Mother's Day, 2025

On Mother's Day we had flowers delivered to my 101-year-old mother-in-law. Helen is a marvel. She is fully mobile, lives at home with one of her daughters, and texts us regularly about her day.

She wants for nothing material and is satisfied just hearing from us. I'm old school and like writing her physical letters. She says that she likes to re-read them, which one rarely does with electronic communications.

Happy Mother's Day, and many more.

Rancho Palos Verdes: Unlikely Ally

Homes in Rancho Palos Verdes (Getty/SFGate)

Three months ago we wrote about the slow-moving disaster in Rancho Palos Verdes, where some homes are sliding toward the ocean. However, the slippage has slowed for an unexpected reason.

Recently, though, the rate of failure has slowed somewhat, giving new hope to those on the edge. And it’s thanks to an unlikely ally: drought.

At a May 6 city council meeting, Rancho Palos Verdes geologist Mike Phipps explained that the land movement across much of the peninsula has stabilized (or at least decelerated) recently. “Mr. Phipps believes this is largely due to significantly below-average rainfall through April,” according to a news update on the meeting from the city’s website, which added that “winterization measures” last fall and “ongoing dewatering efforts” have also contributed to the slowdown. Since the start of the rainy season back in October, the region has received only 46% of its average seasonal rainfall total this year.

In California we're lucky to have had three wet winters in a row, but in Rancho Palos Verdes that's too much of a good thing.

We Still Live in Plato's World

The Cornford edition (1973) is the one I used

I first opened Plato's Republic in eighth grade, tackled it again in high school, and spent over a month on it in college. A half-century later its popularity persists :

Plato’s most far-reaching work is today his most widely read, indeed the most widely assigned text by any author at America’s top universities (according to a 2016 study by the Open Syllabus Project, a non-profit group that surveys college curricula). That’s surely what Plato hoped to achieve as he composed his “Republic.” From stylistic clues we can tell that he kept revising the work through most of his adult life (that is, through the first half of the fourth century B.C.), far longer than any of his other 30-odd dialogues.

An ancient Greek anecdote, perhaps apocryphal, holds that just after his death a tablet was found on which, in his last hours, he had been reworking the opening sentence of the “Republic.”

In my humble opinion we--at least those of us in the West---still live in Plato's world. We assume that Forms exist, though none of us have seen them in reality (we know what the Form of a "dog" or a "chair" is, though none of us have seen perfect specimens of either).

Many, including your humble blogger, believe that our perceptions of the world are like Plato's shadows in the cave. There is an underlying truth that our senses alone do not grasp; do not mistake the shadows for reality.

And the current disenchantment with education is not so much a turning away from Plato's path to virtue as it is disappointment about what education has actually become: a tool for blinkered indoctrination into identity politics and tribal grievances. Education, as it is today, is as far removed from the Socratic method and free inquiry as a paint-by-numbers manual teaches art.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Socrates

“Americano…”

Pope Leo XIV stands in front of the altar at the Sistine Chapel (Sforza/Reuters/WSJ)

Against expectations, the conclave of cardinals elected a Pope who was the first ever to be born in the United States:

The election of the first-ever American pope stunned the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square, defied betting markets and shattered an assumption that the church would never hand its highest office to a citizen of the world’s leading superpower.

But by Thursday, the 69-year-old Prevost had become the natural choice for the cardinals secluded in the Sistine Chapel. For weeks, they had searched for a successor who offered continuity with the late Pope Francis’ dream of an inclusive and humble church—but who showed more deference for Catholic tradition and stronger managerial skills to run a financially strained city-state of global reach.

Even before the conclave began on Wednesday, a geographically and ideologically diverse bloc had come to understand that they had among them an all-rounder who checked those boxes.

The longtime bishop of Chiclayo in Peru was from the U.S., but of the global south. Many of his supporters described the polyglot prelate with the same four words: “citizen of the world.” Years of missionary experience had lent him a reputation as an advocate of the poor and marginalized. He had served in the heart of the Vatican, but not long enough for its frequent scandals to taint him.

A person who checks all the boxes rarely makes the best leader. Let's hope that Pope Leo overturns those expectations as well.

Not Just for Nerds

Jacques Marie Mage - Dealan $870

Always on the lookout for status symbols that I can afford, these "beefy" eyeglasses can be purchased for under $1,000.

