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Would Someone Please Remind Governor DeWine That He Is Governor Of A Fly-over State

When Governor DeWine announced that 100,000 people in Ohio might have the coronavirus in Ohio, I thought that was bold. That was daring. That was a Scientific wild-ass guess. It was apparent that he had a set of policies he wanted to implement and he needed some scientific justification. He probably reasoned that if California, New York, and Washington have self-quarantined then it must be a good idea for Ohio to get out in front of the issue. According to the John Hopkins coronavirus site, the top five states with confirmed coronavirus cases are New York, Washington, California, Massachusetts, and Florida. All of these states are logical ports of entry for the virus versus fly-over America. These states have large cities that make controlling community spread of the virus harder to do. Self-quarantining in these states is an appropriate policy to avoid overloading the hospitals. When we look at Ohio we see a different picture.

  1. According to the Ohio coronavirus website, Ohio has 50 confirmed cases and 14 cases that required hospitalization. These numbers are well underneath the capacity of our healthcare systems.
  2. Self-quarantining confirmed cases sounds practical. Large scale self-quarantining in Ohio is probably marginally useful at best. People are already annoyed at the pandemonium and chaos it has caused. A Scientific wild-ass guess is not a good reason for lost wages.
  3. Spring is only four days away.  Warming weather and the official end to the flu season is on the horizon.
  4. Ohio’s population is more spread out than the cities on the east and west coasts.

All of these factors point to a pretty good scenario for preventing the spread of coronavirus. Getting to that 100,000 number in the next couple of months is going to pretty difficult. This is a goal I am happy not to reach. Thank God, I live in fly-over America!

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Inquiring Minds Want To Now – How Long Is A Person Who Has Contracted The Coronavirus Contagious?

Graph From https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html

I have been looking at this graph and wondering why the number of New Recovered Patients is not exceeding the New Confirmed Patients? Click on the image for a larger version. If this disease runs its course in about two weeks, there should be thousands of additional recovered patients every day. That makes me think they do not know how long a person is contagious. A scarier thought is that a recovered patient could be asymptomatic and shedding active viruses. Shades of Typhoid Mary. Now we have reports you can get infected a second time. Zerohedge.com has a report stating that:

It’s highly possible to get infected a second time. A few people recovered from the first time by their own immune system, but the meds they use are damaging their heart tissue, and when they get it the second time, the antibody doesn’t help but makes it worse, and they die a sudden death from heart failure,” reads a message forwarded to Taiwan News from a relative of one of the doctors living in the United Kingdom.

Hopefully, this report is a mistake.

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The Dumpster Fire At The Justice Department Continues

Goddess Of Justice

At the beginning of the week, once again DOJ prosecutors demonstrated how petty and vindictive they can be when they recommended that Roger Stone get a prison sentence between 7 and 9 years for obstructing Congress’s Russia investigation. Today the Justice Department announced they would not seek to file criminal charges against McCabe over misleading federal investigators in connection with a 2016 press leak. The gracious treatment McCabe received is in stark contrast with the treatment Roger Stone got earlier in the week. They both mislead federal investigators. The irony is that if Andrew McCabe had done his job in 2016 the Russia Investigation would have quietly died behind closed doors and Roger Stone would not be jail. Instead Roger Stone is looking at 7 to 9 years in prison primarily because the Justice Department lawyers created a crime for obstructing an investigation that should not have existed. It is a bad look and Attorney General Barr should have known better.

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When 31,000 People In China Call In Sick, The World Economy Has A Problem

I work for a small internet retailer. Since most of our orders come from Amazon, we literally get paid when we ship the order. If most of our employees called in sick or self-quarantined themselves for several weeks, our company would collapse. Larger businesses may have a bit more flexibility but they would be severely damaged. When I look at this chart, I see a lot of Chinese people who are not going to work. China’s pandemic is bad for businesses in and out of China. Shortly, we will find out how intertwined the global economies really are when China’s economy contracts.

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Match Made In Hell – Democratic Party And Information Technology

For such a woke group of people, it is astonishing that the Democratic Party is so stupid about information technology. We have been coding phone apps for a long time. You would have thought someone would have tested the Iowa caucus phone app before they used it to tally votes. They appear to be going out of their way to show America they are the party you absolutely do not want running the country. Competence matters!

