Surgical masks and hard hats

 Earlier this month, I came across an article titled "Mask mandates are returning to some hospitals. Should they be there to stay?"

Elizabeth Hlavinka, “Mask Mandates Are Returning to Some Hospitals. Should They Be There to Stay?,” Salon, October 5, 2023,                          https://www.salon.com/2023/10/05/mask-mandates-are-returning-to-some-hospitals-should-they-be-there-to-stay/.

From the article

While the chance of severe disease is reduced for those who have been vaccinated or who have already had a COVID infection, doctors are concerned about vulnerable patients in hospitals, which are by nature meeting points for all sorts of disease-causing pathogens, not just SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. Hospitals are also at elevated risk of things like long COVID, which can occur even in the vaccinated, young and otherwise healthy.

"Our elderly relatives, people with serious illnesses — these are the only places they can go to get care when they are in the worst shape of their lives," said Dr. Theodore Pak, an infectious diseases fellow, who has seen hundreds of COVID-19 patients at the hospitals he practices at in Boston, Massachusetts. 

"We may give somebody a powerful medication that takes away their entire immune system and then in order to get medical care, they have to go to a hospital where they sit next to people that are unmasked that could give them a disease that could kill them," Pak told Salon in a phone interview. "We don't really think about that or weigh that risk anymore."

Hospitals should've never given up on the mask mandates.

Hospitals are there to take care of people with health vulnerabilities.  Many of those people are at increased risk of getting infected by contagious respiratory diseases. Requiring people to wear surgical masks would reduce the spread of contagious respiratory diseases.

Sadly, some people act as if "covid is over" (or even worse, act as if covid never existed) and would throw hissy fits when asked to wear a mask to protect others from contagious respiratory diseases.

Hospitals should stand firm on their mask mandate!

After all, construction sites put HUGE SIGNS saying that they require people to wear safety protective gear like hard hats, safety goggles, steel-toed boots, and more! Those who threw hissy fits over such regulations would be fired and expelled!

If we as as a society can recognize that hard hats are required for construction sites, then why can't we as a society recognize that surgical masks should be required for hospitals?

And why can't we recognize that it might be a good idea to wear a surgical mask in other places where people gather in close proximity (ie schools, malls, concerts, etc)? 

And why can't we recognize that wearing a surgical mask would be a good idea when it comes to food service? 

This isn't complicated

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I made a 4-minute video speech titled "Hey Anti Maskers, Do Hard Hat Requirements at Construction Sites Trigger You?" 

Check it out here, and make the video go viral (pun intended)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rv4g3y6hW8

"Hey Anti Maskers, Do Hard Hat Requirements at Construction Sites Trigger You?"

In memory of Bob Wagner (1947-2023)

 Bob Wagner was the head football coach for the University of Hawaii from 1987-1995

Honolulu Star-Advertiser 

Bob Wagner

Being that I was born in 1980, Bob Wagner was the 1st UH football that I can remember. I was too young to be paying attention when the previous coach Dick Tomey had his magical run.

Learn more about Dick Tomey at https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2019/05/in-memory-of-dick-tomey-1938-2019.html

Bob Wagner continued Tomey's winning tradition and took the program to even greater heights.

For example, for years & years, UH kept losing to BYU! Being that UH had the only college football team in Hawaii,  we didn't have an instate rival, and therefore BYU was our rival at the time! BYU not only beat UH on the field but also in recruiting. Laie was the center of Mormon culture in Hawaii, and that town also had a lot of Polynesian players who played for Kahuku High School and BYU! Bob Wagner jokingly called Laie "Guantanamo" (the US military base in Cuba).  (and yes, Laie has a BYUH, a satellite campus without a football team)

Hawaii has so many heart-breaking losses to BYU that legend had it that elderly fans begged UH coaches to beat BYU before they passed away.

In 1989, under Bob Wagner, UH  finally did it. They finally defeated BYU. To us, it was like winning the Super Bowl. 

And in 1990, they did it again. UH  beat BYU again. It was also the last game of the regular season! And the funniest part was that earlier that day, it was announced that BYU QB Ty Detmer won the Heisman Trophy!  UH receiver Jeff Snyder mocked Detmer by doing the Heisman pose after making a touchdown.

