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In fall we gaze out car windows, walk along paths or along the street to see the colored leaves, while spring’s comparable pleasure comes from waterfalls, as this guide to waterfalls describes. Nov that so many of us are vaccinated, it would it be great to plan some day trips. In New Hampshire, Crawford Notch State Park is home to 10 waterfalls, ranging from 200’ Arethusa Falls to smaller Silver…  Read more

A year into the pandemic, and we’d all like to see it behind us. But there are disquieting signs that the virus may part of our lives for longer than we want. The longer the virus can spread through a non-immunized population, the more chances it has to mutate into strains that are more contagious or more dangerous. Although vaccination rates are still far below what is needed to slow…  Read more

As the pandemic wears on, many people have been reporting a sense of “brain fog.” Memory problems and an inability to think clearly or to concentrate in meetings may be the brain’s response to the stress of the pandemic, our isolation, and the sameness of our days, according to neuroscientists interviewed by The Guardian. Our brains are wired to respond to novel situations, but the repetitive nature of working from…  Read more

We’ve been spending more of our time staring at electronic screens all day, and rumors abound about the possible negative consequences of that, as this piece in Lifehacker explains. Eyestrain is real, but the blue light from our screens won’t damage eyes. Simply holding your device a bit further from your eyes may reduce just as much blue light as expensive blue-light-blocking glasses. Practicing the 20-20-20 rule may help alleviate…  Read more

Rapid vaccine rollout across the U.S. is helping the economy here recover months ahead of European economies, as a Reuters study of data across many platforms shows. Bookings on OpenTable show that the U.S. is gradually returning to nearly normal, while those in Europe are still flatlining. Air travel is increasing, and commercial activity is also improving, especially as stimulus payments hit bank accounts. I am so grateful to have…  Read more

The state of Florida pursued an open, non-restrictive approach to the pandemic, which appears to have been vindicated by recent stories in the media. However, as Derek Thompson of The Atlantic found when he began investigating the veracity of claims, results are neither as cataclysmic nor as positive as either side claims. While it is true that COVID-19 cases are falling in the state, they are likewise falling across the country.…  Read more

In our office we love the expression “it’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity”.  Those “lessons learned in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy have been serving us well during this pandemic.  A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have certainly had plenty of experiences to learn from. The New York Times asked scientists, public health experts, and health advocates about the lessons we should learn for the next pandemic. One…  Read more

Eventually, epidemiologists hope that the coronavirus will become a seasonal pathogen, not much worse than the flu. But the path to that state is not a straight line, as this article in Stat describes, breaking the continued pandemic into short-, middle- and long-term phases. With vaccines steadily reaching more people, most agree that we are at least approaching the end of the “crisis” phase. Over the short-term, we may see…  Read more

Congratulations! You got the COVID vaccine! I have an appointment for my first shot for this afternoon due to an underlying condition.  Now what should you/we do?  As an article in The Atlantic describes, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but “When deciding what you can and can’t do, you should think less about your own vaccination status, and more about whether your neighbors, family, grocery clerks, delivery drivers, and friends are…  Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t the first to sweep the globe, nor is it likely to be the last one. Throughout history, pandemics have shaped our world, as this historic lookback in the Washington Post explains. One such plague likely contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire, when disease –likely measles and smallpox – swept through the ancient world and killed 5 million people over 15 years. The Black Death…  Read more

Keeping people safe in the pandemic requires a comprehensive approach, as explained by Aaron E. Carroll, a pediatrics professor at Indiana University. By taking the pandemic seriously, “far from posing a risk to its host city or town, a university could become—by supplementing behavioral measures such as masking and social distancing with widespread surveillance testing—a model for detecting and suppressing the virus.” By the time IU’s 87,000 students return to…  Read more

Although most of us have not been able to travel for much of the last year, that didn’t stop The Guardian from hosting a travel photography competition. Stunning landscapes, colorful marketplaces, and chance photos that capture an unforgettable moment are all among the winners in the many categories. We may not be able to travel safely yet, but we can at least travel in our imaginations. I am glad to…  Read more

Keeping people safe in the pandemic requires a comprehensive approach, as explained by Aaron E. Carroll, a pediatrics professor at Indiana University. By taking the pandemic seriously, “far from posing a risk to its host city or town, a university could become—by supplementing behavioral measures such as masking and social distancing with widespread surveillance testing—a model for detecting and suppressing the virus.” By the time IU’s 87,000 students return to…  Read more

For many of us, it was our networks that helped us get through the last year. That was one of the lessons that Ivan Meisner, founder of BNI, an international business networking group learned from 2020. He also learned the value of limiting exposure to bad news by picking up what he needed to know from news apps. One business owner struggled with the stress of working from home while overseeing remote…  Read more

Vaccines for the coronavirus are now being administered around the country, but that may not mean an end to wearing a mask. This article from Kaiser Health News lists five reasons to keep wearing a mask, even after receiving the vaccine. The top two reasons are that no vaccine is 100% effective and that vaccines don’t provide immediate protection. According to one of the experts cited the best way to end the…  Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic may have an economic impact far beyond last year and the next two or three. A recent report by the World Bank projects global economic growth to slow to 1.9% per year from 2020-2029. Prior to the pandemic, growth was projected to be 2.1%, down from 2.5% over the previous decade. Investments in infrastructure, diversifying economies and supporting the employment of women may help to mitigate or reverse that…  Read more

Happy New Year! Without computer, telecommunication, and cloud technologies, working from home during the pandemic would not have been possible. Looking back at 2020, Gene Marks a contributor at Forbes, put together a list of the 13 tech stories from 2020 that stand out for small business. For example, a Microsoft engineer who exploited a loophole to steal more than $10 million from the company’s online store underlines the need…  Read more

With votes counted and the Covid-19 Relief bill now signed into law the fun begins.  I am hoping you have something safe, but special planned for this evening and the rest of this three day weekend, and will not have time to re-read our post from last week detailing all of the provisions but please feel free to click through here for our December 23rd post which has been updated.…  Read more

To say that 2020 has been a wild ride is an understatement. This article in the Wall Street Journal takes a look at surveys, economic data, and research papers to get an idea of what’s changed and what might be coming our way. The pandemic forced many of us to work from home, and that trend may be here to stay. But the increase in productivity came at a cost:…  Read more

States that depend heavily on tourism have suffered greatly during the pandemic, and a few are taking creative steps to diversify their economies by attracting new remote workers. For example, Hawaii’s new “Movers and Shakas” program offers free roundtrip airfare to remote workers willing to spend at least 30 days working in that state and to contribute in some way to the local community. Tulsa is offering grants of $10,000…  Read more