HinesSight

Dumb stuff our HOA is trying to do

From what I can tell, Homeowners Associations (HOAs) are about as beloved as the IRS -- a necessary evil that people want to have as little to do with as possible.

Which means I must be an aberration, since for about 25 years I was the secretary for our HOA, Spring Lake Estates Recreation Property, Inc. here in rural south Salem, Oregon. 

That meant I not only had to attend almost every meeting of our HOA board for a quarter century, I also had to stay awake enough to take notes and write minutes that were close enough to what actually happened to be approved by the board at the next meeting, by which time, thankfully, most board members couldn't remember what occurred very well.

But seriously, or let's say even more seriously, I enjoyed being the HOA secretary for the most part.

Our meetings were informal, often filled with gossip, jokes, and laughter. We welcomed the occasional property owner who would come to a board meeting out of curiosity, because they were interested in an agenda item, or had a problem they wanted fixed.

Partly things were so relaxed because we're an old development, formed in the early 1970s, without CC&Rs. So we have few rules, just some charmingly archaic deed restrictions like "No poultry in commercial quantity." So if you've ever wanted to have a lot of chickens on your property, right up to a factory farm level, give us a look-see.

I resigned a few years ago after Dumb Stuff #1 our board did. I'd put considerable effort into fashioning a trial web site for our HOA using software from a company specializing in this. About a third of our 96 members signed up for the site and liked its features: calendar, message board, online documents, and such.

However, a few nit-pickers in our community worried that the web site wasn't secure enough, even though it required a password to access it and didn't contain any sensitive information.

The fact that we were behind the Internet times, lacking the ability to let our members quickly know about "breaking news" such as water test results for our community lake, which got a lot of use during the summer months, was ignored by our HOA board. That lack of neighborly concern caused me to bail out on being secretary. 

Since, the board has had two short-lived secretaries, each lasting about a year, and now is on a third. That tells me that either I should be admitted to the HOA Secretary Hall of Fame or I am even crazier than I thought for spending so many years laboring in the secretarial trenches.

My wife has served on the board for many years, too many for me to remember. This month she lost her re-election bid by one vote, so she's now an outsider like I am. But we still are keeping tabs on other dumb stuff our HOA board is trying to do, which led us to spend a frustrating couple of hours yesterday at the Annual Membership Meeting at the Spring Lake picnic area.

This gets me to Dumb Stuff #2 our board did. Well, actually just the board president, who keep saying at yesterday's meeting, when the discussion about my next dumb stuff #3 got a bit heated, "We're now in Executive Session! Only board members can speak."

The president obviously didn't know what an Executive Session actually is, a fact I was pleased to remind her about today, along with the other board members, in an email I sent to them. Here's a few excerpts.

It was obvious to those of us familiar with how executive sessions work that _____’s repeated “we’re now in executive session” at yesterday’s membership meeting had no basis. 

 

Here’s some links on this subject for board members to educate themselves, since it is important that yesterday be the first and only time “executive session” is proclaimed by a SLERP board president in the midst of a meeting. 

 

https://kuester.com/can-hoa-board-call-executive-session/

https://blog.realmanage.com/6-reasons-a-board-should-hold-an-hoa-executive-session

https://findhoalaw.com/executive-session/

https://blog.hignellhoa.com/when-can-an-hoa-board-call-an-executive-session

 

...So none of the reasons a HOA board could meet in executive session pertained to yesterday’s membership meeting. And even if there was, the board would have to vote in an open meeting whether to meet in executive session.

 

Since executive sessions are private, obviously saying “executive session!” at our membership meeting was even more outrageous, since that would have required all non-board members to leave the picnic area, thereby defeating the purpose of a membership meeting.

 

Lastly, here’s an additional link from a law firm regarding Oregon and Washington law concerning executive sessions.

http://www.barkermartin.com/blog/condo-hoa-blog/post/executive-session-lifting-the-veil-of-secrecy

 

This post contains a pertinent statement, because this is exactly what _____, the board president, was trying to do with her repeated off-base calls of “executive session” — shut down discussion of a controversial subject.

 

Executive session should not be used as an avoidance tactic. Boards should not convene or threaten to convene in executive session every time a controversial or contentious issue arises. The issues upon which a board can legally enter executive session are stated expressly within the statute applicable to their association, and the statutes can be used as guidelines for all communities.  

 

Dumb Stuff #3 a few misguided members of our HOA board are trying to inflict on our community concerns trying to change how our bylaws can be amended. 

This obviously is a big deal, because the bylaws for an HOA are akin to the United States Constitution, the core guide to how the HOA operates. Our bylaws say that the bylaws can only be amended in this way: 

The By-Laws of this Corporation may be amended, added to, or replaced only when approved by a mail vote of the majority of the membership of the Corporation.

Now, it seems obvious to my wife and I, seemingly along with anyone else who can read English, that a "majority of the membership of the Corporation" means 50% plus one of our 96 property owners, each of whom gets one vote for each lot owned (a few people own more than a single lot). So roughly 49 votes would be needed to approve a change to the bylaws

This also is the view of a land use attorney we hired after our HOA board indicated that it wanted to start making bylaws changes that only required a majority vote of those returning ballots.

Since we have a rather apathetic group of property owners (many people live in rural areas like ours because they want to be left alone), this would mean that if, say, 10 out of the 96 property owners returned a bylaws change ballot, six votes would enable that change to pass.

Which seems really wrong, since a very small minority could make changes to the bylaws that affect everybody in our community.

Yesterday we made some strong arguments against that interpretation (or rather, misinterpretation) of how our bylaws can be amended, including the possibiity of a lawsuit by disgruntled property owners who don't appreciate having the HOA board ignore what the current bylaws say.

Pleasingly, our board voted to get a legal opinion from another attorney before moving ahead with bylaws amendments. That was good news, so hopefully I'll be able to scratch Dumb Stuff #3 from my list of HOA grievances fairly soon.

I'll end by saying that I do have considerable sympathy for the current HOA president, even though I don't think she is doing a very good job. This cartoon is apt.

In one day, I've become a 71 year-old TikTok addict

This isn't a cry for help, even though I'm addicted.

To TikTok, the video-sharing service that has aroused Trump's ire -- which led me to download the iPhone app this morning, in part because my default position is that whatever our Idiot-in-Chief is against, I'm for, since Trump is almost always wrong.

Last Thursday Trump signed an executive order aimed at TikTok. 

In the order, which takes effect in 45 days, any transactions between TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, and U.S. citizens will be outlawed for national security reasons.

