The agency I work for has lost an employee to COVID-19. That maybe why they are upping the protective equipment we have to wear. We were wearing masks. Now eye protection is mandatory all the time too. The problem is, the eye protection consists of goggles, which fog up and take away one’s peripheral vision. It is like trying to see underwater sometimes.
Another beautiful spring day. Enjoying having son here, he has been quite the encouragement to husband. Pray for him as he sorts through life. He is still struggling with what he perceives as abandonment by his birth parents in Ethiopia. He needs to become secure in God.
Morning! That is a cute bird up there… 😊
I had to go into the grocery yesterday and probably 98% of all shoppers wore masks. But now I am seeing that starting today masks will be mandatory for all at most businesses, employees and customers. On the news last evening they reported the city of Denver is going to require all citizens wear masks when not in their homes….there will be a revolt on that one.
My MIL only had schooling until 4th grade. English was not her first language. She could do whatever she needed to do and you would not realize she had such a limited formal education.
My dad quit school in tenth grade after his brother died in a tragic accident. He went back to a vocational school for welding on the taxpayer’s dime when his job was shut down. He must have been in his sixties by then, I think. He quit the day the money for it stopped. I think it was a month or so until he graduated. He wanted the learning, not the diploma. He had his own small business and a pension by then anyway. He never stopped learning until the day he died, in spite of macular degeneration and other health issues.
Education comes in a variety of ways. Unfortunately (in many ways) sometimes a degree is needed to get hired in a vocation one desires.
My mom, the teacher, used to say if you can read, you an do anything.her father finished 4th grade in 19th century Sicily. He even had a brain injury, yet his personal drive and uncanny tinkering ability got him to American in 1908, worked all sorts of manual jobs, was drafted into the army, survived WWI as a cook and eventually saved enough money to buy five acres, build his own house by hand—as well as the chicken ranch— and successfully ran a chicken ranch. He made enough money to pay cash for cars and send my mom to college.
And my nuclear engineer really admired him.
Grandpa died at 103, a contented and satisfied man, adored by his family and a fine example to us all.
I do not consider myself more intelligent than the previous generations of my family who did not get degrees. As I have often said, and my father has also said, I process things mentally most like my father. He only had formal education to the end of high school, in which he took his final year twice (he says bluntly that he had goofed off), and was trained on the job in the maintenance and repair of office equipment. Yet, his intelligence enabled him to use his high school classes in drafting to design his own house, his high school training in shop to build it, and his high school and job training to maintain it. He fixed his own wiring, plumbing, roofing, and car using that intelligence. His example of never letting knowledge acquired go to waste was what inspired me, when I went to school, to seize the learning opportunities offered not only by the core mandatory courses, but also the required electives. My classmates frequently chose electives that were rumoured to be an easy grade. I took classes in things I had always wanted to learn, such as orchestra, Greek, Latin, and Middle Eastern history.
Here is the thing, those former generations in my family, whose intelligence was undeniable, never belittled those of the family who pursued higher education. My mother said her father, who had little beyond public school education, and who also built his own house and was a marvellous gardener, was always quietly proud of the fact his daughter had become a teacher. My father is similarly quietly proud of me for becoming a nurse. Both were/are working class men, raised conservatively in a traditional manner, deeply religious, and when their daughters became formally educated professionals, they cheered them on. They never felt the need to diminish the value and benefit of something they had not had an opportunity to do themselves. To them, professional education was as important and valuable a path as the one they had taken, and they were pleased to see those they cared about take it.
I typed out a long post but WordPress seems to have decided you didn’t need to read it, so I won’t bother to re-type it now. Synopsis: Yesterday was long. If something could go wrong it mostly did. I got paid. I can pay bills. Life is good.
The weather is fabulous today and the air is so fresh. I have all the windows open and the chirping of our feathered friends is a welcome song in this house 😊
Education is a wonderful thing whether it be taught in the ivy halls , at home reading or just experiencing life…or all of the above 😊. I have witnessed “belittling” on both sides…those haves and have nots. Neither is a pretty thing.
