What we need to know about the coronavirus that isn’t fueled by misinformation, politics, and hysteria.
My daughter is an ER doctor and these are the 9 things she is advising me to do:
- Stay at home!
- Wash my hands
- Don’t touch my face
- Conduct business in Google Hangouts/Skype
- Participate in webinars and zoom meetings
- Get my flu shot and pneumonia vaccine
- Cancel travel plans
- Avoid young people who are not socially isolating themselves
- Read this article about “flattening the curve” (see link below)
By taking these precautionary steps, the ER will be able to handle real emergencies – very sick patients suffering from life-threatening diseases and COVID-19. Hospitals are not equipped with enough test kits, masks, and PPEs to treat the number of people who will need hospitalization.
[Source]
What we need to know about the coronavirus that isn’t fueled by misinformation, politics, and hysteria.
My daughter is an ER doctor and these are the 9 things she is advising me to do:
- Stay at home!
- Wash my hands
- Don’t touch my face
- Conduct business in Google Hangouts/Skype
- Participate in webinars and zoom meetings
- Get my flu shot and pneumonia vaccine
- Cancel travel plans
- Avoid young people who are not socially isolating themselves
- Read this article about “flattening the curve” (see link below)
By taking these precautionary steps, the ER will be able to handle real emergencies – very sick patients suffering from life-threatening diseases and COVID-19. Hospitals are not equipped with enough test kits, masks, and PPEs to treat the number of people who will need hospitalization.
[Source]
I went to see Trump’s WALL in El Paso, Texas, to understand what the locals think of the wall. Not being familiar with traveling across the Mexican border, I learned the hard way that once you pay 50 cents to enter Mexico on foot, you can’t return to the same place. That scared me because I didn’t expect to have to walk through the city of Juarez to get to the next bridge where immigrants have to wait in a long line to go through customs. I was definitely not prepared. I thought I would just interview a few people to get their take on the WALL to write this blog, and walk back over the border…
I expected to see Trump’s shiny, new wall protected by guards, but instead, all I saw was a completely rusty metal wall. It was shorter than I expected and it wouldn’t be hard for anyone to climb over it with a ladder and jump to the other side. I wondered why they used metal that rusts so quickly and would need a lot of maintenance to keep it from corroding.
As I waited in a long line to get back into the US, I interviewed a Mexican-American man who told me that the wall would never deter anyone from trying to smuggle in drugs or illegal things to America. He laughed at the thought. He said that they would just go around the wall. Then he confessed that he used to be a drug dealer and that he would bring in tons of drugs in trucks at night. The wall wouldn’t stop him or any of the drug dealers.
A Mexican woman with lung cancer who lives in the US said that she goes to Mexico for her cancer treatment because it’s only $500 (not thousands like in the US). She goes through customs with her boyfriend every week and it’s not a problem getting through. Not sure how Trump’s policies are supposed to be keeping people from coming into the US. Seems like he wants to build the wall just to stamp his name on it.
Another Mexican-American interviewee said that Trump’s wall is causing all kinds of environmental hazards. The wall intercepts the Rio Grande River, which diverts the water and is causing problems with the local farmers who need the water. The river was completely dry when I was there. It reminded me of the movie “Chinatown” with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, where LA county water is controlled and diverted by corrupt officials in Chinatown.
Another guy said that if the US government installed surveillance cameras every 100 feet, they would deter people from coming through the border and it would be a fraction of the cost. Staff could monitor the cameras 24/7 and notify the authorities when people try to enter illegally. Hmm.
My take: Use the money (that is slated for the wall) to mitigate our carbon and gas problems and provide medical coverage for all Americans. The wall will not stop illegal immigrants or drugs from entering America. This vanity wall is simply another obsession by our narcissistic president.
Over 1000 colleges give students the option whether or not to declare their SAT or ACT scores with their college applications. Now the University of California is considering dropping the standardized test requirement for their admissions process at their 9 campuses. This is a highly controversial subject that comes on the heels of the admissions scandal where wealthy families paid proctors to cheat by giving their children unfair advantages.
