Gutting USPS

Posted on by admin

President Donald Trump is gutting the USPS to rig the up upcoming presidential election. For months he has been claiming that mail in ballots will result in election fraud. To restrict access to the ballot box he is literally removing mail boxes from street corners. His basic premise seems to be that he can not win the popular vote, so he will make it more difficult to vote. With the COVID-19 pandemic raging across the country many states are taking steps to make mail in voting a safer option to vote.

The new postmaster general Louis DeJoy is a right-wing millionaire who donated millions to the Trump campaign. DeJoy also has investment in shipping companies that are direct competitor to the post office. AS an investor he would make money by helping to destroy the USPS. Known as the “Friday Night Massacre,” DeJoy dismantled mail sorting equipment and remove mailboxes from the streets. Congress was called back to the hill to have a hearing about the election meddling and Dejoy is set to testify by Friday August 21, 2020.

Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general in 1775 and the organization is older than the government itself. It has a rich history of delivering mail to rural residents and city dwellers alike. Some people rely on the USPS to deliver prescription drugs and other essentials. I have personally noticed the slow down since I have been waiting weeks for a shipment to come in. This is the largest grab for power by the president so far. It is an authoritarian move to discredit, the press, the scientists and then find a way to break the very fabric of democracy by discrediting and trying to remove free elections.

Short Transmission

Posted on by admin

Dr. Akinyemi Ajayi told Nadeen Yanes of News 6, “Children below 5-6 age, do not transmit the virus as easily, for a number of reasons,” . “One, they do not have the lung capacity, two if they are breathing, they do not generate large plumes and they are also shorter, much closer to the ground.” That changes when a child is 9 or 10, their transmission is nearly the same as an adult he said.

This quote struck me as particularly medieval. The very notion that any virus carried by children would remain closer to the ground seems insane since the virus is airborne, to be carried wherever it wants to go. My first thought is that teachers should be supplied stilts in addition to the other PPE supplied. I also am amazed he stated, “if they are breathing.”

While many droplets will fall to the ground within a six foot radius, some can remain airborne for up to three hours and travel up to 27 feet. Lydia Bourouiba, an associate professor at MIT, has researched the dynamics of exhalations (coughs and sneezes, for instance) for years at The Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory and found exhalations cause gaseous clouds that can travel up to 27 feet.

On Monday August 17, 2020 the Orange County School Board will have an emergency meeting to discuss recommendations made by the district’s new Medical Advisory Committee regarding the reopening of schools. The meeting called just days before in-person instruction begins in Orange County on Aug. 21, 2020. “Some of us don’t feel like that is necessarily the best thing to do,” Dr. Ajayi said. “Also realize that we are at a point now that we are just a week from school.”

Here are the recommendations regarding reopening:

  • Allow for school re-openings but with staggered start dates
  • Reopen only elementary schools scheduled on Aug. 21
  • Reopen middle, high schools at a later date, possibly one week later depending on what is feasible for the district

Schools will require masks to be worn at all times with little to no exceptions, require more contact tracing and rapid testing in schools and more training for teachers and staff on how to properly wear PPE. Teacher Nick Anderson pointed out, “Every work site has teachers that can tell you about the frustration about trying to keep the soap dispensers filled on a daily basis, going days without even having paper towels refilled.”

Misinformation was shared over 50 times on a teachers Facebook Group about COVID-19 cleaning procedures. This information was falsely attributed to Johns Hopkins University. This information was proven false back in April, 2020. It is scary that teachers are entrusted to keep kids safe and they sharing false information moving forward.

School sports in Florida remain a political football. The state’s High School Athletic Association decided on Friday that the game can go on. It voted to allow member schools to start their practices on August 24, 2020 the season will begin September 4, 2020. CBSN reported that, nearly 800 schools are a part of the association. The fall season consists of bowling, cross country, football, golf, swimming and diving, and girls volleyball. As part of the approval for the season, coaches will have to make a “COVID waiver form” available to the schools. As of today, August 7, 2020 Florida has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.

Pre-Pandemic: Greek Island of Meis

Posted on by admin

The Greek island of Kastellorizo – or Meis, as it’s known in Turkey is a short ferry ride from Kaş in Turkey. It is a hilly little island with plenty of gorgeously colorful tile roofed homes. Kastellorizo is  the name given to the island when it was administered by Italy, and it means Red Castle.

A hike up the hills outside of town offered an overall vista of the town below, but this is the only sketch I squeezed in for the day. The town itself is fascinating to explore with narrow alley ways between building and many staircases going up hills. This peaceful island is worthy of weeks of exploration with a sketchbook in hand.

