First of all the headline is that Taiko was a happy accident for me!
I learnt kit drumming when I was in my teens and even played in a punk band in London for a while, but the band never amounted to anything. I had a wish to be playing the drums in a band since I was about 13.
Here’s one of the songs that we recorded with a make shift reel to reel recording equipment and microphone.
[embed]https://youtu.be/xPgtWrKlXRA[/embed]
But then I got a girlfriend in my late teens and she wasn’t so happy about me being away drumming at the weekends and so regrettably I stopped. They say you should have no regrets in life, but actually if I had to think of just one, giving up drumming is my only and a massive regret!
My wife and I attended a personal development workshop in Bristol in 2018 and we met a guy who was on his own in the queue going into the workshop. He was from Devon and we became friends. A few months later we went to stay with him in Devon for a weekend and he shared with me his passion for Taiko.
I had never ever heard of Taiko and when he showed me a video of him playing in his group at an Exeter Chiefs rugby game, I was hooked. When I got back to the Midlands, I searched for Taiko high and low and there wasn’t anything near me, but that didn’t stop me. Eventually I found James and Taiko West in Church Stretton, Shropshire, signed up for a weekly course and after the first lesson I was hooked. It meant travelling for an hour there and back, but it was and is totally worth it. After 40 years of not being able to drum, I feel that I have come home to Taiko.
When I play Taiko, I am totally focussed in the moment, it is my meditation, my yoga, my music and the vibration of the drums fill my whole being. I know that I will be playing Taiko for the rest of my life now. To have drumming back in my life after a 40 year absence is quite incredible and I never expected it. Thank you to James, Taiko West and all the Taiko students that I have the pleasure of playing with.
Taiko Central Group at Leamington Spa — Beer and Music Festival 2019
Just a few weeks left until the US Presidential election and the polls suggest that Joe Biden is ahead, but they said the same about Hilary in 2016 and she lost although she did win the popular vote. How incredibly weird that you can win the popular vote but not win the election. I definitely don’t understand US politics, but one thing’s for sure, DT is a dangerous person.
He creates his own spin, 24/7, it’s called Twitter, as I write this newsletter on a platform created by one of it’s previous founders! Ev Williams.
Political leaders are supposed to set an example to the rest of the country’s citizens. He’s been a terrible example not just through the current pandemic, throughout his total tenure as President for the past 4 years.
We have followed his journey and all the incredible stuff that happened along the way. We have drawn a few cartoons over the past 4 years to show the ridiculousness of his leadership, the lies, that tantrums and the sackings.
There’s the joke about how everyone remembers where they were when they first heard The Beatles had broken up, even the people who weren’t born yet.
The Beatles broke up 50 years ago, and yet people are still telling their story, that’s how good they were.
Not only were they the biggest band in the world in terms of sales, but their music was also way ahead of everybody in terms of innovation. Not even the Rolling Stones could keep up with them.
We could talk about why that is. Sure, they were immensely talented. Sure, they were lucky to be at the right place at the right time, as a new, postwar era was opening up and needing new songs to fill the space. Everybody knows all that.
What’s less well known is the “grit”.
Like Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book, “Outliers”, the average early-1960s Liverpudlian dance band was lucky if they played twice a month. But because The Beatles had that residence gig in Hamburg, they were playing 3–4 times a day, cranked out on speed, for weeks at a time. So they were learning their trade A LOT faster than the boys back home.
Then Beatlemania hit and they worked 20 hour days for the next couple of years, traveling the world, playing shows every night, doing dozens of interviews a week. They were young and they could handle it, but still, it was relentlessly brutal, on a scale unseen before.
Then around 1965, they quit touring. It had gotten too intense. Luckily they were making plenty of money off of record sales (Hey, remember those?) and their name was big enough, so they could afford to.
So while the other bands were living out of tour buses and smashing up hotel rooms, The Beatles could afford to stay home and write songs, reflect, and work on their art, allowing them to make progress at a pace other bands couldn’t keep[ up with. Their fame had bought them a lot of creative space, which they made good use of.
When their manager, Brian Epstein died in 1967, that would have been a good time for the wheel to fall off the wagon and the whole thing came crashing down, as it often happens with bands when a business is so violently disrupted.
But that didn’t happen. Why not? Because Paul McCartney stepped in.
Not a lot of people know this, but Paul was always a workaholic. This explains why, even today, being nearly eighty years old and with more money than Crassus, he still tours extensively. These kind of folk are like sheepdogs- they need to keep really busy or else they go mad.
After 1967, the Beatles were really Paul’s band. He set the agenda, everyone else just tried to keep up, including Lennon, who was content to sit back and chill in rock star comfort. But it was always McCartney cracking the whip.
A lot has been written about why the Beatles broke up. Personal differences, Yoko Ono, etc.
A big part of it was simply they were tired. They’d been at it full tilt for a decade, even before they got famous, and now they were burning out. Not to mention, they were all fabulously wealthy and could afford to call it a day. Their mortgages were paid.
When we look back on The Beatles’ story, we see the music, of course, we see the young men and the fame and the genius and the spectacle and the historical narrative.
What is less mentioned is the *grit*. The long, grinding, days involved just keeping the show on the road. It wasn’t glamorous or sexy, but in many ways, it was the most important part.
As John Lennon once said, “You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on Earth..”
Yesterday, tweeted a video from the hospital where he was taken, to show that he is well. Of course nobody really knows what’s going on an his spin and puppet masters are well at work, to ensure the confidence in his health stays high. Trouble is nobody ever has questioned his mental health, which of course is way off.
Monday 5 October
…and then he decided, whilst still carrying the virus to go for a drive by outside the hospital to show his gratitude to supporters. What is this guy on? Oh yeah, they’ve supplied him with a cocktail of many different things. Best watch out he could get an overdose!
Enthusiasm like probably nobody has ever had! Too damn right Mr.!
Tuesday 6 October
And then the warrior returned, oh gosh!
And then telling everyone around the world, not to be afraid of the virus and after taking all these drugs, he’s feeling better then the past 20 years!
And after that more fake news, which violated Twitter’s rules again, so many times, so many time Mr President!
