Monday, April 20, 2020

Hebridean sheep: Piping friends, Create-Alongs, and further coronavirus thoughts * * California wildflowers * * * With Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 LIFE IS WEIRD * * * How to keep dancing and creating, in this time of novel coronavirus pan-demic?



Good morning, my wonderful mother,

It was really nice to talk yesterday evening - in a slightly more open-ended way than usual. Appreciating your precautions in this novel coronavirus time, and that your new home and garden are working out, - and our co-thinking and reasoning.

If an anti-aging 'vitamin' comes along, perhaps we'll be communicating at age 220 :), if we're relatively healthy.

As I was playing my Scottish Small Pipes around 10 yesterday evening, 2 piping friends communicated with me - Bruce Maxwell, who went to Haverford, emailed, and Rees Parker texted, who's piping again. I appreciate the friendliness of Bruce's email (see below), and was glad to hear from Rees, with whom I communicate infrequently. In this time of sheltering at home due to a novel virus situation, appreciating these increased connections.

Was looking around for most trainable pets on the web yesterday - thinking in terms of the next create a pet Create-Along, and also what might work as a good pet in Scratch programming, and Lego Robotics. I found regarding pets and 'language' learning, Budgies (little parakeets), and parakeets / Macaws, - and, regarding trainability, in general, dogs, border collies, and poodles, atop some lists. I was appreciating how much many trainable pets like to be social, like to be loved even - like budgies. I too have been very social in the past, am much less social n Canyon, where I live - and now with sheltering at home and coronavirus, this solo-ness is furthered. And I'd like to begin a family too, and am seeking a life partner in these regards. 

It would be good to be in some good communication here with neighbors in Canyon, as novel coronavirus develops and re quarantine ... 

... And are societal processes, in learning newly about viruses and how to function (in all 200 countries, epidemiologically, and now information technologically), moving on from China, global warming, illegal sex trade ... to primarily genetic navigation - that is 'in case of emergency' - and also especially re testing of economies, and testing of law? Is fire drill - (what caused it?, if this is a plausible hypothesis, and metaphor) - fizzling out, as the US develops newly long term virus / genetic emergency plans? And what of the rich and poor people (and countries too) - how to aid the poor in a time of novel coronavirus - and with approaches to viruses too ... avatar bot electronic medical records? UBI experiments to distribute a single digital currency to all 7.5 billion people? ... Your mentioning sanitizing your credit card in these regards is interesting regarding societal processes around money in newly thinking about viruses. There are a whole bunch of social and cultural questions I have concerning issues of genetic virus scale, risk and danger re novel coronavirus and who benefits and doesn't? Has this been a 'progressive' virus - is a curious question? But I think could lead to interesting questions. 

Further piping today ... are you singing at home, Ma, at all? :)

Love, Scott


From Bruce: 
Hi Scott,
   I'm not interested in participating in your WUaS.  Please remove me from the list.
  You might have heard that I moved up to Eureka a few months ago.  I like it here! There's some Celtic music scene - except in the past month since the Stay at Home order.  I have a little work to do via email with the same awning and canopy company in Hayward I've been working with for the past few years.  Also some house renovation with my nephew's rental property business.  Supposedly, I am hired to be a Census enumerator - but that's been on hold for a few weeks.
   I hope you're doing well.  Keep me in mind if you ever come up this way.
   Best wishes,
   Bruce Maxwell



To Bruce: 

Hi Bruce, 

Your email came just as I was playing my Scottish Small Pipes in preparation for my 1st upcoming album I'm planning tentatively titled 'Honey in the Bag' - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/02/western-honey-bee-re-my-upcoming-honey.html. Am both giving and taking Skype lessons presently as well! My student lives in SF, and has played Highland Pipes since around 2006, and I'm studying with Connor Sinclair at the National PIping Centre in Glasgow, who recently at around age 23 won the Glen Fiddich and Northern Meeting, and from whom I'm learning much. I'll remove you from the MIT OCW-centric wiki World Univ & Sch emailings; please remember that when our wiki front end and back end come together, the wikis are and will be for open wiki-teaching and learning - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Subjects - much like editing or reading a Wikipedia article. (On with my 5th book, also Harbin-inspired, in the autumn - https://www.amazon.com/author/scottmacleodworlduniversity! ... and seeking to facilitate a realistic virtual Harbin / realistic virtual earth for STEM research and as classrooms!).

