Two more Trump matters. To no one's surprise, Robert F. Kennedy was confirmed this morning as his Secretary of Health and Human Resources. All Democrats and Republican Senator Mitch McConnell were the only no votes. Will this become the worst cabinet in all of history? In his first term, Donald Trump already was selected as the worst president of the USA. 
From BCTV:
The Trump cabinet is receiving a lot of attention lately-most of it bad. The details vary, but much of the unwelcome spotlight focuses on the quality of the cabinet – or lack thereof. This is the cabinet Trump himself called “by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever assembled.” Others, less kind perhaps, have branded it “the worst cabinet in American history.” Individual cabinet members have been proclaimed, “dumb,” “stupid,” “illiterate,” “incompetent,” “moronic,” and panoply of other less than complimentary terms.
Also, the Washington Post agrees. More specifically, former Trump UN Ambassador John Bolton picked Tulsi Gabbard as the worst cabinet-level appointment in history. It would have been Matt Gaetz, but his was so bad, he himself dropped out.
With the Department of Education on the chopping block, how serious is Trump about his nomination of Linda McMahon as its secretary? Well, she is 76 years old, the chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, founded by her husband Vince. She was head of the Small Business Association in Trump's first term, and has led several pro-Trump political groups. She will oversee 50 million students with little qualification, and surely a mandate to eliminate her department.
On the positive side for Trump, apparently his diatribes have shaken some sense into Hamas thinking, as they reversed courses and meekly announced that they will honor releasing the next group of Israeli hostages as planned. So the cease fire in the Gaza Strip continues, for now. There are 73 hostages left, although half are believed to be dead. This war has killed 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while Israel says it has terminated 17,000 militants.
I actually wrote this posting a week ago, but could not fit it in till now. So I've updated it, noting that the price of eggs have since then gone up. After reading this posting, I also am sorry that there is just too much information. Who needs all this knowledge???
- From 2000 to 2003 egg prices stayed constant at $1/dozen.
- From 2008 to 2014 the price was just under $2/dozen.
- While the price went up to $3/dozen in August of 2015 (because of the bird flu), by 2016 the price was down to only around $1.25/dozen, and largely stayed under $2/dozen through 2023.
- The latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average price of a dozen Grade A eggs reached $4.95 in January, eclipsing the previous record of $4.82 set two years earlier, and more than double the low of $2.04 in August of 2023.
- However, while nearly $5/dozen as an average, a dozen exceeded $10/dozen in many cities, especially Hawaii. We have poultry farms, with no bird flu, so our egg producing companies are just taking advantage of this pricing opportunity.
- Egg prices generally peak around Easter, which this year is April 20. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that the price of eggs will still further rise 20%.
- The biggest problem in cities with the highest prices is a supply and demand advantage for stores and outlets, for you just can't find eggs anywhere.
Not only the USA, but the whole world is suffering from a shortage of eggs. Watch this video. Asia supplies 59% of all the eggs produced, and Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey report new instances of this avian influenza. China hasn't said much, but did report two more human H9N2 avian flu cases, which must mean their poultry farms too are affected, but China 2025 egg futures haven't changed.
Has this happened before? Of course. Some history of eggs.
- Humanity has been consuming eggs since our beginning, say millions of years ago.
- China used eggs in baking around 6000 BC. And, by the way, the 100-year old Chinese egg is only a process to raise the pH of eggs for preservation, and rarely is older than a 100 days.
- The Old English term for bird was oeg, plus there was an Old Norse term, eyren, from where came egg.
- Why are eggs sold by the dozen? In the Christian world, has something to do with the number of Jesus' disciples. Japan sells in 6 and 10 egg cartons.
The egg carton was invented in 1911 by Joseph Coyle of Canada. Did you know that paper was first used, then 75 years ago replaced by polystyrene, but environmental considerations led to the return of now biodegradable paper, usually of recycled material- Most eaten eggs are from fowl, especially chickens. Also ducks and ostriches, but also from reptiles, amphibians and fish. Think caviar.
The largest are ostrich eggs, with a circumference of 15-18 inches, or 6 inches from base to tip, weighing around 3 pounds. (Other eggs to the right are quail on top and chicken below.)- Ostrich shells can be more than half an inch thick.
- A single ostrich egg provides 2000 calories, about half protein.
- Females lay between 2 to 7 eggs every 35-45 days.
