Greetings from our little tin can by the sea! Wendy and I are doing well and staying relatively healthy during our self-isolation due to the corona virus. I say "relatively" because this past Tuesday, we had a stomach bug that kept us from doing anything. We attributed it to drinking contaminated water at some point. Last Friday, the park had some work done on the water main and put us all on a boil water notice. Tuesday afternoon, that notice was lifted. Evidently, we had ingested some of the bad water over the weekend, despite the prolific use of bottled water. Ah, well, if that's as bad as it gets, then it's still a good day. Work is still happening from home. We are starting to get support tickets now, and they are being treated poorly. We have offshore resources, but they are only available from 1:30 am to 9 am. We are supposed to pick up the other 16.5 hours. I've fallen into this trap before, and I need to distance myself from it. I'll be moving to a different app within the group this coming week. It doesn't appear to have much support with it, but we will see. The chart at the top shows the monthly temperatures of the hottest years on record, and it looks like 2020 is going to join this list. We also had a magnitude 5.1 earthquake at the border of North Carolina and Virginia. That was certainly odd - no damage, but the quake was felt all the way to Charlotte.
| Scope |
Cases |
% Inc. |
Deaths |
% Inc. |
| Worldwide |
21,390,317 |
9.2 |
764,148 |
5.4 |
| United States |
5,478,009 |
7.5 |
171,568 |
4.5 |
| Florida |
563,285 |
8.7 |
9,146 |
15.4 |
| Pinellas County |
18,466 |
6.4 |
541 |
15.4 |
No whammies; no whammies - STOP!
Sad trombone. I'm fairly certain that the numbers are bogus, but they're there anyway. Even with the dubious data, projections are for 291,000 deaths in the US by December 1st. Most sports are on hold, though we do have hockey! I guess we'll see what impact that has on the playing athletes. The Florida High School Athletic Association says "game on" for high school football and awarding the state championship. This is foolhardy. This year will come to be known as "When the baby-boomers died." Also, the CDC has proclaimed that people have a tolerance to COVID-19 for three months after recovering from it. That's not a good sign for a vaccine. It'll be more like a very expensive oil change.
My thoughts on Black Lives Matter: the police unions and the bar associations are more parts of the problem than parts of the solution.
In economic news, gas is selling for $2.00/gal at our local 7/11 according to Google. The DJIA has been up this past week, start Monday morning at 27488 and ending Friday afternoon at 27919. Jobless claims were below one million last week, which is historically high, but lower than recent values. Four executive orders went out from the white house, but they expect money from the states to implement them, and that has produced law suites.
The definition of inadequate is someone or something that is lacking in something desired or required. ... The definition of unable is a person or thing that doesn't have the ability, power or authority to do something.
- "Thesaurus: ineffective", yourdictionary.com
In lieu of a political section, here is today's quote from the US Constitution:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
- The Constitution of the United States of America, Article IV, Section 4.
A Florida Man - During the past week, a man was apprehended for living in the luxury suites of Al Lang stadium in downtown St. Petersburg, FL. Al Lang stadium is the home of the Rowdies soccer team, which have not been playing due to COVID-19 isolation. The perpetrator lived in the accommodations for two weeks, based on video evidence from cameras within the stadium. He helped himself to food, drink, and a number of items of Rowdies fan clothing.
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go
- Bruce Spingsteen, Born in the USA, Born in the USA, 1984