I come from a “working class” people. My Dad had an associates degree in his field of work which was an electrician. He was an intelligent man and he told me later on in life that he regretted not supporting my want of a higher education. I told him no regrets…I am walking the path set before me and I have had wonderful opportunities outside of the halls of the Universities. My life is full and I am content….
Education comes in many forms. I also tell my children if they can read and do basic math, they can do just about anything. But, they also need to be able to process and have the physical and mental and emotional strength required for that task. Not everybody will grow up to be President, but the job God gives them, they will be better prepared for if they can learn.
Third grandson turns two today. He is still under the weather though fever is not so high. He had his worst night ever last night though. Daughter wonders if he may be working on molars.
Well, I have another story added to my list today, but shouldn’t be hard. But I think an update my computer automatically made last night has now messed up my ability to send instant messages (rather than hassling them with the phone). Sigh. Always something.
Still no record of my state income tax being filed, and still no stimulus deposit. Hmm.
Wearing masks randomly outside isn’t required here, unless you’ll be around a lot of people. I never wear one while I’m out walking the dogs or taking the trash out, etc. As soon as I get outside a store, assuming there are no crowds around, I take those masks off just to breathe.
roscuro, sounds like you’ll be in a space suit almost. That does sound cumbersome but hopefully will keep all of you safer. I’m so sorry about the loss of a worker. It is still scary “out there.”
This information is fascinating to someone interested in the pathology of disease, as I am. As I have previously suggestef, while the first observed cases of COVID-19 were in Wuhan, it is by no means certain that is where the virus originated. Those who track viruses by their genetic material are now considering the same possibility: https://world.wng.org/content/hot_on_the_virus_trail
‘Researchers from Germany and Cambridge, England, have reconstructed the early paths of the disease caused by the new coronavirus in humans using COVID-19 samples collected around the world between Dec. 24 and March 4. They discovered three distinct variations, which they labeled A, B, and C in the study, published April 8 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
‘Their analysis showed that type A, the first to show up in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak originated, was surprisingly not the predominant strain in the city. Two mutations of A led to type B, the major Wuhan variant. It appeared prevalent in cases throughout East Asia but didn’t travel much outside that area. Type A, on the other hand, tended to infect Americans living in Wuhan and people in the United States and Australia. That could mean other nationalities had more resistance to type B than East Asians, said Peter Forster, the lead researcher.
‘COVID-19 cases on the West Coast of the United States seemed to originate in China, while East Coast cases came mostly from Italy and other parts of Europe, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday. Forster said his team’s data suggests the first infection and spread among humans may have occurred outside Wuhan as early as mid-September.’
_________________________
Investigation into pandemic source continues
U.S. intelligence officials said they have ruled out the possibility that the new coronavirus was man-made, but the precise origin of the pandemic is still unknown. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is investigating whether the outbreak “began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, [China],” according to a statement issued on Thursday.
What do we know? The intelligence statement concurs with the finding of scientists who said the virus most likely arose naturally. Many believe it jumped from an infected animal to humans. But it could have escaped from a laboratory even if humans didn’t synthesize it. An infectious disease lab researches coronaviruses in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. President Donald Trump has suggested a Chinese lab could have released it by mistake, but China has repeatedly denied the possibility.
_______________________
Hot on the virus trail
SCIENCE | Researchers track mutations to reconstruct COVID-19’s history
by Julie Borg
Scientists are using advanced genome sequencing technology to unravel the crisscrossing paths the new coronavirus took around the globe. They hope to better understand the spread of the virus and how to contain it. …
_______________
This is also a feature being put out by World which I had not paid much attention to before. Kind of wish the style were a little more muted, but you’re not bored and it’s a helpful summary of their day’s headlines in about 13 minutes:
Well, I am “almost” done with the school year. I sent off the last assignments for the high school, I have the final exam for one college class Tuesday, and 4 more sessions with the other.