- Expect to pay $30/egg.
Next largest are emu eggs. The color is a gorgeous deep blue-green and sort of resembles a giant avocado.- Emu males are the most devoted dads in the bird world, for these Australians build the nest, wait for a female to come along, does his thing, and incubates the eggs for around 56 days.
- The female, after laying the eggs, scampers off for a continued sex life.
- He doesn't leave the nest to eat or drink during this entire time and loses around a third of his body weight. He then protects the chicks for up to two years, and keeps the mother away for good purpose, for she can be life-threatening predator. Here is a super dad with 40 chicks in the Eyre Peninsula of Australia.
- One emu egg replaces a dozen to 15 chicken eggs.
- Also around $30/egg in the U.S.
- The best price I could find in Australia was $35/egg
- Your can buy ostrich and emu eggs at ranches in the southwest USA. There are also online suppliers.
- So why are turkey eggs not eaten more often, for there are large turkey hatcheries?
- Never had one myself, but is said to be delicious. They say if you enjoy chicken eggs, you will love turkey eggs.
- So why don't we regularly buy them?
- A matter of economics.
- For the company, financially better to use the eggs to produce more turkeys than to sell the egg.
Female turkey takes longer to lay an egg, consumes twice the feed compared to a chicken, and only lays one-third as many eggs as a chicken. A chicken lays 300 eggs/year, while a turkey only 100/year. This seems cruel, but chickens have over time been bred to not to want to brood (or sit on the egg), while turkeys retain this instinct.- Turkey shells are thicker, and harder to crack.
- And, incidentally, the average turkey weighs 16-17 pounds, compared to 3-4 pounds for a chicken.
Companies do sell male turkey testicles as a type of egg, and are called mound oysters.- Should you want to buy a turkey egg, you will need to go the production ranch, for stores do not sell them.
- Turkey eggs weigh around 1.7 ounces, or just over a tenth of a pound. Chicken eggs weigh around 3 ounces, or 3/16 pounds, or 0.19 pounds.
- Americans consume 16 pounds of turkey/person/year, a total of 46 million turkeys/year in the U.S.
So comparing egg prices.- Most expensive is caviar, with the best going for around $3500/pound. Although cheap lumpfish and similar eggs only cost around $30/pound.
- Ostrich/emu: $30/pound.
- Chicken egg cost per dozen.
- 1890 21 cents, worth $4.15/dozen today.
- 1994 86 cents, worth $2.44/dozen today.
- 2015 $2.75
- 2023 $2.50
- 2024 $4.15
- Last week in Honolulu, Palama Market had it for $11.34/dozen, thought that was too expensive, changed, my mind, and came back to find nothing available.
- Also keep in mind that consumers are being influenced by all this panic, and they themselves are part of the problem, by stockpiling eggs. Blame me too, for I usually only get half a dozen, but scooped up 18 eggs yesterday at Times Supermarket.
- So how long can you safely store raw eggs? According to The Incredible Egg, 4 TO 5 WEEKS BEYOND THE PACK DATE, OR 3 WEEKS AFTER PURCHASE. So what about hard-boiled eggs in the shell? Less than one week.
- During World War II.
- There was a bird flu pandemic in 2014-15 caused by the H5N1 strain when egg prices double. During this period, 49 million chickens and turkeys were euthanized.
- This virus has infected both dairy cows and poultry farms, probably from wild birds to cows, and they spread the disease to chickens, and even cats who drank the raw milk.
- Another reason to avoid drinking milk straight from the cow.
- Apparently, these virus cells reproduce in the udders of cows.
- Dairy workers also got infected, but no human-human spread.
- Pasteurized milk is safe, and so is cheese.
- And if you can recall, our new secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr., touts raw milk as more healthful.
- While all this is occurring, tens of millions of wild birds have also died in the U.S., and the source is yet another strain of bird flu.
- Will all this lead to another human pandemic? No one knows. Keep in mind that avian influenza of various strains have been around us for at least 30 years. Globally, the H5N1 virus has been responsible for more than 950 confirmed human infections and 464 deaths since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Note that the mortality rate is 50%! COVID-19 had a 1% rate. amd came from a bat, probably,
- 13.2 million commercial egg-laying hens were culled in December 2024 alone.
- Total bird losses a few weeks ago reached 145 million since this outbreak began in 2022. This is three times more euthanization of chickens than the 2015 period, when egg prices doubled. Should thus be worse this time.
