Month: February 2023

I went down to James River State Park on a trip organized by AD and RH, which, among other things, is home to what may be some of the best scenery along the portion of the Appalachian Trail that goes through Virginia.  We stayed at the cabins in the park itself, and, as is our custom on such trips, prepared our dinners together.  We hiked each day and feasted lavishly afterwards.  We stayed in two cabins that were a few hundred feet apart from one another, so that we went back and forth between them during the evenings to assemble to dine together, and on these occasions we were treated to unusually clear views of the stars.  The park is not close to major cities and the interference from the ambient light is considerably reduced as a result.  Even on Saturday, which was cool and wet, we were not inactive, covering several miles in the park itself.  But it is best to take the hikes in order:

2/23 – Blue Ridge Tunnel Trail, 4½ miles, 300 feet elevation

This trail is quite new, having been opened in 2020.  It is based on the track of an old railway that was used to transport goods in the area.  It is slightly over 2¼ miles long each way, and it goes through a tunnel near Rockfish Gap.  The tunnel is 4,273 in length, the longest train tunnel in the U.S.  It was last used by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1944.  Afterwards a new tunnel was built and the old one fell into disuse.  In 2007 the company donated the old tunnel to Nelson County, which spent some years creating the path of crushed stone that leads through it.  Like the hike along the Torrey Brown Rail Trail, it is a hike that gives a sense of what life was like during a time when the railroad was the most efficient form of transport, not only for passengers but for cargo.  When entering the tunnel its end appeared to be quite close; it was only after walking for a bit that one realized that the light was much further away than it seemed.

2/24 – Upper Crabtree Falls to Spy Rock and back – 9 miles, 1800 feet elevation

The weather for the tunnel trail hike was unusually warm for the season – well over 70 degrees.  Indeed it set a record in some areas.  The temperature on the following day was somewhat more normal but still warmer than average, excellent weather for hiking along mountain trails.  We began by taking a rather jolting ride down to the parking area:  four miles of gravel road in very rough condition down to a parking area a little over a mile from Upper Crabtree Falls.  We did not, however, visit the falls but went in the opposite direction (south) to Spy Rock.  The Appalachian Trail goes up and down several hills here, but none of them unusually taxing, and there were several views to the south through the bare branches of the trees in several areas.  But of course the highlight of the hike was Spy Rock itself.  Spy Rock is a large rock outcropping with a 360-degree panoramic view overlooking numerous forested valleys and several mountains, including the “Religious Range”:  the Priest, the Friar, the Little Friar, and the Cardinal. The sky directly overhead in some areas was an unusually deep shade of blue, thrown into contrast by a few wisps of clouds interspersing it.  It was windy, but we managed to find shelter in one fold of the rock, and there we had lunch, savoring the vistas all the while.

When I was last at Spy Rock – which was just before the pandemic began – there were several people on the summit and going up was something of a scramble.  On this day, being a weekday in mid-winter, we had the rock to ourselves and the path has in the interim been much better defined, so that one no longer has to devise his or her own way to reach the top.  Indeed the Spy Rock Trail has been designed specifically to discourage such clambering, which are injurious to several plant species.  So it was less challenging than I had anticipated, but none the worse for that.

2/25 – James River State Park, 9½ miles, 900 feet elevation

Since the weather forecast was (correctly) for a cool and wet day, and since the drive to the previous day’s hike was long and troublesome, we decided to hike in the park itself, so that we did not have to drive at all.  The park has some similarities to the Shenandoah River State Park:  rambling trails with several undulations skirting along the riparian scenery and featuring at least one striking overlook:  that of the Tye River draining into the James River, coming in almost at a right angle to the larger stream, with the peaks of the Religious Range in the background.  We had planned to use a route recommended by the Hiking Upwards website, but we made a couple of wrong turns and the 7-mile route described online expanded to nearly 10 miles in the course of our roaming. 

We came across daffodils in full bloom on one of the trails.  I am somewhat concerned for the hikes I’ve scheduled for both Wanderbirds and Capital Hiking  four weeks from now.  These hikes are supposed to feature bluebells, but if this unseasonably warm weather continues the bluebells may come into flower several weeks ahead of their usual time and become past their prime when the two clubs take the hikes set for the first week in April.

Because we did not have to travel anywhere to trailheads we ended at about 1:00.  Even though it rained steadily over the next hour and was still very damp in the later afternoon, I went down to the Visitor Center and afterwards to the view of the James River at Dixon Landing, where I saw the train barreling the track along the north bank.

2/26 – Three Ridges, 10½ miles, 4000 feet elevation

We split up for this hike.  Three of us took the Appalachian Trail from the parking area on Rte. 56 to Reids Gap, going over the Three Ridges Mountain from south to north.  Two others also went over Three Ridges, but in the opposite directly, starting at Reids Gap and ending at the Rte. 56 parking area.  Two others took the Mauhar Trail, going south to north, which is somewhat shorter and has less elevation gain, but is still quite strenuous; it is at least 2500 feet of elevation gain and I would not be surprised to learn if the figure is closer to 3000’.

