Jeffrey Rose
Life in the time of ignoring Earth Day…
Las Vegas & Charlotte
April 28, 2024
Turning 80 is much better than the alternative not turning 80:
Driving to the airport I passed a split billboard. The right side said, “Wait for Jesus”. The left side was advertising a gun show. Who said irony is dead? It appears that downtown Charlotte is mostly bank buildings. My hotel, the Grand Bohemian, must be grander than a regular Bohemian. Since they precharged me $400 for possible essentials, it must be. I walked through glitzy downtown Charlotte looking for old downtown Charlotte. There isn't one left, if there ever was one. There were a few old houses, immaculately (expensively) restored, amid mid rise condos. There otherwise was no southern charm visible. There is a dog park/cemetery a block from my hotel. Our dinner was in a restaurant at the top of the hotel. I had crab cakes and a couple of slabs of rare roast beef, my first beef in months. After some good conversation and bad, I was downstairs to bed, sleepless because of the three-hour time change. I managed to fall asleep, but woke up about 2 am to take an acid reducer for my meat hangover. The meeting was interesting because I liked the business concept. My hosts are buying small mobile home parks, 15-50 units, with no amenities. The tenants own their own trailers and fix their own toilets. This is about the only affordable housing left in the US. The company will raise rates slowly and help the tenants keep their homes or help them sell the homes if that isn't possible. After the meeting, we filed onto a bus and visited a couple of the properties. Some of the single-wide's were indeed old and tattered. But all was neat, mostly with some evidence of pride of ownership. We went by the office, which indeed looked like an office. This was about 30 miles north of the Charlotte downtown.
The next stop was obviously the draw that got most of our crew to Charlotte, a professional-style go cart track up by NASCAR land. It is supposedly owned by NASCAR drivers as a place to teach their children legally how to drive and race safely. I remained a spectator, not knowing if the story was true, but, indeed, the 12-year-olds were much faster than our securities sellers and mobile home park operators. Dinner was lots and lots of greasy pizza with wine, water, or IPA. All the beer was local and IPA or double IPA. Judicious eating and drinking got me through the races and dinner. Back at the hotel, the CEO and I ducked into the hotel bar to finish our conversation. We both had water. I remembered the acid reducer before going to bed for my 4.5 hours of sleep (per Fit Bit). If you ever have to fly out of CLT, the PreCheck line on the American Airline side can be long. Nothing new that my flight to LAS had no empty seats. We landed in cold rain during Friday rush hour traffic. I could even see snow on the mountains to the west. The drive home took twice as long as usual as streets were still flooded. Orange cones wouldn't allow me to turn left into my complex. Later, unpacking, it seemed like something died in my travel vest. Note to self: when carrying a banana to a flight for a later snack, take it out of the vest immediately upon being seated in the plane. Do not forget...
I have disagreed with the government of Israel's treatment of Palestinians for at least 35 years. I guess that made me an antisemite. Now I find out. Since you ignored Earth Day more or less...think about plastic and not using so much of it. The Trump trial is taking all the air out of the media. Shouldn't he want to be fined for violating his gag order? It gives him more chances to raise money from those who have less than he has. $130,000 is a lot to pay for not having sex. You elect a narcissist bully, then don't be surprised if he acts like a narcissist bully. Kevin McCarthy remains a dick, but now a limp dick. It's doubtful that the supreme court can solve the nation's homeless crisis. It's been six months, Bibi. What'cha got? Crying “antisemitism” against those who disagree with you is a great way to foster antisemitism. It seems to me that the Christian fundamentalists protecting us from antisemitism are the same antisemites I grew up with in the South. Beating up and arresting college students didn't seem to work during Vietnam and probably won't now. Only time will tell whether Ukraine's receipt of US funding will help or whether it was too late. I can't see whether anything can help British prime minister Sunak's political survival. Iran is fighting a two-front war, Israel overseas and women flouting its Islamic dress code at home, two losing battles. The world does need publicists, but not too many of them. World military spending hit $2.4 trillion last year, a 35-year high. The US spent more than a third of the total. I am in favor of granting limited immunity to supreme court justices...very limited. Small items seem to come in gigantic boxes. Easier to ship? Harder to steal? Are you surprised that there was corruption at the National Enquirer? I wouldn't be surprised if there actually is corruption at Tik Tok. If there is, should the solution be to crash free speech on the Internet? Free speech has generally become a moving target with a flexible definition. Old billionaires who cancel their college endowments because they don't agree with current students shouldn't have their names on academic buildings anyway. Don't arrest students or shut them out of class just because you don't agree with them. Wouldn't it be smart if pavement was light-colored to reflect heat instead of absorbing it? That racist rant just might be an AI-generated revenge scheme. Hey government...if you want a stable business environment, don't keep changing the rules. Storms and tornadoes swept across the deeply Republican states in the lower Midwest. The governors immediately asked for federal disaster aid. More irony??
