Made in America

American manufacturers are increasingly bringing production back to the US to reduce their reliance on global supply chains that proved vulnerable to disruption such as the pandemic.

An overwhelming majority of American companies with production operations in China have already moved some back to the US or plan to do so in the next three years, according to Kearney's 2021 Reshoring Index.

Almost four in five corporations companies have already shifted production to the US and at least 15% are considering it due to high tariffs and ongoing supply chain challenges, Kearney's report shows.

However, imports from low-cost Asian countries to the US still increased last year.

"Reshoring" manufacturing has also been spurred by geopolitical disruption triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

General Motors announced in January it would spend $7 billion on four plants in Michigan. Last year it spent almost $40 billion buying parts from some 5,600 US suppliers.

The manufacturer behind Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Hummer announced its biggest investment to increase its battery cell production to achieve its aim of becoming North America's biggest electric vehicle producer.

GE Appliances is also investing on expanding US production to make products closer to customers and create more American jobs.  READ MORE...

Classic Sunday Morning Newspaper Cartoons

 

Your COVID Protection

A used mask is seen on beach at marine protected area located in St. Martin's Island, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on March 13. Greater COVID transmissibility due to Omicron variants means greater transmissibility in any setting, indoors or outdoors—even if outside is still safer, experts say.

MOHAMMAD SHAJAHAN—ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

The outdoors have always been a sanctuary—even more so since the advent of the pandemic.

Spreading COVID outside was possible, but not probable, experts advised in 2020, urging cooped-up citizens to turn to Mother Nature as an antidote to the isolation of lockdowns. Events, dining, and even entire classrooms were moved outside, when feasible.

But Omicron was a game changer, in more ways than one.

The original Wuhan strain of COVID-19 had a reproductive rate—also known as an R0 or R-naught value—of around 3.3, meaning that each infected person infected another 3.3 people, on average. That put COVID-19 among the least transmissible human diseases.

Slightly less transmissible were the 1918 pandemic strain of flu, which had an estimated R0 of 2, as does Ebola. On the higher end of the spectrum, mumps has an R0 of 12; measles tops the list at 18.

In order to outcompete, successful COVID variants have become more transmissible with time. Delta had a slightly higher reproductive rate of around 5.1. Then came Omicron, with an reproductive rate almost twice as large: 9.5.

So called “stealth Omicron,” nicknamed for its ability to evade detection on PCR tests, was about 1.4 times more transmissible than BA.1, so its reproductive rate was around 13.3, Adrian Esterman, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, recently wrote on academic news website The Conversation.

New studies suggest that BA.4 and BA.5, currently sweeping the U.S. and countries around the globe, have a growth advantage over BA.2 similar to the growth advantage BA.2 had over BA.1. Thus, the latest dominant COVID subvariants have a reproductive rate of around 18.6, tying or surpassing measles, the world’s most infectious viral disease, according to Esterman.

Greater transmissibility means greater transmissibility in any setting, indoors or outdoors—even if outside is still safer, Maimuna Majumder, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, recently told NPR.

Upping the ante is the fact that recent subvariants like BA.4 and BA.5 are the most immune-evasive yet, with the ability to dodge antibodies from both vaccines and prior infection.

All this to say your protection outdoors isn’t what it was in 2020—and it may be time to begin thinking more critically about outdoor gatherings.  READ MORE...

Sliding Cat

 

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator

If you've never taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, it's a personality assessment that groups people into one of 16 personalities or types based on their preferences. And in the case of ENTJs, this powerhouse personality type is known for getting things done—just don't expect them to be sensitive about it. Think Gordon Ramsey or Steve Jobs.

Here's what to know about the ENTJ personality type.

The ENTJ personality type.

ENTJ stands for extroverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging. According to John Hackston, head of thought leadership at the Myers-Briggs Company, they make up just 1.8% of the population, and they are more likely to be men.

"These natural leaders can be described as curious, energetic, self-confident, pragmatic, creative problem solvers, and decisive," Hackston tells mbg, adding, "Those who have personality preferences for ENTJ are verbally fluent and get energized by interacting with people, exchanging ideas, and making things happen."

Take entrepreneur Bill Gates as a prime example of an ENTJ. This type isn't discouraged by a challenge. In fact, they love it and have had historical success in making great achievements in everything from politics to business.

When under extreme stress, however, Hackston notes they can feel alone, underappreciated, and overwhelmed with self-doubt. Even still, "They won't openly show their feelings," he says.  READ MORE...

Images

 

Retired and Cooking

 

In 2015, my wife and I retired...  I was 67 and she was 62...  we had calculated our monthly expenses and had enough money for that...  but, we needed to have a little extra for medical for the next 3 years until she was old enough for medicare...