Today is May Day and what would have been my mother’s 95th birthday. I went for a long and lovely walk in the park, and ran into a family from church (a couple with a little girl who’s almost two), who were out on a picnic to celebrate her 30th birthday. So I was able to take some photos of their “party” that I can send to them.I’ll also send her some sort of card of the wildflowers blooming in that park today. He has been doing the music and technology as our church has “met” online, but for me it’s the first face-to-face contact (socially distanced) with someone I know other than my husband in almost two months.
It’s been a whirlwind day so far, 3 stories (1 is in) and the usual hectic messaging among photographer, editor and sources trying to set up a good time for one of the shots we need.
I was momentarily amused by Donna saying “will be an easy day”, because the day is almost over here. But I remembered she still has half a day to go.
Good Luck Donna.
I notice that at the end of Donna’s 2:18, you have a chance to hear Mahalia Jackson and Louie Armstrong sing “Just a Closer Walk With Thee”. ” It’s a good rendition, and the first time I heard it, I would say it’s the best I’ve ever heard.
But”
There’s too much of it. It gets to be. They can’t just sing it. I start to believe their objective is the song, not the “Closer Walk” with God.
This was a nutty day and I still have one more story to write.
But the high point? I finally smashed the mosquito that was buzzing around me all afternoon. Not before he began biting my hand (there was actually a blood smear when I wiped his dead self away).
DJ, the mosquito is a she. Only females bite, since they need blood to lay eggs. You just hurt her reproductive chances, and you probably don’t even feel guilty about that.
I have written about these invader mosquitoes. Some of the best read stories I’ve done in recent years according to the digital stats. 🙂
They’re little, super-aggressive, attack day and night, prefer people over birds (our native mosquitoes like the birds but will ‘settle’ for us). They also spread nasty things like yellow fever.
“Local reporter arrested for denying mosquito her reproductive rights.”
PETA will be all in a kerfuffle. NOW and Planned Parenthood will file lawsuits. Donna will have to quit her job and go into hiding at a small farm in Idaho, or else she’ll join the homeless population in LA and her cats and dogs will end up being adopted out. All that work on her house will be for naught because the aforementioned left wing groups will make it a shrine to the departed mosquito.
But I can’t even deal with it tonight. Contact through work offered to come look at it, he was a mechanic before he was an artist; I told him not tonight, maybe tomorrow. It’s been a long, long day and the freezer stuff is already ruined, I figure. Including my orange cream ice cream which I never even got to have a scoop of 😦 😦
Good morning everyone.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning Chas.
The agency I work for has lost an employee to COVID-19. That maybe why they are upping the protective equipment we have to wear. We were wearing masks. Now eye protection is mandatory all the time too. The problem is, the eye protection consists of goggles, which fog up and take away one’s peripheral vision. It is like trying to see underwater sometimes.
LikeLike
Good morning from here to all.
Another beautiful spring day. Enjoying having son here, he has been quite the encouragement to husband. Pray for him as he sorts through life. He is still struggling with what he perceives as abandonment by his birth parents in Ethiopia. He needs to become secure in God.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Morning! That is a cute bird up there… 😊
I had to go into the grocery yesterday and probably 98% of all shoppers wore masks. But now I am seeing that starting today masks will be mandatory for all at most businesses, employees and customers. On the news last evening they reported the city of Denver is going to require all citizens wear masks when not in their homes….there will be a revolt on that one.
LikeLike
We can’t mask the fact that life will not be the same for a while. So while you’re staying home, catch up on your Friday funnies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Peter, I see what you did there.
The mask meme circulating if FB that makes me giggle is the one that quotes from ‘The Princess Bride’:
LikeLiked by 3 people
Was not too long ago we were having a fight over whether Muslim women could wear a face covering for ID photos and now?
