Archive: March 14, 2020

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Iditarod: halfway Nome

Saturday,  03/14/20  11:37 PM

Hi Iditarodians – I’m sure you’ve all been closely following the Iditarod sled dog race, right? (With everything cancelled, there’s nothing else to watch)

The leaders have been mushing along the Yukon River and have now left the last Yukon checkpoint of Kaltag, making the long run to Unalakleet on the coast of the Bering Sea. The weather has warmed up and with all the snow that’s fallen recently, it’s made for heavy going. This is not going to be a record year.


Right now surprise contender Thomas Waerner is leading by about 8 miles over longtime competitor Aaron Burmeister, with another veteran Jesse Royer a mile behind him.

That’s Thomas and his team at left – sporting the spiffy orange jackets - and Jesse and her team above right.


Brent Sass is fourth, still in Kaltag, waiting out his mandatory 8 hour rest*, as is fifth-placed Peter Kaiser, the defending champion. But sixth place Wade Marrs is also there and has already completed his 8, so he’ll likely leave first and then be running fourth.

* each team is required to take a 24 hour rest somewhere along the trail, an 8 hour rest on the Yukon River, and an 8 hour rest in the penultimate checkpoint at White Mountain

Right: Brent Sass and his team mushing along the frozen Yukon River


2018 champion Joar-Leifseth Ulsom is “only” in 8th, three-time champion Mitch Seavey is back in 10th, and four-time champion Lance Mackey is 15th. The snowy slow conditions have definitely altered the race.

You may remember the last two years Nic Petit was leading coming out onto Norton Sound, and both years his team had issues and self-destructed. This year he’s back in 21st, taking it easier.

Left: Nic Petit and his team coming into Nulato checkpoint


So how about our favorite Jim Lanier? Well sadly, he was the first team to scratch, after having serious problems in Rainy Pass crossing the Alaska Range. Since then I’ve been rooting for Jesse… Cheers and please stay tuned for more!


Richie Diehl mushes into Ruby


Joar-Leifseth Ulsom and Thomas Waener talk strategy in Ruby checkpoint


Best in show: Kristovan, Aaron Burmeister’s leader, during a break Iditarod


GPS tracker view of the entire route. Still about 400 miles remaining: the long trek down to the coast, then up and across the ice of Norton Sound, and then the wild and windy trek along the shore into Nome.

 

 

pandemic pass

Saturday,  03/14/20  11:51 PM

After a long day of driving and thinking, we make ... a filter pass ...

Wow, so it seems like the whole world has shut down!  Incredible.  Better safe than sorry, I suppose, although it does seem like an extreme reaction given the numbers.  Just about everything is cancelled, everyone is working from home, and we're all waiting it out.  Time will tell...

The infographic at right is from the indispensable Visual Capitalist...

I don't blog about it much, but my company Teladoc Health is at the forefront of telemedicine, which has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight by the virus pandemic.  Telehealth is a great thing anyway, but now that physicians want to treat patients remotely, the volumes are off the charts

Interesting: A promising hub for Digital Health: Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile: Congress quietly repeals more of Obamacare

"If nothing else, this episode is a reminder of how Washington works:  First, Congress passes a law setting up an expensive new program along with (if we're lucky) a system to pay for it.  Years later, amid a bipartisan spending binge, those taxes are repealed while the rest of the program remains on the books.  The public barely notices, and the lawmakers involved shrug and move on.  The result is legislation that is fiscally ruinous, but also more popular than it would be if taxpayers were actually made to foot the bill.


Awesome: SpaceX Dragon spacecraft caught by robotic space station arm for the last time.  "Crew Dragon’s next launch – also its astronaut launch debut – could lift off as early as May 2020, just two months from now."  fXf! 

BTW: We simply won't go to Mars without digital health.  Well of course not.  What if there was a virus outbreak en route? 

xkcd: Throw Calculator.  Ever wonder how far George Washington could throw a microwave oven?  How about how far Thor could throw Pikachu?  Now you know :) 


Check this out: Heart's Nancy Wilson and guitarist Eric Tessmer's cover of Depeche Mode's Policy of Truth.  Quite nice :) 

 

 
 

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