In practice, experts told NPR the order likely will mean the viral video service could no longer receive advertising from American companies and the app could be removed from Apple and Google's app stores.

For the more than 100 million Americans who have downloaded TikTok, experts say the app may no longer be sent software updates, rendering TikTok unmanageable, and eventually nonfunctional, with time.

Sure seems like a dumb political move to threaten to take away an app that 100 million Americans have downloaded about three months before the November election. So I'm happy that unless Trump reverses course, the TikTok faithful, which now includes me, will unleash their righteous rage on an already unpopular president.

Reportedly TikTok collects the same sort of data Facebook and Google do, including location data and Internet search history. So what's the big deal?

There's no evidence TikTok is sharing that data with the Chinese government.

And even if it was, after spending a lot of time with TikTok today as my addiction quickly took hold, my attitude is that if the price I have to pay for seeing amazingly creative, funny, and entertaining short videos is having the Chinese government know that I'm a guy in Oregon who is a news junkie, I'll pay that price!

I heartily recommend downloading the TikTok app and giving it a try. I knew that my 13-year-old granddaughter liked TikTok, so I had the erroneous impression that it was geared toward young people. 

Which, I guess, it is.

But the never-ending stream of videos that you get after indicating what sort of things you're interested in is absolutely ageless. I kept showing my wife the newest must-see video that caught my eye, mostly of animals and their humans doing humorous stuff.

I haven't made a TikTok video yet, though likely this is just a matter of time.

It's clear that to really wow people with your video it helps to understand the editing options available via TikTok. But some videos are as simple as someone pointing their smartphone at something interesting and pressing record.

If you don't want to download an iPhone or Android app, TikTok has a web site. But I found that the videos are more appealing on my iPhone, maybe because it is so easy to just swipe up and see the next TikTok offering.

The sensation I got from watching TikTok videos was pleasant in a variety of ways. It felt good to get glimpses of so many lives, both human and animal. Most videos possess a simple joy that lifted my spirit in these COVID times. And the creativity/talent of TikTok users made me feel positive about our country's future, in a rather strange way.

So much more brings us together than drives us apart.

Like laughing at a video of a dog wanting to walk up the last few steps of a staircase to join its owner, but temporarily paralyzed by the sight of Cat of the House lying on the landing. Cajoled by the owner, the dog finally backed its way up those final steps, until it could sit side-by-side with the cat. 

Then it quickly turned toward the owner, which made the cat instantly reach out with its paw and take a swipe at the dog. This must be a recurring drama between the cat and dog, but it made a dramatic mini-video.

Anyway, it's good to see that TikTok plans to sue the Trump administration over the ban, perhaps as soon as next Tuesday. Like most things Trump does, likely the ban has little or no basis in facts and the law. Hopefully TikTok will prevail, so my addiction can blossom more fully.

"A Letter on Justice and Open Debate" needs to be read by all extremists

Last Friday Bill Maher's Real Time show on HBO featured a discussion between Maher and two people who signed a letter calling for more tolerance of opposing views and the free exchange of information and ideas -- Thomas Chatterton Williams and Bari Weiss.

(There's a video of their Real Time segment on a Daily Beast story. It's well worth watching.)

Williams spearheaded the letter, which I've copied in below from a Harper's web page. To see who has signed it so far, click on the preceding link. It includes some familiar names: J.K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Fareed Zakaria, Malcolm Gladwell, Noam Chomsky. 

The shorthand way of describing the letter is that it decries "cancel culture," which a New York Times opinion piece describes:

As The Times columnist Ross Douthat argues, cancellation is typically expressed as a collective attack on someone’s reputation and employment, which may include calls to deny people opportunities to speak before an audience (in person or online), be fired or put out of business, especially when such calls come from within one’s own professional community. While the Harper’s letter did not expressly use the phrase cancel culture, its emphasis on the “need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences” accords neatly with Mr. Douthat’s definition.

There are many ways of looking at the problem described in the letter, which naturally is the point of the letter. Freedom of expression is needed to investigate every problem in society, including the problem of not allowing freedom of expression.

My personal experience with this doesn't rise to the cancel culture level. I don't have a position that can be cancelled, being a retired blogger and author. What I've encountered has been more along the lines of You can't say that because you're an old white guy. 

For example, my wife, Laurel, was one of the women who put on the first Salem Women's March in January 2017 after Trump was elected. So I had a special interest in a subsequent event that organizers were calling the Salem Womxn's March, which I thought was a bad idea.

OK. Some thought it was a good idea. But instead of explaining why they were right and I was wrong, on Facebook I got a lot of comments along the line of "An old white guy can't criticize how a woman's march is being planned." Which was totally off base, because obviously I was entitled to do just that -- express my opinion.

More recently, I wrote what I thought was a non-controversial blog post, "Violence should never be part of a Black Lives Matter protest." But since I'm not Black, numerous Facebook commenters said I wasn't able to talk about what should happen at the protests. Which also was ridiculous, because I'm perfectly capable of expressing my views on this subject.

Anyway, here's the Harper's letter, minus the names of those who have signed it. I added some extra paragraph breaks to make the letter easier to read.

    A Letter on Justice and Open Debate

July 7, 2020
The below letter will be appearing in the Letters section of the magazine’s October issue. We welcome responses at [email protected]

Our cultural institutions are facing a moment of trial. Powerful protests for racial and social justice are leading to overdue demands for police reform, along with wider calls for greater equality and inclusion across our society, not least in higher education, journalism, philanthropy, and the arts.

But this needed reckoning has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity. As we applaud the first development, we also raise our voices against the second. The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy.

But resistance must not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion—which right-wing demagogues are already exploiting. The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides.

The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted. While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture: an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.

We uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter-speech from all quarters. But it is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought.

More troubling still, institutional leaders, in a spirit of panicked damage control, are delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments instead of considered reforms. Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; a researcher is fired for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes.

Whatever the arguments around each particular incident, the result has been to steadily narrow the boundaries of what can be said without the threat of reprisal. We are already paying the price in greater risk aversion among writers, artists, and journalists who fear for their livelihoods if they depart from the consensus, or even lack sufficient zeal in agreement.

This stifling atmosphere will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time. The restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation.

The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other. As writers we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk taking, and even mistakes.

We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences. If we won’t defend the very thing on which our work depends, we shouldn’t expect the public or the state to defend it for us.