James Corden’s rendition of Paul McCartney’s maybe I’m amazed, what a shame it had to be about Trump. Never knew Corden could play the piano that well as well as get those high notes. Amazing indeed!
Wednesday 7 October
And all the drugs that Trump had everyone in the USA will get for free too. Yeah okay, fake news! Don’t believe me? Watch this report by James Corden.
Thursday 8 October
Nancy Pelosi is stepping up her tactics on Trump, will it work? Hell no but at least it is a good distraction from the Trump show!
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she planned on discussing the 25th Amendment. The 25th Amendment offers a path to stripping a president of power if, for instance, his cabinet believes he has become incapacitated https://t.co/u70GnViyHhpic.twitter.com/c9xQBy3of8
The real Trump coming back to the Whitehouse speech.
Friday 9 October
And now he’s well enough to start spreading the virus yet again!
What’s that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What’s that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What’s that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
President Trump's campaign wants to go ahead with the original presidential debate schedule after his doctor cleared him for a "safe return to public engagement" from Saturday. https://t.co/xyy9xO4FCT
A beautiful sunny and cold morning in the U.K. Seeing and hearing stories of students locked up inside Universities, being forced to isolate because they have got the dreaded COVID19 virus. The question is why have they gotten so close to people in the past to have been infected and then taken that infection to their Universities.
In the future I picture a time when citizens will have to prove that they are not carrying the virus before being allowed in to public places, we’re probably a few years away from that. It would solve a lot of issues in society that’s for sure. The virus has no timetable or plan to leave humans alone. Apart from a vaccine, which probably most people won’t take, we need other solutions in place for society to open without hesitation.
It’s like living in an episode of black mirror and it’s real.
Technology and heating issues in the house and with Clair and her Mum were the order of the evening tonight. Anything to do with the full moon and asteroids passing earth?
Monday 28 September
The Key Takeaways From the Times’ Trump Tax-Return Investigation.
On Sunday, the New York Timespublished a massive investigation into President Trump’s tax returns, revealing years of aggressive write-offs, tax avoidance, and staggering losses. The report comes at an inopportune time for a president facing an uphill reelection battle and a potential investigation for tax fraud by the Manhattan district attorney. It won’t be the last one, either: the Times notes that the report just “offers an overview of [their] findings; additional articles will be published in the coming weeks.”
Below are the most important takeaways from the Times’ reporting into Trump’s financial stress and expansive debt.
Trump paid $0 in federal income taxes in ten of the last 15 years
Though the president has claimed that he has nothing to hide in the tax returns that he has refused to release to the American public, he probably won’t be thrilled by the Times’ disclosure that he has paid no federal income tax in ten of the last 15 years — and only 11 times in the last 18 years. Trump reported losing more money than he made in the years he did not pay, a detail that undermines his already-spurious claim that he is a business guru.
Trump only paid $750 in taxes in 2016
President Trump paid only $750 in U.S. taxes in 2016, the year he ran for president, then paid the same paltry sum in the first year of his presidency. In addition, according to the Times, that seems to only have happened because “his accountants appear to have carved out an allowance for a small tax liability” in those years, since Trump had enough tax credits to owe no taxes at all. For a little context, Vox’s Dylan Matthews notes that “a single adult would only need to make $17,900” to pay $750 in federal income taxes.
The amount he paid in U.S. taxes in 2017 was also far less than his businesses paid to some other countries overseas. Per the Times, Trump’s companies paid more than $145,000 in taxes to India that year, more than $156,000 to the Philippines, and more than $15,000 to Panama.
Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, has a new book out, whose main gist is about corporate culture, namely, the one at the company he heads.
Hastings is known as an organizational genius as much as he is a product guy. Which is why Netflix is known for having a very strong, cut-throat culture.
“Strikingly, having the best people involves a regular ‘keeper test.’ If a manager won’t fight to keep an employee as an indispensable star, the solution is a generous severance package. In place of annual reviews — salaries are adjusted based on the market, not individual performance — a system of continuous written and live, 360-degree feedback serves a remarkable degree of organizational transparency. The result is a workforce with high ‘talent density’ who can be trusted to use their own judgment.”
The thing to remember is, a single culture won’t be for everybody, no matter how good the company is, no matter how much you’re paying them. The ‘keeper’s test”, say, might be a bit much for your average employee, but Hastings doesn’t want average employees. He wants a certain type of high-performing, semi-autonomous person who can handle a lot of heat.
But at least he’s upfront about it. At last, he openly says to potential employees, “This is who we are, this is how we operate, we may not be for you”.
At least there’s no mystery as to what the culture actually is.
So at least there are no real surprises.
Which makes the culture even more powerful.
The Manchester UK mayor was on the radio this morning and called for the government to speed up ‘tiers’ in relation to Covid19 and local lockdowns in the UK. He also talked about Manchester drinkers being kicked out of pubs pouring into supermarkets to buy alcohol and continuing the party in the streets. This should all work out very well, I’d say?!
The ongoing Covid-19 vaccine race is one of the most closely watched science experiments of the pandemic. This week, I interviewed a mother and son who are both participating in clinical trials for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. They shared the ins and outs of what the experience is like (including an adverse reaction and quick recovery) as well as misconceptions about the vaccine they would like put to rest.
“These trials are happening very quickly, but they’re happening,” they said. “They’re real trials. And we’re real people in them.”
Covid-19 deaths pass 1 million worldwide: There are over 7.1 million confirmed cases in the U.S. and over 33.7 million confirmed cases worldwide. So far, over 206,000 Americans have died from Covid-19. Read more.
Disney to lay off 28,000 workers at its theme parks: The company says limits on attendance and other Covid-19 restrictions are the reason it is cutting the jobs of workers at the parks in California and Florida.
The NFL has a Covid-19 outbreak: Three players and five staff members on the Tennessee Titans have tested positive after playing the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Read more.
New York state’s positivity rate is slightly up: The statewide positivity rate rose over the weekend, with rates slightly above 1%. Hospitalizations have also risen over the last several days, according to state statistics.
Rio cancels Carnival for first time in a century: In response to Covid-19, Rio de Janeiro delayed its annual Carnival parade for the first time in 108 years.
