Monday 25 May 2020
8.20 am
There is a
debate evolving in Australia concerning the continued closing of state borders.
Put simply,
all Australian States and Territories closed borders as part of their Covid-19
infection containment strategy accept Victoria and New South Wales. Australian
Capital territory has since re-opened its border but all others remain closed.
My focus is
on Queensland
Taking a safety
first approach to closing the border was perfectly understandable. At the time,
we had little understanding of the likely numbers of infections or resulting deaths.
The medical advice was sound and the State Government took decisive action.
It was
understood and accepted that businesses and their employees would be severely
affected and all were encouraged to utilise financial support programs established
federally.
The growing
argument to open the border is based primarily on economic needs. Queensland is
a largely tourist based economy and school holidays loom. Tour operators, accommodation
owners, restaurateurs, café and bar proprietors and all associated businesses
need tourism and need the borders to open in order to re-establish themselves.
In my
opinion, the economy is not the reason we should open the border.
I believe the
border should be open because on balance, it is safe to do so.
Social
distancing requirements apply equally in all States and various levels of crowd
restrictions are also in place.
It makes
little difference if there is 1.5 metres separating two locals as if separating
a visitor from Cairns and one from Canberra.
New
infection rates range from very low to zero and the reality is, this will
likely be the case for many, many months to come.
I believe it
is time to re-open the Queensland Border because on balance, it is safe to do
so. It just so happens, the economy will benefit and that
a very good thing too.
How Good Is
Germany?
We all
respect German engineering and precision so it was of little surprise to see
both qualities applied by a café owner to ensure a safe dining experience. Is
it possible the initiative at Café Rothe in Schwerin, Germany will generate a shortage
of pool noodles? (Photo lifted from Insider.com – here is the original report)
Football
(Soccer) saves the internet *
Internet
traffic typically increases by about 3% month on month. As the various versions
of isolation and lockdown kicked in across the world, internet traffic
increased 30% in March alone.
Up to 30% of
all internet traffic passes through more than 275000 servers in 136 countries
operated by an organisation called Akamai based in Massachusetts.
As might be
expected, Akamai are constantly looking forward at likely spikes in traffic and adjusting
capacity accordingly. However, the had no way of predicting the Covid-19
shutdown and resulting increases.
However, they
did foresee a traffic spike due to the European Football Championships which of
course, did not go ahead and expanded their capacity accordingly.
So when we successfully
complete another Zoom meeting or download that must see episode, we should also
thank the world game
*Source The
Hustle Daily Newsletter 1 May 2020. The Hustle is interesting, often amusing and occasionally eclectic daily reading. If interested, here is a link to subscribe https://thehustle.co/?ref=7ad36b3fbc
As for
Podcasts, I have enjoyed the first 2 episodes of the latest series of the The
Greatest Season That Was as it explores the 40 years of impact of
Australian Rules Football in the United States.
My reading
this week will be a little different.
Thanks to a
list curated by Author, Writer, Speaker James Clear, I am going to read one of
the “great speeches of all time” each day. Here is the the article containing the links to the speeches.
And I
conclude with a couple of thoughts.
Alarm clocks
are perhaps the only device that annoy equally when they work as when they do
not
For
something that is 70% water, us humans have very poor fire resistance.
Stay safe,
remain diligent and helpful and, thank you for the feedback last week.
Colin Morley
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