“We will be closing at 7PM due to the curfew”. One week after Raleigh had moved into Phase 2 of our reopening after a three month pandemic lockdown, our mayor declared a state of emergency and a curfew to “maintain order and protect public health, safety welfare, and property.” This was in response to local…
Author: Steve Ainslie
Uninformed Opinions
I’ve got strong opinions on many things. Politics, the pandemic, public health policy, medicine, law enforcement, military operations, diet, exercise, healthcare, insurance, banking, capitalism, socialism and just about anything else that crosses my mind. One thing most of my opinions have in common, is that I am not qualified to have them!
The Moments of Life
I’ve had a lot of time to think about the past lately. Some of it has to do with my recent surgery and these weeks of recovery with “no strenuous activity”. Some of it is due to this extended period of pandemic mandated isolation. Some of it is because the sights, sounds and smells of…
Playing The Numbers
In North Carolina, we are officially entered Phase 2 of the Covid-19 Safer at Home lockdown and reopening plan yesterday. According to the initial criteria, we were supposed to move from Stay at Home to Phase 1 only when cases had consistently dropped and hospitalizations had consistently dropped. Then suddenly, we were in Phase One…
The Women I’ve Loved
Pam was my first love. When I met her in our high school Spanish class, I could tell she liked me. She smiled a lot and never stopped talking to me. Being a sophomore, I remember thinking sarcastically, “Oh great, a freshman has a crush on me!” She was cute with big blue eyes, blond hair…
How Many People Equals 100,000 Dead?
This past weekend, the news reported that the US is closing in on 100,000 people who have died from Covid-19 in the past 3 months. I’m willing to concede this number is not 100% accurate. News reports claim the number has been understated and overstated for differing credible reasons. Some of these people were likely…
Opening Back Up
Today I visited my surgeon to have my staples removed and a post-op consultation. Today is also the first business day since my state moved from lockdown to Code Yellow (or Phase II or whatever). What that means is that all stores and restaurants can open, subject to maximum capacity limits, social distancing, facemarks, group…
When Will There Be A Good Day
My wife is dying and there’s nothing I can do about it. I wrote that line in October 2018 and then never completed the post. Today, a year and a half later, I am going to finish this post.
When Is Enough Enough?
I have had it with the clusterfuck of the US healthcare system, the lack of effective social support structures, our profit driven corporation-controlled government and our consumer driven economic system. For the most part, I don’t even have to deal with most of this. (Except for healthcare since I am an uninsured and live in…
Why Aren’t We Talking About Euthanasia?
When I read the stories about overwhelmed hospitals, people gasping for air, massive numbers of deaths and bodies piling up in Italy from the Covid-19 pandemic, I expected we’d soon be talking about euthanasia (aka assisted suicide) in the US. At the very least, I expected we’d be discussing giving medications to accelerate dying to…