The Curmudgeon Speaks

The 2020 pandemic is often compared to the global pandemic of 1918. Trump claimed the 1918 pandemic ended World War II, but he obviously has a seriously limited grasp of history. I read somewhere that the 1918 pandemic was made more difficult to address because some citizens refused to wear masks. I know little of history, but I found this resistance interesting in the same way the present resistance seems illogical. Searching online resources is my remedy in such cases and I found a source focused on this issue.

Because the 1918 pandemic was complicated because of a world war which would seem to create a much more complicated situation, the frustration with folks who refused to wear masks was more intense. Those opposed to wearing masks were labeled “slackers” for not being willing to support the war effort. The danger to those in military service and the production of good relevant to the war effort was obvious. The label should now be applied to those actively resisting mask use and complaining about schools not opening. A special kind of self centered.

Phil Collins is supposedly trending everywhere. The reason seems to be the result of a post from Twins the new Trend. The two teenagers have a YouTube channel they use to share their experience with all kinds of music as a way to bring people together. By chance, they played “In the air tonight” by Phil Collins. They went crazy and so did those who watched their reaction. This reaction video became so popular it bumped interest in Phil Collins.

For those of you who are not Phil Collins fans I provide the following video. Collins was a member of Genisis and an extremely popular solo artist. My family have all long been fans. This video is a good way to experience the surprises in this old song especially the part late in the song when Collins displays his drum skills. Rolling Stone ranks Collins at 43 on their list of rock drummers and the drum fill in In the Air Tonight as the greatest of the decade. It will take a while in this live performance to get to Collins on the drums, but the wait is worth it.

The pandemic has encouraged folks who can’t move about much to find other ways to amuse themselves. My new vice is Cuban Coffee and it has caught on with others in my family.

I have a fancy espresso/latte machine, but my new approach involves simple equipment and inexpensive coffee. The Moka pot is on the right. The pot on the left is a way to make a latte, but I just use the bottom part which heats and froths milk. Cuban coffee is made with a coffee ground to a size similar to espresso. The Cafe Bustelo is a common coffee used in preparing Cuban Coffee. I purchase many kinds of coffee to support my habit. For some reason, Cafe Bustelo is very reasonably priced.

Cuban coffee is similar to espresso but it is combined with a thick sugar paste. The first small amount of coffee generated by the pot is added to sugar and mixed vigorously to produce a paste that when combined with the coffee produces a froth that tops the coffee.

This coffee and paste is combined to produce Cuban Coffee. Adding frothed milk produces a Cuban coffee con leche.

The Pew Research Center just offered an interesting study considering how individuals get their news and what they have learned. Of particular interest were those who relied primarily on social media.

In general, those who rely on social media and local television for news are the least knowledgeable. Younger individuals (18-29) are the group that most heavily relies on social media and older individuals (but not the oldest) are most likely to rely on local television.

The researchers asked nearly 30 questions to estimate knowledge, but did differentiate a set of 9 questions focused on political issues. Respondents were grouped by the number of questions answered correctly with those who relied on social media were most likely to end up in the lowest knowledge group (<5 questions).

The researchers also asked about knowledge of several conspiracy theories. In this case, the social media-focused were most likely to be aware of the conspiracy theories. This study did not evaluate whether the participants believed the conspiracy theories.

A Minneapolis photographer generated a pandemic project photographing families posed on the front steps of their homes. I have no idea what the original plan was, but the photographer has now published his collection as a photo book. The Kickstarter description is available here.

I have no connection with the project except our daughter’s family was selected for the cover photo.

So, if schools must open, the data reported [NYTimes article] here would argue you use school space to accommodate elementary students and bring back middle and high school students in small groups periodically expecting them to learn more remotely using online techniques.

The data come from a study in South Korea indicating that kids 10 and under are far less likely to transmit COVID than adults, but children over 10 approach the transmission rate among adults. This difference conveniently matches differences in independence and the social need for adult oversight. Adequate social distancing is not possible in many schools so it would be possible to take advantage of this age difference to use existing space more effectively.

As the researchers tend to say, more research is necessary. While the researchers do say this, educators, parents, and politicians are running out of time to make decisions so these data may help those seeking guidance.

The White House has offered very little when it comes to setting standards for dealing with the pandemic. This lack of an immediate response and failure to strongly push guidelines have resulted in the terrible situation we now experience. There seems one recent exception to this lack of taking a strong position and that concerns the recent pronouncement that schools will be open for face to face instruction in the Fall.

