Category Archives: General

Coronavirus Diaries 31

A couple of very interesting articles regarding COVID 19 and from CNN.com.

The first, written by Christina Maxouris, is a cautionary warning regarding the state of the states with regard to COVID 19 numbers, which are now looking as if they are starting to rise:

Some US states report concerning Covid-19 case increases — and one warns the surge is already here

I’m not going to get into the full rundown of the article but I will sum it up this way: Who didn’t see this coming?

I mean, seriously?

The problem, as I see it, is that there are just too many… man, I don’t want to be insulting here… short-sighted (how’s that for being somewhat nice about it?) people out there who think that the worst is over and now’s the time to get back to the old ways.

Mind you, I suspect a large number of these individuals -especially the politicians of one certain party- never felt there was a need for masks or social distancing to begin with and now that the numbers have gone down -coincidental with the rise of vaccinations- they are chomping at the bit to do away with any and all those pesky preventative measures.

I was in Jacksonville, Florida over the weekend, where we began the move of my daughter and the Mayor there declared all businesses could now operate without masks.

I was bewildered by the statement and find it damn concerning to walk around the area and notice a few -thankfully not that many- people walking around others without masks.

But we went to the Riverwalk, a downtown arts/food market on Saturday and it was very concerning to see people in a large -though, I would add, not huge– groups walking around not wearing masks.

On Sunday, when we left to return home, we stopped by this Breakfast/Biscuit place and ordered some food to go. As we sat down to wait for our order, a largish family (it seemed to be a grandfather/mother, a mother, and two kids) walk into the place and the older ones are not wearing any masks. Mind you, they’re older and also all three of them (the grandfather, grandmother, and mother) were also somewhat overweight, making them much more in the danger zone regarding COVID 19 than the two 20 year old or thereabout youngsters with them.

Those two youngsters were the only ones of the group wearing masks.

Yikes.

On a more personal note, as of this morning I’ve now had both of my shots and, in another two weeks, should have the full benefit of the vaccine.

I hope everyone out there is doing all they can to get theirs. The supplies are obviously becoming greater and greater and more states are now allowing virtually everyone who wants it to get a vaccine.

Do it.

But please, stay safe.

*****

The second article I wanted to point out, also on CNN.com and written by Jim Parrott and Laurie Goodman, concerns something that will become a very big issue soon enough, mortgages and rents.

The article:

We can’t suspend evictions and foreclosures forever

Basically, because the economy essentially went into the shitter with the rise of COVID 19, Congress as well as localities instituted a slowdown/freeze on evictions in many places because people -many of whom through no fault of their own and the economic problems- simply didn’t have the money to pay for either their mortgages or rents and there was the very real fear that a massive amount of people might be homeless.

Naturally, in the middle of a freaking pandemic the last thing we need is to have a ton of families and children displaces so the freeze was enacted.

However, as we seem to be approaching the end of the worst of the Pandemic (provided the possible next surge isn’t that horrific), there will come a time when the freezes will have to be lifted. Further, there will likely be a need to create some kind of funds that people may borrow from at low interest so that they can pay any back rent and mortgages.

It’s a fascinating topic, at least to me, because I’ve dealt with both sides of the issue in my life, both with owing rent and mortgages to dealing with tenants at properties my family owns.

Its a delicate balance, as I mentioned. You don’t want people to be thrown out due to the economic hardship of a pandemic. But on the other side, the people who own the properties have to have the rents paid so they may continue to provide services and care for the building(s) they operate. While its sometimes tempting to lump all building owners as unsavory because of some, the reality is that there is a tremendous amount of work on that end as well, and they do deserve to be able to get the rents from their tenants so they can pay for the various services they provide.

I’ll be real curious to see how this all plays out in the coming months.

*****

So here we are, on the cusp of entering into April. The rate of the vaccines per day is moving at a sizzling pace, rising to nearly 3 million or so per day.

While I don’t often like to get too political, in these days its hard not to be and so: I think the Biden administration is doing a terrific job with the vaccinations. Check out this chart, taken from NPR.com’s vaccine administration tracking site:

Note that the chart essentially begins in the later part of December and, come January, the line is going up and up and up in terms of vaccinations.

