Americans Responding to the COVID-19 Situation - The Good News

So many positive things now happening across the US in the midst of the COVID-19 situation - at the federal, state and local levels, in the public and private sectors, non-profits, and academia. For example:

• Publix is buying excess milk and produce from farmers and donating it to Food Banks 
• "‘No layoffs’ — Bank of America CEO doesn’t want workers worrying about jobs during coronavirus crisis". Many companies stepping up to the challenge.  
• More than 40 employees lived and worked at their manufacturing plant for 28 days straight to make material to protect US health care workers
• Ford plans to produce 50,000 Ventilators over the next 100 days 
• Lowe's giving employees a $2 pay raise and donating masks to healthcare workers
• Christian CEO of My Pillow Says Company Will Shift 75 Percent of Production to Make Medical Masks
• 50-person team, led by Cornell engineers, using open-source design to 3D-print face shields for medical workers. Ramping up production to 500-1,000 face shields a day.
• One Way to Help Strapped Hospitals? Print Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Using 3D Printer 
• Duke researchers are decontaminating N95 masks so doctors can reuse them to treat coronavirus patients
• They used to make MLB uniforms. Now they're making medical masks and gowns
• Abbott wins U.S. approval for a test that can detect coronavirus in minutes, plans to begin distributing the test next - up to 50,000 tests per day
• U.S. ventilator makers, like BreathDirect, pull out all stops to fight coronavirus
• Apple releases new COVID-19 app and website based on CDC guidance
• LifeWay creates online Sunday school alternative for kids as churches respond to coronavirus situation.
• Dyson has designed and built an entirely new ventilator in 10 days called the "CoVent" 
• Kroger announces ‘Hero Bonus’ for its  frontline grocery store employees
• Upstate SC church group sewing cloth masks to help stop spread of COVID19
• Novo Nordisk said it will offer insulin free of charge for 90 days to diabetes patients who lost health insurance coverage because they lost their jobs. 
• Stuck at home. Want to explore Green Technology and Tools, e.g. jobs, news, energy, consumer products... Explore the Summerton SC Green Technology and Tools web site
• Stuck at home? Experiment and learn more about Open Access and Open Source solutions on the Summerton Open Technology and Solutions web site 
• Nike donating over 30,000 pairs of shoes to health care workers amid COVID crisis

And the stories go on and on. So many other positive stories about hardworking American on the front line in hospitals, clinic, driving trucks and trains, working in grocery stores and warehouses, researchers and  software developers developing new solutions... a bipartisan Congress doing its job...It's amazing to watch America respond.

SC DHEC and Other Covid-19 Information Portals

Google says Coronavirus has become its biggest search topic this year. So, the company has launched a new Covid-19 Information Portal dedicated to providing reliable information about the pandemic as well as an improved search experience for desktop and mobile. The SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has also established a site for those living in South Carolina.

The search experience is being continuously updated in response to people’s expanding and changing information needs. The new information portal provides the basic, most useful information about the coronavirus, its symptoms, plus many other key links and on-site options you might want to explore.

Go to the Google Covid-19 Information Portal

For those living in South Carolina, go to the DHEC Covid-19 Web Page 

 

SC DHEC Covid-19 Vaccine plans & appointments, go to DHEC Covid-19 Vaccinations

Visit data and maps of cases and deaths by county go to AccelerateSC

Also check out the Clarendon County Covid-19 Web Page

Finally, Apple has released a COVID-19 App and Web Site

* Also, see information and links on the Consumer Health page of the Summerton 'Open' Health web site.

 

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Summerton, SC

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 12-1 meets at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of each month at the Summerton Fire Station on North Cantey Street in Summerton, South Carolina. Membership is open to any U.S. citizen age 17 or older. Previous service in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is not required. 