I believe the tweet above by Kara Swisher, my favourite reporter on Tech, is about Oracle being in the race to buy TikTok. A strange initiative by Donald ‘Duck’ Trump. And there partners will be Walmart? Who would have guessed that!
Monday 21 September
I’m curious about this tweet. Surely if your cat or dog scratches the loo door, it means they need some training? Worth reading the full thread if you wish?
Coronavirus: Boris Johnson sets out new restrictions to last ‘perhaps six months’
By Jessica Elgot – Guardian – First published on Tue 22 Sep 2020 12.52 BST.
PM announces 10pm closing for pubs, a ban on indoor team sports and new weddings curbs.
Boris Johnson sets out new Covid-19 restrictions at ‘perilous turning point’ for UK. The UK is at a “perilous turning point” and must act, Boris Johnson has told MPs, announcing new restrictions for England including slashing the size of wedding celebrations and bans on indoor team sports, as well as a return to home working. Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Johnson announced a ban on indoor team sports, such as five-a-side football, and said plans for a partial return of sports fans to stadiums from 1 October had been “paused”. Wedding celebrations will be limited to just 15 guests, half of the number previously permitted, though funerals will be allowed to go ahead with up to 30 mourners.
Masks will become mandatory for retail and hospitality staff, as well as for passengers in taxis – a key demand of the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who spoke to Johnson on Tuesday morning. The prime minister said the restrictions may be in place for “perhaps six months” and warned there could be no complacency. “After six months of restrictions, it would be tempting to hope the threat has faded and seek comfort in the belief that if you have avoided the virus so far then you are somehow immune,” he said.
“That sort of complacency could be our undoing. if we fail to act together now, we not only put others at risk but jeopardise our own futures with the more drastic action that we will inevitably be forced to take.” As well as a 10pm closing time for pubs, bars and restaurants in England which was announced overnight, takeaway collections will also be closed from 10pm though deliveries will be allowed to continue, and pubs will only be allowed to offer table service, which will be enforced by law. Venues will be required by law to enforce the “rule of six” and social distancing.
The rule, which comes into force on Thursday, will mean venues must shut their doors at 10pm, rather than just call for last orders. “This is by no means a return to the full lockdown in March, we are not issuing instructions to stay at home,” Johnson said, stressing that schools and businesses should remain open. “But we are once again asking office workers who can work from home to do so,” he said, though stressed that key workers should continue to attend workplaces.
Johnson said enforcement would be set up and there would be extra funding to provide a greater police presence on streets, including “the option to draw on military support where required to free up the police”. A Downing Street spokesman said the armed forces would not be involved in enforcement and would only step in to free police officers from other routine duties, such as office work or guarding sensitive sites.
Michael Gove, Cabinet Office minister, earlier confirmed what he described as “a shift in emphasis” back towards home working after weeks of news headlines where ministers exhorted workers to get back into city centre offices. Downing Street has said that MPs will be expected to continue in their current arrangements but targets for civil servants to return en masse to Whitehall will not be continued.
The new measures come after a weekend of tense debate among cabinet ministers and scientists and are softer than those mooted in advice from government scientific advisers in recent weeks, which had included a two-week full lockdown as a “circuit-breaker”. The prime minister emphasised the restrictions were likely for the long term. “We will spare no effort in developing vaccines, treatments, new forms of mass testing but unless we palpably make progress we should assume that the restrictions that I have announced will remain in place for perhaps six months,” he said.
“For the time being, this virus is a fact of our lives and I must tell the house and the country that our fight against it will continue.” Johnson said there was still cause for some optimism in the battle against the virus and promised much of normality could be restored by spring. “Science is helping us every day. Dexamethasone, trialled in this country, is now reducing the numbers of death. We have the prospect of a vaccine,” he said.
“And all the medical guidance I have is that by next spring things will be vastly, vastly improved. I’m not going to deny for a minute that things are going to be tough for our country and for our people for months to come. But we will get through it, and we will get through it well.” Khan welcomed the additional new measures but said the capital could still need extra restrictions.
“They discussed the rapidly worsening situation in London, including increasing ICU admission rates, and the need to go further now to prevent a disastrous full lockdown in future including mandatory face coverings for hospitality workers and more widespread wearing of face coverings,” a spokesman for the mayor said. “It is clear that London has unique needs and challenges and additional measures need to be examined which are suitable for the capital.”
We will never forget what this guy did for this country. He will also carry this moment to his grave. Just one man who was responsible for the 2nd wave because everyone decided that if it’s okay for him, then it’s okay for me to not follow the rules. 🥴
Well the analysts are having a field day with Covid19. Now there’s another ‘massive’ study suggesting that the virus mutates and is evolving, just like a proper enemy, an invisible enemy that needs to be destroyed.
UK police intercept huge drug haul hidden in fruit
LONDON (Reuters) — British police said on Wednesday they had discovered a tonne of cocaine hidden in a consignment of fruit which was being smuggled into the country from South America.
Detectives said the “huge” haul, which they valued at 100 million pounds ($128 million), was found at the port of Dover in southeast England in pallets unloaded from a boat.
Two men, aged 40 and 64, were arrested on suspicion of importing class A drugs. The seizure was part of an operation launched after police infiltrated an encrypted communications service used by criminals.
“This operation has prevented a large amount of cocaine from making it on to our streets, we estimate that once adulterated and sold it could have had a street value of up to £100 million,” said Nikki Holland, the National Crime Agency’s Director of Investigations.
Reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by Paul Sandle.
Did an asteroid give us a warning from the heavens?
Scientists at the U.S. space agency NASA say a small asteroid — roughly the size of a bus — passed close to Earth on Thursday, flying just 22,000 kilometers above the surface, within the orbit of geostationary satellites that ring the planet.
While the proximity to Earth might raise alarm, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California said even if the asteroid had entered the earth’s atmosphere, it almost certainly would have broken up and become a bright meteor.
The asteroid, known as 2020 SW, is about five to ten meters wide and was first discovered on September 18 by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) — part of the JPL — then did follow-up observations and confirmed its orbital trajectory, ruling out any chance of impact.
