Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020
The main event of the day was the meeting of the book club Half of the members attended in person, the other half via webex. Barbara as always was a gracious and perfect hostess serving Polish food and of course plenty of wine. The life meeting continued well after the actual book club as the weather today was almost summerly again – near 30C and the evening pleasantly mild.
As one does these days I had dressed for the occasion, donning not only my lovely lacey white dress, but also a matching pair of heels. Because an essay I wrote about the future of SME finance has not only been selected to be published, but because I have also been asked to send in a short video with a quote, I even added make-up to the mix and had EM do the “shoot” before I left for book club. I am not at all happy with my hair, so we may need to do a retake, which provides another occasion to dress up. My pretty work outfits get little exposure these days and make up is certainly become very rare. Also I am finding I have heels I have not worn once this season, which is a little sad.
I shall host the next book club so get to dictate what we shall read. The easy choice – especially seeing I have not yet finished the current read “Dark Star Journey” would be to select something I have actually read. However, that might not be as fun as choosing something I really want to read and my taste does not exactly gel with what the ladies enjoy. I typically make them read hard books, like “Factfulness” by Rosling. The ladies will email their suggestions and then I will make my choice. Certainly it will not be anything by Asimov which my brilliant friend is currently reading. I cannot stomach scifi!
The world today is reporting 30.8 million confirmed cases and the USA is working hard to maintain its position as the leading nation in infections. Today the count is at 7.1 million cases as the US adds 48k in a day; a definite uptick from the 30something thousand new cases a few days ago. The causes for the increase are well known of course – parties, social gatherings, refusal to wear masks and so on. There is a story about a teenager and the respective parents hosting a party in Massachusetts leading to a spread of infections. The parents and kids are now being charged. I am in two minds about this. I believe it is correct to go after people willing ruining it for all. Shutting down the school for all children is presumably punishment enough if the names of the party hosts were made public at the same time. The charges of providing access to alcohol for minors I am less supportive of, but presumably it is the only charge the law allows.
Also I read an article about the CDC and the morale of people working there which made me incredibly sad. Here is the passage which triggered this sadness.
““I have never seen morale this low. It’s just, people are beaten down. People are beaten down partially by a public who not only distrusts us but who actually think we want to infringe on their civil liberties,” said one current CDC employee. “The other factor is the active undermining by senior members of our own administration.”
Those who still work at the agency requested anonymity to describe conversations among their colleagues, for fear of retribution from an administration that has punished officials who speak out.” Firstly, working for an organization which is constantly being publicly doubted and discredited must be very demoralizing. This is the first time I have even thought about this, am getting a sense of what it may mean to be a scientist in the USA, whether in climate or medical research. Secondly, what does this say about a country and the status of democracy if employees do not dare to speak out for fear of retribution?
Especially over the past year, the administration, at the behest of the so called president, has vindictively purged anyone who dared to express an opinion not in line with the rulers thoughts. Critical thinking, questions or just honesty have gotten many people fired. This is not the behavior of democratic people. That is how authoritarians rule. And it makes me realize: This country is much farther down the route to dictatorship than one might see.
Finally, Johnson & Johnson announced today that it is starting the third phase of its single doses vaccine trial today. While this is great news, it reconfirms that a viable vccine is not weeks but months or years away. Better start planning for it.