Ramblin' with Roger

The so-called “new normal”

everyone can toil from home?

It may well be true, but I bristle at the term the “new normal”. It seems so defeatist. Meanwhile, I make my peculiar weekly trek to the grocery store during the “old people’s time” of 6 to 7 a.m.

What I’ve observed is this: People walking their dogs tend to head to the street when I am strolling on the sidewalk. I appreciate the effort. Perhaps they have friendly canines who want to be petted. That would mean I might get too close to the owner.

The irony in physical distancing is that little old ladies still avoid me. But it’s not because they think I’m going to mug them, but because they think I might infect and kill them. Progress, I guess?

I’ve spent so much effort doing a pas a deux with the folks stocking the produce that I manage to forget to get bananas. (“COVID-19 makes me bananas.”) Meh, still no TP. Heck, no paper products of any type. I may actually NEED some by the end of May.

And my checkout mojo’s all out of whack from social distancing, as I wait until the person in front of me is nearly done before putting my items on the conveyor belt. I almost neglected to get my discount card scanned, and I nearly forget to put the credit card in the appropriate slot.

Work all day

The ability to learn from home is great and remarkable. But because the technology is available, my wife was scheduled for THREE hour-long meetings one day this past week. One was canceled, but still. Just because you CAN schedule meetings does not mean you must.

My wife is working harder now online than she did as an in-person ENL teacher. Between the noon and 2 pm meetings, a parent returned her call. She barely ate lunch. Oh, and she also had a church meeting that night, with our pastors canceling their long-planned sabbatical.

Newsweek suggests that the coronavirus will “change how we work forever.” And not necessarily for the better. If everyone can ostensibly toil from home, then we won’t need as many snow days. It may make us more “productive”, but at what cost? Americans in general already suck at the work/life balance thing.

Mic check, please

Part of my “new normal” regimen involves press conferences, on television every single day. I do not watch them. I’ll get the gist of them from print news. This is entirely a health issue.

If I see him lying that he didn’t say what he said two weeks ago, it will just upset me. If I read that he’s prevaricating, it’s much less toxic to me. No less reprehensible, just less aggravating.

Besides, if he’s going to boast about TV ratings, as he berates the media as thousands are dying, why watch? Some of my friends want media outlets to stop covering him. I’m ambivalent. For every four bits of dissembling, he says one thing actually useful and more or less true.

And for those who worry that Dr. Anthony Fauci is being silenced or that Dr. Deborah Birx is being too conciliatory, know that they are hostages. But they have what djt wants — “credit, adulation, the appearance of scientific expertise. And their survival means our survival.” So if AF is less prickly or DB more diplomatic, they’re playing the long game of being heard.

The foolish heteronymic post

reflects the creativity of the human race

heteronym Because I have little better to do on April 1, here’s something I found in my email from years ago.

Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning. A homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Some other purloined riff

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. – Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick’?

PLEASE take the 2020 census

not the usual place of residence

Please complete your Census 2020 form online, by phone, or by mail when your invitation to respond arrives. Visit my2020census.gov to begin. Most households received their invitation to respond to the 2020 Census between March 12 – 20. These official Census Bureau mailings included detailed information and a Census ID for completing the Census online.

In addition to an invitation to respond, some households will receive a paper questionnaire (sometimes known as the census form). You do not need to wait for your paper questionnaire to respond to the Census.

I had to leave my dorm!

College students living in on-campus housing are generally counted through their university as part of the Census Group Quarters operation. It tallies all students living in university-owned housing. In general, students in colleges and universities temporarily closed due to COVID-19 will still be counted as part of that process. “Even if they are home on census day, April 1, they should be counted according to the residence criteria that states they should be counted where they live and sleep most of the time.”

Census has asked schools to contact their students and remind them to respond. Per the Census Bureau’s residence criteria, students living away from home at school should be counted at school in most cases, even if they are temporarily elsewhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, I have been advised that “universities only need to provide what is allowed under FERPA.” The Bureau “will accept ‘incomplete’ responses from universities that are submitting through eResponse and Paper Data Collection.” I suspect that this will mean followup at home for a number of college students.

Second homes

For a Census Data Center discussion how to report for the 2nd home that it is unoccupied, Jeff Behler, Regional Director, Census Bureau provided this information:

After entering the ID or for Non-ID processing the street address, the respondent will be led to a screen that begins the Household Questions with the address of the housing unit.

Including yourself, how many people will be living or staying at 123 MAIN STREET on April 1, 2020?

