Magnolia starting blooming

The magnolia in the garden has started blooming. It is only an event repeated every spring, not dramatic nor exciting, for others. It still means special to me. 

It reminds me of my parents who have planted it here and have enjoyed its growth and blooming every spring. I could not see it without remembering of my parents.

They have lived the hard time in WWII and the postwar period in poverty. They have struggled raisin us, 3 kids, in Tokyo. Eventually, they have been settled down at this place where they started own family. Looking at this tree or the other flower trees, they might have felt relieved at the end of their journey of life. 

The other thought is a question how many times I could see it blooming. At my age, it is an earnest question. The more earnest the question is, the more I should cherish it, I believe.  

 

When a nation hides or discards its administrative data

Federa Economic Statistic Advisory Committee, FESAC, has put an end to its activity. It is a committee composed of economic statistics researchers, who have joined almost in volunteer. They have advised the related administration organizations on statistical methodology and other technical matters related to the collection, tabulation, and analysis of federal economic statistics.

https://apps.bea.gov/fesac/

The Trump administration has started discarding or hiding the statistics data which are incompatible with their policy and/or the result of the policy. Historically, those countries which have hidden the administration data have always perished sooner or later. The most recent example is USSR.

When the administration discards or hides the related statistics, they won't be able to evaluate a certain policy. The politics and administration stray into a mess. Without proper evaluation of certain policy, how could they make the next move? It is quite doubtful if the administration could be run appropriately. 

The US seems to be in a real peril at present, I am afraid.

An unforgettable ham radio friend Ken K6HPX

There are a few friends whom I have met in certain interval for decades, not very frequent, only 2 or 3 times in a year. It is exciting and joyful to meet someone so frequently. But they often leave me soon. The former type friends always relieve me if not ardent relationship it is. One of them is Ken K6HPX. I started seeing him since '80s, probably when I was operating radio with barefoot and a vertical on the roof of dormitory. He often called me on 40m with fairly slow CW. Sometimes from mobile. I knew he had been with the business of antenna manuacturing and related items. As the president of CAL LAB, Inc. He scarcely talked about the products of his company, though. Not so many topics. But I always felt relieved, as told above, to hear him after some absence.

In several months after I closed down, he gave me an e mail asking how I was doing. He could not find me in the cluster and wondered how I was getting along. I explained what had made me decide to quit radio. He answered he could understand me and would wait for me to come back on the radio any time. Not urging me to do so. I felt it was the way he had been doing with me for the past decades.   

He must be in late 80s of his age. He told me he would close his business in a year or two. He is enjoying SOTA, Summit On the Air, with his wife, Kay, KE7BGM. The photo shown below sent to me in 2016 is him and Kay operating radio together on a mountain. What a close couple they are! I loved it so much. Recent mail told me he had still been enjoying SOTA with her. His page in QRZ.com gives us his bio, his unique antenna invention and SOTA activity with Kay. 

https://www.qrz.com/db/k6hpx

It is a bit pain for me not to be able to hear him on the air. However, we could get in touch with by e mail. I wish him and Kay good health and pleasant retirement ahead. 

 

Consequence of the tariff war

How come the US president has started the tariff war? I am afraid it will have the economy of the US plummeted sooner or later. This tariff war is totally against the spirit of GATT and, later, of WTO. If they have any problem in the trade, they could sue it to WTO. As I told before, this tariff war could lead to another Great Recession.

All I could guess is that Trump has started it in the vibes of "You are fired!".  It is causing too much turmoil and even victims. The US could lose the key currency status for USD in the world market, which has enabled to attract investments from all over the world.

Don't they have any specialists of economy and/or international trade who could give the administration proper advice? 

It seems to, at least, for Musk of Tesla to be defeated in this war. The consumers are the next victim of this war.

Here.

https://news.usstareveryday.com/thanhhtv/bad-news-for-tesla-musk-finally-gets-what-he-deserves-htt/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJD9aFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHQ49-yHvnqtd_MsztDO2w7T-hiNYgRpdXklHazH4gDHF4QPaYTdiy_P_gg_aem_VfBIV41jNIf-DdiEhM3few

Climate change and crop foreseen

This interesting article shows how the upstick temperature changes the diversity and the cropland suitable for particular vegetables. Even 2 degrees C increase would cause drastic changes. The temperate areas may increase crop harvest. But the total harvest may drastically drop with that climate changein the world. The developing countries, mostly located in the tropics, may undergo food shortage and could become politically unstable. There could be more refugees to the developing countries due to food shortage as well as commotion and conflict.

 

This study tells us to make efforts to rewind the climate change. If it is inevitable, we should prepare for the food shortage. Maybe, both actions are required for now. 