(I'm not sure about this, but I think that game was probably why they now delay the announcement of the Heisman Trophy winner until after the regular season is over)

Then in 1992, UH  not only beat BYU but also the conference championship! We won the WAC (Western Athletic Conference)  and we were headed for our first bowl game on the continent. We were playing in the Holiday Bowl against Big Ten's Illinois! And we surprised the world with a bowl victory.

However, for Bob Wagner, it was downhill from there.  

The next 3 seasons didn't have the success of his earlier seasons.

Some blamed UH administration for making it's academic standards stricter for incoming students. But this is COLLEGE football, and coaches are expected to find student-athletes who can win in the classroom and on the field. 

Also, even with the win, UH didn't have the money to invest in the facilities while its competitors were impressing recruits with shiny new facilities. 

I remember in 1994, attending my first UH football game in-person, watching UH defeat Oregon early in the season. The interesting thing was that the Oregon team ended up playing the prestigious Rose Bowl whereas UH ended the season with a 3-8-1 record! Talk about a reversal of fortunes. 

By 1995, the fans were sick of losing. They no longer thought of Bob Wagner as the guy who finally defeated BYU and won the 1992 Holiday Bowl. They acted as if he's a no-good coach. I'm old enough to remember hearing family members & peers who wanted him gone, as if he never had a winning season in his life. 

Before the last game, it was announced the Bob Wagner would be fired, but that he would be allowed to coach the last game! 

And guess who replaced Bob Wagner?

Fred von Appen, who had 3 losing seasons at UH including the notorious 0-12 team of 1998! 

Because of the fan's impatience, UH replaced Wagner with someone who was much worse! 

Sadly, it wouldn't be the last time that UH gave in to impatient fans to replace a winning coach with someone much worse.

Gregg McMackin (aka Coach Mack) went 10-3 in 2010. In 2011, the team went 6-7, and angry fans acted as if Coach Mack was the worst coach ever. All for a slightly-less-than-average season after a winning season! 

UH "retired" Coach Mack at the end of the season

(learn more at https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/02/jim-leahey-and-coach-mack-2-legends-of.html )

UH replaced him with Norm Chow (a former BYU assistant coach).

Guess what?  EVERY SINGLE SEASON under Norm Chow WAS WORSE THAN ANY SEASON under Coach Mack. 

In 2014, Norm Chow nearly matched Fred von Appen's 0-12 record. He only avoided that by finally winning one game, which happened to be the final game of the season. 

Norm Chow was fired after losing a Halloween game in 2015. 

(learn more at https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-end-of-norm-chow-era.html)

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Anyways, back to Bob Wagner.

After losing his job at UH, Wagner did join Dick Tomey at Arizona. 

Then, he came back to Hawaii in 2002, this time as an athletic director at what was then a new high school, the Kamehameha School's campus on the Big Island. He remained in the position for 10 years until he retired.

In 2014, former UH president Kenneth Mortimer apologized to Bob Wagner for the way the school handled Wagner's dismissal in 1995. 

Then, in this past week, Bob Wagner died at the age of 76.

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After the 1992 season, Bob Wagner wrote the book "Getting the Edge: Hawaii Football"

In that book, Wagner wrote about his life growing up in Ohio, being an assistant coach at the University of Washington, and coming to coach at Hawaii. He wrote about the various players that he coached here at UH! But most importantly, he wrote about his coaching and recruiting philosophy. His philosophy can be applied to other careers and even your personal life. I definitely recommend this book! 

I got the book at one of those Friends of the Library of Hawaii booksale years ago!

According to a quick online search, the book is currently being sold on Amazon and eBay. 

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Other suggested readings

Stephen Tsai, “Friends, Colleagues Remember Former UH Coach Bob Wagner,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, October 5, 2023,                                     https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/10/05/sports/friends-colleagues-remember-former-uh-coach-bob-wagner/.

the same article republished by Yahoo! Sports                                                   https://sports.yahoo.com/friends-colleagues-remember-former-uh-160400242.html

 “In Memoriam: Former UH Football Coach Bob Wagner,” University of Hawaiʻi System News, October 4, 2023,                                                                             https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2023/10/04/in-memoriam-former-coach-bob-wagner/.

