A reasoned and recent report emerging from SFGate reported: The result: San Francisco, which pre-pandemic had nearly 900,000 residents, has recorded just over 12,200 virus cases and 145 deaths, among the lowest death rates in the country. By contrast, the Southern California city of Long Beach is about half the size but has had about 900 more cases and 100 more deaths. But the restrictions also played a role in shutting down critical elements of San Francisco’s vibrant economy — tourism, tech and the city’s main business and financial districts, packed with high-rise condos, office towers and headquarters for the likes of Twitter, Pinterest and Slack. The restaurant industry projects half the eateries in a city consumed with innovative dining may not survive the pandemic. Some already have closed. There will be no more eggs benedict, for example, served with a view at Louis Restaurant, which has had a prime perch on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean since 1937. Companies in the nation’s tech capital, where Google, Facebook and Salesforce, the city’s largest employer, have extensive office space, were quick to embrace remote working and when the lockdown came, an estimated 137,500 tech workers seemingly vanished overnight’
The article asserts that the restrictions in San Francisco have been more extreme than in any other area, to which Breed et.al respond: “Breed, other city officials and business leaders are adamant that the sacrifices are worth it, and public health director Dr. Grant Colfax said that attitude has been critical to its success, along with top-notch medical facilities, robust testing and memories of the devastation wrought in San Francisco by the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
In my opinion Breed will have a legacy – the Mayor who turned downtown San Francisco into a waste land, the Mayor who shut down the business community, the Mayor who caused countless residents to move out of San Francisco; the Mayor who shut down countless restaurants and bars, the woman who ruined tourism in the City, etc. etc. It is nothing to be proud of, by the way. Personal Driver drove to Union Square yesterday – it is horrifying, a ghost town over run with homeless souls with no face masks. We got out of there quickly and efficiently. I will says this, parking was easy to find. More about that in a subsequent blog. What am I going to do about it? When my prepaid lease expires in December I am vacating the city. The search for alternative housing will begin this Sunday.
As to you Dr. Grant Colfax – I was living in the Bay Area during the AIDs epidemic. The only businesses that were shut down were the bath houses where mass orgies were held with strangers indulging in non protected sex. Those were not shut down immediately but when there was some science about the spread of the disease.- it targeted the problem. Shutting down businesses and the livelihood of hundreds and hundreds of people has done nothing – the spread of the disease comes from private gatherings and from the home. Look to the studies Dr. Grant Colfax rather than trying to justify these overly harsh meaningless restrictions. .
But on a lighter note, this from my October 19, 2017 blog which is three years ago, in case you are poor in math, “ So what is it? What quality attracts people to me? I found this in a book and quoted it in an email to someone last week. The book is The Science of Love and Betrayal, a book I accidentally discovered at the Vancouver Public library. I have written a series of stories on betrayal and so the title was most appealing. It discusses the power of laughter which can even raise pain thresholds. But it is also important in social relationships doing so through its ability to release endorphins. “This makes us feel warm and positive towards those with whom we do this curious activity. And there is no doubt how it then came to play an important role in the processes of courtship. Laughter, through the endorphin high, allows you to trust a stranger, and that opens the way to get to know them better. Gradually, step by step, encouraged by the continuing stream of jokes and one-liners, the witty remarks and humorous asides, you are drawn into the spider’s web.” (page 47).” Go and find the blog, I dare you, there is a picture of me with four or five very handsome men who were quite smitten with me. Wonder what became of them during these awful times. Lost contact with all so have no idea. But they certainly were handsome. Easy come, easy go. Please remember that as a new adherent of the Islamic faith I am a virgin again. Well, I never went to bed with any of them HONEST, As a Muslim woman my flirtatious behaviour is somewhat curtailed – nothing prevents me from making folks laugh, providing a stream of jokes and one-liners which may trap some men into the spiders web. But it will serve no purpose because ‘romantic love’ does not play a part in the Islamic faith. Marriages are often arranged by family members. For example, Personal Driver went home to Pakistan and when he arrived learned from his father that he was there to wed. He met his intended met for the first time, he married her and they have been happily wed for 28 years and raised three wonderful children. When I think of all of the casualties of ‘romantic love’ that I an aware of – probably a hundred – friends and family who found their true love and then found out he/she was not.
So not sure what my course of action shall be. Laugh and joke only with Muslim men of marriageable age? Save all of my laughter and jokes for the Muslim man who is chosen for me? This is only my tenth day of being a Muslim, cannot expect that I should work out all of the details so quickly. I will allow myself to laugh, tell endless jokes and one-liners to women, children and men who are happily married. Allah does not expect me to give up my winning ways but it is unfair to lead a man on as that makes me a liar.(in a way) Allah not only forbids lying but forbids the faithful to have anything to do with liars. Honest is the best policy he dictated in Arabic language. This from Google: “Here are a few reasons why you should always be honest: The truth will always come out, so by lying you are only ‘buying time’ but it will probably be worse when it’s revealed that you lied as well. You will feel better about yourself if you are honest and open. … You won’t have to remember and maintain a web of lies.” Who first said that honesty is the best policy? Google answered with this: “Honesty is valued in many ethnic and religious cultures. “Honesty is the best policy” is a proverb of Edwin Sandys, while the quote “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom” is attributed to Thomas Jefferson, as used in a letter to Nathaniel Macon. April 30 is national Honesty Day in the United States..” I would disagree with this analysis, the author clearly had not read the Quran – Muhammed was the first to say that honesty is the best policy though not exactly in those words.
The attached photograph is a framed sketch of a nude, found in my storage facility in Marin, acquired many years ago and hung in my bathroom . I have always thought that a framed picture of a nude should be in everyone’s bathroom.