Wall of Moms founder hits wall of political correctness

As a progressive, it deeply bothers me when progressives turn on each other rather than on the real current enemy, Donald Trump and his Republican enablers.

All too often progressive groups fall prey to extreme political correctness, where the slightest deviation from left-wing political purity is met with extreme vilification. 

This has befallen the founder of the Wall of Moms movement, Bev Barnum.

Barnum is a Mexican-American mother who wanted to do something to protect Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland from the aggressive tactics of federal agents sent by Trump to supposedly guard the federal courthouse, while the real goal seemingly was to bolster Trump's fading reelection chances by appealing to voters energized by a law-and-order mentality.

The Wall of Moms movement has been a huge success. Spin-off groups have formed all around the country. But as the Biblical saying goes, no prophet is accepted in his own home town. Or in this case, her home town.

For me the first clue that something was amiss with the Wall of Moms movement came when I noticed that the twitter feed for Wall of Moms had stopped talking about the Black Lives Matter protests and was all about bashing Bev Barnum.

Why? Well, the Wall of Moms twitter feed shared a message from Barnum that seemed completely reasonable to me, but obviously didn't comply with whatever purity test was being used by whoever now controlled "WOM OFFICIAL."

So Barnum, the founder of Wall of Moms, came up with the idea of making Wall of Moms a movement that could be used to support causes in addition to Black Lives Matter. It's hard for me to see what could be wrong with that.

Why not have a Wall of Moms at rallies supporting efforts to combat global warming? Or immigration reform. Or health care for all. Or a $15/hour federal minimum wage. Or stopping pipelines slated to cross Native American lands. 

But since the first Wall of Moms was in support of Black Lives Matter protests, the politically correct progressive police decided that only Black women should be in charge of the Portland Wall of Moms. A Mexican-American woman wasn't enough of a person of color to count, I guess.

That's ridiculous. 

Sure, it makes sense that Black Lives Matter groups should be led by Black people. But it makes no sense that other groups wishing to support the Black Lives Matter movement also have to be led by Black people.

It's such a waste of energy when progressives outdo themselves to see who can be the Purest of Them All, forgetting that the real enemy aren't those who fail to attain some mythical standard of political correctness, but those in this country who are leading us down the road of authoritarianism, racism, militarism, and other undesirable "ism's."

Bev Barnum forms a non-profit Wall of Moms organization. Good for her. If anyone doesn't like that, they can do something different on their own. What happened to women supporting women rather than tearing other women down?

I can't understand why whoever is running the OFFICIAL WOM twitter feed is so set on disparaging Barnum when they should be focused on making sure that federal agents leave Portland and police reforms occur in Oregon's largest city.

The Oregonian newspaper has a story about the dispute within the Wall of Moms movement, "Portland's Wall of Moms crumbles amid online allegations by former partner, Don't Shoot PDX." What were the shocking allegations? Here's some of what the story says.

Portland Wall of Moms, a group formed in recent weeks and quickly recognized as a staple of nightly downtown protests, was accused publicly Wednesday of “anti-Blackness” by leaders of an existing, Black-led community group.

Wall of Moms, whose members said they aimed to support and protect other Black Lives Matter protesters near the fence in front of the federal courthouse, announced Friday that its white leadership had rescinded their positions to allow women of color to be in charge. New leaders announced Friday include Teressa Raiford, executive director of Don’t Shoot Portland, Demetria Hester and Danialle James.

But less than a week later, Don’t Shoot Portland took to Instagram to urge people against supporting the Wall of Moms, saying that it was no longer working with the moms group.

“The lies are finally clear and we are sad but ultimately not surprised that anti-Blackness showed its ugly head,” read the post published on Wednesday by Don’t Shoot Portland, a local Black Lives Matter and mutual aid group founded in 2014.

The Wednesday post alleges that Wall of Moms founder Bev Barnum filed for business registrations without consulting the newly instated Black leaders and that the safety of Black members at the nightly protests in downtown Portland was overlooked.

Barnum has not yet commented publicly about the allegations.

The post said that issues of Black mothers’ safety have only come to light in the past 24 hours.

Barnum appeared to file three business registrations on Tuesday including one that makes The Wall of Moms a 501c3 nonprofit. Don’t Shoot Portland interpreted the filings to mean that Wall of Moms goal was to get federal officers out of Portland -- not to support Black Lives Matter, according to the Instagram post. The newly instated Black leaders were not told about the registrations, according to the post.

Wow. Bev Barnum wants to get federal officers out of Portland. She filed three business registrations. So this makes her "anti-Black"? I'm a strong supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, but not when leaders of that movement do or say crazy stuff. They owe Barnum an apology, in my opinion. 

If you don't agree, fine. That's your opinion. We can agree to disagree without vilifying each other.

Violence should never be part of a Black Lives Matter protest

I doubt they read blogs like mine, but if some of the jerks who have been aiming fireworks at the federal courthouse in Portland every night, trying to dismantle the temporary fence that surrounds the building, and otherwise provoking a violent end to the otherwise peaceful Black Lives Matter protests do come across this post, let's have a debate.

My position is: Violence should never be part of a Black Lives Matter protest. Not ever. Repeat, never. 

Now, let me give reasons for why I think I'm correct about this. The first reason is much less important than the second, but I'll start with it.

Yes, I'm an old white guy. However, I was in college from 1966-71 at San Jose State College (or as I like to call it, with zero to back me up, the Stanford of the South Bay).

We had lots of protests against the Vietnam War. I recall that most were peaceful, though sometimes the cops behaved badly. However, most of us hippies truly did believe in "Make love, not war." Sure, there were fringe groups on campus that espoused violence against the Powers That Be. I didn't know anyone who agreed with them, though

So I felt right at home at the only Black Lives Matter protest I've attended here in Salem. It featured thousands of people who listened to inspiring speakers, then marched through downtown and back to the Capitol Mall without any trace of violence or even overt hostility to police. 

(Jerry Moore, the police chief spoke at the event.)

The focus was on what it should be: Black Lives Matter.

And that's what is so irritating about the violent acts being carried out by small numbers of troublemakers or anarchists, not only in Portland but now also in Seattle and other cities. Which gets me to my second, and more important, reason for decrying violence at these protests.

Black leaders are calling for an end to it.

A few days ago E.D. Mondainé, president of the Portland branch of the NAACP had a right-on opinion piece in the Washington Post. Here's some excerpts.