I knew you were heading north, Bruce - congratulations on your big successful move, and I'm so glad you're enjoying Eureka! (Have you ever come into communication with Heather Paxson, who went to Haverford, too, as well as to Stanford for her Ph.D. and is an Anthropology Professor at MIT now, by any chance?). Congratulations on continuing your architectural-related work during this shelter in place time with both the awning and canopy company, and your nephew's rental properties. New role as digital census enumerator? 
I'm glad you're doing well, Bruce, and thanks much for your email. It would be nice to visit you in Eureka sometime, perhaps on my way to a Reed College gathering. And you're welcome to stay in my front room, or similar, if you're in the Bay Area and would like a place to stay. Even if not, please come visit again in Canyon!

Best wishes, Scott

PS Regarding the coronavirus pandemic, more than 35 blog posts in the genes' label here - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/genes?m=0 ~
PPS Are you on Twitter very much?

-- 
- Scott MacLeod





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HI Ma, 

How's your day going? And how are you? 

Had a great 3 hour and 40 minute conversation with Peter Bothe in Germany getting some big project things done and also just talking about events of the day. 

... 


Just got an email from Bill Roberts too - re his helpful Covered California thinking re KP, and having done the next step of getting the Contra Costa Health Plan Care in the PerformR system on Saturday. ... Will seek to follow up with Bill, with Ms. Marie B re switching into KP again, and with Kim S at Covered CA with Ms. Maria Ramirez constituent consultant in state senator's office about all of this too. 

On with big project work ... and glad to have spoken with Peter Bothe in a variety of ways just now!

What are you up to today and this evening?  

Love, Scott
-- 
- Scott MacLeod


*
Ma, 

You mentioned last night at the close of our call that there's a big difference between flu and novel coronavirus Covid-19 ... what if it's just a little difference, since people recover from the coronavirus too? :) 


Love, Scott

-- 
- Scott MacLeod



* *

Hwy Ma,

5 wildflowers I saw, on a great 45+ minute walk up around the saddle near the water basin to become hot pool, hopping over the fence, and walking down into Indian valley, 2 of which I can name -

California poppy - orange
Sweet pea - a nitrogen fixer

- then there was the most profuse flower everywhere with 4 petals each
- a yellow crown flower
- a 5 petal purple fliwer,

And came close to four healthy cattle, two of which were calves, under a tree at a watering place /hole crossing the road

Reminds of a poem or two I write with cattle near Harbin

Crossed a little creek back to my side of the valley and saw a sixth flower, Scotch broom, also profuse ...

I may send photos from this email address

2 email addresses too with flower in their name :)

Musicalmacflower@gmail.com
Yogamacflower@gmail.com

What wild flowers did you see walking today?

Love, Scott



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Ma,

Total of 7 wild flowers seen as of today ...

Just walked the large loop the other way from yesterday - thru the valley, over the fence, up to the saddle near possible rusty hot tub, and back - nearly 45 minutes and beautiful. SAW a new little yellow flower on cool day, but not taking pics yet, since flowers were kind of closed.

Did big Yoga standing poses, and balancing on 1 foot too, this morning. Having read Harvard Prof's Greg Mankiw's very human blog entry about his mother having broken her hip a time or two, am wanting to build up standing poses until 220 yo to mitigate this, and 1220 too :)

Here are some trainable pets I found while thinking about doing my next 'Create a Pet' Create-Along Scratch programming project for Thursday.