 “Family Statement on the Passing of Coach Bob ‘Wags’ Wagner,” University of Hawai’i at Manoa Athletics, October 4, 2023,                 https://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2023/10/4/football-family-statement-on-the-passing-of-coach-bob-wags-wagner.aspx.

and a comment board at SportsHawaii.com

https://www.sportshawaii.com/sh/viewtopic.php?p=630849

One decade with a smartphone

Today in my Facebook Memories, I noticed this post from a decade ago! 

Pablo Wegesend

October 2, 2013

My first status update using my smartphone -. BlackBerry Q10 

It's now October 2, 2023, a decade later!

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Even back in 2013, I was behind the times when it came to finally starting to use a smartphone. 

And even back in 2013,  the BlackBerry was already in decline, as the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy were taking over the world.

But at the time, only BlackBerry was making smartphones with a physical keyboard, and I wanted a physical keyboard more than anything else.

So I got what was BlackBerry's latest phone, the Q10!

I blogged about it a few weeks after I started using it.

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/10/adventures-on-my-new-smartphone.html

While I'm usually not a materialistic person, I was so in love with my Q10 that I preached its virtues online and in-person to anyone who would listen.  

However, over time, the Q10's browser was getting outdated. The Q10 was using the BlackBerry OS, whereas most apps were now catering only to phones with Android or iOS systems. 

So in 2018, I got another BlackBerry, this time it was the KeyOne, which uses the Android system, and therefore more accessible to various apps out there. 

I blogged about it back on 09/30/2018 at 

https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2018/09/adventures-with-my-new-keyone.html 

 The KeyOne was the 2nd to the last BlackBerry phone ever produced. Key2 was the last one.

In 2020, there was talk that BlackBerry will soon have a 5G phone. However, it never came to be, and BlackBerry announced it was no longer producing new phones, and the company will now focus on cybersecurity. 

(Learn more at https://www.techradar.com/news/blackberry-5g-2021 )

I'm still using my BlackBerry KeyOne from 2018.

As for what would be my next smartphone, I was looking online to see whether there were other phone manufacturers that produced smartphones with physical keyboards. I have to have my physical keyboards.

I found out there are the Unihertz Titan,  Planet's AstroSlide 5G, and F(x)tec's Pro1. 

I am considering getting one of those next year. Or maybe someone else will come out with another smartphone with a keyboard that will outshine the rest.

As long as new smartphones with physical keyboards exist, I'm happy!

It will be a sad day when the only smartphones available don't have physical keyboards. 

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PS: Yes, I'm aware there's a movie that came out recently that portrayed the rise & fall of the BlackBerry. I haven't seen it yet, so I can't make any real judgments on it. 

we need term limits for all political offices

 Earlier today,  Dianne Feinstein (US Senator from California) died at the age of 90. She was still in the US Senate even though it was obvious to everyone around her that her mental abilities had declined drastically. She refused to retire, and those who wanted her to retire were accused of "ageism" and "ableism".  

Ableism? If you're in a position to make decisions that affect the lives of 300+ million people, and you're zoned out all the time because your mental abilities have declined, then you're no longer qualified for the job. 

FDR was president while he was in a wheelchair. His mind was sharp. He may not be able to walk, but he was mentally able enough to make decisions in one of the most stressful times in US history. 

Deion Sanders had multiple surgeries recently and had a few toes amputated. It isn't "ableist" to say he can no longer play in the NFL. But he is still mentally able to coach college football at Colorado.

As for ageism, well, if we had term limits for members of Congress, Dianne Feinstein would've been gone from Congress a long time ago. She was first elected to Congress in 1992. That was 31 years ago. If we had a term limit of 2 or even 3 terms, Feinstein would've been gone from Congress a decade ago. She would've been able to spend her last years in retirement receiving the best possible care without the pressure of making decisions that affect the lives of us all.  