CNEOS director Paul Chodas says an object this size, this close to earth, is not uncommon. He says, “In fact, asteroids of this size impact our atmosphere at an average rate of about once every year or two.”
After passing the Earth, the asteroid will continue its journey around the Sun, not returning to Earth’s vicinity until 2041, when NASA says it will make a much more distant flyby.
The space agency says they believe there are over 100 million small asteroids like 2020 SW, but they are hard to discover unless they get very close to Earth.
Friday 25 September
The moment when Trump hides behind pillars because the crowd is booing him, oh my god, this is the dictator called Trump!
I admire all investigative journalists and one I admire the most is Carole Cadwalladr. She with other journalists managed the dirty tricks campaign by Cambridge Analytica and now she and others are putting together their own Facebook oversight board. You can read the report via the link below.
Some of Facebook’s most vocal critics are tired of waiting for its independent oversight board — so they’re starting their own.
A group of about 25 experts from academia, civil rights, politics and journalism announced Friday that they have formed a group to analyze and critique Facebook’s content moderation decisions, policies and other platform issues in the run-up to the presidential election and beyond.
The group, which calls itself the Real Facebook Oversight Board, plans to hold its first meeting via Facebook Live on Oct. 1. It will be hosted by Recode founder Kara Swisher, a New York Times contributing opinion writer.
Facebook is still working on creating its own oversight board, first described in April 2018 by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as an independent “Supreme Court” for content moderation decisions. Facebook’s board won’t launch in time to make any decisions during the presidential race. Its panel of 20 experts is scheduled to start reviewing cases in October, but it will have up to 90 days to make decisions.
We had brunch in the Pear Orchard again in the countryside. Many calories, the utensils in wood are terrible, must remember to take our own cutlery next time, but it was a delicious veggie breakfast. On the way home we stopped off to pick up some grasses, plants for narrow border on the front drive, instead of a large and obstructive privet hedge, which we needed to dig out.
Unfortunately Clair decided to forgo wearing garden gloves and snipped her hand quite deeply with some garden clippers, ouch, enough to make me feel faint and weak in the knees. she had to administer her own first aid.
My brother Jim called to discuss the bombshell announcement that my twin sister is divorcing her husband.
After that a quiet rest of the afternoon.
Monday 14 September
What’s clear to all citizens on planet earth is that testing for Covid-19 is the only way we can manage the pandemic in some way and keep as many of our vulnerable people safe. Because we never anticipated such a virus spreading across the earth, we’re not prepared. The latest news that was announced last week in relation to the UK government’s moonshot, which assumes that we will be able to have testing at home, which takes just 20–90 minutes. This would be the game changer the world needs. Being able to test yourself at home would ensure that you can go about your business as needed.
A fairly peaceful day and then we went for a meal out, only the second meal out since the reopening after lockdown. We were just 6 of us, so that was okay. Very bizarre experience with the waitresses. They were wearing screen shields and were very awkward in terms of handing over plates and drinks. Anyway, it was a nice enough meal.
It was also my twin sister’s birthday, who celebrated it in London with her daughter who had a new baby boy, Jude!
Wednesday 16 September
In other news, is there other news? Covid continues her destructive force from all sides.
Local lockdown measures all around us! We live in an area called Wyre Forest, based in Worcestershire, U.K. The no of Covid case has been climbing steadily over the past few weeks, just like across the rest of the country. we were at just between 6–8 for months and all of a sudden, we’re spiking between 18–24 cases per 100,000. But the counties all around us are even higher, which is quite worrying indeed.
We woke up with the news of knife attacks in Birmingham U.K. Another potential blow to U.K. city centres, guaranteed to make people want to stay away even more. I personally have no desire to go back to City Centres.
Otherwise a busy day, cleaning the patio with a jet water spray, which was very satisfying indeed.
Monday 7 September
So one week in using an app called Nutracheck, to measure my daily calorie intake to shift some lockdown weight gain. And it works!
I shifted 0.8 kgs in a week, which is 1.72 pounds. I need to shift 0.9 kgs per week in order to achieve my target by December 22nd, 2020.
A very clever app that tracks many different aspects of your food and drink intake. You can add your own meals too. It is really amazing and I highly recommend it. I will keep reporting on this publicly, which means it keeps me accountable, not just to myself but also to my readers!
Promoting the next Taiko Course by inviting people to come to our Taster Sessions.
Humans are indeed THE most disgusting species to walk on this planet. No other animal creates as much waste as we do and we still have no regard for nature around us. Read it and weep. This latest article by Fast Company confirms that we are the worst! No wonder nature hits back with Covid-19.
Social gatherings of more than six people will be banned in England under new measures designed to be easier to understand and enforce.
Boris Johnson will say today that meeting in larger groups for fun will become illegal in England from Monday as ministers try to prevent a sharp increase in coronavirus cases leading to a second wave of deaths.
And just as my Taiko Teacher is researching semi-outdoor venues for doing in-person Taiko drumming. Not sure this will happen now. Thank you to all the 18–30 year olds who are the prime increases in cases in the U.K. This was bound to happen as this age group are the most risk-adverse. Happy semi-lockdown again!
My post on LinkedIn refers to a cold call I received from a cold calling organisation inviting me to a meeting with one of their advisors who works for an insolvency practice. Shit I thought, what do they know about my business that I don’t know as yet. So I contacted their MD via LinkedIn. I just sent an invitation to connect with a personalised message and bingo, got a response pretty much immediately. It is really worth doing, I have tried this now several times and every time the senior person of the organisation comes back straightaway.
Our drive for Taiko drumming online continues. We’re looking for at least a further 45 people to join our course, doubling the number to about 90–100 students.
Oh dear Covid19 has still got it’s claws into the human race like nothing else has ever, this tweet confirms how you can believe it’s safe to go back into the water, when the virus will bite you on your bum, the minute you put one toe into that water. The water of freedom that has probably gone for at least 7 years!
Advertisers, I kinda loath them even though I am also in the same industry. They brainwash us and take advantage, they think cleverly, of the current issues on the planet, like Covid19! See my tweet below to explain.
