We complete the eighth week of quarantine and I have
had my fill of viewing people’s basement, home office, bedroom or whatever has
been the Zoom/WebEx background. We need to have proper lighting lessons,
some of my remote viewing looks like a scene from dungeons and dragons. Also,
can we mute our microphones; enough of the dog barking, the strange bodily
sounds and electronic feedback. Finally, fix your camera, I have seen more
foreheads and eyebrows than anything else.
The curve is not sufficiently flattened, and few
regions have met their own criteria for opening up. And yet, opening up they
are. The stock market seems jubilant. Politicians seem pretty confident. And the
experts seem confused by the disconnect. Consider these three headlines: WaPo:
Trump cheers on governors even as they ignore White House coronavirus
guidelines in race to reopen. NYT: Models Project Sharp Rise in Deaths as
States Reopen. Politico: Trump and governors shrug off White House guidance. So
we're opening even though we shouldn't open and most people don't want to open;
the White House is shrugging off the advice from the White House; and while
every model shows us headed for a storm, the administration is winding down its
coronavirus task force.
Steve Bannon once argued that the way to defeat the
media is to "flood the zone with shit." I suppose that makes me Roto
Rooter, but even I can't make sense of this tsunami of sewage. In a recent
study in San Francisco's Mission District, 90% of the people who tested
positive have been leaving their homes for work. So that makes now a good time
to send people back to work? Of course, there are many variables and I wouldn't
want to be responsible for making these choices. But it would be nice to have a
hint of an idea of why we're making (or failing to make) various decisions. If
there's a bright spot to this confusing overload of information it's that—if
recent history is any indicator—there won't be a test.
I attended (virtually) four meetings this week, at
each meeting I heard different spins and different strategies from the same
organization. We have a long way to go.
COVID-19 NOTES
– Timeline:
March 11 –World Health Organization declares a
crisis global pandemic
March 16 – Bay Area is the first in U.S. to order
residents to shelter in place.
April 11 – U.S. tops Italy for world’s largest death
toll.
May 8 – 73,297 deaths in the U.S.
Businesses should close break rooms. Restaurants
should consider disposable menus and plates. Schools should have students eat
lunch in their classrooms instead of the cafeteria.
Those are some of the recommendations in draft CDC
guidance.
In the initial reopening phases, schools should
space desks six feet apart and nix any field trips and school assemblies.
Churches should use a stationary collection box, and
schedule extra services if necessary to make sure church pews aren't packed.
Restaurants should consider throwaway menus,
single-service condiments, and disposable forks, knives, spoons, and dishes.
They should install sneeze guards at cash registers and avoid buffets, salad
bars and drink stations.
More than forty percent of the nation’s thirty
million small businesses could close permanently in the next six months, according
to the U.S .Chamber of Commerce.
TERRIFYING READ - The Nightmare Scenario': How Coronavirus Could Make the 2020
Vote a Disaster: Trump can't cancel
the presidential election. Here's what you should really be worrying about.
TECH’S NEW A
LIST - Gaming: Fortnite maker Epic Games and Roblox are making a
strong case as concerts, movie events, and other economic activity shifts to
the virtual realm.
Work: CRM do-it-all
Salesforce is certainly a giant, but the newly public duo of Slack and Zoom
have also proven their value during the pandemic.
Fintech: During the PPP chaos, PayPal and Square showed they can be more nimble
than Wall Street incumbents. Let's see if they can lead a revolution in
payments in the U.S.
Tech tech: Cloud services and cybersecurity are the unsung heroes of our digital
economy. Consider this: A "hybrid cloud" company you never heard of
(Red Hat) was bought by IBM last year for $34 billion.
Videoconferencing: Following Zoom’s hostile takeover as our virtual bachelorette party
platform of choice, Facebook launched Messenger Rooms for more robust video
chat. Meanwhile, Google made Meet (previously Hangouts Meet) free for all
users, and Microsoft is beefing up Teams. They are all adding familiar tile
views and, this goes without saying, custom virtual backgrounds.
Health tech: Apple and Google are set to launch their joint coronavirus contact
tracing software on May 1—but their ambitions in the personal health market
have been obvious for years. Google's "Project Nightingale" is a
massive project parsing the health data of tens of millions of Americans. And Tim Cook said this last year: “If you zoom
out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, 'What was
Apple's greatest contribution to mankind?' It will be about health.”
