Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Getting there

The Johns Hopkins Covid-19 Dashboard  has been one of the most reliable data providers for coronavirus infections, trends, and deaths. This week’s numbers are rising fast to what, six months ago, was inconceivable: 30 million infections – and 100,000 dead.
Sobering. Terrifying.

News blues…

According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s report recently published report,  
In only half a year, the coronavirus pandemic has wiped out decades of global development in everything from health to the economy. Progress has not only stopped but has regressed in areas like getting people out of poverty and improving conditions for women and children around the world.
“In other words, we’ve been set back about 25 years in about 25 weeks,” the report says. “What the world does in the next months matters a great deal."
Global action to stop the pandemic would prevent illness and deaths caused by Covid-19, but there's more at stake: The crisis sets back strides made in global poverty, HIV transmission, malnutrition, gender equality, education and many more areas. Even if the world manages to get the coronavirus under control soon, it could take years to claw back lost progress.
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The Lincoln Project:
Broke  (0:55 mins)
Don the Con  (0:58 mins)
School  (0:25 min)
RVAT: Nebraska Republican: I Remember a Very Different GOP  (1:50 mins)
Brian can't vote for Trump for two reasons: he destroyed fiscal conservatism and he's a moron.  (0:50 mins)
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This is a favorite Lockdown interaction: “Father & Son" (Cat Stevens Lockdown Parody  (3:15 mins)
Like The Kiffness? Take a tour of Dave Scott’s pandemic compendium

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Three weeks ago, my mother was offered a choice of a large room or a small room for her upcoming life in a local up-market Care Center. She chose the smaller.
I begged her to reconsider, take the larger room, choose comfort over cost. Yes, the larger room was more expensive. But she and her large, hefty mongrel, Jessica, would have space to relax in the larger room.
I couldn’t convince her.
Then, yesterday, fewer than 24 hours before moving, she changed her mind. Suddenly, she wanted the larger room.
I tried. I contacted the Center manager. The larger room had been snapped up by a decisive couple. More power to them.
At the Care Center today ("100% lockdowned due to Covid-19"; masks compulsory at all times)  to set up my mom’s small room, I peeked into the larger room as passed: the decisive couple resident there now looked very settled and comfortable. 

I’m pleased I planned my mom’s move over two days: first day to set up the room; second day to drive her and Jessica there, a hassle-free, leisurely settling in.
For, “what can go wrong, will go wrong.”
The delivery of her new 6-drawer “bed base”/box spring was unsuccessful; something about not having received payment despite me having paid.
The team hired to set up her television arrived four hours after their scheduled appointment due to “unexpected delays.”
Had I decided to fit the move and the relocation into one day, my mother and Jessica would have spent all day waiting - and still not have had a bed in which to sleep.
Hoping for better service tomorrow.

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