Take a look at the cat photo below. Do you see a cat and its shadow on the wall? You’re wrong. Everyone who I have shown this photo to saw a cat sitting on a chair, but if you look carefully, you will see that it’s actually a photo of 2 cats sitting on a chair, one white and one black. There’s another fun cat photo below. People frequently crop photos of themselves in order to improve their appearance. The photo on the left of the man sitting on a sofa is the cropped photo. The photo on the right is the uncropped photo.
The news lately has been very depressing lately – the Covid epidemic, police killings of unarmed black men, civil unrest, devastating fires, the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression – the list is endless. But the future isn’t completely bleak. Here are a few good things to think about.
Business Closings. A lot of neighborhood businesses have closed since the Covid epidemic began; however, 98% of all businesses that have closed since the epidemic began say that they plan to reopen. It is also important to remember that the failure rate for small businesses is always high. 1/2 of all small businesses fail within 5 years. The failure rate for restaurants is much higher. Over 1/2 of all independent restaurants fail within 1 year. It’s like that in both good times as well as bad.
Bankruptcies. A long list of big companies declared bankruptcy this year, but nearly all of these companies were in big financial trouble before the Covid epidemic began, and almost all of them had the same problem – they were drowning in junk bond debt: Hertz, Neiman Marcus, JCPenney, Chuck E. Cheese, GNC, Sur La Table, J. Crew, Gold’s Gym, 24 Hour Fitness, California Pizza Kitchen, to name a few. Just consider California Pizza Kitchen. If you divide their junk bond debt by the number of restaurants they own, it comes to $2 million per location. How can you make money running a pizza chain when you have $2 million of debt on every location? I sometimes wonder who buys junk bonds and why. Even in the best of times, a high percentage of junk bonds never get repaid. If you ever consider buying junk bonds, think about this one question first – Why do you think they are called ‘junk bonds’?
Progress Doesn’t Stop. Human progress doesn’t stop during epidemics. New products come to market. New things get invented. Scientists make important discoveries. People do productive things while they are in quarantine. In 1603 and 1606, there were plague epidemics in London that killed tens of thousands of people. One of the first things the government did was shut down all the theaters, just like now. While the theaters were closed, William Shakespeare was stuck at home, like everyone else in the entertainment business. While he was stuck at home, Shakespeare wrote King Lear, Anthony and Cleopatra, Othello, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, and many other plays. Shakespeare’s most productive years were the plague years.
After the Epidemic. When epidemics are over, more often than not, life gets back to normal fairly quickly. Over 500,000 Americans died from the Spanish Flu, far more than have died so far from Covid. However, when the Spanish Flu epidemic ended in 1920, it had no lasting impact on the U.S. economy. In 1920, the U.S. economy took off in a period of great prosperity and economic expansion known as the ‘Roaring 20s’, and that continued for the rest of the decade.
MARK’S COVID MEDICAL ADVICE.
I am constantly telling people: ‘Don’t play amateur doctor’, but I am going to do that myself right now anyway. Here it is: Don’t leave home without a pen in your pocket. Viruses can live on nonporous surfaces like pens for several days. That means that the pen that a waiter or store clerk hands you so that you can sign a credit card receipt was probably used by dozens of other people before you. The same applies to pens in banks and post offices. And remember, flu season will soon be here. Of course, you know that stores and restaurants don’t sterilize their pens between customers. Think about that the next time a waiter hands you a pen.
President Trump has repeatedly said that the forest fires in California are the result of ‘poor forest management’ and have nothing to do with global warming, which he claims is a hoax. The big problem with this argument is that it presumes that the state of California controls its forests, but that isn’t true. Most of the forest land in California is owned by the Federal government, not the state. The largest landowner in California is the U.S. Forest Service. They own almost 25% of all the land in the state. See the map below showing how much land in California is owned by the U.S. Forest Service. However, that isn’t all. If you add in the land owned by other Federal agencies: the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Park Service, the U.S. Armed Forces, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corps of Engineers, etc; the Federal government owns almost 50% of all the land in California and an even higher percent of the state’s forests. All of these are Federal agencies, and therefore, under the direct control of President Trump, not Governor Newsom. So – if California’s forest fires are the result of ‘poor forest management’, who is responsible for that? Is it the state of California, which owns 3% of the state’s forests, or is it the Federal government, which owns over 60% of the state’s forests? I don’t understand why I never hear reporters or news commentators pointing out the math problem with the ‘poor forest management’ argument.
MARK’S FOREST FIRE ADVICE.
Is your car covered with ash? Forest fire ash is caustic (alkaline) and can damage your car’s finish. Hose the ash off your car from the top down. I have a car washing brush that you can borrow. It attaches to a garden hose. Washing your car with just a hose will remove loose dust and dirt, but without a brush or sponge, you aren’t going to get the stuck-on dust off your car. That’s why all car washes have brushes. If your hose needs a nozzle or a washer, let me know. I always have them in stock. If your hose is leaking or squirting water at either end, it is probably missing a washer. Washers sometimes fall out and get lost. Windshield Wipers. The rainy season will soon be here. Now would be a good time to test your windshield wipers. We haven’t had any rain in 6 months. Windshield wiper blades are cheap and easy to replace.