LikeLiked by 1 person
We never wear our masks when we are just out walking. We are on country roads with little traffic. What would be the point?
LikeLiked by 3 people
My MIL only had schooling until 4th grade. English was not her first language. She could do whatever she needed to do and you would not realize she had such a limited formal education.
My dad quit school in tenth grade after his brother died in a tragic accident. He went back to a vocational school for welding on the taxpayer’s dime when his job was shut down. He must have been in his sixties by then, I think. He quit the day the money for it stopped. I think it was a month or so until he graduated. He wanted the learning, not the diploma. He had his own small business and a pension by then anyway. He never stopped learning until the day he died, in spite of macular degeneration and other health issues.
Education comes in a variety of ways. Unfortunately (in many ways) sometimes a degree is needed to get hired in a vocation one desires.
LikeLiked by 3 people
My mom, the teacher, used to say if you can read, you an do anything.her father finished 4th grade in 19th century Sicily. He even had a brain injury, yet his personal drive and uncanny tinkering ability got him to American in 1908, worked all sorts of manual jobs, was drafted into the army, survived WWI as a cook and eventually saved enough money to buy five acres, build his own house by hand—as well as the chicken ranch— and successfully ran a chicken ranch. He made enough money to pay cash for cars and send my mom to college.
And my nuclear engineer really admired him.
Grandpa died at 103, a contented and satisfied man, adored by his family and a fine example to us all.
LikeLiked by 5 people
I do not consider myself more intelligent than the previous generations of my family who did not get degrees. As I have often said, and my father has also said, I process things mentally most like my father. He only had formal education to the end of high school, in which he took his final year twice (he says bluntly that he had goofed off), and was trained on the job in the maintenance and repair of office equipment. Yet, his intelligence enabled him to use his high school classes in drafting to design his own house, his high school training in shop to build it, and his high school and job training to maintain it. He fixed his own wiring, plumbing, roofing, and car using that intelligence. His example of never letting knowledge acquired go to waste was what inspired me, when I went to school, to seize the learning opportunities offered not only by the core mandatory courses, but also the required electives. My classmates frequently chose electives that were rumoured to be an easy grade. I took classes in things I had always wanted to learn, such as orchestra, Greek, Latin, and Middle Eastern history.
Here is the thing, those former generations in my family, whose intelligence was undeniable, never belittled those of the family who pursued higher education. My mother said her father, who had little beyond public school education, and who also built his own house and was a marvellous gardener, was always quietly proud of the fact his daughter had become a teacher. My father is similarly quietly proud of me for becoming a nurse. Both were/are working class men, raised conservatively in a traditional manner, deeply religious, and when their daughters became formally educated professionals, they cheered them on. They never felt the need to diminish the value and benefit of something they had not had an opportunity to do themselves. To them, professional education was as important and valuable a path as the one they had taken, and they were pleased to see those they cared about take it.
LikeLiked by 4 people
I typed out a long post but WordPress seems to have decided you didn’t need to read it, so I won’t bother to re-type it now. Synopsis: Yesterday was long. If something could go wrong it mostly did. I got paid. I can pay bills. Life is good.
LikeLiked by 5 people
The weather is fabulous today and the air is so fresh. I have all the windows open and the chirping of our feathered friends is a welcome song in this house 😊
Education is a wonderful thing whether it be taught in the ivy halls , at home reading or just experiencing life…or all of the above 😊. I have witnessed “belittling” on both sides…those haves and have nots. Neither is a pretty thing.
I come from a “working class” people. My Dad had an associates degree in his field of work which was an electrician. He was an intelligent man and he told me later on in life that he regretted not supporting my want of a higher education. I told him no regrets…I am walking the path set before me and I have had wonderful opportunities outside of the halls of the Universities. My life is full and I am content….