I’m not going to totally badmouth the Trump administration for the low number of vaccines early on, but the fact is that he had such a “I don’t care” attitude about the vaccine process that I can’t help but wonder what this chart would have looked like had he somehow gotten re-elected.

Frankly, that thought chills me.

On the other hand, the Biden administration’s laser like focus on getting more and more vaccines out there is showing in this chart. At this point about 15 percent of the population has been injected at least once. I hope in the next few months this chart will really start to take off.

I can’t wait to get back to some semblance of normalcy, but we have to be prudent about it and not jump the gun.

Let’s see how things go…

That ship in the Suez…

…has been “unstuck”!

From CNN.com, here’s your latest information on the unsticking of the Evergreen, a very large -like the size of the Empire State Building- cargo ship which somehow managed to ram itself across the Suez Canal and therefore all other cargo ships couldn’t pass through. This created quite a large problems, given how important the canal is for trade, and not to mention there were other stuck cargo ships behind it with live animal cargo which were (and I suppose still are) in danger of perishing.

Anyway, from CNN.com:

The ship stuck in the Suez canal has been fully dislodged

I suppose that qualifies as some good news, no?

A handout picture released by the Suez Canal Authority on March 29, 2021, shows tugboats pulling the Panama-flagged MV 'Ever Given' container ship lodged sideways impeding traffic across Egypt's Suez Canal waterway.

Fascinating stuff…

Over on CNN.com I found the following article by Oscar Holland which focuses on…

Rare images by one of history’s earliest photographers up for sale

The photographs, taken by early photographer William Henry Fox Talbot, are from… hold on to your hats here… the 1840s!

They were taken in and around England and Scotland and are both outdoor images as well as indoor/portrait pieces.

To me, this is one of the most fascinating presented in the article is this one:

William Henry Fox Talbot photography archive heads to auction - CNN Style

The photograph is, again according to the article, of Nicolaas Henneman sitting next to an unidentified man holding a basket. Henneman was the assistant and valet of Mr. Talbot.

Going through Google, there are plenty of photographs presented there by Mr. Talbot. I imagine they’re of a similar time frame…

William Henry Fox Talbot and the Promise of Photography – Carnegie Museum  of Art

Incredible to think we’re looking at images of people from nearly 200 years ago…!

Anyway, check out the link and/or do a Google search of William Henry Fox Talbot and check out his photographs!

Guns… guns… guns

Some are noting -ironically- that things are indeed getting back to “normal” in the US vis a vis the pandemic because we’ve now had not one, but two mass shootings/killings, one in Atlanta, Georgia and the other in Colorado.

In both cases, the gunman appears to be a deeply disturbed individual -not surprising at all, given the extreme actions- and both are in custody.

I’ve never understood the allure of guns.

I mean, I’ve fired guns at targets and found it a fun enough activity. I’ve never had any interest in hunting. I may sound damn naive but though I love meat, I’m uncomfortable with how we get it and what we do to livestock. I really wish we’d come up with satisfactory alternative foods!

The point is: I’m far from a gun fan. I truly don’t understand some people’s seeming love for guns and others’ knee-jerk negative reaction to any gun regulation.

We regulate cars. People have to have a license and insurance to have a vehicle and drive it. If a person is found to be improperly using their vehicle, they may get a ticket/fine and in more extreme cases, have their license revoked.

Why can’t something similar be done with guns? And why is it such a touchy topic to even consider this?

Understand: I’m not saying we should remove all guns from all people. To begin with, that’s pretty much an impossibility. Further, if you like guns and have them -even collect them- or are a hunter who provides for their family and practice proper safety and care, there’s absolutely no reason to take your guns away from you.

But…

It’s time -past time, really- to start introducing gun legislation that, at the very least, treats guns not unlike vehicles.

Baby steps and naive thinking, I suppose, but perhaps one day we won’t have to read about these massacres any more.

Serves ’em Right…

Over on theguardian.com there’s a fascinating story by James Tapper about a construction company that wanted to get rid of an old Tavern for their new construction. They decided the best way to do this -without the proper permits, I imagine!- was to simply tear it down, pay the fine for doing so, and then get on with their construction.