Here. 

https://www.carbonbrief.org/half-of-global-croplands-could-see-a-drop-in-suitable-crops-at-2c-of-warming/?utm_content=buffer789f2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Last fall, the hot wave has lasted long here. Vegetables, mainly leaf ones, have not grown as usual. At grodery stores the prices of leaf vegetables were even 3 times higher than usual year. Other kinds of vegetables were also more or less expensive compared with them before.

Even at my tiny farm, due to hot spell with drought, leaf vegetables were almost no crop this winter. I have learned how plants were vulnerable to a climate change. This change may not be temporary but go on long time. It should lead to food deficit. Those in big cities who are not involved with farming may not feel this sense of crisis coming in the near future. They falsely believe they could get vegetables or crops with money any time. 

I have replanted green onions, divided from grown ones, in a corner of the farm. Only with a shovel, I could do with vegetables in this size. It's good enough for us to have this coming summer. Dozens of potatoes have been planted as well. Imagining whom I would give them to when harvested enough, I planted carefully one potato to another on the soil mixed with home brew compost. Trying to grow seedlings like broccoli indoor, I find again a green house and warming system necessary. I should purchase those seedlings of summer vegetables next month. The only success to grow seedling is of sweet potato. It has started rooting in water. I may plant it in soil in a few weeks. It may given a lot o stalks which would be buried in soil. Anyway, it will be a busy season for a farmer for the coming few months. 

 　  

Red blossom ume is out

Following white blossome ume, red one is coming out. 

I thought this order of flowering had been dependent on the color of the flowers. Looking it up, I knew it was not the case. The ume species are divided to 14 kinds. Each kind has own flowering period. I am also impressed to know ume belongs to Sakura family Rosaceae. Does this taxonomy mean ume is akin to cherry in rose species? Since genetic study has probably contributed to classification of plants, these plants must be evoluted from the same origin. Two family members are living in our garden.

My brother told me, when I had let him know these ume had been out, he remembered our mother doing house chores on the side of these trees. The scene is clearly coming up in my mind as well. This is the remembrance we, only family members, could share. Even however trivial thing it might be. 

Our lives, including those trees, are being existing at the same time and at the same place for a while. In some time, we get separated and will be eternally away each other. We should cherish each moment being and crossing each other at the same time. 

 

The 14th anniversary of East Japan Great Earthquake and consequent nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima

 It is the 14th anniversary of East Japan Great Earthquake and consequent nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima. Almost 20,000 people were killed by the earthquake while the nuclear power accident related victims are counted up to 3800. Due to the nuclear power plant accident, 160,000 people were forced to evacuate at maximum. Still 20,000 evacuees are scattered away from their homeland. 

On this day 14 years ago, I was consulting to an ophthalmologist and was given a diagnosis of cataracts. Going out of the clinic, the earth was starting quaking so much as I have never experienced. Low pitched roaring all around, the power line poles were bending. Some damages at my office and our home but no one was injured. The radio equipments were fallen on the floor at home. In a day, the power line was restored. A lot of inquiries and encouragements have been in the mail box of the internet. Literally, from all over the world. Of course, they were friends whom I had known through ham radio. As written in another post before, an old retired physician Dick W0FBI told me he would visit here with his wife to help people. He used to stay in our country after WWII. I thanked him a lot for his proposal but told him the damaged areas had not been prepared to accept such a volunteer as him and not to visit here at that time. His words have moved me a lot. After an apathic period for 11 days or so, I came back on the air. There were a lot of old friends waiting for me. K5BGB, W6CYX, N3JT and so forth. They have encouraged me a lot. I could never forget them giving me such encouraging words then.

A few days later since the earthquake, the melt down of the fuel has started at 3 reactors of the nuclear power plant. The news of on going melt down has come here every moment. I felt the ground I stood up had been collapsing little by little. With worst scenario, my place about 120km south west of the plant could have been badly polluted by plume from exploded reactors. Fortunately, it was not realized. But, worrying about that worst scenario, I was eagerly doing farm work trying to forget it. In the area where polluted air plumed into, that is, the inland area northwest of the plant as well as along the coast area, there were a lot of people being forced to evacuate. What burden they have had at that time! They have lost the homeland and the community. I believe we should never forget them and what a disaster a nuclear power plant accident could be.  

It has been a peaceful countryside around the nuclear power plant. I have been there a few times. Once with my parents to visit their old friend almost 30 years ago. As wrote in another post, the area the person, a retired noncommissioned officer of salvation army, used to live was totally destroyed with the tsunami. There must be a lot of fallout covering the area. When several years ago I visited there alone again, nothing was left at the place her house used to be present.

Anyway, it is the day of requiem for them. I would spend it as the most others do.

In next monthe, it will be my mother's 14th anniversary. She was at a nursing facility where the life line had been off for a few days. Possibly, due to the stress she had then, she got sick and died next month.