Bubbles

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz‘s family was in town and we went to a lake where you could float on the water in these bubbles. The bubbles could be blown up with a leaf blower and then you could roll down to the water. Standing in the water was close to impossible resulting in many prat falls. Navigating was possible by running on all fours like a dog or horse but there was still little traction in the water. Each ball was tethered to a rope and when the time was up, they were pulled back to shore by the bubble herder. Her niece and nephew loved the experience.

Now I am thinking it  would be nice to have these for simple everyday tasks like walking the dogs. Of course the clear plastic would likely get scratched all to hell on pavement and cement but I still would love to see people walking the neighborhood in these. It even settle for a Jurassic Park bubble vehicle.

Price of PPE

Posted on by Thor

Why are police officers around the country outfitted in high tech riot gear while nurses and doctors have to scramble for basic personal protective equipment? Back in April when New York City was first hit hard by the Covid-19 Pandemic some nurses and doctors had to improvise, using hefty garbage bags since Personal Protective equipment was in such short supply.  Now, with police hitting the streets with pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse protestors we can see that they are very well supplied with PPE.

I decided to host a fashion show with a nurse and an officer in riot gear. I am not great at knowing the costs of fashion items but I will try and research what each is wearing and how much it costs. I will limit myself to the items visible in my illustration.

The Nurse.

It should be noted that PPE costs increased 1000% during the Covid-19 pandemic. While nurses ran out of PPE, and had to re-use face masks, the President accused them of stealing their own supplies..

A basic Face Shield. She is sporting a fairly basic face shield. In May, Amazon began to mass produce face shields at coast for nurses and doctors. Prices are between $12 and $35.

Pro-Safe Skull Cap  $4.06

This nurse is not wearing an N-95 Surgical Mask. The Face Mask she is wearing is not designed to form a seal around the nose and mouth. A pack of 50 about 29.00 or $.59 cents each. Face masks can not be shared and should not be re-used.

Disposable Scrubs Top $4.99.

Disposable Scrubs Pants $4.99.

Disposable Vinyl Gloves $16.99 for 100 pairs or $.16 cents per pair.

She should be wearing Waterproof Boots (e.g. rubber or gum boots) $36.45. I have also seen photos of nurses putting hefty bags over their street shoes and duck taping them in place.  $9.99 for 40 bags. or $.49 for a pair. Duck tape is $4.99 for a roll which can go a long way.

Outer Protective Gown is a Hefty Bag with a hefty plastic tie for a belt. $.24 cents.

Any street clothing will not be counted. The total for the ensemble is about $27.52. Her wings are free. She has earned them.

The nurses had resorted to trash bags after the death of assistant nursing manager Kious Kelly, 48, who died of COVID-19 on March 24, 2020. Colleagues have blamed his death on the forced reusing of protective equipment.

Around April Fools Day, Nurses battling the Covid-19 pandemic at Mount Sinai West in New York City finally got more protective gear after The New York Post revealed a shortage so dire that some staffers resorted to wearing trash bags. Should we ant to thank essential workers, we should make sure they are included in city budgets.

Riot Gear Police.

Helmet Lancer Tactical Large – X-Large Industrial ABS Plastic Constructed Maritime Adjustable Crown with 20mm Side Rail Adapter Velcro Padding NVG Shroud Bungee Retention. $65.

Gas Mask is similar to the Evolution 5000 $229.50.

The Upper Body Protector Vest is about $71.42.

The department supplys ammunition. Collapsible batons, chemical spray, handcuffs — both metal and the plastic variety used in riot-type situations — and a leather utility belt to hold these items are other must-haves.

Minnesota officers receive an annual equipment allowance of $980 — rookie cops get three years, or $2,940, up front to start building their wardrobes. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges has pledged another $1.1 million for a department wide rollout of body cameras. LAPD officers are outfitted in riot gear that costs tax payers at least $470 per officer, not counting weapons.

I can’t identify the exact less lethal weapon this officer is holding but it is probably just short of $1000. Should anyone be able to identify it with a price, please let me know. The Sting Ball Grenade on his vest is $52.50. Who knows how much more ammo and grenades are in the bag he is holding.

The Body Cam on his vest is about $155.98.

This officer may have on a very nice Paul Newman Rolex Daytona watch.

