October 10, 2022 through October 21, 2022
Post for Friday, October 21, 2022
Number: 1572
Galadriel on the Move
The following commentary was completed on Monday at 5.00pm.
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Pictures and Commentary
I love airports and travel and I got to my Departure Terminal @ 7.30am, 6 hours before departure.
I was so excited to be there that those hours were the fastest 6 hours of my life. They sped by so quicky that I was almost late for the boarding.
Almost.
What the airport looked like when I arrived at 7.30am on Sunday, the 16th.
Traveling business class on Japan Airlines is great.
The food is terrific. I opt for the Japanese dinner and am given eight different small plates presented in a bento box.
The wines the list offered are legitimate, including a glass of le vrai Champagne. More if you want. One was fine for me. It was a generous pour. I also enjoyed a glass of Pinot Noir from Northern Germany.
We Americans eat more than the Japanese do and when I finish the meal I am still hungry.
I ask if I could have another.
Of course.
Another ‘bento box’ is served, also with eight morsels, each different from the first eight. Style.
Business class is great if you have to pee frequently.
Which, especially in cold, climate-controlled temperatures I do.
A lot. Maybe during the flight seven trips to the gabinetto as Italians call it. (We grew up calling it la bacausa, but I don’t think that’s even recognized as a word among the literati or their wannabees.)
Especially if you’re butting up against another person as in random seating situations, the yo-yo effect is annoying to neighbors and demeaning to self.
Oh, well. So, anyway, that’s a huge advantage of business class. One or the other dedicated business class bacausas is pretty much always available. No stress.
The seats in business class are really armchairs which you can seriously recline with ample legroom provided to fully stretch. It’s also a pretty nice sleeping experience.
One might consider calling each chair a mini-cabin because the design of the chairs and small tables that come appended to each chair provides a privacy level for a common carrier that is awesome.
I hope I remember to take a picture of the seats.
Despite the advantages of flying business class, the thirteen-hour flight to Tokyo is still a legitimate thirteen hours without parole. It takes thirteen hours, every second of.
And, for the distinct majority of the flight, the cabin is dark, so fellow inmates cannot provide each other with distractions.
And here’s the real bummer. I depended on wi fi to get a bunch of work done, forgetting that airplane wi fi is by nature either intermittent and/or slow. It is frustrating.
Mostly during the flight I watch movies that my friend Tucker had downloaded for me. Not being used to the headphones I suffer collaterally. For a full 24 hours after the I put the headphones away, I walk about certain they are still on.
So, there are strong advantages, and no trade-offs, in going business class. Except of course the price, like six times the cost of a regular seat.
Separately, I’ve been awake almost 24 hours now without a moment’s sleep. The next twelve hours are going to be interesting.
The following refers to events completed on Tuesday morning at 11.00am.
In the event, after the flight I was picked up at the airport and driven to my hotel. It’s now Monday, 10.30pm their time, but 9.30am Monday, by my internal clock. I’ve been traveling a full 25.5 hours with sleep, although I had two 20-minute rounds of dozing.
But I can’t be in Osaka, Japan for the first time in my life and go straight to bed. I go out for a walk. Son Mino texts me for my status. I update him, commenting on his prescience, on display once again. Simply part of his psyche to mystically to help guide one through dicey moments.
The streets are quietly alive, mostly by young couples. Many stores are open. I go into a convenience store and buy a sandwich. Convenience stores are lauded for having great prepared food at reasonable prices. My sandwich was of the Wonder Bread variety, without the crust. It was delicious so I concur with the general sentiment. I pass one café, closed, reopens at 7.00am. I note to try it.
The hotel is a first-class hotel, not expected on such a tour. Clean, modern, spacious, perfect. I am thrilled. I stay up until 2.00am organizing my clothing and electronics. So far no disasters. I go to bed but have trouble getting to sleep so I take an extra 3mg of melatonin and read for a bit. I get drowsy, and return to bed, sleeping a full, uninterrupted 4 hours. I am delighted.
Breakfast at the hotel, included in the tour price, was a stunner. A great miso soup, great rice with pickles, and a host of other selections, including fruit, several fish, scrambled eggs, granola. Despite that great breakfast, I return to the café and order one of their coffees, Coffee au Lait with honey, and with it, another Wonder Bread type sandwich, also gently filled. Loved them both and swallowed them down.
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
From Tucker:
Hi Dom,
I finally got around to watching the penultimate episode of Rings of Power! Just in time for the season finale tonight.
Blog meister responds:
A great first season, esp for LotR fans, who can never get enough, made greater with Tucker’s comments.
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Dr. Mike shares:
New study ranks Massachusetts health care highly against other state
WickedLocal
It may come as no surprise, but Massachusetts is at the top of the list when it comes to a recent study ranking the best states for health care. "Massachusetts has the best patient to dentist ratio, and patient to mental health provider ratio of all the states we looked at," stated Better Benefits Guide, the entity that conducted the research. "There are 930 patients to every dentist and 153 patients to every mental health provider registered in Massachusetts. "The state also has one of the best patients to primary care physician ratios of all the states on our list, with 968 patients to every physician. Health care spending per capita in the state amounts to $8,871 per year, one of the highest out of all states we looked at."
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
So my eating on vacay begins.
