Man, 20, charged in beating of 75-year-old nursing home roommate

detroitnews.com

Those that believe that one incident defines a race, you are wrong.

May 31, 2020, 12:29 PM

It’s the last day of May. Ready for some personal examination? After twelve weeks, what has become clearer to you? For example, your church or other religious institution hasn’t been open for services. Have the members been clamoring to get back to see one another? Have you? If not, what does that say about you? Your church? Or it might be your workplace. You’ve been working from home. Has the office missed your physical presence? Have you missed your compatriots? Or your school or artistic or athletic activities. Do your teammates or fellow performers or students and teachers and coaches miss you? Do you miss them? Finally, your extended family and friends — the ones you would have seen in person if not for our 2020 coronavirus problem. Who missed you? Who did you miss? Think about what’s important in your life. You might be ready for big changes. Or maybe you just need a manicure or a haircut!

Churches still closed

Churches are still not open, so I’m adding an extra run today and twice as many miles (8) than is my usual. Running with a couple of fast local mayors and friends on a perfect Sunday morning.

Why aren’t churches open yet?

Schools: "Main Priority"

LA County schools plan unveiled. https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2020/05/27/under-los-angeles-public-school-reopening-plan-students-must-wear-masks-all-day/amp/ Highlights: • "Our main priority is health and safety,” Debra Duardo, the county, superintendent. •classrooms that are too small to allow students to be spaced six feet apart, there should only be 12 students present at one time. •Students may get only a single ball to play with, by themselves. My take: The main priority of a school is EDUCATING CHILDREN. Yes, with health and safety. But never forget the main mission. It's an absurd plan that sets the LA schools on the path to another year of off site education. Best for a parent in a two parent household to quit a job and find a homeschool curriculum that meets his/her family's own needs. Makeshift, ad hoc distant learning is not something public schools are trained for. But few families can make it on just one income and this leaves single parents stuck. I'm sorry, but to move forward we must abandon the social distancing ideal and rely on the masks to protect one another, which especially makes sense with the population that is least affected by this virus. The regular flu was 8.5 times deadlier for children ages 0-14 than the novel coronavirus this year. (See first three comments) Lots of “sciency” facts about the kids and corona are ignored. See the facts in these images.

Is MLB's proposal the first step to playing ball in 2020 -- or the beginning of the end? espn.com I love Major League Baseball but don’t need them to force a fake season upon us to fill TV time. Baseball with no fans? No thanks. Everybody can take a year off.

Father says coronavirus lockdown to blame for son's suicide video.foxnews.com The cure is worse than the disease for the children.

2020 Boston Marathon Canceled Due To Coronavirus, Will Be Held Virtually boston.cbslocal.com

Were they expecting a magic wand to wipe the virus away? That it would just peter out? “Certainly when we originally made the decision to postpone the marathon to September, we were all very hopeful that the coronavirus would no longer be a significant public health risk for our residents,”  

The Most Important COVID-19 Statistic: 43% Of U.S. Deaths Are From 0.6% Of The Population forbes.com A stunning fact. At least 43% of American Coronavirus related deaths happened to the 0.6% segment of the population that lived in nursing homes. Fail. Utter fail. https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2020/05/26/nursing-homes-assisted-living-facilities-0-6-of-the-u-s-population-43-of-u-s-covid-19-deaths/amp/?

All the scolds nagging about masks should keep this fact in mind:

“People with breathing problems (ironically) are discouraged from wearing a mask without getting a doctor's recommendation. In one statement, CA Dept. of Public Health writes, "Wearing a mask may actually be harmful to some people with heart or lung disease because it can make the lungs work harder to breathe." A doctor will look at the patient's condition, ability to draw in air, and guide them on how to make it fit right if recommended.”

‘Together’ Review: All the Lonely People wsj.com A Wall Street Journal review of a timely book written before the time of the coronavirus. It feels pretty accurate to me. Some highlights of the review: “Dr. Murthy be­gins by high­light­ing re­search show­ing that iso­la­tion is not our nat­ural state: We evolved as so­cial be­ings. “Hu­mans have sur­vived as a species,” he writes, “not be­cause we have phys­i­cal ad­van­tages like size, strength, or speed, but be­cause of our abil­ity to con­nect in so­cial groups. We ex­change ideas. We co­or­di­nate goals. We share in­for­ma­tion and emo­tions.” “It fol­lows that when we’re not rou­tinely so­cial­iz­ing, we feel that some­thing is amiss. Re­searchers have found three “di­men­sions” of lone­li­ness, Dr. Murthy re­ports: “in­ti­mate” (want­ing a spouse or con­fi­dant), “re­la­tional” (seek­ing close friend­ships) and “col­lec­tive” (de­sir­ing a com­mu­nity with com­mon in­ter­ests). To thrive, we need to find the right ap­proach to each of them, and lone­li­ness can re­sult if even one is left un­ful­filled.” “As for the surge in lone­li­ness amid an ar­ray of so­cial-me­dia tools, Dr. Murthy ac­knowl­edges the value of plat­forms such as Face­book for spe­cific tasks, such as find­ing old friends and or­ga­niz­ing peo­ple with shared in­ter­ests. And he cites re­search show­ing that an hour or two of daily screen time for chil­dren is harm­less. (No screen time at all, he says, can lead to chil­dren feel­ing ex­cluded, given that their peers are on­line.) But he notes that so­cial-me­dia plat­forms suck up pre­cious time by prey­ing on the hu­man de­sire for nov­elty. For chil­dren and adults alike, he warns that tech­nol-ogy of­fers fleet­ing ben­e­fits, threat­en­ing to re­place mean­ing­ful friend­ships with su­per­fi­cial at­tach­ments.”

