Summer is going by too fast, good Lord faculty
meetings are a week away, say it ain’t so.
I have yet to visit my storage unit, file away
Spring semester files, order my annual two pair of slacks and fall dress
shirts, see a Dodger or Angel game, play a round of golf (do you believe
that!), so slow down already.
In NYC this weekend, the sun set after 8pm for the
last time until May 9, 2020. Temperatures yesterday morning were the coolest
they’ve been since June. And is that...pumpkin spice we smell? Enjoy summer
while it lasts, folks.
ON THIS DATE - Today marks a quarter-century since Major League Baseball players went
on strike, eventually causing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. The strike
lasted 232 days and resulted in the cancellation of the remainder of the 1994
season and playoffs, making it the only time in modern history that the World
Series was called off.
On this day in 1920, Charles Ponzi was arrested for
financial fraud in Boston after taking in more than $6 million from thousands
of investors. He repaid each $1,000 invested with $1,500 just 90 days later—but
only by taking more money from newcomers or, as a judge later put it, “robbing
Peter to pay Paul.” Such pyramid arrangements were forever afterwards known as
“Ponzi schemes.”
Aug. 12, 1981 IBM Launches Personal Computer: IBM
launched several models of personal computers for homes, schools and
businesses, entering a market dominated at the time by Apple and Tandy. The
machines used open architecture, meaning third-party suppliers could produce
compatible devices and software. Prices ranged from $1,565 to $6,000 for
advanced versions.
SUMMER OF
2019 - U.S.-China trade war, hottest July ever, Hong Kong on the edge, odds
of US-Iran, Turkish-Kurdish conflicts mounting, new India-Pakistan Kashmir
crisis, Japan-S Korea diplo/eco confrontation, looming Brexit.
All are long-term crises that require expertise and
bandwidth that are lacking in the always short-staffed Trump administration.
Cold War II: Tensions between the U.S. and China
have "hit a tipping point," with the risk of destabilizing global
technology supply chains.
U.S./Iran conflict.
U.S./Russia cyber-war.
Italy fiscal crisis.
Turkey.
China vs. Hong Kong.
Trump and Taiwan.
Brexit.
The likelihood of every single one of these "is
likely to increase over coming months. If in a normal geopolitical environment
these would be, individually, 1-5% scenarios, over the coming year they’re more
like 10-30%. In other words, we should expect at least one or two to actually
happen. And that’s not priced into the markets right now. Beware.
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE S'MORE - This summer, millions of marshmallows
will be toasted over fires across America. Many will be used as an ingredient
in the quintessential summer snack: the s’more.
Huddling around a campfire and eating gooey
marshmallows and warm chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers may feel
like a primeval tradition.
But every part of the process — including the coat
hanger we unbend to use as a roasting spit — is a product of the Industrial
Revolution.
The oldest ingredient in the s’more’s holy trinity
is the marshmallow, a sweet that gets its name from a plant called,
appropriately enough, the marshmallow. Marshmallow, or Althea officinalis, is a
plant indigenous to Eurasia and Northern Africa. For thousands of years, the
root sap was boiled, strained and sweetened to cure sore throats or simply be
eaten as a treat.
The white and puffy modern marshmallow looks much
like its ancient ancestor. But for hundreds of years, creation of marshmallows
was very time-consuming. Each marshmallow had to be manually poured and molded,
and they were a treat that only the wealthy could afford. By the mid-19th
century, the process had become mechanized and machines could make them so cheaply
that they were included in most penny candy selections. Today the marshmallow
on your s’more contains no marshmallow sap at all. It’s mostly corn syrup,
cornstarch and gelatin.
But again, it was the Industrial Revolution that
made chocolate cheap enough and palatable enough for the average person. The
chocolate that the Mesoamericans ate was dark, grainy and tended to be somewhat
bitter. Chocolate is another ancient food. Mesoamericans have been eating or
drinking it for 3,000 years. The Europeans who encountered indigenous people in
Mexico in the 1500s noted that chocolate was used to treat numerous ailments
ranging from dysentery and indigestion, to fatigue and dyspepsia.
