h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Wait! When Trump says "I take no responsibility!" isn't that the same as saying "I resign"?

A projection for Massachusetts: 2,200 deaths by August.

There's been some debate as to whether the virus is killing people who would likely have died anyway. At least, I've seen the arguments in favor of this theory. I haven't seen anyone say that the theory is wrong.

Baron Grim, basically all we have is the competence (or lack of same) of the governors of our fifty states, as well as the mayors of some very large cities. In my state, people who come into the state from another place are told to quarantine themselves for two weeks.

Sadly... outrageously... I suspect you're correct, Pierce. He will be reelected.

This morning I heard that his approval ratings are relatively soaring. He's up to 49%, his highest overall approval rating and 60% say he's doing a good job handling this crisis.


Basically he's winning over the undecideds. Democrats are not swayed, but everyone else seems to be.

And I get it. He's doing his daily briefings. Even though he constantly misleads, lies, obfuscates, confuses and bungles the facts when he's not alternatively blaming others or taking credit and patting himself on the back for doing things that either should have been done two months ago or for things he had no hand in doing, he's keeping himself in the media. He's the bright shining disaster that the media just can't take their (and our) eyes off of. The general public aren't critically minded so they just see he's doing something. They don't differentiate as to whether what he's doing is good or bad, as long as he seems to be in charge.

Also, people are scared and scared people don't express outrage. We should all be outraged but we're not. (OK, Rachel Maddow is outraged and Cuomo and a few other governors are outraged.) And Biden and the rest of the democratic leaders are properly socially distancing giving Trump a further monopoly of the media airtime.

We're screwed!


Sorry, back to the topic...


I took a motorcycle ride yesterday, a truly socially distant activity, and I just loved it. The level of traffic was the lowest I've seen in my county for 35 years. I live in a former exurban area that has transitioned to fully suburban between Houston and Galveston. The population has grown by 150% since then. I rode down to the island and road along the beach and seawall. There were folks on the beaches and seawall, but no real crowds.

A little in the gloom:
This just in: Financier buys researcher free from other work so they can concentrate on corona trial: "Economics must not be the limitation"

I'm hoping that some miracle of research skill will accelerate the pace at which scientific trials are conducted as people look for a vaccine, or at least for a drug that might blunt the worst effects of this virus. A leading Chinese doctor says that one of the most promising of these drugs will have completed its tests in April.

Hang on, people. Time is against us now, but at some point we will be able to look back an see that the worst is behind us.

Right now - while I write this - our PM tells us that it seems like our precautions are working.
So now we are beginning to explore when, how and how quickly we can reopen society.
Probably not until 1 May, though. We shall see.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52086378

I don't believe in any form of "god" etc - BUT! using the phrase - "I hope to god!"
That that figure never comes true - ANYWHERE in the world!!!

Fauci seems to know what he's talking about.

It's too soon to know what the relative survived/died ratio will be. As Spring gets under way, people are likely to get restive and want to congregate in places. Revere Beach had long lines atone of it's popular restaurants. The mayor had to go out and close the place down. The numbe rof cases revere has gone up by 700%.

The film "Tangled / Rapunzel" gets a whole new meaning. The first song tells you what to do during a sixteen year lockdown. If only Mother Gothel had stuck to the social distancing rules…

I suppose that in the real world, Rapunzel would have contracted any disease going around and died, after breaking her quarantine.

Donald Trump said he expects the number of daily deaths in the United States due to the virus is likely to peak in two weeks. 2,400 people have already died as a result of the pandemic in the United States, and the government's leading virus expert Anthony Fauci has estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans will die. Against this backdrop, Donald Trump believes that the United States will have done well if the number of deaths is kept "down to 100,000".

He should be so lucky

to you all!

- What direction will this crisis take us in?
Martin Wolf (award-winning author and financial commentator at the (London based) Financial Times for 32 years) sees two possibilities:
"Either people conclude that we live in a scary world and that a competent and informed government and a strong bureaucracy that can handle crises would do well. That's the FDR answer.
Or they also conclude that the whole system has failed, everyone is some corrupt liar, so we need something brand new and then they choose a demagogue. That's the Hitler answer."

"In crises, you learn how robust your system is," says Martin Wolf.
"The problem in the West is that this is the second big shock in twelve years, it's a very short time, and the first crisis shook people's confidence in the system. This crisis will either restore confidence in the systems or it will lead to a major breakdown. "

Bruce Aylward, Assistant Secretary General, WHO, criticizes Denmark in harsh terms for not doing enough, not doing it fast enough and not doing it efficiently enough.
And this despite the fact that Denmark has done many things and much earlier than for example Sweden, UK and USA.
- The West has declared that it is an emergency. But it is China that has acted on it.
However, he praises Denmark for being smart and shutting down society in time, while there were still relatively few cases:
- This was done to ensure that the disease never grows larger than the health system has capacity for. When other countries did the same, their health sectors were already overwhelmed. So now Denmark has prevented the morass that other countries are in, he says.

I just hope he is right on the latter

John Oliver:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElIf2DBrWzU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR27uOEUt1LO-qoWbIBVXTqG30PnqGGgUTOUouzSW-1pra3qo9uZZJrc6Bk

Yeah, I know paulh. It's a lot to take in. And this was only my short version

There's an element of Russian Roulette in today's news.

Massachusetts has tested 30,000 people for Covid-19, and found that 5,000 of them tested positive.

That' one in six. Sounds about like your chances of getting shot while playing Russian Roulette.

Nearly a non sequitur...

An early Darwin Award winner was from my region. He thought it was a good idea to play Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic pistol.

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2000-04.html

Ah yes, I remember him. I know he should be forgotten, but I can't

Was he a semi-automoron?

Our PM says she can't guarantee anything yet, but that it seems like we have things so much under control here that we may slowly lift the bans some time after easter. Older school children facing exams will probably be the first allowed back. As will the most needed parts of the work force. But the authorities will try to distribute peoples' movements around the clock in order to avoid rush hours.

And once again all other political parties agree. Although it seems like the politicians are eagerly searching for something they can profile themselves on. So far none of them have really succeeded, though, because no-one dares to take advantage of the situation too blatantly