Friday Homestead Dispatch

Persistent Peristeronic Periodontist

Local quote of the week:

I have the solution: President Biden announces that we’re giving all the unused vaccine to Mexico. That’ll get the ignorencia riled up and wanting their “free stuff” from the gummint.
– Dan Sorenson

1.
“He’s an old fool who fills his garden with stones.” At the age of 43, in 1879, Joseph Ferdinand Cheval began his odd project. Apparently inspired by a single rock, after tripping over it, by its “bizarre and yet picturesque shape,” he started collecting various specimens during his postal route. He started out stuffing them in his pockets, then a basket, and eventually graduated to a wheelbarrow.

Thirty four years later, in 1912 when he was seventy five, he considered the palace was complete. Since he was not allowed to be buried on the property due to local laws, he went to work building a stone mausoleum in the local cemetery which was finished a year before his death in 1924.

Check out this article for more information on Cheval’s life.

2.
It never was a good idea to go fishing in Phoenix.

“It is now August of 2021. The election of November 2020 is over. If you haven’t figured out that the election in Maricopa County was free, fair, and accurate yet, I’m not sure you ever will,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers (R) wrote in a letter to the Senate on Monday. He added: “The Board has real work to do and little time to entertain this adventure in never-never land. Please finish whatever it is that you are doing and release whatever it is you are going to release.”

3.
“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person. ”
― R. Buckminster Fuller

There was so much going on with this guy that to delve into any one idea might be to miss the point. As stated on the Buckminster Fuller Institute web site, “Buckminster Fuller spent his life working across multiple fields, such as architecture, design, geometry, engineering, science, cartography and education, in his pursuit to make the world work for 100% of humanity. Fuller insisted on resisting monikers of specialization to describe his work, preferring instead to describe his output as that of a 'comprehensive anticipatory design scientist ' - 'an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist.' This approach resulted in the creation of numerous artifacts that cross boundaries and defy normal categorization.”

As a start to understand the basis of this man’s work, check out the page Sustainability: The Five Core Principles. On that page is a downloadable pdf that goes into detail of a plan that nobody will ever agree on, unfortunately, in a capitalistic/corporate society. But a fellow can dream, heh?

Principle 1: Contain entropy and ensure that the flow of resources, through and within the economy, is as nearly non-declining as is permitted by physical laws.

Principle 2: Adopt an appropriate accounting system, fully aligned with the planet’s ecological processes and reflecting true, comprehensive biospheric pricing to guide the economy.

Principle 3: Ensure that the essential diversity of all forms of life in the Biosphere is maintained.

Principle 4: Maximize degrees of freedom and potential self-realization of all humans without any individual or group, adversely affecting others.

Principle 5: Recognize the seamless, dynamic continuum of mystery, wisdom, love, energy, and matter that links the outer reaches of the cosmos with our solar system, our planet and its biosphere including all humans, with our internal metabolic systems and their externalized technology extensions – Embody this recognition in a universal ethics for guiding human actions.

4.
If you have the option to get vaccinated, barring some horrific medical and scientific reasoning (not your feelings), please help the rest of us get on with life by getting the damn jabs. If you are in Tucson and are having trouble with transportation, email me and I’ll help to make it happen. You have to ride on the roof of the car, but hey, I’ll get you to CVS.

According to Umair Irfan for Vox, “Regions where large majorities backed Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election have far lower vaccination rates than people in areas that voted for Joe Biden. The effect is visible at the state level and the county level, and it scales with the share of the vote. Almost all US counties below 20 percent vaccination rates lean Republican, and almost all above 65 percent lean Democratic.“

Well, duh…anybody reading this post already knew that part.

What I found most interesting was her assessment of a break along four fault lines:

Political party: Republicans — and Republican women in particular — remain the largest source of vaccine opposition. While 86 percent of Democrats have received at least one dose, only 52 percent of Republicans have done the same, according to a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Age: Younger adults remain less likely to report being vaccinated. That may be in part because older Americans had earlier access. Indeed, the age gap has begun to shrink: In May and June, the largest increases in self-reported vaccination were among people ages 18 to 29.