In 1875, a candlemaker-turned-chocolatier named
Daniel Peter invented a process to mix milk with chocolate. He then added some
more sugar, and the modern milk chocolate bar was born. Peter’s company
eventually merged with Henri Nestle’s two companies, and Peter’s invention was
dubbed the Nestle chocolate bar. It proved to be so much more popular than the
darker bars on the market that other candy companies, from Cadbury to Hershey,
released their own versions.
Finally, the graham cracker was invented by the
Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham, who felt that a vegetarian diet would
help suppress carnal urges, especially the scourge of “self-pollution”.
The original graham cracker used un-sifted
whole-wheat flour. Graham felt that separating out the bran was against the
wishes of God, who, according to Graham, must have had a reason for including
bran.
In his “Treatise on Bread, and Bread-Making,” he
gives many examples of prominent writers throughout history who urged the
consumption of whole wheat flour.
Graham was highly influential in the development of
the health food movement of the 19th century, and his acolytes included John
Harvey Kellogg of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, who used the graham cracker as a
basis for his famous flaked cereal line.
As for how the graham cracker became a part of the
s’more, the snack’s true origin remains unclear.
The first mention of this treat is in a 1927 edition
of the Girl Scout manual “Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.” In a nod
to the treat’s addictive qualities, it was dubbed “Some More.”
The term s’more is first found the 1938 guide
“Recreational Programs for Summer Camps,” by William Henry Gibson. Some think
the s’more may be a homemade version of the Mallomar or the moon pie, two
snacks introduced in the 1910s.
Today, the s’more has become so popular that it’s inspired
a range of spin-offs. You can eat a s’mores-flavored Pop Tart for breakfast,
munch on a s’mores candy bar for dessert and even unwind after a long day at
work with a s’mores martini.
HEALTH - Progress against heart disease has stalled, driving down life
expectancy in the U.S. after decades in which each generation lived longer than
the one that came before.
The death rate is actually rising for middle-aged
Americans.
The obesity epidemic and related rise in the
prevalence of Type 2 diabetes are key culprits in the new wave of cardiovascular
disease.
Heart disease was once on course to fall below
cancer as the nation’s leading cause of death, a change public-health
statistician most recently predicted would occur by 2020. No longer.
JAVA - Coffee is trading below $1 a pound, less than half the value it
fetched five years ago, because of a flood of beans from leading producer
Brazil and its weakening real currency.
In a market twist, the falling prices of coffee
beans could lead to higher coffee prices for Western consumers.
Wait! What? Many growers around the world are having
to abandon their farms or turn to illicit crops such as coca. This, in turn, is
casting doubt over the future sustainability of supplies — and could,
ultimately, prove costly for consumers.
The WashPost points out that coffee's downturn is
adding to the historic flow of migrants, struggling on farms in Central
America, to the U.S.
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Erica
Arias …. famous entrepreneur; Sean Connery (89), Hoang Dinh …aka Def Leppard;
Brett Hull (55), Alexis
Schiff …famous Leo ’17; Sarah Spain (39).
SUMMER COLLEGE CHRONICLES - A new survey of college
presidents finds that mental health is increasingly a top priority on campuses,
but some say they need more resources to address it.
More than 80 percent of college presidents reported
that mental health is a greater priority than it was three years ago —and more
than 7 in 10 said they had reallocated or added funding to address student
mental health issues. A majority of presidents also said that faculty and staff
spend more time addressing mental health concerns compared to three years ago.
Three-quarters of college presidents cited
students' anxiety and depression as among the top mental health concerns on
their campus.
More than half of college presidents said they
needed "additional tools" to address mental health, with community
college presidents more likely to report not having enough resources than their
counterparts at other types of schools.
- In
recent years, some private liberal-arts colleges, such as Mills College, have
announced that they were slashing tuition prices. That doesn’t mean the bill is
suddenly cheaper all around. Colleges use those announcements to reduce their
sticker price, which only the wealthiest students typically pay. The price cut
means that the college will also decrease the discounts given to other
students. As private colleges compete with more-affordable institutions,
cutting tuition is a way to try to draw more applicants and increase retention
rates.
- It
doesn’t matter whether 10 or 25 years have passed since they graduated. Camp
Michigania campers are still as competitive as ever. The camp is run by the
University of Michigan’s alumni association, and it’s located on Walloon Lake
about four hours north of Detroit. It has all the markings of a traditional
summer sleepaway: outdoor sports, crafts, rustic wood cabins with no air
conditioning, and minimal WiFi. Many alums bring their families to the annual
event.
