THE OLD TABLE

We had a simple dinner this evening. We sat around the “kitchen table” that has been in constant use since we have been together, nearly 20 years, and before that by my family since 1940.

From 1940 until the 1980’s, it was where the meals were served on the farm, at least three per day (it was the custom to have “lunch,” the fourth meal, at 4:00 in the afternoon since it was late by the time the milking was done at night). There weren’t many celebratory meals, that was not the way things were done. Mostly, just hearty food, ordinary meals.

It is beginning to show its age, nearly 80 now. The top has a bit of a crack, it has been refinished multiple times, the last when Linda stripped several coats of paint and refinished it when we were in San Carlos. A ceiling lamp fixture fell on it and left a divot. The chairs are needing repair. There is a metaphor there, probably, as I approach my mid 70’s.

Do people retain, repair, reuse the objects of daily life today? I’m not familiar with others, but not many drive a nearly 20-year-old car, either. We read about the government employees that were not paid and suffered during the recent shut down, and I wondered why none of them had enough ready cash savings to withstand a financial setback.

The average Federal worker makes $84,000 per year. Many, I assume, are two-paycheck families, as is the way Americans operate today. But no food? Not able to pay for daily living for a few weeks?

Wonder how many of them have ancient tables and old cars?

That is a real “old fuddy-duddy” thing to wonder about, isn’t it?

ROGER'S GONE

Loss of a friend

It might be stretching it to call Roger a friend. Does it qualify if I haven’t seen him for 50+ years? I’m going to persist in that conceit, though.

Roger and his brother lived on the farm that was directly west. “Louie’s place.” He was two years younger than me, we were pals and then they moved away and I didn’t renew the acquaintance until high school.

He was a freshman, I was a junior, he played defensive end and I was the corner linebacker. The opposition found out early that if they swept that end, they could send three blockers at me…seems Roger, a skinny freshman just flat-ass disappeared! He became an excellent athlete, but that was not his shining hour and I got the tar beat out of me that season.

Move to next season. I was a senior, it was the first date with the girl who became my spouse for nearly 25 years. It had rained for days, the field was sloppy and it was raining hard the whole game. We were ahead by a touchdown, the Silver Creek QB went back to pass on the other side from me, and when he threw it, it kind of squirted up in the air and I intercepted at the 2 yard line. My coach nearly had a stroke as I ran past the bench. I guess my eyes were the size of saucers and I was running as if the demons were after me.

Well, I collapsed in exhaustion in the end zone, it would have been the longest interception return in Nebraska that year, but Roger in his enthusiasm pushed a kid from the back. They said it was 10 yards behind me. I couldn’t see. Hell, at this point, I can tell the story any way I want…nobody remembers and the ones that would remember are either senile or dead.

I remember my future wife when I came out of the locker room and we went to Columbus for a burger. Wet, wet wool sweater (cheerleader stuff) and hair plastered down. I was no prize.

Roger died in October 2016, his wife was kind enough to email me. I had found an address and sent a letter. He was a character, I regret that we never had contact for all those years. Going to his house to listen to the 45-rpm Claude King recording of Wolverton Mountain at highest volume…over and over.

Riding around in the 1938 Ford he got when his grandmother passed. It was ok, except that the front seat, a bench, was not attached. When he accelerated, we flipped back. He kept hold of the steering wheel, brought us back and his foot hit the accelerator and we went back. Laughing and laughing. At the Rodeo Grounds.

I often marvel that I reached maturity the things we did with dangerous stuff.

Well, he’s gone. No more swapping stories. Maybe later.

NUDIST RESTAURANT...AND WALLS

Nudist Restaurant…and walls.

“We will remember only the good moments.”

The Daily Skimm reports that the only nudist restaurant in Paris is closing because who wants to eat in a restaurant full of naked people. The answer: apparently no one.

NOTE TO SELF: ask that question ahead of time?

On a far distant note: Senators Schumer and Pelosi (also Clinton) voted in favor of the 2006 Secure Fence Act. $50 Billion. It passed 80-19 and President Bush signed it. Later amended to remove parts of the second fence, apparently the money was squandered spent.

The obvious question for any American is how people can be so untruthful and disingenuous? But another question—one of the “truth” websites rates this “half true.” Why? Because the bill was passed in a pressure environment where it was the lesser of two evils. Like today isn’t a bit pressured?

