Birth Daze

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I do love that feature of Facebook that reminds you of where you were, what you are doing - ON THIS DAY - in the past. Last year, five years ago, all the way back to your first day on Facebook. It (usually) is a happy time, something that brings back memories of good times with friends, family or colleagues. The Facebook algorithm controls the ordering and presentation of posts, so users see what is relevant to them. Rather than publish content chronologically, posts and ads are presented based on what Facebook sees as relevant to you, the user. 

Both LinkedIn and Facebook have that feature that allows you to wish everyone a "Happy Birthday" online. For the last year, I would always start my day in Facebook by saying: "TomCapone.com wishes you a very Happy Birthday!" which is a cool (sneaky?) way of having my 5,000 friends on Facebook ALSO connect with me on LinkedIn. Let's just say that I am indeed sneaky cool - and we'll leave it at that. So, every morning for at least the last year, I would say Happy Birthday to around 10 or 20 people on Facebook. All 5,000 of them would hear from me, over the course of 365 days. 

This past week, I had 5,000 people on Facebook wish me a Happy Birthday. And around 15,000 on LinkedIn. All at once. I'm not even sure how many of these people manually wished me Happy Birthday, or if a "bot" did the wishing for them. 

This year, I got one Birthday Card in the mail, from my sister. Just one. I'm not complaining, and I have zero stock in Hallmark. But I did notice the paper card that required a purchase, a stamp and effort many times more - thousands of times more - than the "Happy Birthday" wishes on social media. 

Birthday Cards made me start thinking about business cards. When was the last time I exchanged business cards with anyone? The new world of COVID-19 might have killed off the business card industry. I remember when "electronic" business cards were supposed to kill off paper business cards a few years ago. I remember when "bumping" your smartphones together would swap info, so that there would be no need to carry a pile of business cards to your next trade show or event. That never happened, the paper business card never went away. Until now. 

I tried saying "thank you" for all of the birthday wishes on social media, but it soon became too much. Someone on my staff made me a graphic to put up as a blanket "thanks" for everyone. This might be the future of the Happy Birthday thank you now and forevermore. I'll keep saying Happy Birthday to everyone on Facebook (manually) every day. I will not be doing the same on LinkedIn. I mean, I just can't do it. I just can't go there, it's too much!

I have learned that there is an automated way to say thank you (in bulk) to social media Happy Birthday posts. But this is starting to get a little weird for me. It's like "my bot" thanks you for "your bot" wishing the real me (not a bot) a Happy Birthday. I decided that I am not going to do that either. 

Yeah, Birthday Cards and Business Cards. For me they are (both) now a trip down memory lane. 

I have a box of NYDLA.org business cards that might (now) last me for many years. I hope that I will need to re-order business cards sometime in 2021. I miss exchanging paper business cards, in person, in New York City. 

Yeah, exchanging business cards, in person. That might be the thing that I miss most of all. 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone!

Collective Defense

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Collective Defense means that an attack against one ally is considered as an attack against all allies. The principle of collective defense is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States. 

So, NATO is the best-known collective defense organization, as its famous Article 5 calls on (but does not fully commit) member states to assist another member under attack. 

Our friends at IronNet applied the concept of Collective Defense as a proactive, collaborative approach to cybersecurity that involves organizations working together within and across sectors to defend against targeted cyber threats. 

Around a year ago, I met Brett Williams, Maj Gen USFA (Ret) on the INTREPID in New York City. Brett is the COO of IronNet Cybersecurity, a Keynote Speaker, and a Thought Leader in Leadership and all things Cyber. I just learned that our Coffee In The Clouds segment with Brett was the most watched of all time. 

Leadership. Collective Defense. NYDLA.org has many thought leaders and subject matter experts in our global community. I think of people like Brett Williams, Lee Cockerell, Tom Peters, the list is long. People who have spent an entire lifetime in positions of leadership and authority. This weekend I took the time to watch (once again) the video podcasts that we have recorded with around a dozen such leaders from the fields of education, science, business and politics. I was looking for a common thread, a common theme, something that I could use to better understand what is happening in our country right now. I think I might have found it.

The concept of Collective Defense covers the three critical areas of a holistic cybersecurity strategy for protecting people, process, and technology. 

Article 5 of NATO calls on (but does not fully commit) member states to assist another member under attack. 

