What Adam is Reading 4-6-21

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Yesterday, I received a pair of plants for my home office, a ZZ Plant (a philodendron), and a San Pedro Macho (a succulent). Having read a bit about plant-human interaction, I am concerned. For instance, will ZZ and Macho know the difference between me speaking on a call versus directly talking to them? Should I be worried that my plant's names scream Lucha libre wrestler and Texas rock band? How will I know if they consider themselves plants of substance? And, how do I communicate that I value them (mainly) for their looks? For the moment, they are both projecting existential satisfaction.

https://www.thespruce.com/should-you-talk-to-your-plants-3972298

-----Latest Data---
7-day averages are holding steady.

CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations

Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938

Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf

The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
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More evidence that the pandemic will turn out to be a fantastic catalyst for vaccines and epidemiology. Learn why two prolines are good, but six prolines are better.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/health/hexapro-mclellan-vaccine.html

Dr. Hyde put together a Tweetorial on the P1 Brazillian variant of coronavirus. This strain appears to be more transmissible, virulent, and already spreading in Canada.
https://twitter.com/DrZoeHyde/status/1379081837532749824
More from British Columbia
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/04/05/P1-Variant-Poses-Threat-BC/

Dr. Gandhi offers some calming discussion about variant's ability to escape vaccine-induced immunity.
https://twitter.com/MonicaGandhi9/status/1379294379391676417

A reminder of the need to be aware of enclosed, densely-populated places, there is some new modeling about the spread of coronavirus in a restaurant last summer. The data is not new, but I had not seen the animation before.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360132321001955?via%3Dihub#appsec4


Infographic of the day: Plants You Can't Kill
https://infographic.tv/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Visual-House-plants-you-wont-kill.jpg
Of course, I am not 100% sure if it is like a horror movie "the plants are coming and you can't kill them" or a ham-fisted horticulturist - "Even you can't kill these plants!" Subtle, but critically important, in a Little Shop of Horrors way.

----Bonus Round -- More about Plants

I recently learned about Derek Jarman's garden at Dungeness. This topic offered an excellent balance to my earlier plant comments, I think.
https://www.gardenista.com/posts/garden-visit-derek-jarmans-prospect-cottage-at-dungeness/
Jarman, who passed away from HIV in 1994, wrote about gardening as a form of reconciliation and therapy.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2021/04/04/derek-jarman-modern-nature-gardening/


Clean hands and sharp minds,

Adam 

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