The quiet waters around this island have become a scene of international contention. Turkey and Greece, NATO allies, vehemently disagree over overlapping claims to oil and gas drilling rights in the region based on conflicting views on the extent of their continental shelves in waters dotted with mostly Greek islands. Tensions rose when Turkey sent a seismic research ship, Oruc Reis, on Monday August 10, 2020 to a disputed area of the Mediterranean, accompanied by warships, days after Greece signed a maritime deal with Egypt. The maritime deal set the sea boundary between the two countries and demarcated an exclusive economic zone for oil and gas drilling rights.

The deal was a response to a similar agreement between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based government last year that has spiked tensions in the East Mediterranean region. The Turkey-Libya deal was widely dismissed by Egypt, Cyprus and Greece as an infringement on their economic rights in the oil-rich sea. The European Union says it’s a violation of intentional law that threatens stability in the region.

Hakar said Turkey would continue to defend its “rights, ties and interests” in coastal waters. “It should be known that our seas are our blue homeland. Every drop is valuable,” he said. Turkey says it has the longest coastline in the eastern Mediterranean but that it is penned in to a narrow strip of waters due to the extension of Greece’s continental shelf, based on the presence of many Greek islands near its shore.

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea boundaries but recent discoveries of natural gas and drilling plans across the east Mediterranean have exacerbated the dispute.

Tensions in the eastern Mediterranean took a dangerous new turn on Aug. 13 as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ramped up his hawkish rhetoric against Greece. He warned Greece that if it were to attack a Turkish seismic research ship deployed off a small Greek island, it would “pay a heavy price.” His assertive stance in the eastern Mediterranean maritime dispute is being challenged by a bloc comprising Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and France.

France, a NATO ally has deployed warships to disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean in support of Greece. France’s move came after a phone call Wednesday August 12, 2020 between French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The Elysee Palace said in a statement that France was going to “temporarily reinforce” its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean so as to “better monitor” the area and ensure that “international law is respected.”

European Union foreign ministers were holding urgent talks Friday August 14, 2020 on military tensions between Greece and Turkey as the neighboring countries’ navies continued a game of brinkmanship over eastern Mediterranean drilling rights.

The Wonderful World of Testing

Posted on by admin

Walt Disney World cast members will get COVID-19 testing after a dispute about cast safety fought by the actors Union. Florida will begin providing COVID-19 testing for Walt Disney World cast members this week, ending a nearly two-month dispute with Actors’ Equity Association, a union that represents stage actors at the park. According to Disney, the testing site will be run by the Florida Division of Emergency Management and will be located on Disney property, though not in the park. Testing will be available to Disney employees and visitors, as well as Florida residents.

According to Kate Shindle, president of the Actors’ Equity Association, the union has signed a memorandum of understanding with Disney for hundreds of actors to return to work. The union began pushing Disney World to offer testing for its members in late June, before the park’s July reopening. Disney asked several hundred Union actors to return to work in July, but they refused to provide testing at the time. Those actors could not get back to work until the dispute was resolved. The Union claimed that Disney “retaliated” against its members over their demand for regular Covid-19 testing for employees. The Actors’ Equity Association represents about 750 actors at Disney World. Actors had to battle the broken Department of Economic Opportunity system to survive.

Disney officials said in a notice to its workers that there would be a dedicated testing lane for its workers and their families, and that reservations could be made for testing starting Thursday August 17, 2020. “As a reminder, testing is voluntary and cast members will not be paid for testing time,” the notice said. The testing center will be located outside the Disney Maingate Complex in Kissimmee, Florida, and will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The tests will be administered cast member’s vehicles, and results will take three to five days.

Disney said Tuesday August 4, 2020 that it lost $4.72 billion in the three months that ended June 27, 2020 compared to a profit of $1.43 billion in the year-earlier period. Disney could be on track to lose around $1 billion in earnings before interest and taxes each month from its parks being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Disney Theme park projects are likely to be canceled due to the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Curiosity Explores Mars

Posted on by admin

Curiosity is a car-sized rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA‘s Mars Science Laboratory mission. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26th, 2011, and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale on Mars on August 6th, 2012. The rover has been sending incredible high resolution images back from mars.

Photos from inside the crater suggest that pools of water may have in the crater 3.5 billion years ago. Streams might have laced the crater’s walls, running toward its base. Watch history in fast forward, and you’d see these waterways overflow then dry up, a cycle that probably repeated itself numerous times over millions of years.