Only, things didn’t quite work out for them…

Rising from the rubble: London pub rebuilt brick by brick after illegal bulldozing

Yep, according to the article (and I don’t mean to spoil everything within it) the clever folks seeing the work of the construction company had a feeling they might just try to illegally demolish the pub and took extensive measurements and photographs and when the construction company did the deed, these were presented to the city’s council and the construction company was ordered to rebuild the pub which, six years later, they’ve done and its about to be re-opened.

I have to say, I do feel to some extent for the construction company.

Mind you, what they did was slimy as hell and they got their come-uppance for trying to skirt the rules/laws regarding both demolition and construction.

But I also know that it can be frustrating at times dealing with older buildings.

Where I live, in South Florida, there is precious little construction that one would call “classic”. Because Florida was developed mostly in the 20th Century and many of the older buildings were torn apart in the various hurricanes that have hit the area, we do have one prominent form of architecture I really love in Miami Beach: Art Deco.

There are beautiful Art Deco Hotels/Buildings in the area and I love them to death.

But I also know that inside the building, the rooms themselves may be pretty inadequate for modern tenants.

Miami Beach has instituted some common sense laws regarding working with these buildings. Sometimes they allow construction companies permission to demolish the body of a building, for example, while requiring them to keep the Art Deco features, like the front facade and lobby, both of which may carry the Art Deco look but the rest does not.

It’s a tricky balance and the pub in this story was originally built in the 1920’s, which doesn’t make it one of the oldest structures in London, I’m certain. However, if the city wants it kept as is and has designated it historic, the construction company has no one to blame for this costly -I’m certain!- work they were forced to do but themselves.

Coronavirus Diaries 30

Last night President Biden offered a time-table for when we may begin to return to some normalcy regarding COVID-19 (the linked to article is written by Stephen Collinson and Maeve Reston and presented on CNN.com):

‘I need you’: Biden asks Americans to do their part to help country emerge from Covid crisis

Specifically, he eyed July 4th as potentially the point where enough people will have received the vaccine (whichever one they are able to get) and when we should be able to get together in at least small groups.

He also implored people to not go out and mingle as we’re still not out of the woods, so to speak, and the danger of variants of COVID remains high.

Yet down in these parts its Spring Break time and there are an awful lot of people running around in largish groups.

Brittany Chang for businessinsider.com has the following article…

Travelers are flocking to Miami for Spring Break despite COVID

We truly are a frustrating species, aren’t we?

I mean, we’re so very close now to getting every adult vaccinated and yet we can’t help ourselves.

I fully expect to see the rates of COVID infection rise quite a bit starting at the end of March (a two week incubation period) and then remain rather high through April.

I hope, though, I’m proven very wrong.

Incredible…

…and not in a terribly good way.

Ron Dicker wrote the following article, which appeared on huffingtonpost.com…

Banned Uber Attacker Says She’ll Take Lyft. Then Lyft Bans Her.

Not to spoil the entire article, but a few ladies took an Uber ride, apparently one of them refused to wear a mask and the driver insisted they all do, things got really heated and the driver decided he no longer wanted to take them anywhere.

Things escalated when he stopped somewhere to drop them off and they refused to leave the car until their subsequent ride appeared. They claimed it was a bad neighborhood and perhaps it was, and further than the driver told them if they didn’t leave he’d drop them off on the freeway.

The rider who didn’t have the mask then coughed on the driver and pulled his mask as took his cellphone. I’m assuming that was a quick thing and he got it back.

Anyway, the rider offered her version of the events and claimed she would never use Uber again and would use Lyft and Lyft… well, the article’s headline pretty much tells you what they think about these potential clients.

I’m often appalled by the way people act nowadays, though I suspect its something that’s always been the case but because of the proliferation of cellphones and the ability to film virtually anything at any time, we’re seeing examples of things that simply wouldn’t be known and/or forgotten quickly.

Instead, they’re filmed and posted online for posterity, and the people involved… well… they get to live their bad behavior for the rest of their lives.

What the riders did was appalling, there’s no two ways about it, and I have full sympathy with the Uber Driver and what he had to put up with.

Too many people out there are taking COVID-19 far to unseriously and, by doing so, they are risking the lives of others who are taking the virus seriously.

The Driver wasn’t asking the riders to do anything extraordinary. Simply wear your masks. That’s all.

But it was a bridge too far for at least one of them and something that should have been a minor matter blew up into sheer crazyness.