Early in his activism, Malcolm X was asked by a young white woman what she could do to help the cause of civil rights. He famously replied, “Nothing.” Years later, he regretted dismissing her so abruptly, because he came to believe there was much she could do to advance the cause of justice for black people in the United States. But I am quite certain that striking yoga poses nude on the streets of Portland, Ore., was not on his list of actionable items.

Images of “Naked Athena,” as the protester has been labeled, have gone viral, her unclothed confrontation with police earning her accolades as a brave ally of the cause. But I see something else: a beneficiary of white privilege dancing vainly on a stage that was originally created to raise up the voices of my oppressed brothers and sisters. In this, she is not alone. As the demonstrations continue every night in Portland, many people with their own agendas are co-opting, and distracting attention from, what should be our central concern: the Black Lives Matter movement.

...Unfortunately, “spectacle” is now the best way to describe Portland’s protests. Vandalizing government buildings and hurling projectiles at law enforcement draw attention — but how do these actions stop police from killing black people? What are antifa and other leftist agitators achieving for the cause of black equality? The “Wall of Moms,” while perhaps well-intentioned, ends up redirecting attention away from the urgent issue of murdered black bodies. This might ease the consciences of white, affluent women who have previously been silent in the face of black oppression, but it’s fair to ask: Are they really furthering the cause of justice, or is this another example of white co-optation?

...Thursday night, I will lead a rally in downtown Portland to refocus public attention where it belongs: on redeeming a guilty nation. But recent events might be a sign that our work in the streets should be coming to an end.

I am not suggesting retreat. Instead, I am proposing that we take the cause of Black Lives Matter into those places where tear gas and rubber bullets and federal agents cannot find us, and where there is less risk of spectacle distracting from our true aims. In boardrooms, in schools, in city councils, in the halls of justice, in the smoky backrooms of a duplicitous government — that is where we will finally dismantle the gears of the brutal, racist machine that has been terrorizing black Americans and hollowing out the moral character of this nation since its inception.

A front page story in today's Portland Oregonian makes some similar points. 

It was almost 11 p.m. Wednesday when the crackle and flash of fireworks erupted at the federal courthouse in downtown Portland.

For some of the Black activists across the street at the county’s Justice Center, the disruption was a signal to wrap up for the night. The volatile scene beginning to play out a block away was distracting the crowd.

Michael Richard, 38, the final speaker, closed with a lament:

“What’s going on over there is a white movement … that’s taking over Black Lives Matter.”

The rest of the night would be marked by fire, chaos and a show of force by federal officers.

“A spectacle” is how the Rev. E.D. Mondaine described the spasm of late-night violence that has become the norm.

He blamed not only disruptive protesters but also presidential interference, which he said is carefully calculated to divert attention.

“Our movement has been co-opted and I am angry about it,” said Mondaine, president of the Portland NAACP. “Once again the status quo is finding a way to interrupt this revolution, this moment.

“We have to begin to organize more people to talk about the distractors,” he said. “These are privileged children of the status quo dancing on the stages that were designed to lift up the voices of people like (civil rights leader) C.T. Vivian and (U.S. Rep) John Lewis, the stages that were built to lift up the voice of justice and equality and inclusion.”

...Even before the involvement of federal law enforcement, the nights have tended to unfold in predictable ways: Black activists lead the crowds in front of the Justice Center with chants such as “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace.” Often they exhort the crowd to refrain from violence.

Then at some point well after dark, a faction of protesters that Blake referred to as “the graveyard shift,” largely young and white, turns its attention to the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse.

Over the course of the past week, demonstrators have carried out a range of destructive acts: They’ve set bonfires in the courthouse portico and pried plywood off the windows and doors, tossed a grill and garbage over the fence around the building, pointed lasers at officers and lit fireworks with concussive blasts that can be felt for blocks.

Almost on cue, officers with U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, many in camouflage and tactical gear, at some point emerge from the courthouse and sweep the streets using clouds of tear gas, pepper balls and other impact munitions.

...People lashing out during the protests “have legitimate anger, but I would respectfully disagree with them,” said Eric Ward, a longtime civil rights strategist and executive director of the Western States Center, a Portland-based organization that monitors right-wing extremism.

“I would say they are applying that anger in a wrong way,” Ward said. “Pulling down the boards of the federal courthouse or the Justice Center doesn’t stop police from brutalizing Black and Latino and Indigenous people on the streets of Portland.”

Protesting police violence by acting violently toward police obviously undercuts the core message of these protests. It serves no purpose. Well, it serves Trump's purpose to demonize the Black Lives Matter protests as threats to law and order in cities controlled by Democratic mayors.

And that's another reason to end the violence by a minority of protesters: Trump is relishing it.

Read these bad Peppermint Berri reviews before buying from them

I have nothing good to say about Peppermint Berri, an online store based in Singapore. Below I've copied in 35 reviews from Trustpilot, one of which is mine, which are equally critical of this company. It sure seems like they are scammers.

On May 14 I ordered a standup weed removal tool from Peppermint Berri that I'd seen advertised on Facebook. At $89.98 it seemed unduly expensive, but I figured that if it didn't work I could return it.

What I didn't know is that nine weeks later, not only haven't I gotten the weed remover, there's no sign it ever has been shipped to me. And so far my request for a refund has been ignored. 

Fortunately, I paid via PayPal. Today I filed a complaint with PayPal. Peppermint Beri has 20 days to reach an agreement with me before the dispute gets elevated at PayPal. The only agreement I'm interested in is a full refund of my money. This is what I said in my PayPal complaint. 

After ordering a weed remover on May 14 and not receiving it, I emailed Peppermint Berri three times on June 5, June 30, and July 20 asking why my order hadn't been received. Each time I was told there was a problem with the "courier" or shipping service. I was given a tracking number, but the information never changed.

I just checked reviews for Peppermint Berri and found that 35 people have given this Singapore company horrible reviews, with most saying they never got a product, or the product was defective, or they couldn't get a refund.

It seems clear that Peppermint Berri is scamming people and shouldn't be allowed to have a PayPal account. I've repeatedly asked for a refund and keep being told that the weed remover is on its way, but there never is any change in the tracking information -- which supposedly originates in Los Angeles. I live in Oregon. It shouldn't take months to get a product from California to Oregon. I want my money back, and I want Peppermint Berri to be prevented from scamming other people.

I'd like them to stop doing business in the United States, but given their Singapore location, likely this won't be possible to achieve. So I'm warning people not to shop with them. Unless you like crappy products, dismal customer service, and not getting a refund.

