Governor Jay Inslee has ordered everyone in Washington State to Stay Home, Stay Healthy. More details on the Governor’s Medium page I normally work from home this time of year and most of my days include phone/internet calls with people from across the country and other continents. If you are not living in a hot spot, stock up on non-perishable food now, as this same order is coming to your...
Albert Wegner posted a proposal on his blog that I’ve been thinking about for the past week. In short, what to do with the millions of businesses that are simply not needed for the next many months as we focus on saving most of humanity. Albert called it Putting the Economy in Suspended Animation which is comprised of four steps: Suspend all interest, mortgage, rent and similar...
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and...
My first blog post on the #coronavirus #pandemic was just two week ago. Friday, March 6, 2020 there were 75 known cases in the State of Washington and six deaths. Three days later, 116 cases and 22 deaths. Today, 1,524 cases and 79 deaths. Globally, the total is 172,970 cases and 11,256 deaths. The global graph two weeks ago looked like this: Today it looks like this: The scale in the two graphs...
What comes next from the global pandemic? Unfortunately, it looks like we’re headed to massive unemployment. At least the 25% of the Great Depression. Possibly more, if the lock downs continue for 6 or 9 months. From today’s Seattle Times, the following chart shows the number of jobs at risk in King County (where Seattle and Bellevue are located), Snohomish (the northern suburbs, and...
Two useful videos from two of my favorite educational YouTubers:
Now that the governments of the world are woken up to the emergency at hand and finally telling their citizens to stay home, it’s time to focus on how to ensure those citizens stay fed for the coming months. So far, the plans out of Washington DC are not the right answer. Paid sick leave, yes. Payroll taxes and airline bailouts, no. Payroll taxes only work if there are payrolls being paid...
Since exponential growth isn’t intuitive, it is difficult to grasp how fast epidemics spread and how small changes can lower that speed. This weekend the Financial Times published the following chart. It shows how all but four countries have outbreaks growing at similar rates. Note this chart isn’t showing each country starting on the same day, but instead showing each country...
Five people: Grandpa: age 74, Bubbie: 73, Me: 50, Wife: 42, and Daughter: 7. Seven unconfirmed cases as the CDC and State rules have forbid any testing, no matter how hard we’ve tried. The first symptom was a little tickle in the back of the throat, like the day before a sore throat from a cold. My wife and her father both felt that 7 days after they attended an big event together in...
Some of the best aphorisms are misquotes of misquotes, but end up popular because they are honed down to as few simple words as can be. One such aphorism seems fitting in this moment in time, or at least a variation on the theme. It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done.Nelson Mandela, sort of, see quoteinvestigator.com/2016/01/05/done Three months ago, a global pandemic was...
