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Archive for 2020
March 26, 2020
WHEN MAKING PUBLIC POLICY, SHOULD WE THINK ABOUT ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DEATHS, OR AN AVERAGE OF A ONE IN THREE THOUSAND CHANCE OF DYING?: Covid-19, the Evil Genius, and How to Think about Societal Risks.
OH, JOY: Coronavirus in U.S. likely to resurge in the fall, virologist predicts. That’s certainly possible. The 1918 Spanish Flu had a spring phase, petered out in the summer, than roared back in the fall and winter.
DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Professors Worry Their Bias Will Be Exposed by Online Classes.
SOMETHING THAT INSTAPUNDIT COMMENTER BART HALL POSTED ON FACEBOOK:
Truckers are saying “fuck the log rules, I’m hauling” and they’re getting supplies to the stores. People are stocking the shelves all night and letting old people shop first. Folks are buying meals for truckers, who (obviously) can’t go through the drive-ups. Asking ’em what they want, then buying it for them.
Carnival Cruise Line has told Trump “We can match those big Navy Hospital ships with some fully staffed cruise ships”.
GM and Ford have said “hold our cars and watch this — we can make ventilators where we were just making car parts, starting next week” — by re-engineering seat ventilators which their engineers hacked together for a new purpose. In under a week.
In a project with which I’m loosely associated, a very-effective agricultural disease-control agent was re-purposed and re-labeled specifically for Corona-virus control by the FDA and EPA in under ten days, from initial request to distribution.
Restaurants and schools have said, “we’ve got kitchens and staff; we can feed the poor kids who used have school lunch.”
NBA basketball players have said, “Hold our basketballs while we write checks to pay the arena staff.”
Construction companies are saying, “Here are some high-end masks for medical staff and doctors”.
Distilleries are making sanitizer out of distilling “heads and tails” which are normally discarded. Nasty shit to drink, but effective sanitizer.
People are tipping grocery check-out clerks and thanking them for taking the risk.
Local, state, and county governments are taking control of everything the feds cannot do. Some are doing it wrong, but for the first time in decades … they’re doing it. Federalism is re-emerging, and the smallest unit of government is the individual and the family. This, too, is re-emerging after decades of dormancy.
As Japanese Admiral Isokuru Yamamoto said, after Pearl Harbor … “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
I sense this has just happened. We have a wonderful country, the greatest single force for good in all human history. We have closed our borders, with good reason, yet we have top medical people now assisting North Korea in their response to the virus.
Many things have been re-set, and will never be the same.
By microbiological accident, we are living in profoundly transformative historical times.
Indeed we are.
“IT’S JUST THE FLU.” Hospitals consider universal do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients.
OLD AND BUSTED: Believe All Women.
The New Hotness? #Metoo Legal Fund Refused To Help Biden Accuser, Claiming It Couldn’t Risk Nonprofit Status Since He’s Running For President.
$400 MILLION BONANZA FOR ‘DEMOCRACY REFORM’ MOVEMENT: A small piece of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill but potentially a huge step toward nationalizing elections.
FASTER, PLEASE: “The system, produced by Lenexa, Kansas-based Danolyte Global, is EPA registered to kill even the most resistant microbes including staphylococcus, C. diff, MRSA, listeria, legionella, and the influenza virus. . . . Danolyte Global’s system produces a non-toxic, noncorrosive, EPA-approved solution that can be applied directly to both hard and soft surfaces and applied throughout a room or area using a form of electrostatic spraying. This form of spraying allows the disinfectant solution to attach evenly to all surfaces, even hidden surfaces under tables, beds, seat-cushions, curtains, and equipment.”
I TAKE THIS TO MEAN THAT THEY HAVE SOMETHING THEY’RE HIDING: China Bans All Foreigners From Entering Country. Or expect to, soon.
But remember how people said Trump was racist for banning flights from China?
POWER: Grid operators turn control centers into campsites to keep coronavirus at bay.
Plus: “Because renewable energy has priority in supplying power grids, this has meant wind and solar generation providing a greater proportion of electricity than ever before. But these intermittent sources of power make it harder to keep grids stable, increasing the risk of blackouts.”
Maybe ditch that policy?
FINALLY — AN ANSWER TO ONE OF LIFE’S MOST VEXING MYSTERIES: Hilarious thread on the Triscuit is totally the thread you need today you had no idea you needed.
REVIEW: The New Ruger-57 Pistol.
WELL, THAT’S A CHANGE: Imperial College scientist who predicted 500K coronavirus deaths in UK revises to 20K or fewer. “The Imperial College had previously warned of modeling that suggested over 500,000 would die from the virus.”
We may learn a lesson about the usefulness of models. Some people were saying that the pandemic would strengthen the case for “climate change” activism, but it ironically may instead teach us a lesson about relying on unproven models.
STUFF JUST GOT REAL: Jobless Claims Last Week QUADRUPLED Previous Record.
THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Rashida Tlaib has a serious primary opponent – who’s a Louis Farrakhan fan.
CHINESE MEDIA CAUGHT ERASING HISTORY AND ‘WUHAN VIRUS’ FROM REPORTS: China’s Global Times changes ‘Wuhan pneumonia’ to ‘novel coronavirus-related pneumonia’ in January article.
Unexpectedly.
MICHAEL GRAHAM: Plastic ban hypocrisy is in the bag for woke Left. “And yet Mayor Marty is leaving the ban largely in place, and he can’t wait to bring it back. Why? Because Boston’s liberal, $500K-condo crowd doesn’t care about the environment. They care about looking like they care about the environment. Plastic shopping bags? How gauche! Besides, they clash with the reusable coffee mug I got from an indigenous craftsman during an ecotourism trip to Guatemala! Oh, forgot to mention: Starbucks and Dunkin’ aren’t taking those anymore, either. The Left has long shown symptoms of skewed thinking — and it doesn’t look like they’re eager for a cure.”
Tom Wolfe originally wrote “The Great Relearning” in 1987. We’re getting it good and hard this year.