It’s the day of departure, the 16th, and I ate a decent 7.30am all-American bacon and eggs at the airport. The coffee was unsatisfactory.
At 10.30am the business lounge opened and lots of good-looking food was offered. I took two tangerines and a perfect banana for later.
The JAL staff confirmed that dinner would be served an hour or two after takeoff, about 3.00pm.
The fruit will come in handy for the wait.
I am not able to post more today but I will get to it. Please be patient.
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Short Essay
“So then it has all been in vain. The fellowship has failed”
“Not if we hold true to each other.” – The Fellowship of the Ring
In the hands of most other creative teams last week’s episode would have been a season stand out if not the season finale. The wave of smoke and debris that overtakes Galadriel would have been a season ending cliff hanger after the thrilling battles and chase sequences that made up “Udun”. It’s what most tv watchers want to get out of their hours spent but it’s also not what Lord of the Rings is about.
It’s interesting that HBO’s House of the Dragon is on running concurrently to Rings of Power because it immediately begged viewers and critics to stack them against each other like a great sports rivalry. Other than their fantasy settings though these series are nearly polar opposites. George RR Martin’s novels and TV series have always focused on betrayal, political intrigue, and grim realistic fantasy violence. All those things exist in Middle-earth but they aren’t what matters. For Tolkien’s world and characters, the most important thing is connection and collaboration across racial, or national borders. Darkness only makes a light shine brighter, and this push and pull between heritage and friendship can create division and strength in all forms of fellowship. It is within them to overcome their prejudices and find hope and love in their fellow Middle-earthling. The fantastic, visually striking, and season-best episode “The Eye” doubles down on these themes as Galadriel, Elendil, and Durin attempt to retain hope amid incalculable despair.
An eye is the first image we see in the red-soaked Hellmouth that is the Southlands. Cinematographer Alex Disenhof follows the breathless action of “Udûn” with a landscape that evokes photos of the California wildfires and the orange skies they brought to the west coast in 2020. Galadriel awakes in this ashen land, dusts herself off, and begins searching for survivors, finding young Theo. Queen Regent Míriel and Isildur also search for survivors. The latter finds only death, discovering the lifeless eyes of his friend Otamno (Anthony Crum) staring back at him. As he considers Otamno, a beam breaks, and a house crashes on Isildur, leaving his friends to assume he, too, is lost. Later, when Elendil sees Isildur’s injured horse without a rider, he assumes the worst.
After weeks of wondering and wandering, the Brandyfoots finally catch up to the Harfoots at the Grove, which the volcano left scorched. Atop a nearby hill, The Stranger speaks unfamiliar words to a burned-out tree. As it did in the pool last week, the Stranger’s power explodes and frightens the Harfoots. Still, a flower grows from the tree’s trunk.
The passing shadow is all over this episode, bringing light and dark. Last week, Bronwyn reminded Theo that there is “light and high beauty forever beyond the reach” of darkness. Galadriel, who enlists Theo as a traveling companion, goes one step further, teaching Theo not to let hate into his heart. “It darkens the heart to call bad deeds ‘good,’” she tells him. “Every war is fought without and within.” Theo and Galadriel fight the external loss of life in the Southlands and each soldier’s internal responsibility for it.
Galadriel’s remorse is palpable from the first frame of “The Eye.” She tells Theo that she feels responsible for the explosion, and in many ways, she is. But Elves have been missing warnings all season. As she rallied Númenor, the Elves in the Southlands missed a whole Orc siege under their noses. Like the Jedi in the Star Wars prequels, they are too wrapped up in their own dealings to see the evil right under their noses. That’s what makes Elrond, the half-Elven, such a crucial character; he sees in Elves what they cannot see. He knows the cost of allowing that friendship to wither. Elrond didn’t even notice that he hadn’t seen his best friend in 20 years and is willing to change his thinking and admit when he is wrong.
Galadriel’s war goes deeper, and her distance is understandable. As she and Theo commiserate over the explosion, the Elf reveals that she was once a dancer (and an equestrian). Yes, she danced with her husband Celeborn, whom she lost at war. Unfortunately, the loss of both her brother and husband has left her with nothing else.
She’s fighting the war within, like Durin and Elendil. Elrond makes his play to King Durin (Peter Mullan), bending the knee and making promises of riches in return for the supply of mithril. But Durin rejects the offer, telling Durin that the Elves’ fate and the fate of Middle-earth are out of their control. If this is the Elves’ time, so be it. Durin breaks the news to Elrond, who must return to Lindon to tell High King Gil-galad that they can’t have what they need. It is a heartwrenching scene as Bear McCready’s Elrond theme tiptoes in as Elrond tells Durin that Elves “don’t say goodbye” but rather “go with goodness.” The way Durin shouts “namárië” would bring a tear to the coldest heart. This show is wonderful.
Elrond begins his exit and hands the mithril ore back to Durin, who pushes it to the edge of his new table in disgust. The mithril resurrects the plant when it lands next to the rotting Elven leaf, proving Gil-galad’s theory.
Later, as the buddies chisel away at the mithril mine, the two share a series of loving exchanges, espousing how much the other means to them through gentle teasing and admissions. Director Charlotte Brändström jumps between intimate closeups as they deepen their relationship, becoming a chosen brother to each other, with Elrond stopping Durin before hearing his secret Dwarven name.
