Omicron Thoughts

 The announcement of a new variant of Covid apparently has the world in a tizzy.  It is thought to be more infectious than the prior ones but as far as I can tell not more lethal.

As it spreads a bit we see reactions from countries and questions as to whether the vaccines will be effective.

Not being a scientist I'm in no position to know but that isn't stopping anyone else so here's my opinion.

The vaccine will be less effective until they modify it.

It is unlikely to be more lethal but it has some different symptoms.

It is becoming much like our present day flus, new variants every year that will require new vaccines.

Like the flu it will always be potentially lethal but like the flu, which was extremely virulent at first it will be part of the background noise.

There will be more and better treatment options as we go.

Mask wearing in public will be more common.

Just my thoughts.

Thoughts

I was watching on the news a group of about 20 white nationalists march in a local town on Saturday.  It was very unclear what the reason was and they marched, waved flags shouted some nonsense and eventually went home or maybe out.  

I guess the chant about how they will not be replaced might be the most relevant to why they marched.  They will be replaced, we all will, but they mean they want to be replaced by more white people.  They should stay home and make babies if that is the case.

The distinctions they make are absurd really.  White people do not represent a separate piece of the human race.  It's also a flexible group which used to exclude many people who are now welcome with open arms 

I don't know about these individual marchers but most of them looked like they wouldn't turn down a date with almost anyone even if it involved race purity.

Human nature being what it is, when people are placed in close proximity to each other there is interaction.  Hating a group is easy, haring an individual is harder.  Once you think of them as people the fight is pretty much over.

The replacements are likely to be a darker shade of pale.                                                                                                                                            

Modern Life

 Considering world history and archeological records we live in a unique time and place.  Generally, we are safe from surprise attack simply because we exist.

We aren't really safe but the kind of thing we lived with throughout world history where an invading army would attack our city, capture it, kill or enslave most of its population and force it to pay heavy tribute is not something we expect to happen.

It does still happen in some parts of the world where warlords have control but I can go to sleep pretty sure I'm not going to wake up as Viking, Huns, Goths, Mongols or any number of other raiders devastate my city.

It's not as far away as all that if you consider tactics used in recent wars.

We talk about slavery as a horrible crime and in this country we associate with our treatment of African captives, but throughout history it was more widespread.  Romans enslaved an unknown but sizable number of men and women from the areas they captured and used them for various purposes.

They were still slaves whether they were assigned to salt quarries or someone's household.

The idea that you could be a respected citizen of you city or village only to be stripped of everything and walked off in chains the next day is not a real possibility..

We get to squabble over pronouns.

Price Fluctuations

 Yesterday for a number of reasons, including a new Covid variant, impacts on the stock market and oil prices.  Oil was impacted by potential decrease in activity because of the new variant, extra oil going on the market from the Strategic reserve and then the traders covering positions once the price moved.  

We really should be reducing our use of oil on a long range but interestingly during the Pandemic last year many people crowed about how the reduced usage wa good for the planet.  It sort of was but not much, it was a one year blip, that led to very low prices and a minor reduction in emissions.

We don't realy have a shortage of oil, we simply have speculators bidding the price up or down based on potential changes.  If they are convinced oil is going up they buy at current prices to sell later at a profit.  The reverse is also true.

If we had an actual shortage, we would have lines to get oil and some places would have none.

Just speculation and greed.

Seasonal Work

For some reason this is Black Friday, not a celebration of Black culture but simply a day that shoppers buy so much that the bottom line of many stores goes into the black, or profitable.

That's a statistical measurement and not an actual one.  I would suspect it describes very few stores.  There is no doubt that the Christmas season is very significant to retail and therefore also to their distribution chains.  I have fond memories of this time of year going way back to when I worked part time jobs in High School.  It was a good way to make a little money, and I do mean little, while being part of a bustling world where everything was sort of critical.  I used to work in a shipping department of a high-end clothing store folding clothes for shipping.  The customers were often people I had heard of and everything had to get packaged and shipped in time for Christmas delivery.  

Thinking back I remember it as a fun time although on the first day the head of the department literally took out a bull whip and cracked it over our heads.  I didn't think he would ever actually use it but some of my fellow workers said he would.  It provided a buzz and a lot of conversation, an ice breaker and it ended up providing us seasonal workers something in common.   

I was impressed with how well he handled it.

Today he would probably be charged with harassment.

That was a different world.

 

A Day of Thanks

Today is a day we give Thaks and we have a lot to be thankful for.  Not everything is perfect but it never has been. 

Still we 're not mired in a long ground war in Asia, Jobs are plentiful and while still active we have tools to combat the pandemic.  We also are finally starting to fix our infrastructure and hopefully address problems facing the American families.

Oil prices jumped as demand returned and the demand for goods have led to some supply chain bottlenecks.  Those things will quickly pass in the scheme of things.

We have a long way to go to address climate change and the faster we start the better.  At least we realize it's a problem. 

Some point to the historical stories of pilgrims and Indians and say it never happened the way we tell it.

Not sure why I would care, we know didn't treat native Americans very well but giving thanks for what is happening today is unrelated.

I think we can take one day out of the year to count our blessings.

After the Weekend people can get back to bickering.

Human Infrastructure

 How much has the interstate highway system been worth to the country over its existence?  I don't know if it can be measured but it has provided better access, better ability for trucks to move cargo and ultimately safer driving.  It was a big cost for its time and fiscal conservatives said we didn't need it, but infrastructure does pay dividends.

We've already passed the physical infrastructure part but the human infrastructure part is still pending.  Providing services to all our residents helps to level the playing field for working families who otherwise couldn't afford child care 

We have terrible income inequality in this country and one way to combat that is to take social infrastructure and fund it with treasury funds.  This removes significant expenses so it amounts to an indirect pay raise for our middle and lower classes.  There is a squeeze on the Middle Class where they make to much to get certain benefits but not enough t afford them.  It forces tough decisions and problematic home life.

Investing in families is never a bad thing.  The more we can free up middle class people to pursue their dreams the more return we will see in family values and outcomes.  Problems will still exist but if all children get the preschool they need to compete, the health care and a better home life, we are certainly on the right track.