Sunday Morning Coming Down

Frontline's latest on PBS was "A Tale of Two Washingtons" that contrasted the State of Washington and Washington D.C.'response to the Coronavirus Pandemic. "Public Health Science is the art of preventing disease, increasing longevity of life and promoting health through efforts and choices made by society, public and private organizations, the community and by individuals. Public Health Science deals with dangers to the public health of a population, whether small or large (i.e. populations of a continent) to improve the quality of health and the quality of life in through detecting and preventing disease and other physical and mental health conditions, promoting health behaviors, tracking cases and health indicators. Public Health Science uses a multi-disciplinary method incorporating epidemiology, biostatistics and health services." And in life things are not always black or white, everything is happening everywhere.  And there are lots of peo...

The Paycheck Protection Program was sold to protect workers in small businesses to keep them from being laid off. You will not have to pay back the loan so long as you use at least 75% of the money you get on payroll costs (including wages, benefits, payroll taxes plus state and local wage taxes). and the rest of the funds are spent on your business' rent payments or mortgage interest, utilities and other overhead expenses. The money must be spent in the first eight weeks after you receive the loan. In other words, if you spend the borrowed money for authorized purposes over the first two months of the loan, that obligation will be forgiven. And the amount forgiven will not be treated as taxable income to you. At the end of eight weeks, you'll have to show your lender proof of your expenses during that period. Payroll costs eligible for forgiveness may not exceed $100,000 per employee. From the Miami Herald: Fisher Island is reportedly the richest zip cod...

In poker, bad beat is a subjective term for a hand in which a player with what appear to be strong cards nevertheless loses. It also happens in horse racing. Horseplayer Jeff Arthur structured several non-overlapping tickets playing Remington's Sooner 6ix bet on Friday, April 10, 2020. One ticket, costing him $403.20 and including 2,016 combinations was entered via Arthur's ADW account.  Remington Park told Arthur on Saturday, and his representatives today, that the occurrence of the dead heat created two separate winning tickets. Remington further affirmed that he would have won the jackpot if he used only the 5 or the 7, but using both of them created two winning combinations. Instead of landing the jackpot of $35,145, Arthur received just $8,920. I'm really sorry for Jeff.  I think he got screwed, but that's why they call it gambling.  Either way it's a signer.

Eggs have been in short supply. So I kind of pulled out a two ingrediant recipe for stay at home doughnuts.  Apple sauce(16oz) and cake mix(15.5oz), pam spray and a donut pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

In the scope of things maybe having the President teeing it up and hitting golf balls in the late afternoon would be a net positive.

 The introduction to: Hoffer, William and Marilyn. Freefall: From 41,000 feet to Zero - A True Story. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.  Speaks of a wedding that took place where the vows were shouted across a small river during a smallpox epidemic.  I am related to that Kristofersson and Taylor marriage that took place in 1877. This morning from the Miami Herald "It was supposed to be impeccable: over a hundred wedding guests, half of whom were coming out of town, descending on the rustic gardens of Villa Woodbine in Coconut Grove, dance under the sparkly lights on the evening of April 4, the chosen wedding day of Jamie Webner and Ben Katz. They had a special playlist, flowers — all of it."   This wedding took place on the balcony of their apartment. But as the coronavirus pandemic quickly worsened, the Miami couple realized about three weeks ago that they would have to cancel the wedding they had been planning for months. Read more here: htt...

The former governor of Florida did a number on the UI system in Florida.  The maximum length of time you can receive UI benefits is now 12 weeks.  The maximum amount that can be received is $275 per week.  A person needed to make about $2200 @ month to qualify for maximum benefits. The computer system that worked ok while the unemployment rate was low.  Now the chiggers have come out of the wood pile and the systems have crashed so often the state is seriously considering going back to paper and pen applications. This actually worked well for employers when the economy was humming along.  The UI tax was an afterthought and the real problem had become recruiting folks to work.  Recruiting folks that would take a part time job with no benefits.  Employers also tried to classify jobs that previously would be an employer/employee relationship as contract workers.  The employee was now responsible for payroll taxes. No wonder Senator Rick Scott b...

The 2020 Hurricane/Disaster Season has started early, slowly, and differently this year. The disaster began sometime ago in China, not off the coast Africa as a low pressure center but as a new virus that jumped from an urban market place in Wuhan, China to almost everywhere by planes, cruise ships, cars, public transportation and crowds that happened for fun and increasingly just because of the way things are in a world of 7.8 billion people. Not unlike hurricane seasons past the storm threat is usually ignored as it churns through the open seas, misses population centers not on your doorstep but as disaster comes closer the focus changes and communication messages and channels change. From June thru November the National Hurricane Center website was on my homepage.  The last week I have been monitoring the COVID 19 Map from the Washington Post. It is updated at about 11:00 AM and again in  evening. Neil Frank, Bob Sheets, and Max Mayfield taught me everything I know ...