One of the conditions of her retirement that I had to start doing my own cooking and cleaning up...  I wasn't worried about cleaning up but I was wondering if I had the ability to cook...

It is now 2022, 7 years later, and while I am not a professional chef, I have learned a thing or two in the kitchen, however, the dishes I really like to make are the ones that are typically the easiest to make...  GO FIGURE?

I have beans and lentils soaking in water and this is what I plan to do with them:

360 calories   for 1 cup of Pinto beans

110 calories    for 1/2 cup of lentils

20 calories     for one bell pepper

20 calories     for one yellow onion

30 calories     for celery stalks

10 calories      for a cup of chopped mushrooms

120 calories    for 10 cherry tomatoes

200 calories    for 1/3 cup of basmati rice

990 total calories

My first task will be to put the beans and lentils in an instapot and pressure cook them for 12 minutes.  While they are cooking, I will dice up the bell pepper, onion, celery, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms...  

Once the beans are done, I will pour in the other ingredients, along with a hefty amount of black pepper, and some basil and oregano and sweet dill spices.  This mixture I will cook on the soup setting so it will boil for 30-60 minutes.  It is really depend on when the pinto beans start making a thick soup.

In order to pressure cook the beans, I will have used 4-5 cups of water...  so, no more water is needed when I dump in the rice.  Once it starts boiling again on the setting, I will set it to slow cooking for 2-3 hours...  checking to see if I need to add any liquid.

This concoction should make about 3 servings with each serving being 330 calories...

I try to maintain a diet of 1,600 calories a day which gives me 400 calories for 3 meals and 400 calories for an afternoon snack.  If I go over 1,600 I try not to go over 2,000.

If I don't put rice or noodles into a mixture like this, then I chop up a turkey sausage into quarter size slices.

I have stopped eating red meat, focusing instead of fish, chicken, turkey, beans, and veges...  I may eat a juicy cheeseburger and/or a hotdog with chili and slaw once or twice a year but no more...  and, I may eat a fully loaded pizza (without anchovies)every 3 months or so...  but, other than those deviations, I stay with my regular diet.

I really like COD and SALMON and have gotten into the habit of cooking them in an airfryer for about 12-15 minutes right out of the freezer.

Cooking can be fun if you don't try to be too fancy with your imagination...  simply is easy to cook and tastes just as good.

Staying Healthy

Each day, I walk a mile split up in two sessions where I walk half a mile during each session.  My desire to do this is because of back surgery 5 weeks ago...  but, it should have always been done rather than sitting around all day working on a computer...

In 1987, at the age of 40, I quit smoking cigarettes after smoking for 20 years and consuming 1-2 packs a day.  Also, I stopped (with moderate success) eating red meat and drinking alcohol, focusing instead on fish, chicken, beans, veges, and fruits.  I also started walking for 90 minutes each day or about 3 miles.

I limped along with this goal until age 60, when I suffered a heart attack, and then my focus on my lifestyle was acute and determined.

For me...

HEALTH is more important than WEALTH and hopefully you will learn from my mistakes...

While my back surgery was not a result of me being inactive, but a result of old age, it could have been worse if I had not been in good health...  my recovery could take me 6-18 months to return to my previous physical condition.

That's a long frigging time and it is not easy to stay focused on the goal since it is so far out in the future...  but, that is what I must do...  

Small improvements each day...  not large ones is my new focus...

Regardless of my back issues...

• exercising is important
• eating the right food is important
• relaxing is important
• work and recreation are important
• stress management is important
• maintaining friendships is important
• determination is important
• discipline is important

Obviously, we are only given one body and obviously there are pre-existing conditions inside our body at birth...  but, aside from all of that...  we can still HONOR OUR BODIES by treating them in an appropriate manner...

DIET

EXERCISE

WORK

REST

FAMILY/FRIENDS

 

Two Builders

 

Prehistoric Egg Identified

The only almost completely intact Genyornis eggshell ever discovered. It was located by 

N. Spooner and collected by Gifford H. Miller, South Australia. The presence of four 

puncture wounds on the egg indicates that it was predated by a scavenging marsupial. 

Credit: Gifford H. Miller

A years-long scientific controversy in Australia about what animal is the true mother of gigantic primordial eggs has been settled. In a recent study, scientists from the University of Copenhagen and their global counterparts showed that the eggs could only be the last of a rare line of megafauna known as the “Demon Ducks of Doom.”

Consider living next to a 200 kg, two meters tall bird with a huge beak. This was the situation for the first people who settled in Australia some 65,000 years ago.

Genyornis newtoni, the last members of the “Demon Ducks of Doom,” coexisted there with our ancestors as a species of a now-extinct family of duck-like birds.