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I Broke My Rule Of Not Listening To The Impeachment Trial Last Night

Last night Mr. Dershowitz gave us a class on the Constitution and the history of impeachment. For our poor senators who have to listen to this trial, I think Mr. Dershowitz did a great job of keeping the information relevant and interesting. If you did not have any problems following any of the Hillsdale’s Constitution 101 classes, you should not have a problem following his arguments.

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The Mouse In The Pantry Is Dead

A couple of months ago a field mouse decided to take residence in our pantry. When we first noticed his presence we opted for a non-lethal strategy. Our plan was to remove his food supplies and hopefully he would decide to go elsewhere. The situation came to boil a couple of days on New Year’s Eve when I moved a Crock-Pot travel cover while trying to get to a pot and spilled a bunch of rice and lentils on the floor. This mouse was attempting to make a nest for the winter. That was not acceptable!

This mouse had somehow managed to escape our three barn cats we have downstairs and two cats we have upstairs. My solution was surprisingly simple. I work at a place that sells mouse deterrents amongst other products, so I bought some Bonide Mouse Magic and deployed two packets in the pantry. This is a natural solution to an age-old problem. Mice do not like the smell of mint or spearmint. To my surprise, the mouse decided to escape through the two house cats. Mint and spearmint oils do not kill mice. They do not like the smell. So the mouse tried to make a run for it. He did not make it and was caught. He is dead. Best of all, he was not partially eaten. Our barn cats would have eaten him and not left a trace. The field mouse is nature’s original power bar but house cats are really out of touch. So I was grateful our house cats did not try to eat him and then throw him up. There are no pretty solutions. Fortunately, my wife does not have a problem picking up the carcass and putting it in the trash. I could sleep in. Life is good!

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The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend Until Our Common Enemy Is Dead

An ancient proverb says, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This is true until the common enemy is no longer a threat. I was hoping our recent friendship with Iran would grow into a nonaggression pact. Unfortunately, Iran sponsored demonstrations at the United States embassy in Iraq indicates that Iran did not care to be friends with the U. S. anymore. They were not even trying to hide their contempt for the United States. Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responded Wednesday by taunting Trump, declaring, “You can’t do a damn thing.” For a country that could not do a damn thing, killing General Soleimani was a pretty impressive rebuttal. Iran and the United States have lost that loving feeling. It would be wise of Iran to be careful with their taunts and actions going forward. President Obama is gone. There is a new sheriff in town.

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Hoppin’ John 2020

Hoppin John

It is January 1 and I am making Hoppin’ John again to bring in the New Year. My wife says this year’s version was the best ever so I had to tell you what I changed. I cooked both the black eye peas and the rice separately. When I folded the peas and rice into the dish with the scallions and bacon, everything was already cooked so I could lower the temperature to warm and avoid muddling the flavors by overcooking. The scallions and bacon were able to step up and step out flavor-wise. I think she like the crunchy-ness of the scallions. This was a very nice way to make use of some excellent turkey broth from Thanksgiving and extra Christmas ham. A fresh interpretation of leftovers that impressed my better half.

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Bourbon Barrel Porter

Bourbon Barrel Porter

I like dark beers. Craft brewers created a lot of really fine stouts and porters this year. I know, I have had my fair share. When the brewer gets it right, it is because the brewer has mastered mixing multiple flavors so that they are recognizable but not overbearing. The flavors that highlight a well-made stout or porter the best are bourbon, chocolate, coffee, oak, and vanilla.

This year, 2019, I decided to try my hand at making a fine porter with the Bourbon Barrel Porter extract kit. My plan was to have it ready for Christmas so my brew day was in September. I make a yeast starter for all of my brews but it is probably especially important for a heavy beer like this. I left the beer in the primary fermenter for about six weeks. Heavy beers take longer to ferment so you need to be patient if you want a good stout or porter. I tasted the beer and confirmed it was good and ready to go. So I soaked the full pack of oak cubes in 16 ounces of bourbon for two days before adding it into the secondary fermenter with the beer. After two weeks in the secondary fermenter, I bottled. I have been drinking this porter for the last four weeks and I have to say it is the best beer I have ever brewed. We got the flavors right. It took a long time but it was worth it.