Founded in 2014 by French designer Jerôme Mage, Jacques Marie Mage (JMM) handcrafts super-luxe frames in Japan in limited runs. While it offers a range of unisex styles, its signature remains the dark, square, acetate designs (see: the black Dealan and Molino models). Weighty at about 50g, and accented with precious-metal details, these eyeglasses and sunglasses might as well be collectibles, with prices to match: They currently range from $770 to $2,400. You do not forget these in a cab or accidentally squash them while sunbathing.

In recent years the sculptural, subtly logoed designs have become the status glasses in certain circles of wealthy, fashionable men...

With its beefy black frames nodding to the ’50s and ’60s glamour of rock ’n’ roll and film stars from Buddy Holly to Marcello Mastroianni, the brand is staking a claim on a classic style. Stylish celebs including LeBron James, Michael Fassbender, Jeff Goldblum and Denzel Washington have sported the glasses.

The culture has moved on; beneath the Clark-Kent look may just lie a Man of Steel.

Climate Change: Let's See if They'll Buy That Reason for Higher Taxes

My 2016 rented condo would have been subject to the tax.

Hawaii raised its hotel tax from the current 9.25% to 11% "to combat climate change."

The hotel tax is slated to jump from 9.25% to 11% beginning January 2026, specifically to combat climate change, according to the bill. Lawmakers say the increase will generate between $85 million and $100 million a year. Funding from the tax will be used to prevent effects from climate change like coastal erosion, flooding and wildfires, factors that many regions across Hawaii are vulnerable to, [state Rep. Adrian K.] Tam said at Friday’s meeting. The tax would also apply to tourists visiting the islands via cruise ships.

[Gov. Josh] Green has long been in favor of charging a $50 fee from tourists to enter the state, but various versions of the bill that have included a flat fee have died, since some lawmakers said it would violate the constitution’s protections for free travel, according to the Associated Press. Increasing the lodging tax was a compromise.

It sure is lucky that the science of global warming climate change came around to justify increasing the tax on beleagured tourists. After all, "coastal erosion, flooding and wildfires" had been occurring long before Captain Cook dropped anchor in 1778, but maybe the rubes will believe that driving their SUVs made the problems worse.

Meanwhile, thank goodness I have relatives that let me crash on their couch.

Prisoner of Trump's World

Alcatraz, 2006

Its prison closed in 1963, and Alcatraz has since become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Bay Area.

Visitors can wander through the Gardens of Alcatraz, peruse the Big Lockup Exhibit, or take a night tour where one can “enjoy the beauty of a sunset silhouetting the Golden Gate Bridge” as well as “experience a cell door demonstration.” Over the years, Boy Scouts have clamored to hold overnight campouts in the infamous isolation cells of D Block. Athletes compete in prison-themed events, including a canoe race circling the island and the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Donald Trump demonstrated the power of the Presidency's "bully pulpit" when he called for the Alcatraz prison to be rebuilt and re-opened.

Calling the prison a “symbol of law and order,” Trump on Sunday said he is directing the Bureau of Prisons and other federal agencies to rebuild Alcatraz to house “America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”

However, the reasons for its original closure haven't gone away.

It operated as a maximum-security facility for nearly three decades, closing in 1963 because of millions of dollars in needed repairs and the expense of hauling all supplies, including fresh water, to the facility by boat. Alcatraz was tiny by the standards of most federal facilities, never housing more than around 275 prisoners.

President Trump is too much of a cost-benefit realist to take his own proposal seriously. IMHO, he did it to provoke Democrats and direct their attention from his other policies. [bold added]

Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco...call[ed] the president’s idea “unhinged and terrifying.” Trump wants to turn Alcatraz “into a domestic gulag in the middle of San Francisco Bay,” Wiener wrote on social media.

Some Democratic strategists recognize the President's maneuver as a distraction. [bold added]

But Trump’s Sunday evening social media post about the idea follows a well-honed strategy that the president has been deploying for years. He makes outlandish claims and goads the media into writing stories debunking or criticizing them, which focuses the national conversation around his preferred topics.

Centering the news cycle around the idea that he wants to crack down on crime could keep Americans’ focus on an issue that’s politically advantageous to him, experts say.

“He picks outlandish topics that he thinks will be popular with the general public, but unpopular with Democrats and maybe the educated Democratic elites, in the hopes that they criticize it,” said Gabriel Lenz, a political science professor at UC Berkeley. “That keeps an idea, an issue, a topic where he thinks he has an advantage in the news.”...

Longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon calls this strategy “flood the zone.” It’s how Trump grows his popularity among everyday Americans, Bannon says.

"Flooding the zone" is a term that originated in sports. For example, if a team sends enough pass receivers to an area, it becomes impossible for the other team to cover each one.

