Desultory Diary, Episode 17: Still More Grave News

Things are getting worse. Currently there are over 125,000 cases of coronavirus in The U.S., along with over 2000 deaths. There is no end in sight. Although China most likely hasn't provided accurate figures, the number of cases in the U.S. has obtained the dubious title of being second to none. Keep America Number One--Trump has accomplished that, if only in this regard..

The President has lost crucial time trying to convince us that the pandemic, as far as Americans are concerned, was nothing to worry about. "It's the common cold, folks," said Rush Limbaugh recently, whom Trump awarded a Medal of Freedom on

Trump had to change his tune in March, since the mounting viral tsunami left our all-wet leader with no place to dry--I mean, lie. Trump has gotten away with his shameless, shameful, self-serving, destructive fictions primarily because the economy was good. Far too many were content to watch his mindless gaslighting sessions on TV; a mindless virus has changed the channel.

Puffed up by his pride as well as by his diet, Trump cuts an increasingly damaged figure on TV. He often distractedly sways back and forth while others speak; he has difficulty reading simple English off the prompter, and when he sniffs ad libs, liberals laugh while conservatives sigh. On one recent occasion, Dr. Fauci, the very decent infectious disease expert, hid his face in his hands while Trump blathered on. His days are perhaps numbered; Trump can't abide what he perceives to be competition. Are there conspiracy theories that Dr. Fauci works for the Deep State and is trying to bring our great leader down? You betcha.

Paraphrasing Mae West's response to a judge in her trial for obscenity, I imagine an angry Trump-appointed judge raging at the fact-checking expert. "Doctor Fauci, are you trying to show contempt to this conservative court?" "No, Judge; I'm doing my best to hide it."

Only a week or so ago, the unemployment rate was at a historic low. That was the past--last week, over 3 million persons applied for unemployment benefits--an historic high, so high ass to be unprecedented. You know it's serious when even Republicans knew that a huge stimulus was necessary. (Obama's stimulus during the financial crisis was passed without one Republican vote in its favor). In no time, both parties have passed a stimulus bill for over 2 trillion dollars. As one might have expected, the Republicans insisted on a 500,000 billion slush fund for corporations. Democrats insissted that there be congressional oversight on how it is spent, but Trump shows little inclination in abiding by what has been passed into law.

As I have mentioned in my previous Covid-19 entries (this is my fifth  "Desultory Diary" Covid-19 article since 3/15/2020),  my primary purpose for writing these is to document the crisis for future generations. What seems so serious to us now might only be a distant memory for those who live after we have passed--and, I am sure, dear readers of the future, you will have your hands  full with other crises, some of which can trace their origins to current greed and mismanagement. I hope, for your sake, that the role of government will not be as demonized at it is now. The only way to keep a capitalist form of government is to reform and regulate it. I hope that has happened, and continues to happen, dear future readers, by your now. If an individual tries to wander through life without a moral compass, he inevitably gets lost. Absolute trust in market forces is like placing  absolute trust, to use Freudian terminology, in the id, without any input form the ego or superego.

We recently have had a horrible example of placing greed over need by the recent statements of the Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick.  He supports Trump's irresponsible proposal that America needs to get back to work now, science be damned.(Trump, pious man that he is, thinks it would be "beautiful" if churches could be "packed" by Easter. I wonder why?). "Let's get back to work," Patrick suggests, 'Those over 70 will take care of themselves." They apparently should see it as a civic duty "to sacrifice themselves for America as we know it" --that is, how he knows it. The Torah advocates that we should choose life; Patrick, in contrast, advocates that we should choose Wall Street instead. Do you remember, people of the future, the nonsensical argument that the Affordable Care Act would encourage "pulling the plug on Grandma?" Well, according to Patrick, grandparents are expendable in order to help assure that his and his corporate buddies' portfolios thrive. Never mind that the virus also kills those in the prime of life. Never mind that science informs us that the best way to "flatten the curve" of mortality is to shelter in place. If this works, and it should, the economy will bounce back.

Dan Patrick, along with many of his capitalist buddies, are a national disgrace.

Will the economy recover? Will we have learned our lesson? I have faith in the former, but, alas! not much in the latter. Which leads me to the most important question of all:

Dear readers of the future, are you still there?

Book Review: "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari

After my recent cataract surgery, I made up for lost time by reading many books. One that I found particularly outstanding was Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind, by the Israeli historian, Yuval Noah Harari.

Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
HarperCollins, NY, 2015
416 pages

Harari, a professor at the University of Jerusalem, is quite erudite and has broad knowledge of history, past and present. His style is clear and non-academic. The book provides just the right amount of diagrams, photos, and illustrations, which the author uses to stress key points.

