When there WAS no toilet paper shortage, but a run on toilet paper creates a toilet paper shortage.
Ultron: “EVERYONE CREATES THE THING THEY DREAD.”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Cover to “Batman”#407, Frank Miller, 1987
“Batman: Year One – Chapter Four: Friend in Need.” DC Comics.
Reporters, keep up the good work.
The president of the United States actually sounded drunk today in a news conference. (Watch him try to pronounce the names of antivirals. Seriously. Go find a clip and watch it.) This comes after weeks of either minimizing information about the pandemic or lying about it altogether.
The media is my only source of information about the health experts are saying about the incidence, transmission and seriousness of this disease. When given a choice between news reporters and a slurred, drug-addicted, brain-addled and probably incontinent “president,” I’ll listen to news reporters.
Thank god they’re on the job.
“A Light Exists in Spring,” by Emily Dickinson
I awoke this morning to cool mists and shocks of deep green ivy climbing the massive gray hulks of my neighborhood’s oaks. Given what is going on in the world, I wondered what fate might bring to the green, breezy valley of my adopted home. I thought about trying to write something, but I was too tired.
Fortunately, my friend Jen shared this piece on Facebook. It’s perfect.
“A Light Exists in Spring,” by Emily Dickinson
A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here
A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.
It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.
Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:
A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.
Mary Vaux Walcott, 1874
Throwback Thursday: “Sometimes you feel like a nut …”
These ads for Mounds and Almond Joy where everywhere when I was a kid. (I am linking here to the 80’scommercialsforever Youtube channel.) This ad campaign was around for a long time too — it started with this earworm of a jingle in the 1970’s and lasted until at least the late 1990’s.
“Spring,” Alfons Mucha, 1897
Why should you stay home?
The idea here is to slow the spread of the coronavirus throughout the American population — so that fewer people will become seriously ill over any given time period. (“Flatten the curve.”) In very simple terms, we don’t want everybody to get sick at once — so that people are dying in hospital hallways waiting for ICU beds or respirators. This is exactly the nightmare playing out right now in Italy.
America currently has about 100,000 ICU beds.
In a moderate flu epidemic, approximately 200,000 people would need ICU beds.
If, God forbid, this epidemic should get as bad as the 1918 flu epidemic, approximately 2.9 million people would need ICU beds. (No, I obviously have no expertise in epidemiology, and I have no informed insight into the likelihood of this. From what I have seen, even the experts won’t commit to projections of how bad things may get.) The source of the above figures is this article in USA Today, but you can find the figures just about anywhere with a simple Internet search.
Most of us have seen news reports about people ignoring health authorities’ warnings about social distancing — whether it’s the bars of New York City, the beaches of Florida or the crowded streets of New Orleans at night. If you are one of these people, you are not only endangering yourself, but also other people who are less equipped to fight the disease. Experts believe that a significant factor in its spread is asymptomatic transmission; you can give it to someone else even if you do not feel or appear sick. This can include people for whom the illness is likely to be far more serious — people who are elderly or who have underlying health conditions. And they could die.
What sort of day at the beach or bar crawl could be worth that? How would you feel if you developed a mild case of the disease, but carried it to the 60-year-old man behind you in the line at the supermarket? What about your elderly neighbors? What about your parents?
What if your girlfriend is one of the younger people who nevertheless gets extremely sick? (Young people are not immune.) What if your boyfriend’s roommate has asthma? What if your friend’s younger sister has an autoimmune disease that you didn’t know about?
Going out doesn’t make you cool or tough or “edgy.” It just makes you willing to risk someone else’s life so that you can have a good time.
Practice social distancing. Stay home.
“An Uninvited Guest,” Adolph Menzel, 1844
Watercolor, pencil and ink.
Thank you.
As a New Yorker, I am feeling the same respect for healthcare workers tonight as I do for the first responders on 9/11.
If you are a hospital professional or a first responder, please know that we are aware of the dangers you may be facing. We are grateful to you, and we wish you safety and good health.
Do the right thing.
- Wash your hands. Use soap. Do it for at least 20 seconds. This is roughly the same amount of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Practice social distancing. Stay home.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 