The Great Pumpkin

Posted on by Thor

Linus of Charles Schultz, Peanuts fame, described The Great Pumpkin is a supernatural figure who rises from the pumpkin patch on Halloween evening, and flies around bringing toys to sincere and believing children. In the age of the pandemic however the Great Pumpkin has become a menacing figure of chaos intent on world domination.

In India, one police officer found a creative way to get the message across. Rajesh Babu, a police officer in the southern city of Chennai, wears a specially constructed coronavirus helmet while stopping vehicles and pedestrians at checkpoints. He also created a shield and COVID mace making him look a bit like a medieval knight capable of vanquishing a dragon.

The CDC offered guidance on how to celebrate Halloween safely in  pandemic…

“Many traditional Halloween activities can be high-risk for spreading viruses. There are several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween. If you may have COVID-19 or you may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should not participate in in-person Halloween festivities and should not give out candy to trick-or-treaters.”

These LOW RISK ACTIVITIES can be safe alternatives:

  • Carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them
  • Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends
  • Decorating your house, apartment, or living space
  • Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance
  • Having a virtual Halloween costume contest
  • Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with
  • Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house to house

Avoid these HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES to help prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19:

  • Participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door
  • Having trunk-or-treat where treats are handed out from trunks of cars lined up in large parking lots
  • Attending crowded costume parties held indoors
  • Going to an indoor haunted house where people may be crowded together and screaming
  • Going on hayrides or tractor rides with people who are not in your household
  • Using alcohol or drugs, which can cloud judgement and increase risky behaviors
  • Traveling to a rural fall festival that is not in your community if you live in an area with community spread of COVID-19

 

Emmett Till

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After refusing to move to the back of the Greyhound bus, Sam’s fears were heightened as he recalled that this bus trip was shortly after after Emmett Louis Till had been violently lynched. Emmitt was a 14-year-old African American who was kidnapped, tortured, and murder in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending Carolyn Bryant Donham, a white woman, in her family’s grocery store. The Clarion Ledger reported that, Donham, who is 86-year-old has since admitted that she lied. She had testified in court that Till had grabbed her around the waist and uttered obscenities.

In 2008, Timothy Tyson interviewed Carolyn and before he had his recorder set up she muttered,  “That pt wasn’t true. … 50 yrs ago. I just don’t remember. … Nothing that boy ever did could justify what happened to him.” He quickly jotted down her quote in a note book.

Photos of Emmett show an upstanding young boy, but the photos of him after the lynching show an inexcusable violence. Emmett’s mom, Mamie Till Mobley made a bold decision to hold an open casket funeral and thousands attended. I did a negative painting of his mom collapsing and being held up during the funeral.

Mamie became an outspoken activist, seeking justice for her son. She gave speeches across the country. And soon, letters poured into the White House. African Americans throughout the country were angered by the injustice of what happened to Emmett Till and her suffering. her activism helped spark the civil rights movement.

The Department of Justice announced in July of 2018 that they were reopening the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till due to new information received. Since then, the Justice Department has remained silent.

Yesterday This Was Home: Surprised Driver

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The driver looks surprised and then turns and walks away. This is from the final animation. The drivers badge and shirt is pure white and his tie and the head band on his hat are pure black. That high contrast makes it so a viewer is likely to look at his badge which makes him look like a police officer although he is just the bus driver. hen you are wearing a  badge it makes it tempting to expert authority.

When the driver walked away Sam got really scared, thinking he might be going to get reinforcements.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yodel

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In late September, 2020 a yodeling competition in the rural Schwyz Canton, Switzerland became a super spreader event. The 600 people in the audience were asked to maintain social distancing, but mask-wearing was not required. Nine days after the performances, it was discovered that several yodelers were infected.

The pandemic has now spread through the region. Before the Yodeling Competition there were  just 500 cases in mid-September. On October 23, 2020 there were 6634 cases in one day, which is a major spike for this small rural area.

The overloaded Cantonal hospital has asked people to begin wearing masks and avoiding gatherings. The explosion in the number of cases in Schwyz is one of the worst in all of Europe,” chief doctor Reto Nueesch posted online. Wearing a mask has become compulsory at all public and private events with more than 50 people and in situations where distancing can’t be maintained. It is still possible to go to any shops without wearing a mask.

Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga said, “It is five minutes to midnight,” She urged everyone in the country to take precautions.

 

Yesterday This Was Home: Pleeeese!

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“Well I got these white people getting on would you Pleeeeese move?” There is a level of comic desperation in the request.

Animating this scene was fun, being based on the narration, but remodeled into the driver. This is the storyboard and thus not the final design of the driver. In the end he was designed with a chiseled look that was based on a stop sign. His nose, ears and even eyes were designed to look like the octagons of a stop sign. The hand gesture was picked up from a later section of the Zoom interview, but it worked to use the hand gesture to accentuate the word, “Pleeese.” The fact that Sam can laugh about the drivers plight at the time shows his strength of character.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

 

Yesterday This Was Home: I Was Scared

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After pointing out his rights to the driver, Sam felt scared. I cut to an extreme close up that quickly cross dissolved into a negative inverted image of his eyes. As he lamented that Jacksonville was like Mississippi in 1957, I flashed painting being created as negatives. All flash backs of racism of the times was done as these negative images where black is white and white is black.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre.