Trainable pets -
https://unitedveterinarycenter.com/blog/best-pocket-pets/

https://www.petdogplanet.com/most-trainable-dogs/#ftoc-heading-7

Budgie talking
https://youtu.be/eru5ChEU3oc

Macaw
https://youtu.be/76jV5nnx8o4

https://youtu.be/3CRA6m_H5e4

Am wondering too about Lego Robotics' pets - a little like Funky Snail's story - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/386012815 - here at top http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/04/kalinga-ornata-found-myself-teaching.html?m=0 - but snails aren't trainable as I see this.

Harvested too my first lettuce from my garden - from a flower pot of lettuces I bought... (seeking to avoid watering the leaves due not wanting to consume very much at all the light colored mineral in the water:)

How was your day? What if anything are you doing to prevent hip damage in your 110s besides daily walking, Ma? :)

Love, Scott

(in the Create a Story! studio - https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/26192944)

https://scratch.mit.edu/users/Helianth

Found myself teaching meditation in a Scratch programming in this too :)






* * *
With Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 - LIFE IS WEIRD

Catherine S. Vodrey

2:02 PM (6 hours ago)
to me
Dear Scott —

Thanks for your text! Here, as I'm sure it is there, LIFE IS WEIRD. I wish Henry and Lillian both were home. I get why they’re not, but my mama bear instinct wants them home. Lillian is a receptionist at a downtown Columbus law firm and she's considered essential personnel. She loves the job (moving up to paralegal at some point is likely). She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan last May. Henry works at a car dealership in Athens, about 50 minutes from Columbus, and he's considered essential too. He's only sold three cars this month; a great month for him is more like 16 or 18 cars. Ugh. We're all glad that they're still employed.

The Trib let Steve and about half the staff go last month. He was planning to leave anyway as of April 15th, as we'd both had enough of living apart for the last three-plus years. The paper lost one of its biggest advertisers (to the tune of $1 million annually) so it was a big financial shock for the paper.

I am finally figuring out working from home in week three. The first two weeks felt very choppy and disjointed. I couldn’t seem to sit at the computer for more than an hour before I felt the need to go irritate the cats or bother Steve. Guess you can good at anything with some exposure and practice, and that’s what it’s taken in this situation for me.

At this point, it looks as though my parents are staying in Florida indefinitely. They had tickets to fly home on the 16th, but they are spooked about getting on a plane and being in an airport. Steve's twin sister Silke had to fly down to North Carolina last month to visit her daughter Megan and said on the flight back to Youngstown, there were only seven passengers on her plane. So actually, I imagine planes and airports to be fairly germ-free places to be at the moment.

Our doctor friend in Pittsburgh Bill implanted a pacemaker in a patient with coronavirus last Saturday. Bill's wife Amy tells me that she makes him undress entirely in the garage, putting his scrubs in a special bag she leaves out there for him. She washes his scrubs alone without any other clothes, and she washes them twice in hot water just for good measure. After Bill undresses, he runs through the house and up the stairs in his underwear, showers and then and only then is he allowed to hug and visit with Amy and their daughters. Both daughters are home from school. Poor elizabeth was a freshman at William & Mary, which has a joint degree program with St. Andrew's in Scotland. It's now looking unlikely that she'd spend the next two years there, so that's a big disappointment. 

Was reading in the New York Times earlier this week that world supply chains are likely to be significantly changed from here on out. It doesn’t make sense in a health crisis that the vast majority of our health equipment (from masks and gloves to expensive hospital equipment) is made outside of the country. An unintended positive effect may be the return to the United States of at least some manufacturing jobs.

I hope you and yours are doing well! 

XOXOX,
CeeVee


*
Hi Catherine, 

Thanks for your email as well. 