Again, I was here just as the pandemic was beginning.  It is as splendid as I remembered.  Three years ago I took the entire loop, starting at Reids Gap and going south on the Appalachian Trail over Three Ridges and returning via the Mauhar Trail, with an out-and-back to the parking area on Rte. 56 thrown in for good measure.  This effort amounted to 18½ miles in length and nearly 6000 feet of elevation gain.  The hike we completed on this occasion had cars at either end and so we went only one way; still, since three of us were going north instead of south we were covering the more strenuous way of going over the ridges – the parking area on Rte. 56 is about 1600 feet lower than the endpoint at Reids Gap.  As the name indicates, the hike goes over three ridges, each one higher than the next.  The ascent to the first one is moderately graded, but the other two are considerably steeper and, in parts, very rocky in addition; and after the ascent over the third ridge is completed there are a few lesser ups and downs to traverse even after finishing the better part of the climbing.  I met with the other two in our group coming from Reids Gap for lunch at the overlook a little below the summit of the third ridge, something over the halfway point of the hike but – as they assured me – with much of the ascending now behind me.  The summit, incidentally, does not provide the best view; that occurs about 400 lower down upon an outcropping called Hanging Rock.  On this rock slab, as one gazes downwards thousands of feet into the Tye River Valley and at the Priest looming behind it, one feels suspended in air.  A few scattered houses of the village of Tyro (it has fewer than 1,000 residents) accentuate the vast empty expanse below. 

The two members of the group who took the Mauhar Trail option were quite pleased with their hike as well.  It is an appealing trail, somewhat reminiscent of the Little Devils Stairs Trail in Shenandoah National Park, as goes upward to follow the Campbell Creek and skirts around a series of little waterfalls.  AD had packed several snacks in the car for the end of the hike, as she usually does, and on this occasion we eagerly devoured the bagful of popcorn, for all of us greatly needed the salt.

An interesting side-note:  I returned on the 27^th and had intended to post this during the evening.  But even though I returned early and even though the drive was not especially troublesome, I felt too weary to do much more than attend to the various little chores that pile up whenever one returns from a trip, even a brief one.  Today I hiked with the Vigorous Hikers on a there-and-back along the Appalachian Trail between Rte,.55 and Rte. 522 – about 16 miles, with about 3400 feet of elevation gain.  Yet I felt much livelier after the hike than I did after yesterday’s drive.  Some people are able to drive long distances with energy and enjoyment, but I am not one of them.  How strange that a drive of barely over three hours should leave me in a state of lassitude that persisted for the rest of the day, while after a hike lasting five hours I felt energized and invigorated!  The portion of the AT we covered today is not one of the most spectacular portions of the trail, and is without striking features or overlooks; but it wends its way through dense forest and I definitely was feeling what is sometimes called “hiker’s glow” after the completion of the last ascent and the subsequent long descent to the parking area.

We had limited access to Internet during the trip, and we all thought that it was just as well.  Certainly there was little news of interest.  I continue to scan the headlines in vain for any evidence of progress of the indictments against Trump that are supposed to be pending, either from the Department of Justice investigation or the Fulton County investigation.  MJ says that at this stage the legal authorities have delayed too long and that nothing will come of either investigation now, and I fear that she is right.

There is one item relevant to the COVID virus:  Governor Newson of California has declared an end to the state of emergency that had been put into effect three years ago.  There are seven states in which the state of emergency is still in effect, including, rather anomalously, Texas.  Governor Abbott is about as different in his political views from Newson as can possibly be conceived, but in the early stages of the pandemic he was quite cautious, instituting  facemask mandates over the protests of his far-right allies.  Still, the continuance of any individual state’s declaration of a state of emergency is academic at this point, given that the Biden administration plans to end the national state of emergency on May 11^th.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 679,951,261; # of deaths worldwide: 6,800,015; # of cases U.S.: 105,277,221; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,145,502.  There were less than 100 deaths from COVID in the U.S. today, a very encouraging sign.

Hiking in Fort Duncan and along the Maryland AT – To run or not to run:  that is the question – Biden in Kyiv – Evening statistics

The unusually warm winter weather continues, albeit fitfully.  It was rather cool on Monday, but clear for the most part, enabling a few of us to hike in the Fort Duncan area.  The hike consists of bushwhacking for the most part, but at this season the undergrowth was not especially troublesome and the glimpses of the past, both at the earthern parapet of the fort and of the limonite mine, which provides the sensation of a slot canyon when walking between its walls, are well worth the effort.  Of course the views thus obtained are somewhat misleading, for the foothills in this area were almost completely denuded of tress during the middle of the 19^th century, when the fort and the mine were established; and now they are covered with forest, with oaks rearing to great heights.  It is startling to realize how great a change has occurred in little more than a century.

Yesterday I went with the Vigorous Hikers on the Appalachian Trail from Weverton Cliffs to the pedestrian bridge over I-70, a distance of about 19 miles, with over 3500 of elevation gain.  It was sunny during the first part of the hike, but the clouds gathered over us and rain began to patter when we lunched at White Rock.  I was somewhat apprehensive about the section to follow, for White Rock is close to the completion of the ascent of Lambs Knoll from the south, and the descent from that summit to the Reno Monument is long, steep, and rocky.   Happily it was only a light sprinkle that did not make the rocks unduly slippery.  This section of the AT tends to get short shrift from devotees of the trail. It is, to be sure, not spectacular, but there are several views along the way both of the Hagerstown Valley to the west and the Catoctins to the east, and the various ups and downs amount to no trivial effort.  We completed the hike in six hours, including the break we took for lunch, which is a very reasonable pace.

There is some doubt after all about whether Biden will run for re-election.  He has made no specific declaration and he shows no eagerness to begin campaigning.  Most of his daily activities are focused on the Presidential job itself, rather than preparing to undergo another four years of it.  But because he has made no definite indication one way or another, the Democratic Party is currently in a flurry of indecision.  Its members do not wish to undermine Biden’s campaign if he does decide to run; but they also want to start focusing on viable candidates if he does not – assuming, that is, if they can find any. 