What was especially satisfying about the book for this reader, and perhaps for many readers as  well,  is that there was always something to learn; always something one already knew said in a new way, and frequently something to disagree with as well. His erudition, presented in clear prose, made what could have been heavy reading seem almost effortless. It has become a best seller, deservedly so, and has been translated into many languages.

Yuval maintains that humankind hasn't changed physically for about 100,000 years, but that about  30,000 years after that  a "cognitive revolution" occurred, which enabled humans to think, imagine, speak, and manipulate the environment to a previously unprecedented degree. (Since that time, human beings haven't changed much.)

"An ivory figurine of a 'lion-man' )or 'lioness woman') from the Stadel Cave in Germany (c. 32,000 years ago). The body is human, but the head is leonine. This is one of the first indisputable examples of art, and probably of religion, and of the ability of the human mind to imagine things that do not really exist." Sapiens, page 23

After reading the book, one has no doubt that Homo Sapiens has been, and still is, the most destructive species that has ever evolved. I learned that there were originally, in addition to Sapiens and Neanderthals, two additional species of humans. Neanderthals, less clever and thus less destructive, were hunter gatherers that roamed in bands of about 50 individuals, while Sapiens, with more sophisticated weapons, hunted and foraged in groups of 150. During the second migration from Africa, about 40,000 years ago, competition between the two species turned deadly. The elimination of Neanderthals--the last representatives of which died out 30,000 years ago--was perhaps the first great genocide of the human race.

One can only imagine the discrimination that Neanderthals would be enduring today if some had escaped extinction. We can't get along with members of our own race, the differences among which are inconsequential! The perpetrators of the Neanderthal genocide had, most likely, dark skin; those most associated with racism today have light skin. Whether the motive for destruction was survival or greed,  the book implies, correctly I think, that the skin color of victors as well as the skin color of the enslaved were simply a matter of chance. (This is perhaps the reason why Yuval mentions that there had been blond slaves during the course of history as well. If so, it is an example of how the author strives to be above the fray by not taking explicit positions. The book contains implicit biases, however, some of which will be discussed). The book corroborates that despite the recent horrors of colonialization, slavery and racism, whites are no better or worse than anybody else--that is, that all humans belong to the most destructive species that has ever existed--this is hardly a consolation. One can't console oneself with the belief that we're all programmed to be destructive, and therefore innocent; we, at least now, have a choice. What are we doing with that choice?

Is there a beautiful, constructive side to humanity as well? Of course there is: Mozart, Martin Luther King, you.

Harari theorizes, reasonably, that the Cognitive Revolution allowed humans to develop sophisticated language. Our species began to tell stories and create myths. Although the myths were subjective, they had, according to Harari, distinct evolutionary advantages. Myths and storytelling gave groups cohesive identities, providing entertainment, passion--and, perhaps, for the first time in history, incipient fanaticisms. Harari asserts, however, that we know very little of the culture of hunter gatherers.

With the Agricultural Revolution, which began about 12,000 years ago, the world changed forever. One of Harari's central assertions is that history and progress don't (always--am I adding that word?) go together. He cites the Agricultural Revolution as a prime example. Research has shown that the quality of food suffered when humans settled in agricultural communities. Diseases proliferated--one can imagine the Covid-19 virus decimating settlements while largely sparing hunter gatherers. Pharaohs, emblems of absolute rule, arose; the problem of poverty, which still plagues civilization today, began during this era. Exploitation, thy name is cereal. But I wish Harari had balanced his view with some of the positives: a great increase in culture, art, tools and an increased ability to manipulate the environment.

Perhaps the darkest blot on modern history is the legacy of racism. Sometimes I think Harari glosses over this calamity. He states that greed and lust for profit were the primary motivations for slavery, not racism. I think it makes little sense to separate the two. True, as he states, some invested in slavery merely to make money. Is that in any way an excuse? Does it explain the brutalities of the Jim Crow South?

Herari asserts that all cultural beliefs and creations, such as religions, political systems, currency, etc. are fictions; they exist only in the mind. He compares the Hammurabi Code, from ancient Babylon, the content of which strikes us today as being grossly unjust, with the Declaration of Independence.

The latter is a fiction as well:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they re endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

becomes,in the light of analysis:


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men evolved differently, that they are born with certain mutable characteristics, and that among them is life and the pursuit of pleasure.

Is he serious? I find Martin Luther King's statement, namely that the arc of history may be long, but always leads to more justice, to be much more convincing. Nothing is either good or bad? If the thirst for decency, and justice; if the assertion that relationships, love, and kindness are most important--if these are illusions, they are certainly categorically different from the illusions of greed, hate, cruelty.

