos here in Las Vegas that have seafood buffets happy. They can get lobster at a cheaper price and still charge the same price for their buffet
  8. eseum
    You are right, the problem starts with getting the flu, leads to pneumonia, and can end in death. A friend of mine, who was in his 50's and otherwise in good health, caught the flu. He transitioned to pneumonia and was dead within a week of catching the flu. There are deaths directly from the flu, mainly the very young and old, as well.
  9. eseum
    So while the coronavirus is getting all the attention, the flu goes unnoticed. The following report is a little dated. There were 442 deaths from the flu in Virginia: https://patch.com/virginia/leesburg/flu-cases-spike-442-va-deaths-reported-2019-20-season "Nationally, according to the CDC's influenza report for the week ending Jan. 18, the percentage of virus specimens testing positive for influenza increased from 23.3 percent for the week ending Jan. 11 to 25.6 percent this week. The CDC estimates that, so far this season, there have been at least 15 million illnesses, 140,000 hospitalizations and 6,600 deaths from the flu. For comparison, the CDC reported a total of 13 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 6,600 deaths in its weekly report ending Jan. 11."
  10. eseum
    I currently drive a toyota prius. It's a nice car and gets great gas mileage, with low maintenance cost. Will probably end up being the next car I get as well.
  11. eseum
    As of 2/8 the total number of deaths from the corona virus was placed at 811, which is more than those killed by SARS (774). However, the number of people contracting the corona virus (37,198) is more than 4 times those that contracted SARS (8,098).
  12. eseum
    So I started reading In The Garden Of Beasts, by Erik Larson. It's about Germany in 1933, and the American ambassador and his family. Interestingly I didn't get that far into the book when he mentions the "notorious LPC clause" in the Immigration Act of 1917. It was reinstated by Hoover in 1930 to discourage immigration due to the Depression. Public charge was also used to limit those considered to be of low type (read blatant discrimination) at the time, i.e.Jews, Russians, etc. It turned out to be particularly onerous for those of Jewish decent once Hitler came to power. It was argued that having Jews get police affidavits swearing to their good character from the Nazis could (did) put them in danger. In addition, since many Jews were not allowed to work, or had their assets seized, it was hard for them to show they wouldn't fail the public charge requirement. It had a direct impact on the number of Jews that could leave Germany for America.
  13. eseum
    So I finished getting through the Three Body Problem Trilogy by Liu Cixin (translated by Ken Liu). It was okay. Of the 3 books I liked the last one "Death's End" the best, although I didn't.really get into any of them. For some reason I just didn't identify with, or feel interested in any of the characters. Also there seemed to be a plausibility issue for me with some of the portrayal of humanity as a whole.
  14. eseum
    Flu shots are only considered to be 50% effective in preventing you getting the flu. Each year the shot may be different for the strain of flu that it will prevent. The experts try to predict what version of the flu will be prevalent in an upcoming year and that is what they vaccinate for. They may or may not make the right prediction. Older people and the young are more likely to end up dying from the flu so they are targeted for shots. I am 67 years old but do not get the shot since it is only 50% effective. Also, I have not had any version of the flu since I was 6 years old. Don't know if I am just lucky or may have developed immunity. It certainly hasn't been because I haven't been around people with the flu though. As an aside, Netflix has a documentary on right now called "Pandemic." It is pretty interesting.
  15. eseum
    Of course there was also a tweet out this morning form Trump stating, once again, that the U.S. and China are very close to signing a "big trade deal." Yawn!
  16. eseum
    There was an article out the other day where the U.S. Military was soliciting proposals for rare earth production. Seems they are looking to partner with processing costs. Seems they finally got the message. Unfortunately DOD doesn't have that good of a track record when it comes to ennvironmental protection.
  17. eseum
    I think both sides got what little they could out of it and the honeymoon is over!
