Tag: face masks

UPDATES: cower in place 36

– in which Dorn adds some postscripts to some, uh, post scripts.

1 My post that peered ten years into the future (here), talking about face masks that translate what you say, was off by ten years in how long it would take them to come to market. According to an article in CNN Business last Monday, a Japanese tech form started making such face masks, that translate what you say into eight different languages.

Apparently the firm Donut Robotics was working on a robot until the epidemic dried up that market, so they repurposed their communication technology into a more of-the-moment product. Smart move, although they could do something with the product look, so that it less resembles a Jason horror-flick hockey mask!

The flexible screens that made me think of moving mouth images on a future face mask already exist, of course. The military has had them for years (the flexible screens, not the face masks), and lately I’ve seen ads for new smartphones that bring back that nostalgic concept of a cell phone folding in half, right across the view screen. Sounds like a gimmick to me!

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2 My brain still hasn’t unfrazzled, apparently. A few days after writing this confessional about my mental state (here), I sent my beleaguered wallet on a trip through the wash cycle.

On the whole, this might have had more of an up side than a down side. My old leather wallet is now clean and fresh, the credit cards and license seem intact, and all those old business cards and bus tickets from when I worked for a living are now in such a state that I am forced to do what I should have done when I retired—throw them out! One must not cling too hard to the past.

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3 I ended my post about the invasive species in my back yard (here) with the admonition that I had to KEEP WATCHING for more invasions. Good thing I did, too. Nothing has reappeared at invasion ground zero, but a couple of days ago, about 25 yards away and vaguely downhill from there, I was admiring what I first thought might be wild elderberries (I think they turned out to be Pokeweed, a poisonous but at least American native plant). Hiding a little ways behind the Poke, I saw the pretty red head of one of those invasive Arum Italicums cautiously peeking out!

I dug it up—carefully this time so as not to be splashed with its toxic alien acid-blood—and looked around for any of its invasive brothers. I didn’t see any, but the area of this new sighting is so large, swampy, and thorny-weed infested that I despair of inspecting the entire area.

Now I worry that some day I’ll wake up and find a hundred new Arums in that patch, more than I can possibly hope to eradicate by hand. Oh, what dangers one careless fling of unknowns seeds can bring! Let that be a lesson for all of you!

Thanks
Dorn
8/11/2020

Emily Post-apocalypse: cower in place 22

– Dorn asks why aren’t we better at following the safety rules?

B

etween the news, social media, and just trying to get groceries, it’s impossible not to be aware of the new three command­ments of social engage­ment: stay home, keep six feet from others, and wear some kind of face covering. But we as a country don’t function very well on rules decreed by experts—we act they way that social pressures dictate we act.

I’m starting to see and feel the strain of the new rules of society colliding with the old ones. Although on my forays to the grocery store I now see almost everyone wearing face covers of some sort, it still hasn’t caught on in our home neigh­bor­hood.

Our house is right across from a small sandy Chesapeake Bay beach, and our road ends a little ways beyond in a picturesque inlet overl­ooking a bird sanctuary, so we see our fair share now of people and families taking a break from being stuck indoors together 24-7. Despite the fact that face masks were recommended three weeks ago for anyone going out, it was only yesterday that I finally saw someone other than Kathleen or me on our street in a face mask.

It was a young boy riding his bike, alone. On closer look, it seemed he was wearing something like a toy plastic nose-and-mouth covering that might have come with a Star Wars game set, but even so, I was encouraged. It told me that somehow, this young boy had picked up on the social cues that made wearing a face mask a thing to do. Maybe that’s the first step towards the hard-headed adults around here trying it. (I have seen one adult here wearing a mask since then, so good news.) And just maybe, some time after that, even the teenagers will join in!

Here’s a shot of the young pioneer. I didn’t want to show his face or give other clues to his identity because he’s just a kid, so you can’t see the mask very well, but you can see that he’s wearing it.

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One of the reasons people resist face masks, I think, is that they violate an unwritten social rule about openness. If people can’t see your face, maybe you’re hiding something. Maybe you’re even up to something nefarious (see Zorro, here). I thought of a way around this—nowadays, any image can be printed easily on fabric, so why not print your nose and mouth on the face mask that is covering your real nose and mouth?

As with so many of my brilliant ideas, someone has already thought of this one. In fact, many people have, and have already commercialized it, and have discovered a whole new market for such masks—people whose smart phones won’t recognize their faces and unlock. They look pretty creepy to me, but hey, gotta keep the phone happy!

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I saw an example the other day of Kathleen being conflicted between the old rules of social eti­quette and the new, stray­ing too close to a neigh­bor and fellow dog-walker, who was not masked. And she even petted his dog!

It seemed to me at the time that she was being too old-school polite to ask our friend to stay back, and keep his dog further away. “I’d never do that!” I thought to myself at the time. Of course, what I didn’t think to myself at the time was that I also didn’t tell him to back off, and didn’t even suggest to Kathleen to back up. I didn’t want to be rude!

Then the very next day our positions were re­versed. We had decided to take a drive over to Jef­fer­son Pat­ter­son Park, closed except for the walk­ing trails, and take some dif­ferent fresh air.

Another car pulled along side us and opened their window. In it were an old couple (and by old, I mean older than us, or at least more decrepit-looking). They were flailing around with a map brochure, and asking for directions. I opened my window and tried to help, but couldn’t figure out what they were looking for. So I got out of the car(!!) to get a closer look at the map. Kathleen says I actually touched the map, but I didn’t, I swear! Anyway, after all that I couldn’t help them and they went on their way. Kathleen was having the exact thoughts I about me, that I had had about her the day before! And she reacted in exactly the same way I did, by thinking about it, but not saying it.

Editor’s note: I did so say it! I just didn’t say it in a way that was forceful enough to get into Dorn’s thick head what I was so obviously hinting at! -K

Jeff-Pat Park and the Patuxent River

The moral is that the new three golden rules have got to supersede the old rules of courtesy at least for a while, and if you don’t stay mindful of what you are doing, you can start letting the old rules take sway and not even know it.

Neither Kathleen or I had the presence of mind to tell the other people to stay away or just pull back ourselves, because we didn’t want seem rude to strangers. And we couldn’t even tell each other to pull back, because we didn’t want to seem rude to each other. If we haven’t learned from our mistakes, I guess they can put that on our joint tombstone when they bury us from the covid: “They were polite to the end.”

Thanks,
Dorn
4/20/2020