Contrary to widespread belief, morality is not dependent on a supernatural fiat. I agree with Harari that there is no Creator God; one must not forget, however, that the founding fathers were mostly Deists. In the eighteenth century, one couldn't conceive  of the facts of evolution; one needed to posit a God to get everything rolling. The founding fathers were approaching atheism, however, since Deists believed that once God set everything in motion, He completely abandoned His creation. Only in the twentieth century did science evolve enough to assert that creation was "the greatest free lunch ever"  that is, no God is necessary to light the fuse of the Big Bang. We evolved in cultures in which relationships were primary; morality, which oversees relationships, is a natural phenomenon of human development.

Harari stresses the importance of science and the scientific method.which began around 1500 in Europe, along with colonialism and capitalism--he sees a connection. Strangely, he also asserts that Europe didn't produce very much of significance prior to this time. The contributions of Ancient Greece aren't even mentioned.

Sometimes I think that Harari's absolute relativism is a pose. Maybe he desires to please everyone by not taking a stand. There might be another reasons, however. Herari once went through a very orthodox phase of Judaism; he admired Netanyahu; he was, perhaps, a zealot. Now he hates the Trumpian leader of Israel and opposes settlements on the West Bank. I conclude from this that Harari is a seeker, but, now at least, is determined not to flout reason in order to accept a dubious consolation.

Herari gives little indication of his personal passions. There is a hint of his homosexuality, however; a long section about the cruelty with which  animals are treated by the modern meat industry led me to the conclusion, without explicit conformation, that he is a vegan. Later, I discovered that he is indeed a vegan. Good for him.

Just what does he believe in; which mythologies for him are still somewhat holy? I get the impression that Harari wants to be all things to all people---I think he enjoys being a historian rock star. If he allowed himself to be pinned down, he would certainly disappoint some people. (He believes, however, that fundamentalism, is no longer viable, a position with which I agree.)
I think, however, deep down there he is a liberal.

His relativism demands that he reject both liberalism and collectivism, however. I'm not convinced he is right. 

Harari practices Vipassana meditation with a passion. This so-called "Insight" meditation is a Buddhist branch of meditation that concentrates on the three characteristics of existence, namely, dukkha (the insufficiency of phenomenal existence to ultimately satisfy; anicca (nothing is permanent); and anatta--there is no abiding self in anything. This view certainly informs his Weltanschauung.

I agree with this system, but have a major objection. The emphasis is on personal liberation and not on the transformation of society,  a goal to strive for until it becomes, as it were, the pot of gold at the end of the arc of justice.

Relativism often leads to irresponsible individualism; collectivism in its various forms usually leads to brutal, repressive dictatorships. Why not strive for a balance between them that avoids the excesses of both? Both are essential. Regulated capitalism may well be the best political option we have.

Harari believes  that the end of Homo Sapiens might be in the near future. Not necessarily due to war: the development of cyborgs, AI and the ability to manipulate genes might soon end humankind as we know it. If climate change doesn't destroy  us; if epidemics don't destroy us, some form of technology might. Who knows?

All and all, this is a wonderful book. Harari's breadth of knowledge is obvious. Sapiens makes you think and criticize, a winsome combination.

Desultory Diary, Episode 16: More Grave Notes

By the date of this entry, March 24, 2020, you may recall, depending on how far in the future you live, and depending on your interest in history, that we are in the midst of a global pandemic.  Yesterday there were nearly one thousand new U.S. cases of Covid-19 and an ungrand total of 550 deaths.

The Orange Red-Hatted Booby is especially nervous, since an economic collapse would probably bring in its wake the drowning of Big Bird's reelection hopes. So he is considering curtailing the shelter-in-place directive for a back-to-work corrective. This is of course in vehement opposition to expert advice. Our tragedy and his is that he truly believes he's a genius and can buck those stuffy scientists for the benefit of all--especially for him and his corporate cronies. Dr. Fauci, the government infectious disease expert, has been lately absent from President Looney Tunes's press briefings--The former has been making the unpardonable mistake of doing his best to correct Trump's lies and errors. I think the President might soon try to jeffsession the man back to Brooklyn. The scientist's ability to speak truth to power reminds me of the last voice of reason, spoken by a man who was about to disappear, complaining of Nazi crimes in the German Reichstag, right before Hitler shut it down. Après Trump, le deluge?

Democracy might be a defective form of government, given the degree of greed, hate, and delusion among the people and their representatives, but it's the best system for protecting civilization's mountaintop settlements, our towns and cities, from going over the cliff. Trump, pushing us in that direction, is already talking about abrogating civil rights to help combat the emergency. This would make matters worse--and, besides, can we trust a man like Trump to decide when the emergency is over? I can already hear him protesting that the election in November--if Biden wins, that is--was rigged.