Their emotional deepening resonates in the stone. Soon after they reach catharsis, Durin and Elrond discover the motherlode of mithril, but King Durin won’t be defied. He exiles Elrond from Khazad-dûm. Peter Mullan is fantastic discussing the night he nursed his infant son Durin back to health, beaming with joy as he predicts his son will “move mountains.” But Durin’s not convinced. “How can I move mountains when you crush my ambition.” The conversation doesn’t end well, with Durin telling his father that “he profanes the crown.”
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, as Durin and Míriel learn. After trying to rescue villagers from the flames, Míriel is stricken blind, only able to see grey, a potent metaphor for the state of the world. However, it’s not all blackness—light peeks through. Sunshine returns the further they get from the Southlands. The morning after the Stranger does his spell on the tree, the Grove is teeming with new life. The dead tree now bears juicy red apples. In return, Sadoc gives the Stranger directions to the big people, where he might find information on his lost stars. Nori gives him an apple before sending him on his way and telling her mother, “she’s just a Harfoot.” She will no longer get into mischief like this.
Yet all that glitters is not gold. Three fair-skinned figures clad in white hunt the Stranger, arriving at the Grove the night he disembarks. Nori bravely does her best to throw them off course. But when Largo spots them looming over Nori, he rushes over with a torch. The figure puts it out with their hand, blows the ashes into the air, and magically sets the Harfoot camp ablaze.
By the episode’s end, everyone is on the same page. Halbrand will bring “strength to the Southlands” and travel with Galadriel to Lindon and face the Elves who are busy with their own problems. On top of the whole mithril shortage in Lindon, King Durin awoke a Balrog when he casually tossed the Elvish leaf away.
As new enemies awaken, our heroes are on the move. The Harfoots will rebuild, facing challenges with “hearts as big as their feet,” as Largo says. Nori decides that she’s setting off to find the Stranger. The rest of the community admits to some misgivings, showing some of that contrition that Elrond expressed earlier this season. But she won’t be going alone. A fellowship of Harfoots will hit the road and take their place in the wider world. They will move on and succeed as long as they stay true to each other and just keep walking.
Tucker
END OF THIS POST
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October 10, 2022 through October 21, 2022
Post for Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Number: 1571
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Lead Picture*
Sake cups
Sake in three cups photographed by the Epopt.
The Epopt - Transfered from en.wikipedia.org
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Commentary
The American Opportunity Index, rating America's 250 largest public companies on how they help their workers get ahead. (This is another of my longstanding observations on corporate behavior, tied in with wages paid.)
The yearlong project, which included economists and data scientists, is a collaboration of The Burning Glass Institute, Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work Project and Howard Schultz's Schultz Family Foundation.
How it works: The economic-mobility index rates the companies "on real-world outcomes of their employees in roles open to non-college graduates — not merely their statements on corporate policy."
The scorecard draws on "a new source of insight: big-data analysis of career histories, job postings, and salary sources of more than 3 million workers at those firms."
The top 5:
AT&T
American Express
Cisco
PG&E
Microsoft
I know my son Chris had a hand in shaping Microsoft’s position. Very proud, Chris.
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Dr. Mike shares:
We could be in for a severe flu season. Here’s what to know.
Boston.com
The return of a potentially robust or even severe flu season has health experts concerned that we could finally see the arrival of a long-feared “twindemic” of COVID-19 and influenza, which would burden an already strained health care system. But flu seasons are notoriously difficult to predict. (Despite worries, a “twindemic” never emerged in recent years.) Still, headed into the 2022-2023 flu season, local infectious disease experts say there is cause for concern that this year could buck the trend.
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Reading
I expect to use my Kindle to read. So I’ll load two books before leaving Boston.
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Writing
I’m not sure how everything will work out. The six dinners I will be eating at Japan’s finest will block out big parts of my day. Days will be busy. I did give myself a big jump by posting a day r two ahead of time.
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Wellness
I’m in perfect shape for the trip. Hopefully I’ll test Covid-negative on Saturday afternoon. Must be within 24 hors of departure.
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Screen time
I am watching ‘See’ and enjoying it.
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Social Life
Friday lunch with Tucker and Saturday haircut with Amanda will be my last social events before departure.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“Palestinian and Israeli leaders finally recover the Road Map to Peace, only to discover that, while they were looking for it, the Lug Nuts of Mutual Interest came off the Front Left Wheel of Accommodation, causing the Sport Utility Vehicle of Progress to crash into the Ditch of Despair.”
~ Dave Barry, Dave Barry's History of the Millennium
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from friend Jim P:
Hi Dom.
I saw Howard’s response to that anonymous post. I had seen that preprint study too and just had an email conversation with some one about it.
The negative efficacy caught my attention, but I think Howard is right that people at risk should get the booster. I think the vaccines have saved a lot of lives, though as you know I have been against vaccine mandates.
Here is an interesting review study of vaccine hesitancy:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8650625/
Some of the reasons surprised me.
Covid is still with us, but let’s hope the worst is behind us and stays that way.
Thanks for your always interesting blog….and while I am at it, have a great trip!
Love,
Jim
Blog meister responds: Thanks, Jim. I fully expect to.
And this from another dear friend, Tommy D, very proud of his Italian heritage:
Had a great Columbus Day event.