I wonder if somewhere down the road, when the passengers of that Uber ride are a little older, they will realize what they and the attention -negative, I imagine- was not worth it.

Take a breath, people. Think through your actions.

I suppose they’ll have to get around with Taxis or public buses from now on, unless they get their own cars.

Hell of a thing to do for something as simple as respecting your driver’s eminently reasonable request.

Coronavirus Diaries 29

Is it -possibly!- time to start getting… excited?

In an article written by Jordan Williams and appearing on theHill.com, we find…

US picks up vaccination pace, averaging 2M doses per day

President Joe Biden promised that he would have 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, a number that some scoffed at but, if this pace continues -or increases- and according to the above article, we could have that number of vaccinations a full month earlier!

My wife, who is a first responder, already has had her two Pfizer shots. My eldest daughter also received her first shot and my younger daughter is eligible to get a shot as well, given she too works for a first responder. I will be getting my first shot come Sunday. I’m guessing it will be the Moderna vaccine as the Pfizer vaccine tends to be administered in hospitals and my appointment is at a pharmacy.

Good news for us personally, but my good fortune is also everyone else’s. It means more and more vaccines are becoming available and the chances of getting one is increasing with each passing day.

Better yet, the infection numbers are lower, though it doesn’t mean one should let down their guard. Provided a COVID mutation doesn’t screw up the vaccine effectiveness, there is evidence of the so-called “herd immunity” starting to occur.

Ridiculously, two states, Texas and Mississippi, have decided that the worst is over and ended mask mandates and eased other COVID restrictions.

To this, President Joe Biden said…

While there’s plenty of reason to be hopeful given the good news of late, it’s also not the time, I would think, to let one’s guard down and it certainly isn’t the time to think its over.

It’s not.

We are close, but we aren’t there yet.

Even after I get the second shot of my vaccine, I intend to continue wearing masks at least until the infection rates truly become minimal and a good portion, perhaps up to 2/3rd, of the U.S. population has the vaccine.

Hopefully this will be the case by later in summer, give or take.

When that does happen, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like.

Euphoria, I’m sure…

It should be something!

Dr. Seuss in the (negative) spotlight…

Over on CNN.com I found this article by Amanda Watts and Leah Asmelash concerning…

6 Dr. Seuss books won’t be published anymore because they portray people in ‘hurtful and wrong’ ways

Basically, these six books feature stereotypes, particularly of Asian and Black people, which sadly were somewhat the norm in caricatures back then but which are now looked upon quite negatively.

The books in question, taken from the above link, are:

  • And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
  • If I Ran the Zoo
  • McElligot’s Pool
  • On Beyond Zebra!
  • Scrambled Eggs Super!
  • The Cat’s Quizzer

I’m quite familiar with Dr. Seuss’ most famous books, like Green Eggs and Ham, and of the six titles they’re not going to print anymore I’m only familiar with And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street and McElligot’s Pool.

The others I’m unfamiliar with.

As I mentioned before, this sort of problem has reared its head with other works of the 20th Century: They present caricatured stereotypes which by today’s standards are very hard to take.

I recall plenty of Warner Brothers cartoons featuring questionable depictions of Black people. And who can forget that Walt Disney won’t release Song of the South, the film which features one of their most recognizable songs –Zip A Dee Doo Dah– because the entire film features a depiction of the antebellum South that is, to say the least, extremely out of date -and that’s being kind!

I suppose this is a sign that as a society we’re growing and coming to understand how hurtful some of the stereotypical depictions of people can be.

We can’t change the past, certainly, but we can work to make things a bit better today and tomorrow.

CPAC 2021

As if things couldn’t get more crazy with this year’s Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC), some eagle-eyed observers noted their stage seemed to have a hidden Nazi symbol on it…

Of course the people who were behind the display deny they meant for any sort of Nazi insignia and, truthfully, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt… but even so, I don’t know what to think.

If they did intend to put in, and hide, such a vulgar symbol on the stage, it would be… pretty disgusting, truthfully, and it seems a hard thing to think someone would dare to hide a symbol like that in such an event.

On the other hand, we are talking about Trump and what’s left of the Republican party, which for the past four years have uttered countless dog whistles of encouragement to the far right fringe and this could well be another example of just that.

It’s sad that we’ve gotten to the point where its hard to give people the benefit of the doubt in cases like that.