Democracy depends on an educated public. Our system of education has failed a large segment of the population, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

I repeat the obvious: one should get one's information from vetted, scientific sources. Usually a president informs the public with sound advice, delineating scientific directives to combat a medical emergency. What we get from the Mad Hatter is tinctures of sense washed down with a gallon of snake oil. He recently stated that he believed that chloroquine phosphate, used to treat malaria, would benefit those who are infected with Covid-19; he thought that the use of this drug would be, to use his words, "a game changer."

It proved to be a life changer for a couple in Arizona. The woman, totally convinced of what her president said, recalled she still had a solution of the drug which she used to treat ich, a fungus that affects fish. (When I was a kid, I had a collection of tropical fish. In those days, we treated the fungus with methyllene blue, a few drops of which, as per directions on the bottle, turned the water blue. The fungus was easily observable, consisting of white spots, especially  apparent on black fish. I remember watching those little white stars swim by on a living patch of pitch black, underwater sky). The couple, panicked about the pandemic, and, even though they had no symptoms, took a dose of a drug meant for koi: the husband died quickly, the wife eventually recovered in a hospital. (By the way, my fish seemed to thrive despite the fungus--until I added methyllene blue to the water, which often caused them to sink to the bottom forever. Yes, "the cure was worse than the problem").

"We can't let the cure be worse than the disease" said a cadaverous-looking stiff on Fox News; the following day, Trump co-opted the phrase, albeit in a lesser version. We gotta get America back to work--after too-brief period of staying at home. I really think he's going to try to endanger the lives of us all, so he and his corporate buddies can prosper.

My heart dropped when I heard the governor of Texas on YouTube, advocating that seniors be willing to sacrifice themselves for what he has determined to be the public good. Let old people die so that he can fly high? This is disgraceful, this is obscene, evil, and sick.

Good can come of this crisis only if the American people stop being programmed consumers and simplify their lives. I have little hope that this will happen. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori? Shut the fuck up, Horace, and have a Coke.

How did our politics get to be so evil? I sometimes feel like one of those educated Romans who escaped to their villas in order to ignore the creeping destruction around them. I am, however, not giving up on the world yet.

Everyone agrees that a stimulus is needed. The one proposed by the Republicans, however, contains a 500 billion dollar slush fund that Trump can use at his discretion to enrich any corporation he chooses. 

Trump has reduced his party, more or less, to a bunch of greedy sycophants, but there are exceptions. Romney is a die-hard capitalist, for instance, but he has standards. Trump doesn't.

In a recent press conference, Trump was asked if he were aware of several members of Congress who have recently tested positive for Covid-19. Trump, of course, was unaware of this occurrence; while the reporter was reciting the names of the infected politicians, our dear leader stopped him when he heard Romney's name. "Romney is in isolation?  Too bad!" Can one imagine the White Man in the Spite House ever to be fair?

When I was a kid, I loved to visit the Museum of Natural History. I remember  being saddened by the skeleton of a dodo:

Waiting for Trump to fly right is like, pace Beckett, Waiting for Dodo. Even if resurrected by genetic engineering, the bird would still be unable to fly.

Now, after many, many years, I look at a picture of all that remains  of a glorious animal, which became extinct through human greed and folly. O My God!, I say to myself, that could be us.

Not necessarily. Vote!

Desultory Diary, Episode 15: What to do?

1.
I've been writing a few articles about the Covid-19 epidemic for future generations, ("Notes from the Grave," Desultory Diary entries 13 and 14), entry 15, namely this one, is a little different, addressing those in the present as well.

We are in the midst of a terrible pandemic, the kind none of us, not even centenarians, have experienced in their lifetime. Most of us--or at least many of us, are doing our best to "shelter in place" a recently coined phrase that signifies, basically, that we all should stay home and stay six feet away from each other. My wife and I, senior citizens, and therefore in the highest risk group for a negative outcome, (that is, the negative outcome), are doing our best, though, admittedly, the six-foot rule has become, between the two of us, a six-inch one.

Many people, especially, younger ones, interpret "Shelter in  Place" to mean "Turn the Other Cheek": that is, give your neighbor, metaphorically at least, une bise complète. Many are cavorting in Florida, enjoying their spring break. They are supposed to be staying at home, preferably alone.The reason for doing this has been to protect codgers like me from getting sick, but there is now evidence that young people can have serious sequelae from the virus as well. China, a country that has done a lot to curtail the spread of the virus, now has few new domestic cases. If a drone over Miami Beach requested young people to go home, do you think they would come out of the water? Don't they realize that we're in hot water already?

My wife, a pediatrician, has gone to work today, but will severely curtail her practice after that. (She will remain home next week and offer telemedicine and phone service only. We will have to figure out what to do after that.

Living in what I now call "a first/Third World country," an unadvanced advanced country that has diddled while the virus spreads. I am frustrated. Still not enough tests. How can we get a handle on a weight the mass of which remains unknown?

