Month: December 2020

Fashions in supermarkets – Diminishing car traffic – Giuliani’s downward spiral – Evening statistics

In the new Oriental supermarket (called, somewhat incongruously, “Ranch”) I came across a rare find:  a stewing chicken.  It has become quite difficult to find one, although I’m not sure why; they are egg layers that have become less productive as they age and would have to be culled in any case.  At any rate, this is the first one I’ve been able to purchase in several years.  For once I’ll be able to make a decent chicken stew in a stock with a well-defined flavor (instead of that faint hint of chicken that results in using younger and more tender cuts for stewing). 

Stewing chickens were much more common in stores when I was growing up, but I rarely saw once I reached the age for attending college.  It’s strange how supermarkets are subject to fashion, almost as if they are selling clothes instead of food.  Why, for instance, is the skin almost invariably taken off of chicken breasts before they are packaged?  That was not the case until relatively recently.  If one is using the meat in a stir-fry or a sauté then purchasing it with the skin removed is a convenience.  If, on the other hand, they are baked or in a fricassee, it is better to get them with the skin still on; there is less risk of the meat drying out during the baking or browning.  But the butchers at the supermarkets don’t appear to agree; they take the skin off automatically, it seems, and if you want to find some with the skin still on you may have to do quite a bit of searching.  Curiously enough, the skin remains on for whole chickens and for all other parts of the chicken sold separately:  legs, thighs, wings. 

During the course of shopping and various other errands I could not help noticing that the traffic on the roads is diminishing again.  It makes for more agreeable walking, of course, but it is an ominous sign.  As a result of the colder weather and also, perhaps, of the various discouragements officials in all states have been making about travel of any kind, people are taking fewer road trips (even when they are only day trips) than before.  Winter is generally a less crowded season on the trails in any case, but this year I suppose that fewer people will be hiking than usual.  It is to be regretted; it seems apparent that it is less risky to be out of doors than inside.

“The fiery youth of today would start back in horror if he could be shown his portrait in old age.”  No, I’m not applying Gogol’s words from Dead Souls to myself – I haven’t sunk into invalidism or unusual fits of eccentricity, unless indeed maintaining a journal is considered eccentric; but to Rudolph Giuliani.  Had he died a decade earlier, he probably would linger in many minds with grateful remembrance as the mayor who rejuvenated New York City and as a stalwart presence during the crisis of 9/11.  Now he will go down in history as Trump’s crony and dubious accomplice in the attempt of the latter to invalidate our electoral process.  The most recent setback to this enterprise occurred yesterday, when Judge James T. Russell turned aside Trump’s lawsuit in Nevada, not merely dismissing it but giving a detailed statement running to 35 pages of why not a single claim advanced in the lawsuit was valid.  Indeed, none of the 46 lawsuits that Trump has filed to date has made any headway.  In response to these results Giuliani has said, “We don’t need courts.   The United States Constitution gives sole power to the state legislator to decide presidential elections.”  In other words, he is saying outright that how people vote don’t matter and that he will continue to labor to install Trump as our dictator.  And he has become ludicrous in proportion to his moral deterioration; the conference during which he sweated so profusely as to cause his hair dye to melt while shrieking out conspiracy theories is probably the most vivid image people now retain about him.  Who could have predicted that the man who presided over Ground Zero and rallied New York City through the most devastating attack it ever endured would be reduced to this?

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 66,833,796; # of deaths worldwide: 1,533,741; # of cases U.S.: 14,982,628; # of deaths; U.S.: 287,825.  There was a time when both India and Brazil seemed likely to surpass us but that time is long gone; several days of new cases in the hundreds of thousands have placed us far in the lead again, where we are unlikely to be challenged.  More than 4.5% of our population has been infected by now. 