So an exact pricing estimate seems difficult, but it is fair to say that there is a big difference between the $27.62 Nurse ensemble and the several thousand dollar plus riot police ensemble. By one estimate one officers riot gear could pay for the PPE for 33 nurses.

This leads to the idea of defunding the police to create balance in the community. Rather than investing billions in a culture of violence, we could invest some of that money in services that have a positive impact on the community like youth programs, counseling and affordable housing. The nation wide peaceful protests are helping inspire change.

Pulse: Don Price

Posted on by Thor

Don Price was the sexton at Greenwood Cemetery at the time of the Pulse Nightclub massacre. He got a call from the mayors office the weekend of the shooting. He had been out at the beach watching a Space X launch. He returned to met with the mayors office. The mayor wanted to know if Greenwood could handle the 50 burials. The mayor also wanted to see the area of the cemetery that could accommodate the families on about Sunday afternoon. It was announced that the families would not have any cost of burial at Greenwood. People thought that meant the burials were free, but there were costs. Several anonymous law firms underwrote the burials paying families for the plots. 50 spaces were set aside. The section that was set aside had just opened up two months earlier, so it was easy to send the mayor photos and plot maps since it was just surveyed.

The cemetery worked with the state. The cemetery map became a war board. Funeral homes had to be called each day and reports sent to the state. The cemetery kept track of every funeral and service. Men’s dress suits and flowers were donated to families. Almost 21 victims were buried in Puerto Rico.  It is possible some of them will return to Greenwood because of hurricane Maria. Families have been displaced and families may want their loved ones back in America. These were 21 year old kids. We ended up burying 4 in Greenwood. Others were buried in, Tampa, Texas and North Carolina.

He met with families that did not understand everything going on.  They didn’t live in Orlando and suddenly they had to decided if they should bury their loved one at Greenwood or back to Puerto Rico. He had to give each family their options and let them decide. Services started Saturday. It was the first time the cemetery had multiple holes open at once. Tents were put up and families were kept separate from the holes. It was chaos.

People who come in the cemetery want to know where the Pulse section is even today. There are 49 bricks set aside for a memorial at the cemetery but that project was put on hold because so much is going on.  It will be put up with no fan fare.

They went out dancing on Saturday night, and Sunday morning they were gone. Half of them were out of the state by Wednesday. Some parents would not recognize the sexuality of their children. One victim was not even picked up. Greenwood had to work on trying to get him picked up. Finally, next of kin made the arrangements.

The burial site for the Pulse victims is right next to Anderson Road. Mayor Buddy Dyer didn’t want to put the burial site on display, but he didn’t want to hide this part of history. From the site you can see the lake, and downtown Orlando. But there were threats of protesting. A 10 foot chain link fence was erected down Anderson and black construction mesh was added so families with a service would not feel like they were on display. Commissioner Patty Sheehan helped Don find American flags and rainbow flags so the families didn’t have to look at the black mesh. It gave them some color. A parade permit was pulled so they could close down the third lane on Anderson and shut down the wetlands park. So if protestors showed up they could be arrested. Luckily there were no protestors.

As a cemetery they have a right to control any still or video images shot on property. News crews could shoot between funerals but not during any funerals. No burials were filmed. Don had a police officer with him to be sure media respected families privacy. Everyone was watching.

Orlando has become a more open and accepting community. Greenwood was open to all races since day one, but if you go to Winter Garden,  Winter Park or Ocoee, there is a white cemetery and a black cemetery. Everyone in Orlando was affected by this tragedy. It was an attack against our entire community. It tied us together. Don stayed away from any of the memorials after the shooting. As he said, “When it comes to a memorial, the last thing you want is for the undertaker to be standing there.”

Pre-Pandemic: New Smyrna Beach

Posted on by Thor

Pam had her family from Iowa visit back in July of 2019. Her family had never seen the ocean so we took a trip to New Smyrna Beach. Cars could drive and park on the beach which is a little unnerving because you have to keep your guard up to avoid being run over. We had a nice pop up tent we had found which kept us from getting sun burnt.

Pam’s nephew and niece loved being out in the surf. At first her nephew was a bit nervous since he doesn’t have many options to swim but once he mastered bobbing up and down over the waves, he was like a fish in water. I stayed out in the surf most of the day as well. Pam’s parents never left the tent, preferring to watch for potential danger.

