Monday, March 16. 2020
As we posted yesterday, they are probably all wrong. A very few people fall seriously ill (mainly but not entirely the frail elderly). The US has been fortunate, thus far. Hospitals are not overtaxed at all. Things could change, but the virus has been here for months.
The Coronavirus Fatality Rate Reported by the Media Is COMPLETELY INACCURATE. The Actual Rate Is LESS THAN THE FLU
Dr. Oz: ‘A Lot of People Had This and Didn’t Realize It. 80% Had Very Subtle Symptoms’
Europe seems to have a special problem with this. I do not know why. Blame their government public health and government medical care, or just bad luck? I go for the latter. Disease humbles humanity and always has.
Do you know how many people were hospitalized in 2009-2010 with the swine flu? Three hundred thousand were hospitalized. So 60 million people infected, 300,000 hospitalized. And nobody even remembers it. And why? Well, because we had a different president. We had a Democrat president by the name of Barack Obama, and the news then was how wonderfully well Obama was handling it, how expertly well Obama was dealing with it.
Unfortunately, there is no scientific formula in existence that answers the question: When is precisely the exact right time to take massive economically and socially disruptive action in dealing with a pandemic?
Whatever you do is wrong. When Trump blocked travel from China, he was zenophobic. When he blocked Europe travel, he was plain stupid. Now the complaint is that he should have done them sooner.
Fauci Favors National Shutdown: ‘You Don’t Want To Be Complacent’
Pelosi Tried To Include Abortion Funding In COVID-19 Spending Bill
Lawsuit Demands USDA Stop Certifying Hydroponic Foods as 'Organic'
Biden did not screw up
Dem Gov Candidate Was With Meth Male Escort Because He Was Depressed Over Losing
Sunday, March 15. 2020
There are four data that the public is interested in for epidemics: Exposure %, mild illness %, truly ill %, and dead %. But % of what? Journalists have no clue about this.
Exposure can be tested, whether ill or not. However, very few people will be tested for exposure if they feel fine or have the sniffles, and it would be absurd (except for a limited study of the general population) to randomly test people. I'd be interested in those results but it's academic.
One epidemiologist said yesterday that the majority of people in the NYC metro area (NY, NJ, CT) and in MA have been exposed. A guess, though. Exposed but not ill is good. You get herd immunity. It is happening now, for sure. Probably in CA too. Most viral spread is probably by people without symptoms who assume they are clear.
My point is that, without a number for people exposed and unexposed within a given general population, you have no denominators. If the only data you have is dead people (not many thus far) divided by sick people getting tested, you have minimally-useful information from a public health standpoint. From a doctor's standpoint, it's useful to know risk of sick to dead even though there is no treatment, other than supportive, for viral pneumonia.
So what is a "death rate" based on in the absence of relevant data, ie deaths/exposed? So the danger of this virus, right now, can not be determined or even estimated. That might be knowable in a few months.
I am not an ID doc, so I'll just tell you what I am doing. I am hoarding nothing. I am taking walks or hikes daily in the sunshine. I wash my hands, but I always did. I am going to the gym and working out (improves immune response). I am not going to church (because it's closed at the moment.) Small meals are my normal anyway (improves immune response and generally healthier).
If you've been exposed (probably) and feel entirely well, you are still infectious but if you aren't coughing or sneezing, it's sort-of ok.
We'll all be fine, unless frail, with preexisting serious ailments, or elderly. Those things apply also to the ordinary seasonal flu. However, there is really no way to insulate them because staff help, family help, etc. can be exposed but without any symptoms. There have been a few cases of otherwise healthy people becoming ill enough to need hospital care, but not many.
Please correct my thinking if I am in error.
This makes sense to me: Coronavirus going to hit its peak and start falling sooner than you think.
As we have said before, the goal is to try to flatten the exposure curve (speed of exposure), not to prevent exposure because that really cannot be done unless you isolate on an island somewhere for 6 months.
Addendum: Flattening the curve of an infection slows the rate of exposure. But how is a "case" defined?
Saturday, March 14. 2020
 Photo from a reader on Long Island Sound this week. These birds have become common nesters. Cool. They catch outdoor cats too, which is great.
'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries
I’ve prescribed opioids to patients. And I’m not a villain.
THE GREAT TOILET PAPER PANDEMIC OF 2020 (AND TWIP PREVIEW)
"We must seize the means of toilet paper production"
A Tale Of Two Pandemics: Media Downplayed Swine Flu Outbreak Under Obama
Fauci: No Seriously, The Travel Restrictions Are Exactly What We Need To Flatten The COVID-19 Curve; WHO Confirms Europe As New “Epicenter”
Dem Rep. Pressley Blames Americans ‘Racism And Xenophobia’ For Drop In Business At Chinese Restaurants…
Thus far: 222,000 Flu Cases and 22,000 Flu Deaths in US this Season … AND– 1,864 COVID-19 Cases and 41 Deaths in US This Season
Panic and Paid Leave
Dr. Fauci Cautions Against a Hyped-Up 75-150 Million Coronavirus Case Estimate
The NY Times Issues A Long-Overdue Correction To The 1619 Project
UCLA caves to striking students, only to be met with more backlash
Give an inch and they'll take a mile
Higher education’s mandatory political participation
Police ‘Not Pursuing Criminal Charges’ Against Andrew Gillum After He Was Found in Miami Hotel Room with Bags of Crystal Meth
State climate lawsuits are all about ignoring legislature to get cash stream
"The Biden 2020 campaign isn’t about following its nominal leader, or even listening to him; it’s about the party pushing him over the line collectively..."