The stock market continues to tank; we are most likely heading for a severe recession. We will soon, I think, see unemployment rates unseen since 2008.

No one knows--except you, dear readers of the future--how long this is going to last. Schools, libraries, gyms, universities, theaters, movie houses--even Amazon--are all closed. We--those of us who follow the guidelines--have a lot of time on our hands. The shutdown is only in its initial stages.

What to do?  That is the subject of the rest of this little essay.

2.
Well, I shall relate only how one man and woman are passing their time. It is probably representative of few others, although some of our strategies might overlap.

The closing of gyms has affected us. In normal times, Nirmala went to the gym three times a week, while I, who have more leisure, went about five times. We took yoga classes, spinning classes, step; we did weights and used various machines. We had--and hope to have again--a substantial social network at LA Fitness. I can understand when someone said, "I used to go to church, now I go to the gym"--except we, as one might assume who has read my blog regularly, never went to church.

We take walks, one of the best remedies against cabin fever we know. The weather was quite springlike today, almost summer-like, (in the seventies). The cherry trees are in bloom, daffodils are everywhere--and, as I expressed once in a poem, yellow is enough. Branches, like us, have their burdens, but they sure bear them well. Here is a picture of a magnolia tree that we passed by today. We will miss visiting the cherry blossoms in Washington; neighborhood magnolias will have to do, and they do do nicely:

We listen to music, all types. And I play and practice music on the piano as well.

My son Philip helps us a lot. It won't be long before we'll run out of perishable food--toilet paper? Don't bring that up. We don't need much; we're also not hoarders.

I needed a break, so I didn't follow the news closely today. I streamed a clip, though, of the Red-Hatted Wonder who chewed up a reporter for asking him if he had anything to say to anxious Americans regarding the pandemic.Thin-skinned as a centenarian, Trump  interpreted this soft-ball question as an attack on his performance.

There are now over 18,000 cases in the United States, and over 200 deaths. Tests are still in short supply. And we, apparently, haven't seen anything yet.

And, oh, yes, I meditate twice daily.

Cicero once said that life is like being chained to a chariot. One then has two choices: to fall down and be dragged or to run and keep up with the horses. At the moment, we're running. even sometimes enjoying the scenery as we go. We  don't get tired; after all, it's just metaphor.

3.
One of the main ways I pass the time is reading. I just finished Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens, which I found fascinating. Will write a review.

I've averaged about a book a week since I had my cataract surgery in November. Before that, I struggled with glasses and a magnifying glass. Reading is easier for me now, and I read faster.

A partial list of books I've recently read: Dirty Money by Jane Mayer, an impressive eye opener about the nefarious behavior of oligarchs; The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert, fascinating as it is sad--as I asked the future generation in a previous blog, 'Are there still giraffes?' probably not; unless genetic manipulation brings them back, an intervention detailed in another book I very much enjoyed, A Crack in Creation: Genetic Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution; The Ape Within, by Frans de Waal; The Age of Empathy, by Frans de Waal; Killing Commendatore, by Haruki Murakami--a vintage Murakami novel; There There, by Tommy Orange; Un Chemin de Tables by  Mayles de Karngal; Weit Über das Land, by Peter  Stamm--a very moving novel, in English: To The Back of Beyond; On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, an interesting novel by the poet Ocean Vuong; How We Got to Now, by Stephen Johnson, an excellent read.

I've provided the list for three reasons. First and foremost, it serves as an example of how one man is spending his time. Second, it might serve as an inspiration to others--what works for me might work for you. Third, it allows me to ask a question of future readers of this blog: how many of these books are still read? Stamm's and Murakami's novels, probably--one or both might well have received a Nobel Prize by (your, future readers) now.

If there is a silver lining to this cloud of unknowing, it is that the virus, by attacking humans, has thereby reduced the degree to which we are attacking nature. Pollution is down, at least somewhat. The big guzzlers of fossil fuel, such as cruise ships and airplanes, have been sidelined. If virtual eyes could gaze down from an empty Ponte di Rialto, they would see signs that fish have returned to the canals. The silver  lining is that we have been forced to live more simple lives, something, in light of global warming, we have to do. I have no doubt that we will return to our destructive ways once this crisis is over; it provides proof, however, that simple, less selfish living is possible. For some people, however, the silver lining quickly turns to lead. I've read today about the summary dismissal, without any type of severance pay, of airport personnel. Those who live from paycheck to paycheck are in trouble. It is incumbent, not only on government, but on the rest of us who are able financially to survive, to help them out. 

And, of course, writing is another way I keep busy, including writing this blog.

I would be interested to hear from others regarding how they're getting through the mess we're in.

