Sunday, August 01, 2021

One Thing Is Sure





Things are most definitely not as I would have them be. 

Nope. Covid is once again overwhelming not only the news cycle but the real world. The delta variant is rapidly infecting the unvaccinated and vaccinated alike -- with the former suffering the worst consequences -- with the fury of the chicken pox.

At least the chicken pox, infectious and itchy as it is, isn't likely to kill you or shut down the global economy.

I feel like we are collectively peering through a looking glass at a massive train crash that is happening in slow-motion. We can see the car and the train hurtling at one another but we are powerless to stop the inevitable.  We also cannot look away.

It is downright horrifying.

For some odd and probably perverse reason, this reminds me of an old Mad Magazine gag from when I was a kid. Clearly I had had a deprived childhood up until then because I was unaware of the magazine until my cousins introduced it to me.

Of course they knew about all the cool stuff because they were boys, three brothers, whereas I only had sisters. So what I knew the most about was playing store, playing house, playing doctor and how to dress up dolls. 

Also, while I knew how to drink tea with Grandma, they'd already figured out how to steal cigarettes and beer.

Anyways, the Mad Magazine page I remember showed Alfred E. Neuman and his pals stuffed into a car that was racing along the highway toward a railroad crossing. They were all looking sideways at us, smiling their wickedly maniacal smiles, rather than watching where they were going. 

They seemed to know something we didn't know.

The next scene showed a huge train rushing down the tracks toward the same crossing as the car.

I think there were then two more panels in the buildup -- the first with the car and the guys with crazed smiles still not looking forward; the second with the train hell-bent on its way, getting closer and closer to the crossing.

Finally came the climactic scene -- C-R-A-S-H!!!!!! All you could see was the pieces of wreckage flying everywhere.

Then came the last panel. In it, the car was still racing along, undamaged, with Alfred E. Neuman and pals smiling their same maniacal smiles, with the train crumpled into a smoking pile in the background.

So there you have a window into not only Mad Magazine's twisted sense of humor but mine as well. 

After the upcoming Covid crash, let us hope that we at least will still be looking out at one another, neither forward nor back, smiling our wickedly knowing smiles with the pandemic a smoking pile in the rear view mirror.

That's just another word for hope.

***

Today's lyrics have one of the great lines of all time: "The Only Thing You Are Sure Of...Is That Nothing Is Sure"

P.S. Thanks Georgie, Dan R.I.P. and Gordie. R.I.P.

***

THE HEADLINES:

* The surge of Covid-19 infections for unvaccinated people is only beginning, experts warn (CNN)

* COVID-19 surge hits Asia; Tokyo, Thailand, Malaysia post record infections (Reuters)


* Her neighbors called covid a hoax. She risked her life to save them.--The pandemic hit late but hard in the Appalachian highlands — the mountainous region that includes Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee — and over the winter many of its victims had ended up on ventilators tended by Emily Boucher and her fellow nurses at Johnston Memorial Hospital. (WP) 

* C.D.C. Internal Report Calls Delta Variant as Contagious as Chickenpox (NYT)

* ‘A rush to get shots’: Vaccine holdouts relent as delta variant takes hold (WP)

* Inside a Covid I.C.U., Hopes Fade as Patients Surge In -- Doctors and nurses in a Florida hospital thought the onslaught of coronavirus admissions had ended. Now they need more intensive care beds. (NYT)

* Another coronavirus variant has reached Florida. Here’s what you need to know. (WP)

* S.F. Mayor says Delta variant could threaten school reopening and cause mask and vaccine mandates (Mission Local)


* Hard-won gains' against Delta variant at risk -WHO (Reuters)

* People who once rejected the vaccine or simply waited too long are now grappling with the consequences, often in raw, public ways. (NYT)

* Require the vaccine. It’s time to stop coddling the reckless. (Opinion/WP)

* Malaysia suspends parliament session citing risk of COVID infection (Reuters)

* Disney and Walmart mandate employees to be vaccinated as covid-19 cases spike nationwide (WP)


*Vietnam to extend lockdown throughout southern region as COVID cases soar (Reuters)

* ‘This Isn’t How We’re Supposed to Live’: Residents Flee as Dixie Fire Surges -- Thousands have had to leave their homes in what has grown into a grim ritual in wildfire-plagued Northern California. Many are demanding answers from PG&E, the large utility company. (NYT)

* Disney makes vaccination mandatory for on-site U.S. employees (Reuters)


* Growing numbers of people are getting Covid-19 vaccines in areas hit hard by the Delta variant—offering a glimmer of hope but still far short of what is needed to end the pandemic, public-health officials say. (WSJ)



* Amazon faces more than slowing sales growth: it needs more warehouses (Reuters)


* How Disabled Americans Are Pushing to Overhaul a Key Benefits Program (NYT)

* Border Surge, Delta Variant Complicate Immigration Agenda --The president has hoped to ease public-health rules at the border, overhaul the asylum system and create a path to citizenship for Dreamers. All of those plans face potential delays or political pushback. (WSJ)

* As the Taliban closes in, Afghan forces scramble to defend prisons holding thousands of militants (WP)

* ‘They Thought I Was Dead’: Haitian President’s Widow Recounts Assassination --Struck by gunfire, Martine Moïse lay bleeding as the assassins who killed her husband ransacked her room. Now, she says, the F.B.I. must find the mastermind behind the attack. (NYT)

* Is a Four-Day Week the Future of Work? --Working fewer hours is getting a new look during the pandemic as companies experiment with cures for employee burnout. (WSJ)

* A Research Vessel Found SpongeBob Lookalikes A Mile Under The Ocean's Surface

-- A photo of a real-life sponge and starfish hanging out together delighted the internet. "The reality is a little crueler than perhaps a cartoon would suggest," says the researcher who posted it. (NPR)

* Textbook Publisher Pearson Bets Big on Online Learning (WSJ)

* Emily Mortimer on the Mitford Sisters -- BBC's "Pursuit of Love"  (New Yorker)

* New Arrivals Consult Wise Couple Who Have Been At Resort For 3 Days Already (The Onion)

***

"IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD" From the film "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963) (Ernest Gold / Mack David) Mixed Chorus (Film Soundtrack) - 1963 The Shirelles - 1963

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world When teenage kids look messed up They will tell you they're all dressed up That's what they claim In this mad, mad, mad, mad world A girl who makes you groovy You call hot stuff, they say cool girl It means the same In this mad, mad, mad, mad world A boy will buy brand new blue jeans And if they fit him just right He'll throw them in the sink Let them soak till they shrink They're not right until they're too tight......Right! Don't try to mastermind it Or discover what's behind it Just scratch your neck and say what the heck It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world Our traffic is so congested Mass confusion on wheels But Detroit is adroit What they'll do in Detroit Is make bigger automobiles......Right! Don't try to understand it How it happened or who planned it Just dance and sing, have yourself a fling in the mad, mad, mad, mad world The only thing you are sure of Is that nothing is sure Have a ball, use it up Only fools give it up Toujours the amour, but toujors......Right! Don't try to mastermind this Or discover what's behind this Just scratch your neck and say what the heck It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world


-30-

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