Notes From All Over -- The Texas Snowstorm Edition -- January 10, 2021

Weather: they say it's snowing in Denton, TX (just north of us); Dallas (just to the southeast of us); and I look out my window and I see no snow. I guess if I look really, really hard I can see some very light drizzle that might be slightly white, but to call it snow is a stretch. It's 34°. LOL. I don't have the heat on in my little hovel and I'm lovin' it.

First things first: US automakers face huge "chip" shortage. Link at The WSJ. This is a huge, huge story. A reminder: Apple is now making its own chips.

"All clear!" For things to get back to "normal," we need to hear those two words from Joe Biden with regard to the pandemic. It is now clear to me that we won't hear those two words in 2021. 

Things may get worse or they may get significantly better, but whether one one wants to call it gaslighting, fake news, reality, the absolute truth, the tea leaves suggest we will not hear the "all clear" this calendar year. 

202One Summer Olympics: not gonna happen.

• recent Japanese poll: more than 80% of the Japanese say cancel or postpone; it was 60% in same survey on December 6; blogger won't allow link to source;
• Japan declares a state of emergency; Japan: 202One Olympics either go on as scheduled or canceled outright; no delay; no postponement; it's binary -- it either goes off on schedule or not at all; torches are starting to be removed across the country; this is not rocket science; MarketWatch;
  

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Flashback

May 4, 1970.

Kent State.

From wiki:

Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others. Students Allison Beth Krause, 19, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20, Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20, and William Knox Schroeder, 19, were killed and nine others were injured, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. 

All died at the scene except Schroeder, who was pronounced dead at Robinson Memorial Hospital in nearby Ravenna shortly afterward.