Calls by wiser heads to ignore the Alcatraz distraction fall on deaf ears, because as Scott Wiener has demonstrated, some Democrats can't help themselves.

Conclave: Life Imitates Art

Figuring that a fictional account of a papal conclave would be more entertaining than real life, I watched the movie Conclave on Amazon's Prime Video this weekend. The film had political intrigue, dirty tricks, messages from the late Pope and deep diving into cardinals' personal histories. One by one the leading candidates withdraw because of these revelations.

Luis Antonio Tagle

Pietro Parolin

Apparently I was too quick to dismiss real life.

There have been whispering campaigns against the front-runners—Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a 70-year-old Italian and career diplomat, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 67, of the Philippines. The aim is to make them living proof of a conclave adage: He who enters a pope, leaves a cardinal.

Parolin, for good measure, has shown he won’t be pushed around. Since the deliberations began, he has revealed the existence of not one but two letters from beyond the grave by Pope Francis, excluding one of the cardinals from the sacred vote.

By the end of the movie a Pope is elected, but only after some twists, turns, and an inspired speech. I doubt that we will experience such drama at the real conclave, but as we have seen so far, life is full of surprises.

Warren Buffett Retires

Warren Buffett and Greg Abel (Tullo/WSJ)

94-year-old Warren Buffett will step down as Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway:

Buffett said Saturday at Berkshire’s annual meeting that he plans to step down as CEO at the end of the year and hand the reins to [Greg] Abel. In his 60 years of delivering stunning investment returns and folksy wisdom, the 94-year-old has been the glue that binds together Berkshire’s collection of businesses—from Dairy Queen and Duracell to railways and insurers—at a time when big conglomerates are out of style.

Abel will inherit the challenge of overseeing that wide-ranging empire, while living up to Buffett’s seemingly impossible-to-replicate record in stock picking—something even Buffett has struggled to do in recent years...

A former accountant from the Canadian Prairies who joined Berkshire through its acquisition of a utility in Des Moines, Iowa, Abel helped build Berkshire Hathaway Energy into one of the company’s biggest businesses through a series of acquisitions and investments.

By 2018, Buffett had seen enough to put Abel in charge of all of Berkshire’s businesses outside of its insurance operations and add him to the board. Abel now oversees dozens of companies, including Benjamin Moore, Fruit of the Loom, Oriental Trading and See’s Candies. Buffett still runs the bulk of the company’s investment portfolio and makes decisions on how to deploy capital.

We can dust off all the cliches--Greg Abel has big shoes to fill, Why There Will Never Be Another Warren Buffett--but one prediction is undoubtedly true: Greg Abel's strengths lie in operating Berkshire's many businesses; he will need assistance in making investment decisions.

Two lieutenants, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, each manage a portion of Berkshire’s stock portfolio, and some Berkshire watchers expect them to take on a bigger investing role when Abel becomes CEO.

“I don’t see anything in [Abel’s] background that would make him a good stock picker. That’s not where he got his chops,” said Robert Miles, who teaches a class on Buffett at the University of Nebraska Omaha. “My guess is Greg will be in charge of major acquisitions and capital allocation, but the investment managers already in place will continue” to oversee the equity portfolio.

Bill Miller, the veteran stock picker, advised Abel to follow the advice Buffett has long dispensed to individual investors: “Put most of the excess cash in an S&P 500 index fund,” he wrote. “Then let Todd and Ted actively manage the residual.”

Shasta Lake: No Drought Restrictions This Year

Shasta Lake, January 2025 (active norcal)

The state's largest reservoir is nearly filled to capacity:

Shasta Lake, about 10 miles north from the city of Redding, is at a surface level of 1,061.70 feet as of Wednesday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which is just shy of its full capacity of 1,067 feet. That puts the lake at 96% of its total capacity, or 114% of its historical capacity for this time of year, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

Shasta Lake can hold about 1.5 trillion gallons of water, which can “cover the entire state of California in half an inch of water,” Colin McCarthy, an atmospheric science student at UC Davis who runs US Stormwatch, wrote in a post on X.

The reservoir began seeing a major jump in water levels after several atmospheric river-fueled storms brought heavy downpours during the holiday season. And last year, the reservoir also rose to nearly full capacity around the same period.

The capacity levels mark a notable comeback after a long-lasting, extreme drought period depleted the reservoir. Photos from summer 2021, published by Record Searchlight, a local media outlet in Redding, show the bone-dry lake with cracks and hardened mud.

