According to the New York Times this morning:
- More than 100 U.S. colleges will require in-person students to be vaccinated. As far as I know, the University of Hawaii is still thinking about it.
- The Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to clean up drinking water, a moment of bipartisan cooperation. This is a test of how infrastructure can serve as the foundation for President Joe Biden's next $4 trillion Build Back Better plan. You know how much money this is? See graphic.
- Amazon reported over $8 billion in profit in the first three months of 2021, more than triple the figure a year ago. No wonder Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world, now worth $171 billion.
- The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Trevor Lawrence, a quarterback from Clemson, first in the N.F.L. draft. Here’s the rest of the first round. Alabama had six players selected, tying the University of Miami for most ever. Jalen Waddle rejoins Tua Tagovailoa at Miami, the pro team.
- Three ways to increase vaccinations:
- The government should pay Americans to get vaccinated, Slate’s Ben Mathis-Lilley argues.
- The bioethicist Nancy Jecker disagrees, writing that persuasion campaigns can have a more lasting impact.
- I think the best way is for government to work with companies and other organizations (like churches) to only allow those who have completed the vaccination program enter any transport device, sports arena, enclosed restaurant and other related activities.
Hans Christian Anderson published The Emperor's New Clothes in 1837. Swindlers were able to convince the Emperor's advisor that the invisible wear they had tailored were beautiful beyond belief, so that the Emperor himself also was so duped. Parading through town with his new garbs, the people too thought well, lest they be arrested. However:
“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.
Isaiah 11:6
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.”
These animals, of course, effectively represent society today.
Today the parable is about global warming. Politicians and company executives mouth supportive statements about why we need to do something about the Greenhouse Effect, but never quite get around to establishing enforceable requirements. That is, until Greta Thunberg, then a 15-year old student who skipped school to protest outside the Swedish Riksdag with a simple sign, appeared. Her efforts will soon lead to actual action.
Sometimes that child needs to be special to engender real change. Greta suffers from Asperger's Syndrome on the autism spectrum, providing a unique ability to think, react and act differently from most.
Watch her Ted Talk on growing up wondering what was wrong with her and how her obsessive-compulsive disorder sent her into depression about the unreality of global warming. You just can't be a normal person to react as she did, and in the process become the youngest TIME Person of the Year.
PBS and Hulu for Earth Day played part 1 of a 3-part series entitled: Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World. If you don't livestream Hulu, just scan through your PBS schedule and find it, for Part 1 will play again some time this coming week. Then, of course Parts 2/3, which will be shown at 8PM on Wednesday, May 5 and 12.
Avio Focolari made the finals of Italia's Got Talent by throat whistling:
She would be 127 years old if still alive today, but here is Mae West around a century ago:
Of course, who can forget her with WC Fields.
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