Tuesday, March 16th, 2021
Yesterday I was terribly nervous about the training I was to give today.
It went reasonably well, not as interactive as I might have wanted, but a good discussion afterwards and my peers think I did okay. A big sigh of relief.
I have always struggled to speak in front of a large audience – no matter how well prepared I am. But at least speaking in front of people gives me the chance to connect, read the room. I also have a trick to combat nervousness. I seek out two or three people in the audience at whose eyebrows I will look, alternating between my “victims”. As a result, everyone in that particular section of the room feels spoken to directly. Not so on Zoom/ Webex/MSteams or whatever technology one chooses for a virtual training. I see no faces. Have no idea how what I am saying is received – save for maybe the chat. I feel it is rather creepy. So I plough on, running through my script.
Speaking of scripts, I need to finalize my script for the Sudan seminar next week, where I am scheduled to give a presentation at 3am my time – what a challenge. It begs the question of should I even bother to go to sleep? Also there are few concept notes for projects in the Horn of Africa I should be reading and I reall need to wrap my head around some strateg work.
The day today was neither here nor there as far as the weather was concerned. Seems we are in for a cold spell. I am so done with cold!
Aikido practice today was great fun. Instead of the park we met in a garage as rain had been forecast. None of the usual instructors showed up so Jim led the class and – what an honor – chose me to do the demonstrations with him. I feel very proud and a little vain. He did a lot of interesting variations of Katas we have been practicing for the past nine months and switching between the roles of Uke and Nage and from one variation to the other proved to be a fun challenge. L., as always, took videos, I just hope she does not post the ones where we are all confused. For my own learning I do want to see them though. I just do not need them to be shared with the rest of the world.
After class I stopped at D.’s house to pick up EM. D. and I chatted for a while over a glass of red. I am hoping here daughter will apply to IE Madrid as well. It would be so much fun if the girls ended up in Segovia together. The girls were also tasked with figuring out Memorial Day weekend as well as summer plans. I am not sure they have come to any conclusion. It seems there are to many moving pieces in their lives which is astounding given teh lack of interactions we all face
. I did manage a short scan of the news and numbers in the US (and in Europe) are not looking good. Newly reported infections are at 52k for the past twenty-four hours to bring the US total to 30.1 million. 1.500 Americans die of COVID every day. That is presumably due to the more infectious variants spreading while many States are reopening - including Maryland. Just as it seemed we might turn the corner worrying pockets of new infections emerge. Now more than ever it seems critical to stay the course and hang in a little while longer. It will only be two or so more months before everyone will be eligible for a shot. I for one will not reopen my life beyond what we have been doing for the past 300 days. No restaurant visits, for sure. I will wear my mask, maintain social distance and remain vigilant until I have been vaccinated.
COVID antibodies have been found in 1 of 5 unvaccinated blood donors, suggesting a much higher spread in the USA than reported. This suggests the country may be closer to herd immunity than anyone had assumed.
Meanwhile in Europe vaccination efforts are turning into a shitshow. Not only are there supply shortages, these are now aggravated by halting inoculations with the AstraZeneca vaccine amidst fear of it causing blood clots. Doctors are incredulous as there is no evidence of causality. Also, while some of the Nordic countries have reported blood clots in people who have received the AstraZenca shot, millions of people in other countries have been safely inoculated without reported side effects. It is unlikely that any European country will reach its target of vaccinating 70% of the population by September. This makes me sad. Europe had done so well over the summer and autumn and is now the epicenter of infections as the UK variant spreads.
At the same time the USA is about to give emergency use approval to the AstraZeneca shot.
Finally, Merck & Co have completed phase 1/2 trials to repurpose the drug Molnupiravir initially developed to treat SARS and MERS. The results show it is also effective in treating COVID with a five-day cycle.If a tested drug can be repurposed it drastically reduces the pproval cycle, so this is good news.
With many Republicans refusing to be vaccinated this may be badly needed to save lifes.
Alas, in my opinion refusing the vaccine is akin to natural selection. Maybe the political problems this country faces can be solved by Republican voters dying. I realize this is a rather cynical view of the state of affairs. And ultimately everyone ought to be free to choose how they die. I for one do not want to die of COVID, but suite yourself!