Chidem Inch: N-words

I have not written about the blockade for a while. There was not much more I really had to say and did not want to rehash the same fears and indignations again. The news of late has been more worrisome. Earlier this month, Aliyev referred to Yerevan as part of “Western Azerbaijan.” It prompted a strong response from Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, but oddly, no protests from any other governments.

This kind of talk from Aliyev would have been moderately bothersome, bordering on the comical, about 10 years ago. Now, after the disastrous war of 2020, it is downright scary with the 100-plus-day blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Azeri troops killing Armenians in Artsakh, firing into Armenia proper, and a lot of buzz about troop movements as Iran has conjectured that Azerbaijan might invade and take the “Zangezur Corridor” soon. There is speculation they might move on Artsakh as well.

If Azerbaijan does either of these, there is little chance the Armenians can stop them. There is even less chance that anyone else is going to come to Armenia’s aid. Sure, there will be protests from France and maybe the US, but there will be no threat of force behind the words.  Russia is preoccupied with their war in Ukraine and has done nothing to break the Lachin Corridor blockade. Iran? If the Azeris take Zangezur, the Armenian-Iran border will disappear.  Iran will probably protest, but I expect not much more.

On February 8, the Armenian Caucus of the US House of Representatives introduced H.Res.108 – Condemning Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and ongoing human rights violations. The resolution has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Six weeks later, it is clear this is not a high priority for our US lawmakers. On March 20, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had a phone call with Pashinyan where he offered US support in facilitating bilateral peace discussions with Azerbaijan. No serious words or warnings were given to Azerbaijan.

On January 19, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for the opening of the Lachin Corridor for humanitarian reasons. The Armenian side embraced this and urged the EU to sanction Azerbaijan, which they have not done. The Azeri Parliament passed a resolution condemning the EU resolution. Azerbaijan has increased their gas exports to Europe to offset the cuts in Russian gas, even though the Azeri gas covers only 2.8-percent of Europe’s gas needs.

It seems these kinds of resolutions and diplomatic words and offers are the limit of what the US and Europe are willing to do to stop Azeri moves in Artsakh and Zangezur. I wonder what, if any, actions they might take if Azerbaijan tries to annex Armenia itself?

This all makes me think of five N-words: Nakhichevan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nzhdeh, “Never Again” and Nemesis.

Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabakh were to be part of the Armenian Republic and Armenian SSR. But the Soviets reneged and gave them to Azerbaijan SSR. The Azeris ethnically cleansed Nakhichevan and have since erased evidence of any Armenian presence there. They are doing the same in the territories they took in the 2020 war. There is no reason to think they would do any differently with any lands they may take in the future.

Obviously the third word refers to Garegin Nzhdeh, the Armenian patriot and military leader. Nzhdeh was born in Nakhichevan. He was a hero of the battle of Karakillise, in keeping Zangezur part of Armenia and in quelling the massacres in Shushi by the Azeris. In the first Republic of Armenia, he was appointed as governor of Nakhichevan. His life was dedicated to Armenian independence and self-determination. He understood and embraced the absolute need for a strong military to defend Armenia and Armenians.

Nzhdeh understood and embodied the phrase we all use: “Never Again.” We have been saying this since 1965, the 50th anniversary of the Genocide, which marked the birth of modern Armenian political activism. We say “Never Again” with passion, yet, here we are again with seemingly little ability to defend ourselves if Azerbaijan and Turkey decide to take the last of our homeland. We had 30 years to prepare for this. Instead, we had a massive brain drain and population exodus along with corrupt oligarchs and leaders lining their own pockets. We did not even recognize Artsakh, as Putin pointed out.

We could have certainly used a few Nzhdehs in the early days of the current Republic. We could use a few today.

Lastly, there is the word “nemesis.” It is the most interesting word of the lot with two overlapping meanings. Merriam-Webster defines it as “a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent.” For Armenians, Turkey is most definitely a nemesis and so is Azerbaijan. The second definition is “one that inflicts retribution or vengeance.” It seems like the victims of the first kind of nemesis might well be motivated to become nemeses, of the second type, themselves. I hope this never becomes our only remaining course of action.

