Category Archives: Uncategorized

When Perception Matches Reality

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Since the COVID-19 crisis began one of the local testing centers here in Winston-Salem, NC has been located on Hanes Mall Boulevard near my home, and I’ve driven past it at least a few times a week throughout the crisis. For much of the first six-ish weeks of the crisis, I would either see no one out there, or just the health workers hanging out waiting for potential cases to drive in. Then a few weeks ago I started noticing cars in line with people waiting to be tested, and then more recently I saw those lines getting significantly longer. It was noticeable enough that I mentioned to Celeste, my better 3/4, that I wouldn’t be surprised if we started to see on the news that there were more cases in Forsyth County. Sure enough, over the last two weeks, we’ve seen a heavy surge in cases and we’re not alone as the entire state of North Carolina has seen an uptick in positive test results and hospitalizations. The following is from the Winston-Salem Journal:

Forsyth County has experienced its largest one-day spike with 97 new cases reported Thursday by the county Health Department. The previous daily high was 61 on May 14. The number of COVID-19 related deaths remained unchanged at nine.

The overall total surged to 1,160, which may signal that Forsyth has surpassed Guilford for having the third-most cases by county. The latest N.C. Department of Health and Human Services update, released at 11 a.m. Thursday, had Guilford with 1,137 cases and 56 deaths.

ForsythCovidmay27

This is one of those times where I really wish the reality hadn’t matched my perception.

While we’re here I’ll also share that there’s an anomaly that I can’t wrap my head around: while Forsyth County’s case count has been skyrocketing the deaths have remained relatively low when compared to neighboring Guilford County. Forsyth has 1,160 total cases with 9 deaths, for a fatality rate of .775%. Guilford has 1,173 total cases with 56 deaths, for a fatality rate of 4.77%. Given that the two counties abut each other and are similar in so many ways I just don’t understand what can account for such a large discrepancy.

The numbers are tragic no matter how large or small, but it’s discrepancies like this that make me believe that we still don’t have an accurate picture of what this disease is doing to our community. Only time and good public health science will give us a true picture, and I fear that the worst of this picture is yet to be revealed.

Voices from Past Leaders Trump Today’s

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Helluva piece from NPRuses the voices from some of our national leaders of the past to highlight the barren voice of today’s “leader” during our current national tragedy:

BROOKS: Yeah, I guess I’d say tragedies touch us at a deeper level than politics. And at these moments, I think, what presidents do when they’re at their best is they step outside their political role, and they just speak to us humans as humans, whether it was Reagan after The Challenger…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: We will never forget them nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God…

BROOKS: …Or Obama after the Newtown shooting.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: They had their entire lives ahead of them – birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.

BROOKS: And they really come to us as emotive healers. And with President Trump, we have someone who can’t express empathy. He’s reacted to this crisis simply as a political exercise not as a human tragedy.

KELLY: E.J., your thoughts?

DIONNE: We look to political leaders to help us confront the horrors we experience. We don’t want the horror glossed over or explained away glibly. But we do want paths to hope and solidarity and fellowship and, at least, the possibility that we can emerge from tragedy better than we were before. That’s how we keep living.

The audio is definitely worth a listen if you have a few minutes.

 

Five Fact Friday #8

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Five random facts for Friday:

If the National Basketball Association (NBA) is not able to hold its playoffs this year it will be the first time that the NBA Finals have not been played since the league’s inception in 1946. – Wikipedia

Over 54,000 Slazenger tennis balls are used each year for The Wimbledon Championships. Since the tournament was not held in 2020 there’s no word on if the balls were returned to the wild 😉 – Wimbledon Debenture Holders

The largest ball of string on record is one 4.03m (13ft 2.5in) in diameter and 12.65m (41ft 6in) in circumference, amassed by J.C. Payne of Valley View, Texas, USA between 1989 and 1992. – Source: Guinness Book of World Records

In 2016 beer brewers in the United States produced 221 million hectoliters of beer, which is a lot but not as much as China’s 381 million hectoliters.  – Source: Statista.com

The Pan American Highway is the longest road in the world. It stretches from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Edmonton, Canada. – Source: ListSurge

Five Fact Friday #7

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Five random facts for Friday and posted on Saturday this time around:

Mother’s Day is (normally) the busiest day of the year. – National Restaurant Association via Town & Country

Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s victory over France on May 5, 1862 in the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. It is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, but has involved into a commemoration of Mexican culture in the United States. (It’s also a great excuse to drink tequila). – Source: History.com

According to the American Kennel Club the most popular dog breed is the Labrador Retriever. The 192nd most popular, of 192 total, are Sloughis. – Source: American Kennel Club

Paid circulation of daily newspapers in the United States was 62,766,000 in 1985 and 28,554,000 in 2018 – Source: Statista.com

In 1999 the average American man over the age of 20 was 69.2 inches tall (just over 5’9″), weighed 189.4 pounds and had a waist size of 39 inches. In 2016 those numbers had changed to 69.1 inches, 197.9 pounds and 40.2 inches. For American women the 1999 numbers were 63.8 inches (almost 5’4″), 163.8 pounds and 36.3 inches and in 2016 they were 63.7 inches, 170.6 pounds and 38.6 inches.
So if you do the math in less than 20 years adult American men are essentially the same height on average, but are 4.5% heavier and have an average waist size that is 3% bigger. American women are also essentially the same height, are 4.15% heavier and have an average waist size that is 6.3% bigger. – Source: CDC

Five Fact Friday #6

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Five random facts for Friday and posted on Saturday this time around:

The most popular baby names in the United States in 1966 were Lisa and Michael. Celeste, my wife’s name, was 356th most popular. Why do I bring this up? Well, it’s a certain someone’s birthday next week and she was born in 1966. – Source: BabyCenter.com (for the baby name ranking, not my wife’s birthday).

