Theodor Diener, in memoriam – A Wanderbirds picnic – Increased amount of travel – Trump’s proposal for government employee examinations – Evening statistics
I was saddened to learn of the death of Theodor Diener, the Swiss-American scientist who discovered “viroids,” the smallest known agents of plant disease (they are about 80 times smaller than a virus). This discovery enabled the control of diseases in many important crop plants, to the great benefit of the global food supply. But it was not as a scientist that I knew him, but as a hiker. During his 90s he had lost his wife and, to obtain some solace for his loss, rejoined the Wanderbirds club, to which he had belonged several years previously, and cheerfully paced the trails despite his advanced age. There is one hike in particular in which I remember him; it was on our Rachel Carson Trail/Northwest Branch Trail loop, where I met him at the point just after going over the bridge on Colesville Road from the mill to the Northwest Branch and turning to go upward. He cut quite a gallant figure that afternoon; although age had slowed him down it could not stop him.
The Wanderbirds held their first picnic hike of the year, at Patapsco. It was rather a Tantalus-like experience for me, for I had had a medical procedure on the preceding Friday and had been warned by the physicians not to engage in over-strenuous exertion. However, I was able to go for four other hikers there and back along the Ridge Trail for a round trip of four miles, savoring the piedmont scenery and the abundance of wildflowers; here, as in many other locations, the spring beauties were exceptionally plentiful and fresh-colored. And afterwards, when everyone had returned from their hike, we gathered in the Avalon area of the park, with its extensive pavilions and easy access to restrooms. It was sunny in the morning, but it clouded over during the afternoon and the air thereby felt cooler, even though the temperature was over 80 degrees. And we feasted on appetizers and grilled meats and numerous vegetable dishes and a variety of desserts, Hiking and eating and socializing: a typical Wanderbirds celebration, in short.
Much of our conversation centered on trips we had taken or were planning to take, for after the confinement we had been forced to endure during the earlier months of the pandemic the amount of travel hasexpanded almost exponentially during the past year. In particular, I conversed with members who had taken recent trips to exotic locations, such as Egypt and Cuba. Both countries, it appears, are extremely hospitable towards tourists, since much of their national economies depends on them. EF and MJ displayed their new camper, which they will be using in a few weeks to travel across the country, eventually arriving in San Diego, where they will be residing for the next two years. Yes, matters have changed since the beginning of the pandemic; travel looms large in the future of almost every single member, and a casual eavesdropper who listened to our interchanges that afternoon might be pardoned for mistaking us for a group of nomads.
Donald Trump announced that if he were elected he would require federal employees take a civil service test and fire the workers who do not pass it. The test would include topics such as command of due process rights, equal protection, free speech, religious liberty, and the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure. This is actually a surprisingly reasonable idea, coming as it does from such a source. The only drawback is that if Trump himself were subjected to such a procedure he would flunk his own test.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 685,712,475; # of deaths worldwide: 6,842,781; # of cases U.S.: 106,474,559; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,158,254. At this point there is a widespread impression that the number of deaths from COVID have decreased to such an extent that one has as much change as dying from a traffic accident as from COVID. But that impression is false, despite the recent decline in COVID-related deaths. In August, 2022, for example, the number of people who died in traffic accidents was about 3,850. The number of people who died from COVID in the last week of August alone was 3,918.