Originally published March 23, 2023 in The Armenian Weekly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biorhythms Revisited

 

My productivity certainly ebbs and flows.  I am writing about it today because my productivity is on the ebb side.  If we consider writing blog posts, there are times where I can crank out a blog post in 45 minutes to an hour.  There are other times when writing a post is like slogging through mud.  This post in particular? it has taken me over twelve hours, in dribs and drabs, to write this one. 

This oscillation between the peaks and valleys of productivity is why the concept of biorhythms intrigued me so between my impressionable sophomore years, 1968-1972.  Well, I am probably exaggerating here, it intrigued me but not nearly as much as some of my contemporaries, back in the day, who wholeheartedly bought into biorhythms. 

One thing, I have learned over the years is that there are peaks and valleys in regard to my own productivity.  But, unlike the biorhythm theory, where there is an assumption of fixed and repeated intervals between the ebbs and flows, I see no discernable pattern in my own case.  These periods come and go unpredictably.  Their duration and amplitude is equally unpredictable. 

I wondered if the pseudoscience of biorhythms might actually be true or perhaps partially true?  Are the ups and downs and intervals in between predictable like a series of three sine waves, as in the graphic, or is there a stochastic component for amplitude, duration, and the mean time between the peaks and valleys?  Is there any correlation to the cycles of the moon?  Workload?  Looming due dates?

My conjecture is that there is indeed a stochastic element to all of this.  There may also be causal factors which in my case are probably workload, due dates, and who knows what?  This would be a fun study, but I am not sure how I would even go about collecting the data to do such a data.  All I can think of is to track feelings, moods, and percent of daily to do lists accomplished.  This sounds kind of tedious.

Needless to say, I did an internet search on this.  There are many scholarly articles that looked into the validity of biorhythms.  I could not access any of the articles and as I am in a low productivity value, I did not pursue trying to access them via the North Park library.  I did, however, find an article in The New York Times from December 25, 1977.  The article, Biorhythms: Fact or Fiction, was written by Roger N. Johnson, Professor of Psychology, Ramapo College, Mahwah, NJ.  Professor Johnson focused on the sports in the article, “Sports provide a natural outlet for pop psychology.  What better way to account for the mysterious ups and downs that cause victory and defeat.”  In the end, the professor came to the same conclusion I did, but more articulately and a cool 46 years earlier:  If people

…were serious about bodily rhythms, they would throw away their computer printouts and keep a detailed diary of their moods and habits.  After many months or years, they might discover personal regularities.

 It is an intriguing question and problem but there is little likelihood I will ever try to keep such a diary and analyze.  I mean I really only think about researching this when I am in a productivity lull like I am right now which doesn’t bode well for actually accomplishing starting and keeping a tedious diary. 

Oh well.

Reflections: A Mile at a Time

 

I went to Stevenson High School in Livonia, MI and graduated in 1971.  Our 50^th Reunion was held last year on May 21.  It was actually held a year late due to the uncertainty of the Covid Pandemic.  I wrote about it twice in this blog.

 

My 50th High School Reunion

1971 - 2021: 50 Years

 

I was not able to attend the reunion but enjoyed reconnecting with classmates via social media (Facebook for people our age).  I saw that Mark Macy and his wife, Pam Pence Macy who graduated a year after us in 1972, were going to the reunion.  While we weren’t the best of friends, we were certainly acquaintances.

As far as I can remember, Mark and I never had a class together at Stevenson.  I just checked and he didn’t sign my yearbook… only because our paths did not cross that often.  But when they did, we always exchanged pleasantries and I remember him as being quite genuine and agreeable.  I also remember he was a multisport athlete.  The yearbook reminded me that he played football, basketball, and baseball in his sophomore year and varsity soccer and baseball in his junior and senior years.  For some reason, I knew that Mark had gone to Michigan State and played lacrosse I lost track of him after that.

