Pandemics and politics made yesterday felt like a week in a decade of a year. (This turns out to be a bastardization of a Lenin (Vladimir Ilych, not John) quote.) And I cannot shake my false-ending fear - for any of it. For the moment, I am anchoring on the memories of the meatloaf we had for dinner last night. It was objectively delicious, and when we washed the plates, dinner was indisputably complete. [this comment is referencing the 12/14/2020 initiation of the first COVID vaccine injections at scale and the crazy politics around the vaccine.]
-----Latest Data---
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Also, look at:
https://covidtracking.com/data
The US Regionally - NY. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
About the data:
https://covidtracking.com/about-data/visualization-guide
is the best resource to understand data visualization and data integrity.
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I feel like this should be celebrated and awe-inspiring. Nine months to a safe, working vaccine is unprecedented. It feels muted, for all sorts of reasons.
STAT news offered this 1-year round-up of SARS-CoV-2. A one year review. Wow.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/14/portrait-of-the-coronavirus-at-1/
Though each state will manage its distribution plan, the CDC has a FAQ on recommended vaccine distribution and prioritization.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations.html
My favorite Twitter thread from yesterday. Fauci on a Couch-i. Ouch(i)?
https://twitter.com/profshanecrotty/status/1338535846446698496?s=10
And this pretty much sums up the year, Santa infecting the elderly in Belgium nursing home.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/covid-belgium-care-home-santa-b1773673.html
Infographic of the day: Focusing
This topic felt right today
https://www.headwaycapital.com/blog/focus-wandering-mind/
----Bonus Round - Foibles in measuring the age of things.
I came across the lifespan of various animals chart yesterday:
https://i.redd.it/6lnlvnud87561.jpg
It brings up all sorts of questions about how we measure the age of things.
The New Yorker had an article looking at how one team estimated the ages of Greenland sharks, the oldest living vertebrates on earth.
But even their age was reported as a range, not an absolute value.
https://www.livescience.com/61210-shark-not-512-years-old.html
In my research, I also discovered a collection of "unintentionally destroying nature while trying to measure it" stories. There are numerous lessons about unintended consequences to learn here.
Scientists discover the world's oldest clam, killing it in the process
How One Man Accidentally Killed the Oldest Tree Ever
Clean hands and sharp minds team,
Adam