Blog meister responds: Love your comments on making room for indigenous peoples celebration.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
The week before I left I made sure I ate from one of my favorite foods list so I won’t be missing them too badly while in Japan. Ribs, Regina Pizza, GaGa Chinese Food, Dry-Aged Steak, Lobster, Sushi, and Lamb Chops I checked off one at a time. Yum.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Will and Kat in a sidewalk café in Paris.
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Short Essay
Sake, also spelled sake, also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name Japanese rice wine, sake, and indeed any East Asian rice wine (such as huangjiu and cheongju), is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars which ferment into alcohol, whereas in wine, alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit, typically grapes.
The brewing process for sake differs from the process for beer, where the conversion from starch to sugar and then from sugar to alcohol occurs in two distinct steps. Like other rice wines, when sake is brewed, these conversions occur simultaneously. The alcohol content differs between sake, wine, and beer; while most beer contains 3–9% ABV, wine generally contains 9–16% ABV,[4] and undiluted sake contains 18–20% ABV (although this is often lowered to about 15% by diluting with water prior to bottling).
In Japanese, the character sake (kanji: 酒, Japanese pronunciation: [sake]) can refer to any alcoholic drink, while the beverage called sake in English is usually termed nihonshu (日本酒; meaning 'Japanese alcoholic drink'). Under Japanese liquor laws, sake is labeled with the word seishu (清酒; 'refined alcohol'), a synonym not commonly used in conversation.
In Japan, where it is the national beverage, sake is often served with special ceremony, where it is gently warmed in a small earthenware or porcelain bottle and sipped from a small porcelain cup called a sakazuki. As with wine, the recommended serving temperature of sake varies greatly by type.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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Post for Monday, October 17, 2022
Number: 1570
Note that the dates of the posts will be off for the next two weeks while I am vacationing.
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Lead Picture*
Soy Sauce
Soy sauce
National Institute of Korean Language - https://krdict.korean.go.kr/eng/dicSearch/viewImageConfirm?nation=eng&searchKindValue=image&ParaWordNo=70704&ParaSenseSeq=1&multiMediaSeq=1
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Commentary
This is something for which I have proselytized for decades without a solution on the horizon. Now comes this. It’s stunning. It addresses perhaps the greatest inequality facing working Americans: the inability to take advantage of the advantages of home ownership. This is worth reading.
Building wealth via homeownership is a time-tested American tradition. Now a new project is trying to replicate that mechanism in the rental market, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.
Why it matters: Most people who rent homes in the U.S. do so because they're priced out of the housing market. That excludes them from the forced-savings device that is a mortgage.
What they're saying: "Our hope is if it’s successful, this becomes a new form of ESG investment, and a new way to look at rentership," Priscilla Almodovar, the outgoing CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, which built this project, tells Axios exclusively. (Almodovar is about to start a new job as the CEO of Fannie Mae.)
"We’ve set this up so that over 10 years it simulates what the median homeowner might have experienced."
The big picture: The Renter Wealth Creation Fund, run by Enterprise, expects to take roughly half of the housing appreciation on some $1 billion of rental property and give it to long-term renters.
How it works: Enterprise, and its investors, will work with sponsors who will put up millions of dollars of their own money to buy rental developments with the aid of loans from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration, and others.
All of the projects will be affordable housing, with priority given to those targeting households earning 80% of median income or less.
The payout: At the end of the lifespan of about 8-10 years for each project, the property will be sold or refinanced, with a target total return of 10% per year.
Investors in the Renter Wealth Creation Fund will receive a 4% return, plus 20% of the excess return over that — an estimated 5% in all. The other 80% of returns above 4% — the remaining 5% per year — will be given to renters who rented for at least four years.
Between the lines: While a 4% return is relatively modest for property investors, Enterprise has lined up foundations and family offices that concentrate on impact investing.
Pencil it out: The average American renter has a much lower total 10-year housing cost (about $210,000, in current dollars) than the average homeowner ($440,000), according to data from Zillow. But thanks to home-price appreciation and the fact that mortgage principal is paid down over time, homeowners end up building roughly $190,000 in home equity over that time.
Under the Enterprise model, the renter paying $210,000 in rent would end up getting a check for about $55,000.
The bottom line: This model is new, and therefore unproven. But if it works, it could revolutionize affordability for those who need it most.
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From the corner of an Old-School Anonymous Lefty
Anonymous agrees with Howard: We have to read and discuss and debate – we have to use “agency” and the “brain in our heads.” Thus, the post was successful.
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Dr. Mike shares:
This from the AMA:
October 11, 2022
Influenza cases rising in U.S. ahead of potentially severe season
ABC News (10/10, Kekatos) reports, “Influenza cases are rising in the United States as the country prepares for a potentially severe season.” In “the week ending Oct. 1-- the latest date for which data is available – there were 969 cases of influenza A and 52 cases of influenza B reported to the” CDC, which “is a 303.75% increase from the 240 influenza A cases and a 79.3% increase from the 29 influenza B cases reported the week ending Aug. 6, the data shows.” Furthermore, “over the same period, the percent positivity rate has risen from 0.49% to 2.5%.”
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Reading
My reading has focused on the six spectacular Guide Michelin restaurants I will be eating at.
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Wellness
I leave for Japan in good health. I’m excited.