Pam and I have not returned to the beach since the pandemic began. I am working all day every day on Pandemic related painting. I am usually trying to finish my write up right before dinner. Pam has been working from home and she does get out in the sun as often as she can. She will put a blanket in the back yard grass and work on her computer as she soaks up the sun. She has figured out that a wicker basket makes a good sun shield so she can see her screen.

I am writing this on Memorial Day. Dr. Deborah Birx a White House health advisor said people can enjoy the outdoors as long as they remain mindful of the need to stay socially distant. Birx said a lot of Americans are carrying the coronavirus and don’t know it. Epidemiologists warn cases will spike as people increasingly get around. As the nation approached 100,000 dead from the virus, President Donald Trump is golfing.

Garage Sale

Posted on by Thor

I helped a friend with a garage sale and sketched the driveway from my perch inside the garage. I had just held a sale of $1 figure drawing sketches to help with moving expenses. This scene reminded me that my life had been stripped to the bone. I had a chair and the clothes on my back. I ended up buying a table which I now use to mat and frame artwork. People came in waves throughout the day although the biggest crowd was in the morning. There was something for everyone including a three cornered hat should you want to be a pirate for Halloween.

Three buildings were torn down for new condo development in my old neighborhood just south of Lake Eola. I suspect my old apartment building will succumb soon enough to this rapid development. I liked the place precisely because it reminded me of an old New York apartment building. On the edge of the city and suburbs anything could pop up next.

Anatolian Houses Hotel in Görome Turkey.

Posted on by Thor

I stopped at the Anatolian Houses Hotel (Cevizler Sk, 50180 Göreme Belediyesi/Nevşehir Merkez/Nevşehir Merkez/Nevşehir, Turkey) two years ago on a trip. The rooms were carved into the limestone cliffs with stone rooms as additions. This stone living room where my X slept on the red couch, was connected via arched doorways into a bedroom that was carved into the cliff. The bathroom, also deep inside the cliff was a few steps up from the bedroom and had a large tub and plenty of pockets in the limestone walls to store towels and toiletries. Tiny windows carved in the walls overlooked the village below.

Another bathroom had deep holes in the floor covered in glass that fell away into the depths of the rock. The arched doorways between rooms had a definite disadvantage in that they were carved by someone who is less than 5 feet tall. I banged my head really hard one time as I was rushing to get out for a day of frantic sight seeing.

Flight to DC then Turkey.

Posted on by Thor

 A couple of years ago, my X and I went to Turkey to visit her niece Allison Brown
who works for the United States foreign service. At the time we visited
Allison, she said that her job might get very complicated if there was
politically charged dissent in the country. Her hotel had metal posts at
a guard booth that were intended to stop any terrorist threat of, let’s
say, a bomb filled truck. Luckily, she is now working in Washington
D.C.during the time of the present civil unrest.

Turkey has been in the news recently with a huge “March for Justice” that ended in Istanbul. Hundreds of thousands of people joined the rally in Istanbul following the 25 day long march to protest the government of president Recip Tayyip Erdogen. The government has been cracking down against any perceived threats after a failed coup last summer. The president was granted sweeping new powers after a controversial referendum in April. Erdogen claims to be cracking down on those who support militant organizations, but the government definition of what constituted backing terrorism is so broad that it has led to the arrest of thousands of civil servants, journalists, campaigners and other workers. Protesters demanded “Rights, Laws, Justice.” Also since this trip, Washington Post Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Turkish Consulate. What seemed like a gorgeous country to visit turned out to be dangerous.

The trip began with a flight to Washington D.C. where we would transfer to the international flight to Istanbul. I can never sleep on a plane, so the sketch pad invariably comes out.

It is a chance for me to check for the closest emergency exits and observe my fellow passengers.

Of course the flight from Orlando to D.C. wasn’t too long, but the flight to Istanbul was eternal. I watched plenty of movies and the progress map to pass the time after the sketch was done. Sketching on a plane is a thing that can only amuse me once a day. I don’t tend to like sitting in an audience staring at the back of heads and that is the only view available on an airplane. I can also easily pass the time watching the clouds which make amazing patterns, but this was an overnight flight which meant it was pitch black outside and everyone had their blinds down.