According to a recent study by experts from the University of Copenhagen and an international team of colleagues, the flightless bird lay eggs the size of cantaloupe melons, presumably to the delight of ancient humans who most likely gathered and consumed them as an essential protein source. The research was just released in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Since experts initially found the 50,000-year-old eggshell pieces 40 years ago, the huge eggs have been the subject of debate. It wasn’t known until recently if the eggs genuinely belonged to the family of “demon-ducks,” also known as dromornithids.

Since 1981, the identity of the bird that lay the eggs has been a source of controversy for scientists all across the globe. While some proposed Genyornis newtoni, others thought the shells were from Progura birds, an extinct member of the megapode group of species. Progura were “chicken-like birds” that only weighed between five and seven kilos and had huge feet.  READ MORE...

Swimming Camels

 

Arabian camels were seen swimming in the Arabian Sea to Masirah, an island off the coast of Oman where camels frequently go to forage. They are known to travel back and forth regularly, approximately 10 km each way .-

Rare Viking Era Gold Ring

We’ve all been there—scrolling through eBay or stopping at a roadside antique store, sorting through jewelry and thinking: “What if I find a really valuable antique in here?”

Most of the time, that doesn’t happen. But a young Norwegian woman, Mari Ingelin Heskestad, found herself living out that dream when she purchased a collection of cheap jewelry from an online auction house, only to notice one object stuck out.

Heskestad had an inkling the twisted gold ring was something unique. “It was really heavy, and shiny,” she told the newspaper Bergensavisen, BA. “It looked very special.”

But instead of bringing it straight to a dealer or auction house to cash in, she delivered it to the municipal cultural heritage department of Vestland County, in Western Norway. 

Karoline Hareide Breivik, the acting head of the department, confirmed in a statement that the ring dated to the late Iron Age or Viking Age. 

She noted that the find was extremely rare; it also marked the first time she was aware of a ring from the Scandinavian Viking Age having been found in an online auction.

“We’re so impressed with her—the fact that she reacted exactly as you should when you find something you might believe is of historic value,” Sigrun Wølstad, a senior advisor to the county, told Science Norway.  READ MORE...

Puppies

 

New Covid Cases Rising

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha says the “vast majority” 

of COVID-19 infections aren’t being counted.   GETTY IMAGES

While fears may be growing that another COVID-19 surge will be upon us in the coming months, there is some indication that the future is now.

There’s a reason data show that, while the U.S. positivity rate of COVID tests has spiked to five-month highs, and hospitalizations have steadily climbed to four-month highs, new daily COVID cases have held steady for the past couple of months.


The new cases are being undercounted because results of widely available at-home tests aren’t being reported for government tabulation. The Fourth of July holiday has also caused reporting delays. And many states have stopped providing daily updates, as the New York Times reported.

“There’s no question in my mind that we’re missing a vast majority of infections right now,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said on NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt” on Thursday. “The truth is, there are probably several hundred thousand, four or five hundred thousand, infections today happening across the country.”

That would put the daily case count at levels seen during the January surge of the omicron variant. The current outbreak is now mostly the result of the fast-spreading BA.5 subvariant, named the dominant strain this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  READ MORE...

Stop That!!!

 

My Simple Needs

 

I personally prefer living in a house to living in an apartment because of the uninsulated walls allowing noise to easily pass through them.  However, I don't need that much more space than what an apartment provides...

1,200 square feet is plenty of room as long as it is divided appropriately that is to say...  to my tastes.

I would like to have one large room that is used for a kitchen, an eating area, and a livingroom.  

There needs to be a guest bathroom just in case company shows up or we have decided to entertain another couple.

This area (hidden area) would include a pantry and a laundry room.

The master bedroom needs to be large enough to hold a king-size bed and a night table on either side as well as adequate chests of drawers for clothes.

There needs to be a walk-in closet large enough to hang clothes for two people and a bathroom with a shower that is handicapped accessible.

Two other bedrooms are required, one would be a guest bedroom while the other would be a room for cats.

While there is a need for a two car garage, eventually there would only be one car...  but the garage would need to accommodate lawn maintenance equipment.

A separate building could be brought in for storage.

There is no need for a basement or a second floor as everything should be on one floor.

The amount of land associated with the house should be 1/2 acre or less.

While we currently have an above ground pool, deck, gazebo, and hot tub, none of that would be necessary once we reach the age of 80 which is only 5 years away.  

Right now, I use the pool to exercise by walking around the inside circumference to strengthen my back due to recent back surgery...  and see no need for a pool later in life.

Any extra land would have to be mowed but part of it could be turned into a vegetable garden by constructing a few 12 feet by 12 feet boxes into which potting soil could be placed along with plants.  Easy to maintain and harvest.

There would be a need for a WIFI connection but we would not connect to cable or have a landline telephone.  Our one vehicle would more than likely be an all-electric vehicle that we would charge at night and only drive locally.

