I meant to start writing this over an hour ago, but my Apple watch decided to play mind games in terms of storage space and software updates. Then The Family Dog requested an outdoor walk. Then the watch needed more attention. Life can certainly get in the way of life at times. But I apparently have my watch under control now, and The Family Dog has been walked and fed. The Family Cat does not go outside, but she too has been fed.
On the home covid front, The Professor heard today that he'll get more and official chances to be exposed. All people who conduct a certain type of research that The Professor happens to do have to be tested twice weekly for the next three weeks. Once the semester starts on February 1, the required frequency drops to once weekly. The Professor has been limiting his trips to his lab to once weekly at most. Now he gets to go to the university twice and, in the process, be around a lot more people than he otherwise would be. Even more frustrating to The Professor is that one of his collaborators is a retired professor in his 80s who only darkens the door of the lab every so many weeks when his presence is required in person. That no longer matters; he, too, must go in twice weekly for the next three weeks and once weekly after that.
On the home quilt front, I am making progress on the sample for my pandemic quilt. I am learning something new with each session. The amount of top stitching required is incredible, as is the attention required to keep the lines for each day straight. I'll try to remember to take a photo of it tomorrow to put up here, along with a screen shot of the inspiration.
No news is good news on the national political front. All that means is that I have not read or listened to news since first thing this morning. The Lame Duck may well have done something newsworthy, but if he has, I haven't learned about it. Ignorance really can be bliss. Unless The Professor wants to watch the evening news, I can stay in blissful ignorance even longer. My morning read of select news outlets did tell me that The Lame Duck has yet to call the family of the police officer killed in the Capitol riot. VP Pence has called, though. I've never really liked VP Pence, but he's been redeeming himself lately. He has not spoken with The Duck since Wednesday morning, before the Capitol riot. Finally, a second Republican Senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsykvania, has joined Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in calling for The Lame Duck's resignation.
On the national coronavirus front, the concern remains about front line workers choosing not to get vaccinated. Up to 40 percent of frontline workers in hard-hit Los Angeles County are refusing the vaccine as are 60 percent of the care home workers in Ohio. In December, 55 percent of New York City firefighters surveyed said they would not consent to be vaccinated. The president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association (the union) collected questions from 8,200 members and had a virologist friend answer the questions in a 50-minute video. That video has now been viewed some 2,000 times, and the union has received several dozen phone calls and messages from members that say the video has changed their minds about the vaccine. It seems that ometimes ignorance is not bliss. Pope Francis has called covid vaccinations an ethical obligation and said that refusal to be vaccinated is suicidal. Given that the Catholic Church views suicide as a major sin, the Pope's statements are noteworthy.
I expect to pay more attention to news local and beyond tomorrow. Even though I'm retired, there's something about the weekend that makes me want to ignore things. Ignore as in ignorance as in staying in bliss a wee while longer.
1 comment:
It means the line will move faster if there is a high refusal rate for vaccination. They can come around again at a later date once they've seen that the chip hasn't been activated or we've grown a second head or whatever they think will happen.
Post a Comment