This is the Trustpilot review I submitted today. When I wrote it I hadn't checked my VISA statement, so had forgotten that my credit charge had been paid via PayPal.

Company is running a scam

Nine weeks ago I ordered a weeder. Since, I've only gotten lame excuses about why it hasn't come. I get a tracking number that shows the order was in Los Angeles and is about to be shipped, and "Francis" assures me they are having problems with their delivery service and the tracking will be live soon. Not true. Worse, I can't get a refund on my credit card. I'll be contacting VISA and the Better Business Bureau, plus filing a complaint with Facebook.

Here's the other 34 reviews from unhappy Peppermint Berri customers. After the reviews I'll share a screenshot of the annoying repetitive email I've been getting from "Francis" at Peppermint Berri, along with a screenshot of the non-existent tracking information.

Poor delivery

I have not received my order. It’s been 12 weeks and I’ve received a response fro Peppermint Berri that the order has been on the way. But never received. And they refuse to cancel my order. I do not recommend to order from this company,

Terrible customer service

Terrible customer service. They sent 10% of our order (5 of 50 PC's) then offered us a 30% refund.

I ordered a wire twisting vise

I ordered a wire twisting vise. When I reviewed the order they charge me a $3.60 tip!! I emailed them but I am calling PayPal to cancel the order!!!! THE NERVE!!!!!!!!

Two months waiting for a weed…

Two months waiting for a weed remover....They respond to emails but expect no goods or refunds. At least facebook is making money out of them...

Absolute SCAM

Absolute SCAM!
EVERYONE FILE A CLAIM WITH THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (FTC) ! They should not be getting away with this!

Never again

Same experience as others with this company.Ordered weed remover and doubt I will ever see it. Wish I read these reviews before ordering.

They will rip you off

6 months ago i ordered casting mound set and i still have nothing. When i enquiry, the same crap every time with “we will remind our refunds department” but 6 months is now enough. i’m going through an international fraud claim against this company and will launch a global awareness campaign to stay away. They ripped off the wrong customer. DO NOT BUY FROM THRM

I ordered a weed remover from this…

I ordered a weed remover from this company. I ordered it in the beginning of May...they have taken the $ from the credit card company and I have not received it. Now that I've read all of the reviews here I do not expect to receive the item I ordered. I would say do not order anything advertised on FB. This is the 3rd item from different companies I've ordered after seeing it on FB that was a SCAM!

the shipment came with a very long…

the shipment came with a very long delay of several months, the goods arrived not as described, you will not receive a refund!

Absolutely SCAM SCAM SCAM do not place…

Absolutely SCAM SCAM SCAM do not place any orders you will not receive your item or money back total SCAM SCAM SCAM and if I ever find this peter he will not wanna see me.

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY. I was shocked to come on here and see so many people experience the same thing I did. Paying money for a product and never receiving it in the mail. It’s a SCAM. I hope it gets taken down very soon.

Utter scam took my money never received…

Utter scam took my money never received my product ordered in July now in October need to close website so they don’t take other people’s money!!

Can I give no star??

Can I give no star??? Horrible company and a scam. False advertising. Leather Restoration Cream was NOT what it was - first of all, the jar came in Chinese, not English. No instructions. And it was only half the jar it was supposed to be. I have been trying since July to get a refund - or the correct product, to no avail. The guy keeps saying he will send one in the correct size and in English and he has not.

I wish I would have read this first

I wish I would have read this first
Never got my product or money back
Scam!

If I only had read these reviews before…

If I only had read these reviews before placing my order!
I payed 20.93 USD for a pair of Spandex pants with express delivery since I needed them for a wedding.
After 4 weeks and a numerous of mails, still not a sign of the package. I got a link to the Chinese tracking site, the last notice there was from September 26th, since then nothing!
Don´t buy from this company, you will only lose your money!

DO NOT TRUST THIS WEBSITE

DO NOT TRUST THIS WEBSITE
I purchased a hair oil from this site. After a month I had to follow up on the product only to hear from a a so called 'John' who requests me to wait a bit more and states that the product is in transit. after a couple of weeks I follow up again and I was told (again by john) that shipment seems to have been stuck somewhere. He asked me to wait for a week and that if I still don't get it, he will send over the product again. But I requested for a refund instead. He agreed to it ( all in an email) but the refund has not been initiated yet. It has been more than a month now and on following up on the status of my refund, I do not get any response from these people anymore

We’ve ordered toothbrushes for our dogs…

We’ve ordered toothbrushes for our dogs several months ago, never seen the items or a refund of the money, every time I contact them I get the same emails back as copied from a script. Total scam artist !! I advise anyone never to buy from this company,

Products are not what they publish; no communication

I ordered a pair of shoes because they were publicized as safety shoes with steel toes, and that was not true - and in spite of announcing that you can easily ask for a reimbursement, the procedure for sending the product back was nowhere to be found. I tried contacting them through the website and via email, and I got one reply with a request for information and photos, but afterwards they never replied to my emails anymore. A complete fraud

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY! I ordered an item on August 22, 2019. I have not heard anything from company, tracking number etc. I emailed them and asked them about my item. They emailed me back next day. Gave me tracking number and website. They said the tracking information was not updated yet. So, I have kept checking it and still nothing. I emailed them again, they emailed me back and they said they assure me my item is on its way. They would not give me tracking number or company. I emailed them again today August 19, 2019. Asked them again for information. When and if I get my item I will update.

I have experienced the same terrible…

I have experienced the same terrible product quality as the other reviewers on this site. They do not stand behind their products with a refund or return policy worth considering. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS WEBSITE! They are a cheap scam.

Do not buy from this company. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Do not buy from this company.
I bought a pair of shoes. They did come but they were not as advertised. The quality was ridiculous (the insole was smaller than the shoe so it just kept coming out).
The shoes went straight in the bin - they were so bad you can't even wear them around the house!
I asked for a full refund due to false advertisement and they offered 20% refund and they went up in 10% increments till 50% and then when I said no to that, they stopped replying.
They also expected me to pay for the shipping to return the shoes which is to Singapore (I'm from UK).

AVOID!

Do not use this company they placed an…

Do not use this company they placed an order two months ago and not received anything, they just constantly lie about the delivery and then stop answering your emails completely

Don't buy from this company

Don't buy from this company, they are scam. Always check the seller before the transaction. I'm a fool, I didn't check((((

It has been a month since I placed my…

It has been a month since I placed my order on July 23rd, it is now August 29th, have not received anything. Have contacted them on numerous occasions and they claim is on the way. They now say I should go to postal office and and see if I have received my order. I paid for shipping. THEY ARE A SCAM!!!
DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM IF YOU WANT TO LOSE YOUR MONEY AND TIME.

