Morning statistics – Tucker Carlson and Fox News – A possible new trend in romances – Precautions against a second wave of coronavirus – The Republican Convention – Evening statistics
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 AM — # of cases worldwide: 7,624,618 # of deaths worldwide: 424,383; # of cases U.S.: 2,090,115; # of deaths U.S.: 116,052.
Yesterday’s entry was fairly scanty. I was rather tired that evening, not so much from the hike as from the drive afterwards (the parking area is well over two hours away and because the rush hour traffic is beginning to pick up again I was obliged to circumvent the Beltway by returning down Rte. 15 by way of Leesburg). Today I had several errands to run, but there is more leisure now to have a look at the various headlines, and I find, among other things, that Tucker Carlson of Fox News has attracted notice from his fellow-journalists once again. It may be recollected that about a week ago he actually voiced a tiny breath of criticism towards Donald Trump, causing me to scan the astrological charts anxiously in order to determine whether there had been any unusual sidereal portents that I had overlooked. I am happy to state, however, that despite this one lapse he remains that faithful lapdog of Trump whom we have hitherto known. He has been denying that George Floyd’s murder was unjustified, denying that any of the lockdown measures over the past several months were necessary or even useful, lauding Trump’s pose of Bible in hand with truly pious fervor, and, in short, has been attempting to smooth away any circumstance that might reflect discredit upon the idol of his heart. It is reassuring to know that there are certain constants in this world, such as that the circumference of any circle equals the length of its diameter multiplied by π, that the length of a triangle’s hypotenuse is always equal to the square root of the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides, that e (Euler’s number) is always the limit of (1 + 1/n)n as n approaches infinity, and, similarly, that Fox News will always be ready to inform the world that Donald Trump is justified in anything that he says or does, even as others are questioning his sanity.
The purveyors of that particular branch of fiction aimed at feeding the fantasies of young and not-so-young women are going to encounter some challenges if the practice of covering one’s face in public becomes more universal. Whatever will become of the concept of love at first sight, that literary convention so essential to the genre? Office romances will be especially problematic in a setting where workers never see one another except during video tele-conferences. Perhaps our authors will be writing passages like this:
“The lazy, drawling, slightly sardonic voice responding to the chairperson’s curt acknowledgement announced that Harvey Heartthrob had just joined the meeting, and in the next instant the image of the late-comer appeared. Lucy Truelove gasped in amazement upon seeing this vision. Her blood began to course wildly through her veins. Her pulses were pounding as fiercely as a tidal wave. She hastened to squirt some cleaner onto the monitor of her laptop and then to wipe it free of dust to be certain that she had not been the victim of an illusion; but no – there he was onscreen, his bold blue eyes gleaming with mischief, highlighted by the rugged, outdoorsman-like tones of his tan-and-russet face mask.”
We now have to think about the prospect of a second wave of the coronavirus as the lockdown restrictions are being lifted in every state and new cases are increasing. Certain guidelines have been posted for minimizing the outbreaks, some of which seem fairly obvious: don’t drink bleach or disinfectant (despite the advice of our President), don’t act as if bright light is an effective preventative or cure (despite the advice of our President), don’t think social distancing will be ending soon (despite the advice of our President), be wary of going to the beach (despite the advice of our President), don’t attend large gatherings (despite the example set by our President), don’t forget your face mask (despite the example set by our President), don’t give up exercising (despite the example set by our President), don’t share bogus information (despite the example set by our President), don’t avoid going outdoors (despite the example set by our President), don’t take chloroquine phosphate (despite the advice of our President), don’t blame others (despite the example set by our President), remember that you can’t predict the future (despite the example set by our President), don’t spray Lysol on yourself (despite the advice of our President), don’t take anti-biotics unnecessarily (despite the advice of our President). Is anyone noticing a pattern here?
It is now official that the Republican Convention will take place in Jacksonville, FL instead of Charlotte, NC; and Governor Cooper of North Carolina must be heaving a sigh of relief, although he is too polite to admit it in public. Governor DeSantis of Florida has triumphantly negotiated the deal with the President and the party to hold the convention in his state; though he might consider the pleasure dearly bought now that he has the headache of planning how to accommodate 19,000 people in a city with limited hotel resources and a case rate that continues to spike. The governor said the RNC will make sure measures are in place to prevent the spread of the virus. Sancta simplicitas!
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 7,725,583; # of deaths worldwide: 427,683; # of cases U.S.: 2,115,554; # of deaths U.S.: 116,819. Qatar, Chile, and Kuwait now have the highest case incidences of over 0.8% or more than one in 125 of the population. In Qatar the incidence is over 2.5%. This suggests that other countries in the Arabian peninsula must be heavily affected and that they are under-reporting their virus data.