Am glad your kids have jobs, and sorry to hear that your husband doesn't - in this time of novel coronavirus Covid-19 worldwide. Am wondering if this coronavirus pandemic is mostly a overblown fire drill where the novel coronavirus is not much worse than the flu, or the common cold (since so many people are recovering from it), and whether a much more serious genetic event based on SARS CoV-2 in Wuhan, Hubei District in China created the internet media frenzy that is changing societal processes dramatically in all ~200 countries in a age of viruses, with new knowledge of virus informing this, - as well as lack of knowledge of viruses (and even their potential to be used in weaponized form????).  As a healthy philosophical skeptic, am also thinking inquiring in an ongoing way for myself, as I learn more. Am glad too that as a possible fire drill, or in case of emergency situation (a hypothesis) that America for example, is developing our own manufacturing again here (ventilators from GM and Ford in Michigan?) as well as developing all kinds of supply chains within the US - from masks, to gloves, to gowns, to especially antibiotics (rather than getting much of this from Chinese supply chains), and that all of this happened before a hypothetical much worse genetic event such as possibly the Spanish Flu in 1918 might point to). Here are 5 Hypothetical News' inquiries that inform some of my questioning - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/04/himalyan-monal-how-are-harbin-hot.html - from April 1, 2020 at bottom. Glad too governments and legal systems, and the internet media themselves, etc., are all getting their 'acts together.' 

Am reading German newspapers online regularly and finding a very different media landscape, discourse, and lines of reasoning. Am also interested that Sweden's approach has been much more reasoned, and based on epidemiological evidence than the US, for example - and thanks to Google Translate for helping with the liberal https://www.dn.se/ newspaper, since I don't read Swedish, but also to the German press for bringing my attention to their chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell (which article is in one of my 35 or so blog posts)! 

Ongoing learning about genetics' events ahead, but am appreciative too of the Google - Apple approach emerging on smartphones to do contact-tracing (blue dots?) ... and World Univ & Sch would even like to explore avatar bot electronic medical records for all 7.5 billion people in these regards! :) Wondering how this will play out in all ~200 countries, such as in China too, and with potentially (per your Dad too) the Stanford Law China Guiding Cases Project in communication with the Beijing Supreme Court, in a time of legal reform in China. 

Continuing to seek to begin a family, and from out here in Canyon 94516 part, but also on Cuttyhunk Island for 10 weeks in summer, if things work out - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/04/kalinga-ornata-found-myself-teaching.html - Stay well and be well, Catherine! 

Warm regards, and more later, 

Scott



-- 
- Scott MacLeod



*

Catherine S. Vodrey

5:07 PM (3 hours ago)
to me
So glad to hear that you’re doing well! I don’t think it’s an overblown fire drill at all. I think I’m the only non-medical person I can think of who was not surprised by the pandemic, mostly because years ago I read John Barry’s excellent “The Great Influenza” — all about the 1918 flu pandemic. Can’t recommend it highly enough, and I bet it will tone down your skepticism if you read it. Lots of love.

Sent from my iPhone




*
to Catherine
So glad to hear that you’re doing well, as well! The question for me then, skepticism unfolding, as a non-medical person too, is how much worse is this novel coronavirus pandemic than the common cold, or flu ... and not in medical terms, but in terms the internet media can share that doesn't create such a weird world - or so much fear (am thinking the German press here) - in this new genetic knowledge discourse world that has emerged in a few months.

Am also thinking that vast amounts of money are going into virology and basic genetic research as a consequence of these novel coronavirus COVID-19 "memes" (replicating cultural units) ... and overblown fire drill, or serious fire drill, or not, maybe we'll even develop a vaccine earlier than anticipated (have heard 18 months), as well as figure out anti-aging drugs (per Harvard / MIT Professor of Genetics' George Church for example! 

"How soon could humans reverse the aging process with genetic engineering?"

The world is turned over without too much death from virus so far albeit it's all relative (am so sorry about all the lives lost thus far, however, due to lack of knowledge about effective responses) ... and people in all ~200 countries are improving their genetic knowledge, as nation states improve their law, science, and borders in an age of viral genetics, re a knowledge starting from a genetic event in Wuhan China possibly in late November 2019!

