1standarddeviation

Safety in the Time of Covid-19

howard — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 16:23:16 +0000

[written May 23, 2020, barely two months into lockdown for social distancing] The convention is to tell children they are safe, meaning to convey to them that you are protecting them from harm of any kind, and that nothing can … Continue reading →

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Bibliomania

howard — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 15:39:21 +0000

Harvard University tells us that its esteemed main library alone, in its system of dozens of libraries—Widener Memorial Library—has stacks of books accessible to those with appropriate ID that measure 57 miles of shelves. They house three million volumes, they … Continue reading →

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Thoughts and Feelings about Omicron

howard — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 16:41:43 +0000

It’s Yogi Berra, deja vu all over again, time. Even with an almost exclusively rational flow of information, from vetted sources, especially the newsletter of Your Local Epidemiologist, “written by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD— an epidemiologist, biostatistician, professor, researcher, … Continue reading →

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Two Sudden Insights About Covid Vaccination

howard — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 19:37:48 +0000

Suddenly, as I read and heard (on the air) the prevailing stories centering on the persistent anti-vax movement in the news, I had two insights. I demur from calling them epiphanies, but they feel a little like that. For one, … Continue reading →

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Getting vaccinated in Pennsylvania

howard — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 17:00:32 +0000

“[Yesterday, President] Biden announced that by April 19, more than 90% of Americans over the age of 16 will be eligible for a vaccine and will live within five miles of a vaccination site, including 40,000 pharmacies.” —Heather Cox Richardson, … Continue reading →

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It All Comes Down to Words

howard — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 19:21:35 +0000

As will surprise no one who knows me, I am firmly of the camp that says when all is – to tap one of the larger clichés – said and done, all of what we spend so much time contemplating, … Continue reading →

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Doomed to Work

howard — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 19:01:04 +0000

I just read the Jill Lepore essay in the January 18 issue of The New Yorker, “What’s Wrong with the Way We Work.” It’s yet another semi-sweeping assessment of the sort I get to see and choose to read periodically … Continue reading →

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Resetting the Normalcy Index

howard — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 00:20:16 +0000

It’s close to, but not quite, the time to press the start-button of the internal clock we’re all blessed with. It’s a memory timer, a special one. It doesn’t make it harder or easier to remember things. It’s a device … Continue reading →

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Paranoia Porn

howard — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 19:45:15 +0000

The germ of this thought comes from listening to an interview on Fresh Air yesterday, Thursday, November 12, recorded the day before, which would have been Wednesday, a week and a day since the still officially unresolved election, and at … Continue reading →

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Like Tiresias Throbbing

howard — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 17:00:54 +0000

Of course he won’t go quietly I’m thinking as we all, in some corner of our consciousness, fidget and distract ourselves awaiting an outcome, and suffer the condition of Tiresias in The Waste Land, not so much throbbing between two … Continue reading →

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