Requiring SATs or ACTs has 2 problems: (1) These standardized tests do NOT identify students who will do well in college; and (2) Wealthy students who are average or even below average can receive excellent scores when their parents pay thousands of dollars for SAT or ACT private prep tutoring, which makes gives the rich students an unfair advantage over poor students.
The real problem colleges face is determining which students will be successful at their institutions. Grade point averages (GPAs) vary from school to school. In wealthy school districts where classes are taught by teachers who often hold advanced degrees, they often succumb to grade inflation due to an onslaught of demanding parents. On the other hand, in poorer school districts where they struggle to keep good teachers, these teachers burn out quickly when faced with students functioning several grade levels below average and often don’t have the foundation to learn the concepts. An “A” in one school could be a “C” in another.
Maybe the honest way for students to apply to colleges and for colleges to determine whether a student will be successful is to have a college application day where every student in the nation fills out the application form, writes their essays, and organizes their resumes in the school auditorium. Teachers and counselors could assist the students and answer questions as proctor the application day. That way, the colleges evaluate the students based on their own work and all students receive the same support and guidance. Just a thought…
[Source]
What’s the Rush to Go to College?
After 12 years of elementary, middle, and high school, why are kids so anxious to go straight to a 4-year college, and then possibly grad school? With the pressures they face to get top grades, study for SATs/ACTs, volunteer, and do extracurricular activities, kids burn out and lose focus on what and why they’re doing everything. I believe that when kids take a GAP YEAR to find what it is students are interested in and get involved, they’ll make smarter decisions about their future careers and where they want to live. They’ll also BE HAPPIER!
This one or two-year period gives students time to pursue a project – something they’ve always wanted to do but never had the time to do it. They can build a tiny house, they can lead others on an expedition, they can offer relief to victims of climate disasters, and more. Kids need to feel useful – either as part of a team to help others or as an individual doing a project to start something on their own. They can also start a business!
College will always be there and they’ll probably get into a better college if they take a gap year to show their interests and passions. Many other countries require that kids give a year or two to support their military so they build patriotism and camaraderie. Some religions require students to do missionary work before starting college or moving on to the adult world.
While I have concerns about pushing kids into the military or missionary work, I do strongly believe that all kids can benefit from taking a breather from the stress of getting into top colleges and doing a project to benefit society or help them figure out what they really want to do when they grow up.
[Source]
Did you know it takes 295 lbs. of non-renewable raw mineral ore and water to make a single iPhone? That’s ridiculous when the phone only weighs 4.5 OUNCES!
I remember when I first learned that Apple designs their iPhones so we can’t replace the batteries when they go dead, which is about a year. If you try to open up an iPhone to replace the battery, you would be voiding the warranty. Even when just about all other cell phone companies allow you to replace the batteries yourself, Apple has held hard to this policy. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Apple designs phones to last about a year (yes this takes incredible engineering to do), which requires customers to throw them away and buy new phones (hmm — $$$) instead of simply updating the software or parts, or simply replacing the old batteries.
Besides not allowing consumers to repair their phones, Apple has intentionally slowed down older iPhone just before releasing new models. They have been doing this through updates for the iPhones. Now Apple has agreed to pay $500 million to settle a lawsuit. They’ll pay $25 for iPhone 6s and iPhone 7s bought before December 2017.
Like so many others, I was mesmerized by Apple’s marketing splash and bought into “needing” the new iPhones every year. After my 5th iPhone I got tired of the hype for a phone that isn’t better than the others, and I bought Android Samsung Galaxy cell phones for my family. This was in 2014 and I have had the same phone for 4 years! All I’ve had to do is replace my batteries and update the software. Most importantly, I didn’t have to buy 3 new phones during this time and I’ve saved thousands of dollars.
