Planet Planning: March 2020

Believe It Or Not

The White House presented sobering numbers on Tuesday that the best-case scenario with full mitigation measures in place is between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the United States. Those figures would exceed the U.S. death toll from the Vietnam War and Korean War combined.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/490710-dire-projections-put-new-focus-on-coronavirus-response

Trump’s earlier statements are also getting new attention.

A sober Trump warned it was headed into two very tough weeks on Tuesday as officials unveiled models showing as many as 240,000 people could die even if social distancing was practiced.

But on Feb. 24, he tweeted: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

On Feb. 27, when the U.S. had 15 confirmed cases, he said: “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

On March 9, he compared coronavirus to the flu, and said despite thousands of deaths from the flu, “Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on.”

Sad

Covid-19 Update March 29, 2019

Click for the latest update:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Covid-19 March 28, 2020

Our government is inept and leaderless. We saw this develop in real time in China, and watched how China, Singapore, Korea, and Japan dealt with it.

Amazingly incompetent. Throw the rascals out.

Covid Coronavirus Cases State by State March 26, 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-map-of-the-us-latest-cases-state-by-state

Covid-19 24 March 2020

Virus Concentrations USA

Click to View a Larger Interactive Map

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

Covid Finger Painting

Thanks to Larry Herman sharing this image from:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/UUHystericalSocietyCoffeeHour

This Too Shall Pass

This is a proverb from the medieval Levent (Persian, Hebrew and Turkey) around 1200 AD. The proverb means that all material conditions, whether good or bad, are transient. This proverb has the ability to make the happy person sad and the sad person happy because of the realization that both the 'best and worst of times' will soon pass.

I love the quote and it is a prudent reminder for us all that regardless of how the serendipity of life has dealt with us, it will soon pass. It speaks to me that "Change is the one constant in the universe" and it aligns with what the poet Rudyard Kipling said in his poem "IF" ...

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same

Looking around the web, what I have below is the best I can come up with in regard to its history ...

The legend of the quote finds its roots in the court of a powerful eastern Persian ruler who called his sages (wise men) to him, including the Sufi poet Attar of Nishapur, and asked them for one quote that would be accurate at all times and in all situations. The wise men consulted with one another, and threw themselves into deep contemplation, and finally came up with the answer ...

"this too, shall pass".

The ruler was so impressed by the quote that he had it inscribed in a ring.

The quote was popular in the first half of the 19th century particularly with the English poet Edward Fitzgerald and later being employed in a speech by Abraham Lincoln, in his address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society in 1859. He summed up the quote's impact so well by saying:

"How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction."

Peter Baskerville, Love Quotes. Written plenty.

https://www.quoteandquote.com/peter.baskerville

Sad News - MacAllisters March 19, 2020

Our neighborhood pub this morning 19 March 2020.

Sad news. Another fallout from Covid-19.

Covid-19 Coping Strategy

March 18, 2020 - March 20, 2020

The Corona Virus 19 is changing our lives.

What We Should Do:

Shelter in Place - Stay At Home when possible

Wash our hands for 20+ seconds whenever we have been outside

Avoid the public - keep a social distance of 6 feet from everyone

Minimize trips to public spaces

This Will Be Boring. Ways To Avoid Boredom Include:

Read all the books you have always meant to read

Watch lots of happy movies and TV

Get out and walk, hike, bird watch, commune with nature

Take lots of photos and share them on the internet

Take nice scenic short drives

Visit lots of Forest Preserves and Natural areas

Buy a kayak

Call all your old friends

Make some new friends online

Learn and use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Connect with People

Write your memoirs, put it on a blog

Write your family history, put it on a blog

Walk around your suburban downtown - keep your distance

Meet friends - stay 6 feet away

Therapeutic use of Wine and/or Weed

Take free online courses com/jessica-stillman/500-free-online-courses-from-ivy-league-schools.html

You can edit and improve this Strategy. Click on the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OPS4tX6Vghdb4CSvhnx-2X6aJTH4WAVCry0Mm8s5U4s/edit?usp=sharing

Covid-19

Coping

Strategy

History of Pandemics

Corona Virus Survey

Our Congressman Vern Buchanan in Sarasota, Florida sends out an email with a brief survey. You answer the survey and then you get immediate results from all who have previously taken the survey.