Curiosity got her name from a nationwide student contest that attracted more than 9,000 proposals via the Internet and mail. A sixth-grade student from Kansas, 12-year-old Clara Ma from Sunflower Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas, submitted the winning entry. As her prize, Ma won a trip to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, where she signed her name directly onto the rover as it was being assembled.

Ma wrote in her winning essay: “Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder.“

The rover is still operational, and as of July 26, 2020, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for 2834 sols (2911 total Earth days). It is conveniently social distanced from COVID-19 and it’s design will serve as the basis for NASA’s 2021 Perseverance mission which will carry different scientific instruments.

In researching the rover online I found so many images that claimed to be sightings of UFO’s or strange smooth egg shaped rocks. I imagined the rover finding a face mask, perhaps a sign of a time when civilized people tried to survive when microbes and viruses threatened their very existence.

69% of Americans say they wear masks when they leave the house. However when I drive to Crealde to teach each Sunday, I find that 2 2 out of the 25 or so people I see wear masks when out in public. A study out of Hong King shows that COVID-19 transmission rates are cut by 75% when surgical masks are used. The study used surgical mask material draped over hamster cages to conduct the test. The hamsters who were infected had less of the virus in their body than those that had no mask. So cover your freakin’ face. Some humans might not be as smart as hamsters, but despite any pandemic, cock roaches will survive.

Disney to Re-Open as COVID-19 Cases Spike

Posted on by admin

Disney is known for it’s magical thinking. The company plans to re-open Walt Disney World and Animal Kingdom on Saturday July 11, 2020 as new cases of COVID-19 surge in Florida. Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are set to reopen July 15. As the theme parks prepare to open their gates, Florida has recorded the largest weekly increase in COVID-19 cases in the country. Orlando, on the doorstep of Disney, has the fifth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in Florida. Florida has over 10,000 new cases of the virus every day. 266 hospitals in Florida are reporting less than 10 hospital beds available. As of Wednesday July 8, 2020, the Florida Department of Health reported a total of 223,783 cases. It reported 10,140 new cases in the last 24-hours.

More than 10,000 Disney Cast members signed a petition urging Disney and government officials, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, to reconsider opening Disney World. “This virus is not gone, unfortunately it’s only become worse in this state,” the petition posted on MoveOn.org reads. “While theme parks are a great way to relax and enjoy free time, it is a non-essential business; it is not fair to the people who work there to risk their lives, especially if they are at risk or have family members who are at risk. People are more important than making a profit. As individuals who work in the bustling tourism industry in central Florida, we are responsible for ensuring the safety of our guests and our fellow magic makers. Keeping ourselves and our visitors safe is our No. 1 priority, in every theme park. This includes our health and well being. We are encouraged to say something when we see something that we deem is unsafe so we’re speaking up.”

When Disney CEO Bob Capek was asked about how many guests would be allowed into the park each day and he did not respond with a number of guests or a percentage of maximum park capacity. Instead he said they will try and maintain 6 feet of distance between guests. As he said, “Unlike Shanghai, where there were strict government mandates in terms of what capacity could be when we reopened, we don’t have that here at Walt Disney World.”  As he explained, “Well, we won’t open up a park unless we can cover our variable costs — essentially our cost to operate the park. So then beyond that it becomes a question of trying to cover your overhead and your capital expenses that you have.” Expecting a business to self regulate for public safety doesn’t work if profits are at stake. Disney will not loose money. What are you prepared to loose?

While some safety concerns have been addressed around areas like temperature checking for employees, the park was slower to offer responses on whether they will offer the COVID-19 testing that the labor union requested. Actors Equity said that Walt Disney World is retaliating over their demand for COVID-19 testing for actors, who have been “locked out” because of their desire for safe working conditions. The union represents about 750 park employees. Employees dressed as characters are represented by the teamsters. Equity actors appear in staged productions such as Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage and Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

The reopening plan was approved unanimously last month by the county’s economic recovery task force, prior to the huge surge in COVID-19 cases in Central Florida. Disney World is reopening with only limited park reservations available for people with annual passes or tickets that were purchased before the pandemic. No new tickets are being sold for 2020. Other theme parks have already reopened their gates to the public in Central Florida, including Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando and Gatorland, that reopened back in May.

Mayor Jerry Demings said, “At this point, I’m fairly comfortable with the decision that Disney has made to reopen because of the extent that they have gone through to ensure it’s a safe environment. Again, we saw something positive today in terms of the lowering of the positivity rate within the last week and some of the other things. So we have to take the good news where there’s bad news, as well, and we have to try to get our economy stimulated. But we don’t want to do that at the expense of risking people’s safety.”

