Happy April Fool’s Day! I promise you there will be no tricks or fools today. All seriousness — well, as serious as I usually am anyway. Here are my “Random Thoughts” for Wednesday!
THE NUMBERS
According to the website put together by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, as of Tuesday afternoon at 2 pm there are 7,615 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state of Michigan. That number jumped up by 1,117 in 24 hours.
Here in West Michigan, there are 108 confirmed cases in Kent County (up by 12), 31 in Ottawa (up by 3), 18 in Muskegon (no change), five in Montcalm (up by 1), four in Ionia County (no change), three in Allegan (up by 1), two in Barry County (up by one), and one in Newaygo County (no change).
We have had a total of 259 deaths in our state due to COVID-19 (an increase of 75). We have had one death in Kent County and two in Muskegon County.
At least yesterday’s overall jump was a bit smaller than the day before. Maybe this is a sign we are leveling off just a bit.
I did find this interesting animation following the numbers of the countries and their total amounts of cases. You can see how South Korea and Italy cases are decreasing, while the U.S. numbers continue to grow…
Please, if you don’t have to leave the house — STAY AT HOME!
BIRTHDAY THANKS!
I had a great birthday yesterday, although really all I did was work. Probably the first birthday where I really did “nothing” out of the ordinary.
I do want to thank everyone who reached out through social media, text and calls. It was nice to hear from so many of you. I had over 500 people send me a message on Facebook. Unbelievable! As simple as a post or message might be, it means so much to me!
You made my birthday GREAT and I THANK YOU so much!
And no, that’s not a tear welling up in my eye…I think it must be allergies!
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES
Have you run out of Girl Scout cookies?
I don’t know about you, but a single Girl Scout cookie can put a smile on my face. We all could use some smiles about now.
Well don’t worry, you can still buy some cookies from the Girl Scouts to help you through this mess.
They have set up a website. All you have to do is punch in your zip code and it will take you to a page to order your cookies.
I ordered four boxes just putting this post together. I will warn you, shipping is almost as much as the cookies, but hey, they are Girl Scout cookies and for a good cause!
JIGSAW PUZZLE FROM HELL
I mentioned the other day, that in my past, I used to enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles to pass the time.
I haven’t sat down and worked on a puzzle in decades, but with a lot of people sitting around their homes now with nothing to do — many are turning to a good puzzle.
I always liked a good sized (1,000 piece or more) puzzle with a challenging picture on it.
I’m not sure that sitting down to do a jigsaw puzzle now would be relaxing or just frustrating.
If you like the challenge of a good puzzle, then this one might be for you… A Japanese company has come up with a puzzle that they are calling the “puzzle from hell”. There are warnings on the box letting you know that ‘the great king of hell has arrived’ and ‘please do not buy this if you are a beginner’. There is even a skull and crossbones on the box.
What makes this puzzle so tough…it’s the picture — or lack of the picture that makes this such a challenge. The puzzle is nothing but a plain white surface.
You can purchase this thing on ebay, although it is currently out of stock.
According to the reviews, the puzzle stopped players “dead in their tracks”, with one person recommending it would make a good gift to “torture someone who loves puzzles”.
It’s not cheap either. The one I found was over $70.00!
THAT IS SNOT A GOOD IDEA…
You just can’t make stories like this up. This is not an April Fools joke, but an actual story.
There was an astrophysicist in Australia who tried to beat quarantine boredom by inventing a coronavirus prevention tool.
Dr. Daniel Reardon was working on a device using magnets to keep people from touching their faces. Things didn’t go very well when he got two magnets stuck up his nose — one in each nostril! The magnets were stuck to his septum and he couldn’t pull them out with his fingers. To try to get them out, he decided to use another magnet and in the process got that one stuck in his nose too. That now makes three magnets in his smeller!
His next attempt was to use some tiny metal pliers (I’m guessing something that looks like tweezers) to grab the magnets. But, you guessed it — he got those stuck too!
He finally had to go to the hospital where doctors were successful in removing the magnet and pliers.
Here is a link to the story from CNN where you can see a picture of this brainiac!
I learned two things from this story — and hopefully Dr. Reardon did too. First, never put magnets up your nose. And second, apparently astrophysicists aren’t as smart as I thought they might have been!
Along with being “April Fools Day“, today is also “Fun Day“. Try to have a little fun today.
Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday. Keep washing those hands and staying home as much as possible. I will talk to you this afternoon from 3 pm until 7 pm — local and live — on 98.7 WFGR. Plus, today is “One Hit Wonder Day”! Please join me
If you have any comments on the above stories, please leave your remarks below…