But don’t let the family atmosphere fool you.
According to The Wall Street Journal, it’s not all fun and games. At Camp
Michigania, every camper wears a round wooden emblem on a lanyard. Once a
camper reaches an activity milestone or completes a challenge, a staffer marks
the emblem. That’s where the competition gets real. Alums eye one another’s
marked-up emblems and start gunning for more themselves.
Good thing the camp is just for Michigan alumni. If
campers were competing for badges against Ohio State University, the contest
might be too wild to bear.
POLITICS 101 - Days until the 2020 election: 449
FIXED FEES - It's never been easier for consumers to move
their money around, to pay for everything — from groceries to movie tickets to
hotel rooms — either online or in person with little to no thought about what
makes that possible. But these massive profit figures raise some questions: Why
on earth are credit cards making so much money? Are the services they provide
worth tens of billions? And why aren't debit cards, which function almost
identically to credit cards, equally profitable? Why are we all paying a tax to
credit card companies? (It's not the interest. It's the fees.)
OLYMPICS - The 2020 Summer
Olympics will open in Tokyo, Japan, in one year.
Here's what's happening on the ground as
a nation prepares to welcome the world...
1. The
last of a dying breed: After years of coaxing host cities to splurge on
stadiums and other expenses, the International Olympic Committee is trying to
rebrand the Olympics as "cost-sensitive."
It has awarded the next two Summer Games
to Paris and Los Angeles, both of whom promised to use existing venues and
control costs. Paris estimates it can stage the Olympics for $8 billion, while LA’s
latest projection is $7 billion.
In that respect, Tokyo 2020 could be the
last of a dying breed, with a budget of around $25 billion and a handful of
lavish projects to its name.
2. Sponsorship
success: Local sponsorship revenue has already surpassed $3 billion, three
times the previous record set by London in 2012. How'd they do it? By tapping
into Japan's strong sense of national pride.
3. Weather
threat: Organizers are worried that an extreme heatwave could hit the Olympics
following record temperatures last year that killed almost 100 people.
Solution: Tokyo's roads are currently
being resurfaced with a reflective material, and all 2020 marathon events have
already been moved up to 6am local time to avoid the heat.
4. Preventing
congestion: There is a fear that the arrival of over half a million foreign and
domestic tourists will overload Tokyo's notoriously strained public transit
system.
Solution: Over half a million Tokyo
residents are being asked to work from home during the Olympics. Remote work
isn't really a thing in Japan the way it is here, so they've been holding
practice days to prepare.
Fun fact: Tokyo's Shinjuku Station is
the world's busiest train station (3.6 million daily passengers and 200 exits).
5. Huge
ticket demand: Last month's lottery saw 7.5 million people register for the
chance to buy 3.2 million tickets. Demand is so high that one analyst estimates
80%–90% of Japan residents who applied for tickets could end up with nothing.
TOP FIVE END OF SUMMER TV BINGE WATCHING -
1. “Jett”
Cinemax (2019) Season 1, 9 Episodes
2. “Succession”
HBO (2018) Season 1, 10 Episodes
3. “Grace
and Frankie” Netflix (2015-2019) Seasons 1-5
4. “The
Kominsky Method” Netflix (2018) Season 1, 8 Episodes
5. TIE:
“Perry Mason” CBS/Amazon Video (1957)
Season 1, 39 Episodes
“Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”
Netflix (2019) Season 6, 12 Episodes
“Our Planet” Netflix (2019) 8 Episodes
MARKET WEEK – If you like to keep
score, here is the change in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from Inauguration
Day to August 12 of their third year in the White House:
GHWB - +34.2%
Clinton - +42.4%
GWB – (11.9%)
Obama - +41.7%
Trump - +30.1%
ITHACA COLLEGE BOMBER BASEBALL - David Valesente has been selected as the fourth head coach in the
program's storied 86-year history. Valesente has served for the past three
years as the head baseball coach at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y.
Valesente is no stranger to the Ithaca
College baseball program, as he will succeed his father, hall of fame coach
George Valesente '66, who announced his retirement after 41 seasons and two
national championships at his alma mater. The 2019 Bombers posted a record of
31-9 to run the nation's longest winning streak at any level to 81 straight
seasons. IC also won its 17th Empire 8 Conference title in 20 seasons to advance
to NCAA Regional play. Ithaca will play the 2020 season as a 30104member of the
Liberty League.
