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Saturday, May 27, 2023

Memorial Day, 2023

Locator: 44771ARCH.

If her signature song doesn't "move you," nothing will. Link here. Dame Vera Lynn died at age 103, in the year 2020, the plague-year.

Saturday night, three-day Memorial Day weekend, over-shadowed by the recurring Charlie Brown - Lucy Van Pelt football gag in Washington, DC, this time starring Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy.

Lots of memories. But they don't come to the surface unless I consciously bring them to the surface.

Perhaps over the next forty-eight hours I might post random vignettes for the archives for the great-grandchildren.

A reader sent me a note tonight regarding Memorial Day. My not-ready-for-prime-time reply:

Never planned, just coincidental: I'm reading Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, 1948 -- the invasion of the Philippines in WWII.

It was one of eight books I bought at Powell Bookstore, Portland, earlier this year, and started reading it this past week. Until your note, I had not noted the coincidence of reading it this weekend.

It's a collector's edition, 75th anniversary of the original publication, and includes 23 letters Norman Mailer wrote his family when he was in the Philippines. I won't read those letters until I finish the book.

I'll post my notes on the book on the blog after I complete the book.

Thank you for your kind comments.

I've read three of Tim O'Brien's four books. Tim O'Brien -- a Vietnam vet -- perhaps the best author / soldier that came out of Vietnam -- he had a great story with regard to protests and thoughts of fleeing to Canada to avoid the war -- gave me a completely different perspective. Read his books years ago.  [Hunter S Thompson also came out of the Vietnam War, but not as a soldier.]

Just rambling. Not much to say. I was very fortunate to have had the opportunities I had. I think that's why I'm content with very few material things. In the big scheme of things, at my age, all I need outside of my family are my memories and my books. And the blog.

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WWII Authors

WWII authors that I've read and that come to mind:

  • Ernest Hemingway, of course, but not like the rest; 
    • Martha Gellhorn -- even better
  • J. D. Salinger -- continues to haunt me
  • Joseph Heller -- another remarkable patriot
  • Kurt Vonnegut -- a writer's writer
  • Graham Greene -- perhaps the best? 
    • British; the rest in this list, American; I forget who led him to me; my favorite
  • Norman Mailer -- one book that gives Graham Greene "a run for his money," as they say

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Medical School

A reader sent me a link to an article which brought back this memory:

A patient with multiple myeloma was the very first patient I was ever "assigned" in medical school  -- first year medical student -- Introduction to Clinical Medicine.

My physician / preceptor was a Dr Rhea, I forget her first name but. could find it in my journal if I looked. Wow, she was incredible. And she did not receive a salary from the medical school ... just a "certificate" as a professor.

Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Hollywood.

#1 in California.
#2 in the nation.

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Maternal Grandfather, WWI, And Spanish Flu

Remembrance: for my maternal grandfather who spent much of the war -- WWI -- in a French hospital recovering from the Spanish flu. No pathogen was ever identified and no vaccine was ever developed. In four months:


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The Naked And The Dead
 
Wow, how I love the US and the military. 

I'm not sure there's a better book on "the US and the military in combat" than Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead. More on that later, perhaps. When I saw the "story" below, I immediately thought of Maj General Cummings and the invasion of Anopopei, south Pacific, early days of WWII.

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Ms Harris
 
A three-striper who worked for / with me when I was a colonel and the assistant Surgeon General of Air Combat Command.
 
She became a nurse.
 
I received a "thank-you" letter from her some years later, long after our paths diverged.

Just Saying, The Great Reset -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44770ECON.

"Everyone" has seen this graph. Liz Sonders has posted this graphic several times on twitter with great breathlessness but never any "explanation."

Finally, the graph placed in context. Not so alarming, now, is it?

The great reset.

My favorite charts:


Photo Op Monday? So, We Got Two Big Breaking Stories The Same Day -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44769ECON. 

Debt ceiling.

Tentative agreement announced.

Story and links everywhere.

An early link -- before deal announced.

The great reset.

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Long Covid-19 Studies! Results Are In

Breaking! 

$1 billion in long Covid-19 studies. The results are in!

Taxpayers get their money's worth!

More later. Stories everywhere; links everywhere, including but not limited to:

  • NPR, trusted source for all things Covid: nothing found; study disappointing and provocative:
    • yes, provocative: how can so much money be spent by so many researchers to find so little?
  • STAT, NIH, $1 billion; little to show for all that money spent; no wonder we have a deficit;
  • VOX: nothing.


 

Shale Oil In One Graphic -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44768B.

From July 31, 2015: as noted, at the time of her doodling, Arianna was 12 years old.

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A Note For The Archives

A few weeks ago when we were out in California, I was talking to my brother-in-law about the Bakken. Unbeknownst to me, our 12-year-old granddaughter was taking notes on our conversation, but in a "graphic" way.

She was using the back of a Yahtzee score sheet. Today, when opening up one of the books I had started reading out in California, the drawing fell out. I annotated it to highlight some of the things she noted from our little discussion.

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The Book Page 

What incredibly great writing.

Norman Mailer begins the second chapter of his The Naked and the Dead with this: 

At 0400, a few minutes after the false dawn had lapsed, the naval bombardment of Anopopei began.

The first wave probably felt that the naval bombardment had "come to nothing," as they suffered upwards of 90% of casualties.

Media -- Rambling -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44767MEDIA. 

Part of this is a re-posting

Accuracy and tone in the media.

Link here.

Near the bottom of that short article is an interactive graph. 

To read the graph:

  • the higher on the graph: the more "factual" based on the site's criteria;
  • the farther right on the graph, less biased; farther left, more opinionated.