If the housing unit is not the usual place of residence and no one is living there as their usual place of residence, then enter “0”

It will look as though the online form is rejecting that answer because it comes back with a response in red: Please include yourself when reporting the number of people.

This is a soft edit response to ensure you correctly entering “0”. Submit again and the response is:

On April 1, 2020, will you be living or staying at 123 MAIN STREET?

Enter the answer “No” and the next screen probes for the reason the unit is vacant

What is the primary reason why no one will be living or staying at 123 MAIN STREET on April 1, 2020? The unit will be –

For rent
Rented, not occupied
For sale only
Sold, not occupied
For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use
For migrant workers
Other

Then the online form probes for where you will be living on April 1

Thank you for providing information for 123 MAIN STREET. Since you will not be living or staying at this address on Census Day, you do not need to provide any additional information for it.

Gotta have faith

As the Faithful Census folks note: Our faith teaches that every person has God-given dignity. Therefore everyone deserves to be counted in the 2020 Census. When everyone in our community is counted, we get the federal funds we need for our schools, hospitals, roads, and other essential programs like Head Start, food assistance, and affordable housing.

Responding to the 2020 Census has never been easier because you can choose to respond online, by phone, or mail– and it just takes 10 minutes to respond for your entire household.

And justice

Gayla Tillman, Civic Engagement Coordinator for Georgia Conservation Voters notes:

“The census matters because we need climate protections and solutions for all our communities. Black, Brown, and low-income communities disproportionately feel the effects of polluted air and water and utility burden. An inclusive census will not only tell decision-makers but also climate advocates how to best serve communities that have been traditionally hard to count.

“What’s more, as a descendant of people once lawfully considered property, I consider being counted in the census as personally and politically important to the fight for equity and justice… The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the many ways that working-class people and people of color are vulnerable to economic imbalance.

“The root of what our communities need is investment. That investment begins with knowing where and who people are — the census helps determine how resources are allocated in our country.”

Save your government some money!

If you fill out the form online or by mail, you save the governmental expense of folks needing to call you. If your information is there, no need for an enumerator to come to your house. In the age of COVID-19, no one wants THAT. Please fill out your form ASAP.

March rambling: 4-stage strategy

The Hammer and the Dance: What the Next 18 Months Can Look Like, if Leaders Buy Us Time

road-to-nowhere — From Wrong Hands Used with Creative Commons 3.0 license.

The 4-stage strategy.

Maps as propaganda.

The 1862 Binghamton Race Riot.

2020 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report.

The Accusations Were Lies. But Could We Prove It?

I am recommending the AmeriNZ blog always, but especially from January 10, 2020 to now, involving grief and moving.

Why hard work and specializing early is not a recipe for success.

You could watch Song of the South, the most controversial Disney movie RIGHT NOW.

What Can You Learn from Each U.S. Census? FILL OUT YOUR FORM!

She Came, She Saw, She Conquered: 8 Women Who Changed The World.

Dorie Miller, War Hero.

Muslim man running for Congress helped pay the medical debt of a man who sent him anti-Muslim tweets.

How’s the Water?

Rev. Joseph Lowery, ‘Dean’ Of The Civil Rights Movement, Dies At 98 .

“You think grown-ups have it all figured out? That’s just a hustle, kid. Grown-ups are making it up as they go along, just like you. You remember that, and you’ll do fine.” – Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman), MATINEE (1993).

Why Doesn’t Disney+ Have More Muppet Stuff?

Biancolli: My week of hand gel and geek bliss on a Star Trek cruise.

Don Adams, Don Rickles in Midnight Cowboy parody.

Found! McLean Stevenson in a Raft on Cher in 1975.

Obstruction In Your Weasand?

Donnybrook

Tanking his own Presidency.

The Strange Case of A Psychological Reckoning.

Newest attack ad against him is scathing and it was done by Republicans.

The Coronavirus Is the Worst Intelligence Failure in U.S. History; It’s more glaring than Pearl Harbor and 9/11—and it’s all the fault of Donald Trump’s leadership.

Narcissist in Charge.

COVID-19

EarthCam live cam of Tidal Basin Cherry Trees, March 20, 2020. STAY HOME!

The Hammer and the Dance.

You Can’t Practice Social Distancing if You’re a Refugee.

Why it’s so deadly in Italy.

Americans Are Getting A Hard Lesson In Why Government — And Taxes — Actually Matter.

Without Mass Testing, It Will Keep Spreading.

Is $2 Trillion Too Little, Too Late?

How the US Botched Testing.