Shasta Lake isn’t the only reservoir seeing exceptional water levels. Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir, is currently at a surface level of around 891 feet as of Friday afternoon, according to the California Department of Water Resources, which puts the reservoir at 96% of its total capacity and 120% of its historical capacity for this time of year.

After three wet winters in a row California is lucky that its failure to build more water storage won't restrict residents' water usage...this year.

Lei Day 2025

May Day is lei day in Hawaii
Flowers and garlands everywhere…

The prizewinner (Star Advertiser)

While May Day was marked by angry protests on the Mainland, thousands assembled joyfully at Kapiolani Park.

The Mayor’s Grand Prize at this year’s 97th Lei Day Celebration in Honolulu went to Dale Mar T. Acoba.

Acoba wowed judges Thursday with his white lei kui made of hypericum and pearl yarrow, and took home the prize of $5,400. The city also named winners in 14 other lei categories.

Thousands of visitors flocked to Kapiolani Park in Waikiki for the annual celebration, which included the lei competition exhibit, along with music, hula performances by various halau, cultural demonstrations, and a local craft market.

The theme of this year’s celebration was Ho’okahi ka ‘ilau like ‘ana, meaning “wield the paddles together.”

The competition drew 137 entries in various categories based on the lei-maker’s age, lei style, color, and materials, according to city officials.

Following protocol, the fresh lei from the contest were taken to Mauna ‘Ala, or The Royal Mausoleum, and Kawaiaha‘o Church this morning, and placed on the graves and tombs of Hawaii’s alii.

Hawaii does May Day better.

Too Much, Even for California Democrats

Ash Kalra (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

The arguments for and against rent control are well known (we last posted about them in 2019). AB 1482, passed in 2019, imposed a limited amount of rent control on California landlords.

That law, AB 1482, capped rent hikes at between 5% and 10% a year, depending on inflation. It mainly applies to apartment buildings that are 15 years old or older.

San Jose Assemblyman Ash Kalra recently sought to expand rent control: [bold added]

Kalra’s bill would have lowered the rent increase limits to between 2% and 5% a year. It would have also extended the rent caps to all rented single-family homes and condos, which are now exempt unless owned by a corporation, trust or LLC. Additionally, it would have eliminated the current law’s 2030 sunset date, making the restrictions permanent.

Units under 15 years old would have continued to be exempt. Landlords would also have been allowed to charge new tenants any price upon move-in.

The bill would not have impacted local rent control ordinances in cities including San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley and Mountain View.

The bill’s opponents, including the state’s most powerful landlord and real estate groups, argued that additional regulations on rents would have discouraged new housing construction because they would make it more difficult for developers to turn a profit.

They also pointed to academic studies showing that in areas with rent control, tenants are less likely to move, and some landlords opt to stop renting out their units. Fewer available rentals can mean higher prices for units that are not rent-controlled, or when new tenants move in.

I know elderly homeowners who rent their homes to defray the costs of assisted living. Yes, they could sell their home and be subject to large capital gain taxes (the State of California doesn't give a break for capital gains because the taxpayer didn't "earn" the price appreciation).

The rent control expansion would have fallen largely on mom-and-pop landlords who try to rent out an older home. The proposal was too much, even for Democrats. Ash Kalra pulled his bill, but not before stating "he plans to reintroduce a version of the bill next year."

Californians keep reelecting politicians like Ash Kalra who want to redistribute wealth, and we are getting what we voted for.

Just Do It

Hazard when walking the dog in Foster City: coyotes

After breakfast I go over to my son's place to walk his dog. It's a win-win: my son has more time to get ready for work, the dog can tend to his business, and I get to spend 30-45 minutes in the Peninsula sunshine.

Walking, as has been known for many years, confers health benefits, especially for the Social Security crowd who can't run anymore (c'est moi). Among these benefits is one that's not mentioned in polite company: the freedom to relieve flatulence.

It began as a joke on social media, but medical experts say there’s real science behind the viral “fart walk” wellness trend.

Coined by 70-year-old Canadian cookbook author Mairlyn Smith, the term refers to a brief stroll taken after dinner, often to relieve gas.

“Going for a ‘fart walk’ after dinner is something that’s going to help you age wonderfully,” Smith declared last year in a now viral Instagram post.

Since then, the hashtag #fartwalk has earned millions of views on TikTok, fueled by a mixture of humor, personal anecdotes and surprising medical support...

“From a medical perspective, what it can really help do is promote digestion. It promotes intestinal motility, which is to squeeze and move things forward,” said Dr. Max Brondfield, an assistant professor of gastroenterology at UCSF. “It helps keep the entire digestive tract happy and balanced.”