Biden has recently shown a degree of decisiveness not usual in him, when he strode with Ukraine’s Zelensky along the streets of war-besieged Kyiv and then, after Putin delivered a rambling but belligerent speech about the decadent West, giving a speech of his own denouncing Putin as a tyrant and a dictator.  Overall he displayed a surprising optimism about the war, even to the extent of speaking at times as if it were already over, with Ukraine as the victor.  The war, after all, has already claimed about 300,000 lives and Russia remains in occupancy of 20% of Ukraine’s territory; so a declaration of victory seems a trifle premature.  Still, Biden’s presence in Kyiv and his resolute attack on Putin afterward is a welcome change from the vacillation and irresolution that has characterized so much of his administration.

I continue to post statistics about COVID cases and deaths from   . . . sheer cussedness, perhaps.  It is becoming clear that reliable data in many instances is impossible to obtain.  For example, the death toll from the recent wave of the disease in China is officially 83,150 people as of Feb. 9.  This figure is clearly an undercount, not the least because it reflects only those who died in hospitals instead of in their own homes.  In addition, deaths from liver, kidney or cardiac failure were also excluded, even when COVID was the obvious cause.  The recent wave of COVID may actually have killed between 1 million and 1½ million.  Even at that, the death rate is lower than that of countries such as the U.S., Germany, Italy, etc., where the disease ran rampant before vaccines were available. 

With this caveat, today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 679,079,043; # of deaths worldwide: 6,793,825; # of cases U.S.: 105,053,586; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,143,368.

Weekend pleasures – A tale of warning – The Dominion Voting lawsuit (perhaps) progresses – Evening statistics

After a rain-filled week the weekend has become fairer, allowing me to attend an after-trip dinner party yesterday and to embark upon a 20-mile hike today in comfort, starting at the MLK memorial (or, in my case, from the Foggy Bottom Metro station, since I did not wish to drive into DC) and completing a loop via the Wharf and the two banks of the Anacostia River, with a brief detour to Heritage and Kingsman Islands.  Both days were clear, and today was especially so, so that the wavelets of the Anacostia danced and sparkled in the sunlight.  It is both heartening and impressive to see how greatly the river has improved in recent years.  I can remember a time – not so very long ago either – when its pollution was a byword; now it is quite clean and virtually free of debris. 

A rather troubling hiker-related story has come to my attention.  Ruth Woroniecki ascended the 8,800-foot summit of Cucamonga Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, and then, upon returning down, slipped on ice that had accumulated on the trail and fell 200 feet.  Her tumble was broken by her landing on a fallen tree trunk.  As a result of the fall, she suffered a number of torn ligaments and tendons in her legs and large gashes on her head, chin, and face that required over 40 stitches, as well as a broken neck.  She was found in this condition by other hikers, who contacted San Bernardino Rescue.  Because of the wind conditions, it took a helicopter two hours to arrive and to lower one rescuer onto the mountain just west of Woroniecki’s location.  But the helicopter could not go any further and the rescuer told Woroniecki that she would have to hike 200 feet so that she could be picked up there.  She managed to get there despite the intense pain from her broken neck and despite the risk of paralysis, after which she was airlifted to a hospital for treatment.  All of her injuries, including the broken neck, were successfully repaired.

The story thus had a happy ending but it is troubling nonetheless, because I can readily imagine such an accident happening to me.  It is well-known that the descent is the most difficult part of any hike.  Unfortunately, however, it often happens that a hiker feels such a sense of accomplishment upon reaching a summit that he or she is off-guard when beginning the downhill portion leading back to the trailhead.  I try to be cautious when going steeply downhill but I am not always successful, and I’ve taken a fall now and then.  Such accidents as I have had were limited and temporary in nature, but that is more a matter of luck than anything else.  Ruth Worniecki was 40 when she underwent her misadventure, whereas I am nearly 70; and I doubt if I could have recovered under such circumstances as thoroughly as she managed to do.  I must try never to let my guard down while pacing upon the trails; more than that I cannot do.

Excerpts from an exhibit of the lawsuit that Dominion Voting Systems has leveled against Fox News have been made public, and it appears that the Fox News hosts had doubts about the allegations of voter fraud in November, 2020, with Tucker Carlson telling a producer that “Sidney Powell is lying” and Sean Hannity remarking “that whole narrative that Sidney was pushing, I did not believe it for one second.”  The trial is scheduled to begin in mid-April.  Superior Court Justice Eric Davis has ruled that in this case Dominion Voting Systems is to be regarded as a public figure, which means that Dominion must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the Fox defendants acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth. 

Unfortunately it is difficult for laymen like myself to determine what constitutes “proof” to the subtleties of the legal mind.  I’m not the only one in such perplexity.  See, for example, Ambrose Bierce’s definition of “technicality” in The Devil’s Dictionary:  “In an English court a man named Home was tried for slander in having accused his neighbor of murder. His exact words were: ‘Sir Thomas Holt hath taken a cleaver and stricken his cook upon the head, so that one side of the head fell upon one shoulder and the other side upon the other shoulder.’ The defendant was acquitted by instruction of the court, the learned judges holding that the words did not charge murder, for they did not affirm the death of the cook, that being only an inference.”

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 678,691,949; # of deaths worldwide: 6,791,079; # of cases U.S.: 104,986,098; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,142,595.

In the Massanuttens – The French film biography of Mozart’s sister – Biden’s bid for re-election – Donald Trump advocates firing squads – One more Russian defenestration – In-fighting in North Korea – Evening statistics

Tuesday was crowded with incident, as Oscar Wilde would say.  Much of the day was taken up with a hike that went up to Signal knob and then down to Mudhole Gap (somewhat more attractive than its name would lead one to believe), taking the Mudhole Gap Trail nearly all the way back to Rte. 678, but stopping just short of it to connect with the Tuscacora Trail and back to the parking area – about 16 miles in all.  It was chilly in the morning but it warmed up quickly, and I had divested myself of both jacket and sweater by the end of the hike.  The view of the Shenandoah Valley down to Strasburg immediately below and stretching for miles both to the north and to the south, is beginning to become overgrown as the trees on the mountain slope immediately below it are gradually becoming taller, but it remains magnificent nonetheless.

