Alcohol and Weed

 Politico has a post on Prohibition, stating the case for prohibition being a reasonable reform with supporters ranging from Washington to Lincoln.  The writer is a historian with a new book out.  My mother was death on alcohol; looking back I'm not sure why.  I'm thinking there was some element of experience there, possibly from neighbors, or within the family; I don't know, I never asked. 

I can buy some of the argument, certainly the part about alcohol being one of the Progressive reform causes. Comparing the brewers and distillers to the today's peddlers of oxycontin and fentanyl is good, as is pointing to the impact of firewater on Native Americans.

Meanwhile, there are reports of national Republicans supporting the legalization, or at least the decriminalization, of marijuana. That's amazing to me, but it seems that it's the wave of the future.

I can't come out with just one standard rule for alcohol and drugs which I think would work for all times and all societies. 

Vietnam Transport

 Many of the photos I shot were during trips between Long Binh and the company's HQ near Tan Son Nhut.  All were 35 mm slides; I forget the type of film but many didn't hold their color so I've tried to adjust using Google Photo tools.

An End to Fence-Building?

 Modern Farmer reports  on a "no fence" system for goats.  Unlike "no fence" systems for cats and dogs, no buried wire marking the boundary is needed, just GPS  and other sensors.

It seems as if the same technology would work for any mammal, which would mean an end to one spring routine--fixing fence, which involved replacing fence posts which had rotted, driving in fence posts which were still good but had been heaved up by the frost, replacing rusted out barbed wire, etc.  

Laws about fencing date back centuries.  Depending on the agriculture in the area sometimes it was the responsibility of the animal owner to fence his herd in, in other areas the responsibility of the crop grower to fence out free roaming animals. "No fence" tech would seem to be the responsibility of the animal owner. 

One blogger I follow is Foothill Agrarian who raises sheep in California. He and some of the organic farmers have a system where they move their grazing animals from one field to another, or paddock to another, which involves movable fences.  Invisible fences would ease that work. 

The Vaccinated Are Smarter?

 I'd answer "yes", if you're smart enough to get yourself vaccinated, you're smarter than your unvaccinated friend or relative.  And I'd point to this CDC study (via Lawyers, Guns and Money--Paul Campos) which shows a big difference in death rates between the two groups: vaccinated and unvaccinated.

The big thing about the study is the difference is based on death rates excluding Covid.  

Homicides, Car Accidents

 Homicides are up, fatal car accidents are up.  I suggest it's a combination of factors (that's always a safe suggestion):

• the pandemic, obviously.  We've built up a lot of frustration as we've had to adapt to change.
• Trump.  Leaders can set the tone.  In the former guy's case the tone he set was to act out your emotions, to be angry at situations you can't control, and to bully the people you can. (Wrote this yesterday, but see AOC making a similar point today--the tone set from the top can matter. 

  AOC links Gosar's video to a "nihilism" among Republicans holding that nothing Congress does really matters or is meaningful pic.twitter.com/zFYlFwI3f9

  — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 17, 2021)

• for homicides, there's likely been an impact on policing from the "defund police" etc. 

A New Day Dawning? Leahy

 Sen. Leahy has announced he won't run for reelection next year.  On the Newshour Lisa Lerer commented on the number of old farts who are in the Dem leadership of Congress, and their impending retirements.

There's likely a transition coming for Dems, certainly in the House, more probable in the Senate if the next two elections turn out awful for the Dems.  

Currently it seems as if the Reps are on a firm course: Trump the likely nominee in 2024, McCarthy as Speaker, but McConnell won't last past 2024 if Trump is elected. The Dems are less clear: will Biden run for election, if not can Harris get the nomination or will it be someone else. If there's primary fight for 2024 will the nominee be defeated by Trump, as Carter was defeated by having a divided party behind him. 

My guess would be that Pelosi leaves if Dems lose the House in 2022. 

Why We Fight the Last War

 I've written before about my Harshaw rule--we never get it right the first time. 

I just realized this morning that there's a logical corollary: we always fight the last war.  Why? It's what we know, and when we're in a crisis, a new situation with high stakes, we revert to what we know.   The Harshaw rule says we don't get it right the first time because we lack the understanding and the habits needed to deal with newness.  

(This was spurred by an article in the papers saying that we responded to the pandemic recession by doing what we did for the Great Recession.)

[Updated with link]

Afghanistan Refugees

 An article in the Post yesterday on the arrival of Afghan refugees in in American society, particularly in the DC area.  Some children are already enrolled in local schools.  There's a NOVA RAFT (Resettling Afghan Families Together) helping--they've a Facebook page and an Amazon wish list.

My sister was active for many years in the interfaith group which worked settling refugees in the Syracuse area.

Changes in the Blog--Vietnam

 Over the years this blog has changed some.  Without going back and reading early posts, I think I wrote extensively on FSA/USDA, a focus which has declined over the years.  I think I've always been cautious about offering opinions, but I've become more political over the last 5 years or so.  I've rarely discussed personal matters. 

I'm changing a bit--having started to review some of the photographs I accumulated over the years I think some might find them interesting, particularly those from Nam.

I may have mentioned I spent 11 months 11 days in Vietnam during 1966-67 as a generator operator assigned to the 69th Signal Battalion. Shortly after I arrived I bought a SLR Pentax and started taking some picture. My company HQ was at Tan son nhut (airport)  in Saigon, but by this time I was stationed at Long Binh, a logistics base some 12 miles northeast of Saigon. My group ran generators for a communications center, which was located a bit outside the base's perimeter (I think; ignorance of the bigger picture was standard in the Army then).

This was late in my tour, as the communication center has now been enclosed in a building.  I'm reading (not sure who snapped the photo) by one of the two generators.  

More on Unemployment Insurance Systems

 I noted the use of COBOL in state unemployment insurance systems. 

This GovExec article describes what the Biden administration is doing.  I wish them luck, and persistence.