I hope you are all well and remain that way. I can only complain of a low-grade fever. (I'm being metaphorical again; I'm referring to a mild case of cabin fever).

To Be Continued

Desultory Diary, Episode 14: More Notes from the Grave

1.
This is my second entry addressed to readers of the future. Perhaps not even born yet as I write this, should you find this needle in the haystack of a future generation, I hope you will be able to use it as a stylus; hope it will be able to play this little record of the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. First, I'd like to ask you a few questions about the future.

Is Greta Thunberg revered as a secular saint by your generation,  much as Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King are by mine? Is greed, hate, and delusion as prevalent in your age as it is in ours? Have Miami, Bangkok and the entire nation of Bangladesh gone the way of Atlantis? Are there still giraffes?

A recent study from London predicted there might be over two million deaths from Covid-19 in the United States, if rapid action is not taken. "Rapid action" to combat a disease for which at present there is no treatment or vaccine, means, well, hibernating, (for now)  a voluntary withdrawal from daily activities and staying at home for who knows how long. What we are trying to do is neatly summarized by this illustration:

If we stay out of circulation, the curve of infections will flatten, and lives will be saved. Since Covid-19 tends to be benign in the young and much more deadly in the elderly, it's hard to imagine that young people, so used to action, will accept Lewis Carroll's dictum, "Don't just do something, stand there!"  Who need to be protected are older persons, a category that has included my wife and me for a long time. I have my doubts that this will be done; this isn't China. For instance, we live in a neighborhood mostly populated by young families and the middle-aged. No one has ever asked us how we're doing or if we need anything. At the moment, though, things are good. (BTW, how did we die?)

Thank God for my son, who checks in on us frequently.

2.
Having been retired for several years, I am perhaps better able to manage my time at home than most. (Do I have cabin fever? Indeed. The gym is closed. Aargh!) I spend my time reading, writing, playing the piano, listening to music, listening to silence, etc. Lately, I have been playing, This Ole House, Rosemary Clooney's hit from 1954. (Why not listen to it on YouTube--do  you still have YouTube? Perhaps what you have is thought-initiated?) 

Here are the lyrics:

This ole house once knew his children
This ole house once knew his wife
This ole house was home and comfort
as they fought the storms of life
This ole house once rang with laughter
This ole house heard many shouts
Now he trembles in the darkness
When the lightning walks about

Ain't gonna need this house no longer
Ain't gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles
Ain't got time to fix the floor
Ain't got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the widow pane
Ain't gonna need this house no longer
He's a gettin' ready to meet the saints.

Playing this upbeat classic in downbeat times, I began singing my own lyrics:

When septuagenarians sniffle,
will they get out of the rain
Will they sing when no one's watching
Will they dance without a cane
Will they dare to go out shopping
And buy up all the bread
Remember us! We're laughing
Even though we'll soon be dead.

Ain't gonna need this mouth no longer
Ain't gonna need this mind no more
Ain't no time to eschew strudel
Ain't no time to vote for war
Ain't no time to vex my noodle
Over things that  pinch and hurt
Ain't gonna need my flesh no longer
Gettin' ready to meet my fate.

Well, if I do meet the saints today, I sure hope they tell me, "Get the *** back to Baltimore--this is not your time!" Yet.

3.
As of today, 3/18/2020, there are over five thousand documented cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., and about one hundred deaths. Even the Orange Red-Hatted booby is getting serious. He plans a huge stimulus and is considering mailing checks to various sectors of the population. His words, however, are trustworthy as a parrot's.

Nirmala worked half-day today. She will finish the week on a curtailed schedule, and close her office down completely for the week after that. Good news.

In Italy, there are over 31,000 cases and over 2,500 deaths, mostly among the old. The health system is swamped; already there are not enough respirators. The cemeteries, especially in the north of the country, are swamped as well. Funerals are not permitted at this time.

Our president claimed today that he knew it would be an epidemic all along. Jan. 22: "We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it totally under control. It's going to be just fine."

In this first-third world country of ours, we still have no idea how extensive the outbreak is; testing is still far away from being widely available.

Everything's closed: libraries, theaters, movie houses, many businesses, etc. Pharmacies and supermarkets, many with empty shelves remain open.  We heard of a case of an elderly couple who were afraid to leave their car. They called over a young person, gave her their shopping list and a hundred dollars. The kind woman soon brought back two bags full of  food. We're not that frightened yet; maybe we should be.

We're reliving Boccaccio's Decameron, updated nearly 700 years later. Instead of ten aristocrats escaping the plague, then raging in Florence, for a sojourn  of storytelling in a more salubrious environment, we are millions of people,  a whole country, living under house arrest. No sense heading for the hills to escape this virus. Instead, we head for the couch, stream a movie, sip whatever, discuss the weather, wriggle a bit, then shut up. We old folks, however, still read.

