Amana, Iowa: 75 years of communal living

by philg

On the way back from Oshkosh, I stopped (early August) at the idiot-proof Cedar Rapids, Iowa airport (KCID) and spent 20 minutes driving through beautiful rolling hills covered in corn to the Amana Colonies, home to German-Americans who lived communally here from 1856 through 1932. (If you feel lucky, there is a 2600′ “fair condition” grass runway in Amana, C11.) They purchased the world’s most productive agricultural land for $1.25 per acre.

At the museum, I learned that, although the members of the colony were immigrants to the U.S., they were quite selective about who could immigrate into the commune, which would then be responsible for housing, clothing, feeding, and caring for the immigrant. One reason that the museum provides for the break-up of the communal lifestyle is that “some pretended to be sick or refused to work because they knew they would still receive room and board, resulting in the society hiring more outside laborers.”

The communalists followed Christianity, attending 9 church services per week. Once Americans lose their faith in Jesus, what religion do they follow?

Families shared a house, as in Soviet Russia or present-day New York City. However, there was no kitchen in the house. Everyone ate together in a communal kitchen, which typically fed 30-40 people at each meal. They loved coffee (served to children as well) and horseradish:

Today:

For those who buy dollhouses at Amazon or Costco:

The success of the Amana Colonies was used as an argument by those who thought that a Communist form of government might work for the United States:

(Let me stress that the current American system, sometimes described by critics as “Communist” or “Socialist”, is the opposite of how things worked in the Amana Colonies and Soviet Russia. In Amana and Russia, every able-bodied adult was required to work.)

In church (9 times per week!), men and women were segregated into left and right sides of the room.

(I did not find out the seating location for people who identified as any of the other 72 gender IDs recognized by physicians.)

Equal in death, members of the Amana Colony are buried with same-size headstones in chronological order. There are no family plots nor any sculpture.

Don’t miss the Barn Museum in South Amana, in which Henry L. Moore’s replicas of rural American are displayed. See if you can spot Elizabeth Warren’s hometown…

I’m not sure that the proprietor, the craftsman’s son, will be voting for Elizabeth Warren:

Where to eat? There are three restaurants in town and you have your choice of German, German, and German.

Where to stay? An old mill has been turned into a boutique hotel:

The Amana Radarange, the first home-use microwave oven, may not be your preferred souvenir. But you can buy blankets and beautiful furniture. Here’s the pavement-melting SUV that a wag at Hertz decided to drop at the FBO for me after I reserved a “car”:

Ready for departure at KCID:

As noted in The flying-to-Oshkosh part of flying to Oshkosh, the fuel/breakfast stop on the way to Chattanooga was KMWA in Illinois, which features an on-field recreational marijuana store, open every day that the public schools in Chicago were closed.

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A Miami Dolphins game at Hard Rock Stadium

by philg

A friend whose teenage son is a fanatical Patriots fan indulged the boy and his brother with a trip to Miami to watch the Patriots-Dolphins game on 9/11. A mutual friend texted his opinion:

Football is a barbarous gladiatorial display which sacrifices black bodies on the altar of entertainment.

We were glad that we hadn’t invited him to come down from the Northeast.

My friends rated Hard Rock Stadium, entirely privately funded (compare to what New York taxpayers are doing in Buffalo), as superior to Gillette Stadium in the Boston exurbs. It took less than one minute to get through security and ticket validation.

The stadium is set up so that the home team has an enormous advantage. The “home” sideline is on the south side of the field, shaded by the south portion of the structure. So the home team in September is on the sidelines in “only” 90-degree heat. The visitors are on the north sideline, exposed to the direct Florida sun, and able to fry eggs on their helmets.

If you’re looking for backyard flag ideas, here’s what the Dolphins did for 9/11:

If you’re sitting in your $2,000/person premium seat and seized with a California-style passion for housing the unhoused, you won’t see any in-stadium messages regarding poverty or how say-gooders can help. If you’re passionate about 2SLGBTQQIA+, Pride, and the struggle for equality, you’ll be disappointed to see that there are no rainbow flags in the stadium. Those with a passion for social justice are not entirely ignored, however. One end zone bears the message “End Racism” while the opposite end zone reminds spectators “It Takes All of Us”:

Conveniently, as with waving a rainbow flag, ending racism does not require us to spend any money (except on NFL tickets!). Let’s hope that ending racism doesn’t require perfect hearing because every part of the stadium is loud. Music is played before the game and there is a literally deafening roar from the fans during the game. Calls from the referees are amplified, but difficult to understand (much harder than when seeing a game on TV). I wouldn’t take a noise-sensitive kid to the stadium.

We are informed that the Venezuelan economy is in tough shape, but there was a huge line of people at halftime for the $8 arepas.

Speaking of Venezuela, here’s a gal from that country who was forced into following the NFL and cheering for the Patriots by her fiancé (unhappy in the background as the Dolphins maintained their lead, ultimately resulting in a 20-7 victory for the Team of Party On over the Team of Science. 2.5 years of masks and “essential” marijuana did not help the Patriots win). She even had Patriot-symbol earrings.

Tip: try to eat before the game and don’t expect to be able to get any food or drink (other than from a water fountain) during halftime.

How about seats? We were in cheap ($200, including fees, purchased as “verified resale” a few day days prior) seats in section 317 and the view seemed good. Legroom is skimpy, however, so stay home on the recliner if you want to stretch out. You can see the half-empty premium seating section below. The customers for these seats in Miami are so rich that they don’t bother going to the Ticketmaster web site to transfer their $2,000/seat tickets. There were some empty seats in the nosebleed sections, but the super expensive sections had the lowest occupancy. Maybe it is time to vote in Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren so that these folks will be forced to pay their fair share?

Transportation? My friends were latecomers to the parking party and ended up in Lot #20 (buy in advance from Ticketmaster), which would be regarded as Siberia from the perspective of VIPs and season ticket holders. This is a 15-minute walk from the stadium, but the reward is that you get in and out without sitting in any traffic. Highly recommended. Another good option would be to park between the Sonic and Walmart at the SW corner of the stadium. The risk of being stuck in traffic seems a little higher, but nothing like it would be in the close-in official lots.

Inspired by stadiums in Japan that have no parking lots at all, but are instead built near train stations, I decided to join by taking the Tri-Rail commuter train from West Palm Beach. This is just like the trains in Norway, which I recently enjoyed, in that it rides on steel rails. After that, the similarity ends. Commuter lines in Norway run every 15 minutes; Tri-Rail runs every hour on Sundays (and was 30 minutes late, which means some passengers waited 1.5 hours in stations that don’t have bathrooms (the toilet on the train was broken and overflowing)). The Norwegian trains are clean and quiet. Tri-Rail has a ventilation system that overpowers the Florida heat, but at the cost of a huge amount of noise. Tri-Rail is so bumpy that it is tough to read while in motion; the Norwegian trains are smooth.

Because it is so noisy and expensive, even though I am passionate about ending racism I am not enthusiastic about returning with the family for a Dolphins game. If we did go, however, we would drive and park in Lot #20 or similar, aiming to arrive at least one hour prior to the game so as to avoid the worst of the traffic.

Part of the post-game survey:

There is no difference between Chinese and Samoan:

Go Big or Go Home on the income:

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How did Hurricane Fiona, a Category 1 storm, knock out Puerto Rico’s power?

by philg

A few media-following friends in the Northeast have been checking in, concerned that Hurricane Fiona, which knocked out power in Puerto Rico, is also trashing our neighborhood. They are reassured to learn that Puerto Rico is 1,000 miles from Palm Beach County, but it has made me wonder… given that (1) Fiona is only a Category 1 storm, (2) Puerto Rico can expect something similar every year or two (history), and (3) the power grid in Puerto Rico was recently rebuilt to the latest standards (after the 2017 Category 5 Hurricane Irma), why were the reported 85 mph winds enough to take the system out?

Is it simply impossible to make above-ground lines robust enough to handle 85 mph winds? Is the problem that trees will inevitably come down and break the lines even if the lines wouldn’t have been blown down? (But a newly engineered grid should be able to handle quite a few individual tree impacts because the power would be routed around the cut line.)

From state-sponsored NPR in 2021:

It’s been four years since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico’s electric power grid. Yet even after billions of dollars were allocated by the federal government to repair it, the island’s energy infrastructure is still in terrible shape. Blackouts continued this summer as the two entities responsible for operating the grid pointed fingers at each other over who is to blame. One of those two entities is Luma, a private company that was awarded a contract last year to distribute electricity around the island. The other is the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA, which used to be in charge of the whole system and now continues to operate the power plants.

The restoration process is very bureaucratic because you have Luma going through FEMA’s process, going through the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau’s process. And you also have Luma going through federal process and going through Puerto Rican process. And you know what? There’s not a single work already done with reconstruction funds. They’re still planning and designing. So this will take a lot of years before we see something better.

An IEEE article from 2018 doesn’t explain any of the engineering or technical details:

This past December, I traveled to Puerto Rico to report on this massive undertaking. I found contradictions everywhere I went. I saw utility workers fanned out across the island, yet progress remained excruciatingly slow. I met rank-and-file PREPA employees working flat out to restore power, yet each day brought a new report of fumbles at the utility’s top levels. And I heard many smart and exciting ideas for how to build a modern, resilient grid in Puerto Rico, even as the urgent need to restore power meant resurrecting the vulnerable existing system.

KSUA to TJSJ (skyvector):

Are we going to see “I stand with Puerto Rico” Facebook profile images? Or will people stick with this one:

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General aviation has more utility thanks to lack of competition among airlines

by philg

Just as Floridians love to talk about the real estate market, a common topic of discussion at EAA AirVenture (“Oshkosh”) was “When does the market for used aircraft collapse?”

I’m bearish on the little airplane market. Due to the reduced labor force participation rate in the U.S., mechanics and parts are in short supply. Airplanes that would have been grounded for 3 days by a particular problem today might be grounded for 3 weeks or even 3 months while folks at Continental, for example, get organized to deliver a required item. Want to get your airplane repainted? One of the preferred shops for Cirrus has a two-year waiting list. After three years of paying hangar, maintenance, and insurance for a plane purchased in 2020, I think the typical new owner will be happy to sell in 2023.

Another reason that I’m bearish is Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle‘s ruling that President Biden’s mask orders for airline passengers were unconstitutional. Air travel is a lot more pleasant than it was when the panic buying of light airplanes began. There is still a risk of contracting COVID-19 on an airplane, but most of the people who were vulnerable to being killed by COVID-19 are already dead. So, if you’re alive you’re probably not all that scared.

In short, a million-dollar used Cirrus doesn’t seem like a good value for transportation and, for most people, $1 million is too much to spend on a hobby item.

One guy took the other side of this argument, pointing out that we now have fewer airlines than at the beginning of the deregulation process begun by Gerald Ford and finished by Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. The absurd JetBlue and Spirit merger that is currently in process (why even bother to have antitrust laws or enforcement if we’re going to allow this?) will result in further consolidation and $2,000 plus bag fees being the new $500 (currently, I think it is fair to say that $1,000 plus bag fees is the new $500).

Even with 100LL at $7 per gallon, the variable costs of running our Cirrus aren’t that different from what airlines are charging, so long as two of the four seats can be filled. I still prefer the airlines for “when you absolutely have to be there”, since they are much less likely to be delayed by weather, but the price comparison isn’t as absurd as it was when airfares were lower.

Readers: What’s your prediction for the little airplane market?

Separately, if you are going to fly commercial try to identify as Cuban-American so that you get a decent welcome on arrival. From the FLL airport, baggage claim level:

Related:

Very loosely related, some recent charter flights (“general aviation”) to our former $300 hamburger destination, KMVY:

A new airline logo, shared by a Gulfstream pilot friend who frequently is in and out of KMVY:

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Will Maskachusetts allow journalists into Camp DeSantis?

by philg

The arrival of one million migrants into Texas border towns is a minor issue. On the other hand, the arrival of 50 migrants into an island with vacant houses sufficient to hold 50,000 people (the summer population bump) was a crisis that required calling out the Maskachusetts National Guard. The 50 migrants are now off island in a concentration camp within a military base that is itself within a forest in the middle of Nowheresville, MA. Going forward, the only way that an elite Vineyard resident might encounter a migrant is if his/her/zir/their Gulfstream suffers a double-engine failure and crash-lands in the woods of the Inner Cape. Because the migrants arrived in Massachusetts originally on Air DeSantis, let’s call their final destination Camp DeSantis.

In order to disprove accusations of hypocrisy, if there is any access by journalists to Camp DeSantis, the images and reports will have to show that these are the best cared-for asylum-seekers in the history of humanity. On the other hand, if the Four Seasons-style rooms at Camp DeSantis and three-star catered meals are described and illustrated, people might begin to ask “Why isn’t this infrastructure used to care for the 18,000+ people in Massachusetts who are experiencing homelessness?”

What do readers think? Are we going to see regular reports on The Fifty and how great their lives are, courtesy of the open-hearted migrant-welcoming Democrats of Massachusetts? Something like the Theresienstadt documentary, but broken up into tweets?

Related:

  • Progressives in Maine want U.S. to admit more low-skill migrants… (August 2022): …. who will live somewhere other than in Maine.
  • What it takes to welcome refugees and other immigrants (2018): How can a town survive with 10 percent of its population being unskilled unemployed refugees with four kids each? I wonder if the answer is harvesting federal subsidies. Our poorest cities often have sparkling new hospitals, built by mining elderly citizens for Medicare dollars. Could it be that Erie is mining refugees for the Federal Welfare that attaches to them? Each refugee is entitled to housing, health care, and food, all of which will be funded nationally, but purchased in the local economy.
  • “Yes, Florida allocated $12 million to transport migrants out of the state” (CBS): Florida’s Freedom First Budget included $12 million for a program to “transport unauthorized aliens” out of the state, including locations such as Martha’s Vineyard. (in other words, it is not completely fair to credit DeSantis with “Air DeSantis” because the money was appropriated by the legislature)
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Folks concerned about COVID-19 prepare to gather en masse

by philg

The American Economic Association’s rules for an upcoming gathering of approximately 13,000 people:

(from https://conf.aeaweb.org/)

They’re concerned enough about COVID-19 that they want everyone to wear an N95 mask (not professionally fitted, though, and hence potentially useless against an aerosol foe) and they want to check papers regarding a vaccine that Science (v2020) said prevented infection and transmission. But they’re not concerned enough to refrain from arranging a mass indoor gathering and, instead, meeting via Zoom?

As when I gawk at those who are headed to vacation destinations on jammed airliners in cloth and surgical masks, I remain fascinated by this intermediate level of COVID concern!

Related:

  • “Monkeypox Outbreak a Boner Killer for NYC Gay Sex Parties” (Daily Beast, 9/7/2022): “We have been aggressive in educating our clients through social media and in-house,” said a representative for The Cock, located in NYC’s East Village. “We continue to require COVID vax proof and are frequently posting monkeypox info and vax availability on Twitter, Facebook and Insta.”
  • the Danish Health Authority’s COVID-19 vaccination page: nobody under 50 can get the shots, absent special circumstances, so it would be tough for young Danish economists to attend Karen’s Economics Convention
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The refugee-industrial complex on refugees as “trash”

by philg

How do people in the refugee-industrial complex think about their industry’s product? “DeSantis sending asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard divides Venezuelan Americans” (NBC):

After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes of mostly Venezuelan asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, advertising executive Max Lefeld slammed the move as a political stunt.