Florida State Governor Ron DeSantis remains solidly behind the re-opening. He believes attending a Florida theme park would be safer than going to a large private gathering. It is also safer than jumping off a ledge at the Grand Canyon.

An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can lead to severe illness and death. According to the CDC, senior citizens and Guests with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable. By visiting Walt Disney World Resort guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.

Stay Home. Stop the spread. Save lives.

Pre-Pandemic: Hotto Potto

Posted on by admin

Guest Post by Pam Schwartz, who does the food things.

Hotto Potto (3090 Aloma Ave. Winter Park, FL 407-951-8028) is a Chinese eatery and dim sum spot specializing in hot pots served table side with house made sauces.

I’ve already written this review once, like months ago, but this is what happens when your phone factory resets… your photos, your contacts, and at least 10,000 really important “memos,”  like this review, are lost.

On this night, Tom and I decided to make our relationship “official.” That is, our one where we go places and eat everything, he sketches, and I talk about it. We settled on Hotto Potto because a few of my staff swore it was better than Noodles and Rice (RIP…for now). I love Noodles and Rice so thought we had better check it out.

There was basically nobody in the place so Tom was immediately challenged as to what…empty…angle he wanted to take on. I was most interested in the tens of many sauces neatly organized in little plastic containers with fancy tiny dipper spoons on each table. I love all of the sauces and condiments all of the time.

The very pleasant waiter explained Hot Pot to Tom who had never imbibed before, while I patiently sat waiting to taste test every single condiment option as soon as he walked away. He pre-mixed a sauce for us which suited the less adventurous Tom. It was basically sweet. Very sweet and that is the epitome of everything Tom likes to eat.

I tried them all and found several many I could get behind. Give me all that garlic, sesame, and salty bits. Absolutely. If you have never done hot pot, it is a lot of fun to make your own creation, but can get expensive pretty quickly if you want a little bit of everything to throw in your mix, since you pay per ingredient. It is great if you can share fixings with people at your table, but then we have creatures like Tom. Chicken, spinach, and maybe he’d have a carrot. I wanted bean sprouts, water chestnuts, some Asian green variety I’d never heard of or tried before, daikon, etc. I was on my own here folks.

At hot pot they bring out you broth and nestle it onto a cooker in the middle of your table, you then submerge your ingredients and cook them as you wish before dipping them in your sauce concoction. One of those let me pay you to cook my own novelty dinner types of deals. It’s all about the experience. We cook similarly at home fairly often with hot pot, pick and mix ramens, shabu shabu, etc. but sometimes it is nice to go out.

Overall, the food was good. *I still liked Noodle and Rice better!* The wait staff was great and the place was clean with ample parking. However, we would probably try another place in the future considering this is also out of the neck of our general woods.

Now, during the pandemic Hotto Potto only offers take out.

Surprise!

Posted on by admin

On May 30, 2020 a Texas Family planned a surprise birthday party for a 30 year old daughter in law. One family member, a construction worker,  was unknowingly infected with the COVID-19 virus. He thought his slight cough might have been from dust at the construction site. Everyone did their best to stay socially distant at the party. I can say, from first hand experience that if you are in a room conversing, it is hard to stay 6 feet away from others. No one wore masks since they are often around each other and care for each other dearly. 25 people attended.

Seven people became infected at the party. They spread the virus to 10 other people through their families and other interactions. In all 18 people became infected. Among those infected are two young children, two grandparents, and the parents, who are in their 80s. Three were hospitalized, the parents, and a sister, who is battling breast cancer.

The mom and sister recovered and are back home but dad is still in the hospital fighting for his life. Not being able to have visitors is the hardest part of being hospitalized. The dad is in need of blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, who have established antibodies. However there is a shortage. Firefighters who had recovered wanted to donate blood but the donations are not allowed to go to one specific patient since there is a shortage. If you have recovered from the virus please donate blood.

“My dad’s hanging on by a thread,” a son said. “They’re saying this is one of the last straws for my dad.” When the son was allowed a phone call to his father, he said, “That’s really the best medicine. You know they’re in there by themselves with no family,” He said holding back tears. “It’s heartbreaking.”

All Bets are Off

Posted on by admin

 

 

Las Vegas saw a record number of infections two weeks after the casinos re-opened June 4, 2020. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak said the state is “not ready” to advance to Phase 3 of reopening as Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations continue to spike.