To be continued.

Desultory Diary, Episode 13: Notes From The Grave

I have maintained this blog for over ten years; I have put over  three hundred articles onto the internet over this period. At this moment, people all over the world might well be reading posts dating from as far back as 2010. This site has received many hits and comments--not all of them favorable. In ten years I will be in my mid-eighties; in 20 years, well, you can figure that out. In 30 years, well, you can figure where I'll be then, as well--most likely ganz und gar von der Erde verschwunden, ein Haufen Asche in einem Aschenhof. Sorry.

I assume, I might be wrong, that people will still be reading some of these articles occasionally. long after I'm gone, provided that Google doesn't ever erase me from its databank. Oh, I suppose I'll make a disk and bury it in a time machine--do people still do that? No, of course not.

So I thought I'd write a blog entry or two addressed to readers in the future. How did old folks manage during the coronavirus  pandemic in the spring of 2020? You don't know what Covid-19 was? Google it, or ask one of your robots programmed to relate life way back when an Orange Red-Hatted Booby was president of the United States. (I'd love to read a future account of the reign of number 45. Good God, maybe the consensus will be that he indeed made America great again, but I doubt it. I'm reminded of an old film by Woody Allen where a visitor from the future watched a contemporary show about the benefits of eating salad and then asked, "Didn't they know about fudge?")

We have been told by Dr. Fauci, the current Director of NIH, to hunker down and stay home. We have no idea how extensive the epidemic is in the United States, since our dear leader played down the extent of the problem, since he felt this would damage his chances for reelection. Very few tests have been available so far, and I for one have no idea when they will be readily obtainable in the U.S. as they are now in Europe and elsewhere.

Now that from your perspective, dear future reader, the problem everyone is so worried about now is a thing of the past, you might have forgotten how all this started, so allow me to refresh your memory. First evidence of Covid-19 occurred in China in the last month of 2019. Since then, there have been about 170,000 cases and  6,500 deaths worldwide. Most people recover, but the elderly and those with underlying health conditions are at a much higher risk for serious complications, i.e. respiratory distress and, when worse comes to worst, death.

As of this writing, there are over 2,000 documented cases in the United States, but  this statistic is misleading, since testing has been only minimally available. Testing, one hopes, will increase in the coming weeks.

How does it feel to be confined to one's home for who knows how long? Like a mouse behind a wainscot which separates its boredom from a roomful of cats? Already old, I feel like I'm in a nursing home. At least I'm in my own house!

The increasing virusstorm has had an even worse effect than an approaching snowstorm: members of the most destructive species on earth have descended on grocery stores like hordes of locusts. Shelves were soon empty where hours before essentials such as milk, bread and toilet paper were present. (Toilet paper? How many rolls does one need? My son recently installed a toilet bidet, so we need very little of this commodity. As an Indian/Indianized couple we never needed much of that stuff anyway).

My son Philip came over today, and was a great help. Oh, you people of the future, I can handle the fact that Entropy, by the time some of you read this, has done me in--but, you indifferent, interminable ticker, I wish you had left my son and wife alone!

All the things we are busy with today will pass away like the scent of the last rose of summer on a breezy autumn day.  For instance, my wife Nirmala is still busy entering patient data into the computer--yes, she is still a practicing pediatrician. We plan to close the office for a week or so to do our part to prevent the virus from spreading.

I know what you're thinking: we're overreacting. By the time you read this, this crisis may well be forgotten. And, no doubt, you are probably dealing with something far worse: the ravages of climate change. For your sake, I hope that science has come up with something to mitigate that terrible legacy of my generation. If  there has been no progress in this regard, I wonder if you are reading this from Mars?

To be continued.

A Desultory Diary, Episode Twelve: Don't Blame Red-Hatted Boobies on Darwin

1. Two Types of Booby

I recently returned from the land of the placid blue-footed boobies, namely, the Galápagos Islands, only to return to the turbulent land of the red-hatted booby, namely, the United States. 

The Orange Mad Hatter has many red-hatted followers; the birds were created by chance mutations; the red-hatted ones came from destructive mutations in thinking, little gods who entered a mythical world from the foam of their own blather.

My wife and I had traveled at the right time. Travel seems less inviting to us now; we're seniors, in a high-risk group for suffering serious complications from the virus, which has since risen to pandemic levels.

The call of the wild encouraged us to travel to Ecuador; the call of a child, e.g. "There are fifteen cases; it will soon go down to zero," encourages us to plug our ears and hide--something we refuse to do.

The orange red-hatted booby has been a "Maulheld" that is, a "mouth hero," his entire adult life. (Fact checkers have determined that he has lied over 16,000 times since taking office.) His good and our bad luck is that he has gotten away with it. Until now. 