Here we are, the UNITED STATES of AMERICA. If one State is under attack, then EVERY STATE is under attack. If one of our citizens is a victim, we are all victims. Security in our daily lives is key to our well-being. Just as with NATO's purpose - to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military power to undertake crisis-management operations. 

NATO is an alliance of countries from Europe and North America. It provides a unique link between these two continents, enabling them to consult and cooperate in the field of defense and security, and conduct multinational crisis-management operations together. 

There are currently 30 members of NATO. There are currently 50 States in the USA.

There were originally 12 members of NATO, in 1949. It grew, over time. Just as the USA grew, over time. 

NATO membership is open to "any other European state in a position to further the principles of the Treaty, and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area." NATO was born out of the devastation of World War II. Article 5 was born out of the need to work together, to solve problems together, to come together in times of crisis. 

Here we are, in 2020 with the UNITED STATES of AMERICA under attack from enemies both seen and unseen, both foreign and domestic. If one part of the country is under attack, then we are all under attack. If one of our citizens is a victim, we are all victims. 

I think it is time for the USA to grow once again. It is time for the USA to be brave, courageous, bold once again. It is time for the USA to be INTREPID, starting with its own Article 5. 

https://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

LIVE Virtual Events Need More Cowbell

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I don't know about you, but I love that feature of Facebook that "reminds me" where I was and what I was doing exactly 365 days ago. It also freaks me out a little. 

Exactly one year ago, I was streaming LIVE, from NEW YORK! It was so cool to be using technology to communicate, collaborate, educate - pontificate - LIVE to the entire world. From the center of the known universe. You know, from the New York Megalopolis. I admit it, when the broadcast went LIVE that day, it was a big deal (for me). It was my first time streaming (live) with no edits. Oh, God please don't let me say anything stupid. Too often. 

I just turned 15 years old living in Boca Raton, Florida when Saturday Night Live (SNL) first went - live. October, 1975. It went on to become the longest-running, highest-rated show on late-night television. Wow, that was a lot of hyphens. 

I blog on Sundays. Sundays are my "blog days" and I try not to miss. Sometimes I'm lazy, or traveling, or have no muse. But my target is 52 blogs per year, and I think I got that from my early SNL fan days. 52 weeks in a year. Just not every week. Sure, got it. 

Blogs are cool, but there is no "live" magic with a blog. I can edit out the typos. There IS magic when things are broadcast LIVE. The extra pressure, the extra energy, the fact that this single moment in time is going to be viewed in real-time to an unlimited number of people around the world. Sports on TV - live. Super Bowl - live. Broadway - LIVE. There is indeed something about doing anything truly live.

Saturday Night Live at Home

Yeah. It wasn't. Whereas SNL typically consists of sketches performed live in-studio, these "at home" Powered By Zoom episodes were recorded remotely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. None of the sketches were actually performed live for any of these episodes. And none of the participants in any sketch from these shows were in the same physical location. That part was obvious, but it was not obvious that it was not really - live.

So this made me start to think about all of the VIRTUAL events that we are hosting these days. Exactly one year ago this time, we were LIVE in The Big Apple, streaming LIVE to the world. It was "LIVE" live, powered by our vendor/sponsor Intrado. Not taped live, but with a hat tip to the movie Spaceballs - it was "NOW" now. 

The media and entertainment critics finally said: it essentially isn't SNL at all: "Saturday Night Live without the live is dead" and they found that while certain sketches worked, most of them did not. Music live - great. Singers live, fine. But the live (not really live) sketches fell short. RECORDED LIVE, but not really live did not work. 

I think there are some lessons to be learned here, for the new world of VIRTUAL everything. The power of live - the energy of live comes from the fact we all know it is truly live, warts and all. I felt cheated when I later learned that Saturday Night Live at Home was not really actually, live. 

If a VIRTUAL event is not going to be truly LIVE LIVE, then we should call it a webinar. If a VIRTUAL event is going to be a bunch of pre-recorded sketches, then I don't need to watch it like I was actually there live, like attending a Broadway play in NYC. Watching something on YouTube when and where I feel like it, is not what was advertised. After all, an HBO Comedy Special is recorded live - and then they edit the hell out of it. We all know that TED Talks are not live - but they were recorded live. There is no trickery implied. 

Live is hard. Live is risky. Live (anything) has a natural energy to it. Let's be careful that we don't say that something is a LIVE event when we really mean it was recorded live, before a studio (or home) audience. 

