Since exponential growth isn’t intuitive, it is difficult to grasp how fast epidemics spread and how small changes can lower that speed. This weekend the Financial Times published the following chart. It shows how all but four countries have outbreaks growing at similar rates. Note this chart isn’t showing each country starting on the same day, but instead showing each country...

Five people: Grandpa: age 74, Bubbie: 73, Me: 50, Wife: 42, and Daughter: 7. Seven unconfirmed cases as the CDC and State rules have forbid any testing, no matter how hard we’ve tried. The first symptom was a little tickle in the back of the throat, like the day before a sore throat from a cold. My wife and her father both felt that 7 days after they attended an big event together in...

Some of the best aphorisms are misquotes of misquotes, but end up popular because they are honed down to as few simple words as can be. One such aphorism seems fitting in this moment in time, or at least a variation on the theme. It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done.Nelson Mandela, sort of, see quoteinvestigator.com/2016/01/05/done Three months ago, a global pandemic was...

Some people live in the past, with nostalgia as their favorite feeling. Some people live in the future, often with pessimistic dread or optimistic utopian glee. Times like these are a good moment to take time to live in the present. Enjoy a sunbreak (as we call it in Seattle when a few minutes of sunshine breaks through the clouds). Enjoy making waffles with your child (which they are home from...