Oh yes Trump knew, he always knew, but pretended it wasn’t real, duped people, lied and deceived them and still millions of Americans will vote for him in the upcoming Presidential Election. Thank you Kamala Harris for highlighting it to them, just in case some are really truly reconsidering their options on the ballot paper.
We got the new rule here in the UK, the rule of six or is it 6? How will this change things? The fines, maybe the jail sentence? Oh yes and the courts can cope with that, with backlogs going out to 2021? But this tweet summed it up for me!
Oh dear, Birmingham U.K. and some surrounding towns are going on a partial lockdown again, the numbers of cases are increasing again. I must have realised when I used a picture of a famous landmark in Birmingham at the top of this article with the words ‘staying away’ and this is after just a few days after an attacker with a knife went on a killing spree.
And Trump’s alter ego did another fabulous video sketch. I had no idea what the soup reference was, but after seeing the real Trump talk about it I get it now. He’s getting crazier by the second.
[embed]https://youtu.be/VO7KpblhC7Y[/embed]
And now a story about you, fame, wealth and desire?
[embed]https://youtu.be/GWGbOjlJDkU[/embed]
From the Medium Coronavirus newsletter arrived today.
Political news dominated the coronavirus conversation this week as tapes revealed that President Donald Trump understood the severity of Covid-19, starting back in February, while downplaying it to the public.
With nearly 6.4 million Americans infected and over 191,800 dead, the seriousness of the virus is obvious. That the president didn’t ever fully realize this is unlikely. (You may want to read Andy Slavitt this week — he has thoughts.)
What’s frustrating is that despite a shared understanding that Covid-19 is serious and deadly, the U.S. response to the virus is widely considered to be one of the worst in the world. While Covid-19 directly impacts every country worldwide, some countries are and were more prepared. Contract tracing, for example, is an established part of health care in several countries who have more successfully handled Covid-19.
A new study out this week analyzing how Covid-19 spread throughout the world concludes that “intensive testing and contact tracing could have prevented SARS-CoV-2 from becoming established.” Again, this has been obvious for many months now. Yet whether the U.S. can substantially bolster contact tracing and testing is somehow still a question.
Saturday 12 September
…a busy day gardening, clearing weeds and a bit of relaxation. Covid19 cases increasing in the U.K., looks like we’re heading for a very long winter with many lockdown scares ahead of us. Stay safe everyone!
Veggie breakfast in a box inside the Pear Orchard and after that a relaxing day, so not much to report today!
Monday 31 August
After a 19km cycle, we tackled some gardening jobs, which was mega hard work, but very satisfying to get these outstanding jobs done. Clair nearly chopped down a tree. 😂
Also started a new regime, tracking my daily calorie intake in order to shift some lockdown weight gain. Clair discovered through her personal trainer a brilliant app, called Nutracheck. This is the first time in my life that I will be able to accurately check calories in and an appropriate level in order to allow weight loss. Looking forward to knowing what will happen in a month’s time. Yes it does cost (£29.99 for a year) and it’s a U.K. app only no cups, ounces or any USA terms.
Tuesday 1 September
Oh dear LinkedIn is becoming a spam fest. First I had the rogue recruitment consultant (male) pitching me and now a marketing professional (female) pitching me.
(😖)
First she sent me this very nice invitation. She must know the workings of LinkedIn well because I have replaced my ‘connect’ button with a ‘follow’ button only. This means she has to click on the ‘more’ button and also know how to send a personalised invitation. Here’s the invitation:
Hey there Michael! I’m impressed with your background and it looks like we have some shared contacts and professional interests. I’d be honored if you would connect with me.
This was about a week ago. I agonised over whether to connect with her or not, you just never know these days. I’ve even written this at the bottom of my profile summary, but I bet she didn’t read it.
Note: Since the advent of Covid19 I have definitely changed my willingness to accept total strangers into my network. I have indeed become more suspicious of people’s motives for connecting. It’s going to be a tough few years for everyone, so taking advantage of people’s networks or prospecting and pitching to them in the way that some folks are doing is a real shame.
And then the pitch came, literally within seconds of me accepting the connection request.
Michael — Thanks so much for the connection! I’m not sure if you looked at my profile, but I distribute a self-contained, screening COVID-19 Booth that can be used for multiple scenarios. Some applications are: - COVID19 testing in urban areas - Replacement of drive-through COVID19 testing, as proven to be faster with a new patient ever 5–7 minutes - Pop-up Flu Jab admin and ability to create an outdoor area to reduce risks for elderly population - A few can be joined together, to create a walk-through screening area into events, stadiums, attractions, etc.
It’s on wheels, doesn’t require PPE and completely protects healthcare workers, giving them peace of mind. There are already 100+ deployed in the field. Doctors have said it speeds up the testing processes. I don’t know if you are the correct person to reach out to?
You can see product videos and case studies at…
So I’m not naming and shaming the individual or company this time, unlike my previous action on the recruitment consultant, but maybe sharing the invitation and the response will mean you are forewarned about how desperate people are because of the blasted pandemic.
After I received this I responded with…
Unbelievable (name). You didn’t struck me as someone who would do this. Wish you success.
And the response back was…
Thank you Michael. I’m try my best. My parents are stuck in Texas self isolating since March. I’m very worried about the situation so my brother and I got together to see if we could do something that would increase testing. This is what we came up with.
Seriously? That’s the best excuse?
Wednesday 2 September
My mother-in-law’s roof being repaired today, great news!!
Another awesome video by Donald Trump!
[embed]https://youtu.be/D1iwuYdGEGA[/embed]
More campaigning by The Lincoln Project.
[embed]https://youtu.be/83YL2jg-PPQ[/embed]
Thursday 3 September
Everyone’s trying to survive on this planet Covid for as long as they can, but what if there’s a better time no longer here? I wonder about this often!
When it comes to business this article talk about start-ups needing to collaborate, but why?
Oh dear the cracks are already forming for Boris. How long he will stay as PM in the U.K. is anyone’s guess, but the slippery road to the end has started already.
Matt Hancock has definitely become public enemy number 1. He’s just the worst of British in my view, coming from a Dutchman who has lived in the UK for over 43 years!