Braising is my best single piece of advice on how to save money on food. Most people spend more money on meat than anything else they buy at the supermarket. Tender cuts of meat that can be cooked easily and without any preparation are always the most expensive. A tenderloin steak is easy to cook, but it’s $30 a pound at Whole Foods. Tough cuts of meat like beef brisket are extremely cheap by comparison. Chuck roast is lean, meaty, and flavorful and costs under $5 a pound. Fortunately, these tough cuts of meat can come out just as tender as a pricey tenderloin steak if you know how to cook them. The trick is braising. That means cooking with liquid. Here is a 2 minute You Tube video from Food Network that explains it. Braising Meat. Braising is very easy to do. If you make a braised chuck roast once, you will probably make it again. Have you ever made Atlanta Brisket? It’s a Southern favorite. The braising liquid includes Coca Cola, which is how this dish gets its name.
Everyone should have one of these right now, not just because of Covid, but also because flu season will soon be here. Most people have one of these at work, but do you have one at home? This model has 1-second instant reading, auto shutoff, backlight display, fever alarm, and a soft carrying bag. I am giving away one per rental unit, and I have enough for everyone.
There are many ambiguous words in the English language. ‘Renter’ is on the top of my list. Is a renter a tenant or a landlord? Suppose you say: “Max rents the house on the corner.” Is Max the tenant or is he the landlord? Does Max pay rent or does he receive rent? Google Dictionary defines ‘renter’ as ‘a person who rents an apartment, car, or other object. That definition doesn’t help. ‘A person who rents an apartment’ could be either a tenant or a landlord.
AUTOANTONYMS.‘Renter’ is an autoantonym. An autoantonym is a word that has 2 opposite definitions. In other words, the word is its own antonym. My Uncle Maurice got me interested in autoantonyms when I was a kid. He still likes them. Here are a few examples of autoantonyms.Clip can mean to attach or to detach. If you clip papers together, then you attach them, but if you clip an article from a newspaper, then you detach it. I remember this word was on Uncle Maurice’s list. Dust can mean to remove dust or to add dust. If you dust your living room, you are removing dust, but if you dust donuts with powdered sugar, then you are adding dust. Off can men to activate or to deactivate. ‘The dog set off the burglar alarm, so we turned the burglar alarm off.’ Oversight can mean failing to see mistakes or trying to find mistakes. ‘An oversight by the company’s CPA led to a million dollar loss. His oversight was discovered by the oversight committee.’ Table can mean to start a discussion or end a discussion. If you table a meeting, you are starting a discussion, but if you table a motion at the meeting, then you are removing it from discussion. Trim can mean to add or to remove. What does it mean to ‘trim a tree?’ If you trim a Christmas tree, then you are adding decorations, but if you trim a tree in your backyard, you are removing unwanted branches. There are dozens of other autoantonyms in the English language.
Last week, I saw the movie ‘Chain Reaction’ on TV. In this movie, Keanu Reeves is a chemist working in an alternative energy lab. A massive hydrogen explosion destroys the lab and the surrounding neighborhood. However, Reeves escapes by outrunning the explosion on his motorcycle. He does the same thing at the end of the movie. There are dozens of movies like this, movies in which the hero outruns an explosion. I never took a physics or chemistry course in college, but I am suspicious that you can actually outrun an explosion. James Bond does this quite often. In ‘Golden Eye’, James Bond blows up a military base, but he escapes by running faster than the explosion is expanding. In Rambo movies, Sylvester Stallone outruns explosions in the jungle. In the TV show ‘Star Trek’, the Enterprise is constantly outrunning explosions, including exploding stars. They do this by going to ‘warp speed’, which is many times faster than the speed of light. The show never explains what warp speed is. When I was in college, I saw the movie ‘Krakatoa – East of Java.’ I recall that the title of this movie annoyed me. I was good at geography, and I knew that Krakatoa is west of Java. In this movie, just before the Krakatoa volcano explodes, people get on a sailing ship and sail away. They escape because their ship is sailing faster than the explosion. The majority of my tenants are working in chemistry labs so maybe one of them can explain to me how you can outrun an explosion. People are constantly doing it in movies, but I am very skeptical about this.