I ordered leather cleaner from this…

I ordered leather cleaner from this “company “ on June 12. It will be September in 6 days!!!
I informed Jake, Guest Relations, that if my refund isn’t in my account by September 7th my attorney will be involved and I am totally serious. I have sent numerous emails and texts.

I never received the product and I will not sit back and watch these parasites keep my money. Jake said that they are waiting for a response from “upper management”... he then had the balls to wish me a pleasant day.

Do not buy from this company!!

Do not buy from this company!!
If I could give them 0 stars I would of.
Products take months to arrive. They do not work as advertised. I bought the drain cleaner and it did absolutely nothing.
When you contact them they treat you like your stupid and when you ask for your money back they ignore you!
Completely unprofessional and selling products they are falsely advertised.

i have ordered and paid full amount…

i have ordered and paid full amount online ,....got an order no. when tried to track order after so many days in their tracking site ,it said that the order no.is not valid.....what the hell it is and where is my order ...i need my refund also.

Ordered some foam cleaning solution and…

Ordered some foam cleaning solution and it literally was just crystallized salts that did not work. No foam, no nothing and believe me I used as directed. I've contacted customer service and they can care less. DONT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY.

Ordered the toilet cleaner and have not…

Ordered the toilet cleaner and have not received or heard from this company. Stupid me, I should of checked the website before ordering. Well I learn my lesson

don't buy from this site

don't buy from this site, it's a scam and you'll more likely to lose your money on garbage material.
I bought the titan shoes and it was absolutely the opposite of what the ad shows.
I also tried to write a review but it didn't show up.

I brought something over 2 months ago…

I brought something over 2 months ago and I have still not received anything!!
Poor customer service! No one reply’s to my emails!!

The worst online experience I ever had

The worst online experience I ever had. After placing order was waiting for two weeks for it to be shipped out no notifications whatsoever if it was shipped out or not , after sending request by e-mail for update on my order and what’s reason for delay, all I got “don’t worry it will be shipped out soon”. After two weeks of waiting got e-mail that my item finally shipped out and tracking number linked to delivery company app or website problem is it’s in French. I can’t even switch to English because all menus and everything is in French. Still waiting for my item and already one month went by. Wouldn’t recommend to shop at this store. 100% unsatisfied with service.

Would recommend to avoid this online store.

Ordered Quick-Foam Home & Toilet…

Ordered Quick-Foam Home & Toilet Cleaner back on the 23 June 2019 and I am still waiting 31July 2019. They won't answer emails. Looks like I have been ripped off once again. DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM.

Do not shop here

Do not shop here! Ordered a pair of steel toe construction shoes at may 11th. Did not arrive until mid july, after many unanswered emails. No tracking info. Said to arrive within 5-8 workkng days. Terrible service!

And WHEN they arrived they were missing THE STEEL CAP! wich is the whole point of the shoes! What I basically got were really heavy jogging shoes now. More useful as a chewtoy for a dog.

Its a scam.

This is my most recent email response from Peppermint Berri, which echoes their previous responses.

And this is the tracking information that never changes. Naturally I consider the claim from "Francis" that the parcel is moving despite no tracking updates to be a lie.

Three high-quality COVID protective masks I've ordered

A few months ago, when the COVID virus was really taking off in the United States, like a lot of people I spent quite a bit of time searching for N95-quality masks.

My wife, Laurel, and I are 71. Laurel has asthma. So we're in a high-risk category when it comes to COVID. The more we can lower our risk by physical distancing, hand washing, and wearing a mask, the better.

Back in 2011, when some Fukushima nuclear plant radiation was making its way across the Pacific, my wife and I had gotten a box of medical N95 masks. We dug them out to wear during the COVID crisis, but I knew they wouldn't last forever and I wanted some alternatives.

Which were difficult to find. Very difficult. Almost impossible, in fact. 

I turned to Kickstarter. In case you aren't familiar with it, this is a way for fledgling companies with innovative products to raise money from backers to get their venture off the ground. In exchange, you get the product once it becomes available. I like how frequent updates are sent to backers, making you feel like you're a company insider. 

in addition, I found a Canada company that offered a N95-quality mask, albeit with a lengthy shipping date. I've gotten that mask and one of the Kickstarter masks. Here's my take on them, along with a link to the web site of the other Kickstarter mask that hasn't arrived yet.

Me modeling the O2 Nano Mask

First, my favorite so far: O2 Nano Mask. I got this Kickstarter mask about a week ago. I've worn it grocery shopping and to a haircut. The O2 Nano Mask seems like a great product, designed in San Francisco and made in the United States. It costs $36. I got a large for me and a medium for my wife.

Both fit us fine. The mask is a stretchy blend of Poly Nylon and Spandex material. As you can see in the photo above, a filter is inserted through the slots on each side of the mask. The ends of the filter are held tight to velcro on the mask so the filter doesn't move around.

Here's a screenshot from the O2 Nano Mask web site that shows what the filter is made of and what it does. Pretty impressive. Each filter is good for up to 60 hours of wear time.

I got some extra filters. Three come with each mask, but I figured it would be good to have some additional filters since there is no way to know how long we're going to be dealing with the COVID crisis.

Second, I got a hard shell mask from a similarly-named Canadian company, O2 Canada. It seems like a quality product, but the mask isn't as comfortable as the O2 Nano. It fits more tightly, which likely means it protects better.

However, there's a certain Darth Vader look to the mask, so probably I'll be wearing the O2 Nano much more often. If I wanted the highest level of COVID protection, though, I'd wear this mask.

The Canadian mask would be excellent for do-it-yourself jobs where you don't want to inhale noxious substances. And also don't worry how you look while wearing the mask. It has a replaceable filter also. The cost is pretty high, $70. The shell comes in various colors in addition to the standard white. I got a black one, obviously.

Third, I haven't gotten the B2 mask yet. It's a Kickstarter project where delivery has been delayed due to a supplier of a component having to fulfill orders from the government that have a higher priority. I'm supposed to get the mask in August now. It has an interesting filter design. 

I paid $99 for two masks and 20 filters. Here's a description of the mask from the Kickstarter page.

The B2 is a reusable respirator that filters 99% of common contaminants and reduces filter cost and waste by half. Unlike existing consumer masks, the B2 features a flexible, patent-pending facepiece that provides superior protection and comfort. The B2 is the culmination of 4+ years of design and development, and is now ready to be mass produced.

