This is why everyone is hoarding toilet paper | Ars Technica
3.28.2020
3.27.2020
Won't last forever, and maybe not even all that long
Remembering the polio epidemic of the 1950s: Part I
Polio killed 3,200 Americans in 1952, and crippled more than 20,000 more. The U.S. population was only about half what it is now.
I was in high school at the time. Most of us knew somebody who'd had it. There was no cure; nobody knew how it spread. Some hospitals were swamped. People were afraid.
But before the end of the decade there was a vaccine, and today—although polio still exists in some parts of the world—there are a lot of Americans who've never even heard of it.
Today we know a lot more about how a virus spreads and how that spread might be mitigated. We know a lot more about how to treat viral diseases and about vaccines. This coronavirus episode is plenty serious but it's not forever. This too shall pass.
(Probably not on Trump's timetable, but still….)
Not depressed enough? We can fix that!
Johnson & Johnson companies used a super poppy to make narcotics for popular opioid pills - Washington Post
So while Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and other manufacturers are often linked to the opioid crisis, it was two subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson, a brand better known for baby powder and Band-Aids, that were producing the narcotics in many of the abused pills.
3.26.2020
Thanks to the bug, the banks are backl
The Finance 202: Banks win long-sought deregulation in coronavirus rescue package - The Washington Post
The finance industry will be a central cog in the machine Washington is assembling on the fly to distribute emergency economic relief to contain coronavirus fallout. The sector is also poised to achieve some long-sought policy wins in that $2 trillion package the Senate passed late Wednesday.
I don't know if this is a good idea or a bad one
Kansas City, MO Coronavirus Information - Safety Updates, News and Tips - The Weather Channel | Weather.com
As the data we have on the coronavirus in the U.S. is highly suspect, it's not clear whether this otherwise interesting effort propagates useful information or sheer hysteria. Nonetheless, for what it's worth.
Search for a specific location from the top of the page.
I and my filthy, disease-ridden cloth bag get barred from the grocery store
The really funny thing about this whole affair is that here in our perfect little town we spent a large part of the winter just past banning plastic bags from grocery and other retail stores (Save the Planet!), and the good denizens of the Senior Center set up sewing machines to manufacture reusable cloth bags for all. (My own bag came from Amazon some years ago because I lug my groceries home on foot and the cloth bag is easier to carry, is all.)
How long will this adventure last?
3.25.2020
In every dark cloud there's a silver dollar
Plastics industry goes after bag bans during pandemic
"We ask that the department speak out against bans on these products as a public safety risk and help stop the rush to ban these products by environmentalists and elected officials that puts consumers and workers at risk," the industry group wrote.
King of the Lemmings
Trump vows to lift coronavirus restrictions by Easter, says NYC is a 'hot spot'
I might be at risk from coved-19 but there's no chance I'll follow this mook over a cliff like some lemming.
3.24.2020
Everybody needs a plumber now and then
Navy's newest aircraft carriers have clogged toilets that cost $400k to fix, report says - Navy - Stripes
Tribune News Service) — The Navy's two newest aircraft carriers have a problem with their toilets getting clogged and it costs $400,000 to fix each time there's an issue with their sewage systems, according to a Congressional watchdog report released Tuesday.
Spring, schming
It snowed a good four inches (or a bad four inches, depending on how grumpy you are) here last night and it was a very wet, very heavy snow that is dropping in great clumps off the trees and right down your neck and threatening to turn almost immediately to mud in the face of 40-, even 50-degree highs for the rest of the week.
Is it still Groundhog Day?
Is it still Groundhog Day?
It's grim news this morning on the virus front…
Trump vows to lift restrictions to reopen businesses, defying the advice of coronavirus experts - The Washington Post
…although this, well…
More than 42,000 people in the United States have tested positive for covid-19,
…that's less than half the seating capacity of the Ohio State football stadium, and when's the last time you saw them play against a crowd that small?
I don't mean to deny the danger in this covid-19 situation nor advise against taking the utmost care, and I certainly don't agree that saving the money is more important than saving the people, being happily one of the people myself, but let's try to keep this thing in some semblance of proportion, shall we?
3.23.2020
Oh go ahead, tell us what you really think
Big Business Lobbied Trump Not to Order Coronavirus Supplies
[National Economic Council Director Lawrence] Kudlow is a fanatical adherent of supply-side economics whose career of wrongness has been sustained by a willingness to advance the narrow interests of the superrich. Kushner is a dilettante heir to his father's shady construction empire. Trump is … also that, but less intelligent than Kushner.
3.22.2020
The failure of the federal government to lead in this coronavirus situation…
Senate falls far short of votes needed to advance coronavirus bill as clash between Republicans and Democrats intensifies - The Washington Post
…is no longer the sole property of the Trump administration. The Congress is also now a full partner in the spectacle. A government this paralyzed is no government at all.
We need to send new people to Washington, people who are capable of doing their jobs. This means your Representative and mine, my Senator and yours. We'd be better off than we are by just replacing the lot.
If you've been thinking about taking a cruise…ever
Diamond Princess, Grand Princess cruise line had high rates of illness even before coronavirus - U.S. - Stripes
I could have used a few "shortcuts" like this that year I took calculus
The law required big companies to disclose workers' median pay. Lobbyists created a big loophole. - The Washington Post
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