LikeLiked by 2 people
Education comes in many forms. I also tell my children if they can read and do basic math, they can do just about anything. But, they also need to be able to process and have the physical and mental and emotional strength required for that task. Not everybody will grow up to be President, but the job God gives them, they will be better prepared for if they can learn.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Third grandson turns two today. He is still under the weather though fever is not so high. He had his worst night ever last night though. Daughter wonders if he may be working on molars.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Kim (11:20): Newswriting 101
Well, I have another story added to my list today, but shouldn’t be hard. But I think an update my computer automatically made last night has now messed up my ability to send instant messages (rather than hassling them with the phone). Sigh. Always something.
Still no record of my state income tax being filed, and still no stimulus deposit. Hmm.
Wearing masks randomly outside isn’t required here, unless you’ll be around a lot of people. I never wear one while I’m out walking the dogs or taking the trash out, etc. As soon as I get outside a store, assuming there are no crowds around, I take those masks off just to breathe.
roscuro, sounds like you’ll be in a space suit almost. That does sound cumbersome but hopefully will keep all of you safer. I’m so sorry about the loss of a worker. It is still scary “out there.”
LikeLiked by 3 people
This information is fascinating to someone interested in the pathology of disease, as I am. As I have previously suggestef, while the first observed cases of COVID-19 were in Wuhan, it is by no means certain that is where the virus originated. Those who track viruses by their genetic material are now considering the same possibility: https://world.wng.org/content/hot_on_the_virus_trail
‘Researchers from Germany and Cambridge, England, have reconstructed the early paths of the disease caused by the new coronavirus in humans using COVID-19 samples collected around the world between Dec. 24 and March 4. They discovered three distinct variations, which they labeled A, B, and C in the study, published April 8 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
‘Their analysis showed that type A, the first to show up in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak originated, was surprisingly not the predominant strain in the city. Two mutations of A led to type B, the major Wuhan variant. It appeared prevalent in cases throughout East Asia but didn’t travel much outside that area. Type A, on the other hand, tended to infect Americans living in Wuhan and people in the United States and Australia. That could mean other nationalities had more resistance to type B than East Asians, said Peter Forster, the lead researcher.
‘COVID-19 cases on the West Coast of the United States seemed to originate in China, while East Coast cases came mostly from Italy and other parts of Europe, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday. Forster said his team’s data suggests the first infection and spread among humans may have occurred outside Wuhan as early as mid-September.’
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks like another good book from Westminster:
https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/finding-the-right-hills-to-die-on-the-case-for-theological-triage-gospel-coalition-9781433567421
Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage
Ortlund, Gavin; Carson, D A (foreword by)
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Yes, it always made sense that the West Coast variety would have come from China due to proximity, immigration and our most common trade route.
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From World email this morning:
_________________________
Investigation into pandemic source continues
U.S. intelligence officials said they have ruled out the possibility that the new coronavirus was man-made, but the precise origin of the pandemic is still unknown. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is investigating whether the outbreak “began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, [China],” according to a statement issued on Thursday.
What do we know? The intelligence statement concurs with the finding of scientists who said the virus most likely arose naturally. Many believe it jumped from an infected animal to humans. But it could have escaped from a laboratory even if humans didn’t synthesize it. An infectious disease lab researches coronaviruses in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. President Donald Trump has suggested a Chinese lab could have released it by mistake, but China has repeatedly denied the possibility.
_______________________
And:
https://world.wng.org/content/hot_on_the_virus_trail
______________
Hot on the virus trail
SCIENCE | Researchers track mutations to reconstruct COVID-19’s history
by Julie Borg
Scientists are using advanced genome sequencing technology to unravel the crisscrossing paths the new coronavirus took around the globe. They hope to better understand the spread of the virus and how to contain it. …
_______________
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DJ, the second article is the one I linked to and quoted from 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, didn’t notice that, was doing a bit of a quick scan today on the blog, sorry for the duplicate reference
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This is also a feature being put out by World which I had not paid much attention to before. Kind of wish the style were a little more muted, but you’re not bored and it’s a helpful summary of their day’s headlines in about 13 minutes:
LikeLike
Well, I am “almost” done with the school year. I sent off the last assignments for the high school, I have the final exam for one college class Tuesday, and 4 more sessions with the other.
