20200801 - Corona Virus Part 20 - Black Lives Matter Part 9

Howdy and warm greetings from our tin can by the sea, where Wendy and I are surviving self-isolation from the corona virus. Our health is well; the only caveat is that we ache considerably due to inactivity. Our trips to the grocery store are the longest periods that we spend walking, and that's taking a toll. We have Hurricane Isaias visiting Florida this weekend. It is forecast to impact the east coast, with minor impacts over here. The really cool picture to the left is a photo of a star with two gas giant planets. The star, TYC 8998-760-1, is only 300 light-years away, and it is similar to our sun. This is a photograph - the first one depicting exoplanets orbiting a star other than the sun. It was taken by a team led by Alexander Bohn of Leiden University using the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. The astronauts in SpaceX' Dragon capsule are expecting to return soon. The current plan is a splashdown Sunday afternoon, but it depends on Hurricane Isaias. If not tomorrow, then the next opportunity is on Monday. Fair winds, Bob and Doug (click for theme)! On the work front, things are going well. I'm still working from home, thankfully. I entered an Idea contest at work for "what is a skill" and my entry has been advanced to the second, and final, round of judging. So, I have to come up with a six minute pitch of the idea. Divyesh has offered to help me with that, which is very cool.

Cases	Deaths	Tests

Scope	Cases	% Inc.	Deaths	% Inc.
Worldwide	17,801,022	11.4	683,882	6.3
United States	4,707,401	10.8	156,772	5.6
Florida	470,386	16.9	6,843	21.1
Pinellas County	16,356	11.1	367	17.7

What is the annualized interest of a 1% daily compounded interest rate? Answer: 3,678%. A daily growth of 0.01 results in an annual growth of 37.78! I offer this math exercise because our day-to-day growth of deaths in the US are presently at about 1%. I expect the reported number, currently at 156,772, to accelerate through the remainder of the year. I do hope that it doesn't come to pass, but as Vince Lombardi said, "hope is not a strategy." Where to begin with all of this? The US still leads the world in the number of cases and the number of deaths. Our fond State of Florida is #2 among states in the number of cases, only surpassed by California. Florida has also had a record setting week of four consecutive state-record-setting-days for deaths from the virus (186, 216, 252, and 256 for 7/28 through 7/31). But could Florida's numbers be plateauing or even improving? Well, the number of tests being conducted per day is being throttled. Also, there is a minimum five day lag between being tested and test results. So, it is likely that if you are infected, you will be showing symptoms before you get the test results back, essentially negating the usefulness of testing. Dr. Fauci briefed congress on the current state-of-the-union with regard to the corona virus. An idiot congressman tried to goad Dr. Fauci into denouncing the protests. "I don't judge one crowd versus another crowd. When you're in a crowd particularly, if you are not wearing a mask, that increases the spread," replied Dr. Fauci. 

Wear a Mask * Wash your Hands * Stay at Home * Save a Life

On the economic front, gas is selling for $2.13/gal at the local 7/11. I suppose some demand is back over the last week, driving up the price. The DJIA dipped all week, only to end about where it started. DJIA opened Monday at 26447 and end Friday afternoon at 26389. Our senators delayed discussing the next Corona Virus relief bill too long. As of midnight August 1st, the old relief bill and it's provisions are gone. No more $600/wk unemployment; no more eviction protection; no more loans to keep people employed. On top of that, the GDP shrank 9.5 % quarter-over-quarter in 2020Q2, which works out to 32.9 % annualized. That is the largest shrink since complete records began in 1889. An additional 1.43 million people filed for unemployment last week. The actual value for the US Unemployment rate in July comes out on August 7th, though the expected value is 10.3%. 

DHS Shock Troops have left the cities of Portland and Seattle this past week. "operation legend" currently encompasses Kansas City, Chicago, Albuquerque, Detroit, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. To those that are second amendment minded, these are the troops that the second amendment was meant to address:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The word State appears, not the plural. Where are those that espouse liberty now? Fascism has very strange bedfellows.

I worked in Selma, Alabama for fourteen years, and I have seen its history in the shadows that continue to be cast there. Though a funeral, this movie is a story of one man's struggle to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge which straddles the Alabama River at Selma. God's speed, John Lewis.

A black woman, her son, and a friend were kicked out of a public pool in Fort Lauderdale, FL for talking across swimming lanes. A white woman raised the complaint, and the police were summoned with an outcome resulting in the black woman's family being banned from the pool for 24 hours, and the white woman being banned from the pool for 72 hours. The really odd part is that this used to be a blacks only pool. Details here.

Looking for politics? A quote from the US Constitution - Article II, Section 1.

The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

🙄 A Florida man... 

Before May 13, David T. Hines's corporate bank account was in the red by more than $30,000. But after the 29-year-old Florida man nabbed a nearly $4 million loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), his fortunes quickly changed.

In fact, just one week after receiving money from the fund meant to bail out businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Hines was cruising around Miami Beach in a new blue Lamborghini Huracán EVO, which cost more than $318,000.

Now, federal prosecutors say Hines illegally used hundreds of thousands of dollars in PPP loans meant for his moving companies to buy the car as well as a host of personal expenses, including shopping sprees and high-end hotel stays, instead of covering his companies' payroll. The Justice Department announced Monday he was arrested and charged with making false statements to a lending institution, bank fraud and engaging in transactions in unlawful proceeds, officials said.

Today's lyric:

Sing hymns, make love, get high, fall dead

He'll bring his perfume to your bed

He'll charm your life 'til the cold wind blows

Then he'll sell your dreams to a picture show

- John Wetton, Robert Fripp, and Richard Palmer-James, The great deceiver, Starless and Bible Black, King Crimson, 1974