I mean, of course it was LIVE at some point, right? 

Check out our Coffee In the Clouds video podcasts 

RECORDED LIVE - but with no edits!

LIVE Events Need More LIVE Cowbell - SNL

( "LIVE" live )

https://youtu.be/cVsQLlk-T0s

Weights and Measures

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The New Jersey Office of Weights and Measures represents one of New Jersey's oldest efforts at consumer protection. Created in 1911, by then Governor Woodrow Wilson, the New Jersey Office of Weights and Measures is responsible for ensuring that all commercial and law enforcement weighing and measuring devices are tested and inspected for accuracy, and meet Federal guidelines for specifications and tolerances. 

They test and inspect all commercially used devices from prescription pharmacy balances to large capacity truck scales. They test and inspect fuel meters, airplane fuel trucks, laser guns and radar tuning forks used for speed enforcement. 

The office of Weights and Measures core mission is to protect consumers from unscrupulous business practices and maintain equity in the marketplace. Consumers can rest assured that when they are selling gold, buying groceries or fuel, or making any transaction involving a weighing or measuring device, the consumers are protected from fraud. 

1911, wow. It was not until 1925 that half the homes in the U.S. had electric power. 

Early on, it was evident that without "true measurements" there can be no progress. If you cannot trust the weight, if you cannot trust the size, if you cannot trust the volume or trust the quality or trust the integrity or trust the speed or the...(whatever) you cannot build anything. You cannot operate in business, or in society if you cannot have faith in the "Weights and Measures" of the thing you are buying, selling, shipping or consuming. Trust and confidence is the key - the foundation to everything we do.

Where are you going with this, Tom?

Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and techniques of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. The field is primarily concerned with the study of differences between individuals. 

Types of Tests Designed in Psychometrics 

Aptitude and Ability Tests: These tests may assess the following skills/abilities: verbal reasoning, spatial reasoning, numeric reasoning, mechanical reasoning, data checking, and work sampling.

Personality Tests: These tests are usually based on research by psychologists such as Carl Jung or Isabel Briggs Myers. These tests can be used to determine basic characteristics of an individual, assess their ability to fit in to a specific work environment or with specific personality types.

I'm getting ready to leave your blog, Tom.....

OK, OK. Here is my point. We care deeply that a gallon of gas is indeed a true gallon when we buy it. We care deeply that the weight of the truck is true and accurate, when it crosses the bridge just ahead of us. We care deeply that the MPG and emissions that we advertise is true and accurate - just ask Volkswagen. 

We care deeply that the voltage and amperage of the electricity flowing through the wires in our homes is indeed as promised, otherwise our appliances might not work. And we care that the speed of the Internet (broadband) that we are using to connect to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube is what we were promised. Google: Truth in Advertising. 

BUT: we do not seem to care that the MEDIA that we consume, the content that we download, the lessons that we learn are indeed truthful and accurate and verified. We care about the SPEED of our Internet, but we do not care about the truth, or accuracy, or the honesty of what flows to our eyes and ears VIA the Internet. That's just nuts. 

We now spend more time online than on the roads. We spend more of our lives connected to the Internet, than riding in a car. And many times more than flying. I say it is time for the Office of Weights and Measures to start focusing on what really matters to society. It's 2020, not 1911. We care about the safety of the skies, but not the safety of the Internet. We use the Internet every day - when was the last time you flew in a commercial airliner? 

Remember, one more time: Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and techniques of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. The field is primarily concerned with the study of differences between individuals. 

Psychometrics is how Mark Zuckerberg made all of his money. Same for Google and Amazon and Twitter and Apple. And Psychometrics is how and why the integrity of our nation's elections is (once again) under attack. 

The Office of Weights and Measures needs to get "the thumb off the scale" in those areas of our society that matter the most. We took Volkswagen to the woodshed for lying to us - for violating our trust. 

THE INTERNET is: the car we are all driving, the food we are all eating, the MEDIA we are all consuming - it's needs consumer protection. 

Not everyone is going to fly commercially this year, or drive a car this week. But (all) consumers are consuming - the INTERNET. Every. Single. Day. 

We need to trust the media we consume, the same way we trust the food we consume. We need an Office of Weights and Measures for the new online world we live in - AND WE NEED IT NOW. 

We all know that the Dept. of Homeland Security was born as a result of the attacks on 9/11, right? I think we are due for something new and current and relevant to protect ALL OF US. Our personal digital security - the quality and integrity of the media we are consuming needs protecting. 

At a minimum, make 'em stop the lying. That might be a good start. 

Hey, you did it for Volkswagen, right? 

What is your return policy?

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When was the last time you asked for a refund? Or, when was the last time you bought something, brought it home, and only then found out it was defective? Did you ask for your money back, or did you just exchange it for a non-defective item? Or did you just - do nothing - because it was not worth the hassle?

How about before you make the purchase? On some things, you might make the purchase only after asking "What is your return policy?" Other times, you don't ask. You make the purchase, and the thought of returning and/or not using the item really does not enter your mind. Even if the deal goes bad, you won't be coming back to complain. You just might not be coming back, period. 

Nordstrom Snow Tire Return

If you Google "Nordstrom Snow Tire Return" the classic story comes up, about the guy who returns used snow tires to a Nordstrom store, and gets his $145 refund. And, of course, Nordstrom never sold - does not sell snow tires. But the customer is always right.

The "Nordstrom Tire Return Story" is possibly the greatest consumer relations story of modern times. I have no idea if is true but it makes for a great story. 

Today my brain is stuck on this topic of money-back guarantees, service guarantees, and the science behind human behavior. 

The other day, my wife pointed out that the last loaf of bread that I purchased was moldy. "Did you not look at the expiration date?" Nope. Nor did I look at the price. I just grabbed a loaf of bread (Vermont, Blue) without even slowing down the cart. Same with milk (non-fat, store brand). I just made the assumption that if it was on the shelf, it was good to go. I assumed that it was safe to purchase. And yet, same store, same day, I bought fish. My mind went to ask myself: wait, what day is it?

Is Friday really the best day to buy fish? Is it dumb to buy fish on a Thursday, and is it truly BEST to buy fish on a Friday? Without even thinking about it, I did ask the guy behind the counter if the fish was fresh. And - I also smelled it. I smelled the fish to see if it "smelled fresh" even though I have no idea what I was smelling for. It just seems like the right thing to do - sniff the fish before saying with conviction "Yes, I'll take a pound of the salmon. This salmon IS wild caught, right?" 

A money-back guarantee, also known as a satisfaction guarantee, is essentially a simple guarantee that if a buyer is not satisfied with a product or a service, a refund will be made. The money-back guarantee was a major tool of early U.S. mail order pioneers in the United States, such as Richard Sears. If folks like Sears could not win the confidence of the consumer, their mail order business would not stand a chance. Sears did pretty good, right?

Ah, but what about false claims? Very often, unreliable businesses use a money-back guarantee to reel the customer into a false sense of safety. Many guarantees by sellers often fall outside the allowed scope of their merchant agreements with their banks. For example, Visa and MasterCard explicitly bar the seller from offering a money-back guarantee past 90 days from the purchase. 

Issues relating to FALSE GUARANTEES have become so common that the Federal Trade Commission has specifically addressed the issue in the Code of Federal Regulations Handbook. 

Where are you going with this, Tom?

Two things. We are now living deeply in a virtual world. Movies at home, rather than at a movie theater. Food delivery to home, rather than a night out with the family. Medicine at home, rather than a trip to the doctor's office. And of course, education from home, rather than from a campus. So many of the decisions we make, so many the purchases that we make, do not come with a guarantee. It's buyer beware, Caveat Emptor. Garage Sales are great examples of caveat emptor. Buyers purchase goods "as is" and have little or no recourse if those goods turn out to be defective. Thus, buyers are responsible for testing and examining those products before purchase. 

Ah, but what about Caveat Venditor? Let the SELLER beware. The principle of caveat venditor cautions that the seller is responsible for any problems that the buyer might encounter with a service or product. So, for example, if a Medical Doctor said that they graduated from Medical School and it turns out they did not - that will be a major legal problem for the fake doctor. 

Here in the USA we have an election in November. Sooner if you vote by mail. 

I guess one of the points of today's blog - hidden message or otherwise - is how we come to buy (or not buy) the things that affect our lives matters. The cars we drive, the schools we attend, the foods we eat. The elected officials we vote into office. Everything is a result of the amount of time (and money) we choose to invest in our decision. 

