Today's one item about Trump: I am very confident that if the election were held today, Joe Biden would win with a wide margin. Which wouldn't mean D.J.T. wouldn't scream it was all rigged. About the safest prediction you can make for this election is that he'll do that. If he loses, he'll say it was rigged and that he really won. And if he wins, he'll say it was rigged and he really won by a massive landslide. Right now though, I trust this article over at Charlie Cook's Political Report that says that in the key battleground states, Trump seems to be stuck in the low-to-mid 40% range. I won't worry until I see that changing.
And hey, remember when the two worst things a Republican could say about a Democrat running for office was that (1) he was a Draft Dodger and/or (2) that "he hates the military"? Okay, that's more than one item but it's a development worth noting.
Jeffrey Klein wrote to ask me what factors I will use in determining when to end my personal isolation here in the Fortress of Solitude. Well, the first and main one will be that my doctor will advise me it's okay. I have a real good doctor and while I don't have absolute faith in everything he says, I have way more faith in his assessment of a medical situation than in my own.
It looks like we may wind up with an array of vaccines and arguments as to which ones have been tested sufficiently and whether certain ones have been rushed to market too rapidly. Georgia may begin distributing one that California won't accept.
I'll wait and see what my physician says. I'll also wait and see what reasons, if any, I have for modifying my little isolation. (I am not always alone, by the way. I have carefully-selected friends visiting from time to time.)
Right this minute, I leave the house for walks, for doctor visits and for occasional shopping when deliveries won't do. Even after there's a vaccine around that my doctor says is good enough to inject into me, I bet he'll still suggest mask-wearing "just in case," especially since you won't be able to tell who's been vaccinated and who hasn't. Some folks probably won't get it no matter how safe and effective it seems to be because some folks feel that way about all vaccinations, even ones that have been around for years.
So I'll mask up and avoid strangers for a while. I also have an awful lot of hand sanitizer to use up.
Unlike a few friends of mine, I do not dearly miss dining inside a restaurant, nor do I miss traveling. I do miss being in the same room with certain friends but teleconferencing ain't that bad. I suspect that after The Pandemic is history, we'll still be doing way more of that than we ever imagined…and there will be more people working from home.
I doubt I'll be on an airplane for a long time. The next convention I might attend is WonderCon in Anaheim, which I drive to and which will not take place — assuming it does take place — until March 26-28 of next year. So I have plenty of time to decide about that and the operators of that event might even make the decision for me, sparing me having to think about it at all.
But right now, there's no place I want to go — no parties, no premieres, no live performances, no plays. The Magic Castle is closed and my reservation for the night before Halloween — which I made the day after Halloween last year — is probably no good. What I read about Las Vegas these days makes it sound like a place I don't want to be.
I'm thinking the folks who stage live performances have a vicious circle facing them. They don't want to put on plays (especially expensive ones) until they're confident audiences won't stay away for fear of being too close to strangers. But they won't know how many people feel that way until someone puts on some enticing shows.
I'm recalling when records were going away and I had to decide when to get a CD player. I'm also recalling when Beta was going away and I had to decide when to buy a VHS machine, when VHS was going away and I had to decide when to buy a LaserDisc player, when LaserDiscs were going away and I had to decide when to switch to DVDs, when DVDs started to give way to Blu-Ray…
In each case, I decided to make the leap once something came out on the new format that I really wanted and it wasn't available on the old format. I remember in the first switchover, they brought Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume 1 out on CD and it contained several tracks that hadn't been on the record album. That was when I knew I had to get a CD player. I expect to take that approach with COVID-19. I'll start attending live entertainment events when there's one that I just can't resist. Assuming my doctor doesn't advise against it.