Education: As more classrooms lean on digital tools, tech giants like Microsoft
are working on ways to facilitate learning in the most rural communities around
the globe. But Google seems likely to dominate the category during and after
the pandemic. Its free Google Classroom service doubled active users to 100+
million from early March to early April.
DEAR RINK
RATS:
I have a degree in a field I thought I
loved, but now that I have graduated, I don’t know what to do next. Help? Is
this a normal thing or am I a little lost?
SIGNED,
The Real
World is not for everyone
Dear Real
World is not for everyone: It is perfectly normal to not know exactly
where you are headed post-grad. Here are a few tips to help you get your
footing. (But take what I say with an ice-cold Labatt Blue. I am a writer, not
a career counselor.)
Think about why you studied what you
studied. Are you iffy on staying in your degree field because you truly aren’t
interested in it anymore, or because there’s an intimidating barrier to entry?
If the answer’s B, don’t get discouraged by hard work.
Reach out to people whose careers you
admire. Conversations with Real Working Adults in any field can give you a
better sense of your expectations and goals.
Remember: What you do first isn’t what
you do forever. Gallup has called millennials the job-hopping generation for a
reason. View your first role as a chance to adjust to life on your own. You
don’t have to love every minute for it to be valuable.
And pay off that student loan, no more
student loans.
Sincerely,
R. Rats
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to George Clooney (59), Tina
Fey (50), Christina Hendricks (45), Chris Krich …a bit late but he will take
some cash from this writer today on the links, Willie Mays (89) , Al Pacino (80),
Bob Seger (75), Robb Suffredini …famous brother-in-law, Uma Thurman (50).
COLLEGE
CHRONICLES – (Correction)
We did not include The Redlands Bulldogs in our CARES Act funding in SCIAC last
week.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief
and Economic Security Act (CARES) signed by President Trump on March 27, 2020
authorized $2.4 trillion.
$14 billion was allocated
to higher education students and institutions, here are the SCIAC allocations:
Institution Total Grants
to Students
Univ. of Redlands $3,388,020 $1,694,010
Eastern Michigan University
Eagles appears to have an unconventional method for distributing Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds to students. The
university is giving
summer-school students a tuition credit. That may violate the spirit of the
coronavirus-stimulus law.
How does the method work?
Eastern Michigan received $13.7 million through the stimulus package, and about
$6.8 million must be distributed to students affected by the pandemic. The law
requires the emergency grants to be given directly to students to cover
“authorized expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to
coronavirus.” The university is offering grants of $500 to students enrolled in
three summer credits, or $1,000 for six credits. In a statement, Eastern
Michigan said the federal funds would help “defray the cost of technology,
online fees, and other technology-related costs due to providing online courses
this term.” It’s not clear if students must spend the remaining money from the
grant on tuition, or if they can withdraw it. Aaah, the joys of dealing with
government handouts.
RINK RATS POLL - Our
distinguished experts polled the favorable/unfavorable rating for bunch of
people/things, including:
Dunkin' Donuts 73%/10%
Joe Exotic 72/15
Anthony Fauci 67/10
Barack Obama 67/25
Tom Brady 56/21
Bill Belichick 54/18
Joe Biden 49/40
Gavin Newsom 48/25
Donald Trump 30/64
MARKET
WEEK - How can it be that stocks
are soaring when the economy is crashing? Market movements are often
head-scratching, but in this case, the answer may be relatively simple: because
of moves by the Federal Reserve, financial markets are awash in money, vast,
water-hose supplies of money.
Since March, the Fed has committed to lend or buy
trillions of dollars of financial assets, which by some estimates might end up
exceeding $8 trillion dollars by the time all is said and done. No one knows
how high that figure will climb. By way of comparison, during the last
financial crisis in 2008-2009, the Fed ended up adding about $3 trillion over
the course of several years.
The record-long U.S. economic expansion is over
after almost 11 years, with what is likely to be the deepest recession in at
least eight decades now under way.
ON THIS DATE
– Seventy-five years ago, May 8, 1945, Nazism was finally eradicated with
Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allies, after six years of war and tens
of millions dead. The jubilation was tempered by exhaustion, sorrow and a stark
awareness that World War II had not yet run its course in the Pacific, a bloody
final that would require another four months and two atomic bombs.
