Numbers down now, but spike was devastating

New scientific study on attractiveness is just plain outrageous

It was good to see Los Angeles County dip into the “Red Tier” of COVID-19 infection over the past weekend.

The last email I received from the city of Lancaster (I am writing on Wednesday night) said that only six new cases were reported among the city’s 160,000 or so residents for the previous day.

On the downside, a total of 606 Antelope Valley residents have died of the virus. That is a stunning figure.

When I wrote my yearend column on Dec. 31, the number stood at 244. Thus, more than 350 Valley residents have died of the virus this year, an indication of how truly devastating was the spike that began in November and ran through February.

In terms of infections, at year’s end the number was 29,683; it was up to 48,920 this week.

The Valley’s population is about 500,000, so nearly one in 10 have had it.

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Anyone out there good at sewing?

The last time I sewed anything was in “Bachelor’s Survival” class in high school, but if I could sew, I would make bowties for shelter dogs.

Bowties for shelter dogs? Yes. The Washington Post ran an inspiring piece about a young man named Darius Brown, who has donated more than 600 bowties to his local animal shelter in Philadelphia.

Adoptions immediately went up when the dogs started wearing ties, and the reason is they look cute as could be when they wear them. Potential adopters notice them and snatch them up. Maybe our local shelters could get something like that going here.

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My friend Dick Chapleau is a former California State Teacher of the Year and the instructor who taught me Classroom Management in my credential program at Cal State Bakersfield.

The other day Dick pointed out that in his thirties he might have an occasional Saturday afternoon beer, uttering the old saying, “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

But now, in his sixties, Dick’s wife Lisa points out that he pulls on his pajamas in the afternoon because “It’s eight o’clock somewhere.” So true.

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Did you see the new scientific study about how attractive moral outrage is?

From the journal Science Daily:

“Moral outrage is an attractive behavior, particularly to people seeking longterm relationships, according to a new paper by researchers including a University of Arkansas psychologist.” Who knew?

Come to think of it, it must be true. I have been writing a monthly Outrage Column since 1995, and hardly a day goes by that I don’t get a Facebook “friend request” from extremely attractive young women from all over the world.

Oh, wait. You say every guy gets friend requests from extremely attractive women from all over the world? They’re all scams, huh?

Well, that’s an outrage!