The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history. Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

It Is What It Is

Posted on by Thor

Trump has not been to a Coronavirus Task Force meeting in months. Simply put he doesn’t give a damn how many people die. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no experience with infectious diseases, has caught the presidents ear and he is a yes man, telling the president what he wants to hear.

Atlas, put out a Tweet that claimed that widespread use of face masks does not help slow the spread of COVID-19. Twitter had to remove the tweet for spreading false and misleading information. Atlas frequently clashes with other members of the White House Coronavirus task force. Last month, an NBC News reporter overheard CDC Director Robert Redfield saying on a phone call: “Everything he says is false.” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) recommends people wear masks in public settings and when around people who don’t live in their household, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.

Atlas has rejected the need for widespread community testing, arguing that the administration should focus almost exclusively on protecting and testing elderly populations while pushing for the rest of the economy to return to normal, this official said. “Everything he says and does points toward herd immunity,” a senior administration official said. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have warned that the “herd immunity” approach is dangerous.

The My Pillow Guy caught the presidents ear and was promoting an unproven treatment for COVID-19. He proclaimed the President was “enthusiastic” about the unproven therapeutic. Many reports have focused on its considerable toxicity, which has led to accidental — and sometimes deliberate poisonings, including for suicide. It has also poisoned animals. The US Army Institute of Infectious Diseases conducted tests on the drug’s effect on Covid-19, which were halted due to “inconclusive” results.

The White House has been a hot spot for the virus having more cases than all of New York State. Trump who recovered from COVID-19 has not embraced simple safety measures instead he is holding super spreader rallies all across the country, effectively spreading the disease. Trump believes that if you put your head in the sand it will all go away. His incompetence continues to cause needless deaths, it is what it is.

In White House coronavirus task force reports obtained by CNN this week, officials say there are “early signs of deterioration in the Sun Belt and continued deterioration in the Midwest and across the Northern States.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis got this report just prior to Trump holding a super spreader rally in Sanford Florida but the governor tried to hide the report claim all is well. He also wants to stop sharing the daily numbers from testing just as the worst is about to begin.

The United States just reported its highest spike in new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began with more than 83,000 new cases on Friday October 23, 2020.  Hospitalizations and daily death tolls are rising across the country, with experts warning that the worst is yet to come. In a few weeks, deaths will start to increase. It is a pattern that repeats itself with each new ave of the virus with no plan to stop the spread. 224,000 Americans have died so far from COVID-19.

20,000 Amazon Employees Infected

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Amazon said that more than 19,816 of its front line workers in the US have contracted Covid-19 since March 2020. This umber does not include all the front line drivers who might be infected. One 22 year old driver abandoned his truck full  of packages at a Detroit gas station and quit.

Amazon has kept its facilities open throughout the pandemic to meet a surge in demand from shoppers stuck at home. Amazon doubled its net profit year over year to $5.2 billion, compared to $2.6 billion at this time in 2019. The minimum wage at Amazon is $15 an hour but a newly formed Union is working to double that starting wage. Amazon had faced criticism from employees, unions and elected officials, who have accused the company of putting employees’ health at risk.

Staying open has proven very lucrative for the e-commerce firm, and has added tens of billions of to the wealth of founder Jeff Bezos, who is the world’s richest man. Starting in March, 2020 Amazon hired 100,000 new workers in a matter of weeks to meet surging demand from customers, and announced plans to hire another 75,000 in April, 2020. The company said that it  distributed more than 100 million face masks, and implemented temperature checks at its facilities around the world. Athena, a coalition that has opposed Amazon on a wide range of labor, planning and environmental issues, called on officials to investigate further. “Amazon allowed Covid-19 to spread like wildfire,” Athena’s director Dania Rajendra said in a statement. There have been at least 10 deaths among Amazon warehouse employees who tested positive for COVID-19.

 

Ice Contagion

Posted on by Thor

An amateur recreational ice hockey game  played at an indoor ice rink in the Tampa Bay, Florida became an example of a super spreader event for COVID-19. The teams each had 11 players between the ages of 15 to 53. 14 players of the 22 players and one rink staff member became infected.

Ice hockey involves vigorous physical exertion accompanied by deep, heavy respiration, and during the game, players frequently move from the ice surface to the bench while still breathing heavily. In this game, hockey-specific face protection varied and included metal cages or plastic half-shields (covering the eyes and the upper part of the nose); some players do not wear face protection. Cloth face masks for disease control were NOT used in the locker rooms or during the game.

The high proportion of infected players on the index patient’s team might have resulted from additional exposures to the index patient in the locker room and on the player bench, where players sit close to one another. Not all players from the game sought testing, and asymptomatic infections were possibly not identified. There was only one spectator to the game and that person showed no symptoms and went untested. It is unknown how many people the players then went on to infect.

A super spreader event is when one person infects more than 5 people. This is happening more often that you might think. The fact that the United States has been so lax on contact tracing, means these types of spreader events often go unchecked. You have to look for something to find it.

 

Jacksonville was like Mississippi

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Jacksonville was like being in Mississippi. After standing up for his rights Sam realized he was in a city with deep rooted racial hatred. Jacksonville was the site of Axe Handle Saturday in which blacks were attacked by a white mob who struck them with ax handles. I painted a negative view of the violence which plays back as a time lapse as the painting forms. Each horrific memory is depicted with this effect. On top of this I composited an old film look with scratches.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.