Monday, April 13, 2020

Coronavirus lockdown – Gallery pieces become online jigsaw puzzles

“Hey, did you hear the one about the writer who died? St. Peter offers him the option of heaven or hell and the writer asks to see each one before deciding.  As they descend into the fires of hell, the writer sees row upon row of writers, all chained to their steaming-hot desks and being whipped by demons.  ‘Show me heaven,’ the writer says.  They ascend to heaven and there’s row upon row of writers chained to steaming-hot desks and being whipped by demons.  ‘But it’s just as bad as hell,’ the writer says.  St. Peter shakes his head, and says, ‘No, because in heaven your work gets published.”
–from Grub
Its message helps us begin to understand the terrible conundrum of how a good God can permit terrible things to happen.
Christians feel more than usually bereft this Holy Saturday. Unable to celebrate Easter in the traditional fashion, we are reminded of the fear and sense of aloneness that the disciples felt as they pondered the shocking events of Good Friday.
But there is something powerfully apt about experiencing Easter during this modern plague—and not just because of the reassurance it brings that after our long Good Friday will come the joy of the resurrection. Easter provides us with a lesson, as this terrible pandemic courses through the planet, on the centrality of—indeed, the necessity of—suffering and evil to human life. ...
The problem with [a traditional view of Good Friday and Easter participants] is that it depicts a deterministic world in which we all play assigned roles, like some giant Lego set that God built for his entertainment. But the Passion story is our most vivid rebuttal of that old philosophical challenge. Claudia wasn’t sent by the devil to stop the whole show. Nor, for that matter, was Judas sent by God to set in motion the events that saved us. They were humans, making choices, doing what their consciences told them to do.
In understanding this, we can begin to understand the terrible conundrum of how a good God can permit terrible things to happen. So many of us must have asked in the past few weeks: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But God doesn’t pick winners and losers, victims and victors.


What does ‘recovered from coronavirus’ mean? 4 questions answered about how some survive and what happens next – Just as the number of COVID-19 cases grows, so does another number: those who have recovered. In mid-March, the number of patients in the U.S. who had officially recovered from the virus was close to zero. That number is now in the tens of thousands and is climbing every day. But recovering from COVID-19 is more complicated than simply feeling better. Recovery involves biology, epidemiology and a little bit of bureaucracy as explained by Tom Duszynski, Director Epidemiology Education, IUPUI.
Some preliminary research by economists on the 1918 flu pandemic indicates that locations that locked down sooner & longer did better economically after the pandemic passed

 Dr. Fauci: Coronavirus Erupted in December While China Lied About Human-to-Human Spread
Modeling COVID-19 and the Lies of Multiculturalism.


NEWS: NYU scientists: Largest U.S. study of COVID-19 finds obesity the single biggest factor in New York’s hospitalizations. “Among other things, the presence of obesity in the study points to a potentially important role of heightened inflammation in patients, a phenomenon that has been a topic of much speculation in numerous studies of the disease. Petrilli and colleagues at the Grossman School, and doctors at the NYU Langone Health center, studied the electronic patient records of 4,103 individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 in the New York City healthcare system between March 1st and April 2nd.”

Pandemic Stories, Part 2
Sources of reasonably objective data include:
The WHO daily situation report is based on governments’ reports on confirmed cases and deaths. The ABC’s Max Walden reminds us that because Taiwan is not a member of the UN and therefore not a member of the WHO, the WHO is not reporting on Taiwan’s successful program of quarantining.
Our Department of Health Coronavirus (COVID-19) current situation and case numbers is updated daily, with Australian data and links to other data and sources of advice. In the latest report, note the strong representation of young women (20 – 29 years old).
Our Department of Health Coronavirus (COVID-19) health alert has personal advice and links to carefully-drafted Commonwealth statements, some of which have the guarded language of government press releases.
The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center is updated daily, with data by country and a choice of graphical displays, including the daily rate of new cases. Note the three patterns: a strong upward trajectory in Turkey and the USA, signs of stabilisation in Italy and Switzerland, and reduction down to small numbers in China and South Korea.  Most “developing” countries are yet to report.
The Economist has a Coronavirus hub – a paywall-free collection of its stories and analytical pieces about the virus and its consequences “analysing every aspect of the pandemic—from the science to its political, economic and social consequences—with rigour and a global perspective”.
Free of spin and any partisan agenda, and full of professional advice, is Norman Swan’s Coronacast covering news, research and FAQs on the virus, in daily ten-minute bites.  (Wash your hands, get your normal flu shot(s), stay at home, if you’re out jogging or cycling give space to others – more than normal if you’re puffing hard!)

CHINA SYNDROME: “The UK government’s new testing chief has admitted that none of the 3.5 million antibody tests ordered from China are fit for widespread use.”

BBC News: “The Cooper Gallery in Barnsley runs a daily internet puzzle challenge using artworks from its collection. People from around the world – including Brazil – have competed to solve them in the quickest time during the lockdown across many countries. Barnsley Council said the town’s other museums would be posting similar challenges online. Councillor Tim Cheetham said: “In these unusual and difficult times Barnsley Museums want to bring joy and excitement direct to people’s homes. “These free online, digital jigsaws will not only raise a smile but also highlight the magnificent collection which The Cooper Gallery is proud to display.”

The Cooper Gallery is home to 17th to 20th Century paintings, watercolours and drawings by artists including JMW Turner. Each day it shares a digital puzzlebased on a piece from its collection of about 400 works on social media…”
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