liveonearth

Living in an urban area I, like many, exercise in the park.  I was doing so before the pandemic started and I have continued.  My local park is big and beautiful and is seeing a higher level of use now that the gyms are closed.  It feels safe and reasonable except for one thing: the runners who brush past on the paved trails.  They are too close; many runners are making no effort to distance from others who use the same trails.  This is not good enough.

Runners, please run farther away from the other people who use public trails.  In most cases you can run off trail to give people, especially elders, a wide berth.  Consider it part of your workout.  Elders are much less able to avoid you than you are to avoid them.  Running up behind people does not give them an opportunity to avoid you.  There are sections of trail that are restricted in width--you can choose different routes.  Some runners have taken to running on sidewalks and side streets to avoid too-close pedestrians.  This is reasonable and appreciated, and might make it possible for you to enter that thoughtless consciousness that some runners enjoy.

If you are young or Republican and "not worried" about the virus, that does not make it acceptable for you to frighten or expose others.  A certain amount of kindness is expected just because you are part of the human family.  Thoughtlessness and selfishness are not admirable, and I don't think anyone wants to be that way.  We all have the potential to be better than that, to be conscientious and caring in our interactions with each other.  So please, runners, take the extra steps to let all people have a minimum of six feet distance, no matter who they are.  I for one thank you for this kindness.

liveonearth

Being a doc and a dork too, I've been studying on COVID-19 since it first appeared.  Still the magnitude of the crisis is shocking.  This will be a life-changing event and it may last for years.  I could loose both of my parents.  I would not be shocked if I also were to die, but then I have been expecting to die since early in life.  What surprises me is that I am still here, to see all of this.  I never thought I would see the American experiment fail.  I did not anticipate being alive for a pandemic.  I didn't know that I'd live to see another Great or Greater Depression.  But here I am, still breathing, still enjoying the sun streaming through the window and the softness of Kitten's fur, drinking hot tea, with access to internet and hot water coming out of pipes.  I am waiting to see what is next.  I am lucky and I know it.

Being an intravert, it is not yet a hardship to stay home.  In fact, I am more connected with my family and friends because I have been making daily telephone calls.  I generally avoid the telephone, preferring one-on-one in-person conversations.  But now, the telephone is what I have.  And the internet.  I have been spending a lot of time on fecebuk.  I discover more interesting articles there than I do from my own independent web wanderings.  My friends are a thoughtful and intelligent bunch.

I recently read a book called Perennial Seller, about how to create and market a lasting work of art.  I am a writer and a philosopher, and I have several books in the works...and I am thinking that this long period of lockdown will be a good opportunity to write.  If I can persuade my dear partner to stop interrupting me with his stream of consciousness verbal leakage, I have a chance.  My next hurdle is deciding which book to focus on.  I shift back and forth among all my writing projects as a new idea or bit of information provokes me.  This shifting--and the splitting of one chapter into two, one book into two, does not facilitate finishing anything.

Of course, because my job is at a clinic, filling doctor's orders for herbs and supplements, the business may remain open.  I may be one of those who still has a job for a while yet at least.  This is both a blessing (paycheck) and a curse (exposure).

liveonearth

• This epidemiologic analysis revealed that mortality rates are increasing in the middle-aged white male population, largely due to preventable conditions like poisonings and overdoses.


• Reductions in mortality were seen in other racial groups.

SOURCE

liveonearth

Q: What are common risk factors for death at the Canyon?

A: "Men, we have a problem," Ghiglieri said to an audience at NAU's Cline Library this winter, displaying a graphic with a skull and crossbones.

Being male, and young, is a tremendous risk factor, he and Myers found.

Of 55 who have accidentally fallen from the rim of the canyon, 39 were male. Eight of those guys were hopping from one rock to another or posing for pictures, including a 38-year-old father from Texas pretending to fall to scare his daughter, who then really did fall 400 feet to his death.

So is taking unknown shortcuts, which sometimes lead to cliffs.

Going solo is a risk factor in deaths from falls, climbing (anticipated or unplanned) and hiking.

Arrogance, impatience or ignorance also sometimes play a part.