Does that fit Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s (AOC) “morally right” agenda? Sorry, girl, what you may consider morally right (stoning someone? Killing anyone who doesn’t believe in the Koran?) isn’t a good guide, especially since that has changed and been debated over and over for centuries by every culture.

Slavery was considered not only an economic necessity but morally right a while back. There were 380,000 Africans captured and imported to the US. There were 4 million sent to Brazil. Of course, the sugar plantations needed lots of them since about 10% died every year due to the heat and the work.

AOC apparently learned very little during her education.

DAVID EINHORN

DAVID EINHORN

The billionaire had a bad year, down 34% in 2018.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/hedge-fund-all-star-david-einhorn-posts-his-worst-year-ever-losing-34percent-in-2018/ar-BBRI1l8?ocid=spartandhp

He hasn’t done well in the last several years, as it turns out, and the article doesn’t delve into the “asymmetry of numbers” issue that becomes very important when you have large losses. An example—when you lose 34%, you have to make 50% to get back to even.

One of the measures of a good money manager is how they perform in down markets as that performance defines the long term.

Note that Einhorn recently became a critic of Tesla, “…comparing the electric car maker to his famous call on Lehman Brothers.” Must have been reading my blog from a few years ago?

A/N: I was first disgusted with the Tesla phenomenon (aka, begging at the government trough) in 2013 or 2014, and first wrote about it here in 2017. Then, the stock was in the upper $300’s and market cap an astounding $60 billion. Today, it is down 8% as they missed their delivery targets, and market cap is about $57 billion.

If you go back and read old blog posts on the subject, it seems that Elon Musk has received $176 billion in subsidies for the wind power business. Couple that with the electric car fraud, and we may be comparing him to some of the most prominent and damaging shysters in the history of the US.

David Einhorn was heralded as a genius. That star has been tarnished. I’m predicting the same for Musk.

IMMIGRATION

My friend from college, James Angus, is retired from service with the Justice Department. He writes well, and this is something that I think he wrote especially well:

NATURALIZATION CEREMONY

When I recite the pledge of allegiance I do it barely above a whisper because I find comfort in hearing the person next to me, as well as inspiration from the choral voice of all declarers. And so it was on December 6 as I stood in a packed auditorium at the University of Delaware led by Federal District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika. Joining me were two hundred and twenty new citizens of the United States, from fifty six countries and double that number of family and well-wishers. As each country of origin was announced alphabetically, their citizens stood in recognition one last time before renouncing and abjuring all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty. It merits mention that each also swore to support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, bear arms on behalf of the United States, perform non-combatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States and perform work of national importance under civil direction when required by law. This strikes a familiar note for those of us who were eligible for being drafted into the Armed Services once upon a time.

The League of Women Voters was in prominent attendance, eager to register new citizens for eligibility to participate in American democracy. I inwardly smiled at the misguided opinions of “media talking heads” that insult us with every newscast of how these new citizens I walked among were Democrats all. Indeed not! Most wore the cloth of working folks, many with hands to prove it. All had followed a process, albeit a long, grueling and expensive one that had taken years and many interactions with the Department of Homeland Security to complete. But here they were, at last, with spouses and children, mortgages and debt, medical histories, jobs, cars and other assets and, of course, tax liabilities: the whole kit and caboodle of challenges to daily living in America. As Senators Coons and Carper and Representative Rochester know well, some of these people will be asking for their help via the aortic vein of reelection: constituent services

.

Which brings me to my immigration problem. I hope you share my shame at living in a country where one party exploits a child’s death while in the custody of Customs and Border Protection and another party exploits a citizen’s death at the hands of a felon who has entered the country without inspection. Death is a personal tragedy and it demands the decency of private healing. In contrast, advertisers thrill in death and the lucre of public visibility.

There is no one solution to those seeking entry into the United States, whether by an illegal crossing or as a tourist with no intention of leaving. Give Trump money for his wall. Give Schumer and Pelosi as many border patrol agents and hi-tech security as they want. To say “that does not solve the problem” does not solve the problem. Give each what they want not because they will work or be effective but simply because they will allow us to move to a nobler plateau of civic debate from which we can get about the business of doing what America does best: solve the problem. 

And from what I witnessed on December 6, with literally 700 citizens and non-citizens alike rising in unison to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, making the naturalization process more expedient and public could at no cost bend America’s spirit to bipartisanship for this singular issue.

Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel said:

"I don't care what you think of me. I don't think of you at all."

I needed to ponder on that one for a while. Wait for me.

THE WINTER FORTRESS

THE WINTER FORTRESS, Neal Bascomb

When I finish a good book, there is a period of euphoria, of revelation and heightened understanding. This was a good book. About the obstruction/destruction and prevention of the heavy water program at Norsk Hydro, Vemork, Norway, that, had it not been successful could have led to the development of the atomic bomb by the Nazis.

I remember watching the movie a long time ago. It was not very good, and in fact it was just not truthful. The story of the Norwegian heroes is complex and, therefore, regrettably, not fit for Hollywood. The sacrifices and deaths of the heroes is the stuff of ballads and legends, but they were ordinary men tasked to perform extraordinary duties.

Son, Matt, has projected the characteristics upon modern inhabitants of Northern Minnesota and North Dakota, and I agree. These are, today, stoical people who perform at a high level without fanfare. Who face a harsh climate without hesitation. Plus the “slings and arrows” of any life that has, as its inevitable conclusion, death.

Back to the story: Norsk Hydro was in the business of producing electricity, and byproducts that were essential to Norwegian agriculture (fertilizer) and industry. Why the industrialists at the company determined that the production of “heavy water” (more later) was a good thing to do is never really explained, but at that time in the world of science and industry, there was an overlap.

An example:  In the 1984 book, “Three Degrees above Zero” the author, Jeremy Bernstein, describes the activities at Bell Labs. When I read it many years ago, the thought struck me that this could never happen in today’s world. That was in the 1990’s, and it is true today—there could never be significant money spent on “pure research.” We all know the money spent on frivolous research (i.e. the sex life of a Central American fruit fly) but get this—a few of the guys sitting around just thinking (this was the 1920’s) decided that they should travel from their cushy little spot in New Jersey with Bell Labs and go to Columbia University to find about this new theory, quantum mechanics, and off they went. That bunch ended up inventing the transistor.

I maintain that there is no place on earth where this kind of pure research could be tolerated today.

Back to the Norwegians. The arrogance of the Germans was immense, and it was not taken kindly by the descendants of the Vikings. Even today, a “Quisling” is a synonym for “traitor” and the person for whom this is named, Vidkun Quisling who was the Nazi sympathizer AND head of the puppet Norwegian government.

The stage is set. It is 1941, Norway has been overrun by the Nazis, and the only plant in the world that is effective in producing heavy water is located in Norway.

Heavy water is an isotope that has special characteristics in the absorption and control of nuclear fission. It is essential in the development of (at that time) the atomic bomb. Why did that company, in a remote place (Norway) decide that they should produce deuterium oxide (heavy water) when there was at that time no industrial use for it? Basically, I guess, because they could?

The book describes the immense personal effort expended to prevent the production of heavy water for the Nazi program that would have produced an atomic bomb. After all, they had the scientists to do it, except they either killed them or sent them elsewhere since they were Jews.

Many years ago, my then brother-in-law, Rick, knew that I was unable to quit reading a book. When presented with a book that was worthwhile, I would continue to slog through, read away, until done. So for Christmas (probably 1991?) he drew my name and presented me with the book, The Making of the Atomic Bomb. It seemed like it was ten thousand pages, but actually more like a thousand. There were so many parts that were beyond my comprehension. But I retained some things:

·         The brains that invented the bomb were Jews

·         Oddly, a lot of them were born in a small part of Hungary

·         General Groves was impossible, but effective

·         Again, this could never happen today

One of the paragraphs of the book begins, “It was December 23…[1942]” and I was reading it on December 23, 2018. Seventy-six years later, to the day. Amazing the changes that have happened in that time, close to the span of my life.

The scourge that caused these patriots to endure hardships, to have the weight of innocent lives on their conscience, has passed. It still exists in many parts of the world, but we are thankfully insulated from knowing about the atrocities in Africa and the Mid East. Simply hiding out in the blizzards that seemed to be a weekly occurrence on the Vidda (Hardangervidda, the inhospitable plateau that is near the Vemork hydro plant) was enough of a challenge, then planning, executing and evading the Germans was a bonus.

Recommend for all. Good read. If not for this and many others, we would be speaking German and Japanese and have an entirely different outlook.