“I am flush with excitement”:
The administrations ban on menthol cigarettes was canceled for political, not health worries. Is it a surprise that most menthol smokers are black? Most of the congressional districts that will profit from Ukraine aid are represented by Republicans, Here are the 112 house Republicans who voted against the Ukraine aid. These are the 37 house Democrats and 21 Republicans who voted against Israeli aid. The senate finally passed the $95 billion aid package on Monday. The Democratic presidential convention is in Chicago this year, the same as in 1968. College students are restless now. College students were restless then. This should cause the Biden camp sleepless nights. If they choose to “debate”, I will watch at least a little of a Trump-Biden shouting match. It will certainly not be a debate.
Secretary of state Blinken will again visit China, his second trip within a year, to see what potholes he can smooth over. The justice department has agreed to pay $138.7 million to the 139 women who claim to have been abused by gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Ignoring complaints from women and girls, the FBI was reluctant to investigate him. The FTC banned non-compete agreements for most US workers. The EPA issued a rule Thursday telling operators of coal-fired power plants to capture smokestack emissions or shut down.
The Real Housewives of Black Rock City:
Work started on the $12 billion high-speed train line from Las Vegas to somewhere in the LA basin (Rancho Cucamonga?). On time? On budget? Highly unlikely. The California electrical grid has too much solar power. On sunny days the price of electricity goes negative and power has to be dumped. The official residence of the mayor of Los Angeles was broken into with the mayor and her family inside. The bungling burglar was taken into custody. The Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco opened its $1.7 million public toilet (donated) with a potty party. Arizona senate candidate Kari Lake lost another voting lawsuit at the US supreme court. The Texas electrical grid operator is warning of potential power outages in the state this week because of unexpected heat during previously scheduled maintenance shutdowns. Texas gov. Abbott, who once signed a law aiming to protect (conservative?) free speech on campuses, brought in 100 state troopers to arrest pro-Palestinian protesters who weren't breaking the law or disrupting classes. Forty-six of the 57 arrested are already released because of “deficiencies” in the probable cause affidavits. Oracle is moving its Austin, Texas headquarters to Nashville. A law passed by the assembly threatens Alabama librarians with a fine and/or prison for failing to remove books that offend “some” unknown people. A new city is calving off of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It will be mostly white and affluent, leaving the poorer blacks behind. A year after a mass school shooting, Tennessee passed a bill allowing teachers and staffers to carry concealed weapons in schools. Lets see how a pistol wielded by a shop teacher works against an assault rifle. A stranded ship finally made it past the bridge wreckage to leave Baltimore harbor using a temporary 35-foot channel. A 50-foot channel won't be available until the Dali and the rest of the wreckage is removed. Archaeologists found two intact bottles of cherries in the basement of Mount Vernon that are thought to be about 250 years old. Harvey Weinstein's conviction was overturned by a New York appeals court. Harvey remains a bad person. The first bank failure of the year is Philadelphia-based Republic First Bank.
A celebrity handbag designer from Columbia was sentenced to 18 months in a US prison for smuggling crocodile handbags into the US. Ariel Henry, the prime minister of Haiti who can't return there, resigned, clearing the way for a new government. Who, besides a gang leader, would want to try to lead Haiti? The UK's King Charles is slowing easing back into his job, i.e. opening supermarkets and visiting factories. A former UK health minister has left the Conservative Party for the Liberals, saying that, “The health service has ceased to be an area of priority for the Conservative Party...” The first memorial statue of the late Queen Elizabeth II has her in flowing robes with three corgis snapping around the base. Since no one knows where Shakespeare was born, the folks at Stratford-upon-Avon named one. Spain ended its visa program that offered residency to foreigners who buy real estate as local residents can no longer afford homes. Four Germans went to Austria and celebrated Hitler's birthday. They were arrested. Starting last Saturday, visitors to Venice will have to register and day trippers may have to pay small fee to enter the city. A Finnish coffee roaster used AI do develop a four-bean coffee blend that the experts proclaimed as perfect and not needing human adjustments. The US is rushing Patriot missiles to Ukraine. They need more than that. A Moscow court rejected Evan Gershkovich's appeal, keeping him in jail until at least June 30 (15 months so far).
At least 45 people have drowned in the flooding in Kenya since March. Being queer in Iraq can now get you 15 years in prison. A heat wave is scorching hundreds of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia with temperatures approaching 119 degrees F. Armed men attacked polling booths in northeastern India. It appears that the ruling Hindu party wants to stay the ruling party. Prime minister Modi actually said that Muslims are “infiltrators” who want to take India's wealth for themselves. Twenty Cambodian soldiers were killed in an ammunition explosion on their military base. A Japanese town, disgusted by tourists dropping rubbish and parking illegally while trying to get the perfect shot of Mount Fuji, are raising a screen to block a popular vantage point. Taiwan had another couple of magnitude 6 earthquakes on Monday. China seems to be helping facilitate arms shipments from North Korea to Russia. Torrential rains are threatening widespread flooding in populous southern China. Ejiao, a medicinal gelatin made from donkey hides that is popular in China, is decimating the donkey population of Africa. The current annual demand is equal to 10% of the global donkey population.