Stand Up America urges lawmakers to pass measure to extend vote-by-mail.

We Can’t Let It Drive Us Into Authoritarianism.

Economies Aren’t Built to Stop and Restart.

Historical Black Mondays in 1929, 1987, 2015, and 2020.

How student/athletes can cope with consequences of the pandemic.

Why You Shouldn’t Go To Your Friend’s House While Social Distancing.

Tech Tools to Help Your Library Cope.

Airline and Hotel Loyalty Program Changes.

Athena Says Its Cameras Can Detect 1,000 Infections an Hour.

How some cities ‘flattened the curve’ during the 1918 flu pandemic.

The Sudden Obliteration of Expectation– Hank Green.

What will the exhibition spaces do?

A Guide to Intimacy.

SOCIAL DISTANCE– A Randy Rainbow Song Parody.

The Oatmeal: How to be socially distant.

An Old ‘Scrubs’ Clip Is Going Viral Amidst Novel Social Distancing.

The Right Way to Kill Coronavirus. No, you should not be using vinegar.

How To Make Natural Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer.

Now I Know

Why We Don’t Chat Chit About Flop Flips and How Postage Almost Started a War and Capture the Flag and
Harry Potter and the Need for Fewer Casts and To Boldly Go Where You’re Really Not Allowed To Go and Neither Rain Nor Sleet Nor Crazy Address Will Prevent The Mail Delivery and The Grass With … Less Gas?

MUSIC

Murder Most Foul – Bob Dylan.

Piano Quartet No.3 in C Major– Beethoven.

Coverville: 1300: The Luckiest Episode and 1301: Cover Stories for Hozier, The Darkness and Black Eyed Peas.

Wannabe – Spice Girls (Vintage “Andrews Sisters” Style Cover) – Postmodern Jukebox.

K-Chuck Radio: The Evolution of Manu Dibango and Soul Makossa.

Happy Music.

Jump:Big Daddy in the style of Eddie Cochran; Van Halen; Aztec Camera.

Stoned Soul Picnic – The 5th Dimension.

Rebel Rebel – Rockin’1000 That’s Live Official.

This Too Shall Pass– OK Go.

Last Words of David- Randall Thompson, rehearsal video.

JB Scott’s 1979 – 1982. Photographs from the legendary Albany, NY Rock & Roll night club.

This Land is Your Land belongs to you and me…

COVID fix, professors, writing fiction

DNA/RNA

Diamonds and Rust Dan, the albanyweblog man, decided to confound me:

A Pharma Corporation called Inovid is trying to speed up production of COVID-19 vaccine. They take virus DNA, convert it to RNA, pick out the right bits of the RNA according to a computer program, then inject it into bacteria, which makes lots of virus DNA that can be used to stimulate antibodies in the human, thus making an effective vaccine. What I want to know is how do they convert the virus DNA to RNA on cue? They talk about this like it’s NBD.

As I understand it – and I REALLY DON’T –

So what’s COVID-19’s story? Is a hint in what normally binds the receptor?

Perhaps sometime in the past, a virus formed, or came to include, human DNA or RNA instructions for making an integrin, which is a protein that binds to ACE2. Integrins glue our cells to surrounding connective tissue. The viral spike masquerades as the integrin, grabbing our cells.
In other words, a viral epidemic may arise as an accident, of sorts, of biochemistry and evolution.

Vaccine!

One of the things I learned as a librarian is that sometimes I don’t understand what I’m passing along. It’s just beyond my comprehension. Check out this article, which may, or may not be useful.

Fiction

Carla, an old colleague of my wife’s, wants to know:

Roger, Have you ever thought of writing fiction; or do you write fiction?

I’ve thought to do it. But a long piece seems too hard. You have to have a consistent universe. See, e.g., this post by Jaquandor. And I haven’t loved the short pieces I’ve written.

But if I live long enough, I’ll probably write a roman a clef. Or two.

Kevin, from my home county and the Wind Sun News, wants to know:

Who was your favorite Professor at New Paltz?

Of the ones I had class with, probably Glenn McNitt in the political science department. He was very smart but easy going. I remember listening to Stevie Wonder at his house more than once. I also recall specifically hearing Simple Twist of Fate by Joan Baez from her Diamonds and Rust album. She did a wicked Dylan impression and I cracked up.

Of the ones I did not have, probably Pam Tate, the head of Innovative Studies. I knew her in part because I was on the Financial Council and some of our budget went to her program. I was the Education chair so her program was in my jurisdiction.