Example: look where the Atlantic stands.


The Atlantic is fairly "high," suggesting "factual" articles, but look how far to the left it is: very, very opinionated (note: both "Far Right" and "Far Left" offerings can be anywhere on the chart above -- opinionated means "opinionated," and the Far Right does not have a monopoly on that).

A category the survey writers did not address: content. I define content:

  • relevant
  • timely
  • good writing
  • good formatting, to include font, style, presentation, graphics,
  • stable of recognizable and good writers
  • audience the publication targets

By "content" criteria, I find the Atlantic at / near the top of the list of those periodicals that I read on a regular basis.

My top three, print:

  • daily: The WSJ
  • weekly:
  • bi-weekly: The New Yorker (it almost seems like a weekly to me)
  • monthly: the Atlantic

My top three, on-line:

  • daily: the Atlantic news letter (daily; four great links, almost guaranteed)
  • weekly: Barron's, but on-line articles appear daily
  • monthly: N/A
  • accidental/intermittent: Axios

Science

  • I subscribed to this monthly for the first time ever this past year. I will let the subscription lapse; it doesn't add much to justify re-subscribing. 
  • it definitely fails the "content" test."
  • I detest any science publication that suggest man-made global warming is a fact, but still call "evolution" and/or "gravity" a theory

Texas Monthly:

  • hard copy: way, way too many ads
  • font: way, way too small

The New Yorker

  • sometimes, it seems, the only reason I maintain my subscription, to have access to its archives.
  • the editor probably "saved" the magazine by adding a world-class crossword puzzle

Playboy

  • no longer a player, but during my college years -- it would have been #1 in the "content" category. Again, by content:
    • relevant
    • timely
    • good writing
    • good formatting, to include font, style, presentation, graphics,
    • stable of recognizable and good writers
    • the audience the publication targets
  • I am watching an Amazon original on the Hugh Hefner story. I probably watch about 20 minutes of the series every week or so. It will take me forever to get through the series. 
  • I am absolutely convinced a "Hugh Hefner" in 2023 could make this brand the #1 monthly in the US again. 
    • Much would have to be changed, including making it "family friendly." I'm not kidding. I'm very serious here. 
    • The name of the monthly might have to change -- but I would advocate leaving the name alone, but if one had to change the name, simply drop "boy." 

Maybe more on this later. One of my favorite topics. 

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Covid Vaccine

This article is what led me to rambling above. I had wanted to write the above for a long time but never had a reason. With this Atlantic article I had a reason. 

Link here. I assume it's behind a paywall, but I don't know.

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The Atlantic Archives

As an example: the following are just some of the Bakken articles covered by I Atlantic:




Europe’s Economic Engine Is Breaking Down -- Bloomberg -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44766GER.  


Be careful looking at this graphic
:
 

Link here.

Archived.

This article may or may not be behind a paywall. I don't know. 

Issues:
  • most pressing: energy
    • renewable energy has been a debacle, and yet Scholz soldiers on -- making matters worse
  • next: sputtering innovation
    • problem: bureaucratic regulation favors big corporations; not start-ups
    • worse: most obvious -- automobile sector
    • China's BYD overtook VW to become the best-selling car brand in China last year
    • BYD's EV: costs a third of its VW rival; greater range and connectivity with third-party application
  • third problem:
    • banking practices archaic
  • fourth problem:
    • hesitating on digital technology
    • despite infrastructure that had it ranked 51st in the world for fixed-line Internet speeds, it had the fourth-lowest spending among OECD countries relative to the economy’s size. 
  • politics:
    • in disarray
    • Scholz won the chancellery with the lowest level of support in the postwar era as voters ditched the tradition of handing a clear mandate to either the Social Democrats or the Christian Democrat-led conservative bloc.
    • with Scholz’s messy three-way coalition racked with bickering, Germany is poised for instability, and the far-right Alternative for Germany has seized on the political vacuum, vying for second in some polls.
    • comfortable pensioners pitted against struggling younger generation
  • population
    • and worse: Germany's population shrinking AND getting older

China Oil Demand Hitting All-Time Records -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44768OIL.   

China. Link here.

  • oil demand:  
    • 16.06 million b/d in April; all-time high;
    • had just broken through the 15 million b/d mark one month earlier, an all-time high at that time
    • April oil demand up 5% from March
    • April oil demand up 26.1% y/y (April)
  • fuel oil:
    • a 10-year high of 592,000 b/d in April
  • naphtha: 
    • surged to a record high of 357,000 b/d
  • note: 
    • some of these records are one-offs
    • much of this is due to cheap Russian oil

Race -- University Admissions; Corporate Board Diversity Mandates -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44767LAW.   

SCOTUS: this summer the court  will rule on university admissions policies which allow committees to consider race. Links everywhere. Here's one.

California: court rules corporate board diversity mandates are unconstitutional. Link here.

Charts -- A Most Remarkable Week -- May 27, 2023

Locator: 44766INV.  
Locator: 44766AAPL.  

Emperor with no clothes. Link here.

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Ouch: Nvidia short sellers lose $2.3 billion in one day. Link here.

“Our expectations for NVDA’s future revenues are lifting substantially,” Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson wrote in a note upgrading Nvidia to outperform from neutral. He pushed his price target to $490, implying an additional roughly 29% in upside for shares from Wednesday’s close.

Someone else noticed the same thing, link here.


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Apple Headset

Didn't expect to see this. Link here.


 Elsewhere:

Again, Apple needs to minimize hyping this headset:

  • will get off to a very, very slow start
  • targeting developers, not retail consumers/users
  • expensive: $3,000
  • cost: $1,500