- Keep in mind that the U.S. usually has "only" 300 million hens laying eggs.
- It take up to two months to re-stock layers.
- And the latest culling has reached 158 million laying chickens.
- Cage-free egg laws have increased prices. Ten states have passed laws allowing only sale of cage-free chickens.
- While relief may eventually be on the horizon, it is not expected immediately. The USDA projects that egg prices will begin to decline by the second quarter of 2025, with costs potentially returning to around $2.50 per dozen by mid-year. However, this prediction hinges on the containment of bird flu and improvements in the supply chain.
- But, oh oh, last week health officials announced that a new strain of avian flu (H5N9) was discovered on a duck farm in Merced county, California. The farm was quarantined and 120,000 ducks were killed.
- This bird virus continues to mutate.
- China 31.3
- United States 6.3
- For the month January in 2019 the U.S. produced 9.41 billion eggs, 8.2 billion for consumption and 1.2 billion for raising chicks.
- Americans each consumed 279 eggs/person in 2019, but this was up to 405 eggs/person in 1945.
- In 1968 the American Heart Association (AHA, and in Europe too) decreed that people should eat at most 3 eggs/week, essentially cutting in half the then average consumption.
- The thought was that eggs were high in cholesterol, and high blood cholesterol was associated with heart disease.
- But egg producers decided to fight science with science.
- They formed an Egg Nutrition Center to share the TRUTH.
- They found that correlation doesn't equal causation.
- DIETARY CHOLESTEROL WAS NOT THE CULPRIT.
- THERE ARE GOOD AND BAD CHOLESTEROLS.
- So Big Egg switched gears in their information blitz. THEY BEGAN TO SHOW THAT RESTRICTING EGG INTAKE WAS CAUSING HARM.
- Eggs contain a wide range of key nutrients, and these were being lost in your diet if ate fewer eggs.
- Eggs will keep you fuller for longer, whereas high-carb, nutrient-light breakfast cereals did not. In other words, cutting eggs could cause obesity.
- For older adults, eggs were a good source of protein, and were cheap, easy to chew and simple to prepare. Eggs were essential for combatting muscle loss.
- Eggs protect eye health and reduce the risk of certain diseases.
- In the early 2000s, only 1 in 10 people were consuming enough choline, an essential body nutrient. Eggs are rich in choline.
- One egg a day instead of 3/week was better for your health.
- The AHA in 2002 dropped their 3 eggs/week recommendation.
- In 2014, the AHA further announced that there wasn't enough evidence to determine whether lowering cholesterol in your diet reduces bad cholesterol.
- In 2015, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans dropped the 300 mg max/day cholesterol recommendation.
- Thus, in half a century, eggs were suddenly now healthy and okay to consume.
- The current recommendation? ONE EGG/DAY. But don't overdo it with 6 eggs/day. Plus, if you already have a high cholesterol diet, might be wise to eat fewer than one egg/day.
- Read this article providing details on the above.
- Further, hens on a high omega-3 fatty acid diet produce eggs with high in in that nutrient.
- India 4.8 million
- Mexico 2.8 million
- Japan 2.6 million
- There are over 33 billion chickens, four times more than Homo sapiens.
- There are more chickens than any other bird species. This you did not know, but #2 is the Red-billed quelea in Africa with 1.5 billion, and #3 Mourning Dove with 0.48 billion.
- Chickens are the living descendants of dinosaurs.
- They were domesticated 8000 years ago from the Red Junglefowl that could fly.
- Chickens can dream. As do most mammals.
- Have better color vision than humans.
- Have over 30 unique vocalizations to communicate.
- Live in groups with a pecking order. They know their place.
- Can recognize other chickens and human faces.
- Use dirt to bathe themselves.
- Color of egg shell depends on the color of the hen's earlobes. Red lay brown eggs and white lobes lay white eggs.
- Cooked eggs are easier to digest and lowers the risk of salmonellosis.
- Eggs were at one time not highly recommended, but more recently became acceptable, for in a good diet, they increase the ratio of HDL cholesterol, which is good.
- The latest study indicated that there was no overall association between moderate egg consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes.
- No association with heart disease or stroke.
- There appears to be some link to some cancers, but not breast cancer.
- I have a friend who says chickens are the dumbest animals, but Scientific American contends that they are intelligent and emotional.
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