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas all reported their highest single-day increases in cases over the past week, according to Newsweek.

Donald Trump has been rushing the states to re-open while trying to ignoring that the virus exists or that it will “Magically” go away and never wearing a mask.

The Joe Biden campaign said this in response to the pandemic…

The American people deserve an urgent, robust, and professional response to the growing public health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. That is why Joe Biden is outlining a plan to mount:

  • A decisive public health response that ensures the wide availability of free testing; the elimination of all cost barriers to preventive care and treatment for COVID-19; the development of a vaccine; and the full deployment and operation of necessary supplies, personnel, and facilities.
  • A decisive economic response that starts with emergency paid leave for all those affected by the outbreak and gives all necessary help to workers, families, and small businesses that are hit hard by this crisis. Make no mistake: this will require an immediate set of ambitious and progressive economic measures, and further decisive action to address the larger macro-economic shock from this outbreak.

 

Virtual Courses and Summer Camps

Posted on by admin

I had never used Zoom prior to the pandemic. I now use it every week to teach students traditional foundation drawings skills and animation for Elite Animation Academy. I like the platform because students can watch me draw live in an intimate online setting. I can take a drawing done by each student and then quickly add a few strokes to show them how their sketch might be improved. As students sketch away on assignments I like to sketch them from my end of the virtual classroom. I honestly feel that students get more from me than when I taught them in the classroom setting, pre-pandemic.

In a news conference Thursday June 18, 2020 Governor Ron DeSantis and Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced that they plan to reopen schools for in-person learning in the fall of 2020. DeSantis said, “We are not going to be instituting a lot of rules, or really any rules.”

  • Step 1 – June – open up campuses for youth activities and summer camps.
  • Step 2 – July – expand campus capacities further for summer recovery instruction.
  • Step 3 – August – open up campuses at full capacity for traditional start of the academic year.

According Florida Today, Florida’s surgeon general has acknowledged that a syndrome that attacks children and is associated with Covid-19 has surfaced in Florida, adding yet another critical layer to diagnosing and treating the disease. Emergency Medicine Physician Rajiv Bahl, MD, said that it’s too soon for children to begin playing together and having play dates.

Starting tomorrow, June 21, 2020, I will be teaching summer camps and classes 7 days a week until August 7, 2020. Summer camps will begin Monday June 22, 2020 at Elite Animation Academy and I will be instructing 5 days a week. I don’t know how many students are in the summer camps, but maintaining 6 feet of distance between students might be a challenge.

Today Sunday June 21, 2020 I will begin teaching a course at Crealde. Last week was the first class but I did not have the course on my calendar since I wasn’t given the course schedule, so I missed it. Six students showed up. I felt bad when I got the call and I was still in bed.

One Crealde student received notice that someone that they had been exposed to on June 11th, 2020 just received a Positive Covid-19 result.   Out of an abundance of caution, they were tested June 20, 2020, and will self isolate until results come back on Tuesday June 23, 2020 or Wednesday June 24, 2020.  They withdrew from class. I was asked to let the other five students know why the student left.  This student was with all of the other students for the entire 75 minutes that they waited on Sunday June 14, 2020 when I was at home.   Most students were wearing masks.  This student was wearing a mask.

The person this student was exposed to had no symptoms. People who are asymptomatic can expose others to the virus. They were both wearing masks, exposure was less than a minute together, the doctor says there is a very slim chance the student contracted Covid-19.  I feel like I dodged a bullet for now.
Tomorrow Sunday June 21, 2020 when I go to teach at Crealde I will of course wear a mask, but if any students decide to show up despite the possible Covid-19 exposure, then I will feel the need to get tested as well. I have been locked down for the past 3 months doing a pandemic themed painting every day. It will be a shock to try and return to “life as normal.”
At President Donald Trump‘s poorly attended Tulsa Rally, he said he had told officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because of the rising number of cases in America. He said that the US has now tested some 25 million people. “Here’s the bad part… when you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people; you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down please.”
Florida reported another 4,049 coronavirus cases Saturday June 20, 2020, yet another record-shattering increase as the number of infections statewide approaches 94,000. Every day this week has show exponential growth in the spread through the state with a new record set each day. Florida has “all the markings of the next large epicenter of coronavirus transmission,” and risks being the “worst it has ever been,” according to projections from a model by scientists at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.
Working 7 days a week, I will not be able to produce a pandemic themed painting each day. I will have to limp by, doing one or two a week. I am about the enter the Wild West of teaching summer camps and courses in the midst of a pandemic.