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Social Life
I had an enjoyable conversation with an agent from GoAhead Tours. She assured me we’d be back at the hotel after the trip to Mt. Fiji. I had hesitated joining this excursion but after speaking with her I was all aboard.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death.”
~ Dave Barry
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C:
Dear Dom,
I sure can’t agree with you about the appeal of Garry Shandling – I find him incredibly boring – but that’s why there’s chocolate and vanilla. For me, it’s most likely a cultural thing – I have nothing in common with him to relate to. But that’s OK - I don’t mind being in a minority. Obviously, his work provides great entertainment and pleasure to a lot of people.
Your comments regarding joblessness – “the castration of joblessless” – That really is what it amounts to, isn’t it? It’s a violent word, but it’s highly appropriate if it draws attention to the effects on people losing their jobs, for whatever reasons. This is true in particular for men, I believe, at least of earlier generations, when men were defined, and defined themselves, by their jobs. Women have often fared better because of the inherent breadth of their skills – juggling child-rearing, keeping house, jobs, civic activities, after-school activities for the kids, and a lot of times being the social hub of the extended family’s ties, which enriched their skills in pivoting to another tack in times of stress – but men have often succumbed to depression and worse when they lost their jobs, including retirement. When I worked as a pipefitter at Bath Iron Works in the 1980s, I worked with many men who had come into the yard at age 13 or so, worked there their whole lives, and retired at age 65 or 70, only to be dead within a year because they no longer had a purpose.
Yes, castration – it’s much worse when it is of the mind.
Go well, my friend, and have a wonderful trip to Japan!
Sally
Blog meister responds: I can understand how off-putting the Larry Sanders Show was (is) to some people. He was often mean and unpleasant.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
The last meal I intend to prepare at home before I leave for Japan was sushi.
Not very well thought out.
Not well produced.
But nonetheless enjoyable.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Shakespeare and Company Bookstore in Paris, with Kat
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Short Essay
Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds. It is considered to contain a strong umami taste.
Soy sauce in its current form was created about 2,200 years ago during the Western Han dynasty of ancient China, and it has spread throughout East and Southeast Asia where it is used in cooking and as a condiment.
A study by the National University of Singapore showed that Chinese dark soy sauce contains 10 times the antioxidants of red wine.[66] Unpasteurized soy sauce is rich in lactic acid bacteria and of excellent anti-allergic potential.[67][68]
Soy sauce does not contain the level of isoflavones associated with other soy products such as tofu or edamame.[69] It can also be very salty, having a salt content between 14 and 18%. Low-sodium soy sauces are made, but it is difficult to make soy sauce without using some quantity of salt as an antimicrobial agent.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
*Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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October 10, 2022 through October 21, 202
Today’s entry
Friday, October 14, 2022
post number: 1569
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Lead Picture*
Cosplayers
at Yukicon 2014, a fan convention in Finland
Matias Tukiainen from Espoo, Finland - 20140118174713IMG_5618_M
A group of cosplayers on stage at Yukicon 2014 convention in Finland
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Commentary
While railroad profits surge, workers have to beg to be treated fairly.
This does not sound like a balanced economy to me.
This sounds so like fascism.
Perhaps it’s time to consider a national takeover of the railroads for long enough to replace the operating officers and Board of Directors with women and men amenable to the country’s well-being rather than gorging profits for the few shareholders.
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Op-From the corner of an Old-School Anonymous Lefty
Dom, my friend,
Your anonymous buddy likes it, like most internet trolls do, both ways.
In a world where, long since, you can find “evidence” to back up any deviation in received wisdom, from informed alternative interpretation, to crackpot, on the internet, he has dug deep to use a resource only, I would say extremely nervous, clinicians would use. It’s a site that allows authors of studies not yet vetted by time-tested (and sometimes tedious) methodology as to clinical usefulness, to get them out before publication is warranted for whatever purpose.
In this case, it’s not clear the intent of the study (except it was funded by Moderna, the begetters of one of the two bivalent vaccines now out for inoculation of the public, with the blessing of the CDC and FDA), it’s to suggest that maybe, maybe, the bivalent vaccine does not provide efficacious protection against the B.4 and B.5 (the current prevalent strain) Omicron variants for very long.
Whatever the finding of referees of this article, who must vet it before it will be published in a sanctioned way, it is but one study. There are doubtless others.
Further, the site on which it appears offers a caveat about what it means to see an article as it appears, as a “preprint,” on this site. We should note it’s a link provided by the shy anonymous contributor who seems bent on being refractory, with other objectives not exactly clear in his inadequately documented—he’s quite assertive, an earmark of those with, in their own eyes, unassailable certitude, but very short on documentation—challenges to your personal opinions.
The caveat says:
“authors use the medRxiv service to make their manuscripts available as ‘preprints’ before certification by peer review, allowing other scientists to see, discuss, and comment on the findings immediately. Readers should therefore be aware that articles on medRxiv have not been finalized by authors, might contain errors, and report information that has not yet been accepted or endorsed in any way by the scientific or medical community.”
The last I checked with your bona fides, Dom, they didn’t include, estimable as they otherwise are, credentials as a standing member of the scientific and medical communities. And, of course, as he chooses to be anonymous, we cannot know about the curmudgeon who likes to cast his moldy bread upon the waters for the rest of us. For one, I admit I am not a member of those communities either. And I have no idea how many other of your regular readers are. I do know that likely most of us have agency, and a brain in our heads.