There is no return policy on our elected officials. You cannot get a "refund" on your vote, even if you learn later than you voted for a fraud. If you vote for someone (anyone) who makes FALSE GUARANTEES to win your vote - you really have no recourse. There are no returns.

Voting for politicians is like buying fish. The time to find out if they are BAD is before you make the purchase (before you cast your vote). Ah, but a bad fish you can throw out. A bad choice of a politician will stink for years. Only a fool will KNOWINGLY buy fish that is rotten. 

And, being forced to eat rotten fish (for years) is not something you want to experience.

There is no Caveat Venditor in politics. 

Working From Home - Expert Level

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Long before COVID-19 flipped our world upside down, Zoom became a verb. I love it when the Sunday Morning TV pundits talk about the "Zoom Companies" or "Zoom Schools" when they are really talking about ALL of the major global collaboration and communication tools in the marketplace. Imagine being the CEO of a Zoom competitor, and the world keeps calling you a Zoom Company. Working from home gives me the ability to keep CNN, MSNBC, NPR (and other news channels ) "always on" via one of my many monitors in my home office. I think it was the highlight of my week last week, when Delaware Sen. Tom Carper dropped the F--bomb three times after a technical difficulty nearly caused him to miss his time for questioning during the hearing on Friday.

Carper, a Democrat, was set to ask questions of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy when his muted microphone caused Chairman Ron Johnson to call on the next senator. When Carper's microphone kicked on, the string of curse words was aired to the world. 

https://youtu.be/oW22bIEddkE

OK, so the REAL highlight of my week was watching the (virtual) Democratic National Convention. Tuesday's roll-call vote featured a "virtual trip around America" as they gave Joe Biden the Democratic nomination for President. 

And now I have a man crush on Glenn Weiss.

Glenn Weiss is an American producer and director of television and live events. He has won 14 Emmy Awards and six Director Guild of America Awards as a director and producer for various awards shows and reality shows including the Tony Awards, Kennedy Center Honors, and Academy Awards. During the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 17, 2018, Weiss made headlines by proposing to long-time girlfriend Jan Svendsen during his acceptance speech for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for his work on that year's Academy Awards. He proposed by saying, "You wonder why I don't like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife." The ring previously belonged to his mother, who died two and a half weeks prior. The moment was shared with millions via social media. 

The various posts about the DNC highlight the endless Zoom calls (for months) leading up to the convention. Throughout these past few months, the pandemic has had their production team members remotely collaborating on a daily basis. Glenn had to travel to Milwaukee, then Delaware and in then finally had an entire control room set up in his home. Whether he likes it or not, Glenn is probably the first inductee to the Work From Home Hall of Fame. Hindsight being 20/20 if Glenn was wearing a pair of Nike cross-trainers here in this shot, rather than going barefoot, he would have a few extra million in the bank. Just my humble opinion. 

Working From Home - Expert Level 

The DNC gave America a sense of how everyone, celebrities, actors, athletes, political heavyweights - everyone - might look like if they dropped into your company's Zoom call. Some of the best TV is not on TV anymore. All collaboration tools - especially Zoom - has become entertainment: a new kind of appointment television where people watch their friends, family and coworkers lives unfold.

So many of the changes in the world were a long time coming. Distance Education was becoming just EDUCATION. Telemedicine was becoming just MEDICINE. eCommerce was becoming just COMMERCE. Remote Work was becoming just WORK. All of these changes were coming - they just now happened in months, rather than years. Zoom became "a verb" long before COVID changed our world forever. 

We are now all living, learning, working, playing - in the clouds. And there is no pre-COVID and post-COVID world. There was pre-COVID and now just....COVID. 

It makes me pause and think about the biggest TV event of the year: The Super Bowl. 

Will there even be a Super Bowl this year? And if yes, will there be anyone in the stands? Will there be Super Bowl parties? Will the bars and restaurants even be open come Super Bowl time? Can we even have "company over" for such an in-person live party? Yeah, there will probably be Super Bowl parties, but they will be on Zoom. We will probably watch the game on the big screen in the living room, and host the Super Bowl parties around the country on our little screens - in ANY room. I see that Facebook's Portal devices now support all of the major video collaboration platforms, like Zoom. If I were Facebook I would be getting ready for the Super Bowl party rush. 

I will make a prediction, right here and now. If there IS a Super Bowl this year, the Super Bowl MVP shall be:

Glenn Weiss. 