When I returned, I went back home to shower and change my clothes, and took the Metro downtown, where I met with AD, EB, and WG to see “Nannerl,” a film about Mozart’s sister.  I was not sure what to expect. She died in obscurity and her life does not, at first glance, provide much of cinematic interest.  She seems to have had ambitions of becoming a composer in her youth, but nothing composed by her has survived.  After the years of performing with her brother as a pair of child prodigies, she stayed at home in Salzburg with her mother and earned a living teaching the piano.  At the age of 32 she married a widower in his fifties, with five children from his two previous marriages, whom she helped to raise, along with three children of her own.  Only one of these lived to maturity.  Eventually she became a widow and supported herself again by teaching music; also she came in contact with Mozart’s widow and the latter’s second husband, and provided information to aid them in writing Mozart’s biography.  She lost her eyesight towards the end of her life, but was not (as the film mistakenly states) impoverished; even though she lived rather frugally, she left a considerable fortune to her surviving son.

As EB pointed out, in some ways she provides a real-life example of Virginia Woolf’s account of a hypothetical sister of Shakespeare in A Room of One’s Own, who has talents similar to her brother’s but whose sex provides an insuperable barrier towards realizing them.  Maria Anna Mozart did not, of course, die young after being seduced and abandoned by an unscrupulous fellow-artist, as Woolf’s Shakespearian sibling does, but all accounts of her from those who saw her perform in early years speak of her extraordinary musical gifts, while Mozart’s own correspondence mentions his sister’s early works with enthusiastic praise.  One might have expected her to have left at least a few extant works that could have borne comparison with her brother’s early symphonies and concertos or at the very least have shed light on his compositional methods.  But she gave up any such attempt, quite understandably.  In her day it was virtually impossible for a woman to earn a living as a composer.  (As indeed it was for many years afterward.  Clara Wieck Schumann, who was born approximately 70 years after Maria Anna Mozart, wrote several beautiful works [personally I greatly prefer her music to her husband’s], but she obtained fame and income through her work as a performer, not as a composer.  “I once believed that I possessed creative talent,” she wrote.  “But I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?”  Sadly, most of her own music was never played by anyone else during her lifetime.)

So what does one do when confronted with the prospect of making a film about a person to whom nothing much happened and who was pretty much relegated to the sidelines during her adult life?  Why, make something up, of course!  There is not the slightest evidence that the Mozart family had contact with any of the sons and daughters of Louis XV of France, but in “Nannerl” the titular figure forms a friendship with Louise, the King’s youngest daughter, and eventually becomes involved in an affair (albeit one that is, unusually for a French film, Platonic) with the recently widowed Louis the Dauphin, the only surviving son of the king.  The film is well-acted, the sets are handsome and imposing, the music that accompanies the scenes is hauntingly lovely; but the discrepancy between the events being portrayed and what actually happened (or rather what didn’t happen) is so glaring that, for me at any rate, it greatly detracted from my enjoyment of the film.

I have commented previously, upon seeing another French film “biography” of Vincent Van Gogh, about movie-makers’ tendency (and French movie-makers in particular) to distort reality in order to conform with their preconceptions.  It is axiomatic that any great artist must by definition be a great lover; therefore, let Vincent Van Gogh be portrayed as a man who causes every woman who crosses his path to swoon over him – even though in reality he had little success with women and was once turned down in a proposal of marriage with insulting speed and decision.  Similarly, it is not sufficient simply to show Nannerl dappling in composition and then sadly coming to the conclusion that attempting to obtain musicians to perform her works and to induce audiences to hear them is a wasted effort; no, she must go about in masculine garb to the Palace of Versailles and in this disguise conduct a performance of her works to admiring listeners among the French nobility, all of this undertaken with the connivance of no less a personage than the heir to the throne of France.  Incidentally, Maria Anna Mozart was born in 1751 and she is said in the film to be “nearly 15” when she meets the recently widowed Dauphin, who in fact lost his first wife in 1747.  I daresay the movie-makers would have had Nannerl play some of her music to console Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette through their last months during the French Revolution  if they could have stretched the calendar far enough. 

If any further proof is needed that the film-makers were completely out of touch with the era they ostensibly portrayed, a speech in one scene given by one of the professors in the Academy of Music puts all doubts to rest.  The good professor states that anyone who has technical knowledge of musical techniques but who composes without passion is to be pitied.  That concept simply did not exist in the 18^th century.  Music, both to composers and to their audiences, was a craft.  Composers could, and did, invest their compositions with a great deal of emotion and many violent quarrels erupted about the respective merits of various composers (the one concerning the superiority Gluck to Piccini or vice versa rocked Paris for months on end), but no one at that time considered passion for its own sake to be an attribute to strive for.  “The great emotional wallow,” as C. S. Lewis stigmatized it, did not emerge until the Romantic era of the 19^th century, though admittedly it has dominated the arts ever since.

But what does historical accuracy matter, it may be asked, if the film tells a good story?  The answer is that if the story were frankly presented as a fiction it would matter very little; but the distortion of historical personages to suit one’s personal convenience should not be dismissed so lightly.  When living men and women are subjected to such a process, it is called slander, and so-called biographies such as these are not any the less slanderous because the people they depict are no longer alive. 