Now, you might be wondering why I've spent several hundred dollars to get three different N95-quality masks. Well, one reason is that I had no idea how long it would take to get each mask. With the COVID virus spreading like crazy (it still is, in the United States at least), I was highly motivated to get masks to protect me and my wife from infection.

Another reason is the cost-benefit ratio.

Coming down with COVID isn't like getting the flu. Even if you don't die or end up in an ICU, nasty effects of the virus can stay with you for weeks, months, or a lifetime. Believe me, if someone asked a COVID sufferer, "Do you wish you'd paid $200 for masks that could have kept you from getting it?" they wouldn't hesitate to say, "YES!"

That said, any mask or face covering is better than none at all. So please wear one. A cloth mask will do just fine, though it won't be as protective as masks like the one's I've talked about that filter much smaller particles.

What two old people say while watching Hamilton on Disney+

It took my wife, Laurel, and I three nights to finish watching Hamilton on Disney+. One reason is that the show is long. Another is that when two 71-year-old people watch Hamilton at home, there's a lot of pressing the stop/start button.

Thankfully, we weren't watching on Broadway. If we talked through a live performance like we did through the streaming version, we would have been thrown out of the theatre pretty damn quickly. 

Here's some of what you would have heard if you could have been a fly on the wall of our TV watching area.

Laurel: Stop the recording.

Me: Why? 

Laurel: Don't ask why, just do it!

Me: OK, OK. There, now what?

Laurel: Can you understand what they're saying? 

Me: Once in a while. How about you?

Laurel: I have no idea what's going on. They talk so fast.

Me: Yeah, it's a rap cadence. Our ears aren't adjusted to it.

Laurel: For sure. OK, let's keep watching. Press play.

Ten minutes later...

Laurel: I've got a question.

Me: You're not supposed to talk during a movie. Oh, wait, we're at home. All right, what is it?

Laurel: Did Aaron Burr want to be in the room where the affair happened?

Me: Jeez, no! Are we watching the same Hamilton?

Laurel: Don't be sarcastic. Just answer the question.

Me: OK, do you remember how Hamilton was working away at his desk, and his wife wanted him to do something with her, but he said he'd got to finish a bill about something to do with the national treasury that Jefferson and Madison said didn't have a chance to pass in Congress because he doesn't have the votes, and then later Hamilton goes off and talks with Jefferson and Madison, during which Hamilton agrees to have the capitol on the Potomac, and also gives the south some other stuff that I couldn't quite understand, then we learn that the bill passed with Hamilton getting what he wanted and Jefferson and Madison getting what they wanted, because they'd worked out a backroom deal, and so Burr was wishing he could have been in the room where all that conniving happened, though I admit that Burr may have wanted to be in other rooms also, which helps explain why he ended up running for Congress so he wouldn't always be on the outside looking in, anyway, that's what I think is going on but I can't be completely sure since I'm only understanding about 20% of the words.

Laurel: Well, you're understanding more than I am.

Me: (wordlessly presses "Play" with an inner smile on my face, because now I'm contemplating a career as a 71 year old white guy rapper, since I can understand more of Hamilton than my wife)

Seriously, though, or even more seriously, since the dialogue above is close to what actually happened with us, Laurel and I enjoyed Hamilton a lot. 

We grasped more of the second act than the first act. Maybe our ears had started to get used to the rapid fire speaking and singing, or maybe the second act has more actual talking. Regardless, Hamilton was highly entertaining and inspiring in equal measure. 

It was quaint to be brought back to a time when having an affair could disqualify a man from becoming president. (At least, that's what I think happened with Hamilton; can't be sure, given how much of the lyrics I failed to grasp.)

After we finished watching, I fired up Google to see whether other people had the same problem with understanding the words of Hamilton that we did. The first and only link that I looked at was customer reviews of Hamilton from the Detroit Theatre. Apparently these were touring shows, with a different cast from the Broadway production.

But some of the reviews echoed our Disney+ experience, word-comprehension-wise.

I'm 39 and definitely not losing my hearing; however, I was in the upper deck and could understand about 25% of what was said. The song tempos are relatively fast and I'm sure the actors were enunciating their lines, however, it didn't definitely sound that way. Much of it sounded like gibberish. My father (71 years old) understood about 5%. It became a material part of our experience - too bad! I encourage a headphone option.

Lots of hype around the show maybe raised expectations too high. The show was good, but not spectacular. Hard to follow the rap pace, plus the phrasing used in rap, so the story gets lost.

My husband and I were excited to see Hamilton in Milwaukee. Our seats were excellent, but when a play’s story is dependent on the audience understanding what the actors are singing, it fell short. My husband understood nothing and I struggled to pick out words. Very disappointing.

The main complaint is that I concentrated very hard to hear what was being sung and still could only understand about half so I barely followed.

While the show was unique and dancing exceptional, the audio was not. I was sitting in orchestra section and could not understand the dialogue being sung. It was loud enough, but spoken so rapidly, it was like listening to another language. I actually dozed off a few times during the show from boredom. Certainly not your typical musical, but not for audiences over 35 unless you are really into rap music and can understand the almost incoherent verbiage.

Trump wants schools to reopen physically. Is this wise?

When I was young, I was really eager to have school start in September. I wanted to see my classmates. I was bored with summer vacation. I looked forward to being in a class one year farther along.

Even though I'm far past my school days, I do have a granddaughter about to start eighth grade. Evelyn, like most students, had to do her learning online in the spring after the Covid crisis hit the United States. 

That must have been difficult.

So even though I disagree with Trump on almost everything, his call for elementary and high schools to open physically strikes me as halfway reasonable -- which is much closer to reasonableness than I usually judge his pronouncements.

Here's an excerpt from a New York Times story, "Trump Leans on Schools to Reopen as Virus Continues Its Spread."

President Trump demanded on Tuesday that schools reopen physically in the fall, pressing his drive to get the country moving again even as the coronavirus pandemic surged through much of the United States and threatened to overwhelm some health care facilities.

In a daylong series of conference calls and public events at the White House, the president, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other senior officials opened a concerted campaign to lean on governors, mayors and others to resume classes in person months after more than 50 million children were abruptly ejected from school buildings in March.

Mr. Trump and his administration argued that the social, psychological and educational costs of keeping children at home any longer would be worse than the virus itself. But they offered no concrete proposals or new financial assistance to states and localities struggling to restructure academic settings, staffs and programs that were never intended to keep children six feet apart or cope with the requirements of combating a virus that has killed more than 130,000 Americans.