THIS OR THAT:
Sinatra or Bennett Sinatra
Red or White Red
Fox or CNN CNN
Marketing or Finance Really! Finance
Bauer or CCM CCM
Titleist or Callaway Titleist
Nixon or Trump Never
thought I would say this: Nixon
JACK ASS OF THE MONTH - So
President Trump does not need to pardon Michael Flynn (who was fired by
President Trump); Attorney General Barr dropped the charge to which Flynn had
pled guilty. This is a foretaste of what a second Trump term would be like—the
entire executive branch weaponized to help POTUS friends, punish his enemies,
and undermine the rule of law.
CBS Reporter: “How will history look back on your decision to drop
charges against Flynn?”
BILL BARR: “Well, history is written by the winners. So, it
largely depends on who’s writing the history.”
It is going to get worse.
A no brainer this month congratulations to Attorney General
William Barr, our Jack Ass of the Month.
“Why We Love
Sports” – I received a text from a great college friend Tom
McGuire (St. Lawrence University ’76) today. He wanted to know if I ever read “The
Game” by Ken Dryden.
Yes, I have, a great read
about what it is like to be a hockey player growing up in Canada, playing in
college (Cornell University) and professional hockey in Montreal.
When I was in Ithaca, New
York a friend of mine happened to be the brother-in-law of Ken Dryden. Ken
Dryden was the goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens. The 1979 Stanley Cup
Finals had the Montreal Canadiens play against the New York Rangers. They split
the first two games in Montreal, Game 3 in New York and my friend had two
tickets.
Off we went on this May
17 in my green two-door Mustang, a seven-hour drive to New York, we made it to the
Garden, and saw the Canadiens win 4-1. After the game we stayed and visited
with Mr. Dryden, had a few brews, I must say I was in heaven. It was getting
late, a few of the players missed the team bus back to the hotel. Ken asked for
a lift back to the hotel, he also asked if a few of his teammates could get a
lift as well.
Here I am, my friend in
the front seat, Ken Dryden, Larry Robinson, and Guy Lapointe (if you do not
know hockey too bad…impressive huh boys), crammed in the back seat. Telling me
how they hate the ice surface at the garden, asking what I do for a living, and
we owe you a beer after the ride. Fortunately, a short trip to the hotel, we
have a few beers, learn about Guy Lafleur’s fear of heights, among other fears,
and head back to Ithaca the next morning.
The Canadiens win the
next two and take the Cup in five.
That summer Ken Dryden
comes to Ithaca to visit his in-laws we get together for a round of golf and
the highlight of the day play ball hockey in his in-law’s driveway – I am
goalie and I shut out Ken Dryden. My decade has been made.
A few years later Mr.
Dryden wrote this book and sends me an autographed copy.
This is why we love
sports!
SWAMI’S WEEK
TOP PICKS
– No more sports for a while, The Swami tries his skills elsewhere:
1). Over and
under when we can go back to the workplace – August 1, The Swami likes the
overs.
2). Over and under when I can get a haircut – July 1, The Swami picks
the overs.
3). Over and under on when we pay attention to Dr. Fauci and Bill
Gates explaining the coronavirus management AND not President Trump – June 1,
The Swami says the under on this one.
4). The Swami predicts the Detroit Lions season: Chicago (W), at GB
(L), at Ariz. (L), N.O. (W), at Jax (W), at Atl. (L), Indy (W), at Minn (L),
Wash. (W), at Car. (W), Hou (L), at Chi. (L), GB (L), at Tenn. (L), Tom B. (L),
Minn (W). Lions start 6-4, finish 7-9.
2020 Season
to Date (3-3)
Next Blog: I have no clue.
Until
Monday May 18, 2020 Adios.
Claremont,
California
May
8, 2020
#XI-1-407
2,468
words, seven minute read
CARTOON OF THE
WEEK – The New Yorker
RINK RATS
POLL – What is your comfort food?
______ Pizza
______ Tuna
Melt
______ Mac n’
Cheese
______ French
Fires
______ Other
QUOTE OF THE
MONTH
– “Pour yourself a drink. Put on some lipstick and pull yourself together.”
—
Elizabeth
Taylor
Rink Rats is a blog
of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments
and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in
Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.
Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010
Our Eleventh Year.
www.rhasserinkrats.blogspot.com