It is, alas, no slander but a sober matter of fact that Biden, now aged 80, is pursuing plans to campaign for the Presidency in 2024 and, to that end, has just undergone a physical examination, whose results are yet to be announced.  What he expects to gain by such an undertaking, goodness only knows.  Few people have received his bid for re-election with enthusiasm.  According to a recent survey, only 22% of the populace believe that he should run at all; and even among the Democrats only a scant 37% of them endorse this effort.  During recent months his fits of coughing have become more frequent, and his gait has become noticeably stiffer and more halting, the result of a combination of spinal arthritis and nerve damage to his feet. These symptoms have led one observer to remark “the guy can’t walk, let alone run.”

There has been a bit of an outcry following a report that Donald Trump is planning to introduce firing squads as a method of capital punishment to be used as an alternative to the lethal injection that is currently in use, and even (according to one source, which however is not confirmed elsewhere) that such punishments should be televised.  (There are a handful of states that technically allow this method of execution, although it was last used well over a century ago.)  I can only hope that Trump will reinforce precept with example by presenting himself to one such squad if convicted of sedition.

Those wacky Russians, they just keep losing their balance whenever they desert the ground floor of any building.  The body of 58-year-old Marina Yankina, who headed the Financial Support Department of the Russian Defense Ministry in St. Petersburg’s Western Military District, was found in the Kalininsky district of St. Petersburg as a result of an unexplained fall from a window, some 160 feet above the pavement.  In the past few months, many officials in Russia have met their ends in this bizarre manner:  tycoon Pavel Antov, who fell from a window at the hotel in the city of Rayagada, India; former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute Anatoly Geraschenko, who fell “from a great height” down a flight of stairs in the institute building; Lustoil chairman Ravil Maganov, who fell from a window in a hospital in Moscow.  I keep urging Russians, and especially any Russians who have criticized Putin in public, to stick to basements whenever they can; but so far they haven’t taken any notice.

Another person who should be on her guard is Kim Yo Jong, the once-powerful sister of Kim Jong Un.  I say “once-powerful” because recently Kim Jong Un has been parading his 10-year old daughter Kim Ju Ae in public at various key events and has even issued five new stamps with her image on them, a pretty clear indication that this child is his designated successor.  As previous experience has shown, being a once-powerful family member of Kim Jong Un is not a good position to occupy.  Kim Jong Un has had both his uncle and his half-brother eliminated once he decided that they might become threats to his grasp on the nation’s political power, so Kim Yo Jong has good reason to hope that Kim Jong Un will not be turning his fraternal attentions towards her in the near future.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  678,223,481; # of deaths worldwide: 6,787,167; # of cases U.S.: 104,898,749; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,141,524.

Gloomy weather – Two abandoned children – An advocate for senicide – Women return to the labor workforce – Evening statistics

A dreary day!  The temperature was actually warmer than it had been yesterday morning, but yesterday was sunny and dry and absolutely delightful; today the gray sky and the continual patter of the rain for hours without respite lowered the spirits, and the chill seemed to creep into one’s bones.  The hike I had planned to do was canceled, and that was quite a relief to me.  Shenandoah National Park closed its roads, for in those elevations the precipitation took the form of snow. 

I saw a sad story today.  Raven Yates, like Ibsen’s Nora, walked out of her house (located in the small town of Roman Forest, TX) late last year, leaving two children behind.  Unlike the children of Ibsen’s Nora, there was no faithful old nursemaid and no father to look after them once she departed; they were left on their own from September 28 to November 14, 2022.  The police are still searching for Ms. Yates, who is believed to be roaming somewhere in the vicinity of Mobile, AL.    The father of the 12-year-old girl called police when he became concerned upon being informed that the children were home alone. The father, who lives in California, said he had been ordering food for the children.  And why, it may be asked, did the 12-year old daughter not notify her father that she had been abandoned?  The answer is that she and her three-year old sibling have different fathers, and she was frightened by the prospect of her father coming to take her away and leave her little half-brother completely alone and helpless.  She did her best to look after herself and her brother for more than six weeks on end; but of course a twelve-year old child cannot be expected to keep house and be caretaker of a three-year old all on her own.  When the police arrived in November, the refrigerator and food cabinets were nearly empty and the little boy’s room smelled heavily of urine.  Ms. Yates, in the meantime, has blithely posted on social media during this quest for self-identity, scarcely mentioning her children at all.  One can imagine the terrors that this unfortunate young girl must have undergone after concluding, with only too much supporting evidence, that neither of her parents could be trusted with the welfare of herself and her brother. 

Yusuke Narita, an assistant professor of economics at Yale University, has made a “modest proposal” concerning the issue of how to deal with the burdens of Japan’s rapidly aging society:  namely, mass suicide and seppuku.  This statement is not quite as bizarre as it sounds.  There are locations in Japan when senicide (or ubasute, as it was called) may have taken place in times of famine; it is not certain whether this custom actually occurred or whether it is merely legend, as the evidence is conflicting.  In any case, if it did occur, it did so very sporadically and long ago, and it certainly is not in use now.  Somewhat disquietingly, despite being virtually unknown in the U.S., Narita has a wide following in social media among the Japanese, especially among frustrated youths who believe their economic progress has been held back by a gerontocratic society.  Critics worry that his comments could replicate the sentiments that led Japan to pass a eugenics law in 1948, under which doctors forcibly sterilized thousands of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illness, or genetic disorders. In 2016, similarly, a man who believed those with disabilities should be euthanized killed 19 people at a care home outside Tokyo. 