Country Mouse or City Mouse?

My buddy James Altucher made a blog post: "NYC IS DEAD FOREVER...HERE'S WHY." 

It is really good. I don't want to hijack my own blog - but you should really read it. In fact, why not go read HIS BLOG FIRST, and them come back here. It's OK, I'll wait. 

[ Playing Jeopardy! Music....... ]

Welcome back! That was pretty amazing, right? James is wicked smart. Now, the way I see it, he is either 100% right, or 100% wrong. I don't see a middle ground here. And, I don't think that his above linked blog post is only about New York City. I think that it fits Orlando, Chicago, pretty much ANY major center of population in the world.  

I was born in 1960, and I remember when Disney World had its grand opening. The Orlando area (heck, all of The Sunshine State) was transformed because of Disney. Just think of the number of people that would fly in and out of Orlando Airport every day, pre-COVID. And now...I have no idea if Orlando is going to make it. To make the "business model" of Florida work, you need lots of people flying in and out of the airports. Both Orlando and New York City rely on tourism for a large part of the annual revenue. If people ain't flying - then tourism is dying.

It looks like up to one-third of New York's small businesses may be gone forever. Not just restaurants, but small businesses across the board. Even though new places continue to open, this is an incredibly challenging time for restaurants. The shutdown, reopening at reduced capacity, and concerns for health and safety have forced many to close their doors permanently. So many business models need X people or greater, just to break-even. Restaurants and Theaters and Airlines are the most obvious examples of this. 

Broadway in The Big Apple is now dark. AMC Theaters, the world's biggest movie theater chain said that it has substantial doubt it can remain in business after closing locations across the globe during the coronavirus pandemic. The problem is that without VOLUME, without enough people attending shows, the business model fails. Reopening with a reduced capacity is not a sustainable option.  

Columbia University, an amazing Ivy League School in the heart of the city, is going 100% online. K-12 schools, colleges and universities throughout the Tri-State area are struggling with going back to school. ANYONE that knows me, knows that I love, love, LOVE Zoom. But one of the things that I also love is NOT using Zoom. There is a time and a place for online - anything.   

Yes indeed, Midtown NYC has reopened, but it is still a ghost town. I live around 25 miles west of this exact location shown here. I could normally leave my home in Northern New Jersey at around 10:20 in the morning, and easily be crossing this street before noon for a "lunch 'n learn" with vendors, clients and sponsors of NYDLA.org. I have not been in the city (for any reason) for many months. There is just no reason for me to go into the city, as of August 2020. 

When I grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey (before moving to Florida) going into New York City was an adventure. Mostly, because going into "the city" was like taking your life into your hands. It was not safe! In the 1980's over 250 felonies were committed every week, making the New York subway the most dangerous mass transit system in the world. When I was growing up, you would have to have your head examined to walk the streets of New York City, much less Times Square. 

Last week, we recorded a really great NYDLA.org video podcast with Rita McGrath of Columbia University. Her new book "Seeing Around Corners" represents a new approach to strategy formulation and management in a digital world. Recognizing and acting on inflection points is the central reason why leaders need to see around the corners of their business, the industry and customers. McGrath defines an inflection point as a single point in time when everything changes irrevocably. Disruption is an outcome of an inflection point. Could there be a bigger example of this than COVID-19? I don't know if anyone could have predicted what we are now experiencing with the pandemic. We had the Spanish Flu, also known as the 1918 pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza virus. Lasting from February 1918 to April 1920, it infected 500 million people - about a third of the world's population at the time - in four successive waves. How did they stop the Spanish Flu? The most effective efforts had simultaneous closed schools, churches, and theaters, and banned public gatherings. This would allow time for vaccine development and lessened the strain on health care systems. 

I am not as pessimistic as my friend James. I do think that New York (and Orlando, and Chicago, and.....) will bounce back.  I think that humans are social creatures, and that we shall find a way to live closer than six feet apart. But I also think that it shall be a slog. It will take years to get back to anything that looks like pre-COVID, not months. And I think that the long-term damage will be much higher than anyone could have predicted. 

I do invite you to Join NYDLA.org as we have both free and paid memberships. When and where can help you to thrive, not just survive in the COVID-19 world, we shall do so. After all, we are all living, learning, working, playing - in the clouds. While wearing a mask. 

New York City - 1918