The auxiliary's main objective is to promote safe recreational boating on Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie by offering safe boating classes, courtesy vessel checks for required safety equipment and patrolling the lakes offering assistance to anyone in need. The auxiliary also stands ready to assist the USCG with their mission along with search and rescue. 

We encourage anyone interested in participating in our mission to attend a meeting and learn more about the auxiliary.

Some Predictions About the Future that Missed the Mark

Here are just a few of the many predictions about technology and the future that missed the mark.

• Railroads will never succeed - “As you may well know, Mr. President, 'railroad' carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by 'engines' … The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed." - Martin Van Buren, Governor of New York, 1865
• Telephones will Never Catch On - In 1876, the President of Western Union dismissed phones as a “toy” when Alexander Graham Bell offered to sell him the patent for $100,000.
• Cars are Just a Passing Fancy - In 1903, the president of Michigan Savings Bank warned Henry Ford’s lawyer to protect his money. “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad,” he advised.
• “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” - Lord Kelvin, circa 1895, British mathematician and physicist.
• Electricity is Just a Fad - Luckily for his bank account, J.P. Morgan didn’t listen to his father and invested heavily in Edison. 
• "The Cinema is little more than a fad. It's canned drama" - Charlie Chaplin, actor, director movie producer
• TVs Are Not Going to be a Big Thing - 20^th Century Fox kingpin Darryl Zanuck sniffed at the idea of idiot boxes keeping people out of movie theaters. “People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”
• “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” — Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943.
• “There is no need for any individual to have a computer in their home.” - Ken Olson, President of Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) in 1977.
• “The world potential market for copying machines is 5,000 at most,” IBM executives to the eventual founders of Xerox, 1959.
• "The Internet is just another fad." - My boss, the CIO at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) back in 1999.
• "There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the U.S." - T. Craven, FCC Commissioner, 1961.
• People will only want to Shop in Stores - In 1966, Time published an essay saying they thought online shopping would be rejected by humankind: “Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop—because women like to get out of the house, like to handle the merchandise...”
• iPhones will Never Catch On - “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” That’s what Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft said back in 2007. 
• “Let’s look at the facts. Nobody uses those things…” - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer when asked about Google Android and the future of smartphone Apps.

These prediction by reknowned individuals clearly show that your predictions about the future are probably as good as anyone else – no matter how famous they are.

* Check out these other articles on predictions about the future.

Summerton’s Black History Month Annual Quilt and Art Show a Big Success

Marguirite De Laine, from the Briggs–De Laine–Pearson Foundation, was the guest speaker at the annual Black History Month ‘Quilt and Art Exhibition’ reception at the Lake Marion Artisans gallery in downtown Summerton, S.C. It is the only art gallery in Clarendon County.

Ms. De Laine is a native of Clarendon County, graduated from Allen University and was an English teacher for many years. She gave a moving speech on the history of the Briggs v. Board of Education case that ultimately led to desegregation of schools across America. Marguirite is the current Chairperson of the Briggs-De Laine-Pearson Foundation.

The Lake Marion Artisans Gallery hosts the Black History month ‘Quilt and Art Exhibit’ each year in downtown Summerton, S.C. Ms. Bonnie Gardner served as the event coordinator for the art gallery this year and did an excellent job reaching out to local artisans, churches, Scott’s Branch High School and others across our local community.

This popular annual community affair also includes a collection of quilts made by the members of the Summerton Senior Quilters, who meet regularly at the old Scott’s Branch High School. These colorful displays line the gallery’s walls and will remind viewers of the diverse creativity in multi-layered fabric art.

In addition, Ms. Hines, the art teacher at Scott’s Branch High School submitted displays of selected multi-media artworks by her students. These artworks included a paper-mâché African mask, an example of loom weaving, and some of Ms. Hines own works.

The artwork will remain on display in the Lake Marion Artisans’ Gallery through mid-March for those who may have missed the exhibit during the month of February. The gallery is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am. until 3 pm. There are many other works by local artists on display that you might also want to see.

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