On a brighter note, as the pandemic continues to lessen the depressing trend of women leaving the labor force is being reversed.   The percentage of prime-age (25-54) women in the labor force has steadily risen in the years since World War II, from 39% in 1953 to 77% today.  The pandemic interrupted this trend, causing women to lose 2 million more jobs than men did during its first months.  Health care, education, retail, hospitality, and leisure, in which women have a higher representation than in many other industries, were all severely affected.  But at this point women are rapidly re-entering the workforce.  Now the schools are re-opening, the problem of child care has to some extent been eased, while increased opportunities of telecommuting have enabled pregnant women and mothers of young children to work from home.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 677,594,767; # of deaths worldwide: 6,782,387; # of cases U.S.: 104,766,853; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,140,017.  Those who are curious enough to compare today’s death toll in the U.S. with that of the preceding day may notice that COVID apparently claimed only two lives today.  Unfortunately, that does not of itself indicate a favorable trend.  Deaths tend to be reported less during the weekends, particularly on Sundays, with the statistics from the succeeding weekdays making up for the loss.  The daily death toll remains in the hundreds – an improvement, it is true, from the thousands of deaths during this season a year ago, but still a good deal higher than is pleasant to contemplate.

Along a rail trail – Abuses of Oregon liquor control – McDonald’s embarrassing ad – Evening statistics

Today I went with the Capital Hiking Club on the Torrey Brown Rail Trail.  The trail is flat (not quite flat, however – it has a very gentle grade in places so that in the course of 14½ miles it ascends 200 feet, but certainly flat enough so that its rise is scarcely noticeable), and I suppose that is why, unusually for a CHC hike, it was rather sparsely attended.  It is shame, actually, for the hike is much more interesting than I remembered it to be.  I have not been on it since the pandemic began, and indeed since well before the beginning of the pandemic.  The trail, as the name indicates, goes along the track of a defunct railway, in this case one that connected farms in northern Maryland to York, PA in order to transport their produce.  It does not intersect any other trails but there is a quantity of quiet country roads that go across the path.  Many parts of the trail recall an era that, if not simpler, was at any rate different:  a time when agriculture provided a greater amount of the GNP than it does now, when transport by railroad was the fastest way of getting from one point to another, and when the few cars to be seen on the roads were still regarded as toys for the wealthy.  We were fortunate in our weather as well.  During the past few days the sky has been cloudy and dun-colored, but today was very sunny, with air like crystal and a few slight snow-white clouds emphasizing the bright azure surrounding them.  Our timing was fortuitous; during the bus ride home the clouds began to thicken and cover the sun, while the forecast for the following day is one of unrelenting rain. 

The Oregon Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation of Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) following an internal investigation that concluded that OLCC officials were diverting rare, sought-after bourbons, which can cost thousands of dollars per bottle, for personal use.  The officials appear to have routed limited bottles of top-shelf bourbon to a liquor store, often in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie where the commission headquarters is located, and would reserve them for pickup later.  This process, which would appear to be fairly risky to an outsider, can actually be performed with surprising ease. Oregon is one of 17 states known as a “control state,” in which the government operates either the wholesaling and/or retailing of distilled spirits in the state. Nearly all the liquor the state receives goes to a single warehouse, from which it is then distributed to various retailing outlets, known as “contract stores,” that are operated by state-appointed liquor agents. 

The officials claim that they were paying for the liquor that they acquired; but if so, they were not paying market prices.  Bourbon has had a boom in popularity during the pandemic of almost unprecedented proportions.  Since, by definition, 15- and 20-year old bourbons cannot be manufactured overnight, the prices for these in particular have skyrocketed.   In a state that imposes uniform government-mandated markups, a bottle of bourbon that might be worth $2,000 on the secondary (illegal) market is selling for $100–200 dollars in a state-run store. Inevitably, the rush to obtain these bottles is enormous and creates ideal conditions for insider jobs and abuses of power. Oregonians are well-aware of this state of affairs.  They have attempted to privatize their state liquor system on several occasions, including most recently in 2022, when a voter initiative was aborted before making it onto the ballot.

McDonald’s has had a bit of a a mishap concerning one of its ads at a bus stop in Cornwall, England, for “McCrispy.” a sandwich consisting of a patty of chicken dipped in batter and deep-fried, accompanied with shredded lettuce and mayonnaise sauce on a soft potato bun. The placement of the ad was somewhat unfortunate:  the bus stop in question is directly opposite the Penmount Crematorium.  Several of the locals found this contretemps quite amusing, although, as one of them pointed out, it was “no worse than our local council entertaining the idea of allowing a crematorium to be built next door to a retirement village,” 

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 677,425,583; # of deaths worldwide: 6,781,871; # of cases U.S.: 104,764,296; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,140,015.

Harbingers of an early spring – COVID-created recluses – Trump’s attempt to denigrate DeSantis backfires – Evening statistics

The little purple crocuses, the first flowering of the year, appeared on my lawn today, indicating that spring will come early.  The weather continues to be considerably warmer than the average and the snowfall to date has been insignificant, even though we are now in the eighth week of winter.  Stream water levels will be lower than usual once the spring thaw begins in earnest, for there will be little snowmelt to augment them.  Even on the tops of the mountains in the Blue Ridge and Massanutten ranges hardly any snow has been seen all winter.

I received a rather sad letter from a married couple I know.  I had reached out to them in hopes of setting up a visit.  They wrote back to explain that they were still leading quite a restricted life as a result of COVID.  The husband has immune deficiencies and in an effort to minimize his coming down with the disease they have seen hardly anyone since the pandemic began.  Their visitors are confined to the sole surviving parent of the two spouses, and two close friends in the neighborhood, but outside of that they have been in seclusion.  They are hoping to end their self-imposed isolation by the summer of 2023, provided that they can overcome their phobia (and they used that word in their communication to me).  For their own sake I hope so as well.  This continued shunning of society must in the long run be as detrimental as possible risks to exposure might be.  I have no doubt that their fears must be multiplied among hundreds or even thousands of other households, transforming many into hermits even now, when the pandemic is waning.   It may not be easy for them to resume social activity again, even after they emerge from hiding, after a three-year hiatus of interacting with others.