No it is not. It's about trying to save the House.
Biden goes all in on corona virus
Biden’s Coronavirus Adviser Wants to Die at 75
But 75 is the new 60, right?
CNN: In speech, Biden shows how a normal president responds in crisis
UK's Coronavirus Strategy: Just Let It Happen And Hope For Herd Immunity
Makes sense, but not political sense
Mayor Of Florence Encouraged Italians To "Hug A Chinese" Before Pandemic Hit
What???
Thursday, March 12. 2020
 From Most Important Coronavirus Question: Will I Get Sick And Die?, this is Dr. Fauci:
“If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively."
Wednesday, March 11. 2020
 Billionaire Elon Musk: 'You don't need college....you can learn everything for free'
Widow of Steve Jobs preaches it's 'wrong' to accumulate wealth
CA Gov. Newsom has Praise for Trump Over Handling of Coronavirus
Dr. Drew Pinsky Slams Media For Inciting Coronavirus ‘Panic’
'No Copays, No Surprise Charges': Pence Declares Insurers Have Agreed To Cover Coronavirus Costs
Crushing the Coronavirus Curve
Dr. Oz Argues Coronavirus Numbers from Korea Show Lower Death Rate – May Be No Worse than Common Flu
FACT CHECK: Hillary Clinton Falsely Claims Credit for Defeating SARS Epidemic
She wasn't even there
The progressive narrative on homelessness has always been wrong—and new data undermine it further.
Inside the FBI's 218 days that changed Trump's political world
Choosing Not to Vote
Krauthammer:
“President Obama, in his messianic period, declared that choosing between security and liberty was a false choice,” Krauthammer wrote. “On the contrary. It is the eternal dilemma of every free society. Politics is the very process of finding some equilibrium between these two competing values.”
" Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aren’t opposed to school choice. They’re opposed to school choice for other people’s children."
Yale Psychiatrist Who Has Repeatedly Called Trump Mentally Unfit Refuses to Diagnose Biden
Three reasons Joe Biden will never be president
WaPo, MSNBC Give Biden New Instructions on How to Address Burisma
On the team
GOP approval rises, Democrats fall post-impeachment in Gallup poll
Italy Suspends Mortgage Payments, Businesses Dying As Panicked Residents Hoard Food
Europe Under Siege - Barbarians are storming the gates, but Europeans still won’t pull in the welcome mat.
Monday, March 9. 2020
Here.
This is not the first time. I miss Charles Krauthammer.
Sunday, March 8. 2020
Have you noticed people avoiding public spaces this week? I have noticed fewer people on the subways (Which is great. Probably Ubering, or, God forbid, "working from home".)
Word is that the theater/movie biz is having a drop in attendance. Restaurants and pubs as busy as ever. People vary in their vulnerability to fearfulness. I refuse to be among the fearful. It's just not my way.
My church this morning was packed, as always. No more sipping the wine from the same cup, though. I never liked that idea anyway.
My gym is as busy as usual. They claim they do a special cleaning every three days. Whatever.
What about travel plans? Cruise lines are dead for a while, and northern Italy is shut down. I feel bad for their businesses. It's a Black Swan event. If you plan for Black Swans, you go nuts.
Saturday, March 7. 2020
New study shows sea level rise has been slow and a constant, pre-dating industrialization
That's what happens during interglaciations. The reverse happens during glaciations. People once lived where the English Channel is now.
Note to readers: The CDC has certified that Maggie's Farm has installed effective protections against sending COVID-19 through the internet. It's a very high-tech filter made of baling wire, duct tape, and organic, non-GMO fresh, damp cow manure which is stuffed into our internet access portal (we use a PVC pipe). We do it to keep you safe here.
'Rosie the Riveter' dies at 95: New York woman who first inspired the iconic character while working on a fighter plane assembly line during WWII passes away
Girl Scouts are tough salespeople
She inherited millions, and nobody knows
Smart girl
Quillette: A Closer Look at ‘White Fragility’ Theory
Historian: I Warned The 1619 Project’s Author She Was Wrong About The Revolutionary War
LI: Look for the Union Label Week in Higher Education
California's Government Has Turned Homelessness Into Big Business
Blockbuster Jobs Report: Feb Payrolls Soar By 273,000, Smashing Expectations, As Unemployment Rate Drops... But Does Anyone Care?
Anyone Notice That Trump’s Economy Keeps Beating Expectations?
MSM will not mention
Schumer’s SCOTUS threat was truly unprecedented, then he made it worse
Maddow Tells Warren Her Exit From Race Was ‘Death Knell’ For ‘Woman President In Our Lifetimes’
I doubt it, but is that really so important? Dem women preferred Biden.