Via Facebook, I learned that Mark’s athletic endeavors did not stop after high school and college but blossomed into something very special.  He did triathlons which evolved to high endurance running and then high adventure high endurance competitions.  In our reunion website, I learned from his biography that he was an attorney and that, sadly, he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  There was also a statement in the same bio about wanting to live life to the fullest and not giving in to the disease.  Upon reading that I wanted to be at the reunion just to see him and wish him well.

I learned on FB that Mark and his son Travis had written a book, A Mile at a Time:  A father and son’s inspiring Alzheimer’s journey of love, adventure, and hope.  The book was to be released on March 13 or thereabouts.  Amazon gave the option to pre-order it which I did.  The book arrived this afternoon of March 14.  I took it out of the box and just sat down and read almost the whole thing.  I stopped to let it all sink in and read the last thirty pages today at a more leisurely place. Now, here I am writing about it.

I loved this glimpse into the lives of Mark and Pam through the eyes of their son Travis.  I learned a lot about them, Pam’s need for a liver transplant which was successful but how the lifelong medications impacted her kidneys resulting in not one but two kidney transplants.  I learned about Mark’s life since I last saw him, probably at our high school graduation.  I learned of their love for Colorado where they settled and raised a family.  I saw how Mark embraced, with an amazing passion and commitment of time, extreme endurance competitions.  It is impressive.  The kinds of competitions he participated in were, to put it bluntly, unbelievable to the vast majority of people.

I was always impressed by anyone that ran a marathon.  Anyone running 26.2 miles in half a day had my respect and admiration.  When I first heard about the Ironman Triathlon, I was blown away.  An Ironman starts with 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike segment, and is topped of with a full marathon run.  It stuck me as insane, but now is commonplace.  People train long and hard for a marathon where the average time is about 4.5 hours.  People train longer and harder for an Ironman Triathlon where the average completion time is 12.5 hours.

What kind of races did Mark participate in?  Here are a few examples:

 

• The Leadville Trail 100 Run (aka The Race Across The Sky or the LT100) is an ultramarathon held annually on rugged trails and dirt roads near Leadville, Colorado, through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. First run in 1983, the race course climbs and descends 15,600 feet (4,800 m), with elevations ranging from 9,200 to 12,620 feet (2,800–3,850 m). In most years, fewer than half the starters complete the race within the 30-hour time limit.  ~ Wikipedia
  
  
• The Eco-Challenge was a team based ultrarace run in different terrains around the world.  It was run from 1995 to 2002 and revived again in 2020. “The teams raced non-stop, 24 hours a day, over a rugged 300-mile (500 km) course, participating in such disciplines as trekking, whitewater canoeing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, mountaineering, camel-back riding, and mountain biking. Teams originally consisted of five members, but the team size was reduced to four members early in the event's history.   A feature of the race is the mandatory mix of men and women for all participating teams.” ~Wikipedia
  
  
• Iditapsport is a 100 mile race.  It is based on the famous Iditarod dogsled race.  Per Travis and Mark’s book, “Instead of dogsleds, participants used either Nordic skis, running shoes, snowshoes, or bicycle to navigate the course, pulling their own emergency supply sled behind them.”  Mark did it by snowshoes.

 

Until I read this book, I was unaware these events even existed.  Mark competed in these events and more.  I was so impressed with Mark and Travis’s commitment, dedication to training, and investment in equipment to participate in these kinds of ultra-endurance races.  There is science involved in the training regimen and planning out of the pacing, hydration, and calorie intake for these events.  I was impressed but not surprised by the logistics of assembling everything needed for the events and coordination of effort in the team events like the Eco-Challenge which Mark’s team, the Stray Dogs, won once.

It is never easy when one is diagnosed with a terminal disease.   It is harder for most of us to understand when it happens to someone young or, in Mark’s case, someone who is in superb shape.  We admire athletes like this and think them invincible.  Yet, cancer, Parkinson’s, heart attacks, and dementia strike them as readily as they do the general population.  It happened to Lou Gehrig, Bruce Lee, Jim Fixx, Brian Piccolo, Ernie Davis, and a few people I know.  It just always shocks us more when it happens athletes in superb condition. 

In reading A Mile at a Time, I was impressed by Mark’s dedication to family and friends.  I was impressed by his don’t quit attitude, his perseverance.  I admired and am inspired by his reaction to his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s on October 16, 2018… he wasn’t about to quit and was going to live his life to the fullest enjoying his sport and family.   He and Travis decided to form a team, Team Endure, and compete in the 2020 Eco-Challenge which took place in Fiji.  Amazon Prime produced a 10-episode series, World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, in which Mark was in six of the episodes which I will most certainly watch.

I loved the book.  Travis Macy really produced an amazing homage to his father and inspiration to anyone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and their families.  Again, I really wish I had gone to the reunion just to meet and chat with Mark and Pam.

Would I have been aware of the book had it not been for our high school reunion?  I doubt it.  Would I have read the book if I had not known Mark and Pam from high school?  Probably not unless a family member or close friend recommended it.

I am certainly inspired and enriched for reading it and sincerely wish Mark, Pam, and family the best.

 

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Here is a video clip from 9News in Denver featuring Travis and Mark from September of 2022.

 

 

On Amazon - Part 1

 

I have admired Amazon since they began operations in July 14, 1993 as an online bookstore and as far as I know the first online store of any kind.  The internet was brand spanking new back then and Amazon was the first business that figured out there was more to having an online business than simply adding .com to any traditional business name and setting up a website.

Since then, in the US, Amazon defined and become the model of what an online business to consumer business should be.  It took them a decade or so to become profitable as they poured all of their profits in both R&D and expansion.  This is more easily done when a visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, runs the business than any subsequent CEO more subservient to the Board and Shareholders can ever be. 

It should be noted that the Sears Catalog which began in 1888 as a watch and jewelry catalog was the Amazon of snail mail and paper catalogs.  Ironically, the Sears Catalog ceased operations in 1993, the very same year Amazon started.  I guess the Sears executives did not have the wherewithal, nor the brains, to see their catalog was the most natural business to become a dot com.

In thirty years, Amazon became the largest online retailer in the world and second only to Walmart for all retail sales.  Per Investopedia, as of December 2022, the ten largest retailers in the world are:

• Walmart
• Amazon
• Costco
• Walgreens Boots Alliance
• Alibaba
• Target
• Lowe's

 

Note:  Other references place China’s Alibaba to be larger than Amazon.

 

In 2022, Amazon had revenues of just under $514 billion and an EBITDA of $38 billion compared to $611 billion and $30 billion for Walmart.  This is imprressive growth from 0 to $514 billion and #2 status in thirty years.  

In the US, Amazon dominates online sales by a wide margin in total and in many categories.  They sell products that are distributed through their own distribution centers and as well as selling products that are distributed through the supply chains of vendors who have Amazon stores.

Amazon’s advantages are two-fold. 

First, it the online portal.  It is simply easier to find and order products on Amazon compared to almost every other retailer.  They have perfected the method.  You can only order products that are in stock or pre-order new or out-of-stock products.  You pay and the order confirmation and tracking process starts. 

I resist ordering from other retailers as their online experience is, well to use the technical term, wonkier.  Though, many including Walmart and others have closed the gap considerably since the start of the pandemic.  After all, the ordering part of e-commerce is all software based and may be the easier part of the Amazon advantage to overcome.

The second advantage of Amazon is their Distribution Centers.  This is the harder to duplicate for most traditional retailers.  For traditional retailers, their distribution centers i.e. warehouses and supply chains in general were designed to get products as efficiently to the stores where consumers would come to select their items, pay for them, and take them back to their homes.  Thus, the distribution centers of these retailers and their suppliers were designed to move cases of goods and pallets of goods in full truckloads to stores where consumers shop.  These stores are in fact warehouses… just prettier ones to create a pleasant environment for consumers who roam the aisles and make their selections off of the shelves and displays.

Amazon basically merged the retailers store and distribution center into one facility:  a new kind of warehouse.  A warehouse designed to get products from suppliers in bulk as usual but to ship individual orders to consumers in small parcels.  They had no warehouses when they started, so it was easy to design their warehouses to fulfill the new mission of delivering directly to consumers versus stores.  They replace two facilities with one and thus reduced their brick-and-mortar costs.  The traditional retailers had an existing network of traditional warehouses and stores that could not transform to the new mission with costly refurbishing of racking, conveyors, and work-flows. Amazon by constantly reinvesting into R&D has worked to stay ahead of their competitors in this regard via robotics and software. 

Oddly, it was a third-party innovation that truly enabled Amazon to skyrocket in the early 2000s.  Before the innovation of the smart phone, people had to use their laptop or desktop computers to order from Amazon.  This was convenient but only to a degree.  If you computer was not handy, a whim to maybe buy something did not always turn into a sale.  Smart phones?  They were always in our hands or within arms-reach.  With the Amazon app, it became incredibly easy and convenient to turn any whim a consumer may have into an order in a matter of seconds at any time 24/7 from anyplace.

More to follow.

Photos of a March Snowstorm

 

We had a snowstorm that started on March 9 in the evening and lasted through midday today, March 10.  It was one of those wet heavy snows, the kind of snows perfect for making snowmen.  It was the kind of snow that will be gone in a day or two.  Others in Chicago and Michigan were complaining on social media about another snowstorm so late in the season.  I have made no secret of my love a good snowstorm and even a good spell of frigid air.  So, I loved this storm and snow.  I can understand my Michigan friends being weary of such storms as they lost power for several days in the past two storms.  Certainly, my enjoyment of snowstorms and cold blasts is heavily dependent on having a warm, well-lit, house to retreat to.

Today’s snowstorm was also the kind of snow that sticks to the branches and twiggy parts of the trees making for a Currier and Ives setting.  It was just that this morning, a beautiful sight with last of the snow lightly tapering off.  With the temperatures in the mid to high thirties, I did not expect the snow cling to the trees for very long.  So, I grabbed my camera, went out  to take some photos, and share them with here.

My favorite is the lead photo of one of our two cherry variant trees right outside my office windows.  These trees produce a lot of fruit and feed several species of birds as well as squirrels the entire winter.  We have robins year-round because of these trees, so for us there is no longer the excitement of seeing the first robin of the spring.  They are always around.  During a typical winter day finches might gather to feed, followed by robins, and lastly squirrels scurrying up and down the trees in the lull periods.  Every once in a while, I see a red tail hawk perched in one of the trees.  The finches and robins are nowhere to be seen when one of these massive hawks is perched in one of the trees.                              

The birds seem to clean all the cherries off one of the trees completely before starting on the second tree.  I am guessing that one of the trees is male and the other female.  An internet search confirmed that there are indeed male and female cherry trees but yielded no insight into which is tastier to finches and robins.

I love this lead photo because of the contrast of the colors of the cherry to the almost black and white of the tree branches and the snow.  I love the photo because you can see drops of water on the cherries formed by the already melting snow defying gravity and refusing to fall. 

The other photos are not bad at all.  The one of our street shows how the landscape was flocked with snow.  But these other photos are just OK compared to the photo of the cherries in my humble view.  I should make note cards out of this photo and use them for thank you notes and other correspondence.

A month or two from today, the cherry trees will be adorned with beautiful pink blossoms.  I just might have to some more photos then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Day in History

 

It is February 22.  It was a cold and rainy all day in Chicagoland.  Everyone was worried about it turning into ice storm.  The trees by my home were glazed but not heavy with ice.  A half-hour’s drive north across the Wisconsin border it was just enough colder to be an ice storm.  A friend texted that they lost power but luckily only for a few hours.

This morning, I left at 6:15 to got to school.  I got there and realized my office key was at home in the pocket of the jacket I wore on Monday.  Unable to get into the School of Business and Nonprofit Management building, actually a house, and my office, I went directly to the classroom foregoing the morning espresso I would have made.

