“I was reassured yet again of the truth of the claim that no such thing as “Time” exists; that we experience only place after place; that remembering, as we call it, is no sort of rediscovery or recollection but an act performed for the very first time somewhere in the endless place known as the present.” — “Last Letter to a Reader” Gerald Murnane
1.
Have you heard of this? Earlier this month forty-one teams of castellers gathered in northeastern Spain in a competition to build the tallest human tower. According to a document on the UNESCO web site, Spain has nominated human towers for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, described as follows: Castells are human towers built by members of amateur groups, usually as part of annual festivities in Catalonian towns and cities. The traditional setting is the square in front of the town hall balcony. The human towers are formed by castellers standing on the shoulders of one another in a succession of stages (between six and ten). Each level of the tronc, the name given to the second level upwards, generally comprises two to five heavier built men supporting younger, lighter-weight boys or girls. The pom de dalt – the three uppermost levels of the tower – comprises young children. Anyone is welcome to form the pinya, the throng that supports the base of the tower. Each group can be identified by its costume, particularly the color of the shirts, while the cummerbund serves to protect the back and is gripped by castellers as they climb up the tower. Before, during and after the performance, musicians play a variety of traditional melodies on a wind instrument known as a gralla, setting the rhythm to which the tower is built. The knowledge required for raising castells is traditionally passed down from generation to generation within a group, and can only be learned by practice.
According to the Washington Post, the team from Vilafranca secured the 16,000 euro ($15,624) prize — as well as local acclaim — with a human tower that reached nearly 43 feet.
2.
OK, this was a surprise to us while in Portugal. We were looking for milk in the market (Go Natural) while in Lisbon and finally figured out that milk here is not refrigerated. Why kind of trickery is this?
I found this: The reason for this difference in storing methods is how milk is pasteurized. In the United States and Canada, milk producers use the HTST (or the high-temperature short-time) method of pasteurization. This method, as the name suggests, uses a high temperature over a short period of time to kill bacteria in large batches. HTST is very efficient, but allows bacteria to eventually return, causing milk pasteurized this way to expire between seven to 10 days after opening. Europe and most of the rest of the world instead use the UHT (or ultra-heat-treated) method of pasteurization. The UHT process exposes milk to a higher temperature for a shorter period of time than HTST. Dairy pasteurized using the UHT method can be kept at room temperature for up to six months unopened, but still must be refrigerated after opening.
This leads to a couple questions. First, we North Americans have been brought up to believe milk is as wholesome as apple pie and grandma. It’s ‘muricun, dammit! But, according to Rachel Laudan, a food historian who grew up on a dairy farm, "The milk in the United States is so far from anything having to do with a cow. It’s all been taken apart and put back together again."
A typical cold glass of milk has been separated, fortified, homogenized, pasteurized, packaged, and refrigerated before it's even distributed to grocery stores. That end product is hardly "natural" and yet, for the average American consumer, outwardly deviating from that might as well be a sacrilege.
Secondly, according to the New Republic, by lessening the need for refrigeration in supermarkets and convenience stores, UHT could reduce global warming. In 2007, the U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced a goal that 90 percent of milk sold in 2020 should not require refrigeration. That’s obviously not happened in the US, but did you know that about 80% of the organic milk sold in the U.S. is UHT processed? And yet we refrigerate it the moment it’s packaged and shipped to outlets.
3.
Hey, friends in Florida. Stay out of the water. Parts of Florida hit hardest by Hurricane Ian are seeing nearly double the normal number of infections from a flesh-eating bacteria that thrives in brackish floodwaters.
4.
We’re starting to investigate Medicare a bit as we’ll both need to sign up in a year or so (we are on a plan through the University right now). I’ve talked to a few people who have what’s known as Medicare Advantage but upon looking more into it, I’ve tumbled down a complicated, many-faceted rabbit hole. According to Prospect.org, Medicare Advantage Is a Massive Scam and the program rips off both the taxpayer and its own enrollees.
One rip-off strategy insurers use is improperly denying claims. A recent investigation from the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general found that among Advantage companies, 13 percent of prior authorization denials were improper, along with 18 percent of payment claim denials—or about 85,000 requests and 1.5 million payments, just in 2019. Paying lots of claims adjusters to fake up reasons to deny necessary treatment is a big reason why Advantage companies spend nearly 14 percent of their money on administration, as compared to traditional Medicare’s 2 percent.