Buy now and keep paying:
Those who talk about such things are starting to mouth the word, “stagflation”. The youngest baby boomers are set to retire, if they could afford it. Soon, if you don't want to pay 6% commission for selling your house, it's up to you to decide how. Renewable energy can't keep up with demands for AI servers and the installation of air conditioning in emerging markets. The emerging countries will still need to generate power with more and more coal. 24-hour stock trading? Why not? But think of the poor day traders. US News named the 2024 Hyundai Iniq 6 the best electric car and SUV., the Ford Lightning F-150 the best electric truck, the Hyundai Tucson the best hybrid SUV, and the Toyota Camry the best hybrid car. That's a lot of Hyundai. When Elon Musk took a hard right, liberal potential Tesla buyers didn't follow. Tesla announced another round of price cuts, the only marketing that it seems to know, as its stock has dropped about 40% this year. With slowing sales and a sinking stock price, the Tesla board is still insisting on the stockholders approval of a $55 billion payout for Musk that a Delaware judge rejected. No one will spend a huge amount for TicTok without the algorithm since the government of China will block its transfer. Bitcoin finally halved its rewards that can be claimed by miners. JPMorgan expects the coin's price to fall. Private equity has invested at least $9.3 billion in the veterinary sector so far this year. That means prices will rise in the sector with more debt being piled on. US airlines will have to start offering automatic refunds for canceled flights and transparent fees. Emirates flights are getting back to normal after flooding in Dubai, but now has to figure out how to return 30,000 pieces of luggage. A Delta flight had to turn around after an emergency slide fell off of its 34-year-old Boeing 767. The American Airlines ticketing system doesn't recognize three-digit ages. So a 101-year-old woman gets 1-year-old treatment. Sails on cargo ships can reduce fuel consumption by 10%-20%.They have to operate by themselves because modern crews have no particular knowledge about sails. Google must feel pretty solid with recruiting if it fired 50 employees for their pro-Palestinian protests. A Montana jury awarded $4 million each to the estates of two people from Libby, Montana who died from asbestos exposure caused by the BNSF Railway's vermiculite spills. Terence Reilly, the marketing star who made Crocs popular went to Stanley in 2020 to help make 40-oz cups a fashion statement. He's back at Crocs as president of the brand Hay Dude, shoes possibly uglier than Crocs. Heineken cut down 300 acres of 27-year-old apple trees in Monmouthshire because cider demand in the UK has dropped.
A Mexican man ordered two pairs of earrings from Cartier that he found on Instagram at $13 a pair. Cartier adjusted the price to $13,000 a pair and canceled the order. After a complaint to Mexico's consumer protection agency, he got his earrings at the original posted price. In last week's auction of Titanic treasures, the band leader's violin case sold for $452,500 and John Jacob Astor's pocket watch for $1.48 million USD. Golfer Nelly Korda tied an LPGA record by winning her fifth tournament in five consecutive starts. The 2024 NFL draft started without many players coming to watch. Teams made their normal brilliant/stupid choices. Who won? Who cares?
Taylor Swift fatigue:
Who won Coachella? Who cares? Matzo pizza? Why not? Tis the season to argue over the perfect matzo ball. What's with the slide sandals with socks...or slide sandals that never seem to fit? Ghostwriting LinkedIn profiles is a thing. The US has about 180,000 historical markers, none of which are officially checked for accuracy. You may as well get your history from TicTok. Dan Rather, now 92, will return to CBS News for an interview 18 years after his fall from the network's grace. Cher was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even after telling Kelly Clarkson, “I wouldn't be in it now if they gave me a million dollars.” Emma Stone now wants to be called by her real first name, Emily. Nigerian chess champion Tunde Onakoya played chess 60 hours nonstop in NYC's Times Square to break a Guinness world record. Oenophile Tom Gilbey ran the London marathon while stopping every mile to taste (swallowing) a different wine. He finished in less than five hours while raising 12,000 pounds for charity. San Francisco's pastor and activist Rev. Cecil Williams, who led Glide Memorial Church to outreach programs reaching hundreds of thousands of San Francisco's poor, has died at age 94.
The CDC has a dashboard where, entering your zip code, you can see the heat risk and air quality risk for your neighborhood for the day. Eraser sponges are more like sandpaper than sponges. Don't use them on anything delicate like car paint, non stick pots, or your body. Climbing stairs, if you can, is good exercise, especially for your heart, and will help you live longer. One in five samples of pasteurized milk recently tested contained fragments of bird flu. There is still no immediate threat to humans.