Porthole

1844 was an eventful year.

Well, this blog didna win a . My old blog wouldn't have either ... but that's because there was a large thriving community of serious bloggers for a couple years. I'm still in touch with some.

Robert won with an essay-a-day-with-a-personal-touch type of blog. Charity and Charlie have more personal journal type blogs. From 2005-2007 my old blog covered a time when I was homeless and folks found that interesting.

But they no longer blog here ... or much of anywhere.

Blogging became monetized and competitive. I just wanted community.

There is no blogging 'community' here at present. The closest is QOTD. The BCoF, BC and 30dbc folk don't interact much. It's very discouraging.

Bloggers bugged today:

190. cathartes02
191. sumojo
192. normajeantrent
193. 4provinces
194. sum1swriting
195. wordgeek
196. wolfgang
197. tigger

Midnight: 47 damp degrees. It may be the high for the day.

Damp and dark. I slept in but did have sense to stay up once I got up. Sunday is normally a quiet day in Missoula.

Misty morning, 38 degrees at 10:40 am.

2 hours after sunset on May 23rd in 1844 a young man proclaimed that he was forerunner of the Promised One in Shiraz. On this day in nearby Tehran, `Abdu'l-Bahá was born; the eldest Son of Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith, the inception of which, the Báb proclaimed His own mission was to herald.

It's recognized as the founding of the Baháʼí Faith.

On May 24th – The first electrical telegram is sent by Samuel Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, saying "What hath God wrought".

Noon... 39°F and mist.

I told Hooves: "I've managed to stay out of the hospital. Covid numbers would be close to zero in this town if everyone were vaccinated. However... with summer tourist season about to start there's a very good chance that the numbers will go up. Flathead County (Kalispell) is the Gate Way to Glacier Park and the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers rule there as do White Nationalists. It's a county of poverty and extreme wealth where the wealthy fly in and out on their private planes. The on-going covid numbers there are disturbing. We're caught between Glacier and Yellowstone. Bozeman is the Gate Way to Yellowstone and with its young college risk-taking crowd the numbers there have also been extraordinarily high, although death rates are low. The covid numbers there are going down. Missoula is also just north of Hamilton another nest of anti-vaxxers. The Confederacy is alive and well there. We are the main airport for them, market town, and have highways to Hell."

Covid numbers:

13.6% pos. Flathead 122 active cases (89k pop)
08.1% Lake 45 active cases (26k pop)
08.7% Missoula 44 active cases (105k pop)
08.1% Ravalli 61 active cases (39k pop)

Dose rates per 1k pop:

_674 Flathead
_977 Lake
1065 Missoula
_809 Ravalli

There are counties in Eastern Montana that have vaxx rates less than 30%. Missoula is a bit over 50% vaccinated. There are only 3 other counties out of 56 that may be at 50%. We will not hit 'herd immunity' at this rate. If UM and MSU do not make vaxx mandatory we could very well experience an autumn outbreak. Anyone who cannot get the vaxx for medical reasons will be at risk.
Pop = population to be vaccinated.
Note: Missoula has fewer active cases in spite of a higher population.

Compare to:

Percent positive:

14.3% North Dakota
10.4% Montana
10.2% USA
_7.5% Brazil
_2.5% Hawai'i
_1.9% India

Nordic percent positive:

10.4% Sweden (same as Montana)
_4.7% Denmark
_2.2% Norway
_1.6% Finland

Deaths per million:

2,937 New Jerey
2,096 Brazil
1,824 USA
1,501 Montana
_ 349 Hawai'i
_ 218 India

Nordic deaths

1,415 Sweden
_ 422 Denmark
_ 168 Finland
_ 143 Norway

Note: For India to reach the covid rates of Montana over 5 times as many would have to test positive and 7 times as many would have to die.

I made rice with peanut butter, butter, cinnamon and a dash of cayenne and added chicken. I stirred in ricotta cheese for the first bowl. Turned out fine.

Still 39 degrees and raining

I thought of this short writing from 2017 today: "Hand-in-hand" 

41 degrees at 9:51 and still raining.

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