“We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open,” Mr. Trump said at a forum at the White House. “It’s very important. It’s very important for our country. It’s very important for the well-being of the student and the parents. So we’re going to be putting a lot of pressure on: Open your schools in the fall.”

Well, Trump also put pressure on "governors and everybody else" to open restaurants, bars, and other businesses, and we've seen how badly that played out. Record numbers of Covid cases nationally due to the rushed reopening, with deaths appearing to begin to rise also.

I heartily agree with this quote from the New York Times story.

Critics said Mr. Trump was the one playing politics, willing to gamble the health of students and teachers to salvage a flagging bid for a second term.

“The reality is no one should listen to Donald Trump or Betsy DeVos when it comes to what is best for students,” said Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union. She added: “Everything is about his re-election. Our No. 1 priority is that we keep our students safe.”

Another priority has to be keeping teachers and other school staff safe. Even if students are asymptomatic, they can easily pass the virus on to adults in the school. Also, to parents and grandparents.

I believe that the school my granddaughter goes to in southern California is going to use a mix of virtual and physical classes, several days of one and several days of the other each week. That makes sense, especially for older children. First graders need to be in a real classroom, I would think.

But what do I know about teaching? Not much, since I've never done it.

Hopefully the Trump administration will come up with guidance for schools that is based on solid research and expert professional advice. However, given Trump's dislike of facts and experts, I'm doubtful this will happen.

Since Trump has been big on letting states decide how quickly to reopen their economies (with decidedly mixed results), one would think that Trump would do the same with the reopening of schools. After all, elementary and high school education is largely a local affair, governed by school boards.

Seemingly the worst thing would be for Trump to demand that every school in the country reopen physically. This could make sense in areas where the Covid infection rate is low and getting lower, but not in other areas. 

Of course, typically when I visualize the worst thing Trump could do, he ends up doing just that.

Which doesn't mean schools have to go along with whatever reopening scheme Trump ends up pushing for. There's got to be a wise balance between the needs of students, teachers, parents, and the community at large.

To gather or not to gather, that is the Covid question

I don't want to die. I do want to see friends in person, not just on a Zoom screen.

That's my basic dilemma, finding the right balance between safety and socializing. Being 71, rather than 17, makes the question of To gather or not to gather more consequential, since I'm in a high risk Covid group because of my age. 

And my wife is in the same situation, with the added complication of having asthma. Still, both of us have been edging into the To gather side of the question.

After honing our Covid prevention skills by going to grocery stores and pharmacies, armed with a mask and sometimes several pairs of plastic gloves that we only use once per store and then wash for reuse, we've started to get together with friends in person.

Always outdoors, though. (For example, see "Having coffee with an old friend on Father's Day is a great gift.")

This fits with an informative New York Times story I came across today, How Safe Are Outdoor Gatherings? Good news is, quite safe. At least as compared to indoor gatherings. Some excerpts:

Is it still safe to socialize outside?

As the coronavirus continues to rage throughout the country, public health officials are telling us to stay home this holiday weekend. Beaches in Texas, Florida and California are closed. And now some recent backyard gatherings are being blamed for new cases of Covid-19.

The new restrictions and outbreaks have led to new confusion about the safety of socializing outdoors. But experts say the science hasn’t changed: Your risk of catching the virus is much lower outdoors than indoors. If you want to spend time with friends, taking the party outside will reduce your risk of contracting Covid-19.

“Outside is definitely safer,” said Erin Bromage, a comparative immunologist and biology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. “But it’s the type of interactions you have when you’re outside that are important.”

A Japanese study of 100 cases found that the odds of catching the coronavirus are nearly 20 times higher indoors than outdoors. Outdoor gatherings lower risk because wind disperses viral droplets, and sunlight can kill some of the virus.

...“Outdoors is what will save us,” Dr. Marcus said. “Why can’t the message be: ‘We understand you want to get together with friends. There are ways to do this safely.’ We’re just telling them not to gather. That doesn’t recognize basic human behavior and basic human needs.”

...If you attend a social event and find yourself in close conversation with someone from outside your household, even outdoors, wear a mask. Keep music levels low so people don’t have to shout. (Loud speaking expels more droplets than a quiet voice.) Don’t share food or serving utensils.

My wife has been attending meetings in a park of a discussion group she organized. She's become adept at hosting Zoom meetings, but finds they are considerably less satisfying than talking in person.

I agree.

Zoom is better than nothing, for sure. It's just more tiresome to be continually focusing on who is talking, who wants to talk, and not talking over each other. So I think I'm ready to make the jump from meeting outside with a single friend to getting together with a larger group.

Still, I'm somewhat conflicted. I want to start getting back to normal social interactions. I also would feel terrible, to put it mildly, if in doing that I got infected with the Covid virus. And doubly terrible if I passed it on to my wife or someone else.

In addition to the New York Times story, today I also read a story in New Scientist that was decidedly disturbing, The enduring grip of covid-19.

Yikes! Scary! Not only is death a possibility, so are nasty health problems of many sorts that can last for months or even longer. Have a read.
Download New Scientist article re COVID

Here's how the story starts out.

WITHIN 24 hours of asking an online covid-19 support group if anyone had been experiencing prolonged or unusual symptoms, I had been messaged by 140 people. The list was mind-boggling and deeply upsetting. “I feel like I'm in the middle of a waking nightmare,” said Zoe Wall, who was previously fit and healthy. Two months after developing covid-19-like symptoms, she was still experiencing chest pains and “fatigue beyond description”.

Harry's symptoms started with a terrible headache and itchy body, followed by shortness of breath. He was still experiencing breathing difficulties, chest pain, numbness in his arm and bloating 10 weeks later. Jenn had had no sense of smell or taste since testing positive for covid-19 on 31 March. Abbi had minimal respiratory symptoms, but very bad gastric ones and lost 19 kilograms in two months. Others reported fatigue, headaches, tingling fingertips and brain fog.

As the months tick by since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and we learn more about covid-19, it is becoming increasingly evident that even mild cases can have distressing and long-lasting effects.

“There's clearly something going on here. It is not their imagination or hypochondria. It doesn't even seem to be linked to how severely they had the disease, as far as I can see,” says Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London. All this means we need to rethink how we diagnose and treat covid-19. The long list of symptoms also seems to suggest there might even be several subtypes of the disease, which could help us predict which cases will become serious.