Sunday, 29th March 2020
What started out as if it would turn into a miserable day ends in the sun-filled afternoon, which inspires us not only to a one hour walk after a delicious lunch of “Tuzlu Balik” with Sauce Bernaise and cauliflower but also to a half-hour bike ride in the evening.
Between the two outings, I have developed a slightly sore throat, so I am writing this not feeling too great. Surely it cannot have been caused by the shopping spree on Friday night? And I have been duly home since my office visit 10 days ago.
Anyway, after my morning news digest, I had a pretty productive day. First, we joined the service of the German Lutheran Church in DC: turns out last Sunday wasn’t so much of a technology, but more of a user problem. I dialed-in at 10:00 and the service doesn’t start until 11:00.
It was an interesting experience, just the singing (and Lutherans do a lot of that in any service, which is what makes it fun) so did not work seeing everyone but the organ player was on mute….. skip that. Otherwise, it was lovely to see the faces of people I haven’t seen in weeks!
I had to run to Strosnider to switch out the sealant I had bought and proceeded to reseal my entire kitchen counter in an attempt to combat the ants invading. Also sealed any cracks under the door. Will see tomorrow if the population has declined as a result. I do worry they might be termites… No idea what those look like though.
While my plants have still not arrived, I made use of the trip (face covered with a scarf, rubber gloves, hand sanitizer before entering the car in the car, leaving the car, sanitizing all items in the garage before they enter the house) to the hardware store yesterday so picked up a number of spring flowers and whatever herbs they had and spend the better part of today tending to the garden.
It is amazing, I have spent thousands of $$$ on plants since I have moved in and they just seem to disappear (as in becoming invisible) after they have been planted. Also, I seem to have an animal with big feet that digs 5cm holes into my beds. It seems to like the Iris bulbs, which it will unearth, but not take. I have no idea what animal this is, the footprints are too big for a cat or raccoon. It looks more like boar, but we do not have those here. Welcome any suggestions.
Happy to see that this year my Woodruff is not only coming back but seems to finally be spreading. None of the Lilies of the Valley are out yet and I am not sure what happened to all the Tulips I had planted in the fall. Maybe they have become victims of the "Iris Bulb Digger".
As to the note worthies of my morning read. It is happening - already the medical system is reaching its limits and the president does not distribute what states are asking for from the strategic national stockpile. Maybe we should wonder who he is saving it for. Possibly himself and states who show him greater support?
Speaking of self: he is refusing any form of oversight or transparency on how the $500 billion emergency funding for firms will be used. Even though the governance is modeled on precedent (Obama’s recovery program managed by Biden) agent orange claims it is unconstitutional to have an inspector general and a house committee retrospectively review how monies were spent. Really, oversight by how taxpayer money is used is unconstitutional? I am no expert, but that would seem very, very odd. Also begs the question: how much of this money will end up in the coffers of his firms (even though the law explicitly prohibits this) and those of his friends and allies who fund his campaign? Like, "your corporation donates to my campaign and I will approve a similar amount of recovery funding"……… But his approval rating is up, so clearly the people like this shit.
And I am thinking, given all the tax cuts delivered to corporates and the wealthy, how about a cap on support limiting any taxpayer money to a corporate to the amount of taxes said corporate has paid say over the past 24 months?
Seems COVID19 is no longer a liberal coastal disease; cities in the Midwest are seeing a rapid increase in cases. Comparing this map to a similar one a few days ago, cases have tripled. I can’t say I have a lot of sympathy for Florida’s case rate. And there is a sense of justice in reading reports that the kids who partied on the beach have now tested positive as have participants of the Corona Party in Kentucky all of whom apparently now have regrets……
The continued rapid spread, now ++140k confirmed in the USA, is not just due to the “lost month” as the NYT coins it, but rather the fact that testing is still not happening at scale. This allows the virus to spread in communities and across the country. It would be less concerning if we saw numbers go up because more tests were done. This might also influence the death rate. Deaths double every three days in the US, which is super worrying. Italy is flattening out – there is some hope.
While E.U. leadership unlike the US president is not malicious, a lot more is needed. I would wish for a coordinated European stand where it is not each for their own, but closure of EU boarders as well as temporary travel restrictions between all EU states (given lock down that de facto is the case anyway) jointly agreed. I welcome budget revisions to provide support member countries most affected by the virus rather than spending funding on those playing economic catch up.... I do hope Europe pulls together and acts in solidarity. With Italian patients now being flown to Germany for treatment we seem to be on a good path.
Following up on yesterday’s notion that every crisis bears the seed for innovation, coincidentally USA Today ran this article today. It examines how throughout history major crisis such as the Black Death or WWI have given rise to positive change.
Already the world is witness to tech innovations emerging as a result of the virus, but with benefits well beyond that. While I am not so sure I like the idea of 24 hour monitoring via brackets, I can see the usefulness of robots for cleaning and delivery, downside, these unskilled jobs will go away sooner rather than later. Applications such as telemedical advice or drone delivery will bring services and thus benefits to low density or hard to reach areas. Which so far might have had to forgo such services as delivery was just to expensive. A critical success factor will be access to internet, which is why DFIs should focus their investment efforts on build out of telecom infrastructure, thus enabling wide portions of the emerging markets population to receive medical services or agricultural advice via mobile.
Also, the other day I was speculating about the evolution of supply chains. Today I stumbled across this.
There has been nothing truly uplifting today. However, just saw a recipe for shepherd's pie, lucky coincident that I picked up some lamb mince yesterday. Now I just need so make smaller servings to feed two rather than twenty :) a bit tired of asparagus risotto.... and have noted I have put on 1kg over the past week. That needs to go. Will try intermittent fasting 7/21.
And I did come across this beautifully written letter from Italy about our future. Enjoy the read.