“It’s like me taking my trash out and just driving to different areas where I live and just throwing my trash there,” said Lefeld, a Venezuelan American who’s a founding member of the Casa Venezuela Dallas foundation, which helps recent refugees.

Here’s the org’s page:

Given that there is no vaccination requirement for asylum-seekers and that vaccination has no effect on infection and transmission, why aren’t they wearing N95 masks?

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The Jews of Martha’s Vineyard stand with immigrants and refugees

by philg

From the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center:

“We stand with immigrants, with refugees,…” Should this be amended to “We stand with immigrants and refugees for up to 36 hours“? “MA National Guard Activated To Aid Martha’s Vineyard Migrants” (Patch):

Gov. Charlie Baker will activate the National Guard to assist the 50 men, women and children shipped Wednesday to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Baker said Friday morning the migrants will be transferred to a shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod in Buzzard’s Bay. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will coordinate food and other services for them. About 125 National Guard members will assist, Baker said.

Joint Base Cape Cod has been used as an emergency shelter in the past, including during COVID-19 and after Hurricane Katrina.

DeSantis said the flights to Martha’s Vineyard were part of an effort to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations.” The Florida Legislature has earmarked $12 million to transport “unauthorized aliens” out of state.

I’m curious about the use of the word “emergency” to describe 50 migrants, out of more than 1 million asylum-seekers admitted recently (nytimes), appearing on an island that has a huge supply of vacant houses (the typical house on MVY is occupied only seasonally).

How much room is there for housing migrants on MVY through May 2023? From mvy.com:

The Vineyard is home to roughly 17,000 year-round residents. During the summer months, the population increases to nearly 200,000. Sixty-three percent of all homes on the Vineyard belong to seasonal residents.

From the Martha’s Vineyard Commission:

The summer population is five times the winter population, about 75,000 compared to about 15,000.

So it would be straightforward to shelter at least 50,000 migrants on MVY if folks on the island who have displayed “No Human Being is Illegal” signs in their yards wished to provide shelter. (It looks like 60,000 migrants could be sheltered, but there nearly 10,000 tourists who show up only for the day in the summer (like we used to!). If the goal was to shelter migrants with the same amount of space per person as enjoyed by the rich white progressives who come for summer vacation, the September-May capacity would be 50,000.)

Related:

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Prairie du Chien side trip from Oshkosh

by philg

If you’re looking for something to do southwest of Oshkosh… Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin (KPDC). This is a quick crew car ride away from Effigy Mounds National Monument, a collection of massive earthen sculptures made by Elizabeth Warren’s ancestors during Joe Biden’s youth. Read up on the approaches and departure procedures due to the challenging terrain surrounding the airport. Terrain? On the Wisconsin/Iowa border? This is the Driftless Area that was not scraped flat by the most recent glaciers. Note that the airport is at 660′ above sea level and towers near the airport are on ground that is as high as 1150′ above sea level (1449-299).

Here’s an explanation for the evolution of these sculptures in the Effigy Mounds visitor’s center:

You’re on the banks of the Mississippi River when at the visitor’s center and must ascend 350′ to the top of the bluffs before reaching the mounds.

Consider packing some bug spray because this is the not the artificially-bug-free paradise that Florida somehow manages to achieve for most natural areas. The mounds themselves are tough to photograph, but if you love history you’ll enjoy them. The views over the river:

Once you’re down from the walk, you can celebrate all things 2SLGBTQQIA+ and BLM in Marquette, Iowa:

Back on the Wisconsin side, you can enjoy some food from Pete’s, started in 1909. Two choices: with onions; without onions.

The flight out is beautiful, but note the bluffs rising steeply from the river banks.

I met some city-dwellers who have vacation cabins in this area so there is apparently a fair amount of exploring that could be done with an overnight stay.