Brondfield and other physicians are publicly endorsing the practice, not just for digestive comfort but for deeper systemic benefits.

Among them: blood sugar regulation. After eating, glucose enters the bloodstream, triggering a rise in blood sugar levels. Over time, especially in those with insulin resistance or sedentary lifestyles, this can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes.

But walking, even for just five to 10 minutes, appears to blunt this spike.

"Fart walking" outdoors is not only good for your health, but the people who live in the same home will appreciate it too.

Tahoe: Becoming Clearer

Visibility (the Secchi depth) is decreasing (UC Davis)

The waters of Lake Tahoe are renowned for their clarity, but in recent decades murkiness has risen.

The "Secchi disk" is a measurement tool that has been used for over half a century:

The white frisbee is the most well-known and influential method of studying Lake Tahoe’s clarity. Called the Secchi disk, it has been used by UC Davis scientists to measure Lake Tahoe’s clarity since 1968. The method is simple: Scientists lower a 10-inch disk into the water, lean over the edge of the boat and mark the moment when it disappears into the blue and they can no longer see it. There are other ways to measure how far light penetrates into a lake and how clear the water is, Hampton said. However, the Secchi disk’s simplicity makes it universally understood and resonate with people in a meaningful way, and researchers use the Secchi disk to study clarity in lakes all over the world.

Despite the cloudy long-term trend, UC Davis researchers say that the lake has become clearer beginning three years ago: [bold added]

For the last five months of 2022, Lake Tahoe was the clearest it has been since the 1980s. That is due in part to a resurgence of the lake’s native zooplankton. They’ve provided a natural clean-up crew to help restore the lake’s famous blue waters.

The findings are reported in the “Lake Tahoe Clarity Report 2022,” released today from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, or TERC, for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency...

The primary factors affecting lake clarity are the concentration of particles in a specific size range, such as silt and clay, and tiny phytoplankton, or algae. The phytoplankton Cyclotella, a single-celled alga, is in this size range and has impacted clarity in most years.

Zooplankton are small, microscopic animals. Some zooplankton, particularly Daphnia and Bosmina, are specialized to consume particles in that critical size range.

“Daphnia and Bosmina largely disappeared from the lake after they were grazed down following the introduction of the Mysis shrimp in the 1960s,” said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. “In late 2021, the Mysis population unexpectedly crashed, and it took 12 months for the Daphnia and Bosmina to build up their numbers and start their natural cleansing.”

Other factors are known to influence year-to-year changes in clarity. These include the magnitude of the runoff, the warming of the lake surface and the depth to which the lake mixes in the previous winter. The report examined all these factors and concluded that only the change in the zooplankton community could account for the magnitude of this year’s change.

It was too lazy to attribute the trend toward lower water clarity to the usual suspects of runoff, pollution, wildfires, and global warming. The growth in Mysis shrimp may have been the reason because of the negative impact on zooplankton, while the 2021 "crash" in Mysis shrimp resulted in a resurgence in plankton that "cleansed" Lake Tahoe. The 2021 shrimp die-off is so far unexplained and needs to be researched for a satisfactory understanding of the Tahoe ecosystem.

What was once clear is now cloudy, buty your humble blogger is confident that it shall become clear again.

Francis Among the Wolves

Pope Francis in Krakow, 2016 (CNS/Paul Haring)

Although Pope Francis espoused political positions that were the opposite of President Trump's--against border enforcement and fossil fuels, and for "social justice"--both leaders had similar obstacles to overcome.

Both were outsiders who tried to turn their organizations in a drastic new direction (according to their critics);

Both insisted that they were just trying to return to founding principles (the Gospels, the Constitution);

Both met resistance from an entrenched bureaucracy.

To make lasting change in an institution, you need institutional skills. Francis’ disposition was pastoral, not administrative.

In the Catholic Church, political power is concentrated in the Roman curia—the practically invisible coterie of busybodies, many of them high-ranking clergy, who administer the vast Vatican bureaucracy. The curia is staffed largely by Italians. Francis was an outsider from faraway Argentina, which put him at a disadvantage in his own house. He had no interest in the material trappings of power, forswearing the famous bling of the papacy. He preferred to live not in the luxurious papal apartments but in a simple room in the hotel on the Vatican grounds.

Francis was a shepherd. He had the smell of his sheep about him. The manipulators and inside players of the Roman curia ate him for lunch. He didn’t reform them; they reformed him.

Pope Francis eschewed the trappings of office and walked the walk. R.I.P.