The U.S. Supreme Court should also have term limits. Currently, Supreme Court justices can stay there for life.  Democrats were in panic mode when Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) died in office in 2020. She was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993.  If Supreme Court justice had 10-year or even 20-year term limits, RBG would've been retired before 2020.

But because RBG had a lifetime appointment, people begged her to retire before the 2016 election so that Barack Obama had a chance to appoint her replacement. RBG refused to leave, Trump won in 2016, RBG died in 2020, and Trump appointed ACB (Amy Coney Barrett) as the replacement. 

In my opinion, Supreme Court justices should have 10-year terms. That way, the current president would be gone by the time that justice finishes the full term. And nobody can say for sure (though many of us, including me, make all kinds of predictions) what the exact political trends will be in 10 years.  The Supreme Court justice, once appointed, can just focus on fulfilling the duties in those 10 years. No need for people to beg old Supreme Court justices to retire before the next election.  No need for old justices to stay in office and hope to still be alive before their favored political party regains power. 

Who knows, I might still be alive at age 90. There's a chance my mental ability might decline by then. But my grandma lived to age 91, and when I talked with her a few months before she died, she was able to engage in conversations just fine.

Either way, I definitely plan to retire long before age 90. At that point in my life, I just want to relax in my final years before I move on to the after-life. 

Tourism in Hawaii

 In Hawaii, there's this tiny but loud FRINGE that don't want any tourists coming to Hawaii. 

Yes, Hawaii's economy is too over-dependent on tourism. Yes, some tourists act in problematic ways.

But the reality is that people need income NOW, and waiting for another industry to over-shadow tourism will take too long for people who need income NOW to survive NOW! The anti-tourism fanatics are putting lives at risk by depriving employees of an income. 

Understandably, after the big wildfires, Lahaina was closed off to non-essential travel. After all, it was a disaster zone that needs time and resources to recover.

For a while, tourist were warned to not visit Maui.  But there's a lot more to Maui than just Lahaina. The wildfires didn't damage all of Maui, just Lahaina and (to a lesser extent) Kula. 

Lahaina is in West Maui, which is the smaller part of Maui.  Damage there doesn't mean damage elsewhere in the island

Let's put it this way, if a disaster hit San Diego, that wouldn't mean San Francisco is now closed for business. 

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Kaniela Ing (former state legislator, now a progressive activist) thinks that tourism to Maui should be halted, and that  all of Maui to be should be dependent on a government-subsidized stimulus money, similar to the early months of the coronavirus crisis. 

I agree that we need a stronger safety net system, but I think that any disaster relief funds (which I wish is unlimited, but in the real world is limited) should be targeted for those in Lahaina (and to a lesser extent, Kula) who lost their homes & jobs. 

Those who live & work in other parts of Maui who are able-bodied & able-minded should be allowed to have employment-income again which would be easier to get if tourists are coming to Maui again.

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Also Twitter (or X, or whatever Elon Musk wants to call it these days) tend to attract extremists from various sides of the political divides. There is a xenophobic FRINGE in Hawaii who rant on Twitter  that "tourists should never come to Hawaii". Those who don't know any better will assume that's how "all" Native Hawaiians feel. No, that's how the extreme FRINGE feel.

I grew up in Hawaii, been around Native Hawaiians all my life. Very few are in the anti-tourism fringe. Most are cool with tourists, though they wish some of the tourists were more respectful to their land & culture. In other words, they have a more nuanced view towards tourism than the extreme anti-tourism FRINGE that rant on Twitter. 

Also this, I don't remember a single politician (not even the ones representing Native-majority districts) who won an election on a "zero tourism" platform. 

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Suggested readings

Audrey Mcavoy and Jennifer  Sinco Kelleher, “Tourists Are Needed on Maui to Stave off Economic Disaster after Devastation,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, September 8, 2023, https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/09/08/hawaii-news/tourists-are-needed-on-maui-to-stave-off-economic-disaster-after-devastation/.

an excerpt from that article

Clothing designer Gemma Alvior estimates that locals make up almost all the clientele at her Kahului store, Pulelehua Boutique. But that might not shield her in a place where the tourism industry accounts for 75% of private-sector jobs.