2. Semper Unparatus

President Trump addressed the nation last night regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. At least he is beginning to take the crisis seriously, the optimist in me thought. The pessimist replies, Don't you know that man yet? The focus of the speech was wrong. 

The pessimist has a point. The president spoke of containment, while he should have spoken about management of a crisis that is already here.

First of all, the lack of access to health care by all citizens is a major barrier to mitigation of viral spread. We are alone among the major industrialized countries in this chosen predicament. Obamacare could have easily been improved by a responsible president. Instead, Trump has done his very best to destroy it, no matter the consequences, that is, without a replacement. Even now, adjudication to declare Obamacare illegal is supported by the booby's administration.

Persons without health coverage tend to avoid visits to the doctor or to the emergency room. Proper surveillance dictates diagnosing cases as early as possible.

Secondly, Trump's immigration policy discourages undocumented immigrants from visiting the doctor and from visiting emergency rooms as well. This adds to the difficulties of obtaining an early diagnosis, crucial to management of the disease. (Many undocumented cases of Covid-19 will not be isolated under present conditions and will spread that very contagious disease.)

Thirdly, the nation is unprepared. The lack of the ability to test for the virus is a national scandal. The CDC refused to accept an effective test available from the World Health Organization. The former's testing kits turned out to have a problem. Still, the CDC refused to allow local labs to develop tests. The situation may well be resolved in a few days, but at the time of this writing only a total of about 5,000 tests have been done in the United States. This means that the total number of documented U.S. cases, a little over a thousand, are grossly inaccurate and not comparable to the number of cases reported in China as well as in Europe. How can we surveil a condition when we don't even know the extent of its presence?

In addition, hospitals are not prepared to deal with a large number of patients ill from the coronavirus. Many will need respirators; There aren't enough of them. If you were a doctor treating two persons in need of mechanical ventilation and you had only one respirator, what would you do? Such a dilemma is far from unthinkable. One can easily imagine that emergency departments will soon be overwhelmed.

In China, many critically ill patients have been effectively treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We lack the ability to meet the demand for this procedure, if our heath system is overwhelmed, which is a distinct possibility.

Angela Merkel recently stated that it is quite possible that 50-60
percent of the German population might well become infected. Contrast this with Trump's speech. Extrapolate that figure to the United States and there will be 150,000,000 Americans affected. Since the virus is thought to be ten times more fatal than the flu, the total deaths from the virus would be 1,500,000--A nightmarish possibility.

Trump's speech, presumably written by Trump's Mephistopheles, Stephen Miller, identifies Covid-19 as a "foreign virus." The Orange Red-Hatted Booby has tweeted that the wall is going up fast--another lie; and that it is more needed now than ever --yes, another lie. These destructive examples of Trump's xenophobia and racism are not who we are, red-hatted boobies, a lot of them anyway, excepted.

3. A Visit to the Shakespeare Theater

Shortly after our return from Ecuador, my wife and I traveled to Washington, D.C. to see a play. Oblivious to the extent of the crisis while we were away and unable, due to a lack of surveillance, to comprehend its extent, we, like mad dogs and foolhardy Americans, went out into the spring-like sun. The Amtrak parking lot was nearly empty. Baltimore's Penn Station was as populated as a field with four-leaf clovers. The Marc train to Washington was about as full as the belly of a polar bear on an ice floe. The theater, usually replete with seniors like ourselves, was anything but. After the performance we headed to our favorite Chinese restaurant. Except for us, it was completely empty during our entire meal. We felt like we were eating Ma Po Bean Curd while negotiating a tightrope over an abyss.

People are staying home. Since the economy is largely consumer-driven, I am convinced that the stock market has much farther to fall. This would likely make Trump's reelection, his main concern, shakier. One thinks of the words Goethe  put in Mephistopheles's
mouth: "I am a part of that power which always wants to do Evil and always winds up doing Good." Do we have to wind up that way only after doing so much harm? Surely we're better than that. 

Trump's lack of empathy was again in full evidence when he said that he thought the exhausted people quarantined on the cruise ship should stay on the cruise ship, so that the number of cases in the U.S. would not increase, an increase which he would find detrimental to his chances of reelection.

We had a concert to attend this Sunday. Canceled. I was supposed to lecture at a local college. Canceled. Further plans to travel: Canceled. I involuntarily thought of a dreadful poem someone showed me years ago, which referred to the death of an inhabitant of Prague as a Canceled Czech.

The virus is immune to the booby's tweets; even though mindless, it can easily outfox Fox News. It is, however, unconsciously clever, even though, as a virus, it is only half alive. Will it prove to be smarter than us?

If the Orange Red-Hatted Booby isn't defeated in November, the answer is, unfortunately, yes.