When I was a child, I could not understand why there were Confederate statues and monuments all over Baltimore, where I grew up. There were no statues of Union generals or of Lincoln. I knew that Maryland was a Union state, even though it was also a slave state. Most Marylanders who fought in the Civil War fought for the North. I also didn’t understand why the official state song was – and still is – ‘Maryland, My Maryland.’ The lyrics of this song are just Confederate propaganda. It was written during the Civil War by a Confederate naval officer. Most people in Maryland have never read or thought about the words to the state song, but maybe they should. ‘Maryland, My Maryland’ refers to Abraham Lincoln as a ‘tyrant’, ‘the despot’, and ‘the vandal’. However, the nastiest line in this song refers to the United States Army as ‘Northern scum.’ Think about that. The United States Army is just ‘Northern scum’? When I was a kid, I was sometimes required to sing ‘Maryland, My Maryland’, but after a certain age, I just refused to sing it. There have been many efforts to revise or replace this song, but all efforts have failed. In 2016, some Maryland state legislators tried to get just the words ‘Northern scum’ removed from ‘Maryland, My Maryland’, but even that was voted down. In 2017, the University of Maryland marching band announced that they would no longer play ‘Maryland, My Maryland’. In 2018, the Maryland state legislature again voted against making any changes to ‘Maryland, My Maryland’. In February, 2020; the Maryland House of Delegates appointed a panel to “review suggestions for a new state song”, but the panel was disbanded due to the Covid epidemic. And remember – Maryland was a Union state!
BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.
The only major battle in the Civil War that was fought in Maryland was at Antietam. Most people think that Gettysburg was the most important battle in the war, but it was really Antietam. That’s because Antietam was the battle that doomed the Confederacy. Antietam was the bloodiest single day in the entire war. There were over 20,000 casualties. More importantly, Antietam changed the Civil War from a war to preserve the Union to a war to end slavery. A few days after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln felt that too many men had been killed at Antietam to put the country back together just as it was before the war. After Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, it became politically impossible for Britain or France to enter the war on the South’s side, and that doomed the Confederacy.
Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins. These muffins are made with equal quantities of cherries and mini chocolate chips.
Maraschino Cherries. I use natural dried cherries in my muffins. Most commercial cherry muffins, cupcakes, ice cream, and candies are made with maraschino cherries. Maraschino is not a type of cherry. It is a method of preserving cherries. Maraschino cherries are made by bleaching cherries in a brine made of calcium chloride and sulfur dioxide for 1 to 2 months. This process removes all color and flavor from the cherries. Then the cherries are soaked in sugar syrup, artificial cherry flavor, and red dye. Maraschino cherries have an extremely long shelf life, which makes them popular with food processors. Maraschino cherries are pretty, but they are not good for you.
Cherry Chocolate Chip vs. Orange Cranberry Muffins. It can be hard to tell cranberries from cherries in baked goods, but there is an easy way to tell which of my muffins is which. My cherry-chocolate chip muffins are baked in red muffin cups, and the orange-cranberry muffins are baked in orange or copper colored muffin cups.
Why No Muffin Bakeries? There are lots of cupcake bakeries and donut shops, but the only bakeries that specialize in muffins in the bay area make them for a niche market. There are bakeries that just make gluten-free muffins, and there are bakeries that make muffins for dogs. Lately, mochi muffin bakeries have been popping up in California. But why aren’t there bakeries that just sell normal muffins? I suspect that the reason that cupcakes and donuts outsell muffins is simply because cupcakes and donuts have a lot more sugar in them.
It is very hard to vote by mail in some states, especially in the South. In Mississippi, you have to have an excuse for requesting an absentee ballot, your reason has to be accepted by a state official, and you have to make your request at least 30 before the election. Mississippi also has an unusual 2-tier voting system. It was put in the state Constitution in 1890 for the purpose of preventing African-Americans from getting elected to statewide office. The stated purpose of the 2-tier voting system was: “to secure to the State of Mississippi White Supremacy.” It seems hard to believe that laws like this are still the law in the South. Here in California, voting by mail is easy, and this year it will be even easier. In May, Governor Newsom ordered that every registered voter in California be mailed a vote-by-mail ballot prior to the November election. If you haven’t already registered to vote for the November election, you can do so by mail or phone. Just go to the website of the California Secretary of State.
How Medieval Is Mississippi? Last year, 1 in 14 students in Mississippi public schools was subjected to corporal punishment. Corporal punishment offenses include: failing to turn in homework, failing to tuck in your shirt, and laughing in a hallway. In 2019, the Mississippi state legislature passed a new law prohibiting teachers from beating physically disabled students. Think about that – until last year, schoolteachers in Mississippi were allowed to beat disabled children! Mississippi’s laws and ‘traditions’ have not enriched the people of the state or improved their lives. Mississippi is the poorest state in the U.S. Per capita income is $20,000 a year, about half the per capita income of California. Mississippi also has the lowest life expectancy of any state. Average life expectancy in Mississippi is 75. In California, it is 82. This difference is largely due to obesity and tobacco use. Mississippi has the second highest obesity rate in the U.S., 37% of the population. Cigarette taxes in Mississippi are among the lowest in the U.S., and smoking is permitted by state law nearly everywhere, including bars, restaurants, stores, day care centers, and doctor’s offices.