And, according to the New York Times, Eight of the 10 biggest Medicare Advantage insurers — representing more than two-thirds of the market — have submitted inflated bills, according to the federal audits. And four of the five largest players — UnitedHealth, Humana, Elevance and Kaiser — have faced federal lawsuits alleging that efforts to overdiagnose their customers crossed the line into fraud.
Please feel free to comment about your experience with either Medicare or Medicare Advantage, or reply to me by email.
5.
Michael Moore’s Midterm Tsunami Truth #22 includes an imaginary letter from President Biden to the populace that would spread the right message. Read on.
My fellow Americans,
I have a simple proposal, an offer I want to make you, one that I will put in stone, swear to on my parents’ Bible, and sign in my own blood if I have to.
I pledge to you tonight, if you decide in this election to leave me the House and the Senate as it currently is — and maybe give me a couple extra Senators for good measure — this is what I promise our legislative and executive branches of your government will do for you in the next two years…
Just before FDR died, he proposed we pass a Second Bill of Rights for all Americans. A bill that grants all of you a basic human right to afford food, decent housing, great public schools, excellent health care for all, a good job with dignity and a living wage, equal rights for women, the right to have time off, the right to not be gouged or to suffer from those who put the profit motive over the need for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This is all doable and affordable if we accept a slight shift in our values: by putting people over profits, peace over war, public safety for the common good, a fair shake for everyone. A country where all who live here have a seat at the table, and everyone gets a slice of the pie.
Today we live in a country where just three men own more wealth than the combined wealth of 170 million Americans! How did we get to this place? In part, it’s because we let money decide who represents us. We don’t have a full and fair democracy. We need to finish the job. One person, one vote. No electoral college. Gerrymandering and voter suppression — a crime.
I declare inflation over. Because they refused to regulate themselves, corporations will now be subject to price controls and profit limitations. The American people will not be bilked again. The owner’s can make money. They just can’t crush their workers and destroy their consumers.
If you give me a majority in the House and Senate in this election, then we will give you a better and fairer shot at life. You deserve it. And we will make this happen for you.
Thank you. And God protect our troops.
Speaking of god blessing our troops, I had an interesting conversation with a retired statistics professor from Santander, Spain (while relishing some grilled sea bass) about American bases located in Europe. His take is that the bases are of the utmost importance as most of the European countries just don’t have the military might to keep oppressive regimes at bay. Like Putin. Two of the prime examples are, of course, Putin and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Hungary. My friend Alberto, like most civilized people, just wants a semblance of a democratic state to function freely on a day-by-day basis. Food, water, shelter, clothing, education…you know, civilization.
Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House, said “The spread of autocracy in Europe and Eurasia has far-reaching implications, not just for the region, but also for the world. Democratically elected leaders are turning away from democracy and creating their own warped realities to consolidate and retain power. Through their successes so far, these antidemocratic regimes are setting an example and fueling the rise of authoritarianism in neighboring countries. Left unchecked, they have the potential to undermine democracy and legitimize the abuse of power in Europe and beyond.”
Also on the Freedom House site: Autocrats have created a more favorable international environment for themselves over the past decade and a half, empowered by their own political and economic might as well as waning pressure from democracies. The alternative order is not based on a unifying ideology or personal affinity among leaders. It is not designed to serve the best interests of populations, or to enable people to improve their own lives. Instead it is grounded in autocrats’ shared interest in minimizing checks on their abuses and maintaining their grip on power. A world governed by this order would in reality be one of disorder, replete with armed conflict, lawless violence, corruption, and economic volatility. Such global instability and insecurity would have a significant cost in human lives.
We, the U.S., have the best chance of maintaining a civil and just society by VOTING BLUE. If Trump’s people are voted into positions of power, Humpty Dumpty will be cracking his head as he plunges down the Initiation Well.
And now…
These are always good, but this time is particularly fabulous. I have a LOT to say about Medicare but I’ll save it for an email. This quote. “My friend Alberto, like most civilized people, just wants a semblance of a democratic state to function freely on a day-by-day basis. Food, water, shelter, clothing, education…you know, civilization.” Also goes for me!! Probably most of us. XOC