Badge of Honor

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94,936 Americans have died from Covid-19 as of this writing. Imagine 155 passengers crowded onto a Boeing 737. Now imagine one Boeing 737 crashing EVERY DAY for the last year and seven months. That would be close to an approximation of the devastation that has ravaged this country.

When asked about the large number of dead, Trump said “I view it as a badge of honor,” he continued, “When we have a lot of cases,” Trump continued, “I don’t look at that as a bad thing. I look at that as, in a certain respect, as being a good thing, because it means our testing is much better.” Trump seems to also think that testing and tracing is a bad idea since when tests are done you find that some people are infected. He would much prefer to live in his magical world where the numbers remain low with few tests as he sends people to their deaths. He has pushed the notion that Americans are “warriors” as they rush to re-open in the midst of the pandemic. Had there been more testing from the start there wouldn’t need to be prolonged social isolation.

The CDC quietly issued a report about how to safely open the country. Of course Trump is not one to listen to science or reason. He wants the state governors to re-open even if they have no plan in place. Today all 50 states are in some stage of re-opening. Control of the epidemic requires action at the individual, community, and population levels. The report offers extensive detailed guidance on contact tracing, infection control, and a wide range of other prevention and control topics. It is fair to assume that the president will never read the 60 page report.

The Trump administration is ignoring many of a CDC report’s recommendations on reopening the US in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. The report gives community leaders detailed instructions for how to reopen than were ultimately released. The measures are meant to be a starting point that could be adapted to any given area. Hopefully Sate Governors and local mayors will read the report since Trump has given them total control over how they plan to re-open safely. I plan to read the report so I know how to keep myself safe moving forward. The CDC launched a new website that tracks cases, deaths and tests done. The CDC findings often contradict what states are reporting. In the case of Florida the state dashboard is now reporting fewer deaths than the CDC. The Georgia Department of Public Health’s website posted a bar graph with the dates out of order, suggesting cases were declining over time. It was clearly misleading.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo had his daughter organize a video promotional campaign for wearing masks. The finalist results are inspired. Many consider wearing a mask to be patriotic. While others following Trump’s example feel it is patriotic to refuse to wear masks, feeling they are sheep if they care about the people around them.

…

CDC Bound and Gagged

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Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are concerned that the Covid-19 pandemic is being driven by politics rather than the data and science needed to combat it. The decisions made by government officials rather than scientists have made the devastating reach of the pandemic worse. President Donald Trump was quoted as saying that having over 90,000 dead is a badge of honor rather than a horrific national tragedy. Staff inside the CDC have said the White house has stifled the agencies response to the virus. The white house is also limiting the agencies ability to provide health information to the public. A CDC official put it bluntly, “We’ve been muzzled.”

The work the agency is doing is filtered through a political lens. On March 2, 2020 a CDC internal report found that the virus was being spread locally in 29 countries. Two days later the number jumped to 85 countries. On March 5, 2020 three of the countries affected were in Europe. The CDC was preparing to issue a global travel alert to try and keep the virus from spreading to America. The alert would have urged precautions on all international travel. It was to be posted on the evening of March 5, 2020. The alert was delayed for unexplained reasons. When the White house was told about the spread of the virus in Europe they only wanted to focus on China and not anger Europe.

The CDC alert would not post until March 11, 2020 when Trump announced his restrictions on travel from Europe. Those 6 days were critical in bringing Covid-19 exposure to the east coast of the United States as Europeans flew in to New York. While passengers coming from China were checked, those coming from Europe went unchecked spreading the virus freely.

If the CDC had testing in place they could have found that there were likely cases to be found in America as early as January 2020. Had testing been wide spread at the time, they could have caught the infected people flooding in from Europe.

It would be nice if scientists from the CDC could have daily briefings to keep the Americans  informed, but instead we have a president who used the briefings to spew his ideas of injecting light into bodies and taking disinfectants to handle the virus. He has to be corrected at every turn and it would be nice if he just let the experts speak. In the past, the CDC provided important information at briefings to help keep the public safe. During an e coli outbreak in 2018 their investigators got to the root of the problem and offered solid, meaningful and blunt guidance on how to keep it from happening again. However the CDC is not offering the same blunt guidance today in the face of a pandemic.

