We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Assuming lockdowns do not prevent deaths but only slow the rate (still unknown whether that works very well, but maybe), who decides what number is acceptable?
Protecting the most vulnerable (nursing homes and the like) has not worked very well thus far, with up to 50% of corona deaths occurring in such places. Those places require lots of staff.
We’ll see what happens in the summer, then in the fall. For now, pandemic deaths are falling sharply, and we attribute this to our lockdown. That the rise, crest, and decline of these deaths has followed roughly the same statistical pattern, whether there was a lockdown or not, is interesting. Not having tried such an act of tyranny before, we can have nothing to compare with that lockdown. Still we can say that the virus is indifferent to our measures, and speculate that future waves will not consult our wishes, either.
Ever since I graduated from grad school I have kept a major medical plan. Yes, it it portable.
Over my lifetime, medical costs have expanded enormously, mainly because of what medical science in the the US is able to do. Miraculous things. All worth doing? I do not know, but the USA has the best medical options in the world, however expensive. Among many other problems with Obamacare (a stalking horse for government medical care) was the absence of a regular cheap major medical plan like the one I still have.
Shop around. These policies still exist.
Speaking personally, I am not afraid of dying if I am in bad shape, but I think life is a kick and I'd be glad to stick with it for a while, working, making a living, and having an interesting life.
I think Voltaire should have a say in this matter, just as he did when that lunatic, Rousseau, sent him a copy of the "Discourse of the Origin of Inequality."
"I have received, sir, your new book against the human race, and I thank you for it. You will please people by your manner of telling them the truth about themselves, but you will not alter them. The horrors of that human society--from which in our feebleness and ignorance we expect so many consolations--have never been painted in more striking colors: no one has ever been so witty as you are in trying to turn us into brutes: to read your book makes one long to go about all fours. Since, however, it is now some sixty years since I gave up the practice, I feel that it is unfortunately impossible for me to resume it: I leave this natural habit to those more fit for it than are you and I. Nor can I set sail to discover the aborigines of Canada, in the first place because my ill-health ties me to the side of the greatest doctor [1] in Europe, and I should not find the same professional assistance among the Missouris: and secondly because war is going on in that country, and the example of the civilized nations has made the barbarians almost as wicked as we are ourselves. I must confine myself to being a peaceful savage in the retreat I have chosen--close to your country, where you yourself should be."
Yet creationism in government shows no sign of fading. To this day, despite the resurgence of liberal values that came after the Second World War, and especially after the Cold War, the knee-jerk assumption on the part of much of the intelligentsia is still based on planning rather than evolutionary unfolding. Though politicians are regarded as scum, government as a machine is held to be almost infallible.
“It doesn’t seem to matter how active a person may be been throughout their life; it appears their muscles will still respond and rebuild as well as someone who has been highly active all their life,” said lead researcher Leigh Breen, Ph.D., a senior lecturer in exercise physiology and metabolism at the University of Birmingham.
Really? That could take a year or more. Possibly never. Of course, everybody wants a vaccine today, but no vaccine has ever been made for any viruses in the corona family despite many efforts.
By the end of March, most of the United States had been locked down. Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs. More than $6 trillion has been spent to save society from complete collapse. Relentless warnings have whipped the populace into frenzies of fear. All of this to contain a disease that, as far as we can tell at this point, is not significantly more fatal than the flu. Moreover, given how rapidly the coronavirus spreads, it seems likely that the radical and untested method of lockdown does little to control it.
In other words, the science increasingly shows that the measures we have taken in the last few weeks have been both harmful—with freedoms lost, money spent, livelihoods destroyed—and pointless.
Maybe not more fatal, but more infectious. It is unavoidable. Like death and taxes.
All members of the blackbird family have been passing through over the past month. In the Northeastern US, that mostly means Redwings, Purple Grackles, Cowbirds.
Cowbirds are famous for their foster parenting habit. Bad parents.
They like to hang out in pastures, where the animals stir up bugs to eat.
Debate is good. New facts are useful too. As I understand it, though, lockdowns are not so much designed to prevent death as they were to slow the rate of serious infection - to extend the epidemic at a less intense rate.
We have a rather soft-quarantine going on here. Soft quarantine meaning pushing the limits of what is allowed. Not by choice, but because there are few places to go outdoors other than road hikes with friends, Costco, market, drug store. An hour of morning calisthenics in the living room before breakfast, of course, with adult music, is a good way to begin a day.
Rainy day with the goal of emptying two closets. So much crap that will never be used, and that Good Will would never want. (They are fussy about your old stuff - nobody wants it.)
I have a prosperous friend who added a 35X35' laundry room on the second floor when his four kids were young, above a new kitchen addition. Two washers, two driers, linen/blanket shelves on all the walls, and dedicated rolling racks all around: one for ski gear, one for hunting gear, one for bad-weather gear, etc. etc.
I praised him for this, but was green with envy.
Mrs. B and I are cleaning out two closets today. It feels good. Much of it is good stuff, but nobody would want it. The garbage man will need a $20 tip on Tues to get rid of it all.
"When in doubt, throw it out." The Collier Brothers never learned that. I have learned, over time, that most of our stuff is dumpster fodder.
What to do? Surfing in the intertube is a complete waste of life, like counting flowers on the wall. Reading Maggie's doesn't count.
At least I think I will do some practice fly casting on the lawn. Why not? I can always use practice with that game. Rain and wind just make it more interesting.
1:17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.
1:18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
1:20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
1:21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
1:22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.
1:23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
1. Do you miss getting to your gym? (I do - I miss all of my happy routines including beers with pals after work)
2. Do you think you have been infected already? (I do, in Feb. - thought it was just a strange flu that lasted a week and left me weak for a few days after. Awaiting easy availability of the antibody test. Pretty sure Mrs. BD too. Hope we both are through it.)
Giant Asteroid 
Image: The 2020 Trikini 
All members of the blackbird family have been passing through over the past month. In the Northeastern US, that mostly means Redwings, Purple Grackles, Cowbirds. 
Where can you go, really, right now?