So either the kids in high school (and lower grades also) are getting a less than stellar education for the next month or so, as schools are closed and the “alternate curriculum” is enacted, or we are learning that we really don’t need to have all those teachers and school facilities wasting our tax dollars in an attempt to teach kids in the old fashioned way.

I mean, if these kids are learning just as much doing the “Distance Learning”, then why do we need classrooms and such???For that matter, do we need all those teachers as well?

Or, are the kids getting a substandard level of education and the teachers are, in fact, needed and the kids are simply not getting an education to the same standard as before, and how much effect will that have on them in the future?

Are they gonna extend the time for school attendance into the summer months to make up for this time or are they simply gonna give up and let that portion of the curriculum go and let the kids have gaps in their education?

Do we really need teachers and classrooms anymore or not?

Thus far, no one has addressed this issue . But I think someone should.

Make no mistake, I think that the school closures can help prevent the transmission of disease, assuming kids are not passing it anyway in their social interactions during the time that they have off from school….If they stay home and don’t wander the streets, then this can work. If they don’t, then likely this is a waste of time…..and education.

Schools are closed in Chicago.
Probably a good idea, if, as we are told (repeatedly and often by the media) that the coronavirus epidemic is gonna get bigger.

But the Chicago Park District, in order to support all the parents who need to find some place to park their kids who were normally watched over by the State daycare in school, will be having “Age appropriate activities” for kids during the day…..

A great idea. but they will be packing “Not more than 50” kids into the rooms for those “activities” .
Yeah, rooms not in schools with 50 kids in them is better than rooms with 30 or so in classrooms….

Missing the point, innit? How is one better than the other? 

So I had been doing a lot of instrument training but not much “real” flying. You know, place to place, landing and debarking from the airplane and then taking off again….

Mostly going place to place and flying approaches, but not really landing, except for that single one at the end just before i put the plane away..

And my landings were becoming less and less on the side of “perfect” and getting a bit rougher.

Sunday was clear, and if a bit windy, not too turbulent nor gusty.

Also, my dad had asked me to take an aerial photo or three of a structure about 30 miles away. Since the day was clear, sunny and bright, I decided to get him his aerial photos….and do some touch and goes.

Flew to Kgyy and did a touch and go on 02 (winds were 020 at 10) The ATIS said the PAPI was out of service, and it was somewhat weird flying a final with only 2 lights showing that I was high (2 whites, no reds) and yet I knew that I was pretty much on the glide slope. Did a nice touch and go anyway and then asked for permission to depart to the west and take my pictures….the place was just on the edge of their airspace.

I got my permission and flew west 4 miles and took my pictures, orbiting for 5 minutes or so, then called for and got permission to depart to the south and back to my home airport. Oddly, the normally grumpy controllers at Kgyy were very accommodating today.

Flew south, departed their airspace and then turned east-ish and flew 35 or so miles back home.
Did 6 touch and goes on rwy 36 with a wind at 040 (ish) at 7-12 knots… did 2 that were “Meh”, two that were “acceptable”,  and the last two were pretty good, the second to last even dealing with a pretty good side gust.

Like shooting well, landing well takes practice to keep the hands and eyes calibrated and the muscle memory fresh. I shoot weekly, and have lots of practice…landings are still being beaten into my brain.

But it was a nice day to fly. 

That the Panic Buying behavior exhibited by a great number of our (or at least MY) fellow citizens is a sure indicator that we, at some primal level are still (as we once were) herd animals.

Note that this behavior is especially evident in women (human females). They follow the other women, not only in fashion, but in other things, as today’s behavior demonstrates.

So I stopped in to the store at 1:00 in the afternoon.

This my more or less normal stopping time for my Friday, as I fly a lesson in the morning and generally am heading home about that time…..plus it is (usually) a lull in shoppers, and the morning crowd is finished and the late afternoon folks haven’t started yet.

Not so today.

All I wanted was some fresh vegetables and some lunchmeat and cheese….

I’ve seen gunshows after a Democratic presidential victory with smaller crowds, less crowded aisles and fewer people with that wild look in their eye. 
The store was FILLED with panicked buyers. Carts full of canned goods and pasta and rice and bread products….topped with, (of course) toilet paper. There wasn’t much meat on the shelves, nor was there any kleenex (I think that the hand santizer had long ago been sold).

There was not a cart to be had.

It was somewhat insane. I, of course, panicked 3 weeks ago and bought all my shelf stable goods before the rush.

As far as I can tell, the spark for this panic event was the closure of the local schools for a 30 day period. At least, that is what the women were chatting about as they grabbed a 6 month supply of toilet paper……

And yet, oddly, the Feminine Hygiene shelves were pretty much fully stocked. One would think that this would also be as big a need as TP….I dunno, I am a guy, so it isn’t much on my mind,
Diapers were well stocked too, which I would have thought would be a large need for women with infants and toddlers…..I’d have thought that they would be in as short supply as bunghole wipes.

Odd, But what do I know.

We are a strange bunch of animals, we humans.

The decision has just been made:

The Indy 1500 gunshew has been cancelled.
(along with the Flower and Patio show as well, also in the same complex and at the same time frame)

At the end of it, while it will cost the show promoters some serious coin, attendance might have been sparse anyway (I had decided not to attend) because who wants to mingle with several thousand potentially sick strangers?? and it will be just one less vector for the spread of this disease….it was likely a good decision.

Make no mistake, this sort of preventative measure should have been done about a month ago (along with stopping travel and quarantining people for a month or so before letting them loose into our population)

This may not be a foolproof method of stopping the spread of a disease that is transmitted by folks sneezing and coughing and wiping their snotty hands on surfaces where others can touch, but it will mitigate the spread greatly.

“Social distancing” writ large. But it works, at least to some extent.

Having said that, I did attend my Gun Club’s normal Thursday night gathering. I do intend to follow my mostly normal routine….but then again, I am mostly a loner anyway.

ETA: The NRA  annual meeting is also cancelled.
I approve of this.

ETA2: Camp Perry events cancelled by the CMP

Travel Restrictions .

Far East and Europe.

No details, but at the end of it, it is what should have been done about two weeks ago (or even 30 days).  Might be too late though.

At least (finally) someone is taking serious steps to keep folks who are a risk OUT of the country.

Is it me, or did he seem to be somewhat wooden and unsure of what he was saying?

BTW, say goodbye to your 401K now. I expect the markets to tank. 

of Trump.

I got a bet 2:11 with a liberal sufferer of Trump Derangement Syndrome that he is gonna announce the cancellation of elections due to Coronavirus.

These folks really think that:

A. He would even make that attempt
and
B. That the courts (and his own supporters…those “despicable” folks who cling to their GUNS and religion) would allow him to do so….
and
C. Like he’d even try this early on even if he wanted to.

But these rabid haters of Trump really believe that he will try and that is what he’s gonna announce.

I’m gonna enjoy having dinner (I think a steak) on that 110 bucks when I win ’cause he doesn’t cancel the elections

Will be disappointed.

I mean, I don’t hang out with them, but I do run across a few folks who would treat this as news….(Or, for that matter, an excuse)

France tell citizens that Cocaine won’t cure Coronavirus. 

One wonders how folks can be this stupid though….