GOOD ADVICE FROM STACY TABB OF BOONDOCK STUDIOS:

As people practice social distancing, it is also important to remember the small businesses around you too. Find out if you can purchase from them on line. All the events being shut down had vendors who count on those sales to make it through the year. Sometimes these aren’t just small businesses, they are micro businesses and support only one person.
—

Remember all of us tiny business owners, if you would.

Another suggestion is that if there’s a restaurant or other business you like but don’t want to patronize right now, buy a gift certificate — maybe even online — and you can use it later, but the cash flow will help them now.

I DON’T WANT “ALTERNATIVE MEAT.” I WANT MEAT. BECAUSE IT’S MEAT. Alternative meat industry moves beyond the burger.

ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF JIM ACOSTA BEING RE-ASSIGNED TO COVER THE LIBERIAN GOVERNMENT SAY “AYE.”
Because this is what real press suppression looks like.

FDA CALLS FOR PUBLIC TO DONATE BLOOD IN WAKE OF CORONAVIRUS, STRESSES SAFETY.

HE STOPPED AT SIX BECAUSE THE MERCY RULE KICKED IN: 6 Recent Examples of Joe Biden’s Cognitive Decline That Should Concern Us All.

NEVER LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to include a potential way to guarantee federal funding for abortion into the coronavirus economic stimulus plan, according to multiple senior White House officials.”

ON THE ONE HAND, THAT’S BAD. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT MEANS THAT CLEANING SURFACES WILL HELP. Coronavirus can live in air for 3 hours, on surfaces for 2-3 days.

OF COURSE SHE DID: EXCLUSIVE: White House Officials Allege Speaker Pelosi Pushed To Include Hyde Amendment Loophole Into Coronavirus Stimulus Plan. “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to include a potential way to guarantee federal funding for abortion into the coronavirus economic stimulus plan, according to multiple senior White House officials.”

CORONAVIRUS: Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia start closing borders as Iran death toll spike puts region on alert.

LEARNING FROM A CENTURY OF BAD URBAN PLANNING:

Not unsurprisingly, Le Corbusier’s Athens Charter, its legendary 1933 manifesto, “reduced the experience of the city to functional efficiency” and other high modern planning schemes come in for much-warranted obloquy. But Buras takes a dim-to-measured view of developments both before and after the modern planning movement that has done much harm to cityscapes.

He dates one problem to the Romantic era, and to single-minded efforts to achieve the Burkean sublime and dispense with beauty. He faults the examples of 18th century European architects (such as Boulee, Piranesi, and Ledoux) and subsequent examples of overscaled and domineering architecture following it.

Even sounder schemes often were a bit askew to his mind. Twentieth-century Garden City plans and their revivalism in New Urbanism have many very good elements but he argues that most are establishing better-than-average suburbs, not genuinely flexible spaces for living. Their arrangements can  hover awkwardly between suburban and urban scales to his mind, and they are frequently forbidden through zoning to develop in one or the other direction. He certainly believes that planning has become better in recent decades, and withdrawn from some excesses of automobility, but it is often concerned with addressing individual symptoms.

Related:

CORONAVIRUS: San Gabriel Valley Gun Sales Soar Among Asian Americans Who Fear Coronavirus-Related Attacks.

FASTER, PLEASE: Human trials for a coronavirus vaccine could begin ‘within a few weeks,’ top US health official says.

TRIAGE: Elderly Will Be Denied Intensive Care as Coronavirus Overwhelms Italy’s National Health System, Experts Warn.

THAT FISA REAUTHORIZATION MAY NOT BE A DONE DEAL JUST YET: Like they used to say about the fat lady singing.

CLOSER TO HOME: One case of coronavirus confirmed in Knox County. According to other reports, he came from abroad and has been in isolation since he got here.

TRENDS: The Rising Popularity of Axe Throwing.

IRAN: NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Coronavirus burial pits so vast they’re visible from space: Iranian authorities began digging a pair of trenches for victims just days after the government disclosed the initial outbreak. Together, their lengths are that of a football field.

Two days after Iran declared its first cases of the novel coronavirus — in what would become one of the largest outbreaks of the illness outside of China — evidence of unusual activity appeared at a cemetery near where the infections emerged.

At the Behesht-e Masoumeh complex in Qom, about 80 miles south of Tehran, the excavation of a new section of the graveyard began as early as Feb. 21, satellite images show, and then rapidly expanded as the virus spread. By the end of the month, two large trenches — their lengths totaling 100 yards — were visible at the site from space.

According to expert analysis, video testimony and official statements, the graves were dug to accommodate the rising number of virus victims in Qom.

I think the situation in Iran is really awful.

CORONAVIRUS: NASCAR to run Atlanta, Homestead races without spectators.

UPDATE: Major League Baseball planning to shut down, delay regular season amid coronavirus worries.

MORE: All Broadway theaters are closed, effective today.

FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE: Inside Chipotle’s two-year process of reinventing its queso. “It involved a lot of tasting and chemistry to get the creaminess just right.” It’s pretty good, but could use a bit more kick.

SKYNET SMILES: Swarm of Robots Forms Complex Shapes Without Centralized Control.

CHINA: Wuhan doctor says officials muzzled her for sharing report on WeChat.

Ai Fen, director of the emergency department at Wuhan Central Hospital, told Chinese magazine People that she posted an image of a diagnostic report on social network WeChat on December 30, showing that the patient had a pneumonia infection caused by a Sars-like coronavirus.

Ai’s interview suggests local health authorities in Wuhan, the centre of the epidemic, missed an opportunity to issue a warning about an imminent outbreak before the virus spread and infected more than 117,000 people globally and caused over 4,200 deaths.

It was published on Tuesday but later deleted from the magazine’s WeChat account, prompting angry internet users to repost the article on other platforms. The magazine is published by the state-run People’s Publishing House.

It also coincided with President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Wuhan since the crisis began, during which he praised residents for their hard work and sacrifices.

This story comes from the South China Morning Post, where something interesting might be going on. Glenn noted a while ago that the SCMP — which is based in Hong Kong — sounded much more openly pro-Beijing in recent months, something I’d noticed, too. But since this coronavirus outbreak, it’s editorial position seems to be changing back to being more Beijing-skeptical.

NOT EXACTLY UNEXPECTEDLY: U.S. Stock Rout Deepens in Broad Shift to Safety: Benchmarks fall more than 7% as S&P, Nasdaq join Dow in bear-market territory. “Outside of the U.S., losses were broad. European equities also fell, with the Stoxx Europe 600 shedding about 11%, putting the pan-continental gauge on course for its worst one-day performance on record.”

I think it’s got more to fall. I’m sitting on some cash waiting to buy in, but not yet.

CDC UNABLE TO DO MOST EFFECTIVE LOCATION CONTACT TRACING: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) has the unhappy news that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is unable to do the most effective form of contact tracing regarding coronavirus or any other disease for that matter.

TWO CNNs IN ONE!

● Shot: Don Lemon Goes Absolutely Insane on John Kasich for Refusing to Bash Trump’s Wuhan Virus Address.

—Red State, today.

● Chaser: Tapper Fears Dem Voters Are ‘Bunch of Rachel Maddows and Chris Hayess.’ “Wonder why Tapper didn’t call Democratic voters ‘a bunch of Chris Cuomos and Don Lemons?’”

—NewsBusters, yesterday.