Want to be getting back to my actual < > virtual Harbin Hot Springs' ethnographic projects ... and in facilitating creating a realistic virtual Harbin, which will include a single realistic virtual earth for everything (am thinking Google Street View with time slider, Maps, Earth, TensorFlow AI and species and individual organisms ... and at the cellular and atomic levels) ... and for genetics' research too - How soon could humans reverse the aging process with genetic engineering?
https://youtu.be/bnCEIPQFNnk - such as on the novel coronavirus genes.

EG - 
An intranasal Covid-19 vaccine is being developed >'has a vaccine for covid-19 already been developed?' #CoronaVirusCOVID19 "Coronavirus treatment: Vaccines/drugs in the pipeline for Covid-19"
https://clinicaltrialsarena.com/analysis/coronavirus-mers-cov-drugs/ > https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Clinical_Trials_at_WUaS_(for_all_languages) - #RealisticVirtualEarthForGenetics ~

https://twitter.com/WUaSPress/status/1235753300202360832?s=20

Thanks for the great book recommendation - John Barry’s excellent “The Great Influenza” - you're an amazing reader, Catherine!

XO, Scott
-- 
- Scott MacLeod






* * *

Hi David,

How are you in this Coronavirus time? (And what arrangements for physical distancing have you developed in your house, if any?) It would be nice to hear how you're doing sometime. What's your thinking about strategies too? What are you doing personally? Let's email or talk soon.

Warm regards, Scott
More than 35 blog posts in the genes' label here - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/genes?m=0 ~



*
How to keep dancing and creating, in this time of novel coronavirus pan-demic?


Nice to hear from you, Carla... ! Will seek to email you some Open Band Scottish Country Dancing, from home, videos ... Dance teachers are innovating much in these regards (and I imagine that you can share interesting ones esp). How to keep dancing and creating, in this time of novel coronavirus pan-demic - and  'alone' from home? Sending love, Scotty
The Monday #ScottishCountryDancing class in Berkeley at St. Clement's is cancelled for the foreseeable future due to concerns about novel #CoronavirusCOVID19  #DanceScottish ~ Explore online: https://twitter.com/rscdsdancescot/status/1243554219661164548?s=20 > https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_Country_Dancing
@WorldUnivAndSch
 #DanceScottishAtHome?
https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1244751077582336000?s=20


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Enjoy watching the 'Toilet Roll Reel' from the #Lyon Branch! Intro by Chair Raphaëlle Orgeret & edited by Youth Coordinator Claire Cunin. Also featured is Corinne, Louise, Cynthia, Nathanaël, Etienne and Mélissa. #DanceScottish #DanceScottishathome #Fun
https://twitter.com/rscdsdancescot/status/1243554219661164548?s=20


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Smartphone video-to-3D #FilmTo3D with #GooglePoly> #RealisticArtificialHumans aka #SamsungNeons as #AvatarBot Scottish Country Dancers #ScottishCountryDancing #DanceScottish ~ https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_Country_Dancing
@WorldUnivAndSch
 & Musicians https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes ?
https://twitter.com/HarbinBook/status/1250187619373178880?s=20 ~

https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1251914114537934848?s=20


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Smartphone video-to-3D #FilmTo3D with #GooglePoly> #RealisticArtificialHumans aka #SamsungNeons as #AvatarBot Scottish Country Dancers #ScottishCountryDancing #DanceScottish ~ https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_Country_Dancing
@WorldUnivAndSch
 & Musicians https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes ? #DanceScottishAtHome?https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1251914680202756097?s=20


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Join us for #fitness & #fun in our bitesize classes aimed at getting you off the sofa & dancing at home #DanceScottishAtHome #Scottishcountrydancing #RSCDS #Edinburgh https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoAacd3mr12azXfdMrNj6wx4PzyjscUlC (Youtube Playlist)
https://twitter.com/dancingforth/status/1250456419742232576?s=20


And how is Reed's Hum 110 heading online for the autumn - and in a rocking or dancing way even?? :) And in what ways might WUaS students explore taking a related Hum 101 online this autumn, from home? We'd like to hire Reedies who are in graduate school to teach this even, and as graduate school instructors!  

Sending love, Scott






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