CoViD-19 Updates | Biden Accepts DNC Nomination | Ant Nightmares | Bannon Arrested | San Diego Zoo Updates Health Screening

Amur Leopard Cub (Taken 8.20.2020)

I finally gave in and have been watching Backyard Envy on Bravo and I'm obsessed. We went back and started from Season 1 but we're gonna get through it pretty quick. I'm learning a lot, but the problem is that it's hard to know if the plants they use in New York would be viable here. Not that we're running out with multi-thousand dollars to build a backyard, but it's fun to watch for ideas and whatnot. I guess I finally understand what Pinterest is for. 
Anyway, today me and Darren went to the San Diego Zoo for the final hour it was open but mostly just to get me out of the house. I also feel vindicated from my whole Facebook fight about face masks because now they've added a 4th question to their health screening: 

Failure to properly wear an acceptable face covering at all times during your visit will result in dismissal from Zoo grounds. Do you acknowledge and agree to comply with this requirement?

It just further validates that facial coverings are not actually a personal choice. You agree to the social contract that if you're out in public, you will protect others, and they will protect you. Just like you cannot smoke in public, you don't get to make decisions about my health.

• California COVID-19 Stats:
• 5,920 New Cases/644,751Total Cases (.9% increase)
• 163 New Deaths/11,686 Total Deaths (1.4% increase)
• 6.6% 14-day test positivity rate
• San Diego County Stats
• State Data:
• 4,512 New Cases (Last 14 Days)/35,378 Total Cases
• 60 Deaths (Last 14 Days)/638 Total Deaths
• 133.9 cases/100k population 
• 6.4% Test Positivity (Last 14 Days)
• County Data:
• 233 New Cases/35,608 Total Cases 
• 6 New Daily Deaths/644 Total Deaths
• 84.3 cases (93.8 State Reporting)/100k population 
• 2% Daily Test Positivity/4% Test Positivity (14-day average)
• Case Investigation is 97%
• 3 New/16 Community Outbreaks (7-day)
• News/Politics
• Steve Bannon Charged With Misusing Donations For Trump’s Border Wall -KPBS/NPR (8.20.2020)
• ANTS! We've been under attack all summer. We have Terro traps inside and out, we've got diluted peppermint oil spray, and we've been doing our best, but with all the work we've been doing in our yard, we've definitely antagonized them. Our downstairs neighbors moved out, with one of their reasons being the ants, and no doubt an empty apartment below us isn't helping our situation. So last night I read some posts on a Facebook gardening group I'm in and I had ants in my nightmares. Then I told Darren, and he had ant dreams, too. Then he told me Nova had a dream about human-sized ants. Very Kafka-esque, no? Anyway, here's some crazy reading and advice on dealing with this being that apparently we all live on a massive ant colony that covers pretty much the whole planet. Apparently we're getting a new bathtub and shower in the next couple weeks, hopefully when they break into it the walls, they don't further unleash the beasts. 
• The "Argentine Ants" - Wayne's Word, 1995
• Ant mega-colony takes over world - BBC Earth News
• The DNC is over and Biden is officially the nominee. I've never been particularly passionate about him as a a candidate, but I really loved his speech tonight and I feel super energized and hopeful for November. 
• COVID-19:
• Evidence grows that children may play a larger role in transmission than previously believed: Latest study is small but shows that kids’ rates of infection and viral loads may make them silent spreaders. -The Washington Post (8.20.2020)

"Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy, they're all on the ballot. Who we are as a nation, what we stand for, and most importantly, who we want to be, that's all on the ballot." --Joe Biden, the official 2020 Democratic nominee for president

(Image from Sierra Club)