There are multiple issues about opening schools that trouble me. I am concerned that the resources needed to deliver quality instructions are not being made available. Schools have been cutting back at a time when more personnel (teachers, mental health workers, school nurses, maintenance workers, technology support personnel) are needed. Government expectations influence community expectations and at a minimum should come with the resources necessary for implementation.

The pronouncement from Trump, DeVoss that schools must open bothers me in two other important ways. First, there are the threats that financial pressure will be brought to bear to assure local and state compliance. Aside from this lack of ethics in this tactic, it is difficult to argue that you value the importance of education if your remedy when education experts disagree with you is to take actions that reduce educational effectiveness. My second annoyance is that to address the incompatibility between the pressure to open schools and the guidelines of the CDC, the WH is now pressuring the CDC to change their guidelines. This expectation has resulted in the CDC claiming that their recommendations are based in science and they will not change. Now what – do those with political power trump (haha) those with scientific expertise.

Why some in the public would accept that expectations based on the best science can simply be changed is troubling. This is not the way science works. However, the resistance it expertise has been part of the Trump approach from the beginning. The reasons this is accepted by some is an important issue and the notion that any idea advanced has equal value is a troubling development in public thinking.

I am a big fan of Andrew Zimmern and his recent series on Feeding America. For those averse to political positions, you might want to stay away. In this video. Zimmern highlights the legal and illegal immigrants harvesting and preparing our food.

Like so many, the pandemic has kept us close to home and involved in home-related activities. Cindy and I are gardening. I do the veggies and Cindy raises flowers. Cindy’s efforts have resulted in a very colorful deck. For a while, we visited multiple greenhouses making certain that they would not be negatively impacted by the economic downturn. I can’t get a good shot of our entire deck, but this photo should give you the general idea.

Our yard has eleven raised beds. I garden every year. This year I started my own plants indoors. I started looking for stay at home projects early. The beds looked great with the exception of the peppers which just sat there until the last week or so. The zucchini and squash plants were big and beautiful, but didn’t seem to be setting fruit (or whatever you call baby squash). Do you know there are male and female flowers on these plants and under certain conditions you take a paintbrush and help nature along? I tried, but couldn’t find a receptive female. I also read that earlier in the season there are many more male flowers and you have to be patient waiting for the plant to even things up. Patience is a virtue, but when the garden and MSNBC are the total of your entertainment you make several trips a day to check on the viny plants to see if the females have started to show up.

I had high hopes for my tomatoes. Some years I have more tomatoes than we and our kids can eat. We make hot sauce to use up the extras. Some years the plants look great, but are mostly beautiful leaves and few fruits (I do know that the tomato is a fruit). Too much nitrogen. I fertilize to try to be helpful and being helpful is not always a good idea. Plants are used to taking care of themselves.

For the last couple of years, the tomatoes start off great, start to set fruit, and then the leaves dry up. This is wilt. It has started again. I search online to see what can be done. You can mulch to try to even out the moisture level. However, in investigating various wilts I discover something called Walnut Wilt. We have a huge black walnut in our backyard and it is a truly magnificent specimen. According to my research, black walnut trees (roots, leaves, walnuts) produce a substance called juglone which basically clears the area of competing plants to reduce competition for the tree. Tomatoes and peppers are particularly susceptible. The danger area is three times the width of the branches which is pretty much my entire yard. To make matters worse, I rake leaves in the fall, put them on top of my raised beds, and then cover with some branches to keep the leaves in place. In the Spring, I dig the rotted leaves into the beds. This ends up being pretty much the worst thing you can do if you want to raise tomatoes in that area. Sometimes, the harder you try the worse you make things.

When the tomato crops begin to mature you usually can purchase them at a farmer’s market cheaper than you can grow them. Still, growing your own is the fun part.

Fox claimed the Tulsa Trump speech generated a HUGE audience. Republicans seem really hard up for something to ponder. I don’t do Fox so I only caught bits and pieces. Evidently mail ballots for old people leads to voter fraud and slowing down testing reduces the spread of the virus. There also seemed to be a lot of off-topic content. There was a long explanation of the physics of steep ramps, rubber and leather soled shoes, and the inertia of over weight people once set in motion. I should of had my notebook handy. That demo of one-handed water chugging was also impressive. I assume the attendees were capable of the feat, but it was thoughtful to throw it in. I used to add similar life skill demos to kind of break things up during my lectures. I didn’t think the drinking water demo was necessary, but I did explain how to remove that pesky plastic wrapper from textbooks.