  18. eseum
    Read an article yesterday, that I can't put my hands on, that said China was going to do away with it's tariffs on U.S. pork and soy beans. There would be no other reductions in tariffs other than those two. That would help alleviate their pork problem in the short term. A year ago a Chinese company bought Smithfield Foods which is America's largest pork producer. It would also be interesting to see how much Chinese investment is taking place in American farmland with the current high rate of bankruptcy for farms here.
  19. eseum
    From TheHill: China wants removal of US tariffs in first phase of trade deal: report https://thehill.com/policy/international/china/472528-china-eyes-removal-of-us-tariffs-in-first-phase-of-trade-deal Nothing will happen this year if this is for real.
  20. eseum
    The deal is just putting lipstick on a pig and saying it's beautiful. From what I have read China would buy 20 billion the first year of the trade agreement. Some accounts say that they will then up purchases the second year, but it won't be above any historical level. So looking at more like 50 billion over two years. Of course they might want to increase their import of pork, which will raise the price for us. Americans eat to much red meat anyways
  21. eseum
    Watched Wandering Earth on Netflix the other day. It was okay. I have three of Liu Cixin's novels that I will be reading when I get around to them. They make up a trilogy starting with the "Three Body Problem." Part of a 20 book queue for my reading pleasure. What can I say, Barnes & Noble had a sale.
  22. eseum
    So the President says his stance on China with trade is helping to keep a lid on Beijing and the amount of pressure they apply to Hong Kong: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/459502-trump-says-trade-talks-with-china-have-helped-limit-violence-in-hong Call me a doubting Thomas.
  23. eseum
    Hey, don't dis Dayton, it's a nice Midwest town. Sure it's quiet and a little quaint but it's never claimed to be a big city, or wanted to be one. Okay, so I admit I grew up in Ohio. I visited Dayton a few times and enjoyed it. They once laid claim to the fastest half marathon. I participated in it one year. Some of the worst weather I ever ran in. Rain and high winds so bad it made the rain feel like needles when it hit. The Welshman, Steve Jones was there and won the race with a pretty good time despite the weather. He looked like a machine out there. I thought it was interesting toward the end of the movie when the chairman was reminiscing about his early life compared to now. I could only shake my head when he said that he lived to work. He didn't really seem to be a happy man. I have only ever worked to live and so that I could enjoy living, especially in retirement.
  24. eseum
    Watched the documentary "American Factory" on Netflix last night. It's about a Chinese company opening a glass factory in an abandoned GM plant. It happened in Dayton, Ohio where Fuyao opened an auto glass factory. There are some interesting moments. It is hard to believe that people allowed themselves being filmed saying some of the things they did. There are the obvious conflicts between cultures and work styles. The last point made in the film concerns the loss of jobs to machines. That is of obvious importance to workers every where. The film has connections with the Obama's and I did not watch the 10 minute interview with them that is also on Netflix. I think it makes some pretty important points and does not seem to be overtly political. Most reviews are positive, but there are some stating that this was a complete left leaning political statement. I didn't get that, but then again, I always saw Obama as more of a centrist than a left winger.
  25. eseum
    I am almost half way through "The SOUL of AMERICA: The BATTLE For OUR BETTER ANGELS" by Jon Meachum. It is supposed to help us understand the present political climate by looking at other critical times in our history. Of course Meachum is considered to be a great historian/historical writer and is the winner of a Pulitzer Prize. I have always considered myself a student of history, but I have found several things that I was unaware of in this book. One of those was the failed "Wall Street Putsch" where some Rich Wallstreeters tried to enact a plot to prevent FDR from becoming president. They actually tried to enlist a retired Marine major general to raise an army and march on Washington to take the capitol. Of all the different histories of that time period, that I have read, this was the first time I ran across it. I was hoping that by reading this book I would feel a little better about current circumstances in the U.S. It's not helping. Just have to wait it out and hope "our better angels" win out soon. It is an interesting read though for anyone looking for a good book to read.
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