Race: White people make up a larger share of the vaccinated than the overall population, ahead of Black and Hispanic people and behind Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. The racial gap has been shrinking, but as of July, the vaccination rate for Black people was still about 12 percentage points lower than for white people and about seven percentage points lower for Hispanic people.

Class: According to Kaiser, uninsured people under 65 are the only major demographic group of adults to mostly report being unvaccinated, which may reflect a perceived cost to vaccination or a general lack of contact with the medical system. And across every age group, higher-income earners are much more likely to be vaccinated. The class gap can also be measured by education: About eight in 10 college graduates say they have gotten at least one dose, compared with only about six in 10 adults without a degree.

“I’m really cautious about what goes into my body.”

“Until the F.D.A. fully approves the vaccine, I feel like it’s just not a good idea.”

“I don’t believe things should be forced on people when we’ve been telling them we’re going to follow the science.”

“I heard a news story several weeks ago now, about the Epsilon variant, which is hitting one of the countries in South America. So, I don’t want to get a vaccine now, necessarily, if I don’t have to, and then get a different vaccine nine months from now.”

“I’m just trustworthy in my immune system, that since I’m young and healthy, my immune system could fight it.”

These are quotes from a New York Times article that tries to answer, “Who Are the Unvaccinated in America?”

5.
The only attitude to have when you’re writing and performing original music is said most eloquently by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. “We decided we’re going to make uncompromising music that makes us happy, and if nobody likes it, we don’t care. We’re gonna do it anyway. The attitude going in was, ‘Fuck everybody.’ Sometimes that’s the way you’ve got to be to get some good stuff out of yourself.”

Have a read from the article in Tuesday’s Guardian.

6.
We’ve broken the habit of buying bottled water a few years back. We do use tap water for some things but mostly our drinking water is purchased using three and five gallon containers. We have a surplus of small glass kombucha bottles we clean and refill for carrying about, which one does in Arizona. Hydrate!

On Thursday an article in The Guardian reports that scientists have found the impact of bottled water on natural resources is 3,500 times higher than for tap water. Also from the article, “The authors concluded that the reduction in environmental impacts more than offset the small risk of bladder cancer associated with drinking tap water. The process of treating drinking water generates low levels of trihalomethanes (THM), which have been associated with a higher risk of bladder cancer. THM levels in drinking water are regulated in the EU.”

There are some alternatives on the market for packaging other than petrochemical plastics. Here’s an article that mentions some more environmentally friendly alternatives, and I’ve also harped about hemp products quite a few times in this blog. This company in Boulder, for instance, states “It’s our mission to help migrate fossil fuel based plastic users to our far greener option. We aim to serve our planet, investors, clients and dedicated team through the development and distribution of premium eco-friendly polymer solutions. We are uniquely positioned to leverage a more inviting regulatory environment, technology, supply and our own marketing expertise. Our intent is to raise awareness and offer comparably-priced polymer alternatives which will revolutionize this industry. If the prices and properties are competitive, it’s our experience that the market will adopt bioplastic alternatives. We have built our company on this premise.”

7.
Got mosquitoes? No, you don’t…

8.
Speaking of mosquitoes, Kroger has Elected Elaine Chao to their Board of Directors. Chao, of course, is married to Turtle McConnell and a firm supporter of the OrangeNastyMan.

Salon reported in 2019 that “Over the years, Ms. Chao has repeatedly used her connections and celebrity status in China to boost the profile of the company, which benefits handsomely from the expansive industrial policies in Beijing that are at the heart of diplomatic tensions with the United States, according to interviews, industry filings and government documents from both countries. Now, Ms. Chao is the top Trump official overseeing the American shipping industry, which is in steep decline and overshadowed by its Chinese competitors. Trump and his spawn could only dream of such an effective scam. Not only is it corrupt to the core, it's downright unpatriotic.”

If you want to put your mouth where your money goes, behold the ‘brands’ that Kroger owns: Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Foods Co, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Jay C Food Store, Kroger, Pay-Less Super Markets, QFC, Ralphs, and Smith’s Food and Drug.

And now…