White House
In the world of “woke,” I can see people being offended by anything with “white” in it, but in the world of physics, white is defined as not a color because it is the sum of all possible colors.
Which, in the world of symbolism, makes it a very good name for “The People’s House.”
Roger Schweitzer
Volcano
Melting in Walmart
I have a suggestion for Walmart:
Please install automatic doors that open and close at the front entrance. The temperature inside the store is overly warm (and has been for all the years I’ve lived here), which makes shopping impossible.
I’ve been told there is air conditioning, but I certainly don’t feel it.
While shopping, my mask gets drenched with perspiration (I’m not the only one!) and won’t stay in place. Every other large store, including supermarkets, maintain an adequate temperature.
Please help me, I’m melting!
Cher Miles
Pahoa
‘Dying of despair’
The relentless chimera coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 — or simply COVID-19 — has everyone’s attention in government.
Governments around the world are going to extraordinary lengths to minimize deaths from this scourge, even to the point of shutting down entire national economies and spending trillions of dollars.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 is not the only cause of virus-related death.
People are dying of despair caused by the dislocation of their lives, permanent loss of livelihood and financial ruin leading to eviction and loss of property that are the direct result of broad government-mandated economic shutdowns.
Any doctor will tell you that you cannot perform surgery with a sledgehammer.
One of the more cynical jokes of the Vietnam conflict in the 1960s was the line, “It was necessary to destroy the village to save it.”
That line is again of relevance, and it is not funny this time, either.
There is no simple way out of this, and pretending that all will be well if we simply scorch the earth into a coronavirus-free economic wasteland full of financially ruined, destitute people seems simplistic and misguided.
Someone found dead in the ashes of their home they set fire to before committing suicide is just as dead of COVID-19 as if they died in a hospital.
The lives of healthy people also matter.
John Powers
Pahoa