“If they don’t have a job, they’re getting laid off, how are they going to buy stuff?” she said. “What do they need to buy clothes for if they’re not working?”

One reason visitor traffic plunged is that Hawaii’s leaders, joined by Hollywood celebrities, told travelers to vacate the island.

The day after the fire, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, a quasi-state agency, said visitors on “non-essential travel are being asked to leave Maui” and that “non- essential travel to Maui is strongly discouraged.”

The agency said the community needed to focus on recovery and helping those who had to evacuate.

Around the world, people saw video and photos of travelers jamming Kahului Airport to board flights out.

That message has since changed.

“Maui’s not closed,” Mayor Richard Bissen said in a recent interview.

People shouldn’t go to Lahaina or the surrounding West Maui area — “It’s not a place to stare,” Bissen said — but the rest of Maui needs tourists. “Respect the West, visit the rest” is the motto some have adopted.

World Champions of What?

 I always thought it was strange for a sports league that has 29 teams in one country, and 1 token team in a neighboring, less populated country, to call its champions "World Champions".

Even more insane for a league like that to call its championship series "The World Series".

I mean, wouldn't you think it would be weird if a sports league with 29 teams in China and 1 team in North Korea called its champions "the world champions"?

Or if a league that has 29 teams in India and 1 team in Nepal would call its champions "the world champions"?

The USA isn't even as populated as China or India. But yet, the National Basketball Association (NBA) calls its champions "the world champions", and Major League Baseball calls its championship series the "World Series".

So  USA track athlete Noah Lyles said it right when he said of the NBA champions "the world champions of what? The United States?"

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/W6hHH5PC9fE

Noah Lyles classic question:  "World Champions of What?"

ESPN loudmouth Stephen A. Smith felt Lyles was disrespecting the NBA players. 

No, he was making an accurate but funny statement about how silly it is for the league and the US media to call their own country's league "world champions".

Does the NBA have teams worldwide? No? Then their champions aren't world champions.

Yes, I know many of the top international players play in the NBA and the MLB. But they're not playing in a world league, they're playing in a league that has 29 teams in the US, and 1 token team in Canada. That's not the world.

The European soccer/fútbol leagues have the top players in their sport from around the world.  But their league champions aren't called "world champions". They save that title for the winners of the World Cup. 

Now, when Team USA wins basketball gold (which is the majority of the time), I wouldn't hesitate to call them world champions. Because they earned that title by playing teams from around the world! 

Updates on college sports conference changes

 Last month, I had a blog post titled "Pac-12 and Mountain West should merge"

https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/08/pac-12-and-mountain-west-should-merge.html

When the blog post was written, USC and UCLA were already scheduled to join the Big 10, and Colorado had just announced they were officially headed to the Big 12.

At the time of that blog post, there was speculation that the Big 12 wanted to add Utah, Arizona and Arizona State. It is now official.

I also mentioned that there was a possibility that the Big 10 wanted to add Oregon, Washington, Stanford, and  Cal (Berkeley).

It turned out the Big 10 only wanted Oregon and Washington.

That meant a major dilemma for Stanford and  Cal. These were big universities in a major metro area. While their football teams weren't superpowers lately (though Stanford just over-powered my Hawaii Rainbow Warriors the other day), they still had prestigious teams in non-revenue Olympic sports. In fact, many Olympic champions played for Stanford and  Cal during their college years. 

Pat Forde. “Potential Power Five Exclusion of Stanford, Cal Is a Bad Sign for Team USA’s Olympic Prospects.” Sports Illustrated. August 6, 2023. 

 https://www.si.com/.amp/college/2023/08/06/potential-power-five-exclusion-stanford-cal-team-usa-olympics.

Now consider that 32 American Olympians in Tokyo were current or former Stanford students. Sixteen were current or former Cal students. Both schools produced many other Tokyo Olympians who competed for other countries.

Those participation numbers are a continuation of historic trends. A 2017 study by the painstaking researchers at OlympStats.com says Stanford had produced more American Olympians than any other university to that time with 289—a distinction that almost assuredly holds true through Tokyo and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. UCLA was second with 277, USC third with 251 and Cal fourth with 212.