Donald Trump appears to be seriously rattled by the competition provided by Ron DeSantis, since he has gone to the lengths of posting a 20-year old photo of the latter when DeSantis was a high school teacher, apparently sharing alcohol with three high school girls.  The photo doesn’t actually show him drinking, but it does show one of the young women holding up a brown glass bottle, whose contents are presumably alcoholic.  This maneuver does not appear to have been very effective.  Several alumnae recalled that DeSantis went to parties with the seniors without any particular mishap. Two students said that DeSantis attended two parties where alcohol was served, though they added it was after graduation. They weren’t bothered by it at the time and his behavior appears to have been unexceptionable.  “It was his first job out of Yale, he was cute. We didn’t really think too much about it,” one of the former students said.  One can imagine the chagrin of Trump upon hearing this reaction, particularly since his own past is associated with advances towards numerous ladies younger than himself, including at least 26 who have accused him of sexual harassment, and not one of whom would ever have dreamed of calling him cute. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  676,772,170; # of deaths worldwide: 6,775,720; # of cases U.S.: 104,575,714; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,137,528.

Some long-term social effects from COVID – Blaming the victim, in this case by the victim himself – Evening statistics

On yesterday’s hike I met KW, who had lived in Washington several years and had, upon his return to Canada, periodically visited the area for two to three months at a time.  Whenever he was in the area he was a fairly frequent participant in Wanderbirds hikes.  Such participation, of course, came to end after the pandemic began and traveling from one country to another became restricted.  This year was the first time since 2019 that he had been in Washington, and naturally any changes that occurred during that period were much more apparent to him, who was seeing their results all at once, than to those of us who had witnessed the changes occurring gradually over a period of many months. 

Among other things, he said that the business offices in Washington had far fewer occupants than they had had during the pre-pandemic days.  This observation did not surprise me at all.  Many employees had taken to working from home and telecommuting during the days of the pandemic; and even now that the pandemic was receding, the majority of them have no great desire to resume commuting.  It is has been asserted by some experts that the amount of work performed by people in offices, as opposed to telecommuting, may eventually be diminished by as much as a third.  In an area like DC, in which information technology forms a large component of its industry and which by its very nature can be performed remotely without any impact on the quality of the work, this situation seems especially likely.  Telecommuting, moreover, allows people to take up residence in areas at a greater distance from the physical location of the office to which they report, and such areas tend to have less expensive housing.  I cannot tell what the eventual consequences of this increase from working remotely and the subsequent reduction of personal interaction among company employees may be, but I have no doubt that they will be far-ranging.

Blatant sycophancy was of course endemic (to use a word that is greatly in vogue these days) during the Trump administration, but today we received a reminder that it was a prominent feature in American politics long before he ever took office.  On this day Harry Whittington passed away at the age of 95.  And who was he, it may asked?  Whittington’s claim to fame is rather a singular one.  He was shot in the face with over 200 spray pellets during a quail hunt by Dick Cheney, who was Vice-President at the time.  The shot was of course accidental, but the injury was severe nonetheless, resulting in a heart attack and a collapsed lung that required a week-long treatment in a hospital. 

All of this might have been dismissed as an unfortunate incident, were it not for the sequel:  Whittington publicly apologized to Cheney for being the victim of the latter’s carelessness. In this way he set the example for the numerous ranks of men and women who have been insulted, vilified, traduced, and manhandled by Donald Trump, only to grovel and plead for forgiveness, and to express gratitude for the spitefulness that he bestowed upon them.  Self-respect is not a quality that is greatly cultivated among our politicians, and an American legislator or executive staff member who possesses even a vestige of it is truly a rara avis, as unusual a sight as a black swan or a white crow.

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 676,396,299; # of deaths worldwide:  6,773,261; # of cases U.S.: 104,509,261; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,136,448.

On Signal Knob, then and now – Donald Trump denounces his own achievements – Evening statistics

We had two splendid winter days both yesterday and today.  I was not able to hike yesterday, because I was host to visiting friends; nor did I grudge the time spent with them, for they live over an hour’s drive from me and it had been several months since we last met.  Today, however, I went out with the Wanderbirds to hike along Signal Knob.  This area is a special significance to me.  When I arrived at the age of 40 I decided that I was leading too sedentary a lifestyle and decided that it would be well to transform myself from an occasional hiker to someone who hikes on a regular basis.  For some time afterwards I took to hiking with various groups within the PATC or to hiking on my own, tracing out routes from a book about the trails in Shenandoah National Park.  But although the benefits of the exercise were unquestionable, my knowledge of the area remained limited and as time passed I was puzzled as to how to diversify the hikes I undertook and range abroad further.  In time some colleagues of mine, aware of my interest in hiking, as a birthday present gave me a book that described 50 hikes in Virginia.  Upon looking through it and reading the descriptions, the one at Signal Knob seemed at once interesting and easy to drive to; the trailhead is slightly over an hour’s driving time from my house.  This hike was accordingly the first one in the book that I attempted.  It struck me as being quite difficult then, although it does not seem so to me now; but the day on which I ventured it was beautifully fine and clear, and this hike might be said to be the beginning of the time that I became a dedicated hiker.

Today, it is true, we did not follow the exact route described in the book.  It is a modification, which I have also done in the past.  The original hike is a counterclockwise loop (it can be done in the clockwise direction as well, but that is not as satisfactory, since in that direction the rockier and more difficult part of the circuit is reached after several miles of exertion, when one is already in the mood for the hike to come to end) that leads to Signal Knob, then goes down a fire road and turns on the Tuscacora Trail to a junction with the Massanutten Trail, leading back to the trailhead.  On this occasion we went to Signal knob, but then backtracked to an earlier junction with the Meneka Peak Trail, which goes over the peak to meet with the Tuscacora Trail before resuming the loop.  There is no real overlook at Meneka Peak, but at this time of year views to the valley below are easy to obtain; and in the strange clarity of the air and with the odd position of the sunbeams slanting downwards, the tops of mountains on the far side of the valley appeared truly blue, almost of the pigment that is sometimes called Prussian blue, as opposed to the vague adjective carelessly slung about by poets. 