And it’s sunny with 70° today and getting warmer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Today is May Day and what would have been my mother’s 95th birthday. I went for a long and lovely walk in the park, and ran into a family from church (a couple with a little girl who’s almost two), who were out on a picnic to celebrate her 30th birthday. So I was able to take some photos of their “party” that I can send to them.I’ll also send her some sort of card of the wildflowers blooming in that park today. He has been doing the music and technology as our church has “met” online, but for me it’s the first face-to-face contact (socially distanced) with someone I know other than my husband in almost two months.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Cute bird.
It’s been a whirlwind day so far, 3 stories (1 is in) and the usual hectic messaging among photographer, editor and sources trying to set up a good time for one of the shots we need.
This was going to be an easy day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was momentarily amused by Donna saying “will be an easy day”, because the day is almost over here. But I remembered she still has half a day to go.
Good Luck Donna.
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I notice that at the end of Donna’s 2:18, you have a chance to hear Mahalia Jackson and Louie Armstrong sing “Just a Closer Walk With Thee”. ” It’s a good rendition, and the first time I heard it, I would say it’s the best I’ve ever heard.
But”
There’s too much of it. It gets to be. They can’t just sing it. I start to believe their objective is the song, not the “Closer Walk” with God.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This was a nutty day and I still have one more story to write.
But the high point? I finally smashed the mosquito that was buzzing around me all afternoon. Not before he began biting my hand (there was actually a blood smear when I wiped his dead self away).
LikeLiked by 2 people
And here’s the proof.
LikeLiked by 1 person
oh, Donna, what we won’t do for a little news. The highlight of your day. Glad you got em.
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Breaking News
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DJ, the mosquito is a she. Only females bite, since they need blood to lay eggs. You just hurt her reproductive chances, and you probably don’t even feel guilty about that.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, sorry. I (sort of) know that but forget it all the time 🙂
And no, I don’t feel guilty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I woke up today with very itchy bites on one leg and one foot. She’d already been busy on me.
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It wasn’t that you tormented and crushed a poor female mosque, your great crime was affecting her reproductive rights.
And you likely had already donated the blood.
What a waste!
That should be front page news somewhere.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have written about these invader mosquitoes. Some of the best read stories I’ve done in recent years according to the digital stats. 🙂
They’re little, super-aggressive, attack day and night, prefer people over birds (our native mosquitoes like the birds but will ‘settle’ for us). They also spread nasty things like yellow fever.
https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/08/21/meet-aedes-a-new-mosquito-spreading-misery-around-a-wide-swath-of-southern-california/
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That is not a mosquito! That is a rare and endangered cricket? Jiminy!
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Killing a mosquito is breaking news for sure. Literally.
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I can see the headline now:
“Local reporter arrested for denying mosquito her reproductive rights.”
PETA will be all in a kerfuffle. NOW and Planned Parenthood will file lawsuits. Donna will have to quit her job and go into hiding at a small farm in Idaho, or else she’ll join the homeless population in LA and her cats and dogs will end up being adopted out. All that work on her house will be for naught because the aforementioned left wing groups will make it a shrine to the departed mosquito.
Michelle- that is an idea for your next novel.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Breaking News: My freezer is stuck at 40 degrees.
Something’s wrong.
But I can’t even deal with it tonight. Contact through work offered to come look at it, he was a mechanic before he was an artist; I told him not tonight, maybe tomorrow. It’s been a long, long day and the freezer stuff is already ruined, I figure. Including my orange cream ice cream which I never even got to have a scoop of 😦 😦
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