This throw-away mentality has to stop. Manufacturers need to design cell phones and products to last. This isn’t just a cell phone problem, it’s happening in heavy equipment manufacturing too. John Deere makes tractors that are difficult and sometimes impossible to repair. Farmers are now buying tractors that were built 40 years ago because they were built better and the farmers could repair these expensive rigs themselves.
When I turned 16 years old, I learned how to rebuild my 4-cylinder engine, give it a tune-up, change the oil, and rotate the tires. For under $20, I could replace spark plugs and change the oil (I’m dating myself…). But today, nobody can maintain, tune-up, or work on their internal combustion engines because they need expensive computers to do the diagnostics.
We don’t have the resources to make throw-away products and we don’t have the space in landfills to deal with the waste. It is unethical to design and engineer products that can’t be repaired. Manufacturers across all industries are making huge profits by making us buy “throw-away” products or taking away our ability to make simple repairs. We need to spend less, and waste less.
We are not asking for trade secrets; we just want to extend the lives of our devises, cars, and equipment. State legislatures across the nation are discussing bills that will make personal and third-party repairs more accessible to consumers. Write your governors to tell them that they should support our right to repair our stuff and that they should pass legislation to force manufacturers to stop this unethical and wasteful business practice.
[Source 1]
[Source 2]
In today’s podcast, TEDx speaker Sethumadhav Perumalla talks about his new book “Trumpists: The Art of the Tweet”. It’s a great interview that covers a lot ground, including how Generation Z responds to misinformation, and how this affects our democracy and our future.
To listen to today’s podcast, find GakkoMom on iTunes and subscribe to it, or listen below:
With the skyrocketing cost of college tuition, you may be wondering what the return on investment (ROI) is today. The average college graduate with a bachelor’s degree, will earn about $78,000 per year compared to just $45,000 for those with a high school diploma. The ROI is about 14%, which is considerably higher than the typical 8-9% investors expect from the stock market and other investments.
So keep up your grades and get your college degrees!
[Source]
In this podcast, I interview my former student Eric Wei about his journey to University of British Columbia, his selection of Urban Forestry, as his major, and how he got a job jumping out of helicopters as a Wildland Fire Fighter!
To listen to today’s podcast, find GakkoMom on iTunes and subscribe to it, or listen below:
Did you know that video game addiction is a real thing? Its official name is Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) according to the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases. The definition is an online gamer who plays compulsively to the exclusion of other interests, including school and family life. Sound familiar?
Parents are coming to terms with this disorder as they watch their healthy teens become anti-social and reclusive. Kids diagnosed with IGD play video games until the wee hours of the morning and they’re exhausted when it’s time to get up and go to school. Parents complain that their teens are falling asleep on the way to school and need naps when they get home.
I’ve recommended that these parents turn off the internet for the entire house when they go to bed and keep it off until they leave for work and school in the morning. IGD kids will still try to find ways to get online; some will hack back into their internet and others will sneak out of the house to play wherever they can get online.
One of my clients, a college student, missed his midterm exam because he was gaming until 4:00 AM and didn’t hear the 3 alarms that he had set for the morning. This was just the tip of the iceberg. He didn’t go to classes, didn’t write his papers, and didn’t show up for his final exams. His parents had no idea until they saw his transcript: all F’s and W’s (withdrawals).
In China, so many teens are addicted to video games that they’ve imposed a curfew on minors. Gamers are not allowed to play online games between 10:00 PM and 8:00 AM. On school days, minors can only play 90 minutes per day; and on weekends, they can play up to 3 hours per day. China has also placed restrictions on the amount of money minors can transfer to their online gaming accounts. Kids 16 years and younger can only transfer $29 per month, and 17-18 year olds can transfer $57 per month.
While men are more susceptible to gaming addiction, all kids can become victims. Gaming companies design games with the intent of luring kids in and getting them to play without concern about homework, family, or friends. It’s up to parents to set up rules and guidelines for their families to prevent their kids from becoming addicted to video games.
[Source]