HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MANAGE THE RISK OF CORONAVIRUS? We've flattened the curve now so what? It's simply NOT realistic to expect people to not try to get their lives back to some sense of normal. This article does a really good job of maybe setting up parameters of how to begin those interactions while still protecting yourself and those around you. I found out really helpful because I'm about done with this and am ready to try to make it into the big bad world of human interaction again.
REMEMBER WHEN LATE NIGHT COMEDIANS MADE FUN OF JOE BIDEN? You probably don't because it's been so long but this is really funny.
THE GREAT BAGEL EXPERIMENT HAPPENED THIS WEEKEND And I'll let Dave review his bagel he came and got from me. They were definitely not perfect, but a solid first effort.
THE PUSHBACK IS BEGINNING HARD AND IN MICHIGAN IT'S DOCTORS PUSHING BACK And they are suing Governor Gretchen Whitmer over her shutdown of elective surgeries. The doctors rightly point out that the number of anticipated cases used as the excuse to shut down the surgeries has not even come close to being realized and they want to get back to the business of doctoring. When doctors sue, it's sort of hard to claim they don't know what they are talking about, huh? Read this:
“Graphics depicted that while Governor Whitmer’s administration anticipated 220,000 patients being hospitalized without social distancing efforts, there had only been 3,000 hospitalizations as of April 27. That is less than 1.4% of the projected COVID-19 hospitalizations underlying the Governor’s declared states of emergency and disaster,” the lawsuit says.
100 HEALTH MINISTERS AROUND THE WORLD ARE OBVIOUSLY RACISTS Because they are demanding answers from China about how the Coronavirus got loose in the first place. We already know that WHO is China's b*tch, and China now wants WHO to lead an investigation into the world's response AFTER the virus has run it's course. No thank you. I'd like someone else in charge please. I'm not the only one who feels that way. From NBC News:
Xi's statement via video link came as more than 100 health ministers from around the world prepared to call for an independent evaluation of the WHO's handling of the outbreak.
The draft of the resolution, which has the support of 116 countries so far, is calling for "an impartial, independent and comprehensive" evaluation of the actions of the WHO and their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also seeks to identify the origin of the virus.
THAT OXFORD VACCINE? IT'S NOT REALLY WORKING And this is one I reported on the blog because they were so far ahead of anyone else in terms of their research, but it seems the vaccine doesn't stop the spread of the virus in monkeys AT ALL. It DOES however, mitigate the severity of the virus so Oxford is moving ahead to human trials. A vaccine created by Chinese pharma company Sinovac DOES protect monkeys and is moving to human trials now. But who wants to trust a Chinese vaccine company at this point????
BUT THIS VACCINE IS SHOWING PROMISE Pharma company Moderna says their vaccine is showing promise in a really small human test. Read about it here.
THEY USED TO FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, AND NOW THEY CHEER THE POLICE STATE If you aren't familiar with Matt Taibbi's writing, you should be. A former Rolling Stone reporter who is now an independent journalist, he is utterly fair and balanced. He calls everyone to task. I've heard conservatives call him a liberal and liberals call him a conservative, so he's doing something right. This column outlines how the party of allegedly fighting for civil rights is happy to crap all over them when Trump is in office.
BEST ZOOM MEETING EVER.
NEIGHBORS IN QUARANTINE
I JUST LOVE THIS COLUMN BY CHRISTIAN TOTO ABOUT BEING A RIGHT WING FILM CRITIC And I thought you might enjoy it too. Check it out here.
CAN I HAVE A MOMENT ABOUT USING THE WORD "PARTNER"? I saw this today and it reminded me that I wanted to have some words about this:
I would like to go on record as saying I HATE it when we use the word "partner" to mean our significant others. It's clinical and cold and makes a relationship sound like a business deal. There is nothing romantic about the word "partner". Am I alone in this? In our desire to degender society we are stripping away the language that would indicate a loving relationship instead of a well negotiated pact.
NO, PANDEMIC SHAMING DOESN'T WORK And if you are that person giving dirty looks to the guy or gal not wearing a mask, save it. It does nothing. And you may be shaming someone like the nice lady who emailed me today. She can't wear a mask because she was violently assaulted by a man who held his hand over her mouth. She has full blown panic attacks when anything covers her mouth. Psychologists say shaming just doesn't work.
NEW POLLING SAYS WE'RE ADAPTING TO QUARANTINE LIFE AND WORRYING LESS But no surprise, Democrats are stressed and worried at higher rates. I feel like among some Dems, "worry" and "stress" are worn like some weird badge of honor. I've deduced that it's because so many of them don't believe strongly in a higher power so they think they can somehow control what happens in this world. Check the full results of the survey here.
MAYBE THEY SHOULD TRY PRAYER SINCE IT WORKS I love this story and believe in prayer 100% as a way to unburden yourself of all that worries you and giving it over to God. Try it. Read this first if you need to. From the article:
A 2005 study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine comparing secular and spiritual forms of meditation found spiritual meditation to be more calming. In secular meditation, you focus on something such as your breath or a nonspiritual word. In spiritual meditation, you focus on a spiritual word or text. Participants were divided into groups, with some being taught how to meditate using words of self-affirmation (“I am love”) and others taught how to meditate with words that described a higher power (“God is love”). They then meditated for 20 minutes a day for four weeks.
Researchers found that the group that practiced spiritual meditation showed greater decreases in anxiety and stress and more positive mood. They also tolerated pain almost twice as long when asked to put their hand in an ice water bath.
Some scientists who study prayer believe that people who pray are benefiting from a feeling of emotional support. Imagine carrying a backpack hour after hour. It will start to feel impossibly heavy. But if you can hand it off to someone else to hold for a while, it will feel lighter when you pick it up again. “This is what prayer can do,” says Amy Wachholtz, associate professor and clinical health psychology director at the University of Colorado Denver, and lead researcher on the meditation study. “It lets you put down your burden mentally for a bit and rest.”
Just try it.
THE GOVERNOR SAYS WE WILL HAVE SCHOOL IN THE FALL Even though we're not quite sure what that is going to look like compared to prior years. He was on Fox News this weekend.
GLITTER BOMB VS. PORCH PIRATES 2.0
HOW ABOUT A NICE SAND JACUZZI? Same guy, different idea.
THIS GUY HAS WICKED GOOD BULLDOZER SKILLS