2020 archive
Twits on Twitter, the Entitlement Society Dept. 0
Honest to Betsy, the nerve of some people.
Practice Precautions–Updated 0
He left one out: Scrub away whataboutism.
Aside:
We went out for Sunday breakfast at our usual haunt, then dropped by the near-by Aldi for some odds and ends. It’s good thing we weren’t shopping for toilet paper; the shelves were bare. Frankly, I don’t get it, I don’t get it at all.
In related news, I recommend this story about a hand sanitizer profiteer. His explanation of how he’s really really not price gouging, but rather is performing an essential public service, is just too self-serving darling for words!
Addendum, the Next Day:
Mr. Essential Public Service has chosen to donate his hoard of health supplies in the light of the less than favorable publicity.
(Misplet wrod correxted.)
Twits on Twitter, Peanut Gallery Dept. 0
David talks with Tufts Professor Eitan Hersh about how treating politics as a spectator sport is detrimental to the polity.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another responsible gun owner demonstrates his training and expertise . . .
. . . and another gun fires itself.
Decoding De Code 0
At the Hartford Courant, Bailey Talbot discusses the sexism that underlies many school dress codes.
It’s worth a read.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
The Des Moines Register’s brilliant Rekha Basu tags the Maytag Foundation (which is no longer in any way related to the appliance manufacturer) for its financial support of an anti-immigrant spin factory.
Lies and Lying Liars, Going Viral Dept. 0
At azcentral.com, E. J. Montini reviews news of the coronavirus and rounds up the flock of falsehoods flooding the foreground, foremost among them those fomented by our Liar-in-Chief.
Running Out 0
A report at Boston.com attempts to explain persons’ frantic purchases of toilet paper in a time of coronavirus. A snippet:
“When faced with an uncertain situation, people feel better if they can eliminate one risk,” Dr. Jay Zagorsky, a senior lecturer with BU’s Questrom School of Business, said in an email to Boston.com. “Bulk buying toilet paper eliminates the small risk of running out if quarantined. People might not be able to eliminate the risk of catching coronavirus but they can eliminate the risk of running out of toilet paper, which makes most people feel they have some control in this very uncertain situation.”
This morning’s local rag has a long story about local stores’ inability to keep up with the runs on “bathroom tissue.” I witnessed this first-hand when I went to our usual supermarket at the behest of the cats, who demanded sustenance, and can attest that the “bathroom tissue” aisle was bare.
The Epidemiologist Tweets 0
By the by, I was in my local supermarket yesterday, because cats need cat food, and the “Bathroom Tissue” aisle was striped bare.
The Day the Music Died Went on Hiatus
0
For several years, we have enjoyed series tickets to concerts by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (a damned fine orchestra which will be celebrating its centennial next year; their performance a couple of years ago of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, my favorite piece–narrowly beating out White Rabbit–was breathtaking).
Regardless of the genre, there’s something about a live performance . . . .
This evening, I received an email from the VSO stating that all performances until mid-April are being postponed because of the coronavirus. Rescheduling details are still being worked out . . . .
Facebook Frolics, Fallacious Flummery Dept. 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, David Kyle Johnson reacts to a meme circulated by a person he calls, “Bob,” in which Bob lists all the world-ending crises he has survived. Said meme equates, to cite one example, Harold Camping’s rapture prediction* with avian flu.
Johnson points out that one thing is not like the other thing and warns against false equivalences in a time of COVID-19. A snippet:
Given the amount of stupid flowing down the disinformation superhighway, his piece is well worth the three minutes it will take to read it.
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*Man, I didn’t remember this one at all, but I don’t pay attention to crackpot preachers who are only in it for the money.
Stray Thought, One Tool in the Toolkit Dept. 0
It occurred to me last night that Donald Trump and his dupes, symps, and fellow travelers have not realized that you can’t bully a virus.