Are you suffering from Elizabeth Warren Denial Syndrome? Symptoms include seeing sexism everywhere and forgetting Tulsi is still in the race
Biden Keeps Forgetting Obama’s Name While Campaigning
MSM will not discuss
'It's pandemonium': virus panic-buying hits Los Angeles
The Age of Mass Hysteria
All of Italy’s Regions Infected with Coronavirus
Insty's Corona update
Friday, March 6. 2020
U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households
Is that at least part of why women here tend to vote for parental governments? For security, or a fantasy of security? Is that a female thing? If so, it doesn't seem very feminist to me.
Let's face it: Most of us have fairly humdrum, routine, comfortable lives aside from work annoyances, bill-paying, and kids' various problems.
But humans are wired for excitement, threat responses, etc. Survival instincts. Most of us crave some degree of excitment, and will even pay money for it because life is so relatively easy. Some more than others, of course. Roller coasters, climbing Mt. Everest, etc.
There's probably a Bell curve spectrum of various responses to real, perceived, or imagined threat. Some cower and hide, some rise up and resist, even irrationally, and everything in between. I like to think I am in the calm, rational, middle but I will kill you if you threaten me or my home. No regrets if that were to occur.
I love blizzards. Tornadoes? No.
Viking skeleton’s DNA test proves she was a woman warrior
Felony Arrest of 10-Year-Old for Playing With Toy Gun
University of Texas orders faculty to undergo training on law that criminalizes sex jokes
California’s ethnic studies proposal is incomplete and offensive
Less than 2 percent of Harvard faculty are conservative, survey finds
The Nigerian prince scam is still fooling people. Here’s why. A classic grift has evolved over time.
Williams College suspended male student for not dating girl after kissing her: lawsuit
I Went to a Socialism Conference Last Year. Consider Me Scared.
328 Chinese Nationals Caught Trying To Illegally Enter U.S. At Southern Border
We’re Accumulating More Critical Information About The Coronavirus Every Day
Schumer to Gorsuch and Kavanaugh: Nice Little Court Ya Got There, Hate to See Anything Happen to It …
Warren Blames ‘Sexism’ For Her Failed Campaign…
MSNBC’s Brian Williams reads a tweet: "Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. U.S. Population, 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million"
MSNBC’s Brian Williams, NY Times editor marvel at tweet that got Bloomberg math really wrong
With Biden ascendant, it's useful to remember just how awful he is
North Korea’s Ballistic Bluster May Mask Major Epidemic
Thursday, March 5. 2020
Paranoids love to have a teensy bit of fact to appear to justify their habitual fearfulness, and preppers love having a reason to justify their prepping. I feel those people just find it exciting, but most people I talk to just joke about the hysteria.
The Rich Are Preparing for Coronavirus Differently. Concierge doctors, yachts, chartered planes and germ-free hideaways.
What a crazy world! If you ask me, a 6-month supply of peanut butter and jelly, and a bag of flour, ought to take care of it. Maybe 50 bags of chips, and how many cases of beer? Store Shelves Across The Country Are Emptying Fast
Really?
When Should You Let Your Kids Start Lifting?
10,000 steps: Not quite magical when it comes to weight
Of course not. Still, better to move around a lot than to sit
Female Guardian Writer: My Lack of Attraction to My Dress-Wearing Boyfriend Made Me Doubt My Liberation from the Patriarchy's Mind Control
Court Considers Whether Men-Only Draft Is Constitutional
The University of California-Santa Cruz has fired 54 graduate workers after they refused to turn in fall semester grades in an ongoing dispute over pay.
Time to grow up, kids
NY Times Knows What The Best Treatment For Coronavirus Is
Sen. Mike Lee: It's time for Congress to bring accountability to intelligence community's surveillance poweR
I thought they did that decades ago
Former Obama-Era Cuban Prisoner Says Sanders Told Him, 'I Don't Know What's So Wrong' With Cuba
NYM on politicians:
They are doing it for the money and their livings depend on it. They are not theorists or philosophers. They are pros, and they’re not fooling around.
Schumer Threatens Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, “You Will Pay the Price! You Won’t Know What Hit You!”
Biden: “If I Win,” Beto O’Rourke, Who Wants Mandatory Gun Confiscation, Will “Change The Face” Of Gun Control
Trump's Super Tuesday results: Broad appeal beyond a united GOP
Israel picks its 2020 Eurovision entry, sung in four languages (with the music vid)
UN agency: Iran nearly triples stockpile of enriched uranium. The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says Iran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November in violation of its deal with world powers
Duh. They are permitted to lie to kaffirs
Tuesday, March 3. 2020
NYC is experiencing a virus panic. It must be in anticipation of a Wuhan-style 14-day lockdown. Supermarkets are running out of things like toilet paper, beer, coffee, etc. and there are empty shelves where the tomato sauces and spaghetti were. My Trader Joe's looks a little like Venezuela.
But why the run on water? People are buying all of the bottled water. Why? I can understand stocking up on beer and wine, but water?
Americans stockpiling
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