This poignant video of a music teacher trying to convey her thoughts and feelings about shelter-in-place through a heartfelt song nearly brought me to tears.
Contagious vs Infectious
An infectious disease is a communicable disease that spreads by contaminating people (or animals) with pathogenic microbial agents, such as viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms. In other words, a disease where bad germs get into the body in some way, spread, and make you sick by affecting the way your body normally works.
Contagious (or communicable) infections spread through contact. Examples: chickenpox, cold and flu (influenza), malaria, Lyme disease, measles, meningitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, Ebola, MRSA, polio, hepatitis A and B, HIV/AIDS, and coronavirus.
“Lockdown is a huge mistake…”
A dull presentation, but it’s from someone (a Nobel Prize winning scientist) that understands the math.
There is a relationship between art and stocks that is worth noting. According to the MMAAI (Mei Moses All Art Index), which has been tracking art returns since 1820, prices for art rise when the stock market rises. Not immediately but 12 to 18 months later.
But the reverse is not true. When the market declines, art prices don’t always follow. Most of the time they stay put or deflate just a little. That’s because a great deal of the buying and selling of stocks is automatic – governed by computer algorithms to protect institutional investors (and pay for redemptions). Equally important are the millions of mom-and-pop stock investors that buy when they are hopeful and sell when they are fearful. These people can’t tolerate seeing their retirement accounts drop by 20% and 30%, especially when the media is scaring the hell out of them. So they sell and take their losses at the bottom.
But computer algorithms do not dominate the art market. Nor do middle- and working-class buyers populate it. The art market is a market of wealthy people that can afford to hold their art when the stock market crashes. And because most of them don’t sell their art when stocks go down, art prices hold up much better than stocks during financial dips.
On average, art returns 7.6% to investors each year, according to Artprice.com. Historically, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index delivers an average annual return of 9.8%. What you have to consider is how those higher returns correlate to risk. Stocks are volatile and a bull market can quickly become a bear market if global economic conditions shift
“Seymour the Squirrel and the Avocado Helmet” – Is this animal abuse?
The Spanish Flu, which started during WWI, got the name as the result of a misunderstanding. Spain was hit hard by the epidemic – and though other major European countries and the US suppressed the news to avoid affecting morale, the press in Spain (one of the few countries to remain neutral during the war) reported on it in all its gory details. Since the only in-depth information was coming from Spain, people in other parts of the world assumed that Spain was ground-zero. Meanwhile, the Spanish, believing the virus had spread to them from France, were calling it the French Flu. (Source: History.com)
“Isolation” – This Canadian comedian has been on a roll lately, riffing on the Corona Crisis and its effects…
72% of employees say they are driven more by career advancement opportunities than contentment with their work environment. (Source: a survey by TalentLyft)
When you have no idea what you’re talking about…
South Africa has three capitals – one for each branch of the government: Pretoria (executive), Bloemfontein (judicial), and Cape Town (legislative). Unlike most countries, it does not have a legally defined capital city.