The daily US movie box office sales for March 19, 2020 (day 79 of the year and last day the movie theaters were open during COVID-19 crisis) were $143,641. On day 79 in 2019, March 20 (a Wednesday) sales were $8,995,950. – Source: BoxOfficeMojo

In North Carolina twice as many adults identified as Atheist (2%) than did as Mormon (1%), Jewish (1%) or Orthodox Christian (1%) . – Source: Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. 402 years later Celeste Lowder was born on April 23, 1966. – Source FamousBirthdays.com

On April 18, 2020 the average price of regular gas in the United States was $1.821/gallon, down from $2.836 on the same date in 2019. The highest average price ever recorded in the US was $4.114 on July 17, 2008. – Source: AAA

Five Fact Friday #5

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Five random facts for Friday and posted on Saturday this time around:

Alcohol sales were up 55% the week ending March 21. – Source Axios via my mom.

Thanks in part to the cancellation of March Madness there is a glut of chicken wings. The price has tanked from $2/lb during the Super Bowl to $1.09 in April, 2020. – Source Marketplace

The state sport of Maryland is jousting. – Source Futility Closet

In 2017, according to the National Confectioners Association, 16 billion jelly beans were bought and consumed by the American people. – Source HelloGiggles

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2016 there were 5.6 million employer firms and 99.7% employed fewer than 500 people, 98.2% employed fewer than 100 people and 89% employed fewer than 20 people. – Source Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

Five Fact Friday #4

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Five random facts for this Friday:

Roughly 281 billion email messages were sent each day in 2018. That number is expected to increase to over 347 billion daily mails in 2022. – Source: statista

On March 23, 2020 Zoom was downloaded 2.13 million times worldwide, up from 2.04 million the day before, according to app tracking firm Apptopia. Two months prior, the app had just under56,000 global downloads in a day. – Source: KYMA.com

Netflix users spend 1 billion hours watching movies weekly. – Source: Muchneeded.com

There are 6,146 hospitals in the United States. – Source: AHA.org

The country with the lowest population (799) in the world is Vatican City. The country with the highest population (1.43 billion) is China. – Source: WorldPopulationReview.com

Five Fact Friday #3

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Five random facts for this Friday:

jetBlue has 264 aircraft in its fleet – Source: Planespotters.net

New York City’s 14 wastewater treatment plants treat 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater per day – Source: New York City Environmental Protection

In 1985 a first class stamp was 22 cents, which is the equivalent of 54 cents today (currently a first class stamp costs 50 cents). – Source: Kiplinger.com

As of 2017 there were approximately 500 zoos and aquariums in America (no mention on whether or not the US Congress was included in that count) – Source: WhyAnimalsDoTheThing.com

There are 195 countries in the world. 193 are member states of the United Nations and two, The Holy See and the State of Palestine, that are non-member observer states – Source: Worldometer

Five Fact Friday #2

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Five random facts for this Friday:

There have been 57 women members of the US Senate – Source: Wikipedia

Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms, 78 baths, 1,514 doors, and 40,000-plus lightbulbs. – Source: Architectural Digest

According to a survey by Charmin the averageperson uses 57 sheets of toilet paper per day.- Source: Reference.com

114 people have served as US Supreme Court Justices – Source: Wikipedia

According to a Newsweek magazine poll married couples have 6.9 times more sex per year than unmarried people – Source: Marriage.com

I’m Being Auctioned Off for a Good Cause

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Sending in the Pinch Hitter

Thanks to everyone who has been participating in Piedmont Triad Apartment Association’s (my employer) 2019 Summer Food Drive, PTAA has raised more than 415,000 meals for Second Harvest Food Bank, and we’re on track to pass the total we raised last year.

PTAA’s goal for 2019 is to raise half a million meals, and they’re looking for that last boost to get us to the goal by July 31 – a mere 8 days from the time I’m posting this.

It’s time for me to see what I can do to help get us there! PTAA is offering me up for auction to help them reach their goal. The winner of the auction will have me all to yourself at your corporate office or chosen property for one day! I have (limited) maintenance skills, salesmanship skills, and a wealth of industry knowledge and experience, and we’re happy to share him with you for a day. (I didn’t write that, our Communications Director did, but I’m running with it). Please feel free to donate even if you can’t make the minimum bid – $1 can provide seven meals so every little bit helps!

The Details

You can place your bid by donating to the team “Jon Lowder” on our donation site (click the link below). Just click “Donate Now,” then make your donation.

  • The MINIMUM bid is a donation of $500 (that minimum bid will provide 3,500 meals!)
  • The donation must be made between today and July 31
  • ALL DONATIONS will go to the food bank and are NONREFUNDABLE – regardless of whether or not you win the auction
  • Whichever company has made the highest donation by 11:59pm on July 31 will win the grand prize: Jon Lowder for a day!
  • The company with the second-highest donation will win 2nd prize: Jon Lowder for half a day (half the day, all the awesome)

Once the auction is over, Jon will follow up to arrange a day to spend on your property, and PTAA will be sure it is well covered in our social media and other publicity!

Questions? Contact Jon with any questions you have before you donate.

DONATE TO BID!

Every dollar raised for the food bank can be used to provide at least seven meals to kids in need. How does that work? Through their partnerships with grocery retailers and the USDA, the food bank is able to source nutritious food, including fresh meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables. The food bank’s culinary program uses some of the ingredients to prepare hot meals, and they are distributed along with fresh food to local pantries, summer feeding locations and soup kitchens across 18 counties.