I do know that bona fide members of those communities, whose mission and calling leaves them vigilant of the status of the ravages of SARS-CoV-2 on the world and on our population in the U.S. in particular, and who have proven the wisdom of a moderated and fully informed point of view before offering advice to the lay public, have some things to say about what’s coming. What’s coming is a wave of Covid-19 infections, though it’s bottom-line impossible to say which variant will predominate. Early indications in the UK, which we seem to track with a delay, are that, if we’re lucky, the variant that drives that wave is a subvariant of BA.5, against which the bivalent vaccine booster is specifically engineered to protect us.
I know I have gotten this booster already, because there is more evidence, peer-reviewed evidence, and mounting (though feebly, because apparently 90% of the testing and screening apparatus that was in place in this country to check on the modulations of the pandemic have been abandoned—largely because of thinking of the same stripe as that of the anonymous one) that protection is still needed especially for the most vulnerable, that is, the immunosuppressed and those of us over 65 years old.
I thought just once in a while the other readers of this blog should know about another point of view to consider. The pandemic is still killing (especially the elderly and especially those who have gone unvaccinated or not fully so), at the rate at this moment of over 125,000 people a year (with a wave coming, estimated by epidemiologists as likely in November). For comparison, a little fewer than 50,000 people die annually from firearm related causes among civilians and police. And about 32,000 deaths per year are the result of motor vehicle crashes.
I’d say we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, which you can protect yourself against. But what do I know, especially since I’m not The Shadow… ? And we know HE knows…mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Howard
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Dr. Mike shares:
We could be in for a severe flu season. Here’s what to know.
Boston.com
The return of a potentially robust or even severe flu season has health experts concerned that we could finally see the arrival of a long-feared “twindemic” of COVID-19 and influenza, which would burden an already strained health care system. But flu seasons are notoriously difficult to predict. (Despite worries, a “twindemic” never emerged in recent years.) Still, headed into the 2022-2023 flu season, local infectious disease experts say there is cause for concern that this year could buck the trend.
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Can you define portmanteau?
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Screen time
I’ve been watching a series called Trying. The series follows Nikki and Jason, a couple who really want to become parents but who struggle with conceiving a child. In order to have the baby they want they decide to adopt, only to face a whole list of new challenges and surprises that come with the adoption process.
It's entertaining.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“Sharks are as tough as those football fans
who take their shirts off during games in Chicago in January,
only more intelligent. ”
~ Dave Barry
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Blog meister responds:
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I cooked a delicious swordfish. I had a bevy of vegetables leftover from the day before so dinner was simple. But scanning the week ahead, I’ve decided that I will cook only one more meal before my Sunday departure. So, four meals out. One will be at Abe and Louie’s and one will be at the North End Regina pizza.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Dr. Mike
Yes, Virginia, there is a Dr. Mike.
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Short Essay
Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, and a broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, and video games. The term is composed of the two aforementioned counterparts – costume and role play.
Cosplay grew out of the practice of fan costuming at science fiction conventions, beginning with Morojo's "futuristicostumes" created for the 1st World Science Fiction Convention held in New York City in 1939. The Japanese term "cosplay" (コスプレ, kosupure) was coined in 1984. A rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since the 1990s has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture in Japan, as well as in other parts of East Asia and in the Western world. Cosplay events are common features of fan conventions, and today there are many dedicated conventions and competitions, as well as social networks, websites, and other forms of media centered on cosplay activities. Cosplay is very popular among all genders, and it is not unusual to see crossplay, also referred to as gender-bending.
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Definition of Today’s Word
PORTMANTEAU
A portmanteau is a blend of words in which parts of multiple words are combined into a new word, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, or motel, from motor and hotel.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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Today’s entry
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
post number: 1568
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Lead Picture*
Garry Shandling
Garry Shandling and date Linda Doucett on the red carpet at the 39th Annual Emmy Awards 9/20/87
photo by Alan Light
Permission details
Permission granted to copy, publish, broadcast or post but please credit "photo by Alan Light" if you can
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Commentary
Ukraine’s taunting of Russia is understandable.
But it is certainly counter-productive to efforts to induce Russia to withdraw within its own borders.
Today’s Lead Picture and Short Essay are on Garry Shandling, the creator of the Larry Sanders Show. There is no television series that is better than The Larry Sanders Show, one of a handful of truly great programs. On HBO.
I have had many great meals in my life, most of them in France. I go to Japan hopeful that my selected restaurants will surpass any culinary experience I have had to date. Will I be disappointed?
The Feds are pleased: we’re getting close to mass lay-offs.
Numberless families without money for tuition, childcare, food, rent.
Bastards!
What filth!
Profits?
Tax evasion by distortionally passing laws to protect profits.
The power of money to protect itself.
Layoffs coming.
Yayy!
May these powers know hunger. Desperation. The castration of joblessless.
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Dr. Mike shares:
Roxbury community health center gets $1M to support substance use treatment
Boston Globe
The Dimock Center is investing $1 million in federal funding to launch Boston’s first clinical stabilization program for men. Currently, the city doesn’t offer clinical stabilization programs focused on men, said Dr. Charles Anderson, president and CEO of the center. The new program will annually provide more than 1,000 patients with “14 to 28 days of intensive treatment following inpatient detox and preceding longer-term residential recovery,” according to a statement from the center. The investment will allow Dimock to support patients from detoxification, to clinical stabilization, to residential recovery, helping more men with substance use disorder forge their own success stories.