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Migrants are welcome on the island of Martha’s Vineyard….

by philg

… but they need to be “off island”. “‘I Ended Up on This Little Island’: Migrants Land in Political Drama” (New York Times, today):

Ardenis Nazareth, newly arrived from Venezuela, was standing in a McDonald’s parking lot across the street from a San Antonio shelter a few days ago contemplating his next steps. … Then she made an enticing offer: a free flight to a “sanctuary,” he recalled, where there were people to help them get on their feet. The place was called Massachusetts. … he was surprised when he found himself on Martha’s Vineyard, a small, picturesque vacation destination in the Atlantic. “I thought I was coming to Boston,” he said. “I ended up on this little island.”

“I left my country to support my family,” said Mr. Nazareth, a 34-year-old construction worker. He said that since leaving his home country 18 months ago he had tried to make a living in Peru and Chile. But he could not make ends meet, and word spread among his friends that Venezuelans were managing to enter the United States, where jobs were plentiful.

On Thursday, Mr. Nazareth expressed gratitude for the warm reception that he and his brethren had received in Martha’s Vineyard. “They’re treating us super well,” he said.

“We’re getting food, clothing, all our needs met. I love Massachusetts!”

The migrants arrived just as the busy season ended and during one of the worst affordable housing shortages in the island’s history.

The church where they are staying is home to the sole homeless shelter on the island. St. Andrew’s sits in a quiet corner of Edgartown, off the main drag where summer visitors feast on dripping ice cream and oysters.

“We are meeting their needs for food, shelter, and we are definitely supplying them with a lot of love,” said Lisa Belcastro, the manager of the only homeless shelter on the island. “They need to be off island. Their immigration appointments are not here.”

Perhaps this need for migrants to “be off island” will abate if the Obamas begin work on a migrant shelter at their 29-acre Martha’s Vineyard estate. Given the number of seasonal houses on MVY, there should be immediate space for at least 50,000 migrants to live between now and May 2023. After that, Google Maps shows that there is plenty of undeveloped land near the MVY airport and to the south. Much of this land is actually owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and thus there would be no obstacle to building permanent housing for as many migrants as wish to settle in this exclusive vacation paradise.

Folks in Massachusetts who say that life in Texas and Florida is intolerable due to malgovernance, the lack of abortion care for pregnant people in reproductive health care settings, etc., now also say that migrants are being injured by being transported from Texas and Florida to Massachusetts. One friend on Facebook, regarding Air DeSantis:

State tax money should not be used to fund a politician primary [sic] at the expense of the lives of asylum seekers whose life’s [sic] are already miserable.

He implies that arriving by chartered jet to MVY is somehow a bad thing for asylum-seekers. If Florida and Texas are bad due to their respective infestations of Republicans, shouldn’t the Massachusetts Democrat be happy and relieved that a migrant has found his/her/zir/their way to Massachusetts? Gavin Newsom says that being given free transportation to a Democrat-governed Science-following state is “inhumane” and that the people who arrange this transportation should be prosecuted as kidnappers.

Not everyone sees this as criminal kidnapping:

Another strange aspect to Democrats’ response to the arrival of migrants in their own states and cities is the allegation that Ron DeSantis is wasting taxpayers’ money by chartering regional jets. Colleges can afford to charter regional jets to move sports teams around. If a state-funded college can afford to charter a regional jet, why can’t a state afford to charter a regional jet or Airbus A320? (Florida state government took in 21 percent more than was spent in the last fiscal year, resulting in a $22 billion surplus. If we assume per-passenger charter costs of $1,000 that’s enough to fund transportation for 22 million migrants.)

Update from Alex (comments below): “MA National Guard Activated To Aid Martha’s Vineyard Migrants”. Rather than enjoy access to water, cash jobs from folks with “No Human Being is Illegal” signs on their front lawns, etc., the 50 migrants will be moved off the island at gunpoint by 125 soldiers and confined to an inland military base.

Related:

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