The Political Divide

A message for Vladimir Putin

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them. John C. Maxwell

You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. C.S. Lewis

Was Russian convoy stalled by not exercising the tires?

A March 3, 2022, story in The Week, suggests the 40-mile-long Russian convoy in the Ukraine was stalled by not moving the vehicles regularly before embarking on the campaign. "When you leave military truck tires in one place for months on end," the story reads, “the sidewalls get brittle in the sun and fail.”

Who is gaining advantage in Russia’s war on Ukraine?

From historian Heather Cox Richardson in the March 7, 2022, issue of Letters from an American: “For all the breathless reports of Russia’s war on Ukraine, it is unclear who is gaining advantage. This is in part because both sides are fighting the war with propaganda as well as with missiles, and it is hard to sort out what is real and what is not. Indeed, image and reality may merge, since images often shape what later becomes real. So, for example, the many stories of Ukrainian resistance feed that resistance, while the stories of Russian failures hurt morale.”

Climate Change

Lake Powell projected to reach critical level

Climate change continues to wreak havoc on water resources in the western U.S. According to a March 3, 2022, story in the Mercury News, Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. after Lake Mead, is projected to reach a critical level in the next few weeks. When the surface of the lake falls to 3,525 feet above sea level, the reservoir is defined as at a critical stage, threatening water supplies and hydropower. If it drops another 35 feet, Lake Powell will no longer be able to produce electricity. Last year, Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S., reached an emergency level triggering mandatory water cuts to southwest states. Both reservoirs are on the Colorado River. The Southwest has been in a drought pattern that began in 1999. The 2021-2022 wet season, which ends on April 1, will feature below-average snow pack, precipitation and reservoir levels throughout most of the region.

Second of three UN reports warns of toll on humans and nature because of climate change

A story in the February 28, 2022, issue of Science reviewed the second of three United Nations reports providing the most current assessment of climate change and its impact on humans. “Even if global warming can be held to 2℃ by later this century—which might be feasible if nations stick to emissions pledges made last year at the U.N. climate meeting in Glasgow, U.K.,” the story says that:

• Up to 3 billion people could face water scarcity
• Snowmelt for irrigation could decline by 20% in many river basins
• Ocean salt water could displace fresh groundwater on small islands
• Food insecurity will worsen, with malnutrition increasing in the global south
• Exposure to dengue fever will grow
• 1 billion people will be exposed to chronic flooding from rising seas

“If warming reaches 3℃ or higher, it’s possible that sweating will no longer be enough to keep the human body from overheating in certain regions. The Persian Gulf will be the first to reach that threshold, but It’s going to become a problem in many places of the world, including, eventually, the United States.”

Future of Work / The Economy

Ban on Russian oil imports largely symbolic, 3% of U.S. total

According to a March 9, 2022, Fortune story, the ban on Russian oil imports is largely symbolic, cutting out approximately 3% of U.S. oil supply, which “analysts expect the U.S. can easily replace with purchases made elsewhere." It won’t hurt Russia much either since it is only 3% of Russia’s shipments of 7 million barrels of petroleum and crude per day. According to Fortune, Europe is a different story. “Europe is a much bigger customer, absorbing close to 60% of Russian oil exports. But the EU—which relies on Russia for roughly 40% of its collective gas imports and 25% of its oil needs—is considering a plan to slash its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds this year, too.”

Pew lists reasons for the Great Resignation

CEO Daily on March 10, 2022, reported on new results from a study by the Pew Research Center survey detailing the reasons the rate people are leaving their jobs is at record highs. The results:

• 37% - said pay was too low was a major reason they left (a minor reason for 26%)
• 33% - said opportunity for advancement was a major reason (a minor reason for 30%)
• 35% - said feeling disrespected at work was a major reason (a minor reason for 24%)
• 24% - said not enough flexibility to choose when to put in working hours was a major issue (a minor issue for 21%)

Covid-19

Time is life. If we miss our budget for a year, no one will remember it the year after. If we miss the opportunity to do something for the world now, we will all remember it forever. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, about how Pfizer decided to take the financial risk to fast-track a Covid vaccine.

New research points Covid origins to wet market

The origins of Covid have been the subject of controversy, conspiracy theories, and just plain lack of confirmation, but it now appears it did not come from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but from the Wuhan wet market. According to a February 26, 2022, story in Newsweek, two new studies back up the market theory. One of the studies used spatial analysis and found that “positive environmental samples were ‘strongly associated’ with vendors selling live animals, including raccoon dogs.” A second study “analyzed the pattern of genomic diversity of the virus early in the pandemic, finding that the disease was likely transmitted to people from an animal.”

The case for vaccination - by Ben Franklin

According to a story in the March 3, 2022, edition of the New York Times’ The Morning newsletter, Ben Franklin became an evangelist for smallpox vaccination. In 1736, he and his wife Deborah, decided to not inoculate their 4-year-old son Francis (Franky) because “he was sick with a cold and the Franklins worried his body would not be able to handle the side effects of inoculation.” Franky contracted smallpox and died. When rumors spread that Franky had died from the inoculation rather than the disease, Franklin took the painful step of writing the true story in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. In the years that followed, he tried to persuade others to avoid his family’s fate. “Surely parents will no longer refuse to accept and thankfully use a discovery God in his mercy has been pleased to bless mankind with,” Franklin wrote, in a pro-inoculation pamphlet.

The Nett Light-Side

What more can I say …