Hiking Old Rag – Media bias – Why Republicans still support Trump – Trump vs. Twitter – Certification is approaching – Evening statistics

Old Rag is a mountain in the Blue Ridge range with a rocky exposed summit that features a 360-degree view.  It contains one of the most popular hikes in Shenandoah National Park, and is considered to be something of a rite of passage for hikers in this area.  The last segment of the ascent to the summit (which is about 3½ miles from the parking area) consists of a continuous rock scramble that, although it does not require special equipment, at times involves supporting your body weight with your arms and lowering yourself down (and occasionally sliding down) very large boulders.  Yesterday I went on the hike with HG, who was doing the hike for the first time.  The day proved to be ideal for completing this hike.  It was a weekday in December, which meant that it was much less crowded than usual; in fact, I don’t remember seeing so few people on the summit during the numerous times I’ve done the hike in the past.  Then, too, the weather was the best we had all week:  sunny, chilly but not frigid in the early morning and going up to the 50s well before noon, and all but windless.  It is always an enjoyable hike but completing it in the company of HG gave the hike an added dimension; since it was her first time, hiking Old Rag in her company was like seeing it through new eyes.  For example, I have tended in the past to speed along the fire road (the last segment of the hike) without noticing much, whereas yesterday we were remarking on the views of the summit from which we had descended and of the water in the river that runs beside the path cascading over the rocks and creating a series of waterfalls in several areas. 

The trail has been significantly altered.  It now begins from the new parking lot, eliminating much of the walk along Rte. 600 that used to comprise the first mile of the hike, and this new section of the trail is extremely well-maintained, with very few rocks and so free of fallen leaves that it almost appears as if someone had gone through and swept it out inch by inch.  Then, too, the route of the rock scramble has changed in some places.  There used to be one part of the trail that involved hoisting oneself up between two smooth and all but perpendicular boulders close together with no traction, no obvious places to anchor the feet, and no useful handholds within reach.   Getting past it depended a great deal on the strength (and length) of one’s arms.  It frequently tied up pedestrian traffic as a result of awaiting the painful efforts of the people just ahead to try to get through it.  This obstacle has now been eliminated.  Certain other problem spots are no longer on the trail as well.  It is still quite strenuous, but the most obvious points for tying up hiker traffic are no longer an issue.

The hike evidently tired me out more than I thought.  I didn’t feel at all tired when I returned home, but later in the evening, after dinner, I became quite sleepy and went to bed early.  After all, it is not necessary to have a journal entry for every single day.

During the drive to the parking area I listened to the radio.  While I have (as should be apparent) little love for Donald Trump, I am bound to say that his claims about biased media have some justification.  Yesterday I heard one news report that said something along the lines of: “Trump gave a rambling 46-minute demented rant filled with the by-now familiar diatribe about election fraud, wild conspiracy theories, and downright lies about how he won in states that he actually lost.”  That may not have been the actual wording, but it is not far removed from it.  I can understand why his remarks would be summarized in such a fashion, but such a style cannot be considered impartial reporting.  There is no need to embellish matters with emotionally laden adjectives; the mere facts of his behavior are damning enough.  I certainly have shown no restraint in referring to him in my entries, but I do so as a private individual.  If I were reporting in the role of journalist I would make an attempt, at any rate, to sound less obviously biased.

I recently learned why some members of the Republican Party continue to be so muted about Trump’s conduct concerning his claims of election fraud.  Hitherto I could not imagine how such a self-centered man was able to inspire any feelings of loyalty.  It appears, however, that the outcome of the two runoff elections in Georgia will determine whether or not the Republicans can retain a majority in the Senate; and since Trump continues to exert great influence upon the rank and file of Republican voters, the leaders of the party think it prudent not to repudiate him, no matter how he may behave.  This at least is a motive I can understand, however much I may disapprove of it.  Mitch McConnell in particular might thus be compared to Lucy Steele in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, “a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.”