SWAMI’S WEEK
TOP PICKS
–
MLB Game of the Week – Saturday 8/17, 1:05 PM PT: Houston Astros (77-41) vs. Oakland A’s
(67-51). A’s are fighting for a wild card spot to get an opportunity to play
one game against the New York Yankees (worth it?) I think so, A’s win 4-3.
(Season to Date 4-2)
English Premier League – Saturday 8/17, 9:30 AM PT: Manchester City (1-0) vs. Tottenham Hotspur
(1-0). Two top six teams of a year ago meet in an early test. No test for Man
City, they win 2-0. (Season to Date 0-0)
2019 Season
to Date (18 - 14)
DRIVING THE WEEK – Should be a relatively quiet week with Congress still out and
President Trump in Bedminster, N.J. Though those are usually famous last words
and U.S./China trade stuff can pop off at any moment. Trump has an economy
event in Monaca, Pa. on Tuesday and a MAGA rally in Manchester, N.H. on
Thursday.
Worries about the ongoing trade war and slowing
global economic growth continue to trouble investors, as U.S. stock futures
were pointing to a sharply lower open this morning. The Dow, S&P 500, and
Nasdaq were all riding two straight weeks of losses, with August tracking as
only the second down month of the year. However, 2019 remains strong with
yearly gains ahead of Monday trading of 12.7% for the Dow, 16.4% for the
S&P 500, and nearly 20% for the Nasdaq.
U.S. farmers lost one of their biggest customers
... after China officially canceled all purchases of U.S. agricultural ...
China's exit piles on to a devastating year for farmers, who have struggled
through record flooding and an extreme heat wave that destroyed crop yields,
and trade war escalations that have lowered prices and profits this year.
A steep slide in U.S. government-bond yields last
week wrong-footed investors and left some pondering what was once unthinkable:
whether interest rates in America could one day turn negative.
Historically, people who lent money out got more
money back later (BANKING 101), a way to compensate for inflation, for the risk
of not being repaid and for forgoing other investments. Now, though, there is
more than $15 trillion in government debt around the world with negative
yields. That means, essentially, that savers holding these bonds are paying the
government to store their money.
The House and Senate are out of session until Labor
Day.
President Trump is staying at his golf club in
Bedminster, New Jersey, this week. A White House official shared his public
events:
Tuesday: Trump will tour the Shell Pennsylvania
Petrochemicals Complex in Monaca, Pennsylvania, and then will give a speech on
"America's Energy Dominance and Manufacturing Revival."
Thursday: Trump has a campaign rally in Manchester,
New Hampshire.
MARKETS: Monday: Federal budget released; earnings
(Barrick Gold, Tencent Music Entertainment); UN International Youth Day;
Blockchain Futurist Conference begins in Toronto; Perseid meteor shower begins
(here are some tips for watching)
Tuesday: Small business index; core CPI; household debt; earnings (Advance
Auto Parts, Elanco, JD.com, The RealReal, Tilray); International Left-Handers
Day; Janet Yellen turns the big 7-3
Wednesday: Import prices; earnings (Canada Goose, Canopy Growth, Cisco, Embraer,
Luckin, Macy’s)
Thursday: Retail sales; industrial production; business inventories; earnings
(Alibaba, iHeartMedia, J.C. Penney, Nvidia, Tapestry, Walmart); 50th
anniversary of Woodstock
Friday: Housing starts; building permits; consumer sentiment; earnings (Deere
& Co.); National Tell a Joke Day; Woodstock 50 isn’t happening
Next Blog: Jackass of the Month, Words of the Month, Visicalc.
Until
next time, Adios
Claremont,
California
August
12, 2019
#X-6-395
3,102
words, six minute read
CARTOON OF
THE WEEK – Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News
RINK RATS
POLL – Do you like OVER or UNDER?
____ Over
____ Under
____ Huh?
QUOTE OF THE
MONTH
– “Golf is not a game of good shots. It’s a game of bad shots.”
—Ben Hogan
Rink Rats is a blog
of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments
and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in
Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.
Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010
Our Tenth Year.
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