Oh wow. Dear Sir Ken Robinson. In this video published in May 2020 he compares the industrialisation of agriculture to the industrialisation in education. What a great comparison indeed.
[embed]https://youtu.be/QU4Q17t4muY[/embed]
Saturday 5 September
Carrying bricks to the recycling centre. After some kitchen improvements earlier this year, it meant we had a lot of very very heavy brick outside on our patio. I loaded them in the wheel barrow, lifted them in the back of my car, drove them to the recycling centre and lifted them one by one into the recycling bin for rubble. I did this twice in order to manage all the bricks!
The stories of how university life has changed are reported in the news daily. We read stories of students being expelled, for congregating, partying, and being kids. The Washington Post reports how it was all ‘so predictable’.
The problem is that university business models are not anti-fragile, they aren’t even smart. They are based upon the way the world used to be, not the way it is, and definitely not the way it is going to be. There is a case that the current higher ed model no longer serves the interests of society, and COVID is shining a light on the hypocrisy.
One does not need a Ph.D. to know that socialization is one of the main drivers for students to attend universities. The universities capitalize on this by creating lucrative franchises that provide unity, community, and connection for their students.
Greek life, classes, study groups, student activities are all about socialization and connecting with contemporaries. For the Ivys proximity is arguable the greatest value of the education. By removing the ability to socialize, a large part of the value proposition is removed.
This is an inconvenient fact now for the higher education machine. Leadership proceeds pretending that the reality of school is simply about classes, and they are applying dictatorial, draconian tools to keep students from assembling, despite having called them back to school.
This attempt at controlling the behavior of young adults through intimidation will fail. It will fail because some of the presumably, smartest people in the land have no interest, to be honest about the reality of being a 19-year-old at college.
As Upton Sinclair once wrote, “It is difficult for a man to understand something when his salary depends upon not understanding”.
If you are, for example, Nicolas Zeppos, Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, earning $2.23 Million a year, charging students $70K for tuition, there is a large incentive to call students back to campus and pretend that everything will be okay. All one needs to do is to impose new rules that put students in the crosshairs of the COVID police (AKA Office of Student Accountability), and not acknowledge that it is all just a futile attempt to keep students from being students, and fully availing themselves of the value they have paid.
Kids will be kids and calling thousands of them back to a far-away city to do what they could have done from home, eg. watch classes via Zoom- is just a bad idea. We all know it is about business models. It is about money, and the point of this is that the culture of higher education, the archaic premise of faculty for life, all of it, needs to be reexamined, possibly burnt down, and started over.
The point is that ‘study from home’ at a reduced cost could’ve been a temporary solution for a semester. Instead, they put students and society at risk, principally because of outdated business models, and we all suffer as a result. And, even worse, kids are being penalized for being kids - having been lured back to a place where they are not safe.
Is this really the best that the brightest minds in our country can come up with?
Don’t wear a mask, do wear a mask, don’t wear one in school, do wear one in school, but only if your name is Robert and definitely wear one if you wish to stop breathing or definitely wear one when someone in class has farted.
The guidance on masks has been fraught with misinformation, miscommunication and u-turns. 2020 will definitely go down as the year that masks went viral, literally!
When the UK was about to go into Lockdown, toile paper became a scarcity. Everyone was literally going mad for it. Boris was just worried everything would be okay? And it wasn’t in the end…
When we created this cartoon, the numbers weren’t that high in the USA, but the lies and denials were sky-high and of course Trump featured in a big way and still does. The image I got was him being eaten by the Virus, literally!
So… As it came to pass the Prime Minister of the U.K. was found to have been unlawful when proroguing the U.K. parliament.
Did he mislead the Queen? In olden days, if you had wronged the head of state, you would be taken to the Tower of London for a bit of punishment. It gave me the idea for our latest cartoon.
Important note: We do not condone violence in anyway and of any kind towards any politicians anywhere in the world. This cartoon is merely mocking the state of affairs in the United Kingdom.
This is a bit cryptic, but have a good look at the cartoon and see if you can make out what the Chicken’s proposal is? I came across this concept years ago when I worked in corporate life. It’s when we started doing business with China. Get it?
Today my mother would have been 90 years old but unfortunately she died at 66 instead. She’d been a heart patient for many years and an early quadruple by-pass patient. In the end a supposedly simple angioplasty routine went wrong and a piece of a atheroma dislodged in her arteries and went into her brain meaning a stroke and a few days afterwards she passed away.
RIP Mama!
Bellingcat is a highly respected investigative journalism organisation. Some of their research is awesome.
Their daughter Claudia could have been the reason? Below some of her tweets. She’s just 15 and managed to get her parents to step back from their oh so public lives, especially their opposite views of politics. Wow!
I am getting very annoyed with a local housing group, who were supposed to fix a roof leak as a matter of urgency, 24-hour response promise and still haven’t repaired it since it being reported on 20 August. Even a temporary patch would help to stop the water coming through into the house. It’s not a normal leak as such either. Especially as storm Francis is about to hit the UK in the next 24 hours.
Russian politician and Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny is currently in a coma at Berlin’s Charité Hospital where doctors have conducted tests to find out whether he was poisoned.
German doctors have announced that tests done on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny indicate he was poisoned.
The staunch critic of Vladimir Putin is currently in an artificial coma at Berlin’s Charité Hospital.
Doctors there have said that clinical results confirmed by independent labs indicate poisoning.
Just read this. All I can say is WTF. Those crooks at Facebook!
Facebook has agreed to pay the French government €106m (£95.7m) in back taxes to settle a dispute over revenues earned in the country.
The payment covers the last decade of its French operations from 2009.
The social networking giant has also agreed to pay €8.46m in taxes on revenues in France for 2020 – 50% more than in 2019.
Tuesday 25 August
I’m a massive fan of Hugh MacLeod and Gapingvoid Culture Design. Their latest email definitely struck a massive chord with me. I never thought I was actually creative, maybe it was beaten out of me!
