Yuval Noah Harari: COVID-19’s Impact on Humankind


I’ve read all three of Yuval Noah Harari’s books and found them… interesting, to say the least. I’ve been eager to hear his take on COVID-19 and was a little surprised to get it from an interview by James Corden, who I think of as a late-late-night comedian. But his questions were brief and to the point and he allowed his guest to answer the questions without interrupting.

Hunkered Down

UPDATE: This is definitely a work in progress. My uke guru is suggested some changes. Thinking it might be fun to add one new verse a week for as long as COVID-19 hangs around. We’re talking epic. (Put this on YouTube for anyone having trouble streaming here.)

UPDATE: I’m going to record this again and change “Chinese Virus” to “Donald Trump’s Virus”

Workers on Chrysler Building (1929-1930)

“New York’s Chrysler Building, one of the city’s most iconic skyscrapers, was built in a remarkably short time–foundation work began in November 1928, and the building officially opened in May 1930. Even more remarkably, the steelwork went up in just six months in the summer of 1929 at an average rate of four floors a week.
Fox Movietone’s sound cameras visited the construction site several times in 1929 and 1930, staging a number of shots to maximize viewers’ sense of the spectacular heights.”

O. Kay Henderson on Meet the Press

Friend and former coworker O. Kay Henderson was on the Meet the Press panel this morning. Kay is the news director of Radio Iowa, a state radio network I helped create back in the late 80s. Kay’s first job out of college was reporting for the network. A few years later I had the good sense and good fortune to promote her to News Director. Nobody knows more about Iowa politics than Kay. [watch on YouTube]