I doubt by the age of 80 we would be making any trips to Myrtle Beach, SC for a vacation.  If we did vacation, it would be a cruise and we would fly to Florida and have a relative take us to the airport and pick us up.

As we get older and no doubt this will happen to you as well, but you no longer need the status of a large house, a fancy/expensive vehicle, or wear the latest fashion styles.

Money does not always make life happy...  I can sit on the back porch with friends, enjoying conversation and coffee...  and feel very content...

When one has a little wealth...  all they really think about is keeping that wealth and trying to get more...  How does that really make anyone happy?

Achieving Results

 

In high school I never studied and was able to maintain a 2.75 GPA which is more than a C+ but less than a B-...  it was not good enough to get me into the best colleges or universities but it was good enough to get me into college.  In college I maintained a 3.75 GPA with just a little bit of studying...  but, when I graduated from college and got my first job as Executive Director of a non-profit, neither my high school education or my college education gave me the knowledge to do the job for which I was being hired.

There was no training manual for the job nor was there anyone I could ask for guidance as to how to do the job...  I had to learn how to do the job on my own and through trial and error and hope that the errors were large enough to get me fired.

I was responsible for a million dollar budget, 12 member organizations who looked to me for guidance, directly supervised 10 employees and a cadre of volunteers that amounted to about 500 annually.  I was also responsible for all monthly activities, developing new programs, all advertising and public relations, and guided the board of directors regarding all fund raising efforts.

The board of directors hired me and did not care about my GPA or what classes I had taken, they only cared about my ability to ACHIEVE RESULTS.

I worked 15-18 hour days including Saturdays and kept this job for 8 years.  While working for this organization, I attended grad school on the weekends (all day Saturday/Sunday) and after 2 years (66 hours) received an MBA with a focus in Strategic Planning.

I also received a divorce from my wife who had enough of my career and moved to another state to begin a new life...

My employers in this new state did not care about my degrees or my grades or my divorce...  all they cared about was my ability to achieve results and expected me to work whatever hours I needed to work to achieve those results...

In 2015, I retired without a gold watch or even a THANK YOU, after working 45 years in this crazy marketplace environment...  And, once I retired, I did not care what I did or how long it took me to do it, as long as I ACHIEVED RESULTS...

It's Mid July

 

When I was a child, a teenager, and a young adult, the middle of July signified that the summer was half over...  the summer months were considered to be June, July, and August.  The warmth started in May and the coolness started in September.

From middle age to a senior citizen to being retired, our climate has substantially changed...  We can have t-shirt and shorts weather through December...   and, instead of the warmth starting in May, it can start as early as the middle of March, but typically it is now April.

Our winter, at least in the Tennessee Valley only lasts January, February, and March and of those 12 weeks, really cold frigid weather may be around 2-4 weeks at best.  Of course, these are not absolutes, so there could be a lot of variances.

So, even though it is the middle of July, my sandals, t-shirt, and shorts attire will be continuing for many weeks.  In fact, I cannot really remember the last time I had on a pair of hard shoes...  it's got to go back prior to 2015 when I was working...

Talking about hard shoes is misleading because my nephew turned me on to wool shoes made by Allbirds...  I have a pair of lace-up wool shoes and a pair of slip-on wool shoes like loafers that I wear to substitute for hard shoes in the winter because I don't need to wear socks.

Wearing wool shoes is like wearing slippers and I cannot imagine ever wearing a pair of hard shoes again.  In fact, I wore my wool shoes to a funeral a couple of months ago...  and, no one paid attention to the kind of shoes I was wearing, but if they did, I did not see them so what the hell...

Bird Feeding Young

 

DNA Analysis of Micronesians

Micronesia is defined as a country and has been a much-ballyhooed friend in need for Israel at the United Nations. It actually consists of roughly 2,000 small islands spread over a vast region in the Pacific. 

Micronesia should not to be confused with the neighboring nations of Polynesia or Melanesia, which also consist of small islands in the Pacific. Now, a new study casts light on the origin of early Micronesians and it is more complicated than had been assumed.

It had been thought that Micronesians shared origins with southwest Pacific peoples, and that Micronesians likely stemmed from a single origin. 

Now, analysis of ancient and modern Micronesian DNA has detected five separate waves of migration to Micronesia in antiquity: three streams from eastern Asia, one from Polynesia, and one of people related to mainland Papua New Guineans, Yue-Chen Liu and David Reich of Harvard Medical School reported with colleagues last week in Science.

The three streams of “first remote Oceanian” migration into Micronesia included a previously unknown lineage, the team adds.

The study is based on genomic analysis of 164 people who lived 2,800 to 500 years ago at five sites around Micronesia, and 112 genomes of present-day people from the same areas.  READ MORE...