When you listen to reports on U.K. and U.S media it’s obvious that many are hoping for a silver bullet to kill off COVID19 with a vaccine. This is very unlikely. We’d stand a much better chance with an antibody drug in order to have massive take up by the world population. Many folks are against vaccines, quite rightly, they are filled with nasty chemicals. And for this reason a better solution is a drug, that is safe and thoroughly tested.
I’m in no hurry to be in large group company any time soon and expect that COVID19 will be with us for many years to come. All major diseases haven’t just disappeared overnight, which is what major leaders expect to happen. Populations believe them, which is very dangerous. All leaders of countries want to be loved, so they will say whatever they like in order to continue to be loved by the masses for their political gain.
By Leo Babauta via his newsletter received today 25 August, it REALLY resonated with me!
Hi there,
On Sunday, I was talking to a group of fellow Zen students, and we were sharing how we’re practicing with the world right now … and I shared:
I’m practicing with being with whatever is coming up for me (frustration, anxiety, fear, anger, etc.), just being with it
I notice just how often I don’t want to be present with all of that!
And what has become very obvious to me is how much I try to control everything as a response to whatever I don’t want to be with.
And I mean everything — I try to control my tasks, calendar, possessions, health, relationships, emotions, thoughts … everything. Most of my life is spent trying to control. So I don’t have to be with whatever is present for me.
This isn’t new, but I’m practicing with it a lot lately. So I’ve been exploring — what happens when I let go of a little of that tendency to try to control? And notice that I say “try to control” — it’s all just an illusion! I don’t really have control over all of this.
So what does it look like to let go of (some of) that control?
I can just be with my fear, anxiety, frustration, anger, pain.
I can just let go of trying to control the world, or other people.
I can start to accept that things are out of my control, that things will fall apart, and that I can just do my best to take care of them without needing everything to be a certain way.
I can fall in love with things just as they are (amor fati, which is both Stoic and Buddhist).
What about you? What does it mean to you to let go?
Oh wow I have to share this. Not many of you will know, but I am a Taiko drummer and Kodo with Roland have created an electronic Taiko Drum called the Taiko-1. This is my dream to own. A Taiko Drum, which has all the Taiko Drum sounds inside it. Of course it’s no substitute for hitting those massive majestic drums, but for practising at home it’s ideal.
[embed]https://youtu.be/DnpDiUcpR6U[/embed]
Unfortunately, this is their response to me enquiring about availability in the U.K.
Being aware of your local Covid19 cases is quite handy. The BBC has done this page where all you need is to enter your post code/area and it will give you some handy stats, plus much more.
I’ve started this thread on LinkedIn with words and their definitions, that we are all using now since the commencement of Covid19. You can follow it there, 2 words so far!
Coronavirus and Crime, England and Wales Report. Release date 26 august 2020.
Commenting on today’s figures, Billy Gazard from the Office for National Statistics Centre for Crime and Justice said:
“There was a significant fall in crime at the height of the coronavirus pandemic across England and Wales. This was driven by reductions in theft offences, particularly domestic burglary and theft of personal property. As this period coincided with the majority of people spending long periods at home during lockdown, it is not unexpected. These first findings from our new telephone-operated crime survey support police recorded data which also show lower than usual levels of offending in April and May.
“The exception was police recording of drug offences, which increased through April and May. This reflects proactive police activity as overall crime levels reduced.”
Remember this one that came out very early on? I shared it when it came out and I believed they were right and I still believe they were and are now being proven right too!
[embed]https://youtu.be/jZtEX2-n2Hc[/embed]
Friday 28 August
I’ve always supported Kamala Harris, even though I’m based in the U.K. I saw her potential back in 2016, so 4 years later she’s vice president to the democratic party. I do hope they win the presidential election, as Trump is causing more damage to the USA and the world then we could ever imagine and not only that he’s just a ‘Fool on the Hill’. We did the cartoon below when he was in the running for president in 2016. We portrayed him as the evil ‘Joker’ and he’s turned out exactly as that.
I recorded a video demonstrating the bOdrum, which I am using for doing Taiko at home. I love this drum although it may still be a bit on the load side! Have a look and see what you think!
The fall out from last week’s A-level results in the UK. Oh it must be so tough for these Teens, their entitlement for a better life continue. They feel let down by society. Excuse my cynicism, I don’t feel bad for them, they have never had it so good, sponging off their parents and the state. Best just to stay in school then and just have a good time with your pals
Spent most of the day hanging around my mother-in-law’s waiting for the roof to be repaired, but nobody showed up!
Republican senator desperate to be re-elected suggest that donors should fast and use the money they saved from fasting and donate it to her campaign. You can’t make this stuff up!
Jacob Glanville of Netflix’s Pandemic fame, did a Video update on his antobdy drug versus vaccines. My bet is on his antibody drug. Roll on 2021. This guys makes a lot of sense, much more so compared to anyone else on the planet at the moment, but of course that could change!
I’ve been in catch up mode this week and haven’t been collecting and writing every day like I had been doing for the past few weeks. Never mind must do better next week!
The great British holiday return continues too with many folks having to quarantine at home when they come back after the 4am imposes deadline today.
The heatwave in the U.K. is about to kick in for real. We never EVER cope well with a heatwave in this country, our homes, offices (well, home of course is the new office) are not built to withstand high heat. All the warnings are that we need to be prepared for this to be a regular occurrence in the future. Well I’m definitely buying a air conditioning unit during the winter months, ready for summer 2021, that’s for sure!
Monday 10 August
Today the youngest stepson came for lunch with his new girlfriend. They’re off to Lanzarote tomorrow and will have to self-isolate and stay in quarantine for 14 days when they get back. Going on vacation (holidays) in Europe comes with a heavy burden for some. Not if you are not employed, just a bit of
A non-work day, instead I spent 5 hours in the sweltering heat (34c) working to clear weeds in my mother-in-law’s future house. Clair was cleaning the house from top to bottom and I was clearing the garden. Working with a wet flannel on top of my head to stop my bald patch from burning, I managed to get it done. The worst part and what took most of the time were those pesky weeds in between all the paving slabs in the back garden. Basically the back garden is all paving slabs, apart from one narrow border, which was overgrown with grass and weeds. My back was aching just a little after all that work, but the satisfaction of getting it done was awsome.