A very nice way to stay in touch with your constituents while providing information.

Cornonavirus 19 Death Rates By Age

'https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lamvo/coronavirus-death-rates-age-charts-us-china

If I had a Hammer, I'd hammer in the morning...

March 8, 1964: As Manuel Perez takes a swing with an old-fashioned sledgehammer, the new “woodpecker” slams down to break concrete on the old Maple Avenue trestle railroad ramp at 6th and Main streets. (Art Rogers / Los Angeles Times)

March 6, 2020

Chicago - High Speed Tunnel - by the Boring Company

The Boring Company has been selected by the Chicago Infrastructure Trust (CIT), on behalf of the City of Chicago, to enter into exclusive negotiations to design, build, finance, operate and maintain an O’Hare Express service. The Chicago Express Loop will provide fast and convenient transportation between O’Hare Airport (Terminals 1-3) and Block 37 in downtown Chicago. The Boring Company aims to alleviate soul-destroying traffic by constructing safe, affordable, and environmentally-friendly public transportation systems.

Where would this tunnel alignment run?

The Chicago Express Loop will run between O’Hare Airport and Block 37 in downtown Chicago.

What is Loop?

Loop is a high-speed underground public transportation system in which passengers are transported via compatible autonomous electric vehicles at up to 155 miles per hour.  See FAQ for additional information.

What is an AEV? 

AEVs are public transportation vehicles built on a modified Tesla Model X chassis. AEVs are:

Safe. AEVs are based on the Tesla Model X, recently named the first and only SUV to achieve a NHTSA 5-Star safety rating in every category and subcategory.
High-speed. AEVs can travel at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour.
All-electric. AEVs are battery-powered, zero-emissions vehicles.

Why tunnels?

The benefits of subsurface transportation systems include:

No surface noise and vibration. Tunnel construction and operation will be silent, invisible, and imperceptible at the surface.
No communities divided with lanes and barriers. TBC will not use public surface right-of- way for construction or operation of its system.
Comfortable and convenient for passengers. Higher speeds and straighter alignments are possible due to fewer subsurface right-of-way constraints.
Weatherproof. Operation is unaffected by weather.

Who is paying for this? 

The Boring Company. This project will be 100% privately funded.

How long will the trip take? 

It will take 12-minutes to travel from O’Hare to downtown. The Chicago Express Loop is three to four times faster than existing transportation systems between O’Hare Airport and downtown Chicago.

How much would a trip cost?

The fares are not finalized but will be less than half the typical price of taxi/ride-share services, though higher than the Blue Line.

What are the amenities on the AEV? 

Each AEV features a climate controlled cabin, luggage storage space, and Wi-Fi.

How frequently will the AEVs leave the station?

AEVs will leave each station as frequently as every 30 seconds. The Chicago Express Loop will operate 20 hours per day, every day of the week.

How can I submit feedback?

Comments, questions, and future station suggestions can be emailed to chicago@boringcompany.com.  We will expand this project page over time to reflect the questions received.

Better To Create An Additional Freeway Then To Do This

It is much better to build an additional freeway further away then to create this mess. All over America we are widening the pavement on our high capacity roads. Freeways that once had landscaped center and side medians now become a concrete jungle.

Future freeway corridors should be wide, with permanent safe attractive landscaped medians. Not This!

The I-10 freeway which runs from Florida to South California is the widest freeway in the USA in the section running from Katy, TX (a Houston suburb) to downtown Houston, TX, a distance of around 22 miles.

The freeway averages 22 lanes, and in some sections (Intersection of BW8 loop with I-10) it has 26 lanes total including 6 feeder and 4 HOV lanes. In spite of this, during morning commute hours it takes an hour and a half to get from Katy, TX to downtown Houston.