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Writing
I’ve been spending some time researching the restaurants at which I’ll be dining.
They are so famous much is written about them.
It’ll help me to know what I should be looking for on my visits.
And I have one more private lesson in which to review and hone the two dozen expressions that I am trying to learn to say to help me in my restaurant visits.
My tutor says it is perfectly acceptable for me to use a ‘cheat sheet’ to read from.
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Wellness
Several days before I leave for Japan I am feeling well.
A minor discomfort here and there but truly physically fit and plagued with a minimum of anxiety.
Full of hope and anticipation.
I’ve had much help from a bunch of friends and family.
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Ageing
Biological Aging This is the type of aging most people are familiar with, since it refers to the various ways the human body naturally changes over time. ...
Psychological Aging This type of aging is largely related to behavior, but it also includes general perception and reactions to the immediate environment. ...
Social Aging
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Can you define washoku?
For definition, see below, immediately after the Short Essay
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Screen time
I watched “Shining Girls” with Elizabeth Moss. It was one of the best detective series I’ve seen in a long time.
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Social Life
In person, this week, I have two personal meetings and then on Sunday morning I fly off to join a group of 20 in Osaka. It’ll be a 17-hour trip plus 3 hours early arrival at the departure gate and the time it’ll take to go through Japanese customs and drive to our hotel. Whew!
And, and a 13-hour time change.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“Sharks are as tough as those football fans who take their shirts off during games in Chicago in January, only more intelligent. ”
~ Dave Barry
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C:
Dear Dom,
My take on cuteness is decidedly at the opposite end of the spectrum from that of Japanese culture. That image of the cake-frosting girl creeps me out. She doesn’t look real. What has she done to her eyes?! They look like they’re not there at all, just empty hollows filled in with black eye make-up. Yeesh!
Stay real, Dom!
Sally
Blog meister responds: Sounds like we had the same reaction, my dear. I didn’t even know there was such a culture. Found it while watching You Tubes on visiting Japan. Like you, was appalled.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Sunday past I slow-roasted a rack of lamb.
I set the whole rack in front of myself and took very thin slices, like one does from a leg of lamb, rather than the chunks cut from a chop.
With my own gravy from my freezer, it was brilliant.
I baked a sweet potato, bought some prepared honeyed squash, and made spinach with garlic oil.
I drank half a bottle of Ch Pegau, cuvee Maclura, a $21.00 Cotes-du-Rhone that I found. It was such a good value I bought a half-case to keep as a house wine.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Busy Public Garden
From personal observation, all of Boston has been flush with visitors.
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Short Essay
Garry Emmanuel Shandling (November 29, 1949 – March 24, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer.
Shandling began his career writing for sitcoms, such as Sanford and Son and Welcome Back, Kotter. He made a successful stand-up performance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where he became a frequent guest host. Shandling was, for a time, considered the leading contender to replace Johnny Carson. In 1986, he created It's Garry Shandling's Show, which aired on Showtime. It was nominated for four Emmy Awards (including one for Shandling) and lasted until 1990.
Shandling's second show, The Larry Sanders Show, began airing on HBO in 1992. He was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards for the show and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1998, along with Peter Tolan, for writing the series finale. In film, he had a recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He also lent his voice to Verne the turtle in Over the Hedge. Shandling's final performance was as the voice of Ikki in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book, and the film was dedicated to his memory.
During his four-decade career, Shandling was nominated for 19 Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, along with many other awards and nominations. He served as host of the Grammy Awards four times and as host of the Emmy Awards two times.
The Larry Sanders Show is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. The series was created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein and aired from August 15, 1992, to May 31, 1998, on the HBO cable television network.
The series stars Shandling, Jeffrey Tambor, and Rip Torn and features celebrities playing exaggerated, parodic versions of themselves. The show has its roots in Shandling's stand-up comedy background, his experience as a guest host on The Tonight Show, and his earlier sitcom It's Garry Shandling's Show. The program has had a marked and long-lasting influence on HBO as well as on television shows in the US and UK such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, and The Office. The supporting cast includes Janeane Garofalo, Wallace Langham, Penny Johnson, Linda Doucett, Scott Thompson, and Jeremy Piven.
The show received universal acclaim from critics and is often regarded as an influential and landmark series. It ranked 38 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, the only HBO comedy to make the list,[1] and was also included in Time magazine's list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time".[2] The show won 24 major awards, including three Primetime Emmy Awards, five CableACE Awards, four American Comedy Awards, two British Comedy Awards, two Peabody Awards, a BAFTA Award and a Satellite Award. It also received 86 nominations, including 56 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, five Directors Guild of America nominations, six Writers' Guild of America nominations, six American Comedy Awards nominations, three Golden Globe nominations, three Satellite Awards nominations and a GLAAD Award nomination.
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Definition of Today’s Word
Washoku
Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes.