Wednesday 12 August
Today my hamstrings are NOT working. After all that work, I have caused more damage to my body then I realised, I’m struggling to walk!
Kamala Harris is Vice President!! I’ve been wishing for her to be the President and was majorly disappointed that she pulled out. Now she’s Vice President, which means one day she will definitely be President. I’m looking forward to this team changing the world inside out.
And here he is cancelling the election! Just in case, as people do believe this is really him, this guy is John Di Domenico, he’s an outstanding impersonator.
Face mask fines to rise up to £3,200 as England lockdown eases from Saturday 15 August 2020. The UK will also see a clampdown on illegal gatherings of more than 30 people — with those responsible slapped with on-the-spot fines of up to £10,000.
This is getting quite serious actually, would love to know if these fines will actually take place?
Jacob Glanville featured in the Netflix documentary Pandemic.
His company Distributed Bio is featured in the documentary for researching a global vaccine for flu. Since Covid19 they’ve been very active in developing an antibody medicine, whilst developing a vaccine as well. They are not affiliated to big pharma, so I’ve developed some trust in them. However I still don’t trust vaccines, but am following his progress nevertheless.
[embed]https://youtu.be/5sOQHGCQssA[/embed]
And…
Nobody knew anything about it, except Trump and he’s now the expert.
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, then suddenly.” Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”.
What Hemingway wrote about one of his book characters, Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress says about the future of remote work (“Distributed Work”, as he calls it).
“On the distributed front, the future of work has been arriving quickly. This week, a wave of companies representing over $800B in market capitalization announced they’re embracing distributed work beyond what’s required by the pandemic:
Of course, a lot of the disruption that occurred to people we know was due to the kind of housing people had. Suddenly being told to work from home is a lot easier if you live in a big house in a leafy suburb, than if you rent say, a $3200/month, 800 sq ft sleeping cupboard in Manhattan.
And with all those newly-remote’d office workers fleeing the big city, what happens to all the service jobs that satellite them (waiters, bartenders, personal trainers, etc). And without those service jobs to gainfully employ the artists, actors, poets, aspiring filmmakers, and other bohemians, what happens to the arts? What happens to culture?
Matt’s contention (and many people agree with him) is that “Distributed Work” is the future, all the C-virus did is accelerate the inevitable.
Which is precisely what most big change does, after all. Plus ca change…
Originally published by Gapingvoid Culture Design via their email newsletter dated August 12, 2020. You can also subscribe to their email via;
An interesting article on COVID-19 right here on Medium.
[embed]https://link.medium.com/liWJsTmSD8[/embed]
Monday 3 August
[embed]https://youtu.be/vofXP1pm3NI[/embed]
Just listened to a report on BBC Radio 4 about a hospital consultant who was violently removed from the bedside of his dyeing daughter. The video is below and is quite disturbing. He is to sue the police after claiming he was physically dragged from his daughter’s bedside and arrested after doctors said they were to switch off her life support.
[embed]https://youtu.be/HXGn5cRbVPI[/embed]
Tuesday 4 August
Further Presidential anti-Trump campaigning videos from the Lincoln Project. Mmm, they may be making fun of David Attenborough, well that’s not so nice, but still a job well done!
And for something I have never seen before. A tweet about cycling safety in London. Why just London, why not all over the country. Drivers in the U.K. are animals, yes men and women alike, don’t really give a f..king damn about cyclists, cutting up, speeding past and too close is a major problem. I have experienced it now for over 43 years since landing in the U.K. from The Netherlands, the cycling capital of the world!
Today is the aftermath after the Beirut explosions. On the evening of 4 August 2020, at 18:08 EEST, an extremely powerful explosion occurred in the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The blast, which occurred after a fire at the Port of Beirut, left at least 135 people dead with a sure possibility of increasing, 80 more missing, and more than 5,000 injured. The footage below contains upsetting images.
[embed]https://youtu.be/k51L0MkRO8E[/embed]
A packed day today and our first time out in a public place for a meal to celebrate our anniversary, since early March 2020. I posted my view on this event on LinkedIn during the night, as both of us struggled to sleep as we had a big meal.
[embed]https://link.medium.com/liWJsTmSD8[/embed]
Oh my god, Trump’s at it again with his crazy stories. CCN unpicks the truth and fake news. More importantly Trumps comments were removed from Facebook and Twitter.
[embed]https://youtu.be/2-4FDaQg4sE[/embed]
This brief report in an email from Medium.
Teachers in a large school district in Georgia returned to schools last week to start planning for reopening. Now, 260 district employees are barred from entering the schools due to either testing positive for Covid-19 or being exposed to someone who had. It’s clear the U.S. is not uniformly prepared for classrooms to safely reopen.
There’s new science that has complicated school plans. It’s increasingly clear that children can get and spread Covid-19 more than initially realized (though likely still less than adults). While there’s no way to reopen schools without any Covid-19 cases, the hope is that case counts could be kept low.
How to do that is complicated, especially for the United States. The United Nations released a statement yesterday calling on countries to safely reopen schools, but only in places where transmission is low. Anthony Fauci, MD, has also shared that he thinks schools in hot spots should reconsider in-person classes. Read more about the latest science on kids and coronavirus here and here.
To support Trump’s downfall The Lincoln Project is not stopping its assault on his presidency and his family in key positions too.
Today I have been married to my wife Clair for 11 years. It has been a wonderful 11 years, but not without it’s challenges. During this time we have had many ups and downs, mainly with family members and especially Clair’s 2 boys, my stepsons. It has been a tough time for certain years, but our relationship has stayed strong and has continued to get even stronger.
I did my 4th Podcast interview in as many months of Covid-19. This one was quite tough. Mel Riley has a had a really tough young life, but there’s a good ending to it all. You can watch the video interview below.
I’m not sure how long this interview will be available, they’ve already taken it down from YouTube. No idea why, but here it is below. Hopefully it will stay on that site.
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway on their Pivot Schooled paid for webinar series. Here’s a short clip with Kathy Griffing (comedian) who is brilliant, but I have no idea what she’s talking about.