Twitter has indicated that Trump may be banned from the platform once January 20^th rolls around and he becomes an ordinary citizen.  As a world leader, he is exempt from the rules that Twitter has imposed on other users, but he has broken them so often that the Twitter administrators are – to use a somewhat inelegant phrase – fed up with him.  Trump set up a Twitter account in 2009 and has since generated over 29,000 tweets.  They have become such a persuasive force that Joe Biden has seen fit to reassure the Twitter administrators and the public at large that “You won’t have to worry about my tweets when I’m president.”

The date for certification of the election results in all states is rapidly approaching (just four days from now) and all but four states have already certified:  California, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Missouri.  Of these, only Missouri has displayed a Republican majority; the others in the past election have been solidly Democratic.  There are no lawsuits filed against the results of any of these:  not even Donald Trump could have the audacity to claim that California voted for a Republican candidate. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 66,211,027; # of deaths worldwide: 1,523,556; # of cases U.S.: 14,772,535; # of deaths; U.S.: 285,550. 

Evening statistics – Our COVID status in global terms – The “What, me worry?” attitude of the populace  – Mike Pence

Normally I end my entries with the statistics from the evening, but I cannot forbear dwelling on them at the beginning of this one:

# of cases worldwide: 64,816,274; # of deaths worldwide: 1,498,296; # of cases U.S.: 14,309,270; # of deaths; U.S.: 279,845. 

As bare numbers these may not seem very meaningful, but the increase of new cases today was nearly 200,000 and the number of deaths nearly 3,000.  In global terms, we accounted today for more than 31½% of the new cases and nearly 23% of today’s deaths.  There are many countries that are suffering greatly from the inroads of the virus, but not at the rate ours is undergoing.  We have now surpassed France and Mexico in number of deaths in proportion to the national population.  Florida now has over 1,000,000 cases total, the third state to endure such a large number.  Up to this point, hospitalizations are still well under the number of available beds in every state, but there is a shortage of nurses and other medical aides.  It’s not easy to find people willing to work in hospitals under such stressful conditions, let alone finding those with sufficient qualifications.

And in the meantime people continue to flout the guidelines with serene indifference.  The following is a typical incident:  a couple from Hawaii going to their home from San Francisco tested positive for the virus while going through the pre-screening that is now imposed on all airplane travelers.  They managed somehow to board the airline anyway.  Derek Kawakami, the mayor of Kauai (where the couple lives) has since announced that they have been arrested and are facing charges of second-degree reckless endangerment.  All very well, as far as it goes – but now every single one of their fellow-passengers and every member of the flight crew are in a state of wearing suspense as to whether any of them have gotten infected by the actions of this enterprising duo.

In other developments, Mike Pence has been making some effort to distance himself from Trump’s baseless voter fraud claim. As a former governor himself, he is said by insiders to be quite displeased with Trump’s attacks on Governors Kemp (Georgia), DeWine (Ohio), and Ducey (Arizona).  He has not lent his name to any of the fundraising Emails from Trump’s campaign for legal overturns of the election results since November 25^th.  He has also actively campaigned on behalf of Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in a November 20 rally in Georgia, and has publicly participated in the swearing-in of Senator Mark Kelly (a Democrat) a week ago, thereby tacitly admitting that such elections are not “rigged,” as Trump claims they are.  But while many believe that he thinks Trump’s legal campaign is counterproductive and doomed, he has never uttered even the slightest breath of criticism directed towards Trump.  When it comes to the art of sitting gracefully on a fence, Mike Pence must be acknowledged as one of its most distinguished practitioners.

Hiking in the Massanuttens – A sidereal phenomenon – The unexpected behavior of William Barr – Trump’s prospects continue to dwindle – A sad COVID story – Categories of virus transmitters – Evening statistics

The reports for the weather differed greatly.  I heard that the day would be cloudy and that temperatures would be in the forties, and I dressed for the hike accordingly.  But others had come equipped with more layers of clothing than I had, for they had heard that the temperatures would in the middle 30s at most and that the winds would make it feel much colder. As matters turned out, the report I had listened to had the correct forecast, but I am little surprised at the variety in weather reports for the same region.