Some of the Cal and Stanford Olympians are obscure. And some of them are named Alex Morgan, Collin Morikawa, Holly McPeak, Helen Wills, Ryan Murphy, Nathan Adrian, Matt Biondi, Natalie Coughlin, Missy Franklin, Anthony Ervin and Mary T. Meagher (Cal). Some are named Katie Ledecky, Bob Mathias, Julie Foudy, Jennifer Azzi, Simone Manuel, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Maggie Steffens, Jessica Mendoza, Summer Sanders, Jenny Thompson, Janet Evans and Pablo Morales (Stanford).

To keep the Olympic-bound athletes coming to Stanford and  Cal , going down to the Mountain West (or any mid-major conference) just wasn't a feasible option!

But at the same time, neither the Big 10 nor the Big 12 wanted Stanford and  Cal. The SEC definitely wasn't interested either. 

The only other major conference that was left was the ACC. Yes, the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The 2 universities located on the Pacific coast would have to join the Atlantic Coast Conference if they wanted to still be a part of a major conference.

The ACC does have similar institutions. ACC has prestigious universities like Pittsburgh, Virginia, Wake Forest, Syracuse, and Boston College. 

And just like  Cal vs Stanford, the ACC has a public vs private rivalry between North Carolina and Duke. 

The ACC already has non-Atlantic coast schools like Louisville and Notre Dame (this one for non-football sports).

The ACC will also add another no-coast school Southern Methodist University (SMU) (located in Dallas, Texas).

The ACC will most likely lose Clemson and Florida State, both of whom are perfect cultural fits for the SEC.  Nobody would be surprised if Miami joins them too.  

There is the issue of student-athletes having to travel so far from Stanford/Cal to the Atlantic coast.

But what do you think the University of Hawaii sports teams have been dealing with all these decades? Their nearest opponents are thousands of miles away. No matter what conference the UH teams are in, their student-athletes must constantly deal with jet lag, missed class time & more. It's all business as usual to them.

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Meanwhile, Oregon State and Washington State are on their own. The best option for them is to join the Mountain West. University of Hawaii would love to play them on an almost-annual basis. 

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Yahoo's sportswriter Dan Wetzel has the idea of "Football-only conferences", where teams can join non-regional conferences for the football money, but stay in regional conferences for easier travel for non-revenue sports 

Dan Wetzel, “Here’s an Idea: Set up Football-Only College Conferences,” Yahoo! Sports, August 7, 2023,                                                                                      https://sports.yahoo.com/heres-an-idea-set-up-football-only-college-conferences-214244420.html

What would make sense, at least a little, is if college athletics made a simple move that would benefit both the bottom line and the welfare of the non-football playing student athletes.

Set up conferences that exist for football only. Or basketball only. Or any sport only. Chase your money in football. Chase sanity in everything else.

USC playing football in the predominantly Midwest and East Coast-based Big Ten may be good for revenue and exposure. Other sports, though, should be more local or regional. Put the softball team on a bus to San Diego State, not a plane and then a bus to Michigan State.

It’s not only sensible, but economical. Cutting travel costs for all these other teams actually increases the value of what football is bringing in.

This isn’t groundbreaking, by the way. It’s common for schools to belong to multiple athletic conferences.

Notre Dame is in the ACC for most sports but the Big Ten for ice hockey and independent for football. Missouri is in the SEC for all sports except wrestling, which remained in its old league, the Big 12.

Utah plays lacrosse in the Atlantic Sun. ECAC Hockey features six Ivy League schools. Johns Hopkins, which is D3 in most sports, competes in the Big Ten for lacrosse.

Out west there is already the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation which serves as a catch-all for numerous sports with limited participation such as gymnastics, track and field and fencing. It counts traditional members of the Pac-12, Mountain West and Big West, as well as D-II and D-III schools. That includes USC, UCLA, Stanford and others who are in it for men’s volleyball and water polo.

My comment: What's described in that article is sort of like how the University of Hawaii is in the Mountain West for football, and in the Big West for other sports!

Will that continue for UH?

Stay tuned!