OPEN THREAD: I move to dissolve the corporation in a pool of margaritas.
Archive for 2020
April 24, 2020
AND PERHAPS FINISH THE JOB, IF NECESSARY: China sends team including doctors to North Korea regarding Kim Jong Un: Report.
Whenever Kim departs this mortal coil, the North Korean version of The Death of Stalin will no doubt be a hoot to watch.
FORTY DAYS: Quarantine: The Lazarettos of Dubrovnik are a reminder of the city’s foresight in combating infectious diseases centuries ago. “The word ‘quarantine’ has Italian roots: in an effort to protect coastal cities from the Black Death ravaging 14th-Century Europe, ships arriving in Venice from infected ports were required to sit at anchor for 40 days (quaranta giorni) before landing, a practice that eventually became known as quarantine – derived from ‘quarantino’, the Italian word for a 40-day period.”
WAIT, I THOUGHT THIS WAS DISCREDITED QUACKERY PROMOTED BY THAT DERANGED TODDLER TRUMP: UW Medicine to conduct clinical trial for hydroxychloroquine with COVID patients. “The University of Washington School of Medicine is looking for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to participate in a clinical trial aimed at finding out whether a controversial antimalarial drug called hydroxychloroquine can keep them from having to be hospitalized. . . . The $5.8 million trial is funded by the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and Mastercard, with support from an array of public and philanthropic donors.”
This seems more promising than waiting until they’re at death’s door on a ventilator to try it.
Trump should publicly praise Bill Gates for this trial, just to throw the press into confusion.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH YOUR QUARANTINE FREE TIME? Long-Lost US Military Satellite Found By Amateur Radio Operator. “‘This required the building of an antenna, erecting a new structure to support it. Pre-amps, filters, stuff that takes time to gather and put all together,’ he says. ‘When you have a family and a busy business, you don’t really have a lot of time for that,’ he says. But then came the COVID-19 pandemic. British Columbia, where Tilley lives, was on lockdown. Like many of us, suddenly Tilley had time on his hands. He used it to look for LES-5, and on March 24, he hit the ham radio equivalent of pay dirt. “
OBJECTIVELY BAD LUCK, NOT THE HEINLEINIAN KIND: We Have The First-Ever Credible Evidence of Someone Killed by a Falling Meteorite.
A woman from my dad’s hometown of Sylacauga, Alabama was hit by a meteor back in the 1950s and was badly bruised, but didn’t die.
AT AMAZON, save in Office and School Supplies.
WELL, I CELEBRATED THE END OF TEACHING FOR THE SEMESTER LAST NIGHT WITH AN H. CLARK TENNESSEE BOURBON FROM MY FORMER STUDENT HEATH CLARK’S ARTISAN DISTILLERY: U.S. Liquor Sales Come with a Pinch of Salt: Spirits are outperforming beer in America as shoppers load up on expensive drinks. That might not last.
If you are using the lockdown to improve your home cocktail-making skills, you may not be the only one.
For liquor companies, lucrative U.S. store sales are a rare bright spot in an otherwise moribund global market. The question is whether Americans are simply replenishing their cabinets—implying a dearth of sales in the coming months—or drinking almost as much at home as they normally would in closed bars and restaurants.
Jameson Whiskey’s owner Pernod Ricard PDRDY -0.15% said Thursday that total sales in the three months through March declined 14.5% compared with the same period of last year. In the U.S., sales shrank just 3%, based on Jefferies estimates.
The relatively strong U.S. performance may be partly explained by the timing of lockdowns in different regions, but Americans also seem to be pantry-loading alcohol at a remarkable rate. After an initial rush to stock up on essentials like nonperishable food, consumers are turning to wine, liquor and beer.
It makes sense.
VENTILATOR BLUES: Nearly all Covid-19 patients put on ventilators in New York’s largest health system died, study finds.
So we were told that there would be desperate shortages of lifesaving ventilators, but there were no such shortages, and the ventilators turn out not to be all that lifesaving, either.
CAN COLLEGES SURVIVE CORONAVIRUS? How, oh how, could a college possibly distinguish itself and get a competitive advantage so it can stay in business? Sure, they probably see protecting free speech and academic freedom as their second-to-last resort (their absolute last resort would be ending their incessant efforts to belittle and alienate half of the population), but maybe it’s worth a freaking try at this point. If actually following the principles they claim they have is a bridge too far, they deserve to go under.
COLORADO: Knife shop owner declares independence from Governor Polis’ shutdown orders.
Sedalia knife shop owner Hal Van Herke on Tuesday posted a Declaration of Business Independence on Facebook saying he would reopen CastleGate Knife and Tool Tuesday in defiance of Governor Polis’ stay-at-home order.
Van Herke’s declaration says in part:
“WHEREAS: Small businesses have carried the burden of this effort more heavily than special interests, large corporations and major banks who once again received preferential treatment and largess from the Federal Government at the further cost of small business tax payers, and
WHEREAS: Non-essential Government, Academic, and Corporate staff continue to remain unconscionably fully paid at the same time that Small Business, the Self Employed and the Unemployed suffer, and
WHEREAS: Our attempts at petition and righteous redress, to Our Government has fallen on uncaring ears, and in some cases has been actively suppressed, and
WHEREAS: We refuse to become second-class citizens, beholden to the entitled class for our safety, freedom, and wellbeing, and
WHEREAS: We have the ability to operate our business in such a manner as to reduce and mitigate the risk to our Community, Customers, and Staff, and to adjust operations in a responsible and balanced manner commensurate with local conditions.”
Much more at the link.
I’d just add that I can always use another pocketknife or two…
BLUE ON BLUE: Biden’s Ad Saying Trump is Soft on China Not Going Over Well on the Left.
And on the Right we’re laughing at it.
JOURNALISISMS: An object lesson in journalism from Google News’ headlines.
One says “here’s what he says.” OK
The next says “Here’s what he asked.” OK
Then the network that brought you this guy completely screws it up.
On purpose.
Asking a question is not “suggesting” something.
WHY NOT TAKE A BREAK FROM THE SERIOUS NEWS FOR A FEW MINUTES? Florida Man Friday: Tom Brady Embraces His New Identity.
OH MY: MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE CALLS SPECIAL SESSION — TO STRIP WHITMER OF EMERGENCY POWERS.
Exit quote: “I’m not going to sign any bill that takes authority away from me…”
“SEEMS THAT ‘GRAPPLING’ IS THE NEW #METOO BUZZWORD:” ‘Script is out!’ The media has definitely received the memo on how to spin assault allegations against Joe Biden.
“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress… but I repeat myself.” -Mark Twain