The hike consisted of a double loop, both loops starting from Elizabeth Furnace.  The first went up Shawl Gap and descended by way of Sherman Gap, and the second went along the Tuscarora Trail to Meneka Peak and descended along the Massanutten Trail:  17 miles in all and about 3800 feet in elevation gain.  Despite the cloudiness of the day, we enjoyed the hike greatly.  Both loops go along high points of ridges and we were able to see extensive views through the bare branches of the trees.  The second loop in particular displayed distant views of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east, and on this occasion they were indeed a dark purple-blue that seemed all the more vivid against the background of the grayish-white sky.  There were overlooks on the descent of the second loop as well, one that looked down into Fort Valley (an area where George Washington did a good deal of surveying) and the other opposite Buzzard Rocks, the bare rock outcropping standing out and contrasting with the portions of the ridge covered with boles of trees.. 

The last part of the descent along the Massanutten Trail is uneven, going through several areas of talus (debris consisting of broken rock).  But I had been on it before and knew what to expect, and after my recent experiences on the AT in Pennsylvania this section seemed much less strenuous in comparison.

Upon returning home, I learned that astronomers are looking forward to an extraordinarily close pairing of Jupiter and of a somewhat dimmer Saturn low in the southwestern sky after sunset.  On the evening of December 21st, they’ll be separated by only 0.1° — so close that to the eye they’ll appear to have merged into a single beacon. They haven’t appeared this close to one another for nearly 400 years. 

Perhaps this phenomenon accounts for the extraordinary piece of news in the headlines today:  namely, that William Barr publicly announced that the Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of the widespread voter fraud alleged by President Trump and his army of lawyers.  I would have as soon expected Jupiter to enter our own planet’s orbit as to learn that William Barr, who up to this point seemed to be Trump’s creature, body and soul, would defy the known wishes of his overlord to this extent. 

All six of the states where Trump has contested the results have now completed certification.  Wisconsin and Arizona completed certification yesterday; Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Nevada certified their results last week..  Some of the states have Republican governors, who have endorsed the results as whole-heartedly as the Democrat governors in this group.  Time is running out for Trump’s last-ditch efforts.  The states are all due to complete certification by the 6^th and cast their electoral votes on the 14^th.  I have no idea what Trump plans to do after the ballots are cast.  It may well be that he has no clear idea himself. 

There are so many sad stories circulating in relation to the virus, but one of the saddest has recently emerged from Russia.  Kirey Pinchin, a man in his sixties, underwent heart surgery and his daughter Svetlana visited him while he was in the hospital.  Eight days after his discharge he died – not from complications with the surgery but from the COVID virus, which he had, without realizing it, contracted in the hospital.  Svetlana was pregnant at the time.  Shortly afterwards she checked into a hospital to have her child delivered, and there she was diagnosed with the virus as well, having contracted it as a result of visiting her father.  She was placed on a ventilator, delivering her child six weeks prematurely and dying shortly afterwards..  Svetlana’s mother Vera also died of the virus just a week later.  The unfortunate infant is now bereft of immediate relatives.  To make matters worse, Svetlana, a divorcee, never identified the child’s father and the orphan is heir to a considerable estate (including two apartments in St. Petersburg, which are valuable commodities in Russia), which means that a fierce custody is raging while the child is only a few days old and undergoing all of the struggles a baby delivered prematurely is bound to experience. 

The CDC has released specific numbers that identify who ls spreading the virus:

• 24% of people who transmit never develop symptoms.
• 35% of people who transmit were pre-symptomatic.
• 41% of people infected others whole experiencing symptoms.

That is one of my fears:  that I might inadvertently spread the virus into the facility that houses my mother if I happen to contract the virus without developing symptoms.  That is possibly neurotic on my part, but how is it possible to tell in such a situation?  I can’t very well get tested every day, or even every week.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 64,177,072; # of deaths worldwide: 1,485,743; # of cases U.S.: 14,108,224; # of deaths; U.S.: 276,976.  Our death toll today surpassed 2, 000.