I was in the classroom by 7 and was checking emails.  When I finished catching up on my work emails, I checked my personnel account.  An email, This Day in History from the History Channel, caught my eye.  I get this email every day (duh) but I rarely open them.  Today, February 22^nd, I decided to open it due solely to a change in my routine.  There were 14 items in the email but only two and half got my attention.

First on their list was the Miracle on Ice in 1980 when the US Olympic Hockey Team upset the unbeatable Soviet Team in Lake Placid, New York.  It was an amazing game that most people think was the final but it was actually a semi-final game.  The US had to beat Finland to win the gold medal which the did a few days later.  That game against Finland, though important, was anti-climactic after the game against the USSR.  The USA-USSR game was an amazing and to this day probably the best sporting event I ever saw. 

This is the third time I am writing about this.  The first was in 2006, before this blog, when I was writing one letter a month and emailing to folks.  It was a segment in the February 2006 Letter in which I relived that moment.  Everyone I know around my age remembers where they were and with who they watched the game.  The second time was in was in February of 2010, Olympic Hockey, when I was comparing the 2010 made up of professional players and the glorious 1980 team of amateurs drilled and molded by the amazing Herb Brooks. 

The second item in the History Channel email shouldn’t have been a surprise but it was.  February 22^nd is the birthday of George Washington.  How did that slip my mind?  I always remember Lincoln’s birthday on Feb 12^th.  On June 28, 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to move certain Federal Holidays to Mondays to create three-day weekends.  Included in the Act was the consolidation of Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays into one Monday holiday:  President’s Day.  I remember Lincoln’s birthday on the 12^th, then I believe when President’s Day comes around, I subconsciously think that is Washington’s Birthday.  Well… it’s a theory.

Back during my K-12 school years in Detroit and Livonia, we never got Lincoln or Washington’s birthdays off nor did we get President’s Day off after the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.  I never understood why.  When we moved to CT, the kids not only got President’s Day off but also the rest of the week.  It was called Winter Break.

At the beginning, I said that there were two and a half items that caught my interest in the History Channel email.  So, what was the half?  It was that the Battle of Buena Vista began on February 22.  The Battle of Buena Vista?  It took place on February 22-23, 1847.  The US troops led by future President Zachary Taylor invaded Mexico to face General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s much larger Army.  One source said the US won, another said both sides claimed victory.  The US had two heroes that went on to even more notable achievements.  Taylor earned the nickname “Old Rough and Ready” and was elected President in 1848.  The other was Jefferson Davis who became President of the Confederacy.  I read about the battle but never quite grasped why we initiated it what impact it had but helping Taylor get elected President.  Maybe, it was simply another chance to humiliate Santa Anna.

Fast forward, it is now March 4^th and I am just finishing this piece.  Why the delay?  All I can do is quote one of eloquent grandsons, “I dunno.”  If really pressed for an answer, I would say it was a combination of the schoolwork, the Persian Concert weekend for the University of Chicago Middle Eastern Ensemble, life in general, and a valley in my own biorhythm cycle.

On March 1^st, I did again read the This Day in History email.  There was only one item that caught my eye.  It was about grave robbers exhuming and stealing Charlie Chaplin’s body in Switzerland.  I was totally amazed that I had zero recall of what seems like a sensational event.  Chaplin died on December 25, 1977.  On March 1, 1978, two immigrants Roman Wardas, the 24 year old mastermind, and Gantscho Ganev, his 38 year old accomplice, stole Chaplin’s body and ransomed it for $600,000.  Of course, the family did not pay the ransom and the police apprehended the out of work destitute duo.  Wardas got four and a half years of hard labor while Ganev’s eighteen-month sentence was suspended due to his minimal role in the crime.  When I asked Google about what might have happened to Wardas and Ganev but whatever became of them happened off of the grid.

I wonder what gems are in the History Channel’s email today… all I have to do is open it and read.