This following news item is not exactly a national health issue, but COVID is certainly at the center of it.  In an effort to denigrate Ron DeSantis, Trump has dubbed him as one who “Loved the Vaccines,” seemingly forgetful of the fact that his own administration promoted the “warp speed” development of the COVID vaccines and that he was quite anxious to take credit for them just as recently as a few months ago.  Indeed, the rapid development and deployment of the vaccines while the pandemic was steadily accelerating is probably the sole achievement of his otherwise wretchedly corrupt and chaotic reign.  However, if he is so intent on robbing himself of any acclaim now, I am the very last person to stand in his way.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 676,249,453; # of deaths worldwide:  6,772,080; # of cases U.S.: 104,488,837; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,136,313.

The continuing saga of George Santos – How a craving for attention led to an arrest – Falling influenza and RSV rates – Evening statistics

One might not have thought that George Santos could have made matters worse for himself than he has already done; and yet that it is what this unlucky young man did.  According to Richard Osthoff, a homeless veteran who lives in a tent, Santos set up a GoFundMe page on behalf of Osthoff’s service dog Sapphire, who had developed a large tumor and needed life-saving surgery, and then proceeded to retain every penny of the money that was raised for himself.  Michael Boll, founder of New Jersey Veterans Network, was eventually asked to intervene in the matter after the dog died.  His account confirms Osthoff’s version of this episode, At first Boll tried to give Santos the benefit of the doubt, but as time went on and Santos continued to evade his suggestions of either reimbursing all who contributed or give the money to veterinarian in Osthoff’s area for the purpose of saving future dogs needing treatment, he concluded that Santos “was not going to help out at all.”  Osthoff has since obtained an interview on CNN, during which he made the dramatic gesture of bringing the dog’s ashes for display.  GoFundMe has already banned Santos from using the website again, and the matter is under investigation by federal law enforcement officials.  It is unclear whether his colleagues in the GOP are coming to realize that Santos is an unmitigated embarrassment who cannot be jettisoned too quickly or whether they will recommend that Donald Trump take Santos under his wing as an adoptive son.

Connoisseurs of Italian cuisine in St. Etienne, France, were in agreement that the Caffe Rossini restaurant produced pizza to die for – that is, if the chef didn’t decide to kill you first.  Edgardo Greco was working under the alias Paolo Dimitrio as a pizzaiolo, having been on the run for 16 years after the brutal slaughter of two rivals with iron bars.  He was apprehended by Italian police as a prominent figure in the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Italy’s most powerful crime group.  He probably would have eluded capture, however, if he had kept a low profile and took refuge in anonymity.   Instead, he was unable to resist the temptation to appear in an article in the French newspaper Le Progres, which praised his cookery and which the restaurant proudly posted on its official Facebook page.  The restaurant owners, understandably embarrassed to discover afterwards that its master pizza chef was in fact a well-known Mafioso member, has since disconnected its telephone number.

Not only are COVID rates are falling across the country, but flu rates are as well.  According to the CDC, most states experienced “minimal” or “low” flu activity in the past week, with only New Mexico and Oklahoma experiencing “high” rates.  Flu-related hospitalizations this week are lower this week than they were last week by nearly one-third.  There was a flurry of activity both with flu and RSV during the holiday season, which is earlier than usual, but this activity appears to have peaked, as the downward trend has continued for several weeks.  The total amount of deaths for the season from flu so far is approximately 17,000.  The total amount of deaths from COVID, sadly, is still between 4 and 5 times that number.  COVID is less of a threat than it once was, but it remains a threat nonetheless.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 675,978,628; # of deaths worldwide:  6,769,631; # of cases U.S.: 104,450,115; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,135,888.

The first winter snowfall – More political posturing in the two chambers – Evening statistics

A snowfall occurred overnight.  In this area there has been no snow during either December or January.  The snow, it is true, provided only a very light covering upon the grass, most of which melted in the gleaming sunshine by the end of the day; but as it is the first snowfall of the season, even though half of winter is nearly gone, one cannot be too exacting or fastidious under the circumstances. 

I have no doubt that cries of global warming will be echoing throughout the social media in consequence.  But I can remember the winter of 1975 in suburban DC, which had several periods of weather warm enough to feel more like early spring than winter.  Leaves would unfurl and flowers bud prematurely, only to be halted by a frost coming upon the warmer days; then we would have another three or five days of warm weather, followed by another frost, and so it continued throughout the entire season – so that by the time the spring thaw had truly arrived, the plants were showing clear signs of exhaustion and the spring that followed was relatively colorless as a result of the diminished blooms.  Global warming is certainly a valid concern, but it is a good more deal more gradual than most people appear to believe.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would end the COVID state of emergency immediately.  The vote in favor of the motion was 229-197, precisely along party lines.  This bill has little chance of passing in the Senate, which is Democrat-controlled and will almost certainly align with Biden’s intention, already announced, to end the emergency on May 11^th.  In other words, the House has made a thoroughly meaningless motion, and they are well-aware that it is meaningless.  They are merely posturing, in order, as they believe, to win the approbation of their constituents; and sadly, they are probably right in their supposition that many voters will be impressed by such empty gestures.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 675,405,739; # of deaths worldwide:  6,763,892; # of cases U.S.: 104,249,672; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,133,521.