Notes From All Over -- October 15, 2020

LeBron vs Michael Jordan: 

This was the topic on "sports talk" television today:

Over time, folks will gradually forget Michael Jordan but comparing apples to apples, comparing their respective arcs (their upward trajectories; their peaks; and their downward slopes), to paraphrase a political line, LeBron James will never be a Michael Jordan.

LeBron's biggest error: morphing into a political figure.

After that it doesn't really matter but if you want to consider other reasons why LeBron James will never be another Michael Jordan, compare:

• thuggish? LeBron James or Michael Jordan
• businessman? LeBron James or Michael Jordan
• threepeats? LeBron James or Michael Jordon? This is interesting; unless LeBron has three threepeats, LeBron James will never beat out Micheal Jordan on this data point alone; the best LeBron will do is tie Michael Jordan in this category and no one is considered the greatest if they only "tie" the former GOAT; by the way, which basketball figure has three threepeats? There's only one. In other words, two threepeats? It’s already been done, LeBron.
  
• transitioned the NBA into the BLM? LeBron James or Michael Jordan
• good-looking, handsome, charismatic, sex appeal? LeBron James or Michael Jordan
• your spouse would rather date? LeBron James or Michael Jordan 
• mythic? LeBron James or Michael Jordan
  
• articulates his frustration that he does not get the respect he feels he deserves?  LeBron James or Michael Jordan

The fact this question is even being asked tells me that LeBron James will never be a Michael Jordan.

Re-posting: I am re-posting this -- I find it simply amazing on so many levels. I expected ratings to be huge --

• two huge markets: Miami, and Los Angeles
• huge star, actually two huge stars
• not much sports to watch; certainly the "random" Sunday night NFL was a non-issue; does anyone even remember who played that night (NFL)?
• but let's say one anticipated a decline in viewers; would anyone have predicted the decline to be 10%, 20%?
• in this case, a whopping 70% drop in viewers year-over-year

BLM: finals finale crashed nearly 70%; beaten by a random Sunday night football game. Link here. Mainstream media sports sites elsewhere try to explain the it away but their arguments fall flat.

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Senate Confirmation Hearings

McConnell says he has the votes for confirmation; will hold vote on October 23, 2020 -- that's next week, isn't it? [Update: it’s now being reported the vote will be October 22, 2020.]

I haven't been watching much news, and haven't seen a second of the confirmation hearings. I have not even heard her voice. I have no idea what she sounds like. The only information I have regarding the hearings is what I see on twitter and my twitter feed is very narrow, and very good. The tea leaves suggest the hearings have been incredibly anti-climactic. If so, it suggests to me that folks are fatigued after the previous hearings, and even more so, female nominees are hard to "defeat" in this environment. 

So, we'll see if the tea leaves are correct. 

By the way, for the next president to "pack" the US Supreme Court, he/she would have to place an even number of more judges on the bench. That means at least two, and four seems like a bridge too far. A panel of eleven sounds about right.

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One-Offs

Unemployment: jumps to 7.9%. On a macro-level, I don't think movers and shakers are really concerned. They remember numbers just as bad under the previous administration when there was no pandemic. Goldman Sachs actually said that economy really has not done that badly as a whole. The transportation (airlines) sector, dining out, tourism, etc., has taken the brunt, but other sectors have picked up the slack. Again, the "Disney pivot" was a huge story this past week. 

Chinese flu: I sound like a broken record, but I don't think folks understand this pandemic at all. 

Again, in the US, breathless reporters are aghast that there have been in excess of eight million Covid-cases in the US but don't report that 8/330 = 2.4%. Anyone who says we will all be immune by this time next year hasn't thought this through. And even if that were accurate, that we would all be immune by this time next year, that's still a year away. If the vaccine is only intramuscular (not nasal, not oral) it will be poorly accepted by the vast majority of Americans who really think about these things. 

Restaurants, shopping: even if restaurants are open and even if retail stores are "back to normal" I don't go out much any more. I haven't eaten in a restaurant since March; I haven't visited a (professional) barber shop since March (maybe February); my only shopping is on Amazon with minor grocery store exceptions and occasional Walmart / Target for small items that make no sense ordering on line. 

I don't even go to the bank any more which I used to do once a month. It feels ridiculous to go anywhere wearing a mask, and humans, being social animals, like to see smiles on folks. See-through masks, ironically, are creepy. And, of course, those mask configurations used by welders seem a bit .... bizarre ... for lack of a better word. 

Virtue signaling at its best:

• a mask-wearing candidate on a stage more than sixty feet away from anyone;
• a mask-wearing football coach on the sideline, surrounded by 120 players, support staff, television crews, press reporters, etc., 99% of whom are not wearing masks;
• by the way: unless a television commercial is addressing the pandemic, I'm not seeing any masks in commercials
• weekly TV sitcoms continue to be produced -- no one wearing masks on stage; exactly how does that work out?

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Apple

I don't think folks understand how incredible the Apple camera is. Certainly I did not. It must drive Tim Cook, et al, nuts that folks don't get it. LOL.

Look at this, taken by Sophia's mother on an iPhone 11, I suppose. 

This photo was taken in "portrait" mode with "stage lighting" -- our daughter's favorite settings for such photos. 

Combine this with professional processing, development, framing and wow!

Google: