December 11, 2020
Good morning.
This constitutes my holiday "card" to my friends. Our year, since March, has been like that of everyone else we know: quarantined. We had modest social activities in the summer and fall, outdoors and distanced, but now we've transitioned to Zoom cocktail hours. Otherwise life goes on. Kathy does jigsaw puzzles while listening to interesting podcasts, she knits hats to be donated to organizations that give them to those who need them, and (as a volunteer) transcribes documents for the National Archives (at present documents from the Nuremberg trials after WWII). I serve on the executive committee of the University's retiree association and read Poirot mysteries and play online bridge and keep a journal. Kathy's time is spent more productively than mine.
Elliott and Martha are doing fine, both still working and enjoying their apartment in St. Paul. Kathy's son Spencer continues to have difficulties with his nerve pain and back issues and likely faces a second spinal surgery early next year. The cats sleep a lot. Kathy's artificial Christmas tree helps us enjoy the holiday spirit even though we can't see anyone other than on a screen.
At least 2020 is ending on a modestly cheery note: vaccines are coming and will be available over the next several months. We may not be able to get our jab until June or July, although I like to be optimistic and think that with two or more additional vaccines in the pipeline, widespread vaccination may be possible earlier. At least it appears the light in the tunnel is not an oncoming train. The political scene remains troubling.
As some of you know, Kathy and I have rented a house in Bonita Springs, Florida, from Jan 1 to Feb 28. We plan to drive down, leaving Minneapolis December 27 or 28, depending on the weather here, and coming back home in early March (perhaps stopping to see some sites on the trip home because that's a part of the country—between here and Florida—that neither Kathy nor I have spent much time in). We look forward to not being shut indoors without any social interaction the entire winter.
Has 2020 been the worst year ever? Some historians have pinpointed an earlier year that was arguably worse.
Wikipedia:
The extreme weather events of 535–536 were the most severe and protracted short-term episodes of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The event is thought to have been caused by an extensive atmospheric dust veil, possibly resulting from a large volcanic eruption in the tropics or in Iceland. Its effects were widespread, causing unseasonable weather, crop failures, and famines worldwide.
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/536-ad-the-worst-year-in-history-472a32797e46:
2020 has already been immortalised. It is a year that nobody will forget. However, when speaking of the worst year recorded in human history there are many to choose from: [1349, the Black Death kill half the population of Europe; 1520, smallpox ravaged the Americas and killed between 60 and 90 per cent of the continents’ original inhabitants; 1918, the Spanish Flu led to the deaths of over 50 million people; 1933, the rise of Hitler]. However, historians are unanimous in their choice. The title of the worst year in history is easily held by the year 536 AD. [I think "historians are unanimous. . . " is an overstatement.]
Medieval historian, Michael McCormick has stated that “it was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year.” (Science Magazine, Ann Gibbons, 2018).
The year began with an inexplicable, dense fog that stretched across the world which plunged Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia into darkness 24 hours a day, for nearly 2 years.
Consequently, global temperatures plummeted which resulted in the coldest decade in over 2,000 years. Famine was rampant and crops failed all across Europe, Africa and Asia. Unfortunately, 536 AD seemed to only be a prelude to further misery. This period of extreme cold and starvation caused economic disaster in Europe and in 541 A.D. an outbreak of bubonic plague further led to the death of nearly 100 million people and almost half of the Byzantine Empire.
This part of the sixth century has a widely been referred to as the Dark Ages, but the true source of this darkness had previously been unknown to scholars. Recently, researchers led by McCormick and glaciologist Paul Mayewski, have discovered that a volcanic eruption in Iceland in early 536 led to incredibly large quantities of ash being spread across much of the globe, creating the fog that cast the world into darkness. This eruption was so immense that it altered the global climate and adversely affected weather patterns and crop cultivation for years to come (Antiquity).
So we can end 2020 grateful that it is not 536.
I wish you all an enjoyable holiday season and a better 2021 (which sets the bar pretty low).
-- Gary
P.S. For those of you who like them, here's a happy study for the end of the year: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201210145850.htm
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