‘Together’ Review: All the Lonely People

wsj.com

A Wall Street Journal review of a timely book written before the time of the coronavirus. It feels pretty accurate to me.

Some highlights of the review:

“Dr. Murthy be­gins by high­light­ing re­search show­ing that iso­la­tion is not our nat­ural state: We evolved as so­cial be­ings. “Hu­mans have sur­vived as a species,” he writes, “not be­cause we have phys­i­cal ad­van­tages like size, strength, or speed, but be­cause of our abil­ity to con­nect in so­cial groups. We ex­change ideas. We co­or­di­nate goals. We share in­for­ma­tion and emo­tions.” 

“It fol­lows that when we’re not rou­tinely so­cial­iz­ing, we feel that some­thing is amiss. Re­searchers have found three “di­men­sions” of lone­li­ness, Dr. Murthy re­ports: “in­ti­mate” (want­ing a spouse or con­fi­dant), “re­la­tional” (seek­ing close friend­ships) and “col­lec­tive” (de­sir­ing a com­mu­nity with com­mon in­ter­ests). To thrive, we need to find the right ap­proach to each of them, and lone­li­ness can re­sult if even one is left un­ful­filled.”

“As for the surge in lone­li­ness amid an ar­ray of so­cial-me­dia tools, Dr. Murthy 

ac­knowl­edges

the value of plat­forms such as Face­book for spe­cific tasks, such as find­ing old friends and or­ga­niz­ing peo­ple with shared in­ter­ests. And he cites re­search show­ing that an hour or two of daily screen time for chil­dren is harm­less. (No screen time at all, he says, can lead to chil­dren feel­ing ex­cluded, given that their peers are on­line.) But he notes that so­cial-me­dia plat­forms suck up pre­cious time by prey­ing on the hu­man de­sire for nov­elty. For chil­dren and adults alike, he warns that tech­nology of­fers fleet­ing ben­e­fits, threat­en­ing to re­place mean­ing­ful friend­ships with su­per­fi­cial at­tach­ments.”

Extension of Spring 2020 Grading Method--FINAL deadline umd.edu A's for everyone!! Yay!! "I now understand that some students were confused or had other concerns about the process and timing required to decline the pass/fail grading option. I write today to acknowledge those concerns, and to announce an additional final period in which to choose the letter grade option." We never offered this option at Cal when I worked in the registrar's office!

just as good

Accepting “distance learning” as school or YouTube videos as church services is like pretending that soy burgers are as good as beef hamburgers.

Jarring numbers for how dangerous coronavirus has been for older Ohioans, and how few younger people have died cleveland.com My letter to Wall Street Journal sports writer Ben Cohen regarding his recent article on basketball’s inherent viral transmission dangers. “Mr. Cohen, A good article with great background on the origins of the game of basketball. However, a scare article like this one ought to demonstrate a little more balance and remind us that the virus known as COVID-19 is eminently survivable for the young heathy athletes playing basketball. Your example of a deadly transmission amongst a Washington choir omitted relevant details like age. “Among the 61 choir members who attended the March 10 practice, the median age was 69 years (range = 31–83 years).” Not surprising, of course. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm There is no doubt that respiratory viruses will be much more readily transmitted in close quarters like a choir practice or a basketball court. But leaving out the age factor was irresponsible or worse. At a time when we need facts to lead us, you omitted the most relevant information that young athletes have a very low mortality rate from this virus. In Ohio, the young adults show the following: Age 20-29 – 2,657 cases, 113 hospitalizations (4.3%), 1 death (0.04%). (https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2020/05/jarring-numbers-for-how-dangerous-coronavirus-has-been-for-older-ohioans-and-how-few-younger-people-have-died.html (That’s a death rate of just 4 per 10,000 cases for people in their twenties and we don’t even know if that person had an issue with obesity or some other co-morbidity.) We need to let the young live their lives without fear while we protect the old from either playing competitive sweaty basketball or singing in church choirs! We now know this is an old person’s disease. Thanks for reading! John Ramsey”

The 2006 Origins of the Lockdown Idea aier.org A fascinating article.

Flu vs. Covid for the young

Fact you probably did not know. The regular flu is literally 8.5 times deadlier to children than is COVID-19. 85 to 10.

Non essential travel isn't taking lives. Staying home is what kills... https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-long-island-new-york-covid19-1.44418223?fbclid=IwAR2BiTO4AXvtZVcR2dreanfUO5QWiCxKdvh6mxcQT1SMAeBnsfDr3ZkBEuI

Cuomo: 'Everything is closed down,' yet virus spreads to many staying home, per NY study newsday.com Who can explain this to me? “The survey of coronavirus patients, aimed at figuring out why more cases continue to surface, found that, before they had been admitted to the hospital, 64% were generally “at home.”

“Medical Research Is Locked Down, Too” by Kevin Sheth. WSJ. 5/5/20