The virus is spreading like wild fire in retirement homes, veterans hospitals, prisons, and meat packing plants. On May 14, 2020 it was reported that counties with or near meatpacking plants have almost twice the rate of known Covid-19 infections as the national average. Tyson Fresh Meats processing plant in Dakota City, Nebraska had a surge in Covid-19 infections among its 4300 workers. Local mayors were unable to get any answers as to how many cases of the virus are in the meat plant. Workers were not being tested. It was assumed that everyone was infected. Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska never issued stay at home orders.

The CDC did do an investigation at one of the first meat plant outbreaks in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. However the report isn’t as authoritative as past reports. Instead they offered recommendations that are not required or mandated by the organization. There were loose suggestions that the meat plant could implement if they “if they wanted.” Face masks were recommended but not required. The meat packing plant can easy decide that any CDC suggestions are “not feasible.” The president is of course insisting that all meat packing plants should remain open. So it would seem the CDC has softened its stance. As the “suggestions” are ignored, workers will die.

The White House needs to place blame for over 90,000 deaths.  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro publicly blamed the CDC for the testing failures in the United States. Navarro argued that the top health agency, under Dr. Robert Redfield, “let the country down” on testing. President Trump privately threw the CDC under the bus to Republican senators during a lunch on Capitol Hill. He praised his son in law, while blaming the CDC for botched testing. A senior CDC official said, “I would urge the President to understand that to prevent spread we must focus on containment and mitigation. He wants to focus on criticism. We will focus on the science, as we have done from the beginning.”

As of May 20, 2020 the CDC is reporting that 12,601,143 tests have been done with 1,699,375 positive tests reported. 93,533 Americans have died and the nations top Disease Control agency is being sidelined. As I write this, the World Health Organization reported106,000 new cases worldwide. This is the most cases in a single day since the pandemic began.

Give Me Drink or Give Me Death

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For weeks in multiple states, armed protestors, encouraged by Donald Trump have been demanding the freedom to get back to work. Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin wanted to move slower than the president in re-opening his state during the pandemic. Conservative justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court overruled the governors stay at home order leaving the state with no public health restrictions or any plan on a re-opening safely. Wisconsin is now the only state in the nation without a single protective measure in place to combat Codid-19. The judges made this ruling from the safety of a video conference.

Across the lake in Michigan, armed protestors entered the state capitol and stood in the upper gallery above law makers prompting at least one lawmaker to put on a bullet proof vest. Protestors chanted: “Our House” and “Let Us In”. Despite this, Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended the stay at home order to May 28, 2020. She has issued over 75 executive orders in an attempt to keep her constituents safe. Law makers have been arguing about weather to ban guns in the capitol. One argument is that State Police should arrest anyone entering the building with a weapon. A 32 years old man was arrested on counts of terrorism for making death threats against Governor Whitmer. Joe Biden is considering Whitmer as a possible running mate.

After the Wisconsin “Safer at Home” order was overruled, nurse Katie Koutsky, decided to help her sister re-open her bar. She was filmed by a local news station in the crowded bar not wearing a mask. She said, “I don’t think the risk presents any higher than me going to a grocery store.” She later walked back that statement saying, “I’d like to express my regret for not wearing a mask or practicing social distancing while there,” she said in a statement released by Advocate Aurora Health. She is quarantining herself for the next seven days.

Health care workers are usually seen as the heroes fighting against the virus putting themselves in harms way. They sacrifice for the greater good. Her flippant disregard for public safety put her in the camp of the protestors, who demand and threaten without concern for others. Protestors wanted the liberty to rush and crowd back into bars. Drunks are not great at social distancing.

The Orlando Weekly reported that several downtown bars have not been following Phase 1 rules about re-opening. If a business earns more than half its income from the sale of alcohol it is supposed to remain closed. On May 4, the OPD found four Orlando bars operating despite the Ron DeSantis Phase 1 executive order which states that a bar should not be open for on-premise consumption of alcohol. Officers advised the owners on the guidelines. Despite this, two bars continues serving drinks for consumption. The Dapper Duck and Downtown Pourhouse continued serving drinks. Since they saw no penalty to not do so. No one has been reprimanded or fined. Three days later the bars still were not complying. Bars being closed are a flashpoint for many. Some would kill for a drink.

Are you helping or complaining?