Washoku is the traditional cuisine of Japan based on rice with miso soup and other dishes; there is an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. Side dishes often consist of fish, pickled vegetables, and vegetables cooked in broth. Seafood is common, often grilled, but also served raw as sashimi or in sushi. Seafood and vegetables are also deep-fried in a light batter, as tempura. Apart from rice, a staple includes noodles, such as soba and udon. Japan also has many simmered dishes, such as fish products in broth called oden, or beef in sukiyaki and nikujaga.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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October 10, 2022 through October 21, 2022
Today’s entry, Monday, October 10, 2022, post number 1567
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Lead Picture*
Kawaii (Japanese: かわいい or 可愛い, IPA: [kawaiꜜi]; 'lovely', 'loveable', 'cute', or 'adorable')
is the culture of cuteness in Japan. It can refer to items, humans and non-humans thare charming, vulnerable, shy and childlike. Examples include cute handwriting, certain genres of manga, anime, and characters including Hello Kitty and Pikachu.
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Commentary
So this is the first non-consecutive post.
Frankly, I enjoyed the two-day respite more than I thought I would.
My plan is to continue to publish three days a week as I investigate alternatives.
That incudes my time in Japan.
I do have a game plan.
Vague, but a plan.
And, I have an alternative plan.
Vague, but a plan.
Both plans involve involving others.
Both involve a richer product both visually and literately.
Stay with me, please.
That’s a silly prayer since you have put up with a lot of errors while I learned a bit.
Thank you.
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Dr. Mike shares:
Survey finds only 49% of adults in U.S. plan to get influenza vaccine during 2022-2023 season
The Hill (10/4, Gans) reports that “half of U.S. adults plan to get the flu shot this year as scientists warn of a potentially severe upcoming flu season, according to a survey” from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). The results revealed that “49% of respondents said they plan to get a flu shot during the 2022-23 flu season, although almost 7 in 10 said they recognized that a flu vaccine is the best measure to take against flu-related hospitalization and death.”
Healio (10/4, Stulpin) reports those “who said they did not plan on getting vaccinated cited not thinking influenza vaccines work very well (41%), concerns over side effects (39%), never getting influenza (28%) and concerns over getting influenza from the vaccine (24%) as their top reasons.”
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From the corner of an Old-School Anonymous Lefty
Dom,
I don’t want to get into a Covid battle with you, as I respect your views and always appreciated that you respected mine, despite some differences. If we were the only two people alive it would be a perfect world 😊
But I read your prior reference to the bivalent booster. This new study is showing what the early Danish studies showed, i.e., negative efficacy over time: the boosters make one more rather than less likely to get Covid over the long run: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.30.22280573v1
Something to think about.
Blog meister responds: Your posts are always well-founded and always offer alternative ways of looking at life. OF course, always welcome.
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Writing
I’m spending much of my writing time learning how to speak Japanese in the controlled environment of a special restaurant. Including several hours with a tutor before I leave for Japan. That departure from Logan is only six days away.
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Word of the Day: K-pop
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“The metric system did not really catch on in the States,
unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.”
~ Dave Barry
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Social Life
Social life is staying hot, certainly as per phone calls and emails. For the last six days before my departure, I will meet up with my lovely niece, Lisa and with someone that I hope to pull into my orbit.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I made and ate a most delicious sandwich featuring Mortadella on Seven Grain bread.
I added a gently hard-boiled egg, American cheese, lettuce, and red onion.
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Community Photos**
Alia Cusolito, placard
Alia Cusolito, portrait
Part of an exhibit on the Boston Common
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Short Essay*
The cuteness culture, or kawaii aesthetic, has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, and mannerisms.
Japanese idols (アイドル, aidoru) are media personalities in their teens and twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g. as singers for pop groups, bit-part actors, TV personalities (tarento), models in photo spreads published in magazines, advertisements, etc. (But not every young celebrity is considered an idol. Young celebrities who wish to cultivate a rebellious image, such as many rock musicians, reject the "idol" label.) Speed, Morning Musume, AKB48, and Momoiro Clover Z are examples of popular idol groups in Japan during the 2000s & 2010s.
Blogmeister’s note on Idols: It must be noted that these idols are often abused and cheated. The draw of fame is too strong for these young girls who, usually with the encouragement of their parents, sacrifice years of their youth without just compensation. Many of them are barely teenagers and do not have the strength to stand up. Japanese idols are a sad commentary on that part of Japanese society.
Anti Idol
Bis (stylized as BiS), also known as Brand-new idol Society (新生アイドル研究会, Shinsei Aidoru Kenkyūkai), is a Japanese idol group that was founded in 2010 by leader Pour Lui following a brief solo career. With music, performances and videos that are extremely different from the typical idol group, Bis have come to be known as "alternative" idols. They disbanded at Yokohama Arena on July 8, 2014. Exactly two years after their disbandment on July 8, 2016, it was announced by Pour Lui, Kenta Matsukuma and Junnosuke Watanabe that Bis would reform under a new lineup including Pour Lui, and that auditions were going to be held. On March 30, 2019, Bis announced that they would break up at the end of their "Are You Ready To Go?" tour. On March 30, 2019, at the same time that the second generation announced their disbandment, Watanabe announced that he would be holding closed auditions for a third generation of BiS, and the new and current members officially debuted at Tokyo Idol Festival on August 4, 2019.
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Definition of word of the day: K-pop
Korean popular music is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture.
It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gospel, reggae, electronic dance, folk, country, disco, and classical on top of its traditional Korean music roots.
*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Community Pictures with Captions are sent in by our followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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